Hey Everyone. I will be doing a seminar in the northern Detroit suburb of Shelby Township on October 4-5, 2025. I will be doing two different one day (9 hours per day) clinics.

The first day will be a live fire range class where we look at the fundamental skill of using a revolver for self-preservation, especially in a concealed carry context.

The second day will be a really deep dive in the standing entangled fight. How to not get taken down, not get knocked out, and how to control and dominate against a bigger, stronger opponent.

Neither of the days require any experience. For the live fire day, I only require that you are safe with your gun handling, and have some training in drawing from a concealed holster. For the non live fire Standing Grappling day, no experience needed at all, and any physical capability is welcomed. You will be able to work at the pace and pressure you are comfortable with.

Cost for each day individually is $200, and for the entire weekend, it is $350. For any questions, you can message me, or contact me the host direct at 586-322-4135.

Critical Revolver Defense

This comprehensive course is designed for anyone interested in learning how to effectively use a revolver for self-defense. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refine your skills, this class will teach you the essential techniques and safety protocols to responsibly and confidently carry and operate a revolver in self-defense situations.

The class will cover best practices for shooting revolvers ranging from short barreled snubs to duty size guns, how to run a double action trigger under stress, shooting from compressed and extended positions, contextual carry methods, cleaning and maintenance considerations, and the different options to keep the gun reloaded.

Students should bring 300 rounds of ammo, a small cleaning kit to include a brush, any holster you want to work with, and any reloading equipment you have. A non-firing training gun would be extremely helpful, though a few loaners will be available.

Course Highlights:

Firearm Safety: Understanding the fundamental principles of gun safety to ensure responsible use.

Reloading Techniques: Learn how to reload your revolver efficiently under stress, ensuring you’re always prepared for an emergency.

Carrying Methods: Explore different ways to safely and comfortably carry your revolver, whether concealed or open, and understand the legal and practical considerations.

Shooting from Retention: Master the critical skill of shooting from close retention, a vital technique for defending yourself in close-quarters encounters.

By the end of the course, participants will have the skills and confidence to safely handle and deploy a revolver for self-defense, while understanding the importance of ongoing training and responsibility.

Immediate Action Pugilism

Clinch and Striking for Self-Preservation in the Weapons Based Environment

Sometimes, in order to defend ourselves and our loved ones, the only tool we might have to rely on is our own body. Even if you have external weapons, you might not be able to access them. Your safety may come down to how well you can survive a hand-to-hand confrontation. The Immediate Action Pugilism course is designed to give the layman a realistic and functional set of concepts, techniques, methodologies, training drills and experiences that will prepare them for a worst case H2H scenario. All techniques and concepts are high percentile applications which span a wide spectrum of confrontations. Training consists of presentation, drilling and Force-On-Force evolutions providing attendees with immediate feedback regarding the efficacy of the skills learned. The goal of this course is not to create a professional boxer or MMA competitor. The objective is to provide attendees who have limited training time and resources with solid fundamentals geared toward the increasingly violent weapon based environments they may live, work and/or travel within.

All the techniques presented are based on orthodox and MMA boxing methods and are the best, most functional and high percentage moves and tactics available

These methods are for everyone regardless of physical condition – young, old, male, female, athlete or not – You DO NOT have to be a professional fighter to perform at a functional level. This will be a class about physical training, but it is NOT boot camp. Participants may go at the pace that is comfortable for them, while trying to push the envelope of their own individual performance.

Requirements: loose, comfortable but durable clothes, mouthpiece, cup, notebook, and an open mind. Boxing or MMA gloves are strongly encouraged, but are not mandatory.

Immediate Action Pugilism is divided into modules that address specific situations. Seminars/training can be customized to fit your needs by arranging for the appropriate modules to be covered. Among the topics covered by the modules include:

Why & How to use Clinch & Striking in a WBE

Underlying Concepts and Mindset

Dealing with the Sucker Punch/Ambush

Default Cover/ Modified Helmet

Regaining the Initiative from a Deficit

Controlling the Entanglement

Close Quarter Fighting: attached and unattached

Disengaging from the Clinch

In-Fight Weapon Access from the Clinch

Keeping the Fight Standing

Individual & Partner Drills

Gradual Immersion into Pressure Testing

Performance Coaching and Troubleshooting

Suggestions for Solo Training

As someone who strongly advocates BJJ as a backbone art for a good base in self-defense, I am often asked what the benefits are. The obvious one is being able to fight well on the ground. However, BJJ goes far beyond that. One thing is does better than almost any other single activity is getting you mentally and emotionally prepared for the fight.

One of the biggest issues that can occur when you find yourself assaulted is that by definition, things are not going your way. Perhaps we let our situational awareness lapse, perhaps we did not realize that the person we were in range of was a violent criminal actor (VCA) because he was using a ruse, perhaps we happened to be injured or ill at the time of attack, or a myriad of reasons put us in a bad place. Regardless of how we got to that place, said place is going to be uncomfortable – physically, mentally, and emotionally. And, unfortunately, the typical gun-centric range training most of us engage in doesn’t do anything at all to prepare us for that level of pressure. It is just not possible to do so when there is not a living, breathing, resisting opponent who is determined to win and that we must lose.

One solution to this is what is called Force-on-Force training. Typically it uses marking cartridges such as Simunitions or UTM to have a pain penalty that is still safe. The gold standard for this type of training is Craig Douglas’ ECQC course (www.shivworks.com). This is terrifically useful and much needed, but there is a large drawback – it is hard to conduct such training more than once in awhile. Not only is it expensive to have guns that can use these cartridge’s, but the ammo is as well, and you also have to have good protective equipment like good helmets. It also can’t be conducted in too many places outside of a shooting range (while these rounds are not lethal, they do pack a punch and can damage surrounding structures and bystanders quite easily). And on top of all of that, it is incredibly demanding physically. A couple of hours of this kind of training will leave most people exhausted. Even for top athletes it would be tough to do more than on occasion.

However, the parts that are so valuable – the dealing with a resisting opponent and the physical, mental, and emotional pressures that are needed – can be more easily done in a BJJ academy. In every single moment you are on the mats there, you are going to be dealing with this type of situation. In a very short period of time, getting squashed underneath someone who outweighs you by 80 pounds becomes just another day. It does not exactly become ho hum, nor does it become comfortable. But it does help you lose the sense of dread and helplessness, and that feeling is something that stays with you no matter what, and that you will be able to draw on when you are being attacked for real. And the best part is that because the pressure can be adjusted in training, you can work like this hours at a time, day after day and be no worse for the wear.

I have said multiple times that BJJ gives the multi-disciplinary thinking tactician more bang for the buck than any other modality out there. Period. And getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is one of the, if not the single most useful.

When I started my Martial Arts/Self-defense odyssey some 45 years ago (this July will be 46 years), I was obsessed with getting better and I thought the main way to do so was train a lot and with a lot of instructors. Just find the best teachers, and do whatever it takes to be able to train with them, and carve out as much time as possible to practice.

As a ridiculously poor high school and later college student, I was scrimping pennies and selling blood and plasma to get enough money to make monthly trips to southern California to train with top people for an entire weekend, from Friday night to late Sunday afternoon. Then when I got back, my life revolved around blocking out time to train and practice what I learned, and even to teach. I passed up going to parties at times, or seeing cool local bands like the Gin Blossoms at local clubs (I did see them a couple of times, but not as often as I could have. I literally lived about a mile away from a club they played regularly), or even ticking off women I was dating who could not understand why I could not meet them at the bar on Tuesday night because I had a three hour session of sparring and hitting the Thai pads. I lost two girls that way, and I don’t regret either. If they could not understand what was important to me, then there was zero chance a relationship would have worked out. I even quit my part time job at Kentucky Fried Chicken, where I had worked for four years and could write my own schedule, because it was starting to interfere with my workouts. 

Then after a bit of maturity and seasoning by life, I realized that pathway was not available or even applicable to most people, myself included. Getting married, having kids, having to work to make money and keep a roof over my family’s head or food on the table tended to take needed time and energy away from training. My first job as a married man and father had me working 55 hours a week. So I began to realize that the way to long term success had more to do with consistency, and the idea that just putting time in and punching the clock allowed you to make that trip down the mastery road while staying in the real world. If all you could do was go to the gym once a week, then go to the gym once a week no matter what, and put in 100% effort. And that would keep you moving down the path. It might take you far longer to get “good” than your buddy who goes to the gym five days a week, but who cares? His journey is his, and your journey is yours. The important thing is to keep going. 

Now, I still think this plan is correct, but as I continue down this road, I realized it lacks some nuance. The part I think I fell down conceptually on is the effort aspect. While putting in 100% is ideal, the fact is that life has a tendency to get in the way. After a really tough day at your job, with clients yelling at you, and your boss riding your posterior, and worrying about how your kid is doing in school, and why your wife has seemed so distant the past few weeks, can you truly put in that full effort? Of course not, it is impossible for almost anyone. Recently I went through this on a really deep and extended level. From late 2023 through most of 2024, because of a family medical situation, not only was I running a BJJ academy full-time, I was also a full time caregiver, cook, maid, launderer, handyman, etc. I had so little spare time or energy to do much else.

So I have come to the conclusion that the only realistic way to get better at almost anything is this – JUST SHOW UP. Go and show up at the gym, or the golf course, or pick up that musical instrument, or get to the shooting range, and do the best you can. If one day the best you can muster is just going through the motions, fine. Sometimes when you are lifting the weights, you barely move much and do maybe 3 sets with minimal reps. Maybe your dry fire practice session is you mentally not even being there and you spend five minutes just vacuously going through the motions. It doe snot matter. Don’t let that impact the effort to go to the next session. Again, just show up. Put in the maximum effort that you can muster, and keep at it. You might be going through a long plateau or valley where it seems like you will never get better or have total focus, but that day will come AS LONG AS YOU KEEP SHOWING UP. The day you don’t show up is the only day of failure. And more importantly, each day you miss makes it easier to get knocked off that journey to mastery. 

This is not an excuse to be lazy. It is not a get out of jail free card to excuse you from putting in the work. Not at all. You are still trying as hard as you can, but you accept that some days the best you can do is 20% effort. Keep plugging away, and you will improve in time. Don’t quit.