Primal Self-Defense: Daniel Vitalis interviews Tony Blauer

Tony Blauer — a pioneer in Combatives and self-defense training — discusses primal self-defense and offers some excellent reasons on why you should learn how to defend yourself from predatory violence.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN:

  • How Tony became interested in self-defense
  • Consensual dualing vs predatory violence
  • Why “the pacificist” needs to learn this
  • How long it takes to learn to defend yourself
  • Indignation energy
  • Startle-flinch response
  • Compliant vs non-compliant opponent

The reactive brain bypasses the cognitive in times of high stress. Tweet it!

The ability to protect yourself or a loved one is the single most important skill anyone can possess. Tweet it!

Learning how to protect yourself literally takes a day. Tweet it!

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Overcoming Fear: Mitch Joel of SPOS Interview Coach Blauer

Welcome to episode #355 of Six Pixels Of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast. When I was a kid, I got into martial arts. Along with taking a more traditional form of Kung Fu, I stumbled into training on a fairly regular basis with Tony Blauer. Tony's approach was always very different and eclectic. Instead of focusing on forms and traditions, he believed in doing the physiological things that your body could best do (use what works, toss the rest). On top of that, the majority of his training (which you could say is a mixture of self-defense, street fighting and close quarter combatives) spent a good chunk of the time talking about how we react and deal with our fear on a psychological level. How the vast majority of confrontations are not won or lost by the physical part, but rather in the mind... long before the fight ever happens. Having worked with Tony for years, there was a time when I was a certified coach in his system and would teach classes and seminars with him (and on his behalf). None of the training that I have done with Tony has ever left me. I think about it daily and apply the vast majority of his thinking to my work - with each and every passing day. I was thankful that Tony agreed to come on the show and talk about fear, managing confidence, performance and more. Since those days, Tony has moved to San Diego and is currently one of the world's leading close quarter combative instructors who has worked with everyone from civilians, military and law enforcement to UFC champions and celebrities. A celebrity in the world of martial arts, Tony is one of the smartest human beings I have ever had the pleasure of calling a true friend. Enjoy the conversation...

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Coach Blauer on "The Art of Charm"

From the lead in: 

For the last two decades Tony has studied the body’s physiology to find out what is in our genetic wiring that has allowed us to survive when other species perished. 

He says part of it is your startle response. When it is working in conjunction with your instinctive intuitive system, it alerts you to danger and creates awareness so you can take appropriate action. 

In this show, Tony and I discuss how to hone those physical survival instincts and awareness, why martial arts doesn’t work and might even get you killed, when to listen to that bad feeling you’ve having because it may save your life, how to devalue yourself as a victim and how to manage fear to get a better read on the situation you’re in."

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Jordan Harbinger

Is Your Fitness Functional?

Post WOD cool down included a home defense circuit with@jesseblauer  @hawkctp & @nltsirt Pistol.

Whenever possible, add some intelligent scenario work to your training. Keep it realistic, relevant and rigorous.  And don't confuse "possible with probable"!! Always focus on what's probably going to happen. Take care of that first. Intelligent scenario work trains your brain, this stimulates your reticular cortex which will help with your situational awareness.

Jess had to move from a simulated sleep position, grab gun, engage, get up, move around the box jump pads and continue to engage with pistol, threat is still active, and close--kick the target to create space, reload and re-engage. 

Hope to see some of you at our summer camp.

Yours in safety!

Coach B

 #choosesafety#beyourownbodyguard #spearsystem

Response-Ability

You're the first responder in your fight

For almost three decades, I’ve been teaching ‘weapon protection’ courses. My thought was always that the most dangerous scenario would be when the bad-guy had the weapon. We focused on bat, knife and gun. 

Before 9-11, the military discovered my system and I developed several specialty courses for some elite units that included strategies, tactics, skills & drills on how to attack an armed gunman **when you aren't armed**. The drills emerged from a ‘gunfighting course’ and “no room to shoot/no time to shoot” course I originally developed for a group at Ft Bragg pre 9-11 (this picture is actually from one of the classes.) Fast forward.

After the Paris Attack and then the San Bernadino attack, The Blaze released a video on an active shooter response course featuring a #crossfit coach named Aaron Jannetti ( @ajannetti ) A bunch of ex-cops/ex-mil mocked it online because Aaron wasn’t an ex-operator (that's another rant I’ll save for another blog). Truth is, I loved Aaron’s demo. It was effective because it was designed by an athlete and coach and intended for Good Samaritans caught in one of the scariest scenarios one could imagine. The concepts were simple, smart and resonated with my approach. (Of course that he used High Gear, the equipment I designed, made me like him even more.) I called up Aaron right way and congratulated him. Thus began a friendship united by doing what we could to help make good people safer.
 
A little over month ago I asked Aaron if he’d be interested in presenting at my annual camp. We were working out logistics when the Orlando attack happened. Horrible timing, but after listening to Obama's speech again and learning more of the details, I decided, ‘fuck this shit’ we need people to realize "they are the first responders in their fight!". I finally decided to get involved with the ASR scenario training effort and share our insights. I’m kicking this off by inviting Aaron Jannetti to be a special guest at our camp and he’s going to present one of his Active Shooter Response courses for all the attendees. 

I hope you can join us.

Yours in Safety,

Coach B

Always a White Belt

"Regularly learn and play new sports.” 
-Greg Glassman 👊 

I'm no stranger to Mano a Mano training, after close to 50 years of cumulative training that included wrestling, many martial arts, boxing and scenario training, I decided to study ‪#‎bjj‬ -- its a fascinating art. The best part is how it relaxes me, I can turn off my trainer's mind...after decades of being the instructor, it's really nice to be a white belt and just absorb and learn.

Words, Tone, Body Language.

"Choice speech is a non-aggressive dialogue to buy time, to determine how much trouble you’re in — is [your assailant] a talker or a fighter? It helps you shift psychological gears, create rapport and use words of an emphatic essence. Rather than say, 'Don’t do that!' you can say, 'How would you feel if someone were doing that to you?' It creates an introspection in your attacker which buys time and what we call 'orientation moment' where you ask yourself, Am I getting closer to violence or further from violence?”

— Tony Blauer & the S.P.E.A.R. System