Model Mugging

[miked]

It now seems that I have attracted more women to my small group of students. As such, I find myself talking and teaching a lot more about self-defence than about Uechi-ryu (The classes I am referring to are held on my backyard deck with sweats and T-shirts, so I can pretty much teach/train in a more relaxed and free-flowing style as opposed to the more formal classes).

Being cuirous and wanting to impart better info. to my female students, I did some research on the internet and found the "model mugging" training classes. So now my question is to those women who have been through the class as to whether a course such as this (which is, I believe, a day or perhaps a week) useful? My initial thought is that you would need constant reinforcement through training in order to retain the muscle memory and thought patterns so as to respond appropriately. Comments?

The other question is whether any Uechi instructors have been certified to teach this course. If so, how and where did you receive certification to teach the course (aside from the one web site that wanted $1200+ and a full week of my life).


Please advise.

Thanks,

Mike D.
Los Angeles

[Dana Sheets]

Hi Mike,

Yes and yes and yes.

I find them beneficial, there is a Uechi guy who's certified, and we've talked about this extensively in the past. I'll see if I can't bump up or link some of the threads.

This is the one I participated in:

http://www.fastdefense.com/

Which was a one day session rather than a 6-week or 3 month series. I thought it was money well spent.

-Dana

[Dana Sheets]

http://forums.uechi-ryu.com/viewtopic.php?p=13099

[Dana Sheets]

on this thread
http://forums.uechi-ryu.com/viewtopic.php?p=117448

I said this about the training:
I'm big on putting patterns into the brain that can be recalled for later use. Even if the patterns aren't an exact match (i.e. and actual assault) the brain is pretty good at selecting and executing similar patterns.

I took two FAST courses. Basics I and Groundwork I. Alan Lowell on these forums has taken more courses and perhaps he'll drop by and share his experiences. I also demo'd a FAST scenario at GEM's camp a couple years ago.

What started my experience in FAST defense was a conversation I had on this site about Adrenaline. Sadly the first thread on this topic was deleted but the follow-up conversation where Alan introdcued me to FAST defense is here:
http://forums.uechi-ryu.com/viewtopic.p ... ense#27179

On his invitation, Heather and I went up to Quakertown PA and trained with him and also took two FAST trainings. Here's the link to the thread on the basics class:
http://forums.uechi-ryu.com/viewtopic.p ... ense#16600

And here's the link to the thread on the groundwork class:
http://forums.uechi-ryu.com/viewtopic.p ... ense#27859

I really can't say enough about how important I think it is to do this kind of training at least once in your life. I explain many of my reasons in those two threads but basically it comes down to putting as many possible pictures in your head of you doing something when something bad happens. If the brain has a pattern, even a partial pattern it can match - then you'll be at a lower risk of just sitting their.

IMO one part of the reason people just sit there is that the brain will do anything to maintain order and sanity. You can see this in the many varieties of aphasia that plague individuals with schizophrenia. To maintain rational thought the brain will simply throw out the information it can't cope with. (i.e. the building is not on fire, the plane is not cut in half) One of the reasons the brain would have trouble coping is that it doesn't have a pattern to match. So while you may have never been in a plane wreck if you've been in a car wreck you at least have a partial pattern.

So while I've never been mugged, raped, or even in a real honest to goodness fight, I have had experiences similar to those situations where bad things were happening and I did something . So the picture that's been burned into my brain, the pattern I created, is that when someone tries to verbally intimidate me, grabs me, mounts me, etc. I do something to make that stop.

[miked]

Dana,

Thanks for the info.

I did read the threads and reviewed the literature.
The FAST defense system does appear very useful.

Have you spoken to anyone who has taken the Model Mugging course? I am curious to know the difference
between the two training methodogies.

All the best,

Mike D.
Los Angeles.