Wim Demeere's Blog

Martial Arts, Self Defense and a Whole Lot More.

Basic Self-Defense Instructional Video

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I just released my new instructional video, Basic Self-Defense 1: Controlling Techniques. I explained the system in episode 23 of the podcast and gave lots of details there. The first part of the curriculum is now available.

Check it out:

I’ve been teaching it for over 20 years now and it started as a collaboration between me and another instructor. After a while, we both developed our own versions and went our separate ways. The best way to view it is as a multitool:

It works for the average person in the average violent situation.

The system has two goals:

  • Give you functional self-defense techniques as quickly as possible so you can handle the most common attacks.
  • Give you the best bang for the buck when it comes to the time needed to train the techniques and how soon you can use them effectively.

There are also two assumptions in it:

  1.  You have no prior training so we start from scratch. That means covering lots of basic information. If you do have prior training, Basic Self Defense isn’t meant to replace it; it’s only an addition to it.
  2. There are three common self-defense situations and the system is versatile enough to handle them all.

Because of these two goals and assumptions, there is a specific training method that is powerful and yields results quickly:

  • Only a limited number of movements and techniques. These have to be versatile and recycled depending on context.
  • Rapid ingraining due to the repetition of these same movements and techniques in different situations.
  • Technical progressions. Each movement is used as a stepping stone to the next one.

I’ve had great results with this method throughout the years and am confident you’ll find it practical and effective too. However, you have to follow the progression. When people skip ahead, they run into trouble making the technique work in certain situations. Don’t do that. Follow the program and it will guide you through it.

For this video, I cover a handful of specific attacks that are common in a self-defense situation. This speeds up the learning process and ingrains the key principles and movements much faster. In later videos, I will show other attacks and how to handle them.

Speaking of which, there is a full curriculum and this is only the first module that lays the foundation of the system and focuses on controlling techniques. The other modules teach techniques to neutralize the attacker, variations and how to personalize the system to your specific needs.

I’ll publish those in the coming months.

To launch the video, I’m offering a special discount of 25% off the full price if you buy it before September 1st, 2018.

Just go here and use promo-code 25OFF on checkout.

How to fight in an elevator against multiple opponents

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Here’s a free video in the Violence Analysis series on my Patreon page: How to fight in an elevator against multiple opponents?

I have no additional information on this incident. I read somewhere that this was in Russia, but I can’t confirm it. So we don’t know what happened before the video starts rolling or what the aftermath was.

To be clear: I am only commenting on the tactics used. As I explain in the video, I very much doubt his actions would be seen as legitimate self-defense in pretty much any Western court of law.

The reason I analyzed this video is because it debunks one of the myths about violence: you can’t win against multiple opponents. As with other martial arts myths like “high kicks don’t work in the street“, they need to be nuanced and that’s my goal. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that fighting multiple opponents in an elevator is a good idea or that you should assume it’s easy. I cover that too in the video, that the guy is lucky and things could have gone very wrong for him.

All that said, here’s the video.

If you enjoyed this video, you might want to check out all my other violence analysis videos on my Patreon page. There is lots more there: instructional videos, Q&As, my newsletter, etc.

And there’s loads more to come…

 

Suicide by cop and misinformation about violence

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I remember when the term “suicide by cop” became mainstream. Before that, the general public was mostly unaware that this even happened. Afterward, there was a lot of resistance to acknowledging this phenomenon as something real. Simply because to the average person with little to no experience with violence, it is counter-intuitive (more on that below) and therefor couldn’t possibly be true. Today, we know better but there is still a lot of pushback against the mere concept.

Case in point, this example here:

https://youtu.be/6QlS1iaecyc

I’m not going into the reasons why people try to get a LEO to shoot them. That is beyond the scope of this article.

For more details on the video above, go here. While you’re at it, read the comments for a while…

As you can see, the “they didn’t have to shoot him” or “shoot him in the leg!” type of opinions are all there. Decades of Hollywood and TV brainwashing people about violence is hard to get rid of.  By the way, I answered the “Why don’t you shoot him in the leg?” myth already so feel free to check out that video.

What’s the point?

My point is that we’ve never known so much about violence as we do know, yet so few people seem to understand even the most basic concepts about it. As always, those with the least knowledge and understanding tend to be the loudest and dominate the public (and official) debate. The result tends to be useless or counter-productive measures and laws that get put in place. In the long run, this leads to more trouble, more uninformed opinions fueled by outrage and even worse solutions get pushed through.

I believe that this trend will not slow down and at the very least, it costs lives.

I also believe there is a way to fight this trend: share accurate information to dispell the myths.

Here’s what I’m doing on my end:

1) Articles

A while ago, I wrote “Everything you know about violence is wrong.” as a basic introduction to the concept of violence and how our media leaves us misinformed. I have plans to expand this article into a book, but it will take a while to get it done given the other books I’m already working on.

Throughout my blog, you’ll find dozens more in which I try to explain the realities of violence in various situations through videos or by commenting on incidents.

2) Interviews

I also interview LEOs and violence professionals so they have a platform to not only explain their point of view but more importantly, give regular folks access to the kind of information they desperately need to keep themselves safe.

Here are a few violence professionals you might want to listen to:

Here are some LEOs that share their experience and procedures:

Podcast Episode 15: Interview with Captain Jon Lupo

Podcast Episode 13: Interview with Montie Guthrie

Podcast Episode 003: Interview with Loren W. Christensen

All these men share their expertise and experience with you for free, despite the blood, sweat, tears and trauma it cost them.

They also all give the sober truth of the many sides there are to violence and how complex this topic actually is. Far more so than the media and the entertainment industry have led the public to believe.

The information they share can save lives, including yours.

3) Violence Analysis

I’ve been analyzing videos of violence in society for years now. You can view a bunch of them by starting here and working your way through the playlist. There are a even more here on my YouTube channel. On my Patreon page, I do more in-depth violence analysis for the people who are looking for practical training advice for self-defense. Almost every time I post a video, I get messages of people saying it opened their eyes to something they didn’t know or want to see: just how ugly and extreme violence can get. But also what to do about it in a realistic fashion, which is the goal of all the above:

Through real life examples, teaching what violence is truly like and what you can do to avoid it if possible and handle it if unavoidable.

I make no claims of offering perfect solutions.

I will make a claim of trying to offer pragmatic and practical advice.

Now all of the above, that’s me…

What are you doing?

We all make our own choices as to what we feel is important enough to spend our time on. To each his own and I fault nobody for not taking me up on this. But I would suggest the following:
  • If you are a civilian, spread knowledge and expertise in the face of ignorance about violence. Instead of shouting and insulting, give dispassionate, factual information instead of outrage. You don’t have to beat people over the head with it or talk about it non-stop. But you’d be surprised how often a few well reasoned points of information offered in a non-confrontational manner can plant a seed in the minds of people, one that later blossoms into a change of mind.
  • If you are a LEO, talk about your legal obligations (no, you can’t “un-arrest” somebody and let them go, no matter how much they yell for it), procedures and their reasons (liability, safety, etc.) and the realities of the job most civilians don’t know or understand (reasons for “slow” response times, etc.) I know this is hard. I also know this is often frustrating. But I believe it can make a difference in the long run and is better than retreating into silence or bitterness. As stated above, I fault nobody for choosing not to do this.

Why do this?

I believe there is a long, uphill climb before accurate information about violence becomes commonplace, instead of the ignorance and myths we have now. Not doing anything is counterproductive and costs lives. That only leaves a handful of alternatives.

I believe speaking out as explained above is a good start to tackle that climb.

P.S.: Take the three minutes to watch this video to understand why something may seem counterintuitive to you and still be completely true. If this is so in physics, it can very much be so in other subjects, including violence…:

Violence Analysis #012: Failed Gun Disarm

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First of all, Merry Christmas to all. May you have a wonderful day with your loved ones close to you.

Second, as a gift from me to you, here’s my next  violence analysis video for my Patrons available to all of you too.  In “Violence Analysis #012: Failed Gun Disarm“, I take a look at an incident caught on a security camera in an unknown location. I have no knowledge of what happened before or after, but there are still some interesting lessons to take away.

Here goes:

If you want to see more of these videos or simply want to support the blog, go here for an idea of everything that’s there. My Patreon page has many diferent reward tiers with something for everybody, so you’re bound to find something you like. And of course, you can sign off any time you like.

Enjoy the holidays!

 

Charlottesville and what comes next

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I didn’t watch the news yesterday evening so I only found out about what happened in Charlottesville this morning. I did some checking, saw what some of my friends were saying and decided to post this article. It’s from the Patreon Newsletter I wrote in March. I edited it slightly for clarity and added a few things.

Here goes:

******

Violence in Modern Society

For the last few years I’ve posted videos and articles, mostly on my blog and Facebook page, that weren’t about self-defense per se but more about trends in our modern, Western societies. Some of the feedback I got was along the lines of “What the hell are you talking about?” so I thought it might not be a bad idea for me to explain myself a bit. Here goes.

The last twenty years have seen many changes in not only the entire world, but in particular in Western societies and most notably in the US. I will focus on the latter, but have seen similar things happen in the EU where I live. I think it’s a universal trend as opposed to an isolated one. The picture is complex and I need to put several pieces of the puzzle on the table before it makes sense.

One piece of that puzzle is terrorism:

  • First and foremost, 9/11 happened some fifteen years ago and it changed the world as well as the American government, its policies and its society.
  • France and Belgium had their own 9/11 these last few years with the Paris and Brussels attacks.
  • Germany had numerous attacks in the Summer of 2016. Though there were less casualties in total, the frequency was higher and the attacks perhaps more brutal (though we can argue about that.)
  • The UK also had its share of terrorist attacks, with again, relatively speaking less victims but in a more personal (and therefor more frighting) manner.
  • Since then, numerous terrorist attacks have been thwarted in several EU countries. This information rarely makes the news and when it does, it is routinely ignored by the media because it scares the readers and viewers.

A second piece is the rise of social media and alternative media channels:

  • Facebook and Twitter became dominant platforms. They offer instant, worldwide communication via text, audio and video. This has positive and negative consequences, which I won’t go into here. The point is that news, fake or otherwise, goes global in an instant and can be seen by anybody with an internet connection, be they rich or poor, smart or stupid, etc. This is unprecedented in human history.
  • Any message can go viral, regardless of significance or time frame. For instance, one man live-Tweeted the raid on Osama Bin Laden. Only afterwards did he realize the significance of what he tweeted. Another example is the live video broadcast on Facebook of the torture of a young man. This led to arrests and a debate on racism, violence and society in general.
  • An argument can be made that humans have not yet figured out how to handle this flood of information and disinformation. We also don’t know how things will evolve in the future, but these issues are unlikely to go away.

The third piece is the advent of extreme positions in academia and lobby groups, in particular since the latest US elections: [Read more…]

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