A lot of people have a lot to say about Tony Blauer. For me personal, it was Blauer who first really pointed out to me as a martial arts practitioner 25 years ago the difference between the dojo and the street. At the police academy we did a lot of good solid drills like bear hug drills and variations, action is faster than reaction drills, high gear ballistic micro fights, stimulus cue drills and so on. Today there is more and more research about startle responses, reaction time and LEO neuro-physiology. See for example the updated ‘Modified RT paradigm considering the startle response’ from Dr. Bill Lewinski and Force Science. For me at that time (20 years ago) things like how human biology responds to an ‘ambush’, startle response, the flinch and the transition from physiology to tactics were insights I first heard from Blauer. Within LEO training in the Netherlands, his ideas ended up in the curriculum for IBT teachers. Blauer is full of stories and even more ‘maxims’ so soon 2 hours passed. I hope you enjoy this non scripted conversation as much as I do.
Topics in the conversation
About getting older and the original vision and insights
The original acronym SPEAR
The neurobiology of a fight
Action is faster than reaction
About martial arts for personal development
Gamification
How far can you go in training?
Know fear
Theory of Presumed compliance
Situational awareness
The method
True safety model
Intuition
Startle respons (and recent study of force science)
Biological airbag
Jack in the box
Instincts, intuition, intelligence
Fear
The 21 Foot Rule
Distraction is real / reaction time OODA
The human weapon system as an operating system
Violence loves speed
Cycle of behavior
The time line of violence
The crucial role of context
What to train (not what is possible but what is probable)
You do what you do most
Live action response drills
What would you do against lapel grab?
The essential question: what is the scenario
12 scenario’s in an hour or more / short scenario’s
Problem solving
What drive’s Tony?
When is the book coming?
Advice for new trainers
Do the work! (and meeting Steven Pressfield)