First, you’ll get a lot if you pay attention, think about what Miller discusses, and implement his ideas into your overall self-defense strategies and training.  Second, watch this DVD because Miller knows what he’s talking about and addresses a lot of things that aren’t mentioned in most self-defense and martial art training DVDs.

This DVD is a companion to Miller’s book of the same title.  Both the DVD and the book Facing Violence cover seven important things any martial artist or person wanting to know about self-defense must consider when dealing with real fights, real attacks and real violence.  These seven areas are: 1) Legal and ethical implications  2) Violence dynamics  3) Avoidance 4) Counter-ambush  5) Breaking the freeze  6) The fight itself  7) The aftermath.

Much of the DVD is lecture format. Some of the material is better in written form, such as the legal considerations, so Miller doesn’t go into as much depth here.  Miller has a group that he teaches to, and they interact with Miller, and thus is makes this DVD more like being in a live seminar with Miller. In fact, Miller does teach these seminars.  At times, it takes on the appearance of a live program and not the rehearsed “DVD programs” that many of us are used to.

I hope that some won’t become bored with some of the lecture format and talking.  Again, as I mentioned, there is much more talking and lecture than action and techniques. But this stuff is important!  You need to listen to this.  You need to pay attention.  And you need to let these lessons sink in to help you be better prepared to face actual violence.

Miller is not the most polished or dynamic speaker.  You’ll hear some ums and ahs, and you’ll hear some profanity.  He’s not real animated and his voice is rather quiet. However, what he does have is a lot of hard-won knowledge that he shares honestly.  He sincerely delivers the information in this program to help people avoid if possible, and survive if necessary, when dealing with the real-word violence found in today’s streets.

No, this isn’t the normal self-defense DVD, it’s something different.  It’s a program I strongly recommend people watch and learn from to help with their martial art and self-defense training.  If you are a self-defense instructor, you must be including these seven areas in your teaching.  If you aren’t, you are doing a disservice to your students.  This DVD, together with the book of the same name, you’ll be much better prepared to face real violence, and you’ll be a much better self-defense instructor.

Facing Violence on amazon:

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Closed Hand Kem-‘Ba-Tivz Disk 1

After a segmented introduction with McCann sitting and talking to the camera that covers what he will teach, how it fits with the Combatives curriculum, why learn to punch, the Combatives mentality, developing your default, and injuries, he starts the actual instruction of the program by teaching how to wrap your hands so you don’t injure yourself during training. Note that those first segments take about 24 minutes and contain some excellent advice, and the camera cuts away to other scenes and angles to make it interesting. McCann talks in a lively and engaging manner, so just listening to him is not boring, and you will learn a lot.

After McCann teaches you how to properly protect your hands by wrapping them, he has a short section on glove selection. Again, he provides excellent advice on the topic, as he does in the next section on personal equipment to protect yourself. He covers headgear, mouth guards, groin protection, and so on. Watch and learn from this section and listen to him. Injuries stop your training, so train hard, but train smart. Next, McCann discusses many of the bags, shields, and pads you can use for training, including BOB, in detail. Good advice on these as well. The first disc is just over 78 minutes long, and covers everything you need to know before you start punching. Very good introduction before you actually start training. Please be sure to watch this first disc and take McCann’s advice to train safely.

Closed Hand Kem-‘Ba-Tivz Disk 2

Disc 2 gets into the instruction on how to punch. In his straight forward, no BS style, McCann makes it clear that he is not preparing you to climb into the ring, and that his instruction is not the same as you’ll find in boxing and Muay Thai gyms. His focus is on incorporating punching into Combatives for real fights, and nothing more. And the instruction is excellent for this realm!

This second disc is just under 78 minutes long and covers: the jab, cross, uppercut, hook, and overhand right. These are the basic punches and McCann does a great job of teaching them and their application. But he also teaches topics such as body punching, elbows, knees, push kicks, and leg kicks. Remember, his goal is for you to incorporate these punches into your Combatives training. He also teaches striking combinations, defense (very basic, but practical), and combative sequences where you are putting punches into Combatives.

Overall, I found this to be an excellent DVD set and recommend it to anyone who includes, or wants to include, punching, or closed hand strikes, in their curriculum. If you train in Combatives, you will definitely want to incorporate the lessons learned in this program into your training. Before you punch on the street, train for it. Use this DVD set and McCann’s instruction to maximize your training and its effectiveness on the street.

Order Closed Hand Kem-Ba-Tivz here!

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Fighting Dirty: A No Sweat Guide to Hardcore Self-Defense Training

Loren Christensen has more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement and has been fighting for more than twice that. He knows a ton about martial arts and fighting, and in this Paladin Press production of Fighting Dirty: A ‘No Sweat’ Guide to Hardcore Self-Defense Training he teaches the dirty tricks needed to win a real fight.

Paladin’s scene index makes it easy to find the chapter you want to study. Christensen broke his instruction into eight main parts with an introduction and conclusion as end caps. In this 108 minute DVD, Christensen instructions on blocking, striking, kicking, takedowns, breaking down the guard, grabbing, pinching, and tearing, using your environment and how to put it all together.

Make no mistake, even though Christensen has decades of martial art training under his multiple black belts, this DVD focuses on fighting dirty. You won’t find many fancy moves here, just dirty basics. Palm heels, bottom fists, and slaps are the kinds of strikes you find here, not traditional martial art strikes. For kicks, you find kicks to the groin, shin scrapes, scoop kicks, stomps, and knee strikes; all easy, quick and dirty.

Paladin’s production value is top notch. The sound is good, they use a well lit studio, and the camera angles clearly show what Christensen is teaching. And teach he does. I like that Paladin produces DVDs where the instructors teach to the camera. It is like having Christensen right there to walk you through his dirty techniques. If you and your training partner follow along with the DVD you will be able to learn these and incorporate them into your own training.

If you are looking for a DVD with practical self-defense techniques, this will be a great addition to your video library. I highly recommend incorporating Christensen’s “Fighting Dirty” techniques into your self-defense arsenal.  It is one of the Self-Defense DVD that I recommend and sell here!

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Ground Kembativz: Street Solutions to Common MMA Set-Ups with Kelly McCann is volume six of the Kelly McCann’s Crucible High-Risk Environment Training series. In this DVD, produced by Paladin Press, McCann addresses how to deal with some of the more common situations you may face if you must fight an opponent with MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) skills, regardless if they train in MMA, or just happen to be a brawler who has picked a few things up along the way.

If you want straight forward, no frills, solid instruction on self-defense combatives, you won’t go wrong learning from Kelly McCann. He’s a straight shooter, who calls it like he sees it, and who focuses on combatives for those who must use the skills when it really counts. He does not teach “martial arts” or competition skills, he teaches based on the Crucible’s motto, “Nothing we do is competition legal, because your life’s no game.” This DVD is McCann’s answer, or his street solutions, to some of the more popular MMA set-ups or attacks.

The program is filmed in what appears to be the Crucible’s garage. There is a car with “Crucible” on the door behind McCann. It is also a bit dark, but not where you cannot see the instruction clearly. But it was not filmed in Paladin’s studio. The filming is done very well, with clear picture and sound, and there are other scenes and information added into the program to make points and add variety. There is also a good menu system so you can find the sections you want to review and practice easily. So the production values are very good.

But what makes this DVD really valuable is the instruction. McCann opens with an introduction that has him leaning against the car and looking through some notes as he describes why he made this DVD and the differences between MMA and the street. After the intro, McCann goes into the set-ups or situations he addresses in the program. These include: The Clinch, Takedowns, Muay Thai Leg Kick, The Triangle Choke, The Rear Naked Choke, The Armbar, Standing Armbars, and The Mount Position. He then just closes with a couple short words at the end of the mount position section.

Most of the DVD has McCann teaching responses and things to do against the attacks listed above, but in a couple of section he teaches offensive tools such as his variation of the Muay Thai leg kick and a quick standing arm bar. Some of the defenses involve drawing a knife and cutting your way out, but McCann does stress that these responses are only for the most serious situations.

This program is an excellent companion to McCann’s other combatives DVDs, such as Jim Grover’s Combatives series, Situational Self-Offense, and his other Crucible programs. It covers additional techniques and strategies to address some of the attacks one might face on the street. I highly recommend this DVD and all of McCann’s programs.

You can see previews and order Ground Kembativz: Street Solutions to Common MMA Set-Ups and other DVDs with Kelly McCann here!

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The running time for the two DVDs is 195 minutes, and during this time Suarez basically covers the skills he teaches in his live classes. The goal of his classes is to replicate real world situations through the training environment. This two volume set teaches you how to go about the same training.

Each lesson is well taught. Suarez speaks well and demonstrates everything he teaches. The segments are concluded with a review section that makes it easy to remember the main points he was instructing. The entire set is well filmed and edited and ranks with some of the best shooting instruction videos I have seen.

Volume 1

The first DVD starts out with a brief introduction and then a safety briefing. I was glad to see this, because there is no excuse for not handling weapons safely. Suarez points out four rules that everyone should follow. 1. Treat all firearms as if they are loaded. 2. Don’t let your muzzle cover anything you’re not willing to destroy. 3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you’ve made a conscious decision to shoot. 4. Be sure of your target and what’s beyond it.

Next Suarez goes into marksmanship fundamentals. It’s a succinct overview of the seven fundamentals of marksmanship he teaches. A complete novice may need more instruction in this area, but then a complete novice should get some first hand live instruction on the basics before learning the combat skills taught in these DVDs. The basics Suarez covers include grip, stance, gun alignment, sight alignment, sight picture, trigger control, and follow-through.
Once these basics are covered, Suarez moves into ready positions. I liked his practical approach with different ready positions for different needs. He covers imminent threat ready positions, movement ready positions, and covert ready positions.

Suarez teaches a four part drawstroke and goes into detail on how to best deploy your weapon for action. From there, he also covers how to reholster. This is something you will have to do many times to be as smooth as Suarez. Remember, speed will come with practice. Don’t try to rush learning to draw. Learn correctly, practice correctly, and speed will come.

After teaching the above fundamentals, the DVDs gets into actual shooting. Suarez does a good job of covering live-fire basics such as weapons check, loading and unloading, and shooting basics. He then goes into multiple shots, instructing on the double tap and three and four shot shots per target. First he has you shooting from a stationary position using both the compressed contact ready and the close contact ready positions. Then the shooting becomes a bit more realistic for combat with the shooting on the move drills. Suarez does a good job instructing how to shoot wile moving forward, back, left and right.
Once you have fired and your target it down, you can’t just stop.

Suarez teaches his version of an after action assessment. He covers all the bases as he teaches to verify your target is out of the fight, look for other adversaries, make sure the area behind you is clear, make sure your weapon is still operational, and do a self-check for injury.

Again, I felt he did an excellent job of explaining what to do and why. Still shooting on the move, he also covers attacks for the flanks. Basically it is the same drills, but from different angles.

Volume one wraps up with instruction on the proactive reload and malfunction clearances. He covers failure to fire, failure to eject or stovepipe, and failure to extract. It is a good little primer on malfunction clearances, but many shooters will want to train more in this area and look to other drills and malfunctions as well.

Volume 2

Volume two starts out with weapon transition drills. Suarez teaches that in the middle of a fight if your weapon does not work you don’t have time to figure out why and must go to your secondary weapon. From here he covers the trigger reset drill and failure to stop. (Your target does not go down, so you switch to a head shot.)

After you can handle one target, Suarez teaches drills to handle multiple adversaries. He has a no nonsense proactive attitude that just may keep you alive if you ever face such dire circumstances. Another thing that may help keep you alive if you are ever in a gunfight is being able to shoot with your weak hand. Suarez teaches a couple drills to help you become proficient at this, including one hand draw, what to do when your pistol is dropped, and how to clear malfunctions with one hand.

The reality is most people carrying a firearm will do so with a concealed carry. If you have not practiced drawing from a concealed carry, you won’t have the necessary skills when needed. Suarez covers the closed-front cover draw (two-handed), closed-front cover draw (one-handed), and the open front cover draw. He also covers extreme close-quarters shooting. This is within two yards of your opponent and where you may have to create distance using your support hand before shooting.

The next drills taught can only be done with the proper training gear. Don’t even attempt the force-on-force drills without adhering to the proper safety precautions. Suarez does a good job of emphasizing this, so pay attention. He uses Airsoft training weapons and provides a very good safety briefing. The drills he teaches involve gun v. knife and gun v. gun at various ranges. It is an eye opener to see what distances can be traveled in such short amounts of time. If you are not as proficient at drawing and firing as Suarez, you may find yourself being “killed” quite often in these drills until you become more proficient.

The final lessons on volume two consist of using cover and shooting from inside a vehicle. The brief description of cover and when to move toward it and use it is very practical. One of the most important things to remember is to be sure what you’re using as cover will stop a bullet. Suarez points out that shooting from inside your vehicle is a last resort. He does teach how to draw and engage from inside your vehicle when no other option is available.

Overall, I was impressed with this two DVD set. Suarez covers a lot of information, and he covers it well. Obviously the best training is live first hand training on the range from a qualified instructor. Sometimes the ideal is not always possible. The information in this set is presented in such a way that you can learn from it, and if you practice the drills safely at the range you will be more proficient at combat shooting. That proficiency might just save your life some day.

This DVD and more in the Survive and Defend Store: Firearm Instruction DVDs

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