Impact/Model Mugging

[Hagrid]

Yesterday I participated in an Impact/Model Mugging workshop. It is the 4th Impact training I have participated in, and I found it to be excellent. Check out Impact Boston's website at www.impactboston.com - a worthwhile experience for women and men interested in adrenalized scenario training for self defense.

HAGRID

[JoeStagner]

Did you not find the Helmet size and non-reciprocal attack somewhat unrealistic ??

Joe Stagner
http://www.FightingSkills.com/Forums

[Hagrid]

While no self defense course is 100% realistic, IMPACT allows full contact, ferocious conter attacks to the model mugger's head and groin areas. The suit is quite limiting in that these are the only areas that you can attack. The point of Impact/Model Mugging is to adrenalize the defender and allow a simple, full power response. The mugger is also an actor in that he will say things to you and allow for de-escalation practice as well as realism in terms of verbal exchange prior to assault. Really I think Impact/Model Mugging is best used as a semi-regular (every year or so) experience. It certainly is limited in many ways but has its place in self defense training. Self defense experts like Peyton Quinn and Marc MacYoung sing its praises, in fact Peyton Quinn uses the suit extensively at RMCAT as well as other types of padding to avoid injury during full contact self defense training.

HAGRID

[ryanhall]

hagrid,
if you're interested in realistic self defense, i would highly recommend taking a look at richard dimitri, sammy franco, and geoff thompson. they are all top notch, and will probably give you a new perspective on personal protection. depending on your location, you may be close enough to dimitri for a visit--if you were interested. anyways, i would take a look at the forums. a lot of the regulars have some good information to offer. just my 2 cents.

also: i am not trying to take a big shot at macyoung, but in the opionion of many, he is not what he seems. good books, but less than impressive in person. ask around.


dimitri:
www.senshido.com
franco:
www.sammyfranco.com
geoff:
www.geoffthompson.com

[Hagrid]

Thanks Ryan. Hey, I used to live in Arlington, VA! Cool! Glad they nabbed those snipers...

HAGRID

[ryanhall]

amen to that. a fellow arlingtonian, huh? cool. peace

[IMPACT LA]

Cool, I'm glad you liked the class. There is nothing like getting highly adrenalized and going full-force! I was so impressed by my first IMPACT Men's Class, that I stopped doing traditional martial arts altogether and began to focus solely on reality training. Eventually I became a mock assailant (or "mugger") and, years later, now do it full time.

I too recommend Richard Dimitri & Geoff Thompson, though sometimes we guys don't realize that a lot of women simply will not go to a self-defense class which is all men, predominantly men, taught by a man, etc. A lot of them are just not comfortable with it. This is particularly true of women with a history of sexual abuse.

I have "mugged" IMPACT classes where 100% of the women in class had been raped and /or molested. The amount of emotion that is brought up is simply something the average self-defense instructor (particularly if he is a man) is just not comfortable or trained to deal with. In most self-defense classes, people don't break down and cry, but when you are getting people adrenalized, past trauma can often surface and the student is "re-living" their assault.

Teaching self-defense techniques is one thing, but how do you coach someone who is curled up in the featal position re-living past trauma? How do you get them to even begin to believe that that it is even a possibility that they could protect themselves, yet alone actually fight the mock assailant?

That is the area where IMPACT excells; teaching realistic self-defense skills to the populations which need it most; people who have already been victimized and therefore are more likely to be targeted again. Teaching these populations is, to put it simply, is very "different" than teaching a group of normal 18 -25 year old men.

Take Care,

-Perry

[eXcessiveForce]

While teaching self defense I had a woman who had been molested most of her life. She luckily confided in me her situation as she was prepared to drop the class because of the psychological impact it had on her. However she stuck it out and actually learned not to be paralyzed by fear. It took a lot of work for her. She only worked with me for quite awhile so that I could break off an engagement before it became to much for her.

By the end of the class she was capable of doing quite a bit of damage and thanked me for how much help I had been for her.

So I can attest that many women will not seek out self defense training from men or predominately male classes.

I was just glad that I had been trained to handle abuse cases. I was also able to get the woman into counselling. She had never told anyone else even after many years of abuse. My psych degree came in handy that day.

I have seen lots of people teaching self defense but do not have the training to deal with individuals who have already been tramatized. I would hope that all instructors would attempt to educate themselves as to how to properly deal with individuals who have been vicitmized.

[Hagrid]

By the way, we hosted Marc MacYoung for an entire weekend seminar, I spent about 20 hours with him and he was interesting, funny and helpful. I have firsthand knowledge that he is knowledgeable. Every teacher is different and maybe some of the other guys are into other things. We had a great time and learned a lot while he was here.

HAGRID