By Joel Persinger
All of my life I have heard it said that “the bigger they are, the harder they fall”. Well my friend, I have news for you. The truth is this… the bigger they are, the harder they hit! In fact, let’s take it a bit further by saying that the bigger they are the harder it is for the smaller person to survive.
Here’s what I mean. Given equal skill levels a 225lb man will overwhelm a 150lb man or woman. Take this even further and say that a 350lb football player will likely defeat a 225lb black belt. I should know, I am a 225lb black belt who would not want to be facing a 350lb football player in a fight.
Having said all this, the simple message is “even the odds”. One of my favorite quotes is “They say God made all men and Sam Colt made ‘em equal”. If given the choice I will never fight anyone regardless of size without an equalizer of some sort. It may be a knife, gun, broom handle or a metal folding chair but you can bet I’m going to cut, shoot or smack him with something big! As my martial arts buddy and fellow instructor, David Collins, is fond of saying “cheat first, cheat last and cheat in the middle”.
Video Clips
Staying safe with the 3 A's
Empty hand defense
Basic knife defense
What we teach
We teach martial arts as a self-protection tool to be used in real world 21st century situations. Skills taught include:
- Firearms training (Handgun, Carbine, Shotgun)
- OC Pepper Spray
- Empty hand fighting
- Knife fighting
- Stick fighting
- Use of improvised weapons
Firearms Training:
Classes Taught by NRA Certified Firearms Instructors Include:
- NRA Home Firearms Safety
- NRA Refuse to be a Victim
- NRA First Steps (Pistol, Rifle & Shotgun)
- NRA Basic Pistol
- NRA Basic Rifle
- NRA Basic Shotgun
- NRA Personal Protection in the Home
- NRA Personal Protection Outside the Home
- NRA Metallic Cartridge Reloading
- NRA Shotgun Shell Reloading
Classes are available for everyone from beginners to experienced shooters. For experience shooters, we are currently developing high level tactical, force on force training using airsoft as well.
Basic Self-Defense Seminar:
Mike Ritz designed and teaches self-defense classes for the average person who wants to have some basic tools to use in defending themselves. These classes provide you with the understanding, attitude and tools you will need to keep yourself and your family safe.
Advanced Self Protection:
This set of courses is for those who want more than a basic class can offer. It takes time and effort to learn. A student who wishes to learn how to protect against violence must be prepared for the long hall. Learning to defend against actual physical violence takes time, patience, practice and effort. We have never found a short path that did not lead to disaster.
Training and practice:
We start with two thoughts in mind:
1. The way you train is the way you will fight.
2. Fighting isn’t pretty and losing is not an option.
Sparing:
In order to win you have to be able to give punishment and to take punishment without crumbling. So, we spar often and use minimum protective gear. If you get hit, it hurts. That’s how you learn not to get hit and not to fall apart when you do. This also prepares you for the dump of adrenalin you will receive from your body if you find yourself in a real fight. Unless you train in an adrenal state, your training will be useless when a real fight comes. Bruises from a friend will help you avoid broken bones from an enemy.
Fighting to win:
We don’t fight to be fair. We fight to win. There is no such thing as a fair fight in the real world. There are only those who walk away and those who don’t. Consequently, we don’t fight fair. We cheat and we fight dirty. If you’re not cheating, you’re not fighting.
It works or it doesn’t work:
There are many body styles and each one is different. Additionally, each of us has different strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, what works for a 51 years old, 6’2”, 220lbs male may not work for a 25 year old, 5’4”, 150lb female and vice versa. Our training focuses on what works, not on what doesn’t.
No Belts:
This is not Kid’s Karate and we do not award belts. You learn what you learn when you learn it. When you have learned it you will know. That is all that matters.
No Secret Techniques:
We have no secret techniques that only the masters know. If you are of good character and you stay with us long enough you will learn everything we have to teach. We hold nothing back.
Instructors:
There are four instructors, all of whom have the ability to teach the entire curriculum. They are as follows:
Head Instructor (Stick/Knife) - Guru Mike Ritz
Head Instructor (Empty hand) - Guru Greg Moody
Head Instructor (Firearms) - Joel Persinger
Instructor (Stick/Knife) - David Collins
- Firearms training (Handgun, Carbine, Shotgun)
- OC Pepper Spray
- Empty hand fighting
- Knife fighting
- Stick fighting
- Use of improvised weapons
Firearms Training:
Classes Taught by NRA Certified Firearms Instructors Include:
- NRA Home Firearms Safety
- NRA Refuse to be a Victim
- NRA First Steps (Pistol, Rifle & Shotgun)
- NRA Basic Pistol
- NRA Basic Rifle
- NRA Basic Shotgun
- NRA Personal Protection in the Home
- NRA Personal Protection Outside the Home
- NRA Metallic Cartridge Reloading
- NRA Shotgun Shell Reloading
Classes are available for everyone from beginners to experienced shooters. For experience shooters, we are currently developing high level tactical, force on force training using airsoft as well.
Basic Self-Defense Seminar:
Mike Ritz designed and teaches self-defense classes for the average person who wants to have some basic tools to use in defending themselves. These classes provide you with the understanding, attitude and tools you will need to keep yourself and your family safe.
Advanced Self Protection:
This set of courses is for those who want more than a basic class can offer. It takes time and effort to learn. A student who wishes to learn how to protect against violence must be prepared for the long hall. Learning to defend against actual physical violence takes time, patience, practice and effort. We have never found a short path that did not lead to disaster.
Training and practice:
We start with two thoughts in mind:
1. The way you train is the way you will fight.
2. Fighting isn’t pretty and losing is not an option.
Sparing:
In order to win you have to be able to give punishment and to take punishment without crumbling. So, we spar often and use minimum protective gear. If you get hit, it hurts. That’s how you learn not to get hit and not to fall apart when you do. This also prepares you for the dump of adrenalin you will receive from your body if you find yourself in a real fight. Unless you train in an adrenal state, your training will be useless when a real fight comes. Bruises from a friend will help you avoid broken bones from an enemy.
Fighting to win:
We don’t fight to be fair. We fight to win. There is no such thing as a fair fight in the real world. There are only those who walk away and those who don’t. Consequently, we don’t fight fair. We cheat and we fight dirty. If you’re not cheating, you’re not fighting.
It works or it doesn’t work:
There are many body styles and each one is different. Additionally, each of us has different strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, what works for a 51 years old, 6’2”, 220lbs male may not work for a 25 year old, 5’4”, 150lb female and vice versa. Our training focuses on what works, not on what doesn’t.
No Belts:
This is not Kid’s Karate and we do not award belts. You learn what you learn when you learn it. When you have learned it you will know. That is all that matters.
No Secret Techniques:
We have no secret techniques that only the masters know. If you are of good character and you stay with us long enough you will learn everything we have to teach. We hold nothing back.
Instructors:
There are four instructors, all of whom have the ability to teach the entire curriculum. They are as follows:
Head Instructor (Stick/Knife) - Guru Mike Ritz
Head Instructor (Empty hand) - Guru Greg Moody
Head Instructor (Firearms) - Joel Persinger
Instructor (Stick/Knife) - David Collins
Our philosophy
We believe in personal responsibility, integrity and honesty. We teach our students to avoid fighting, but train them to fight well in case they ever need to. The three A’s are key to our teaching.
[The Three A’s]
· Awareness
· Attitude
· Avoid trouble
Fighting philosophy:
We teach physical self-protection for the purpose of giving our students the tools needed to protect themselves against others who do not share our desire to avoid violence. Once a violent confrontation has become unavoidable, we are best served by remembering the FHFO principle. If we are forced to use violence, we chose to protect, not defend. We strike FIRST, HARD, FAST & OFTEN until the attacker's will to continue has left him.
While the FHFO approach is politically incorrect, it has been my experience that adopting a purely defensive posture and waiting for the aggressor to strike, often results in serious injury to the defender. That is why we adopted the theory of "stealing the aggression." We strike first, hard, fast & often in order to overwhelm our attacker. We do not simply defend against the attack, we attack it! In doing so, we steal our attacker's aggression and put him on the defensive.
[The Three A’s]
· Awareness
· Attitude
· Avoid trouble
Fighting philosophy:
We teach physical self-protection for the purpose of giving our students the tools needed to protect themselves against others who do not share our desire to avoid violence. Once a violent confrontation has become unavoidable, we are best served by remembering the FHFO principle. If we are forced to use violence, we chose to protect, not defend. We strike FIRST, HARD, FAST & OFTEN until the attacker's will to continue has left him.
While the FHFO approach is politically incorrect, it has been my experience that adopting a purely defensive posture and waiting for the aggressor to strike, often results in serious injury to the defender. That is why we adopted the theory of "stealing the aggression." We strike first, hard, fast & often in order to overwhelm our attacker. We do not simply defend against the attack, we attack it! In doing so, we steal our attacker's aggression and put him on the defensive.
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