"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us."
— George Orwell
Dear Friend:
Dealing With Fear
Let’s talk a little about public speaking. Hold on... this is relevant to fighting.
Because several studies have shown “public speaking” to be the average person’s #1 fear. Some polls actually show that “death” ranks below “public speaking” in terms of sheer terror (so you can imagine how “death while public speaking” ranks).
Anyway, the solution to fear of speaking is to simply PRACTICE and REPETITION. The more public speaking you do, the more “de-sensitized” you’ll become -- and the less you’ll fear.
Now onto fear of fighting.
Fear of fighting is more common than you’d think – even among experienced fighters. Only a stone-cold sociopath has no fear in a confrontation. I’ve interviewed hundreds of hardcore combat soldiers and seasoned streetfighters and found that nearly every one of them admitted to being fearful in every single fight.
Surprised? Well don’t be, because these guys understood that they could easily be killed. So, they felt fear – sometimes extreme fear -- in every confrontation.
For example, Tom Proctor is a “cage” fighter who’s been in over 300 streetfights and illegal “pit” fights. Jim West has been U.S. Special Forces combat soldier and has been in over 600 bloody streetfights. But here’s the thing: Both Tom and Jim openly admit to having fear every time they fought, but it lessened over time.
The fear never went away, just lessened.
So here’s the good news. All you have to do is survive 600 or so streetfights and multiple years of lethal combat and your fear will be lessened.
Okay... that’s probably not realistic for you or anyone else who plans on staying alive and out of prison. Unlike the fear of public speaking, it’s a lot harder to simply “practice” your way out of the fear of fighting.
But there is a recent solution to this “practice” problem.
Spec Op trainer, John Nottingham has developed specific “aggression drills” which are extremely valuable to maintaining a state of readiness while avoiding “brain freeze”. His “Viper” package demonstrates a live training exercise in which students (some of whom are experienced martial artists) are subjected to intensive threats, verbal abuse and insults from a man in a “padded fight suit”. It’s all for show -- and I suspect the guy in the suit is really some kind of S&M nut -- but it’s kinda like flying in a “simulator”... it sure feels real.
Now the graphic language and the adrenaline dump you experience while viewing “Viper” makes it sometimes difficult to watch, but it’s extremely useful training.
And the poor “victims” of the padded-suit guy in this Viper demonstration group PROVES why this kind of real world “adrenaline dump training” actually works. Most of the new students – even the experienced martial artists – did not perform well under the “real world” pressure. When confronted by a large, intimidating figure shouting threats and obscenities in their face most students folded like a cheap card table and then later were unable to describe even simple details of the experience.
In fact, most couldn’t answer the question, “was the adversary armed with a knife or gun?” They simply didn’t know. When the yelling and threats started, their brain became as impenetrable as a frozen turkey.
So this “adrenaline training” is a very effective method to get you to focus externally, not internally on your “inside voice”. Okay... so what exactly do I mean by “inside voice” -- or more technically -- your “internal dialogue”?
Well, I kinda like what Jonathan Haidt -- an Associate Professor of Psychology over at the University of Virginia – describes as the motor-mouth vs the elephant. Haidt compares that voice inside your head – your internal dialogue -- to a little guy sitting on top of an elephant pretending he’s in control. As Haidt puts it: “The rider represents conscious controlled thought. The elephant represents everything else and includes the gut feelings, visceral reactions, emotions, and intuitions that comprise much of the automatic system.”
And the working relationship between little man and elephant? Haidt points out that “They don’t always work together well.”
The little guy ontop loves to talk... ramble... and bark orders to create the impression that he’s running the show. He gets most of the attention – and can even sometimes convince the elephant to pick up a log, or move a boulder. But the reality is that it’s the elephant who makes the final decision and does the work – the little guy is more of a nuisance “along for the ride”.
And when the elephant simply ignores the little guy and does what he wants, the little guy rationalizes it (“I actually wanted him to throw that log ontop my house”) denying that he is actually NOT in control of the elephant.
So it is with your internal dialogue.
That voice rambles on and on, but has very little to do with productive tasks. In fact this internal dialogue can be absolutely destructive to decisive action. Why? Well let me explain with another simple example.
You’re standing in long line at the ATM when a guy cuts-in near the front of the line. You gently point out to him that the line starts “back there”. Seems reasonable enough, but unfortunately you’re dealing with an emotionally hijacked fellow who just came from a drunken brawl with his girlfriend. He quickly turns your way screaming obscenities and vowing to “kick your ass” as he starts toward you.
And here’s where that little bastard start babbling off desperate questions like “Did I really insult this guy?”... “Why is this happening to ME?”... “Who is this guy?”... “Maybe I did something wrong?”... “What should I say?”... “Should I do something?”... “I am going to get hurt?”... “I wonder if my life insurance is paid up”... and on and on.
It was fine to let the “little guy” think he was in control while standing in line, but now that you’re in trouble – this cat’s only confusing the elephant. He’s tying things up and distracting the elephant from taking immediate action. It’s a HUGE disadvantage that results in hesitation and “brain freeze”.
Yeah... that dreaded deer in the headlights.
Now don’t get me wrong, conscious controlled thought (the “little guy”) is one of the things that put us on the top of the food chain. Building bridges, writing software, and balancing our check book all depend on the “little guy”. Dealing with immediate danger requires the more primitive elephant. The mistake happens when we mix the duties up. The elephant shouldn’t be involved with taxes (unless you’re fist fighting with an IRS agent), and the little guy shouldn’t deal with a predator (unless he’s doing his taxes).
Okay, at the risk of beating a dead horse I want to point out to you, again, that you have about 1-8 seconds to act. You don’t have the luxury of time. There’s a clear threat coming your way. You can’t even read this warning before it’ll all be over.
In my next chapter, I'll explain how to overcome it all with "external focus" -- and it works like crazy.
Til next time...
Bob Pierce
Head Honcho, TRS/FightFast
P.S. But wait... I've got something else you'll want to see -- Ray Ellingsen's "Lethal Tactics". This wildly effective system was developed because cops have almost zero time to train (their jobs take up to 18 hours of each day), so the stuff had to be simple to learn and master... easy to use in the worst situations imaginable... and seriously effective... to the point of killing the attacker, if necessary.
The skills you're about to learn are so simple... so easy... and yet so
viciously-effective, that they match the more "pretty" killing
skills of the most elite Special Forces in the world. Check it out at: