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Welcome, ladies:
Before going any further, there's something you need to understand right from the start. What I teach my students is the art of self-preservation. The course I teach includes some martial arts instruction, but by no means can it be called a martial arts course.
You might not think so because they make it look so easy, but practitioners of the martial arts actually do have great speed and strength. For example, Bruce Lee, who was only 5 foot 7 inches tall and weighed 135 pounds was actually very powerful and stronger than a lot of men twice his size. He could support his entire body weight on his thumbs and do dozens of pushups. (Try it if you think it's easy. Let me caution you, however, that you could end up breaking your thumbs or landing flat on your face. Or both.)
Bruce Lee also had tremendous speed. In fact, he was so fast that some of the action scenes in his movies would turn out to be just a blur and they would have to redo the entire scene, only the next time they would have him slow down just so the cameras could keep up with him.
For someone to get as good as Bruce Lee, most people realize that it takes a lot of hard work and a tremendous amount of commitment, but they really have no idea just how much. Like all great masters of the martial arts, Lee started his training early in his childhood and spent almost every waking moment of his life conditioning his body and perfecting his fighting technique. He could do this because he was fortunate enough to have the time, but because of our full and busy schedules, a lot of us just don't have that luxury. Women need to be able to handle themselves in a fight, but most are limited in the amount of time they have to train. Furthermore, most don't have all day to spend working out and lifting weights, so therefore it would be very foolhardy for a woman to try and match strength with an attacker who might be twice her size with a tremendous height and reach advantage. With this in mind, what I teach my students is how to escape from and disable an assailant long enough to run away and get to safety. I teach women specialized self-defense methods and techniques that require only average speed and strength.
It takes approximately 20 days to complete my basic course of instruction. How long it will actually take will depend upon the number of friends you have in your group. You should have at least 3 and no more than 5 women in your group. A training day can last up to 6 hours and typically takes place in the home of one of the students, except for the blackout session which begins just before dark on a Saturday night and ends shortly before dawn on Sunday morning.
The self-preservation training course which I teach consists of 4 phases, as indicated below:
Phase I - Basic Training
Phase II - Training In Technique, i.e. stance, striking, blocking, recovery, etc.
Phase III - Training In Counter Moves, i.e. arm bars, head locks, choke holds, etc.
Phase IV - Confidence Training, i.e. sparring, paintballing, rappelling, etc.
In Phase I of their training, students will learn how to minimize their vulnerability and protect themselves and their property against muggers, carjackers, rapists, and other violent criminals. During Phase II training, students will learn the fundamentals of self-defense and personal protection. During Phase III training, students will practice various methods of escape. In Phase IV of their training, students will learn to have faith in themselves and in their ability to control their fear and keep a cool head when faced with danger.
As you can see, I am not out to make a body builder or a martial arts expert out of anyone. That is not a realistic goal. My goal is to make a survivor out of you.
Sincerely,
Bob "Sarge" Shano
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