Hello,

My name is Marko. I tried out the FREE lessons and decided to see Damian on ” the other side “.
I was involved in martial arts from the ages of 15 to 30. I studied several different styles including
Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, and Aikido.

I am 47 years old now and had not worked out in over 15 years.

With the way the world is going I saw a need for TRUE SELF DEFENSE…But where to start?
So I searched the internet and found a few programs, but NONE with WRITTEN LESSONS AND VIDEO,
along with additional support features.

In my opinion this program provides the best format to securely learn, practice and GROW those valuable
self defense skills needed today.

Job Well DONE Mr. Ross!!!

Lord Willing I will be able to complete all these lessons and truly master the much needed skills you teach…
I am also excited and proud to study under such a distinguished lineage and become a part of that as well

God Bless and please keep up the good work……You have my commitment to “train honestly”, as there is no other
way to truly make this training ” apart of you” unless you do….

Col. Marko
( Kentucky Colonel )

Hey Legion Members, I’m Jim Nichols and I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and share how I became a Legion member and what’s happening at the Self Defense Company of Winchester. Some call me Jim some call me JD and some even call me DA Monk, I guess that one comes from my Shaolin Do Kung Fu days, along with this shaved head I sport. I was training in Combatives before Combatives were cool. I actually started about 1971 as a young boy in order to keep the knots off my head and keep my lunch money while riding the school bus. Later on I studied other types of martial arts and furthered my hand to hand in the United States Army. A few years ago I began to teach self-defense to a few select friends who had the need. That blossomed into a friend of a friend and so on. My problem was I didn’t have a formal program so what I taught was a few select hand to hand combat techniques and ten self-defense techniques from the Shaolin Do system.
The training I provided would sure enough get someone out of a jam if they were good at it, the down fall was it took a great deal of time to learn and some of the techniques took some skill that only come with years of practice and not everyone was good at it. It was easy for me since I had years of practice but for the average Joe or Jolene it took more time than they could invest to really be good, and the biggest question was in a high stress situation could they remember how to use them. That made me very selective of who I trained and resulted in me turning some people away and in some cases it was people that really needed the training. My fear was I would set them up for failure because training for, and being in; a high stress situation is two different things. If they were in the middle of a scrap they wouldn’t be able to say let me try that again, or hold on I did that wrong, they had to know. I even thought about not training people at all. The problem was the people wouldn’t stop asking me to train them so I started to search for the best possible way I could get it done.
Here’s where I found Damian Ross and The Self Defense Company. I started researching self-defense systems I would say hundreds of them, the problem was, they were almost all martial arts based, or so technical they would take years to learn and 90% of them were just plain silly. One night while surfing the internet for some reason I typed in combat self-defense and The Self Defense Company came up so I started to read. The thing that really got my attention was reading Damian’s Bio here’s a guy that is proficient in Tae Kwon Do, Jujutsu, Judo, Kickboxing and Wrestling and he doesn’t try to sale that for self-defense. I must know more, so I filled out the online form and Damian contacted me. After talking to him over the phone I knew he was the real deal. What I couldn’t believe is why didn’t I think of that, I’ve been doing this most of my life. But that didn’t matter I found what I was looking for and why reinvent the wheel It would cost me thousands and thousands of dollars to do what Damian had already done.
Since joining the SDC family I have opened two locations and will open another this coming spring I have a one year contract to provide fitness training for 3 hospitals in their after hour’s fitness centers and I now have 3 employees helping me. I personally give self-defense classes 6 nights a week and a 1 hour Combat Fitness Class 7 nights a week, it takes a lot of work but I love it. I saw a post on here that a gentleman had been instructing part time for over 40 years and was looking to do it full time and wanted ideas of how to do it, it’s simple, do it! You have to talk to lots of people 1 in 20 may be serious. I still have seminars that hardly anyone shows up but you just finish it and move on, the next one you may have to turn people away, it’s the nature of this business. Anyway that’s a little about me, it’s your turn.

HI all my name is Carlos Lozada I just decided to meet Damian Ross on the other side. Here trying it out and seeing how it goes for me.

Welcome aboard Carlos glad to have you on the inside !

Hi Damian Ross, other SDC instructors & legion members, my name’s Abel Mathews and I’m super stoked about signing up considering all the great reviews I’ve read.

I’m based in India and have been looking for an effective system that address survival on the streets. I decided to give this system a shot since I’ve always wanted to train in a lethal form of self defense and in turn, teach them to the women in my life so that they too can keep themselves not just situationally aware, but be able to defend themselves. Eve-teasing and rape seem to be rampant and its getting really dangerous so here’s to hoping this sytem gives me and my family the know-how and the edge in a situation that I’m hoping we won’t have to come across ever.

Hello Everyone, I’m RIchard Beagan. I’m a cop in Roanoke VA and I trained in self defense using an earlier version of Damian’s system back in 2007. Anxious to get back into it and get trained up again. See you all soon.

@Richard Beagan said:

Hello Everyone, I’m RIchard Beagan. I’m a cop in Roanoke VA and I trained in self defense using an earlier version of Damian’s system back in 2007. Anxious to get back into it and get trained up again. See you all soon.

Welcome, Richard. I’m a LEO in Nashville. It’s a pleasure to meet you.

Hello everyone, I’m Namon and am very excited about being on the Inside with like minded people. Damian i am so impressed with your system… I have just completed module #3 and I feel more confidence and a better piece of mind already. I am going to be 50 in April, and I feel like i’m just starting to bloom! Thank you Damian for this great system… and also for keeping it REAL!!

There is something I would like to share with the SDC community because I feel like we are all family here like brothers. I was born with a birth defect called a diaphragmatic hernia, a condition where there is a hole in the diaphragm that allows the intestines to travel up into the chest cavity. This wasn’t found out and didn’t manifest itself into any real problems, until I was a month old. To make a long story short my mother tried feeding me milk but she noticed that I couldn’t drink and breathe at the same time and kept coughing and spitting up and refusing to feed. She just attributed it to colic or something of that nature and decided to put me down for a nap and thought I might feel better later. But when she returned to check on me a few minutes later she noticed I was unconscious and not breathing and that I had dark blue bruised looking spots on my back from lack of oxygen. So my parents rushed me to the hospital which was a 30 minute drive away, where they basically had to do emergency surgery to save my life and said I had less than a 5 percent chance of survival and even less chance of survival without some sort of permanent physical or mental disability due to damage to my intestnes or chest cavity or brain damage due to lack of oxygen. However, I ended up making a full recovery without any permanent damage to either my body or my brain that I know of other than this big ass scar across my abdomen. So if you guys wonder while I may say or do some fucked up things from time to time I have an excuse, lol I literally was deprived of oxygen at infancy. I realize how fortunate I was to survive such an ordeal, especially back in 1986 when medicine was still in it’s infancy compared to today and I know God or fate(if you don’t believe in God) has a reason for saving me from death at such an early age but I have yet to figure out exactly what my purpose and mission is here on earth at age 27. However, if I can help save lives and protect people from potential harm from those with predatory intentions by helping to get the word out there about the SDC then at least maybe that is a good start and I’m accomplishing something with the gift of life I’ve been blessed with.

Dallas, my friend, you are and will continue to be an inspiration to us all.

Stay safe, brother.

Hello All….

Glad to see the forum up and running again. Some of you may remember me as the former Facepunch Forum Admin. I have been stupid busy for the past 6 months with my regular business…but have made the time to come back to the wonderful world of the SDTS and all you guys. I see a bunch of new names, and some familiar old ones. Good to see you all!!

I am a Level 4 SDTS instructor, and have been since 2010. I run Tomahawk Self Defense in Tomahawk Wisconsin. Some of you may have worked with me in your video certifications on the old forum…..and I am stoked to see what Insider has become. As always…love to hear from you guys.

Thanks…talk to you soon

TP

Hey Tom, glad to see you made it to the inside. Like you, I have been busy at The Self Defense Company of Winchester and don’t get to visit here as much as I would like, but that is a good problem to have. Take care and good to hear from you.

Hi everybody I’m Jan, a 66yo male with some experience in martial arts and most recently boxing. Yet, I still don’t believe I have a good sense of being able to defend myself in hand-to-hand combat. I am working my way through module 1, and I already know I’ll need hands on training. Is there anyone in the Chicago south/southwest suburbs I can get train with?

Hi, Jacquar Roston. I live in Las Vegas and know for sure that The SDC is the real deal. I have trained in other styles but none were as effective as SDC. I am grateful for what we have here. I have been slacking on my training recently and know that I need to get back on it. It saved me once, I am sure it will again in the future.

Hey. Happy New Year from Dubai.

Been with the SDC for a little over 5 years. Been lucky enough to put over 400 ex pats and a few of the locals through the 10 lesson Self Defense Program. Also did a training stint at the Punishment & Corrections center in Abu Dhabi.

Old injury caught up with me again last year so not as many classes these days, however I have a couple of seminars booked in over in Bahrain next week.

Find out what I do and who I do it with here https://www.facebook.com/SdcDubaiUae

Stephen Drake MBA MCMI

Level 4 SDTS Professional Instructor / Guardian Defensive Tactics Instructor

Hey everyone.

Just want to say hey to everyone on the “inside“ . My name is George Hutchings and I am a Level 4 Instructor in Canada. It is awesome that you have all joined and if you need any support at all please feel free to reach out. This forum is an amazing place for like minded individuals.

Hello all.
My name is Josh, I’m 37 (this year). I’m a National Registry EMS Provider for 10+ years now (8+ as Paramedic) in a small Arkansas town (“small” being relative term though, my Service operates 3 24 hour/365 day Paramedic units with an average monthly call volume of 250-300! Lol).
I’ve been interested in traditional martial arts for most of my life; no ranks, because there’s virtually no instructors of any kind near where I’ve lived.
I discovered “combatives” a few years ago (Kelly McCann/Jim Grover) but haven’t found a way to really study in a more serious or frequent manner.
Then I literally stumbled upon SDC while searching for combatives or self defense on Google. I liked what I’ve read, and I’m dying to download or view the video segments! But I felt I should intro myself first.

Hello Everyone,
My name is Rick. I’m 54 years old and I’ve had an interest in martial arts all my life. I trained in Ninjutsu back in the early 90’s and also had some training in Tae kwon Do. I was not all that interested in the sport aspect of martial arts but I liked the practical side of being able to defend one’s self and one’s family. Being a history buff and having a father who fought in WWII, I eventually read books like Colonel Rex Applegate’s Kill or be Killed and others. While researching combatives the same names kept popping up, Carl Cestari and Damian Ross. I found SDC over a year ago but didn’t make the leap until today. I really enjoy the material so far and I like the idea that self defense shouldn’t just be for the fit or the young, after all the older we get the more likely we’ll be a target. Lots of good stuff here. I look forward to corresponding with you via the forums.

Hi all

Just wanted to introduce myself. I have around 10 years of experience in several defence systems including Systema which was my initial start and provided a nice framework to add other tools such as TFT, Shredder and some of my own findings. Still on this journey and looking forward to learning all about Damian’s system and learning from others in this forum.

I just wanted to say hello to everyone and that I’m looking forward to training with the SDC.

Hello to all instructors, students, and everyone else! My name is Meb. I am a combatives enthusiast and self defense practitioner. I am looking forward to training the SDC modules. Thanks again for consolidating all this great information!

Hello my name is Daren Williams and I have been doing Combatives on and off for 15 years. and this is by far the best laid out program I’ve found no need to look anywhere else. Good luck to all!

Hello my name is Andrew Matich and I just joined today, I’ve been interested in self defense for a few years now and this system looks awesome!

Hello and hi. I am Suleiman. But you can call me Sl. Your posts and contributions are encouraging. Thank you all.
I have to specially thank Damian for the constant and persistent mails and reminders. I do appreciate it. (Really got som biz tips there, lol)
I have been reading the mails on and off, and then off for a long time. Since around 2 years ago up until now. I feel an immense joy.
I am not into martial arts that much. Only a taekwondo blue belt. And its been six years since i last trained. You could say i am just a beginner!

Fews years back i accidently fought with somebody, couldnt remember my taek skills in the fight. Then i began to realize that street fight is a whole new ball game. This aroused my curiosity to enquire about other martial arts, which taek skills are readily applicable on the street, began searching on the internet casually and occasionally. I somehow stumbled on SDTS.

Insight and common sense told me street fighting is different, or rather, i need to learn self defense. After watching some SDTS videos, i new this was the real deal (from my taek experience) and so i subscribed to the mails 2 yrs back. Here i am today.
Coming from Nigeria, the culture and environment is entirely different. But crime is the same everywhere. We see that a lot here: Theft, armed robbery, violent protests etc.
My passion is not really martial arts, but to learn to fight to defend myself. I am really passionate about this. Common sense says self defense skills is a must, but most people are negligent- until it is too late.

Damian, thank you again. This is invaluable and i feel i owe you my contributions!

Hey, sorry I took a little long to introduce myself, From Puerto Rico hello to all, my name is Kenneth. I’m glad to be aboard and learning. Crime here is out of control to such an extent I had to move two years after buying a house, now I live in a rented apartment in a closed and private community. Hope to learn a lot and get a better hang of defending my family. Thanks to all and Damian for putting this system together.

Hi, my name is Vince Olech and I currently live in rural, Northwestern, Ohio. It’s quiet here for the most part. I want to thank Damian Ross for his efforts with SDTS. It is awesome. It’s a straight, to the point, no bullshit, get ‘er done system. It’s what we need more of. A bit of history on me: I have been a deputy or city cop off and on since 1987; serving in South Carolina, Florida, and Washington, D.C./Va/Md. I have studied Thai Boxing, Jeet Kune Do, Kung Fu San Soo and a lot of street fighting with rednecks and other assholes. And for the past year or so, SDTS. SDTS reminds me of my first defensive tactics instructor at the SC Police Academy, who said the way to win a fight is to inflict high intensity pain. (Imagine that statement from a 5’7″ very southern retired SC Trooper, who was pulled from the street because he hurt too many bad guys; HA) When it comes down to it, whether you are a SWAT officer all dressed up with a door to knock down, trying to apprehend a felon at 3 a.m., or trying to “talk” some sense into some hard head; in the end they don’t give a rat’s ass what you know. The only way to get their “cooperation,” or just do your job and go home alive that night means you need to introduce them to a concrete pillar, the ground or effect something that will definitely cause them to reconsider their initial poor response. It takes knowing what you are doing, then doing it if necessary. Your, wife, children or anyone else depending on you will thank you when you all go home and someone else doesn’t; but perhaps gets a ride to the nearest hospital. Hey, not violence for violence sake, but being prepared, and able and willing to do what it takes. Preparation is the highest form of believing. Damian, thanks for your efforts, they are worth it. We just need to step up to the plate and take care of business. Glad to be here!!!

Hello,
I am Dean Goldade. I began my journey as a kid first in boxing with my Dad and wrestling in school. In 72 I caught the martial arts bug watching Bruce Lee. I have trained and taught martial arts and combatives for the majority of my life. I enjoy seeing other approaches to the arts and combatives and try to absorb what’s useful. Some systems have a lot of useful stuff and sometimes not so much.. I like the SDC approach and the Keep it simple mindset. I have learned hundreds of techniques over the years, and will only use a handful when rubber hits the road.. I love the mindset, the reality in action and expectations. I enjoy working the material and once I feel I have a good handle on it, I will think more seriously about becoming an instructor.. In a nutshell.. This is good shit, and I am enjoying it.. :-)

Thanks for all you do.. I look forward to training with you guys.

I just turned 39 and grew up in the ’80’s. I have no military history, police training nor a history of anyone being violent toward me. I just want to be able to protect my new wife and future children.

I wrestled in Jr. High. The wresting coach’s brother taught Tae Kwon Do and I wrestled and practiced Tae Kwon Do for two years. In Jr. High, I began reading the Tao of Jeet Kune Do. The only thing that stuck with me from that book was the necessity of finding a fighting system that fit reality. Tae Kwon Do became too traditional for me and I went looking for a more realistic fighting system where I lived.

There was no fighting system that satisfied me in Western North Carolina and I ended up taking Karakido for two years in High School. I came to believe that Karakido was highly convoluted and a worse fighting system than Tae Kwon Do.

I swore off Martial Arts and would not learn any other fighting style until I found something that would empower a short 5’4″ man like myself to win against real world violence against bigger men than I.

Twenty years later, I discovered Target Focus Training and The Self-Defense Company and I wanted to decide between the two and devote my learning to only one of them.

I chose The Self-Defense Company because I believe Damian is better, hands down.

I appreciate Damian recommending Judo on his blog along with this combative system. In the coming years, I am going to learn both. At the moment, I’m exercising and whipping myself into shape after 20 years of no exercise.

I never worried about my safety when I was single. Now, that I’m married (two years, now), being able to protect my family against possible violence has become my top priority… simply because I believe it is my job as a man. I am old-fashioned and proud of it.

Thank you for this simple, brutal system. I needed both of those qualities.

Welcome to the inside. If you ever have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. That is what we are here for.

Thank you!

Hay John, completely agree with you this system. Of course, or why else would I be writing here? Target Focus was Tim Larkin’s attempt at copying SCARS; he was one Jerry’s top students. I trained with that for a number of years until getting into Kung Fu San Soo from which SCRAS was based. Good stuff, but it does takes years and years to master. The masters are VERY good but I don’t personally have the next 20 years to perfect a fighting system. SDTS is f___ng awesome. It is straightforward and brutal; just what we need. And practice is fun; I mean we’re guys we like hitting stuff. Thought I would add my two cents in complimenting you on your worthwhile choice.

I had no idea about all of the history you shared about SCARS and TFT. I was also interested in SCARS but I just found SDTS a much more compelling system. It wasn’t conscious. I can’t say that I was just so smart that I chose SDTS over SCARS. It was an emotional choice. I just lost interest in SCARS the more I gathered information about everything and SDTS.

I purchased the Elite program of SDTS 2 years ago. Only now am I beginning to dive in and commit myself to it because I find I just prefer it over every other system I look into. I ALWAYS end up back here. Damian’s emails, blog posts and stuff inside the membership area just resonate with me much more than anything else I find.

Thank you for the very informative reply.

Hi Ross Pantell here from Breinigsville, PA. I just joined last night and very excited to get started. I am 58 years old who travels a lot internationally to Asia, Central America and Caribbean. With the safety issues going on in today’s environment it is time I learned to protect myself and family.

I am ready to go….thank you Damian for creating this program!

All the best,
Ross

Hi there, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lee Dugas, I am 52 yo, and I live in Mt Vernon, OH. I served in the Army for 13 years, and I have trained in Martial Arts (Shodokan & Tai Kwon Do) for 8 years. However, I have been out of the dojo for about 10 years and have been having the urge to get back in, getting back to a comfort level, a proficiency level terribly lately – so here I am! I have been shopping around, but just didn’t want to join any of the money sucking, belt factories. I was about to pull the trigger on a local Krav Maga school…cause I really like the philosophy of it being a “system” and NOT an “art”. I’m not looking for an art anymore, I am looking for practicality, real world, self defense….and this is what it looks like I have found. I cannot wait to get started. Thanks Damian for putting out a product much needed!
In closing, I truly think the “arts” are great for kids to teach discipline, the respect for the arts, form, etc etc . But as an adult…..you NEED real world practicality! All the Kaddas/forms will do nothing but get you hurt!

Hi Mark S Hale from Chicago! New Instructor and I am enjoying meeting and working with everyone.

Clearly, I’m a little late getting to this party. I am Nate, located in south central (Madison) Wisconsin, US. There is so much to me that I could not even begin to put it into an intro. I’m a jack of all trades, currently working private sector security. I personally believe that one aspect of personal responsibility defined is taking ownership of your personal safety. This is why I pursued becoming a SDC instructor. prior to joining, I’d been a defender and protector, painting a target on me for bullies to leave those less capable alone. This turned into that and turned into the other thing. Then, upon reviewing SDC content, and seeing the same things I know to work being so methodically trained in such a learning conducive environment, I had to jump on board. This stuff works, and I want to be able to further help others by helping you discover what will work for you and your unique personal defense needs.

Check out my instructor website with the link provided below. Thank you for joining and being a part of the best self defense solution available!

~Nate the Norseman – Level 3 SDC Instructor – “Embrace challenge”

https://bit.ly/2E2lDK2

Hi Damian,

I am Riza & I’m from the other side of the world Indonesia, I’m just a nerdy guy who got bullied & mugged a lot when I was young which made me questioned all those martial arts. Anyway, it takes me almost a lifetime but I finally find this system that actually works. Because everyone else still thinks MMA like they going to fight the streets like in an action movie.

My name is Amour Dresbach. I was in the U.S. Army, which doesn’t amount to shit when it comes to self-defense. I have learned that quite a few things mean nothing or very little when it comes to protection of self and others in my many studies and much training. Then I found The Self Defense Company, which is absolutely full of information and training and is much like the way I would establish a self defense company. I am all about efficiency, learning and teaching quickly, being educated in and training in everything related to protecting oneself and one’s property. Quite a bit of relevant information is to be found with the SDC.

Welcome to the SDC and if you ever have any questions just ask

Hello!
I am Mircea,50 years old. I am from Europe, Romania. I am interested in this kind of education.
Thank you Damian and SDTS team for your work!I believe I did not pay enough money for such a treasure of knowledge.
Hello to all my colleagues!

Welcome to the network. If you ever need any help please feel free to message me.

Hey Everyone,

I’m Brandon. I’m from Davenport, IA, USA. I am 27 years old and have been a life long practitioner of martial arts and martial concepts. I am one of the owners of a martial arts school in the area and I am always looking for new ideas myself and my students. We teach Bjj/JJJ, Muay Thai/ boxing/kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, Derobio Eskrima, Modern Arnis, Dirty Boxing, MMA and other things as well.

Welcome to the network Brandon. Glad you found us. You are definitely in the right place for ideas of things you can add to your training. I come from a traditional martial arts and combat sports background as well and you will find that learning more about combatives will be eye opening and give you a lot more to offer your students. If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our qualified instructors.

Hello to Damian [and anyone else]. Not much to say except hello from the Volunteer State. With things getting even crazier, I’m glad to have this resource… now, it’s on to accessing and using it, training honestly.

I am, too, sir. Having gone through the basic primer on combatives [and the quiz], I’m looking forward to getting into the course in its entirety. Thanks for providing this resource, by the way – I have no doubt that it will make the days ahead easier to endure… or survive, as the case may be.

Hey guys, my name is Mehrdad Rad, i just recently signed up. Whole team been really nice so far.

Ive trained muay thai for a while, well actually stopped training for a while but yea hopefully gonna get back into it. Also interested in Muay Boran which is more comprehensive fighting style, theres grappling and ground techniques as well.

Well just thought id introduce myself, and yea this combatives course and sdts seem awsome so far,

Thanks Damian and the team.

Lol thankyou sir

Hello everyone I am Garry just introducing myself here. I work and spend most of my time in the Brisbane City area with work and self defence activities in Australia. I was forced to be here some time ago due to divorce with my former wife taking the children and moving here.My residence is growing in the Eidsvold area which is rural country Queensland and I am beginning to set up classes there on my own property. I love the self defence company system and the access availability to it. I grew up with ex military personnel as family,army, navy and air force through the Australian defence force,was declared medically unfit due to a motor vehicle accident for 2 Commando Army in the military and later not able to join the Queensland police service.Odd thing is I pulled out of the Navy before my divorce due to my wife’s complaints which I would have got through, only to have a motor vehicle accident afterwards.I went through Army Cadets at school for two years. I have previous Airforce American born relatives which my relatives here left with during the second world war being part of the bomber crews which flew missions to defend Australia against the Japanese in the second world war and settled in the United States with, my father’s side of the family also has relatives in the United States from the Bronx, and California areas.
Due to growing up in a rural area and moving for work I did not get far but I have done Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Rhee Tae Kwon Do, boxing and Muay Thai,military hand to hand combat training through relatives,and besides the Self defence Company here I am currently a delta grade in Kinetic Fighting doing the civilian version of the Army Combative a Program. I am vehicle high jacking trained. And have been fire arms trained.
I can contribute survival and attack prevention thanks to the self defence company here as I have previously been a security guard, and currently stay on work related properties to prevent break ins, some of which I have calls to the police about as recent as last week with a property opposite being broken into. Being on site does not stop the theft or break in.
Since a boy I have been bashed and robbed, I remember bush hikes being shot at, people have tried to run me over in failed break ins and all I can say is the aware course and other teachings have been brilliant.This includes being followed with high theft shipments in vehicles which I have been able to use my learned skills to loose or avoid the people following me.( One case was approximately a four hour incident with off route turns to determine a possible high jacking)
Hopefully I will get better here and higher grades to be able to teach people around me to defence themselves and keep safe. Thank you.

Good morning. Yes I believe there would be no problems with that. Thank you. Anything I can do to help all too happy to.

Good morning all, Im Max. I live in Zurich,Switzerland and Im a martial arts practitioner. have a great day

• This reply was modified 1 month ago by Maximilian.

that`s right; we do Kyokushin and Ashihara here,people love it ;-)

yeah, a giant of a man.not only because of his height.Kyokushin Budokai has and still pursues a different direction

Veteran. Learned the Marine corps hand to hand years ago, and have been looking for something similar for years. Glad to be here, and ready to get back into some real self defense and combative training again.

Hi! My name is Mario and I’m a Karate black belt and also an instructor. In spite of that I’ve been feeling that I need more than karate to defend myself and my family. I’m looking forward to start learning!

Hey! I’m Mark from New Zealand. I’m here as I’ve always wanted to be able to have some self defense skills and be able to protect myself, my family and those around me if the need ever arises. I think it’s very important in this day and age to have these skills. This course looks perfect and I can’t wait to get into it!

Hi! My name is Patti and when I lived in Ohio I took a couple of self defense classes and it always interested me and I wanted to learn how to teach other women how to defend themselves. I live in Myrtle Beach now and am on the security team at my church. I’m planning on conducting classes in the church once I get comfortable with the skills I’m learning here.

I’m 72 and working out but need SD training! I have already started and the comments I read from other members indicate a great way to start and finish so even at my age I will know how to protect my wife if ever that time comes (hopefully not). I like what I have learned and the great methods you instruct for self defense! Great practical videos Damien!

Hello, fellow killers. I actually came across this company as long time ago, and have been sporadically in and out through the years. I’ve always practiced violence, and that’s never stopped.

At this point, I’ve seen all the self defense “systems” out there – more or less – and they all at least provided a few inspirational ideas for me. All I need is an inspirational trigger, and then I take that way way beyond whatever the original idea was.

My interest was never learning self defense, or martial arts. Although I’ve unofficially studied them all. My interest was and is in purely increasing my efficiency. Not increasing my “moves.”

Violence is incredibly simple. The body is simple. The only thing that matters is targets. The ultimate target is always human consciousness. Whether psychological or physical. You attack both.

Efficiency allows maximum destruction in the shortest time possible. To as many people as necessary.

I was always inspired by Old Testament Bible killers. Probably not what the preachers were going for.. King David – himself one of the greatest badasses of all time – was surrounded by maybe the most elite group of killers of any king at any time. Back when leaders did their own killing along side their men, and didn’t just waste cannon fodder without at least joining the cannon fodder.

One of his most elite guys was named Adino. This guy killed 800 guys at one time. I’ve spent quite a long time contemplating the logistics of killing 800 evil fucks at one time. By yourself. There is no martial art or self defense system that would even begin to approach giving this outcome a chance of happening.

And this was back when these guys were essentially fighting superhuman crossbreeds of humans and fallen angels – which every old civilization seems to have stories of. So their killers were even MORE bad ass. Our special forces today are infants compared to these guys.

Just thinking about it now makes me want to start smashing stuff. Whether you believe in the Bible or not – one thing the Bible is great for is describing the horrific destiny of evil men. I love that shit.

And the only times God is ever mentioned laughing in the Bible – He’s ALWAYS laughing AT evil men. Therefore, so do I, with great glee. The constant message, repeated ad nauseum is “DO NOT FEAR! HAVE NO FEAR! FEAR NOT!” While God is laughing.. In other words, evil is a joke to the righteous.

They are a joke to me. I only train to become more efficient at ending them. Which means training myself to move as flexibly as possible. Five years from now, I intend to be capable of the physical feats of circus performers. But this requires a very tedious and systemic progression of training movements. Maximum physical freedom is the goal.

I’ve changed my approach to training many times. I never stop improving and adapting. But I keep getting in better shape than I ever was younger. I honestly think when I’m sixty I’ll be even stronger and faster than I am now. There IS a way to do this. But with weights and conventual training.

As an example, many years ago I literally relearned hope to walk and run correctly. Barefoot. I only wear barefoot style shoes with zero padding or drop in them. It takes time to adapt and strengthen the feet and ankles. It was incredible to me just how horrific modern footwear is for your body, and your feet. After the change I felt twice as fast. It was a stark difference.

And I realize also that military combat boots are perhaps the worst kind of footwear imaginable. And these guys are on their feet all the time. You’re a sitting duck wearing those things. These guys should be able to hike twenty miles literally barefoot, carrying 80 pounds or whatever they need to. But you’ve got to progressively adapt from years of walking on literal crutches.

The foot is easily one of the greatest engineering marvels of all time, and once you harness that design a whole other world of movement opens up. The arch is a spring. You’re not supposed to be landing on your heels and sending all that shock into your knees and hips. The design of the foot makes this clear.

But that’s just one of many changes I’ve made. Nothing that initially appears to have anything to do with violence.

Because violence is really just the END of a movement. It’s the very LAST part of a movement when a tool goes through a target. But 99% of the movement has NOTHING to do with the violence. It just facilitate the violence. Makes it easier and more efficient. That’s why the military develops faster and more powerful missiles. The concept of hitting a target never changes – just the effectiveness and efficiency of the tool hitting the target.

The goal of any weapon is always to be unstoppable and also unavoidable.

The simplicity of violence fuels my contempt for all the fancy sounding systems of violence, martial arts, and self defense. It’s so so so simple. The training isn’t in the fancy, but in making the fundamental unstoppable and unavoidable. You elevate the butting to such a level that it becomes art.

Running is boring. Unless it’s Barry Sanders doing the running. THAT’S what I’m going for. Does Barry Sanders have secret death touch running techniques that he learned in a Shaolin temple? No, he just what LITERALLY everyone else CAN do – but he does that simple basic shit even better. His training allowed him to improvise at will. But these improvisations were NOT “moves”. They were a natural flow of movement. His training gave him a wider field of possibility with respect to movement.

Also, when your body is used to improvising in training, it will also naturally improvise under pressure. You can make up stuff without thinking because everything IS just movement. There’s only targets – which never change. And then there’s movement, which can always improve.

The targets are simple and obvious. Training freedom of movement is everything. This means strength, flexibility, balance, agility, etc etc.

So the acrobatics you see in the movies IS actually quite useful. It’s just that in the movie the guys are always being unnecessarily acrobatic when much simpler movements are way more efficient. However, having that acrobatic ABILITY is still extremely useful because it means your body can do something really weird IF it needs to.

I like to drive behind semis because it’s relaxing, and helps me to avoid road rage. The amount of disrespectful – and dangerous – drivers is incredible. All driving large, heavy weapons. In times past, if I saw some clown cutting people off and frankly endangering them, I would consider it my duty to hunt them down – safely with respect to other drivers – and then see if I could put him into the side of a bridge or something. They would discover my vehicle drifting fetish, even tho I like to drive slow and relaxed, while everyone else is running around like panicked rabbits.

And the amount of times I’ve performed involuntary “traffic stops” of everything from cars to semi-trucks to giant buses is probably well over a hundred times at this point. To inform the drivers that “courtesy is not optional.” I actually did these fairly safely, but no one expects you to actually do it so they already think you’re nuts. However I was always completely calm while approaching and talking to them. After all, I’ve got My hazards on – I’m not committing a crime here. Just taking a stroll.

But this is another reason I got into the training of Violence. Because I realized a long time that I needed to figure out some way of discriminating between those truly worthy of my wrath, and those I should ignore and extend mercy to. Otherwise, I’d be an unguided missile. This part is frankly way harder than the actual violence.

But elevating Violence to its most extreme for me has also resulted in making me more disciplined and calm in its potential usage. Because it is absolutely NOT a sport to me, I realize it’s true potential and seriousness and this actually makes me a better human being. So one person will say I’m “The greatest human being ever” (not even joking – I still can’t comprehend being thought of that way) while another person will say that I’m some kind of demon. Obviously, I only want truly bad people to think a demon is coming for them. Not good people who occasionally behave like assholes.

So my mindset is in no way self defense. If a person becomes my target then their fate is written. But I absolutely didn’t like the idea of accidentally targeting the wrong people. It’s very important to me that my targets are truly worthy. Not just assholes. There is no asshole alive who deserves what I want to give them, even if I may be tempted.

Driving in traffic has been a truly invaluable training aid for me. Because the sheer volume of truly arrogant and dangerously disrespectful people who feel safe hiding in metal cages is hard to take at times. I remember once there was a massive convoy of muscle cars – it must have been like literally 50 of these fuckers – racing down the freeway at 90+ mph. And I’m barely holding myself together imagining how many of them I could take out of i just floored it into the middle of them and start pitting guys into each other. Of course the police were likely busy swat teaming some soccer mom for turning incorrectly.

In the past, I’ve even messed with actual police cars while driving. Some of these assholes need their badges shoved up their asses. I tend to get smarter and calmer the angrier I get tho, so I would pull these things off very smoothly and then vanish.

However, what an I really going to accomplish? That client will just abuse the next guy he pulls over cuz he’ll never find me. So my focus on pure violence has also made me more in tune with the big picture.

Which is adding good to the world. I’ve struggled with coming up with a way to guide my actions. My intent has always been good. I hate bullies, I love helping the weak. There’s nothing better than bullying a bully. However, everyone is human, and good people should receive mercy and not judgment.

Initially I controlled my anger by asking myself “What am I going to DO about it?” This switches me from an emotional state to a logical state. The planning state. In the logical state I would then often realize that the offense didn’t warrant a response. And I could still keep planning theoretically anyway, just as an exercise. So that was helpful, and that was progress.

But the problem was that an offense could still potentially appear so egregious that a response seemed entirely reasonable.

So now after “What am I going to DO about it?” I also ask “Will doing this ADD good to the world?” For example, killing a guy raping a kid clearly adds good to the world.

Whereas, messing with a bad cop may not add good to the world. If that guy is still going to continue being a bad cop, obviously. Just basically reducing his already low self esteem even further does not bode well for his future victims..

Which is another lesson I’ve learned. People will act better if you make them feel better – not worse. Which ever side you encourage and speak to is more likely to come out. Victims will only victimized even more.

This again highlights the necessity of elevating violence to a pure extreme. If a person is truly bad they need to be completely removed – not just made to feel even worse, which will only increase their potential for future victimization of others.

So this is why people generally only see one of two sides of me. Either I will be pathologically encouraging them and inspiring them where I can. Or I’ll be destroying them, if that’s what’s needed. Encouragement can include telling them hard truths about their behavior – but in a manner designed to make them realize their greater potential for goodness and greatness. Because just attacking them is guaranteed to make them feel worse. And if they feel worse they will also act worse.

So I’ve learned this important truth as well. Inspire the flawed, but destroy the damned.

Obviously I’ve put way more thought into violence than the average person. But I really had no choice given my natural all or nothing approach to everything.

The ultimate goal is to add good to the world. “Self defense” in that light is kind of weak. In that situation you actually have a DUTY to destroy the evil man. This is not about SELF. This is about GOOD!

Hi My name is Robert Shaw i am 67years young , 6 years ago diagnosed with a Primary brain tumour , but hey i anit gonna let that stop me !
still working running my own small business in the UK
had to change things around a bit , still go to the gym and had a back round in karate , looking forward ton the journey guys

Hi Robert!

Being diagnosed with cancer sounds like a death threat to me. And I really, really do not like being threatened..

All enemies are the same, whether in the mind or in the body. And essentially all enemies are in the mind. So Violence begins in the mind as a merciless intolerance of anything that would seek to weaken your mind.

To this end, having a “bad” temper is an incredible asset, once it’s harnessed for good and disciplined.

I’ve torn my biceps off of both arms. The right arm maybe four or five years ago. The left arm about five months ago. My recoveries from both have made a joke of medical competence, thanks to the grace of God and my own tightly channeled rage.

The first time, some medical hack briefly put his own health in danger by suggesting that I’d only recover 60-70% of function. It never even occurs to me that I will fail because God doesn’t create losers. And I’ve walked the edge way too many times at this point in life to doubt that things always work out damn near magically for the righteous and those who keep their faith.

The first time, I stopped going to physical therapy fairly quickly after realizing what a joke it was. I was doing pull-ups six months after surgery. I started working out again – full body – four days after surgery. Including push-ups – with the cast on.

My surgeon actually called me in the middle of a workout one morning – and I was out of breath, trying to calm him down. My useless physical therapist had ratted me out like I was wanted by the FBI or something. That was her last mistake.

This last time, I tore my left bicep off my arm – working out Thanksgiving morning no less – I think the devil likes to test your resolve, eh? Still thankful, motherfucker?

Oh, yeah, cuz if it doesn’t matter NOW then it doesn’t really matter, does it?

This time, after surgery, I took NO medications of ANY kind following surgery. NOTHING the guy prescribed. Which frankly looked horrific if you read the inserts. No pain meds, no antibiotics, no nothin.

I understood the importance of pain as a training aid. Pain increases safety. If I can fully feel my arm, then I’m more in tune with it and I can feel how much I can push it.

The first time – when I tore my bicep off my tight arm – they gave me a nerve blocker prior to surgery. Not second time. The nerve blocker, to me, was scarier than any pain because I could not feel my arm at all – for awhile after surgery. Did not like that feeling.

After the second surgery five months ago, I walked out of the hospital and literally never saw or spoke to my surgeon again. I never so much as spoke to another medical person again. I had learned from the first time.

The medical profession is good for surgery. That’s it. Reattach my bicep, thank you – now fuck off.

Other than that, these people are damn near criminally incompetent with respect to health, rehabilitation and competence. I’ve been designing and doing unusual training programs for myself since I was a kid. I have a practical, non professional understanding of the human body. Which is also useful for actual violence.

Working out is basically controlled Violence against yourself, after all.

People say doctors are little better than drug dealers. True. But they’re actually far worse than street dealers because they essentially specialize in telling you how fucked you are. And because you’re fucked – like some hack internet marketing scam – you need to be drugged and spend 20 years in rehab. Our medical system is one of the greatest con games of all time. Leading cause of death, I have zero doubt.

Health and recovery begins in the mind, and it is your mind that these people ruthlessly assault. They deserve no respect for this. You gonna spend ten plus years of your life becoming a “professional”.. to do this? Like you’re stupid? Like you never guessed that these meds aren’t exactly healthy? Like telling people they’re fucked will accelerate their healing? I take it personal..

Brainwashed automatons who follow orders do not take me to my happy place.

So this second time, I started working out the second day after surgery. Whole body, including the arm. First day after surgery was rough due to the pain, but I let it go, and felt awesome a day later.

The thing with injury is that you MUST at least begin MOVING the injured area immediately. Imagine pulling a muscle and then you sit on the couch all day. It stiffens up, gets even tighter, and it’s way way more painful when you get off the couch.

You’ve got to keep it moving, and the blood flowing. “Movement is Medicine.”

Training an injured area and training in general is all the same. It’s just progressive stress applied by a progressive series of movements. I violated this principle when I tore my bicep by unnecessarily overloading it.

Which inspired another saying I have now: “Less for longer gets you stronger.”

There’s the saying, “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast,” to which I will add the corollary, “Slow is smooth, and smooth is STRONG.”

If you can do a tough movement very slowly, then you’re way stronger than someone who has to do it fast. By this I also discovered the myth of “quick twitch” muscle fibers. Because I have become way faster by going way slower. It’s counterintuitive.

It’s also way healthier for your ligaments, and also makes your ligaments way stronger. Because muscle strength grows faster than ligament strength, which is got you tear ligaments when the muscle strength overloads the ligament strength. You see this with athletes all the time. They look strong, but aren’t as strong as they look.

Whereas people like gymnasts and circus performers tend to have incredible ligament strength when you consider that they’re putting insane amount of loads of their joints that far exceed any weight you could lift in a weight room. I suspect this principle is the real secret of martial arts as initially conceived – and some of the weird training you hear about.

Flexibility is also critical because strength is applied through a range of motion. So you want to increase strength through the greatest range of motion possible, progressively.

My previous strength and flexibility no doubt aided the speed of my recovery. But the most important thing for me was only listening to myself, and ignoring and voice of doubt.

A month after surgery I tiled a basement of 500 sqft with 12×24 large format tiles. Mostly one armed, but using the injured arm as well. The tiles weighed 8lbs each, and the movement was a part of my “rehab.” That was slow and tedious, but I wasn’t exactly doing much at the time and was helping someone out.

Two and a half months after surgery I was carrying 120lbs of Luxury Vinyl Plank up stairways and laying about 1400 sqft. I had previously agreed to do this for someone and wanted to make sure it got done. I don’t usually do flooring – it just worked out that way. No doubt part of the Grand Design, if you will, because it was a great addition to my “rehab.”

Now, I’m almost fully back, doing pull-ups and everything else. But the interesting thing is that I can feel that my capacity for strength is far greater than before. So when I reach my previous state – I’ll actually still be behind!

Every surgery I’ve had – bicep or otherwise – has ultimately made me stronger. It’s important to understand that recovery doesn’t not mean merely attaining what was lost but – gaining even MORE!

IF – you view it THAT way.

Aside from the surgeries over the years, I have lost count of the numerous physical ailments I have overcome with enraged positivity, if there’s such a thing. I literally keep telling my ailments to die and to fuck off – until they do.

I once sprained my back. Quite painful. And pain makes me quite angry. I decided to do push-ups out of spite. That was very painful, but pain mixed with anger creates a very pure kind of focus. The back pain never came back after that.

My point is that whatever your problem is can go fuck itself. And I’ve always had another personal favorite saying:

“The existence of a problem is PROOF of the existence of the solution.”

So Rejoice! Celebrate! It’s gonna be WAY better than you EVER thought it could possibly be. You WILL overcome. You WILL recover ALL. You WILL destroy your enemy.

So you can see how this mindset so easily transfers to the arena of actual violence. If my ailments were people, just imagine what they would look like when I was done winning. So it will be for you.

Why? Cuz I just fuckin said so.

Also, when recovering, absolutely be ruthless about who you let TALK to you. The worst people – however well meaning they think they are – are the ones with pity.

It was amazing to me the first time I tore my right bicep how damn near every person was basically acting like it had happened to them! Fearful. Full of pity. What?! They had ZERO clue what I was actually thinking about it.

Which is one of the reasons I keep saying that empathy is a mental illness. I don’t need “empathy,” I need overwhelming destruction. Empathy is a projection of your OWN fears onto others. Very dangerous. Very delusional. You cannot allow these people to influence you.

The single, only, and greatest response to my first bicep tear was this Russian guy I knew who immediately started making fun of my injury in vulgar terms which I will not repeat here for your delicate ears.

I loved that shit. Injury?! What injury? Just some more ass to kick.

I find that I think foreigners seem to be mentally tougher than Americans, who seem to increasingly be very weak individuals to me. I can’t say for sure, because anecdotal evidence isn’t really evidence.

Nevertheless, during recovery – which is essentially all of life – you must NOT tolerate the mental input of the fearful and the full of pity. The victims. Who feel like victims – even if they’re just LOOKING at OTHER people who LOOK like victims to THEM!

This tells me something about how these people think about EVERYTHING. However, my faith in God – in the Flow of Perfect Good – is not church faith. It’s real world, destroying enemies, faith. Not lip service. Actual respect. I feel I have a duty to overcome. God doesn’t create losers.

So I may be a little over zealous and crazy at times, but this is FAR better than surrender. I have been in the edge of complete disaster way too many times to doubt at this point. Things ALWAYS work out. They NEVER work out how I plan them, but I KNOW they WILL work out.

Do not doubt. Do not fear. Celebrate! If you can celebrate BEFORE the enemy is crushed then it is a harbinger to then of their impending doom. You don’t even have to know how.

The Flow of Perfect Good is ALWAYS moving through you. It’s always working. It is, in fact, the NATURAL state of reality is you let it flow unimpeded.

I shouldn’t be alive. I shouldn’t be able to move around. I should be a complete disaster.

Everything in this world appears designed to destroy your faith. So feel the rage, but channel it into useful Good.

I was just talking to a friend. We were commenting on the fact that our tempers were even worse now, but just more highly controlled. Instead of maybe a forest fire burning everything when we were younger, now I feel like I’m carrying around Ironman’s Ark reactor, or something. I feel the power, but it’s increasingly stable.

The more stable and more controlled – the more powerful when unleashed. Because you’re not bleeding energy all the time.

If you think about – serenity IS the most powerful state of mind precisely because it is the most difficult state of mind. To be calm requires more power than being agitated. So controlled rage is actually a kind of super serenity. It’s so focused that it appears to others at complete calmness.

In a sense then, it’s just KNOWING.. Victory is inevitable. It WILL happen. It IS flowing. Now, and forever.

So do not permit others to infect you with anything less than total and overwhelming triumph.

It’s called the Grace of God because you can’t earn it. Only believe it. It does the work for you and thru you. You are merely a vessel.

Cancer is just a lie. It’s just a temptation. It’s just an attempted mind rape. It’s just a failure. It’s just your bitch.

I tore my left bicep “Thanksgiving” morning.. Coincidence? Someone wants to see just how I serious I really am..

However serious I was before.. That was nothing. That was just the preamble, and that was just the warmup..

So just imagine leaping thru the side of cancer’s neck with a giant pipe wrench, at full acceleration and with perfect balance..

Does anything feel better than THAT?

Hi Guys , love these replies
When i was told i had a brain tumour my survival instincts kicked in immediately , this illness wasnt going to define me
ya i did tell it to fuck off , how dare it invade my body , with a positive mental attitude it is possible to put a defence against illness of this kind , and also not to take all the drugs they tell you to have , sometimes the drugs side effects are more dangerous than the ruddy illness !

Hi everyone. Rodolfo here. Former Hapkido practitioner. Happy to be part of the SDC Community.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Stuart. I am an American living in Thailand. I have been in Thailand since April 2015. I’m originally from Oregon. I teach English at a university here, and I have been happily married to a Thai lady since 2016. I was in the US Navy back from 1983 – 1989 and was stationed on the USS Midway (CV-41) which is now a museum in San Diego. After the USS Midway, I got stationed for three years at Subic Bay in the Philippines.

It was during my time in the Philippines that I became interested in the martial arts. I took classes off-base in Shotokan Karate for a few months, and I had quite a large collection of books on various martial arts styles. Over time, I stopped practicing.

Fast forward to now, I saw the ad for this course offered by the Self Defense Company. For whatever reason, I had always thought that grappling was the most effective way to fight, probably from influences from MMA fights I’ve seen on TV. I was surprised from the ad how it explained how grappling is NOT very effective and could make things worse (I have not rolled over a small tree stump before, but I cringe at the thought).

Anyway, the ad rekindled my interest in self-defense and what it takes to be most effective at it, so here I am. Although this area of Thailand where I live is very safe, you just never know when something crazy might happen. My wife does not know how to defend herself yet, and I hope to show her a few things after I finish the course.

Stuart