Armor Training

Full Contact Armored Self Defense

Most fight training is not full contact. However, only full contact will teach you how to respond to a real life threat. We use fully articulated suits of armor to allow people to strike vulnerable targets repeatedly without causing injury.

The Theory of Armored Fight

The best way to learn to defend yourself is to safely survive an attack. You must attempt to hit something that is hitting you back. Of course, that's not possible in the initial phase of training, but that is the goal. We are not teaching boxing or coaching wrestling. This is not MMA. All of those sports are awesome & valid ways to train, but we want you to hit real moving targets. We don't want to throw jabs at pads.

From day 1, hour 1, minute 1 you will be striking a real moving person.  Marks program has you practice front kicks straight to the stomach, snap kicks to the groin, and elbows to the face.  Boxing, wrestling and MMA are all sports that have weight classes.  There is no weight class in fighting.  Understanding the proper distance and timing needed to hit targets is a prerequisite for any person who wants to learn to defend themselves against larger opponents in street situations. 

Often people assume that it will just happen,  that if threatened, they would instantly respond as if it was a movie and defend themselves.  This is untrue.  In the real world you fall to the lowest level of your training.  You do NOT rise to the occasion.  However, if you have hit a real human moving target who is trying to drag you away, then you can do it again.  Its exposure training.  

The armor allows you to practice hitting real targets repeatedly.  Without the armor it is only possible to strike someone a few times before causing serious injury.  Lets be clear.  The guy in the armor IS experiencing pain– thats the point.  If he doesn’t experience pain, then he will not move naturally, which means the trainee will not learn to chase and strike the next natural target.  The armor helps prevent serious injury.  Armored fight training allows the trainee to hit a target, observe how the body actually responds in that moment ,and learn to follow up.

1. Put something between you & the attacker — Arms, a front kick, an elbow, etc.
2. Move forward — In the natural world, prey animals run from predators. Predators run at other predators. It's a psychological & neurological trick to changing the momentum in a situation.
3. Don't stay directly in front of the attacker. Always directly face your attacker.
4. Hit a target twice - then hit another target — Don't stop hitting the target until it falls over. Don't hit once & check to see if it will fall over. Hit it while moving forward until it goes away. 
5. Gain physical control.