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What My Back Injury Can Teach Us About Training
Published on 2012-05-23 08:30:33
Several weeks ago I managed to hurt my back doing something as silly as attempting to assemble a new TV stand. This back injury managed to put a huge damper on all of my training efforts besides dry-fire. Any sort of movement was difficult in karate with an injured back and strength training was nearly [...] > read more
Announcing Some Changes at Indestructible Training
Published on 2012-05-21 06:00:10
I started this blog back in December because I wanted to finally spend more of my life doing what I really love: training. For the past 6 months I have been able to write and publish content on the subject, which has done wonders to help expand my own understanding of how to best train [...] > read more
Best of the Web 5/18/12
Published on 2012-05-18 06:00:13
Another week, and some more great posts. Here are my favorites from the past 7 days. Mental Performance Blocks (gunnuts.net) – Caleb discusses a topic very near and dear to my heart. I think most of the time that I perform poorly it has more to do with overconfidence or psyching myself out than a [...] > read more
Some Thoughts on Improving the Draw-stroke
Published on 2012-05-16 06:00:23
One of the most practiced skills for any individual who carries a firearm for self-defense is the draw-stroke. After all, if you can’t get the gun into the fight it is useless. Focusing on the draw-stroke in training also makes sense from a complexity standpoint. Drawing a firearm is one of the two most complex [...] > read more
Train Like It’s Your Last Day To Train
Published on 2012-05-14 06:00:23
Every day of training tends to be a little different. Sometimes we work on precise skills, other times we work on strength or other physically demanding training. Some of these days are easy, and others are not quite so easy. One common thread ties all of these training sessions together. You should be training like [...] > read more
Best of the Web 5/11/12
Published on 2012-05-11 06:00:08
Another week, and some more great posts. Here are my favorites from the past 7 days. Priorities (pistol-training.com) – Todd touches on a point that I strongly agree with. Performance is good, but reliability needs to be there as well. I think this applies for both equipment and skills. If your equipment provides superb performance [...] > read more
Varied Instruction: Reducing the Toolbox
Published on 2012-05-09 06:00:20
When studying to defend yourself, there is a trade-off to be made between depth and breadth of skills. How much do you specialize in your skills, and how many different skills do you need to be sufficiently prepared? The answer lies somewhere in between the two extremes. You need enough depth to be proficient under [...] > read more
Do You Spend More Time on Specialized or Generalized Skills?
Published on 2012-05-07 06:00:05
Every defensive skill can be placed into one of two categories, specialized skills and generalized skills. General skills are skills that apply in many situations or are foundational in that they are used as a basis for the specialized skills. The more situations a skill might apply to, the more general that it is. Specialized [...] > read more
Best of the Web 5/4/12
Published on 2012-05-04 06:00:12
Another week, and some more great posts. Here are my favorites from the past 7 days. Training vs Experience (thetruthaboutguns.com) – The Truth About Guns republished an article from Active Response Training that points out that not all bad guys are untrained slackers; many in fact do have training on their side as well. Even [...] > read more
Are Long Range Skills Valuable For Self-Defense?
Published on 2012-05-02 06:00:58
Most people will readily agree that if you are using a rifle for anything other than defending yourself in relatively close quarters, then it is probably not self-defense. Taking a shot at 300 yards is not easily construed as self-defense except for the most extreme of circumstances. The simple conclusion to take from this is [...] > read more
Traditional Martial Arts: A Strong Foundation
Published on 2012-04-30 06:00:54
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had a few opportunities to test some of my skills. First came a chance to practice the IDPA classifier with some of the IDPA guys at the range after a range cleanup day. While I’m certainly not a master class shooter quite yet, I did score pretty close [...] > read more
Best of The Web 4/27/12
Published on 2012-04-27 06:00:54
This week provided some excellent posts on training. Below I have rounded up some of my favorite blog posts from across the web over the past 7 days. Please feel free to email me if you have come across a great post that you would like to share. Permission to Miss (pistol-training.com) – Todd at [...] > read more
5 Benefits of Competition
Published on 2012-04-25 06:00:29
In most areas of self-defense you can usually find some sort of competition. If you study BJJ or Karate there are tournaments for both. If you are a shooter, you can find everything from long distance rifle matches to games like IDPA and USPSA that test your ability to draw, move, and shoot under pressure. [...] > read more
Every Range Trip Is A Training Session
Published on 2012-04-23 06:00:21
The usual course of fire I follow tends to consist of some sort of drill to assess my ability, most often the FAST, followed by a series of drills to work on my biggest deficiencies and the things I can’t work on in dry fire. I get the most enjoyment at the range from trying [...] > read more
Best of The Web 4/20/12
Published on 2012-04-20 06:00:45
Last week’s Best of the Web was well received, so I’m giving it another go. Below I have rounded up some of my favorite blog posts from across the web over the past 7 days. Not too many training related posts jumped out at me this week – in the future please feel free to [...] > read more
Training Like it’s 1775
Published on 2012-04-18 06:00:40
One of the most important days in American history (if not THE most important day) was April 19th 1775. Tomorrow is the 237th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord. Why is this date so important? To me it’s important because it was the turning point, the spark that set things in motion to [...] > read more
What Is Your Most Indispensable Piece of Training Gear?
Published on 2012-04-16 06:00:27
When we train, we often use gear. Some gear is the actual gear that we are training to use – for example our carry pistol and the holster we carry it in. But there are many other pieces of gear we use because they allow us to more readily train realistically in a safe way. [...] > read more
Best of The Web 4/13/12
Published on 2012-04-13 06:00:52
I’m going to try something different this week. Below I have rounded up some of my favorite blog posts from across the web over the past 7 days. I’m considering making this a regular part of the blog, so let me know if you like the idea. Speed vs. Accuracy (Gun Nuts Media) – Caleb [...] > read more
I’m Not Here To Tell You What You Want To Hear
Published on 2012-04-11 06:00:43
I’m starting to realize something that scares me. Of all the millions of gun owners, and millions of martial artists, how many of us really train with the right mindset? Think about the instructors out there, whether the high-speed low drag types or the 27th degree grand master of whatever. Many of these instructors are [...] > read more
Course Review: Bill Lewitt’s Basic Trauma Management for Shooters
Published on 2012-04-09 06:00:26
A couple of weeks ago I discussed reasons why you should get medical training. What it basically comes down to is being prepared for the situations you hope never to be in. I carry a gun hoping I never need to use it. Knowing how to deal with trauma, especially the trauma that results from [...] > read more
How to Deal With Training Injuries
Published on 2012-04-06 06:00:14
Injuries are a fact of life, especially if you train. These injuries can range from the dings and dents you get practicing partner drills in a contact martial art, or they can be everything else from pulls and strains to broken bones. If you are training in a serious way, it is only a matter [...] > read more
A Casualty in the War Against Unused Guns
Published on 2012-04-05 06:08:26
Ironically enough, last night while I was dry-firing I noticed a casualty of my own. I spoke yesterday about not letting dings and dents to your firearms caused by training to bother you. Here you will see that my own Glock 17 lost a chip around the magwell. I can only assume that thousands of [...] > read more
Dings and Dents
Published on 2012-04-04 06:00:07
Many shooters are attached to their guns. They treat them like the most precious substance on the planet and fear every little ding and dent their gun might acquire in its use. To be honest I can’t blame these gun owners, and I am definitely in the same boat for at least one or two [...] > read more
Appearance on Kate Kreuger’s Talking Guns
Published on 2012-04-02 11:00:37
I’ll be making an appearance on Kate Kreuger’s Talking Guns on Arizona Gun Radio tomorrow morning (Tuesday 4/3) at 6:20 Mountain Time (9:20 EST). If you happen to live in Arizona you can listen live here. > read more
1st Quarter Goals Checkup (Time to revisit your goals)
Published on 2012-04-02 06:00:13
5 Reasons You Should Get Medical Training
Published on 2012-03-30 06:00:32
When we train for self-defense we are often concerned primarily with the encounter. If you are smart, you train for everything leading up the encounter – handling the ‘interview’, taking a dominant position, and picking up pre-assault cues. You should also train for everything following the encounter, which may include surveying the scene, dealing with [...] > read more
How To Train Dangerous Techniques
Published on 2012-03-28 06:00:00
Last week I sent an email to my email subscribers looking for some feedback on exactly what they were looking to get from Indestructible Training. One reader, John, asked to see more on “down and dirty street fighting”. This post is my take on an aspect of training for the street, especially those ‘dirty’ techniques [...] > read more
High Speed Low Drag…At the Gas Station.
Published on 2012-03-26 06:00:45
Does the order in which we do things really matter? And how important is it to be efficient when we go about accomplishing everyday tasks? Sometimes order and efficiency won’t help you, but sometimes they can mean the difference between life and death. The military drills into young recruits a specific order for getting dressed. [...] > read more
The Quick Fix
Published on 2012-03-23 06:00:43
Not a day goes by without some offer of a quick fix solution somewhere on the internet. People peddle their online and DVD courses with claims that they will make you invincible. They might as well make claims that they can teach you to dodge bullets and kill people by looking at them. What’s worse [...] > read more
Mission Statement
Published on 2012-03-21 06:00:56
Today’s post marks the 50th post on this blog since I launched it back in December. While this isn’t a huge milestone by any means, I thought it would be a good time to refocus and define a mission statement. While this is sort of a line in the sand, my mission will always be [...] > read more
Do You Know How To Get Out?
Published on 2012-03-19 06:00:54
When visiting the doctor’s office recently, I discovered a weakness in my own preparedness and situational awareness. After walking to the exam room, I realized that I had lost track of how I got there. This reminded me of several of the biographies I’ve read about Miyamoto Musashi. For those that don’t know, Musashi was [...] > read more
What Is Functional Strength?
Published on 2012-03-16 06:00:47
Discussing strength in the self-defense world often veers to a discussion of functional strength. Functional strength can have many meanings depending on who you are discussing it with. Let’s define what functional strength is for the self-defense enthusiast. Why train strength? Why do we train strength at all? Most martial systems claim to be effective [...] > read more
The Carpenter’s Tools
Published on 2012-03-14 06:00:30
The past few weeks I have written some posts on the subject of why one tool is better or worse than another. More specifically, you may have noticed my low opinions of shotguns and revolvers. The arguments that are typically fired back in favor of these firearms (or any firearm as the ultimate tool above [...] > read more
Quantity vs Quality
Published on 2012-03-12 06:00:14
A few months ago when I started this blog, I used the blog’s launch as a way to boost my own training. I have always enjoyed training in various ways for self-defense, but with this new mission in life to encourage others to train, I gave myself a great reason to take a look at [...] > read more
Revisit Your Gun Handling
Published on 2012-03-09 06:00:01
If you practice any aspect of shooting, whether it be for self-defense or even pure enjoyment, you need to periodically take a look at your gun handling. Safety is always a top concern around firearms, and we all know that familiarity breeds contempt. The more you train or practice with a given firearm the more [...] > read more
Train in All Wardrobes
Published on 2012-03-07 06:00:11
When you train for self-defense, the goal is to be ready to defend yourself whenever or wherever you may need to. Part of ensuring this preparedness is to train in the entire variety of clothing that you may wear. Drawing a pistol while wearing a vest for concealment is far different than drawing from underneath [...] > read more
How Far Do You Take Your Training?
Published on 2012-03-05 06:00:27
If you want to survive a life or death encounter with an assailant, you need to invest some time training. How far you take that training will depend on a variety of factors, but ultimately it is up to you. Everyone has different requirements for what their training must prepare them for. And we all [...] > read more
Pistolcraft – The New Way of Strategy?
Published on 2012-03-02 06:00:39
Miyamoto Musashi was a great swordsman who lived in the late 1500′s into the early 1600′s. He excelled in the use of the sword, but also as a tactician. As a practitioner of swordsmanship, Musashi like many other swordsmen was considered a strategist. And more so than studying the sword, these men practiced the way [...] > read more
Stop Trying To Shoot Better
Published on 2012-02-29 06:00:53
When I went shooting a few days ago I came to a familiar realization. Like many times before, I realized that when I try too hard I tend to screw things up. The more I ramp up the pressure on myself, the less smooth my actions become, and the more mistakes I make in my [...] > read more
Training as Insurance
Published on 2012-02-27 06:00:24
One way to look at your training is from the perspective that it is an insurance policy. I take out an insurance policy on my car because I don’t know what the future holds. I could get in a car accident on my way to work after writing this post, or I could go through [...] > read more
How I Doubled My Hamstring Flexibility In 4 Weeks
Published on 2012-02-24 06:00:24
Flexibility is a hugely important attribute for anyone who is self-defense minded. Not only does it decrease risk of injury, but it increases our overall mobility. Mobility is key to surviving a violent assault. If you ever find yourself in a gunfight where you need to maneuver around cover or concealment or even find yourself [...] > read more
Debunking the Revolver Myth (or Why Revolvers Suck)
Published on 2012-02-22 06:00:58
There is a crowd in the armed citizen world that would have you believe that a revolver is the ideal weapon for home defense (or to put in your wife’s hands for home defense, or to carry, etc). They are wrong. Here is a point by point breakdown of why a revolver is not the [...] > read more
Learn to Take a Hit
Published on 2012-02-20 06:00:34
In many martial arts, great time and effort is spent on body conditioning. Fighters in arts like Kyokushin condition their shins and sometimes forearms by rapping on them with bundles of chopsticks. They condition their legs by kicking each other, and learn to absorb body shots similarly by practicing taking punches and kicks. These practitioners [...] > read more
Implicit vs Explicit Action
Published on 2012-02-17 06:00:43
How would you describe the way you train? I would venture to guess that most people train implicitly and intend to act explicitly if the time ever comes. Let’s define what I mean by implicitly and explicitly. Implicit im·plic·it [im-plis-it] adjective 1. implied, rather than expressly stated: implicit agreement. When I refer to implicit, I [...] > read more
Why Precision In Training Language Matters
Published on 2012-02-15 06:00:53
Who uses training language? Teachers and instructors definitely use training language, but so do students. Those who teach or instruct are conducting a transfer of knowledge to their students. Generally this involves some training language whether they know it or not. Students ask questions, help each other, and take notes throughout classes. All of these [...] > read more
Training With Vehicles: Where To Start
Published on 2012-02-13 06:00:35
How much time do you spend training in and around vehicles? Except for the enlightened few, you probably haven’t given it much thought. If you don’t believe me that you should train in and around vehicles, check out this guest post I wrote for Low Tech Combat about Why You Need to Add Vehicles [...] > read more
Why I Train
Published on 2012-02-10 06:00:20
When I was a young kid, my first inspiration for training was (believe it or not) watching the Power Rangers on TV. After watching this show, I went to my parents and told them quite firmly that I wanted to study Karate. While I obviously grew out of my Power Rangers phase, I am still [...] > read more
Machismo And Its Devastating Effects
Published on 2012-02-08 06:00:00
It is not uncommon to see a theme of machismo among just about anyone who trains for or claims to be prepared for their own self-defense. Martial artists, shooters, and just about everyone in between carry themselves with this sense of manliness. Machismo noun 1. astrong or exaggeratedsense of manliness; an assumptive attitude that virility, [...] > read more
Perfect Practice Makes Perfect
Published on 2012-02-06 06:00:12
You have been told since your youth that “practice makes perfect.” What you have been told is wrong. In reality practice only makes permanent. Or maybe more accurately practice makes less forgettable. On the other hand, perfect practice does make perfect (or closer to perfect at least). The real difference is that a deliberate effort [...] > read more
4 Tips For Breaking Bad Habits Before They Break You
Published on 2012-02-03 06:00:40
I’m not talking about smoking, nail biting, overeating, or any other common bad habit in life. I’m talking about the bad habits that have formed in our technique or our training practices. We fight like we train, so everything we do under the pressure of a real fight becomes an automatic reaction. Your automatic response [...] > read more
Breathe Like Your Life Depends On It
Published on 2012-02-01 06:00:19
Do you breathe? Breathing is a part of everything we do, from Sudoku to weightlifting. In some activities, how we breathe is far more important than in others. Breathing a certain way will generally not improve your performance in Sudoku, but it is absolutely crucial when you hit the weights. In the realm of self-defense, [...] > read more
Making Good Mistakes
Published on 2012-01-30 06:00:50
Do you make mistakes? Have you ever dropped a mag, fumbled a reload, had a malfunction? Have you ever done the wrong technique in a kata or zigged when you should have zagged? If not I need to shake your hand because you are a god. If you do make mistakes, how often do they [...] > read more
When To Take Risks In Your Training
Published on 2012-01-27 06:00:18
Training is risky business. Any physical activity comes with some amount of risk for physical injury. Sparring even more so. No matter how careful we are training with our firearms, even dry-fire comes with some inherent risk – we must always be careful. Simply setting foot on the range has its own risks that we [...] > read more