Something that I’ve learned over the years is that “you don’t know what you don’t know.” In other words, there are things that we are certain of, things we know we are unsure or clueless of, and then there the things that we don’t even realize that we are unaware of. It’s like Mom’s secret recipe. You’re pretty sure you’ve got it down, and you set out to make those incredible cookies that you remember from your childhood, only to realize that they are nothing like what you remember. It wouldn’t be until you called Mom and found out that you were missing an ingredient, and you had the measurements written down incorrectly.
The same can be said about the many people who are simply unaware of the dangers of having no proper training under their belt. Some of us grew up needing to fight, and because of that, believe that we have things handled, should the time come. My question to you is, what if it’s Mike Tyson in his prime? Do you know what to do then? What about Marcelo Garcia? Do you know what to do then? Now, this isn’t to challenge anyone’s abilities, because I’m sure that someone reading this has an “off the hip” response for me (pun totally intended). What I am trying to challenge is your view on preparedness. The truth is that no one should walk around without training in 4 fundamental skill sets: 1. De-escalation - one’s ability to ease tension, particularly during confrontational situations. 2. Striking - one’s ability to use their body as a blunt force weapon safely, rendering little harm to themselves, while causing as much damage to their opponent as possible. 3. Grappling - one’s ability to handle extremely close range threats, where the use of blunt force is difficult. 4. Weapons - one’s ability to not only use conventional weapons, such as knives, sticks, guns, etc. but also improvised weapons based on one’s environment. All of these things and more are possible to train, but you’ll never get better at any of them, if you don’t take the time to train it. You don’t know what you don’t know.
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Every year, like clockwork, people post about the amazing new things they want to do this year. It's literally the first, and most important, step toward achieving any goal - letting yourself hear it, out loud. How awesome does it feel, to imagine all of the great things you're going to accomplish with your year? How incredible will it feel, once you've actually accomplished them?
I have a simple question for all of you today. What are you worth? Click Here for my video. What is your life, and the lives of those you care for, worth? Are they worth $5/day, $100/day, or maybe even $1,000/day? If you ask me, you are priceless – invaluable! To put a quantifiable value on your life means that you simply do not understand life. You are precious! Now, what are you doing to protect this most precious gift? Most of you are doing nothing about it. This isn’t a stab at anyone; this is a WAKE UP CALL!!! It’s time to ensure your safety and the safety of your loved ones! The excuses of budget, fitness, and time need to go out the window. We are talking about the most valuable thing you have – life! The way I see it, you have two options. A). You go hide in your room, lock the door, play your favorite Netflix show, eating a gallon of ice cream, while you cry yourself to sleep; because that’s EXACTLY what you’re going to do if you don’t start training to protect yourself and your loved ones. B). You get up off your butt, and you find the money (either through stopping your Starbucks and McDonalds, or by letting go of some luxuries), you MAKE the time, and you learn to train around your injuries. There are NO excuses! You can NOT wait for the cops to get there; that could be TOO LATE! You can not hope and pray for a change of heart in the bad guy; it’s not coming! You need to STAND UP and arm yourself with the ability, knowledge, and courage to defend yourself! As I said, this is a WAKE UP CALL to the world! If you’re not preparing to protect yourself, your preparing to hand over yourself! Show the people in your life that you care enough about them to do something with the responsibility to be the protector in a moment of need! You don’t know if that day is today, tomorrow, or ten years from now, but what you CAN know is that you’re ready – just start training! Have a great day, guys! FearLess Nation is an elite family-oriented martial arts school that is located in Trinity FL. We are proud to service New Port Richey, Odessa, Lutz, Land O'Lakes, Holiday and Port Richey, along with the greater Tampa Bay region. We offer personalized and tactically-oriented self defense programs to people of all ages. Our mission is to teach practical self defense techniques that are capable of getting results when they are needed most. FearLess Nation offers classes for all skill levels and age levels. Our Adult Self Defense classes are designed for teens on up and are very hands on, every step of the way. We also teach advanced CQC and Combat Kali Weapons classes for those who want to push themselves to the limit. We have a huge core group of kids attending any or all five of our Kids Self Defense classes offered throughout the week. We see our kids advancing very quickly and building self confidence and enhancing their abilities. If you are looking to take your game to the next level, you might want to consider our advanced striking and kickboxing classes or even our grappling classes where we teach Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). Self defense skills are critically important to building self confidence and self awareness. FearLess Nation is committed to providing you with the best training coupled with the most personalized instruction that will change your life for the better! Contact us today for your FREE classes! ![]() “Are you paranoid or something?” This is a question I often get from people. Before I address the question, let’s understand where it’s coming from. As you allknow, I am a Self Defense Instructor. My focus is in Krav Maga, but I also teach Firearms, Kali, and MMA. At my school, FearLess Nation, we focus on “by any means necessary” quite a bit. We understand that some threats are too great for just our hands and our feet. Some threats call for an equalizer to be deployed. What am I driving at? The only thing that stops a bad guy is a good guy willing to do worse than the bad guy is. We’ve all heard that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Well, that is true, isn’t it? Take our most recent travesty at Orlando’s Pulse Shooting as an example. Ask yourself what ensured the finality of the situation? A SWAT officer managed to take out the shooter…a good man with a gun stopped a bad man with a gun. Now, this is not a gun advocacy post. Rather, this is a post to address that question, “Are you paranoid or something?” The answer is NO, I am not paranoid. I am prepared. I know that I am the only thing standing between my life and the reaper. In some cases, I am the only thing standing between the lives of others and the reaper, as sad as that is. People who don’t train themselves are no better off than an infant. Look at the graphic below and think about it for a minute before continuing. Let me ask you, do you have insurance on your vehicle? How about your home? Yes? Are you paranoid? No? Well, neither am I. I train in Self Defense on all levels, not because I am paranoid, but as my insurance for survival. I train in hand-to-hand combat in my Krav Maga and CQC programs. I train with Edged and Impact Weapons in my Kali program. I train in firearms every other weekend. I don’t do this because I am expecting to get attacked – I’m a pretty nice guy. I don’t have enemies, at least none that I know personally. However, I do this for the possibility that it can happen. You drive, not expecting to get T-Boned, but knowing that it is a possibility. Therefore you have insurance. There really is no difference. Should my life, or the lives of those around me, be threatened, I am there to protect it. Unfortunately, waiting on police to arrive and handle the situation is a bad idea that often renders you even more a victim – just ask the police themselves. Now, I told you that this is not a gun advocacy post, and it isn’t. However, what it most certainly is, is an advocacy post for Self-Action. Knowing how to protect yourself and your family is PARAMOUNT! How could you not be prepared for that. I ask my students often, but probably less often than I should, “Close your eyes and envision just one person, more if you’d like, that you could not fathom leaving without you here to be their support.” We all have that person. It can be a significant other, a parent, a child, a best friend, etc. “Now, open your eyes and ask yourself what you’re doing to ensure that you’ll be there for them. A diet is great, and staying fit is fantastic, but none of that matters if you get attacked and have no idea what to do.” I hope you understand what I’m saying. I’m not condemning anyone, but I don’t know how else to get the point across. We need to be preparing ourselves for the likely potential that we could be next. Everyone thinks, “It’ll never happen to me.” until it happens to them. Please share this post with your friends and ask them if they’re paranoid like you and me. Be safe, everyone! Walk in peace! Instructor Phil To see my video on this subject, click below: ![]() There are facts of life that make a difference in enhancing everything we do. We thought to share what, we believe, to be the six undeniable facts of life... 1. Don't educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy, so when they grow up they will know the value of things, and not just their price. 2. "Eat your food as your medicines, otherwise you have to eat medicines as your food." 3. The one who loves you will never leave you for another, because, even if there are 100 reasons to give up, he, or she, will find that one reason to hold on. 4. There is a big difference between a human being and being human. 5. You are loved when you are born. You will be loved when you die. In between, only YOU are in charge of your life. 6. If you just want to walk fast, then walk alone. However, if you want to walk far, then walk together. The Seven Best Doctors: 1. GOD 2. Sunlight 3. Rest 4. Exercise 5. Diet 6. Self Confidence 7. Friends I often have to have the conversation with students about what they’re really learning. If I ask any martial artist what they’re learning, they’ll likely respond with the name of their style. That’s the wrong response – I’m sorry to tell you. If your answer isn’t that you’re learning to defend yourself, compete, or some other goal, then you haven’t been given the proper mindset from your instructor.
It is fantastic to honor the heritage and tradition of your style, but that is to come secondary to the ultimate goal. In our case, at FearLess Nation, each of my students will tell you that they’re learning Self Defense, and Krav Maga is the style they are studying to achieve that. Your style is exactly that, a style, but a style of what? Now that you have that answer, it’s important to recognize the qualities that make up your ability to achieve your goal. It isn’t having a masterful comprehension of your techniques. Though that is important, an excellent student of the basics can beat someone who knows all of the advanced techniques. So what does it come down to? The most important quality someone who wants to achieve anything in life must have is “heart,” but what is heart? Not the beating muscle, though I hope you all have one. I mean tenacity. I mean drive. I mean ferociousness. I mean that look in your eye that scares them all away. I often talk to my students about the “switch” they must flip that allows them to do the things they might not normally do. Of course, now I’m referring to Self Defense. I tell them so often, “Be willing to do the terrible things that your bad guy isn’t willing to do.” As hard as that may seem, it’s crucial. If you don’t have the stomach to put in the hours, the sweat, the blood – the heart – then I hate to break it to you, but you’re probably not going to achieve 1/10 of what you think you are or want to. Self Defense training is about learning to REALLY survive a real world altercation. It isn’t about katas (memorized movements) or slow motion techniques. It’s about what REALLY works with the heart to make it work! It’s about having a systematic way of picking apart your enemies and not accepting defeat for an answer. It’s about HEART! Just ask the students at FearLess Nation! There’s this strange thing that happens when you join the right martial arts school. Family. The old joke is that a martial arts school is for the people who are broken or need somewhere to belong. You know what I say? “Not for the broken, but the brave.” A martial arts school is for those with that hunger for something more real, more serious, more challenging, and yes for a place to belong.
Here’s the crazy thing, though. People come in with an expectation to learn. People come in with an expectation of getting a great workout. People come in with an expectation of having a good time. What they walk away with is so much more than that. I know for me, almost everywhere I go to train, I find at least one new member of my family I didn’t know. We call ourselves FearLess Nation of Trinity, FL, and we do so because we stand together, as a family – the FearLess Nation! When a member of our family is struggling with something, we stand beside them, and we figure it out together. When a member of our family celebrates a victory, small or great, we stand with them and we celebrate. When a member of our FearLess Nation calls, the entire Nation stands up to take the call. I can’t express how honored and proud I am to call myself the leader of these wonderful people. I count each of these people a member of my family! Just remember that when you’re having a hard time with something, in or out of the school, that we’re all here for you, because we are family! The many nations of this world stand divided and segregated by class and status – not us! We are The Nation! Thank you for reading! Have a great day! Today, I want to tell you about a conversation I had with a gentleman the other day. He came into my school, FearLess Nation, in Trinity, FL, asking what type of business it was. After I stopped chuckling a little, because it’s pretty evident, when you walk in, I explained that we are a Self Defense school. Naturally, I invited him to come try class; I asked if there was anyone else he thought should train. He explained that he had a wife and two children. From there, we got into a long discussion about what type of training we do, and I explained that we primarily teach Krav Maga, but we also have our CQC (Offensive Tactics) course and Combat Kali (Edge and Impact Weapons) course. He kind of chuckled at the explanation of it all, and left with the remark, “If anything bad ever happens, I think I’ll know what to do.” I laughed, and he seemed offended. So, I asked if he had any previous training. No. I asked if he carried any tools (weapons) on him. No. I asked if his family trains elsewhere. No. So, I laughed, again, and explained: When people get put under pressure, contrary to popular belief, they do not rise, but sink. That isn’t to say that people don’t come out on top, because clearly, people do it all the time. What I am saying is that people sink to the level of their training. The greatest basket ball player of all time, Michael Jordan, was not born the phenom that he was. He had to train tirelessly to “rise to the occasion.” People who survive violent encounters, without training, do so by luck. Don’t leave your life u to luck and chance. Make sure you’ve trained yourself to give the correct responses in a bad situation, instead of leaving it to “doing what you need to do.” I think we’ve all heard the old saying, “It’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.” |
About UsWe are the premier self defense school teaching Krav Maga techniques in Trinity, New Port Richey, Odessa, Lutz, Land O'Lakes and the Greater Tampa Bay region. Archives
April 2020
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