ANNUAL USA BOOT CAMP

It's time again...

We're putting on our annual two day intensive boot camp on the 2nd weekend of November.

We'll leave for Wilmington NC round lunch on Friday, check in to the military rec camp we've booked and train Friday night. We train again all day Saturday and again Sunday morning.

On Sunday we get a post training meal at a seafood restaurant on the river and then head home.

Email me for details...hope to see some of the US Crew here on the forum at this one.

Nick

Have fun!

Lynx

Boot Camp 2006 was a blast. A lot of good information and intense training. I knew I liked Nick's teaching style and was able to learn quickly from him, but I learned something even better.

Nick makes an honest fighter out of you. No matter what art you study, train with Nick and he will help you make sure it works. it's amazing how fast a technique breaks down when you are completely drained.

Thanks Nick for a great Camp and I will see you at the next seminar.

Mike

BOOT CAMP AAR

OVERVIEW

A weekend at the beach of nothing but training in FIST away from the distractions of work and family etc amongst like minded individuals.

Friday 10

The Charlotte members of FIST all met at a local restaurant to break bread and organize the car pool down. Rob Reavis was once again nice enough to let us leave the extra vehicles in his front yard and after lunch we all took off. The trip down was fairly non eventful except for one of the drivers deciding to check out the city of Concord before heading to Wilmington. Upon arrival we hooked up with Mike Hale and his wife Melissa who had been kind enough to get us accommodation in a converted air force base nestled between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean in Kure Beach. Waiting with them was Pat, Marc and Jeff who had driven down from up North and we all headed into the camp to get our rooms assigned.

After stowing our gear and sorting out the rooms we began our first session of training which consisted of a couple of hours of soft skills such as verbal de-escalation, recognizing threats, countering an impending assault both low key in a bar and a full blown criminal assault etc. We were lucky to have one of my old mates drop by in the way of Richard Price. Richard and I first met at a "Dark Side" Aikido seminar years ago in Raleigh which focused on street practical Aikido. Anyone who says Aikido doesn't work in the street needs to train with Richard sometime. He's a part time officer in the Kure Beach Police Dept and regularly uses his stuff on out of hand miscreants during tourist season.

Unfortunately we didn't have time to cover all the training we wanted as we discovered being out of tourist season meant the restaurants would be closing early so we bailed out and filled up on seafood at a well known local establishment.

After that we hit the sack and arranged to meet in the morning for breakfast. Someone who shall remain nameless decided to play a practical joke and had set the thermostat in my room to a freezing 50 degrees so I had that going for me.

Saturday 11

After breakfast we met down in a small park under the trees near the Aquarium. We started off by doing a cadence run and then spent the next few hours working on getting out of every possible hold there is known to man. We covered the five basic moves which will get you out of all of them and then a few special tips and tricks for specific holds.

Lunch came and went and then we hooked up with Guy Beech, another mate of mine who lives in Wilmington. Guy and I met when I had my PI business down there and he runs a great traditional karate program. His school is awesome, about 5,000 square feet half of which is matted and we usually go there for the ground fighting portion of the program. This time was no different and we spent the afternoon working on what to do when on the ground with a mob trying to kick the crap out of you and what to do if it's just you and one guy rolling round the floor. Jeff and Pat really made an impression with the intensity of their training as did Melissa and Argabrite. We also incorporated a drill whereby one person tries to take the other to the ground while the other belts the snot out of them. This lets grapplers know how hard it can be to get past the barrage of punches and lets strikers know how easy it can be to get taken down.

I also had Marc, one half of my SWAT team, do a presentation on combat first aid which deals with the reality of fighting style injuries. Most local first aid courses don't deal much with gun shot and stab wounds and broken jaws etc. Marc covered both and next year I'm hoping to expand on this by including hands on scenario training replete with anatomically correct makeup etc.

After class we all busted out and had dinner at Wahoo Willies which is another local seafood eatery. This is one of the best parts of the whole weekend as it's a chance for people to network and break into small groups and talk about the training, weapons and so on.

We finished dinner but the night wasn't over. Once we got back to camp we found a partially lit field and broke into groups for more training. Ken took the neophytes through the requirements for level I so we could test them in the morning, Daniel worked with the higher ranks on weapons retention and pistol and shotgun disarms and I worked with the rest on offensive knife. We wrapped up about one in the morning and turned in for some well earned sleep for the next day.

Sunday 12

We got an early start and rolled out into rain and storm clouds which is all par for the course as far as training is concerned. My personal theory is you might have to fight in it so you'd better train in it and everyone else seemed to agree. We began the morning working on multiple drills such as the infamous wind-suck, 2, 3 and four man focus mitt drills and some stress inoculation and disorientation training that was a load of laughs as well as being extremely practical. Once everyone was well and truly beasted we broke off for some testing.

Ken took Mike, Pat, Melissa, Matt and Don through their level one of FIST. Both Matt and Don were nursing injuries so it was good to see their attitude of suck it up and go for it. Don said to me "may as well give it a shot, worst that can happen is that I fail right" The test was hard, even by my standards and everyone passed with flying colors.

Immediately afterwards we tested Brantley, Dan and Chuck for their level X of FIST. They began with a series of suicide runs in the sand volleyball court which was done on purpose to use the sucking effect of the sand. Unlike regular suicides which are hard enough they had to end each run with pushups, crunches or bastids. After passing this gruelling warm up they began the test proper and went through every level of training we could throw at them. Not only did they have to perform the techniques but they had to do it interspersed with daunting physical exercises some of which were stolen from Den Martins seminar earlier this year. I'm happy to say they all passed so our club now has three new black shirts.

The test over we grabbed our gear and headed for a breakup lunch at Elijah's on the river. They serve some really top class seafood and overlooking the river, eating great food and talking about the weekend's training with a bunch of students and friends is hard to beat for a way to spend an afternoon. It was over way too fast of course and everyone said their goodbye's and headed home.

More News

This was the biggest Boot Camp yet and next years promises to be even bigger. Hock Hockheim, one of a handful of martial artists I pay money to train with, has let me know he wants to come on next years and do a joint camp. That, ladies and gentlemen, will be huge as Hock has a large military and law enforcement following. Given we're smack in the middle of Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg I'm guessing it will be one of the biggest seminars ever seen in NC and certainly Wilmington.

PS: The practical joker ended up with a with a rainbow sticker on the bumper of his truck which indicated he prefers men to girls as his sexual preference. It's my understanding he didn't find it till Tuesday morning...ah revenge is sweet.

Nick,

Firstly, what are bastids? They don't sound like any kind of fun.

Sounds like you guys had a full-on weekend.

I guess if it doesn't kill you it'll make you stronger!!

WhatThe... wrote:Firstly, what are bastids? They don't sound like any kind of fun.

I'm not Nick, but I can help you out there. "Bastids" (I've always known them as bastards; Nick's gone native it seems ) are a very nasty combination exercise.

Starting from standing:

1. Drop down to a crouch, with your hands by your feet
2. Kick your feet back (like the first part of a squat thrust) so that you end up in the up position of a push-up.
3. Do a push-up.
4. Bring your feet back to your hands (like the second part of a squat thrust).
5. Spring up into a star jump, screaming "BASTARD!" at the top of your voice. Omit the shout if there are little old ladies present.
6. Lather, rinse, repeat

Doing 10 bastards is much harder than doing 10 push-ups, squat thrusts and star jumps. The constant movement in different directions makes them really unpleasant. A really nice use for them is doing a series of bastards, then immediately performing a fine motor skill (drawing a weapon, performing a knife disarm, practicing calling the cops on a mobile).

They seem to be a combination of different exercises, all rolled into one. Bastards is the right word.

Hey Nick,

At Boot Camp you mentioned that there were only 2 books on self defense that were worth reading. What are they?

Melissa Hale

Oh those bastards!

Now I know what Nick was referring to by bastids.

Thanks Fraser.

Melissa,

There's probably more than that. If memory serves I was making reference to the fact that most self defense books have been written by people who've clearly never been in a real fight...and it usually stands out when you see the crazy stuff they put in their pics as valid techniques etc.

the hands down all out favourite as far as I'm concerned is Mas Ayoob's "The Truth about Self Protection." Every serious student of self defense should have that one on their book shelf.

Another couple that I rate are "Defensive Living" by Bo Hardy and one by Malcolm Harris -an ex DT Instructor for the cops in the UK called "Unarmed Close Combat." The latter is out of print but still available on Amazon in the used section last time I looked.

Nick

Nick I'd be interested in attending one of the bootcamps. It'll have to the one next year so I have time to get back into shape and save up for the flight and the course.... and till you lot get sick of seafood cos I'm allergic. Can you give me some details and a decent airport to use etc