Charles Nelson Self Defense System

[Carlos Lozada]

I want to know different people opinion about the CNSDS and does it come close to the SDTS?

[James Goolsby]

Carlos,

[Damian Ross] would be a much better person to answer this as his is the most familiar with the WWII Combatives material. However, for my own .02 cents, from what I have seen of Nelson’s material it is fairly similar to all the rest. He advocates things like edge-of-hand and whatnot. Although, having said this, I have noticed that some of his material can get a bit “complicated”. For example, a few of his knife defenses probably would’t work too well in a full speed application (at least not without a lot of training.)

For me, the biggest reason I stick with Damian is his teaching method. He explains everything to me like I’m a 3 year old — and that’s NOT a bad thing, lol — and I have virtually immediate access to him through the forum if something is still not clear. Of course, this does not mean we can’t supplement our SDTS with other material like Nelson’s. Heck, Damian even supplies a ton of supplements in our Insider library.

You would certainly do well to look at all material that comes across your desk, but I think if you make SDTS your “core” and filter all else through that lens you won’t go wrong.

Stay safe.

[Dallas Williams]

[Dallas Williams]

[Dallas Williams]

You can see here an example of what James is talking about in these videos. 1st video is Charles Nelson’s defense against a knife threat, at 1:13 is Damian Ross’s defense against the same attack. While both of these are good tactics wouldn’t you agree that Damian’s version of knife defense is much simpler and will work in real life with much less training and practice in comparison to Charles’? As James said the CNSDS is good and is based on what Charlie learned from WW2 combatives pioneers like William Fairbairn, Eric Sykes, and Rex Applegate as well as some elements of Aikido, Tai Chi, and Chinese/Mongolian wrestling( I know I’ve never heard of it either until I watched Charlie’s videos). And much of what we do in the SDTS is derived from Charlie’s system and WW2 combatives, but what Damian has done with the SDTS is eliminate much of the complicated fine motor skill and grappling based techniques that Charlie Nelson and the other earlier WW2 combat instructors still held onto and taught and left us with only the most brutal, effective, and most importantly simple tactics that will still work and can be applied to a wide variety of situations with just a minimal amount of training and can easily be performed under stress at full speed. Just as you see in Damian’s demonstration here, we use basically the same technique and strikes for pretty much any way someone could approach or attack you and just adapt them to the given situation rather than having to learn hundreds of specific defenses to pair with each individual situation that could occur. This is why the SDTS is superior to martial arts and other reality based self defense systems including the CNSDS when it comes to pure non nonsense self defense.

[Carlos Lozada]

I got one more question totally off this topic but why in our insider library we have articles on brazilian jiu jitsu to supplement our training aren’t we against that type of ground fighting if what we do is covered in module 3

If you Dallas or anyone else could explain would really appreciate it. Thanks

Carlos

[Damian (Instructor)]

@Carlos Lozada said:

I got one more question totally off this topic but why in our insider library we have articles on brazilian jiu jitsu to supplement our training aren’t we against that type of ground fighting if what we do is covered in module 3
If you Dallas or anyone else could explain would really appreciate it. Thanks
Carlos

My opinion on this is that why not look it over. It’s not a bad idea I see and maybe learn what other arts offer. Think of it this way you wind up in a street fight with a mma guy and he starts doing BJJ on you. You already know thru the SDTS how to defend it but you can always get caught in a hold. Just bite claw and chew your way out of it. Plus some of the throws from judo are very helpful and you learn those in mod 10 I believe.

[Dallas Williams]

When I was talking to Damian myself and asked him if he recommended supplementing the SDTS with anything else, he said that Judo, Sambo, even BJJ were good to train in also. He said that for the most part the SDTS modules 3 and 10 give you everything you need to know about groundfighting, throws, and takedowns but if you choose a martial art to pursue as a hobby or even to compete that those 3 were the best and had the most practical applications to real life situations that can occur on the street. He said a lot of the throws and takedowns from judo and sambo are good additions to the arsenal of takedowns we already learn in module 10. And that regarding BJJ, while we don’t rely on and try to avoid grappling when groundfighting and mainly just use weapons, biting, gouging, and striking to better our position to get back to our feet or finish him on the ground, he said that just rolling around on the mat and practicing escaping from and pulling off submissions and getting used to fighting and performing from a variety of positions in relationship to our opponent on the ground can help us get used to fighting from there and better aid us in being able to establish a dominant position over our opponent and better able to pull off the tactics given in the SDTS. Again, he said that the SDTS is a complete self defense system and gives you the potential and ability to deal with most any type of attack or altercation that can occur in real life, however if you simply wanted to train in a martial art either as a hobby, to compete, or simply supplement the SDTS that those three martial arts are the best.

[James Goolsby]

I agree with everything said here.

As most of you know, you will not find a bigger Damian Ross disciple than myself, but I’ll admit there is something to be said about having actual bodies to train with, especially when it comes to the ground fighting and throws. However, if you do decide to supplement with something like BJJ (for example), just remember that what you are learning is sport orientated and not necessarily for self defense. It would be good stuff for practicing things like balance, positioning, and basic throws. Just don’t get so caught up in it that you begin applying arm bars and triangle chokes in the middle of a street fight… that’s a good way to get your head stomped in by his buddies! Remember, there isn’t a referee out there to blow a whistle or pull the guy off you when it starts to go south. There’s no such thing as tapping in the street, so we gotta get it right the first time!

Stick with SDTS for your foundation and just use the other for supplement if you think you need it.

[Damian (Instructor)]

Right [James Goolsby].

Look, I loved elements of my martial arts experience. The grappling arts work (besides everything that’s mentioned) because they don’t interfere as much with the MO of the SDTS.

I would caution about BJJ for two reasons.
1. You become comfortable going to your back and going to the ground.
2. You train to wait (no sense of urgency).

Don’t get me wrong, there are A LOT of guys in Judo who hit the ground and just stop because in 5 seconds they’re back on their feet. But if trained correctly like my friend David Ellis, you can really crank on the ground.

There are two things you need out of grappling – sense of urgency and work to gain a position of advantage.

Wrestling provides this but you also get in the habit of giving up your back.

Judo will have that urgency on your feet and if trained properly will give you what you need – but you still need to anchor your training in the SDTS.

[Carlos Lozada]

I get the Bjj the other arts are to supplement my training in the SDTS but not something I should rely on as self defense

[Carlos Lozada]

Thanks guys for your opinion

ohh and where do I go to check to see my fellow SDTS Legion members training in my area

[Damian (Instructor)]

The best thing to do is look for instructors at http://www.teachselfdefense.com (all of that will be migrated over here at some point)
The other thing to do is post a request in the General Discussion area Subject: Training Group in YOUR TOWN.

Next thing you can do is create your own training group.

Become an affiliate
Post a meet up and require people to become members. Using your affiliate link so you can get commission
Then schedule a Meet up

Does that help Carlos?

[Author]

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