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3 DAYS IN THE REAL WORLD
Author: Lito Angeles
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to study with scores of self-defense instructors. A few were good, but most were not. Only a handful really understood the difference between combat and sport, between reality and fantasy.
Peyton Quinn exists in that small percentage of experts who truly understand the realities of street combat. A seasoned martial artist, he has 38 years of experience that includes extensive training in judo, wado-ryu karate and aikido, as well as less formal instruction in several other systems. His reality- based orientation grew out of the eight months he served as a bouncer in New Mexico and Colorado.
Being in the middle of more than 100 fights and standing on the sidelines during countless others taught him that the most decisive survival factor is having the proper mind-set. “Perfect intention is far more important than perfect technique,” he says.
To propagate his controversial theories, Quinn penned two highly acclaimed books and produced six instructional videotapes. But reading about his findings wasn’t enough for me. I convinced Black Belt to send me to Quinn’s three-day Rocky Mountain Combat Applications and Tactics basics course. This article is the result of that experience.
Day One
I traveled to Lake George, Colorado, where Quinn lives and RMCAT is headquartered.
After arriving on a Friday afternoon, I received a brief tour of his facility, which centers around a huge Quonset hut training hall. The floor is fully matted and was roomy enough to accommodate the 14 participants who would make up the class. Dorms and rest rooms are connected to the main hall.
Later I was introduced to Bill Kipp, Quinn’s right-hand man and RMCAT co-instructor. By then, everyone had arrived, so Quinn decided to get things rolling with a speech about the goal of RMCAT: adrenal-stress conditioning through scenario-based training with armored assailants. The secret to prevailing in a real confrontation, he said, is controlling adrenal stress, for it is the determining factor in how a person will respond in a real-life encounter.
After a delicious evening meal, which was prepared by Quinn’s wife, Melissa, and his friend and associate, Pete Crysdale, we reconvened in the training hall.
Picking up where he left off, Quinn explained that the biggest obstacle we needed to overcome was the adrenal rush and our “reactive mind.” In virtually all the fights Quinn participated in or witnessed, there was a precipitating verbal assault designed to intimidate the victim.
Any aggressor has a series of expectations on how his prey will react, Quinn said, and he expects us to respond with fear or denial—with our reactive mind, which allows us to be controlled. Remember that the thug is not looking for a fight; he is looking for a victim.
When an aggressor verbally attacks us, he is in the “frog brain” mode, which represents his instinctual, animalistic survival mind. When we don’t respond as he expects, Quinn explained, the criminal’s “self-aware, super-conscious mind” engages so he can evaluate our risk potential. His ability to attack us is thus momentarily broken.
Ordinary people can pre-empt this progression because there is always a physical precursor to a fight that goes beyond verbal assault, Quinn said. The typical aggressor reveals his intentions through easily discerned body language: finger pointing, fist clinching, staring, body shifting and so on. The sooner we recognize them, the sooner we can derail the attacker, he said.
Quinn then explained that scenariobased training is the key to adrenalstress conditioning. The concepts and techniques presented during such stressful times are retained better than if presented in more traditional ways, he said. Furthermore, learning actually occurs at an accelerated level because of the brain’s greater capacity for memory retention during emotionally charged situations.
Students learn how to function efficiently under adrenal stress by being led through a series of progressively intense drills, Quinn said, and the positive outcomes of those drills hardwire the proper response into the body and brain. To get that adrenaline flowing, RMCAT uses bulletmen—for my weekend, they were Tim Stott, Ken Armfield and Mike Dehanas—in realistic situations that feature plenty of rude and hostile verbiage coupled with the corresponding body language. Even though such “woofing” takes place in a controlled environment, it is so real that without fail the desired reaction is elicited from the student.
We were then thrust into the fray.
Each participant endured several scenarios of hostile behavior, learning how to read the fight precursors and trying to de-escalate the situation. Once we determined we couldn’t avoid conflict, we were allowed to channel the adrenaline into an attack that revolved around unrestrained, full-force blows few martial artists ever get to throw in the dojo.
Only when the bulletman was sufficiently softened did he feign incapacitation so we could escape. Quinn constantly reminded us that street fights are not athletic contests.
The victor is almost always determined in one to five seconds, and he is usually the person who attacks first. Therefore, if our avoidance tactics fail and the confrontation is about to turn ugly, we should attack explosively and continuously until we can escape, he advised.
Properly enlightened, we were ready to be introduced to the “portal of safety” drill. It involved one to three armed bulletmen (first with sticks but then with real knives) who served as barriers to an end zone into which we were told to run as we wielded a plastic bat to protect ourselves. The drill is designed to induce adrenal stress and force us to overcome the “freeze response.”
Each of us ran through it twice to make sure we understood the effects of the adrenal dump: loss of peripheral vision, auditory exclusion and a tendency to stop breathing.
Day Two
Training began right after breakfast, when Quinn began explaining the role of stress in combat. Once our heart rate rises 10 or more beats above our resting rate, he said, an adrenaline dump begins to prepare us for action. As our blood flows to our muscles, less of it is available for our brain. That’s why we lose our fine motor skills under stress and why we have to rely on our gross motor skills. In addition, he said, research has shown that the cerebral cortex can retain only five bits of information at any given time when the body is adrenalized. Consequently, rational thinking shuts down. Adrenal-stress training is essential, he said, because it familiarizes us with those reactions and helps us overcome our tendency toward knee-jerk responses.
Quinn then put each of us through two scenarios that focused on de-escalating the woof without fighting before he shifted gears and delved into the physical concepts of combat:
• Relaxation. Control your adversary by “offering no enemy.” If you can keep your mind calm, you can move more quickly and fluidly.
• Economy of movement. Use simple and direct techniques that rely on gross motor skills.
• Don’t contest your enemy’s power: Avoid using force against force. If attacked, sidestep off the attack line. Never move backward along the attack line.
• Attack continuously. Always take the fight to the enemy. Once you have struck your assailant, continue until he is neutralized.
Next, Bill Kipp taught the physical techniques of RMCAT. Since they were covered in “Weapons of War” (February 2001 issue), I won’t go over them here. I will say only that Kipp was an outstanding instructor who utilized a unique training progression. First, he demonstrated the new technique and explained the biomechanics of it. Then he had us do several repetitions along with him. He used exaggerated slowmotion movements to ingrain all the nuances, the rationale being that when we are under stress, we tend to shorten our form and tighten up. By practicing with slow, large-scale movements, we teach our body a movement which it will speed up and tighten up to make it normal.
Next came our first real fights against the bulletmen. The first scenario mirrored a stand-up, face-to-face confrontation with a belligerent thug.
As usual, each encounter was videotaped so the group could review them all after everyone had completed the round.
Three more fights for each of us came after lunch: another stand-up frontal confrontation and two standup rear attacks. We then broke for dinner, and two hours later we assembled once again for an evening session.
Quinn explained how a predator on the street is looking for a victim—a person who conveys timidity, wonderment or confusion. To increase our chance of avoiding trouble, he said, we must display a confident, self-assured demeanor even if we are afraid. Because 80 percent of communication is non-verbal, Kipp added, how we express something is more important than what we say. Not showing fear is different from not feeling fear; we must control it or it will control us, he said.
Quinn then broached the subject of combat dynamics: “I don’t have to be faster than my enemy. I only need to be one step ahead of him. I only need to land the first shot. I know my first shot will damage him in some capacity—at a bare minimum, it will break his balance.
That gives me plenty of time to follow up.”
He cautioned against getting carried away and raining down a flurry of ineffective blows. If we go too quickly, he said, we may get off more shots, but they will connect with less power. The less power our strikes have, the more opportunity we give our adversary to recover. Therefore, every strike we throw must be a purposeful power shot—especially the first one. When we connect with a hard shot, we have a moment to set up our next power shot. The more disoriented and damaged the assailant is, the less likely he will be able to defend against subsequent strikes, he said.
Day Three
The final day opened with Kipp teaching RMCAT’s ground-fighting curriculum. All the techniques are designed as defenses against some of the worst ground positions we could imagine: being mounted and choked, being mounted and punched, being back-mounted and having our face smashed into the ground, and being back-mounted and having the back of our head and ears punched. Kipp gave us a dose of the same step-by-step training progression he used the previous day so we would quickly be prepared to try the new techniques during the five fight scenarios in store for each of us.
During the frequent mini-breaks in our training, Quinn and Kipp imparted more of their wisdom. We should never allow an aggressor to put his hands on us without permission or a good reason, Kipp said. Our first line of defense against this is to brush past and move away from him. If conflict seems inevitable, Quinn added, we have two options: “One, enter on his preparation to attack; and two, go with it and blend with his attack.”
Our final fights were up next, and the instructors promised we would have ample opportunity to put those principles into practice. The progression that was to unfold included: mounted attack, back-mounted attack, two-on-one face-to-face attack or surprise attack, an attack selected by the student (with his eyes closed), and an attack selected by the bulletman (again, with the student’s eyes closed).
When necessary, Quinn interrupted the flow of bouts with more wise words: “The most important thing to overcome in a real confrontation is adrenal stress so that any technique is available for you to use. This is as close to a martial arts secret as there is. If you can just relax enough in a fight, almost every opponent will make so many techniques available to you. You don’t need too many techniques; you just need two or three that you can do very well.”
After we had completed and reviewed our final two fights, we gathered in a circle one last time. Each of us offered our thoughts on the weekend, and Quinn and Kipp passed out diplomas. Quinn concluded with a telling message: An adrenal dump is one thing you can always count on in a fight. Being able to control your response to stress and channel the energy into the delivery of the technique you want is the secret to survival.
Even so, he added, the most important self-defense strategy is awareness and avoidance because those skills will enable you to read a situation so you can avoid a fight or deescalate it.
Homeward Bound
On my way home, I reflected on the weekend. The RMCAT course really did empower us. My group had 13 men and one woman of varying ages and abilities, and every one of us departed with more than we came with. ...