ISSUE #217  GUIDED CHAOS NEWS         follow us @GuidedChaos    ENDORSEMENTS

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YOUR QUESTIONS:  CONFUSION OVER CONTACT FLOW Your Question/Comment:  Do you focus too much on contact flow? I am mostly playing devils advocate here, and I'm sure that I'm not the first to ask this. In your last newsletter, you write "To be completely passive, you have to remain in physical contact at all times (because in reality, if you have enough room to spar you have enough room to run--real mayhem only occurs in close combat)." Now this may be true a lot of the time, or even most of the time, but certainly there are many times when a person's hostile intentions are clear even before close contact. It doesn't seem wise to wait until the attacker is already in physical contact to start moving into action. And the idea of always running away is not so easy to do. Like it or not, we human beings have a lot of ego and self esteem that we highly value. I'm not talking about being an aggressive person, but maybe just one who does run away at top speed at every confrontation. Moreover, there are no doubt many situations in which that option does not exist. I have seen some videos where you "attack the attacker" before he attacks you. But you don't seem to emphasize this at all. You never like to talk about specific techniques, because you emphasize free flow adaptability. But what is a person to do? How do you attack the attacker? You are no longer guided by the movement of the opponent. It is you who must initiate. Contact flow is not always the answer, it seems to me. ANSWER: Good questions. Your confusion comes from a misunderstanding of what contact flow is. Contact flow is an exercise that promotes adaptation through development of the 4 principles (balance, body unity, looseness and sensitivity). Contact flow is NOT a method of self-defense. As we explain in our books and dvds, when facing imminent danger to your life (not your ego), your first choice is to run because you never know exactly who or what you're dealing with. The guy you punch or kick in the face and who falls down, often rolls over and shoots or stabs you in the heart. Or his friend does. If you can't escape or you have a loved one to defend you attack the attacker. As we explain in our books and dvds, you do this with basic WWII h2h striking (admittedly enhanced with GC principles) which comprise the first level of our art. The simple WWII h2h may do the job by itself, but if he evades or survives your very first contact, you are already beginning to adapt using principles and attributes developed with contact flow. Just to be clear, contact flow or better yet "combat flow" uses all the basic WWII strikes as weaponry (plus other more unorthodox strikes) greased by the 4 principles. But you don't "contact flow" with the enemy. If you feel like you're going to die (and there really isn't any other reason to fight unless you're stupid, a punk or a criminal) you fight until they're not moving. When you become advanced in GC you may skip the WWII h2h and go straight into pure GC but that takes years of dedicated training By the way, you ask "what are you supposed to do" but I'm wondering if you've actually read "Attackproof" or "How to Fight for Your Life" or seen either Attackproof Companion (Companion to our book) Part 1 or Kill the Enemy dvds? They very clearly lay out what to do and how it integrates with the principles you may have seen on the Combat Conditioning dvd (which is an esoteric workout dvd, which as we explain, requires these other materials to understand it in context). Everything I've said makes immediate sense the first few seconds you actually feel what GC feels like in a class. Hope this helps. --MKovsky VETERAN TRAINING WITH DISABILITIES Your Question/Comment: I am currently stationed in [U.S base].   I am an eternal student with knowledge in Wing Chun (DL n Pan Nam) and Kenpo (Tracy's) and other arts for the past 22 years. I have injuries from my 24 years in [branch of U.S. Military] combat tours (bad feet, knees, back plus vertigo/ dizziness from a rocket attack in Iraq on 2008).   I am due to medically retire due to my disabilities this year, will I be able to do it and will it help with my ailments? What do you recommend due to my disabilities?   Any information regarding this great art is appreciated Sifu. ANSWER: Thanks for your question. Like you I too have injuries mostly from playing sports in college and aggravated during my time in the Marine Corps.  Since many of our training methods and exercises in Guided Chaos focus on whole body movement our exercises are more akin to physical therapy type of exercises.  What I have found is that as long as I train in moderation the training over the years has actually increased my performance, strength, agility etc…  We have many students who have bad knees, bad backs, shoulders you name it.  Some of our students due to previous car accidents and work related injuries (such as some of our students in law enforcement and corrections) are lucky to be walking let alone being able to train and they are some of our more advanced practitioners. In fact I attribute the balance exercises alone to increasing the strength in my knees and my core.  The reason is the exercises focus on proper body unity when moving rather than trying to focus on building a specific body part so to achieve results does not require long hours of training.  Also there is an emphasis on proper neural muscular development rather than raw power or strength so what you end up developing is more useful strength rather than just power in the legs and arms. As you progress in the art what you will find is your body will begin to learn how to move in a more efficient manner thus reliving a lot of stress on your joints that are normally attributed to a lot of the pounding and torque which can be found in many martial arts systems especially the more sportive ones.   As a side note I personally believe that much of what we learn throughout our lives in terms of body movement dynamics are all wrong and that the only reason we are able to withstand it is because when we are young our bodies are able to cope with it because we have greater recovery.   I sort of compare it to when I was young and would go out with friends and have a good time staying up all hours of the night where the next day it seemed as if I could just get up and go about my day like nothing happened.  If I tried to pull an all nighter now I would be useless for the next few days.  The point is it is not that I wasn’t damaging my body with the all night revelry it’s that I was still young enough to have a quicker recovery.  Now that I’m older the damage just becomes more apparent that’s all.  I view much of the physical training we participated in when we were young in the same manner, which is why there are no 50-year old men in the NFL, NBA etc…  at some point your body just cannot cope with such arduous training and pounding. But I digress… Anyway just a few minutes training per day is all that is needed and once again training in moderation is the key I would recommend if you already haven’t purchased it, the Guided Chaos Combat Conditioning DVD (or get it in the new On Demand video format).  It has a complete workout of most of our major drills. (Note that Attackproof Companion Part 2 describes the theory behind these exercises). Hope this helps and please feel free to contact me about future training tips thanks. --LtCol Al CANE VS. KNIFE FROM THE GROUND Your Question/Comment: Hello Guys, I have purchased all of your videos and using them for home study to supplement my current MA style. I am reviewing your Part 3: Cane vs Knife. In the section called "Cane Fighting From the Ground vs the Knife" you are either pushed to the ground with your cane in your hand or you intentionally go to the ground so that you remove all of your center line targets from your opponent and you have two hands and two legs to defend yourself including the cane giving you a long reach. As opponent tries to move in to you to stab or slash you, you kick and hit his knife hand with your cane. It is much easier to get stabbed and slashed when you defend yourself against the knife standing up than if you were on the ground. I understand what you are saying here. No problem. sounds good to me. My question is that I assume that, if you are fighting only one opponent with a knife, do you advocate going to the ground with your cane? If so why? Would you want to get up as soon as possible or stay on the ground with multiples? I see you are going to the ground with mulitples in your segment called "Cane vs Multiple Attackers in Close Quarters" section. Is this a good thing? Can you explain in more detail why you would go to the ground for multiple opponents. Advantages/disadvantages. ANSWER Great to hear from you again and thanks for your question. When faced with the knife and you have a cane, yes you want to stay on your feet utilizing the reach of the cane protecting your head, neck and other vitals.  Deal with them as ruthlessly and fast as possible just like we show in the DVDs and escape!  So yes you are correct. The exception to this is again you may find yourself in a situation with multiple attackers with weapons and not necessarily a knife.  It could just as easily be broken bottles or any other type of bludgeon.  In short, yes, stay on your feet with the cane as much as possible however, in a situation with multiple attackers with weapons you'll want to keep their weapons away from your head and vital areas as much as possible.    Final note on what you see me do on the DVDs is that the other reason you see me going to the ground with the cane is to show folks what is the art of the possible when it comes to fighting with weapons from the ground.  There is a school of thought out there that believes only in the movies is such movement possible when in truth we teach it all of the time. Continuing with regard to knife defense, one thing that I want to point out and that is if someone pulls a blade on you in a confined space or has you cornered and commences to attack if you remain on your feet you are at a “serious disadvantage” because you can't run. Unless you can employ the stomp kicking methodology that we teach (keeping your hands up and kicking with your forward leg over and over with the same leg stomping to gain momentum and force as you kick) your only chance “may” be to go to the ground.  Again this all depends, depends, depends… By dropping to the ground and blasting with your feet like two pistons with all of your might may be the only chance you have.   Understand that the ground fighting we teach (whether against a weapon or not) is devastating and brutal! The whole concept is to use your feet like two sledgehammers and go off on them like a lion fighting for his life.  If they slash at you break their arm, hand or whatever.  You can probably withstand far more on your legs or if they slash and stab at your shoes than your hands. Lastly, and I want to emphasize this, all of these courses that teach people to grab the blade or other complex disarming techniques that require virtually supernatural speed and dexterity are recipes for disaster. Especially in the case where you have people teaching all of these crazy bare handed disarming techniques.  They want easy answers because they want to dance around the reality of the sheer inhuman brutality of a knife attack. There are no easy answers here, just choices, in which some are better that others. Hope this clears it up for you. --LtCol Al Follow-up question: All I can say is that I have a lot of training in all of those fancy arts that use the fancy and sophisticated disarms and paddy cake hand movements. Until I reviewed and studied all of your DVDs and some other reality based programs, I did not totally recognize the danger in attempting to use these traditional fancy movements.  Yes, I was trained to work against a guy who sticks his knife out and holds it in front of me while I do the Steven Seagal Movie stuff. I knew that I always had my suspicions about their application in reality but there was nobody there to verify those suspicions until I came across Guided Chaos.   I got to hand it to you guys for being brutally honest with people.  However, in the martial arts, honesty does not really sell too well. Anyway, I am in the process of reviewing all of your DVDs again and making notes to include in my own teaching and promoting your methods and your school.  If I was to recommend one art or school, it would be Guided Chaos.  It is the most realistic approach to street violence I have seen so far in 30 years of study and research.  I do not really give out complements very much since there is so much BS floating around in the self defense community that you need a pretty big boat to float over all of it.  At least you guys get to the point quickly and honestly.  I appreciate your work. About the only thing I am lacking is a number of practice partners that have studied your materials.  I like to do contact flow as I have been trained in several Wing Chung and Escrima hand drills.  I only have had one steady training partner in 20 years who has the interest in Guided Chaos and other arts to practice.  Most people migrate to the traditional arts like Tae Kwon Do around here.  Many instructors are selling their students a "false sense of security" but not real competence in realistic defensive techniques. Actually, I learned quite of few things by just watching your DVDs although I spent a small fortune on them but they were a good investment compared to what you get from some others or even signing up for lessons in local dojos.  Most "experts" press out a DVD as being self defense but turns out to be another repackaging of some traditional martial art. The so called "knife fighting" DVDs are notorious for repackaging the traditional blade arts and call it a realistic street knife defense system.  Looks pretty and hard to learn and dangerous to use in reality.  The problem with reality is that it is ugly, fast and brutal which does not sell in Hollywood or in the dojos.  That is why combatives and other related reality based systems do not attract a lot of people.  Perhaps, it is just too simple for most people to handle.  Thanks for your response, I appreciate it.  ANSWER Yeah I know what you mean about bogus techniques there are so many people out there teaching nonsense that it is criminal.  I say criminal because the worst thing you can do is give people a false sense of security, they're better off knowing nothing and running than thinking they're going to disarm som knife wielding thug moving at high speed.   They forget that even the bad guys may be afraid as well and may go off on them for fear of being arrested or injured themselves. --LtCol Al

SUMMER CLASS SCHEDULE:  MONDAY WHITE PLAINS CLASSES Suspended until September 10th THURSDAY PREMIER CLASSES Suspended until October

KILL THE ENEMY: Close Quarters Combat for U.S. Military Personnel "The Kill the Enemy video is the greatest work of modern combat of our time! In the dirty bloody world of real combat there are no second place winners. In combat there is only Kill and come home. John trains you for just such an encounter. There is nothing in the world that can ever prepare you for the harsh cold reality of combat, but John Perkins has found a way to bridge the gap between school and real world no-holds-barred REALITY!" --Captain Jonathan Edwards, 101st Airborne/Air Assault POLITICALLY INCORRECT HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT...?   In 1989, the RUSSIANS instituted a hand-to-hand combat methodology that far surpassed ours in terms of SIMPLICITY and EFFECTIVENESS. Ironically, it was nearly IDENTICAL to the system OUR military used--BACK IN WORLD WAR II!! WHAT HAPPENED?!! Through a political process too convoluted and distressing to elaborate on here, over the years, our soldiers' hand-to-hand training has become convoluted, mis-directed, and relatively ineffective except under "sportive  or "competitive" (i.e. unrealistic) conditions. KILL THE ENEMY is a simple video guide that does away with the boxing-grappling-locking nonsense that has become the "politically correct" standard of training for our soldiers in recent years. Instead of subjecting our military personnel to methods that could get them killed, Master Perkins and Lieutenent Colonel Ridenhour USMC provide basic, effective methods proven in World War II. Distilled from Part 1 of our book ATTACK PROOF, these strategies (Guided Chaos Combatives) are the basic tools that John Perkins' Guided Chaos builds upon. Topics include: Comparison: US vs. Russian Hand-to-Hand Training The Myth of Grappling Defensive/Offensive Posture Basic Hand Strikes Bag/Dummy Training/10 Seconds of Hell Wrestling the Rifle Covering Your Back A Fantasy Knife Fight Rear Choke Scenarios Ground Fighting Fantasies Conclusion: History Doesn't Lie! BUY NOW

CAN YOU SURVIVE ON THE GROUND?   The Fantasy: A 100 pound woman can fight off a 200 pound man from the Guard position (much less mount him for a "ground and pound"!)                  ...ARE YOU SURE?     • Do you really want to be locked tight to a dangerous enemy-- who may have weapons or accomplices ready to kick your brains in? • Do you really want to Mount or go into the Guard position against someone bigger and stronger than you? • If you're a woman, can you REALLY grapple with a stronger man...and live to tell about it? There is a world of difference between competitive submission fighting with rules and elite athletes... ...and real, life-and-death self-defense for REGULAR people, where the only rule is chaos. DON'T BET YOUR LIFE ON A SPORT! The built-in restrictions on your training could short-circuit your reactions and get you killed if the spit hits the fan.   GUIDED CHAOS GROUNDFIGHTING: MODIFIED NATIVE AMERICAN COMBAT 2 DISC DVD SET MODIFIED NATIVE AMERICAN COMBAT   We focus on:  • Evasion • Ground Mobility • Ground Kicking • Ground Avoidance • Multiple Attackers • Knife Attacks • Penetrating defenses and striking to the eyes and throat OUR CRITICS SAY: "We can hit the eyes and throat too, so what's the difference?" The difference is that we're better at it--as well as defending against it, because both require Sensitivity and Adaptation--something we train exclusively. YOUR INSTRUCTORS: Former forensic crime scene expert John Perkins: Perkins has trained in Native American "Anything Goes" fighting principles since the age of 5. Over a period of 20 years he combined it with experience gained from over 100 extremely violent arrests (where people routinely ended up in the hospital or morgue), unsanctioned pit-fighting, World War II Close Quarters Combat, the internal aspects of tai chi and the ancient Greek combat art of Elephtheri Pali. In 1978, he formally created Ki Chuan Do and the principles of Guided Chaos [in1998 he officially changed the name of the art itself to Guided Chaos]. Unlike the "fight-by-the-numbers" self-defense methods popular today, the Groundfighting component of GC is probably unlike anything you've ever seen before.   Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran Lt. Col. Al Ridenhour USMC: Infantry unit commander and instructor of unarmed combat, he is also a Guided Chaos Master. Security Manager, Assistant Operations Officer, and the Anti-Terrorism Force Protection Officer for the II Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq. Worked with U.S. Customs Service and U.S. Border Patrol for the JTF-6 counter drug mission. Has trained current and former members of US Marines, US Army Special Forces, NYPD, US Air Force OSI and US Air Marshal Service   Guided Chaos 2nd Degree Tony Dey, Champion of Cage Combat, Bare-knuckle, No-weight Limit and Vale Tudo matches in Kiev, Holland, Florida and Mississippi and former head bouncer at some of New York City's most  violent nightclubs.  GUIDED CHAOS GROUNDFIGHTING--BUY NOW

A HAND GUN IS USELESS IF YOU CAN'T GET IT OUT BARE HANDS TO HAND GUNS PART 4 OF THE GUIDED CHAOS WEAPONS SERIES DVDS You can be the best target shooter in the world but if you can't fight HAND-TO-HAND at CLOSE RANGE you will never even GET to your gun. Worse, you could be shot with your own weapon! And if you get the microsecond to draw, traditional Isosceles or Weaver stances could get you killed. MORE INFO    PART 1: KNIFE OFFENSE | PART 2: KNIFE DEFENSE PART 3: CANE VS. KNIFE | PART 4: BARE HANDS TO HAND GUNS

How Would You Like a 6 Hour Contact Flow Private Lesson? Well, here's the next best thing: The Attack Proof Companion Part 3: IN THE EYE OF THE STORM "Quite simply, this is the best self defence/martial art/ internal-external arts training experience I have ever had..." --Alistair Horscroft, former amateur MMA full contact fighter

"Dirty boxing" self-defense using conventional and illegal closed-hand strikes augmented by Guided Chaos principles. The best of 2 previous Combat Boxing seminars plus new material. Destruction Methodology and Close-in Fighting Combat Boxing vs. Grappling Attack Wrist, Hand and Tendon Development Heavy Bag Drills Entries Contact Flow Balance Training Entry vs. Knife Attack Multiple Attacker Bag Drills Keeping the Body Soft Putting It All Together...and much, much more! NOW ON SALE

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THE BEST DVD FOR LEARNING KEY GUIDED CHAOS DRILLS AND PRINCIPLES: THE ATTACK PROOF COMPANION PART 2 YOUR GUIDED CHAOS FOUNDATION Contains highly detailed demonstrations of all the drills that are most vital to your development in GC (including some that are NOT in our book). It also has detailed explanations and applications of the 4 unique principles of Guided Chaos: Balance, Body Unity, Looseness and Sensitivity, including many important sub-principles. The stepping sequences alone are invaluable. MORE INFO

SIMPLE AWARENESS TOOLS FOR SAFEGUARDING YOUR LIFE,   YOUR HOME AND YOUR FAMILY:

1. BEST INTRO BOOK FOR LEARNING GUIDED CHAOS COMBATIVES (THE FIRST PART OF GUIDED CHAOS) FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE The GC Combatives Manual Available in 3 Formats: (Paperback / Kindle / eBook) GC COMBATIVES: COMBAT PROVEN / EASY-TO-LEARN THE PERFECT "HOW TO" MANUAL FOR: AVERAGE PEOPLE / SECURITY PROFESSIONALS / LAW ENFORCEMENT ANYONE WHO DOESN'T HAVE YEARS TO BECOME A GUIDED CHAOS "MASTER"!     2. DVDS, and especially the no-nonsense GC WEAPONS SERIES: Kill The Enemy, Companion Part 1, Military/Police Tactics, Guided Chaos Weapons Series      TAI CHI FOR SELF-DEFENSE?      READ MORE... PUT YOUR TAI CHI ON STEROIDS... with Guided Chaos internal COMBAT principles    Adapt / Improvise / Survive       THE ATTACKPROOF COMPANION PART TWO (2 DVD SET) - $75.00 All the principles, in depth, with drills. THE ATTACKPROOF COMPANION PART THREE: IN THE EYE OF THE STORM (3 DVD SET-6 HOURS TOTAL) - $125.00 Applying the principles to free-form combat with Contact Flow. BUY BOTH AT 15% OFF THE REGULAR PRICE OF $200. SAVE $30! 15% OFF--THE ATTACKPROOF COMPANION PARTS TWO & THREE COMBO PACK - $170.00      HOW DO I PRACTICE ON MY OWN?  TRAIN ALL THE GC DRILLS SOLO... ...SET TO NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC.  COMBAT CONDITIONING All the Guided Chaos drills back-to-back and non-stop on one DVD. No theory or extended explanations. Put it on, blast your stereo, follow along and work out--5 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour or longer--whatever you want-you decide! Also, many chapters end with a quick application demo of the skill just trained. Talk about practical!

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ENDORSEMENTS:


"Let me start by saying I thought I'd seen all that the world of 'reality-based self defence' had to offer, so for the easily bored out there, I'll cut to the chase. What I witnessed on the weekend of 26 and 27 March is the closest thing I've come across that resembles a modern-day, reality-based martial art and not just another 'combatives system'. Does it work? Hell, yeah! I got my arse well and truly kicked and at times felt like I was in the middle of a Jason Bourne fight scene."
--Clive Girdham, former Senshido and Geoff Thompson instructor [excerpted from the exclusive review of the Guided Chaos Australia Seminar in the Aug. print edition of BLITZ MAGAZINE: Australia's #1 Martial Arts magazine volume 25, issue 6

"Guided Chaos is the only training in my 15 plus years of Corrections that translates into real world application, period."
---Bob Miller, Corrections Officer at the largest facility in Oregon

"Guided Chaos is the only thing that has worked for me in real life situations. Unless you are 6'3" and 285 lbs of muscle, most of the Defensive Tactics stuff (ok all of the Defensive Tactics stuff) will get you hurt. And even if you are that big and strong, there is always someone bigger and stronger and there may be a lot of them. Nothing like dealing with one guy and it turns into a free for all with all his buddies. This is where you literally need to 'adapt or die' and Guided Chaos is the only training in my 15 plus years of Corrections that translates into real world application, period.

"If I had to pick only one martial arts system in the world it would be Guided Chaos..."
--Dr. Robert L. O'Block founder and publisher of the American College of Forensic Examiners International, American Board for Certification in Homeland Security
 

"...through watching videos put out by attackproof.com, and by
reading Attackproof, the book, I have learned real survival skills.
These skills have been learned...at an exponentially higher practical
yield-per-hour training rate than any other martial art classes or
seminar I've ever attended, or ever even heard rumor of."
--Matthew Shoener, Police Officer, Scranton, PA 

"The Companion Video Part One is stupendous!
A godsend of detail for out-of-state practitioners."
--Mark from Chicago

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