Sweat Now So You Don’t Bleed Later

By rough estimates I would say that I carry a firearm on my person 90% of the time.  The other 10% are usually instances where carrying is impractical or illegal and as such the pistola remains in a safe place not on my person.  I state that because truly in a life or death situation my firearm is most likely my “go to” option for keeping myself and those with me safe.  Yet we cannot get sucked into believing that a firearm solves all problems or that deadly force is warranted for every confrontation.  As such I believe that it is necessary to train for these instances, preferably by being a practitioner of some martial art which incorporates useful self defense tactics.

Personally I have received quite a bit of training via the military combatives program but that is generic, base level stuff.  Sure it’s better than nothing at all but it’s also typically a “one and done” event where you go to a course for a few weeks and then that’s that.  Not knocking it at all just stating the reality of the situation.  The next level training I decided to pursue was attending a Gracie Jiu Jitsu school 4-5 times a week, a school which is dedicated to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and the necessity of training for self defense scenarios (as opposed to tournaments).  I should toss in a caveat here and state that I’m not one to bash other martial arts, if some other discipline is what you pursue I say more power to you!  For me I really enjoy and appreciate what I’ve learned while training in BJJ.

Here’s the reality of the situation:  I’ve always said in a SHTF event the best gunfight is the one you never get into.  I’ll also add that the best hand to hand altercation is the one you can AVOID, but if it comes to it you finish it quickly without getting injured yourself.  I’m a firm believer that unless you are trained this cannot happen.  You might be a crossfit beast, bodybuilder or been in 20 bar fights but there is always some bigger/stronger who may or may not be trained.  There are plenty of documented events where a much smaller but well trained individual dominated a larger more muscular individual.  Case in point…

Whoops, caught myself endorsing BJJ there for a minute!  Again it boils down to this: train and sweat now so you don’t bleed later.  Or if you do bleed you’ll still bleed less than the guy(s) who attacked you.  I go into the “shark tank” 4-5 times a week in order  to keep the sword sharp, training with guys who are on my level and others who challenge and dominate me.  It’s all about staying consistent and improving because there might be an instance where I am not wearing a firearm and a haymaker punch doesn’t solve the problem.  Train hard!