How to Kick Ass

What makes another human dangerous is an active human brain. And that's your goal: In any situation where you find yourself facing grievous bodily harm, you need to shut down the brain of the other person, and that's what's going to give you true safety.

What really drives me is I think there's a perception out there that unless you have great athleticism, and you're bigger, faster, stronger, self-defense really isn't for me ... I think that's probably one of the greatest, most dangerous myths that we have out there, and it's my passion to let people know: Hey, it's not about being bigger, faster, stronger.

With the right knowledge—and that's what most people don't have—with the right knowledge, a predator can give you opportunities, and if you know how to exploit those opportunities, it's not about being bigger, faster, and stronger.

The most dangerous thing in a human being is an active brain, and through injury, you can take the brain out of the equation, so the person won't be able to think and move—they have to respond to the trauma that's happening to their human body.

The more somebody is trained in the judicious use of violence, the much more peaceful they are and the much more calm they are in their daily life.

If you're 90 pounds soaking wet, you can put injury on any human body, and if you think about it, who wants 90 pounds dropped anywhere on a vulnerable part of their body. I don't care who you are—nobody wants that.

Real predators understand size and strength is really irrelevant if you understand how to use violence correctly.

There are approximately 72 areas on the human body—and it could be a nerve, it can be a bone, it can be a joint, a sensory system—and basically, what we teach people to do is either shut down a sensory system or break a structure of the human body so it no longer is operating during the time that you're involved with the person.

My people learn to exploit a predator's mistake, meaning if you can think and move, and the predator gives you an opportunity to go to a vulnerable part of their body, you can then bypass their bigger, faster, stronger skill sets.

I train in principles, not methods ... Techniques will get you killed; principles will save your life.

Learning to deal with violence and learning to train in violence is not as rewarding as any other kind of a competitive sport because there's no real payoff other than survival ... Most people, what they really want, is they want to learn to live a life where they minimize the chance of needing self-defense—making better decisions. And that's the kind of stuff that I find to be really valuable.

Destruction doesn't take skill; destruction is a skill set that is available to everybody.