One of the highlights every year for our team is when we get to travel and share our knowledge at the A Girl and A Gun (AGAG) National Conference. At every conference, students greet us with smiles, open hearts, and a thirst of hunger for knowledge and improvement, creating an intoxicating feeling of pure excitement that ignites a fire in us before, during, and after the weekend every year. 

We’ve been visiting the AGAG National Conference for years and sharing multiple topics covering Specialty Training Programs or STPs on the subject of combatives. At every conference, the question arises as to what our specialty is when it comes to this, and our response is always, “We are a jack of all trades and a master of one.” The “one” is ourselves because we cannot necessarily control situations or other people, but we can learn how to control our response mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Diving deeper into this question is our follow-up answer. You give us the problem, and we will write an entire curriculum for the solution.  That is the most essential definition of our STP format. Our goal with each program is to educate and train for solutions that fill the gap in our knowledge or skillset and help us be more prepared for whatever might happen. While creating any STP, we consider the situation or confrontation to start with Scenario Based Training. This structure develops the parameters to train under and allows us to borrow a learning progression called Technique-Repetition-Isolation-Go (TRIG), helping expand skill and confidence with each technique. Following this path, we can introduce individual techniques on a Problem-to-Solution basis, assisting each student as they learn that the easiest or simplest solution is usually the correct one. Starting there, we establish a baseline to train from and learn step by step. This format educates the brain through recognized experiences, elevating each student to a point of higher learning. With this level established, it is easy to move to what we call Variable Based Training, where each student plays the role of coach, creating energies and problems to help bridge the gap from a Training Matrix of dots or techniques separated by time to an Application Matrix, where the dots are all on top of each other. Following this configuration, we can minimize and even eliminate the brain from the situation and progress from reaction to action with zero thought process. Taking action always leaves us with better outcomes, and the only way to take action is with the experience of training. 

This year, we offered several of our students’ favorite topics, including Improvised Weapons, Flexible Weapons, Ground Zero, and our newest Curriculum, Urban Ambush Response! Improvised and Flexible Weapons promotes eye-opening creativity as the students learn to use what is around them in an emergency. Their options may include turning everyday objects into “weaponized” tools that are found around the home, office, or on them in the absence of a self-defense-specific tool such as a knife or firearm. All roads lead to the same goal. Gain additional time to escape or escalate to a greater force multiplier. Best of all, students learn techniques with Flexible Weapons, including purse straps, scarves, headbands, gators, buffs, or facemasks to maintain distance, choke, and even throw their opponent to the ground. 

Our Ground Zero curriculum has been a great addition in the last three years of the AGAG National Conference. Zero is when you are pinned against an object, wall, or the ground so that you cannot move. Zero is the starting point where you will learn to control an opponent. It is where you will use leverage to escape while being held down by someone bigger and stronger than you. This curriculum gives strategies and skills taught through mobility drills for solo practice to increase confidence for each student to control their opponent, get up, escape, and survive a situation from the ground up. It’s an amazing class that starts slow and warms up to a higher level of physical activity that electrifies a pulse of empowerment second to none. 

Last but not least, the newest creation we brought to the table was our Urban Ambush Response Course. After a few years of rucking up and down hills, stairs, etc., we started thinking about what would happen if someone grabbed our bag while we were wearing it. How would we respond to this kind of threat? Following our format from above, we had a scenario we could build from. We enlisted the help of our school, Martial Way Legacy, donating backpacks, laptop bags, purses, and more. Next, we worked on writing a curriculum that showcases how easy it could be to take two or three techniques and apply them confidently to multiple scenarios. This format gains each student high-volume repetition while remaining mentally excited to keep training through disguised repetition. This class was a hit, and we are thrilled to keep sharing it with more individuals. 

All of these programs are available online through Core Concept Coaching for anyone wanting to learn more about how to defend themselves. If you are a female interested in learning more about firearms education, check out A Girl and A Gun and consider joining thousands of other women in this journey. Are you interested in hosting a training? Contact Larry St Clair at Martial Way Legacy in Austin, Texas, via email or phone at 512-821-3637 for schedule opportunities.

#ComingForYou2024
#YearOfTheDragon
#FightTheGoodFight

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Check out other instructional videos on our YouTube Channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/martialwaylegacy. 

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Guro Larry, Sonja, Lauren & Tori St. Clair
Martial Way Legacy
"A Compass to the Preservation of Bruce Lee’s Philosophy and Legacy"
http://www.martialwaylegacy.com
512-821-3637