Weaponizing the Mind and Body
How much do you really know about yourself if you’ve never been in afight?
-Tyler Durden, Fight Club
In the 30 years I’ve been involved in martial arts training, my number one goal for doing so has never changed; self protection. I truly enjoy the sportive aspects of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the aesthetic movements of Aikido and the classical applications of Japanese Jujutsu. But, my goal and primary reason has always been to ‘weaponize’ my mind and body. This is done by connecting the mind (purpose) and body together in one single goal.
Weaponization is the process of adding tools to your mental and physical ‘toolbox’ which will allow you to be as combat ready as possible when violence comes your way. Martial training is as much mental training as it is physical. If you break under pressure, all the training in the world will do you no good.
Violence, in its truest form, is quick, unpredictable and messy.
My weaponization started in 1992. I was in my late teens when I was confronted and surrounded by 3 males in their early 20’s whilst I was driving to work one evening. I came to a stoplight and they jumped out of their car. They began to yell and curse at me. Their alcohol-fueled rage led one of them to punch out my passenger side window. As you can imagine, I felt helpless, victimized and unsure of myself. It was a form of bullying that I promised myself I’d never stand for it again.
I took my martial art training much more seriously after this. I began to read and study literature on combative mindset, violence, gang mentality, law and conflict. I watched and studied literally thousands of hours of footage of violent encounters. I asked questions of experts in the field. I trained harder on the mats. I began my career as a bouncer that introduced me to a completely different side of humanity. I was involved in hundreds of physical altercations over my 18 years on the rope. After each one, I debriefed myself, trying to understand what happened and how I reacted.
That experience working the ropes shaped my martial art training and application. I discarded techniques that were cumbersome, impractical or didn’t survive the pressure test of reality. I got bashed around in those early years before I figured out the groove of violent encounters. I faced drunk, sober and high individuals during this time. It all added pieces to the puzzle.
Some 10 years after that initial bullying event, I was again faced against 3 males while standing outside for a breath of fresh air at my work’s Xmas party in 2003. This time, the stakes were much higher. One male approached me from the left and ask for the time. His two buddies moved in from the right and were stone faced and quiet. I moved back and to the side as to align them ‘in a row’. Being surrounded isn’t something I am fond of.
One of the quiet one’s lunged at me. The other two tried to swing at my head.
“Get his money,” one yelled. I was in the middle of a mugging. I was alone. And the stakes where high. The potential for serious injury facing three opponents was no joking matter. I head butted the first male six times as fast and violent as I could. My purpose and goal was to utterly destroy my target with a level of violence that exceeded his. I moved in a circle avoiding being pinned down in one spot. As the other two grabbed and swung at me, I threw punches and elbows to keep them away. I used a method called SPEAR which was made famous by Tony Blauer to keep them off angle.
After what seemed like an eternity (time often speeds up or slows down when adrenaline dumps occur. Its called ‘tachypsychia’ or time in the mind), one of my fellow bouncers emerged from the club and grabbed onto one of the assailants. We were entangled in a scrum of some sorts. That’s when one of the male’s reached into his pocket and pulled out a six inch blade.
I yelled ‘Knife, knife, knife’ to my partner and I kicked the blade-wielding male with everything I had. My bouncer partner then tossed him 10 feet down the street.Injured and rattled, the group scattered.
This situation made it perfectly clear to me that specific moves are not planned when violence occurs suddenly. Your flinch response and training will dictate how you react before you realize what is going on. The one thing that was clear was my mind telling me to ‘survive’.
I had put in a lot of training and personal effort to weaponizing. I was by no means the toughest person on the planet. But I didn’t have to be. I just needed to be tougher and SMARTER than the situation I was faced with.
Weponizing the Body:
Train with purpose. Train smart (or try). I have a litany of injures from training. Its something most people have if they do combat arts long enough. I am not proud of them but physicality of this nature will cause the body to break down. Accidents, trips, falls, joint locks, strikes….they all add to the list. However, it allows you to understand the limits of your body.You need to train and repeat techniques over and over in order to have it kick in WITHOUT thought when its go time.
One of the advantages to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is that it’s an art that allows full resistance of another person. You get to understand body movement, proper breathing under stress, and the aspects of grappling, joint and choke manipulation. It is awesome for combat training. One of the advantages to Japanese Jujutsu is that it gives you an understanding of standing movement,throws, weapon protection, strikes and to be honest, lethality of technique. I use the two in conjunction as my toolbox. Yours may be different.
Work out. Build up your body to be as strong as possible. The tougher the body, the more it can take when physicality comes your way. After so many years of martial arts, I finally started working out at the gym on a regular basis. I am now stronger, bigger, faster and have more endurance than I ever have had. This was a game changer for me. Combine your healthy living with your martial training. Its important.
Weaponizing the Mind:
Preparing for violence is a strange thing. You never know how you’ll react until you are in the middle of it. Physical training will help you but it is no guarantee that you’ll be ready to rock when attacked. Proper mental preparation using visualization is key. In my opinion, there is a desensitization that needs to occur. We don’t all have the ‘benefit’ of being in professions that have violence in them so you need to start to see what it looks like. You need to understand that you are in control of your mental mindset. Re-enforcement of positive (never say die) attitude is of utmost importance. Your drive could be personal survival (which it should); it could be family related (your need to return home to see them), or the drive to protect others from harm. You need these basic goals to be burning like a supernova in your brain. History is replete with examples of human endurance under the most extreme situations.
So, in order to weaponize the mind and body, you need to get them in synch with one another. I am not suggesting everyone’s goals are this. You may train martial arts for sport, exercise or personal growth. Self-defense or weaponization maybe low on your list. That’s fine.
Just make sure you surround yourself with someone who has it high on his or hers.
Stay Sharp.
The Vorpal Blade
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