WEBVTT 00:00:15.562 --> 00:00:16.581 Welcome to the Concealed Carry 00:00:16.581 --> 00:00:20.909 Podcast, part of the ConcealedCarry.com network, brought to you by HK. 00:00:21.727 --> 00:00:27.991 Today is Tuesday, October 20th, 2026, as of the live recording of this episode, 00:00:27.991 --> 00:00:29.692 and I'm your host, Riley Bowman. 00:00:30.562 --> 00:00:35.161 And today I'm joined by a special guest whom we'll bring on and introduce momentarily. 00:00:35.161 --> 00:00:36.710 I'm very excited about this one. 00:00:37.581 --> 00:00:40.901 We're going to talk about, well, the title of today's episode is, 00:00:40.901 --> 00:00:44.703 What You Need to Know About Fighting With Your Hands and With a Gun. 00:00:46.021 --> 00:00:50.341 So we'll get into this topic momentarily. Don't want to waste your time actually 00:00:50.341 --> 00:00:54.601 too much with a whole lot here other than to tell you that today's episode is 00:00:54.601 --> 00:00:57.933 sponsored specifically by CCW Safe, 00:00:58.355 --> 00:01:03.295 our partner and the guys we trust for defending you and guiding you through 00:01:03.730 --> 00:01:06.935 the legal aftermath of any use of force incident 00:01:07.881 --> 00:01:09.541 that you can turn to these guys. 00:01:09.541 --> 00:01:12.051 If, you know, if and when that day comes, we hope it never does. 00:01:12.051 --> 00:01:16.391 But if it does, turn to CCW Safe, go to ccwsafe.com to learn more. 00:01:16.391 --> 00:01:21.261 Check out their full lineup of plans. You can find one for just about any budget 00:01:21.261 --> 00:01:25.641 and any type of need that you might have, including law enforcement specific 00:01:25.641 --> 00:01:28.924 plans, retired specific plans, military plans, 00:01:30.050 --> 00:01:35.774 Just regular folks plans, different budgets and so forth. So check them out, ccwsafe.com. 00:01:36.238 --> 00:01:40.917 And today's other episode sponsor is the 2027 guardian conference 00:01:41.306 --> 00:01:45.511 uh we're you know 11 months out from that actually but we're giving you plenty 00:01:45.511 --> 00:01:48.891 of notice and now would be the time to get signed up because we have our super 00:01:48.891 --> 00:01:54.211 early bird pricing in effect it's also especially relevant to today's topic 00:01:54.576 --> 00:01:56.537 because our special guest 00:01:57.054 --> 00:02:02.284 taught at our most recent conference just a month or roughly yeah about a month ago now so 00:02:02.830 --> 00:02:05.117 super excited about that and we'll we'll uh 00:02:05.982 --> 00:02:09.457 We'll get them on here in a second, but to sign up for the conference, 00:02:09.457 --> 00:02:10.388 you might want to know where to go. 00:02:10.666 --> 00:02:14.857 Go to guardianconference.com to sign up, see all the information. 00:02:14.857 --> 00:02:18.037 You can see everything on there, the types of instructors we have, 00:02:18.037 --> 00:02:22.253 the types of courses we have, the type of schedule we run over the course of the weekend. 00:02:22.683 --> 00:02:28.107 We feed you basically all three days. Our goal is for people of all sizes, 00:02:28.107 --> 00:02:33.147 ages, stripes, colors, backgrounds, whatever, to come for three days of quality 00:02:33.147 --> 00:02:35.645 training and to truly focus on the training. 00:02:35.976 --> 00:02:40.047 So you just show up with your gear, show up with your gun, your ammo and some 00:02:40.047 --> 00:02:45.909 mags and some holsters and just basic gear that you need for a weekend at the range. 00:02:46.623 --> 00:02:49.967 And then forget about everything else because you'll have food on site and water 00:02:49.967 --> 00:02:52.840 on site and all the things you'll need to take care of yourself for three days. 00:02:53.571 --> 00:02:56.247 You'll just need to go back to your own hotel each night or in fact, 00:02:56.247 --> 00:02:58.957 you can even camp on site so you can do that too. You can just go back to your 00:02:58.957 --> 00:03:02.305 tent at night. We've had a few people do that or an RV. 00:03:02.927 --> 00:03:06.288 Anyway, guys, check it out. GuardianConference.com. get signed up for next year 00:03:06.947 --> 00:03:10.907 you'll want to do that take advantage of it so let's get into our 00:03:11.808 --> 00:03:18.990 Episode uh topic today with our special guest cecil birch hello sir hello 00:03:19.961 --> 00:03:25.087 We're thrilled to have you on. I actually wanted to have you on before the conference, 00:03:26.348 --> 00:03:31.078 last month's conference, but things got crazy and hectic and busy, 00:03:31.078 --> 00:03:33.457 and I forgot to make sure that happened. 00:03:35.332 --> 00:03:38.538 Putting on a conference is not necessarily a small little task. 00:03:38.538 --> 00:03:41.978 So, yeah, no, it's, that's true. 00:03:41.978 --> 00:03:46.438 That's fair. It, it, it takes kind of all hands on deck, all hours on deck. 00:03:46.438 --> 00:03:51.438 It takes pretty much everything out of us for, uh, uh, for yeah, 00:03:51.438 --> 00:03:52.708 months and months leading up to it. 00:03:52.708 --> 00:03:57.138 And then especially the week or two or three leading up to it just gets crazy. 00:03:57.138 --> 00:04:03.048 Uh, but, uh, anyway, we had you at this year's event and it was a great time. 00:04:03.048 --> 00:04:07.219 At least I thought it was, I hope, uh, you thought the same. Yeah, I enjoyed it. 00:04:07.353 --> 00:04:10.766 I enjoyed the conference very much. You know, the facility's really nice. 00:04:11.422 --> 00:04:14.868 I thought the way it went was really cool. I like the idea that... 00:04:16.553 --> 00:04:21.916 That, you know, you don't have to leave, you know, the food's there and stuff. 00:04:21.916 --> 00:04:24.636 You don't have to schlep around and do stuff. So it's kind of nice. 00:04:24.636 --> 00:04:28.656 And it's kind of nice. You can talk to a lot of people. I got to talk to a lot 00:04:28.656 --> 00:04:34.236 of the other instructors hanging out and then a lot of the students just sitting 00:04:34.236 --> 00:04:35.376 there at lunch or dinner. 00:04:36.056 --> 00:04:37.780 I thought it was a good call. I really enjoyed it. 00:04:38.726 --> 00:04:42.236 Awesome. Well, we were really glad to have you there. It was an honor, 00:04:42.236 --> 00:04:44.601 frankly, to have you there, to have you be a part of it. 00:04:44.897 --> 00:04:51.226 You definitely contributed to the success of the event because we need a solid 00:04:51.226 --> 00:04:57.511 guy like yourself that is well-rounded and capable and has a background in things like combatives 00:04:58.376 --> 00:05:00.356 to really deliver on that front. 00:05:00.356 --> 00:05:03.014 And I'd say you did. I mean, students loved your courses. 00:05:04.196 --> 00:05:07.726 They learned a lot in your courses. And you didn't just do all combatives. 00:05:07.726 --> 00:05:10.160 It was like a week or so before the event. 00:05:10.288 --> 00:05:10.516 Yeah. 00:05:10.836 --> 00:05:13.246 And we realized we had so much demand because it was actually, 00:05:13.246 --> 00:05:16.916 I think Chuck Haggard originally was like, hey, guys, I want to do like a close 00:05:16.916 --> 00:05:18.362 quarters, you know, class. 00:05:18.838 --> 00:05:20.904 And we had so much demand for that. 00:05:21.816 --> 00:05:25.026 You know, we're like, hey, Cecil, do you think you could do something similar? 00:05:25.026 --> 00:05:30.134 And you were all over that. Yeah. And people loved that course as well. 00:05:30.448 --> 00:05:36.502 Just learning how to run their gun in a close quarters, you know, fighting distance. 00:05:36.868 --> 00:05:40.258 And so we appreciate you stepping up and doing that as well. 00:05:40.531 --> 00:05:45.226 Outside outside i enjoyed it outside of the humidity and heat while i'm while 00:05:45.226 --> 00:05:51.839 i'm on the range and i don't know how i got stuck with my block being the afternoon shooting block, 00:05:52.541 --> 00:05:57.396 right i you know i had words with jacob about that that's fair but outside of 00:05:57.396 --> 00:06:01.756 that it was great you know when you guys can't you don't have a you you don't 00:06:01.756 --> 00:06:04.273 have unfortunately don't have much say over the weather so. 00:06:05.243 --> 00:06:09.689 Well, we're crossing our fingers and rolling the dice again for next year's conference. 00:06:10.309 --> 00:06:13.889 You know, we've had, most years have been reasonably comfortable. 00:06:14.529 --> 00:06:18.169 You know, usually it's warm, but not just not this warm like it was this year. 00:06:18.469 --> 00:06:24.983 Between the heat and the excess humidity, that was just, that was amazing. That was amazing. 00:06:25.987 --> 00:06:29.279 Well, at least you got to spend most of the rest of your time indoors. 00:06:29.279 --> 00:06:33.987 Yes, that is true. I did. I was indoors every other block for that. That's true. 00:06:34.765 --> 00:06:39.239 Yeah. Well, hey, we've got a couple folks watching live. We've got Connor and 00:06:39.239 --> 00:06:43.029 Eddie that have checked in. Thanks, guys, for checking in. It's really, 00:06:43.029 --> 00:06:44.848 really cool to have you guys. 00:06:46.009 --> 00:06:48.959 And actually, another comment from Connor. I suppose meeting a solid group of 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:52.592 people and networking is a huge second half of a conference like that. 00:06:53.068 --> 00:06:57.311 Didn't consider that until you mentioned being able to stay after hours. Absolutely, we do. 00:06:57.630 --> 00:07:01.229 And part of that is like, you know, we have several dinners after, 00:07:01.629 --> 00:07:05.223 you know, there's one dinner that not quite everybody is invited to. 00:07:05.869 --> 00:07:10.117 That's exclusive to staff, instructors, and Guardian Nation members. 00:07:10.506 --> 00:07:13.379 But it's not that hard to be a Guardian Nation member. And you can attend that 00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:16.983 dinner too. The other dinners are included in the cost of the ticket. 00:07:17.813 --> 00:07:23.049 And, yeah, we have people hanging around, eating dinner, and chatting and getting 00:07:23.049 --> 00:07:24.901 to know one another. And, yeah, it's a great time. 00:07:26.057 --> 00:07:30.167 So, absolutely. Well, let's talk a bit about you, Cecil. 00:07:30.167 --> 00:07:33.707 I'm sure that makes you feel really comfortable, because most people don't like 00:07:33.707 --> 00:07:37.197 talking about themselves. But, you know, one of the reasons why we want to bring 00:07:37.197 --> 00:07:41.336 guys like you on the podcast is for them to get to know you a little bit better. All right? 00:07:41.853 --> 00:07:44.517 Because definitely we know there's some that are watching or tuning in, 00:07:44.517 --> 00:07:47.417 you know, listening to this that don't know you. 00:07:48.157 --> 00:07:52.187 Or maybe they know of you, but I'd like them to get to know you a little bit 00:07:52.187 --> 00:07:56.997 better. All right? So let's get the Cecil Birch story, all right? 00:07:57.991 --> 00:07:58.629 Oh, man. 00:08:00.371 --> 00:08:06.483 You've been doing, let's just call it self-defense related training for a long time. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:15.271 And you come with a solid reputation in the industry, well respected by virtually everybody I know. 00:08:15.654 --> 00:08:19.737 And, you know, I even was very much aware of you for a number of years. 00:08:19.737 --> 00:08:23.537 I don't know that you're aware of me so much, but it's really only been the 00:08:23.537 --> 00:08:28.164 last year or so. We kind of got to connect and get to know each other a little bit more. 00:08:28.541 --> 00:08:30.637 And I'm thankful for that opportunity. 00:08:31.351 --> 00:08:34.247 But where did it all start for you, Cecil? Tell us a little bit about kind of 00:08:35.237 --> 00:08:40.877 how did you get to where you got into this as a profession and how you got to where you are today? 00:08:41.248 --> 00:08:43.807 Oh, I had no intention of getting into this as a profession. 00:08:43.807 --> 00:08:45.857 Oh, my God. I fell into that. 00:08:48.097 --> 00:08:52.657 You know, I'm a child. i was born in 64 so i'm a i'm a child of the 60s and 00:08:52.657 --> 00:08:58.027 70s when and i grew up tv westerns and movie westerns so i wanted to be a cowboy 00:08:58.027 --> 00:09:02.677 my heroes were john wayne randolph scott audie murphy yeah right. 00:09:02.677 --> 00:09:04.131 Dude you just oh man 00:09:04.990 --> 00:09:09.647 That's awesome you know and i'm huge fans too yeah and and that's every saturday 00:09:09.647 --> 00:09:13.957 morning it was john wayne theater i'm watching this and and my dad was into 00:09:13.957 --> 00:09:18.097 it so that helped right and then my dad was a hunter and a shooter so, 00:09:18.577 --> 00:09:20.866 I just grew up shooting right away um, 00:09:21.887 --> 00:09:26.655 it was just a thing so hunting shooting was part of it from the get-go oh yeah 00:09:26.655 --> 00:09:30.715 being a cowboy being a hero doing all that kind of stuff and then as i got older 00:09:30.715 --> 00:09:35.197 and i was growing up i was i had a very severe asthma i've had it my entire life, 00:09:35.755 --> 00:09:39.145 um i had this little period in high school and college where it was, 00:09:39.853 --> 00:09:44.205 kind of gone away and then unfortunately my last my last couple semesters at 00:09:44.205 --> 00:09:46.551 college it came back in full force um, 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:54.158 and so i was bullied as a kid growing up um because back then you know 60s 7 00:09:54.158 --> 00:09:58.778 mid to the mid 70s we didn't have any of the medication that we have now um, 00:09:59.446 --> 00:10:04.508 really the only immediate medicine that you could take there was there was two 00:10:04.508 --> 00:10:09.278 different versions one was i still remember this tedral or merax and essentially 00:10:09.278 --> 00:10:12.220 what those were is speed if you look at it's speed, 00:10:12.788 --> 00:10:16.330 so you're given a seven, eight, nine year old speed in the middle of school. 00:10:17.062 --> 00:10:20.248 Um, I already stand out because the doctor says, Oh, you know, 00:10:20.248 --> 00:10:24.588 you know, he has a note to get out of PE and now you're on speed in the middle of school. 00:10:26.228 --> 00:10:33.388 Hey, here's a big target on Cecil's back. Um, and so, so I was bullied a lot. 00:10:33.388 --> 00:10:38.798 And, um, I got to, once I got to a point where I could ride my bike up to a 00:10:38.798 --> 00:10:41.478 local martial arts school, I was like, it's never happening again. 00:10:42.139 --> 00:10:46.218 And I, that's literally where I started. And, and since that day, 00:10:46.218 --> 00:10:55.338 I've never stepped off the training mat 47 years ago and I haven't stopped. 00:10:55.338 --> 00:10:58.988 And for me, the shooting came along with it. It was all the same thing. 00:10:58.988 --> 00:11:03.188 It was all a piece. Yeah. Shooting for hunting and, and I did competitive ski 00:11:03.528 --> 00:11:07.668 and I shot national match style stuff with my grand in college and stuff. 00:11:07.668 --> 00:11:11.608 So competition was there, but shooting for me went along with the martial arts. 00:11:11.608 --> 00:11:13.810 It was self defense, self preservation. 00:11:14.565 --> 00:11:17.388 Right. And I just, I loved it. 00:11:17.848 --> 00:11:21.502 I loved it. It was, you know, I had a reason, like I said, the bullying, 00:11:21.833 --> 00:11:26.988 but then I fell in love with the training and what it did for me and the growth 00:11:26.988 --> 00:11:29.838 it gave me as a person physically, mentally and emotionally. 00:11:29.838 --> 00:11:32.827 And I just loved it. So I kept going. And I'm just. 00:11:33.848 --> 00:11:38.480 Spent you know my life doing it you know I was never I didn't do any of the 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:43.790 cool you know ex law enforcement I was SWAT copper you know tier one spec op 00:11:43.790 --> 00:11:45.963 guys no I just trained fighting, 00:11:46.636 --> 00:11:50.386 for you know the majority all of my life and, 00:11:51.310 --> 00:11:55.460 there was no ever intent of doing anything with it was just for me and I just 00:11:55.460 --> 00:11:58.124 fell into teaching in 1987, 00:11:59.082 --> 00:12:00.510 my my one instructor. 00:12:01.723 --> 00:12:05.380 Paul Vunak who was as a Jeet Kune Do instructor, talked me into doing private 00:12:05.380 --> 00:12:08.456 lessons at ASU, at Arizona State University. 00:12:08.978 --> 00:12:14.610 And I was like, oh, whatever, you know, but I, after a couple of years, 00:12:14.610 --> 00:12:18.481 I found out I really, I dug it because I saw, I know what it did for me. 00:12:18.766 --> 00:12:22.922 And then I thought, man, if I could help somebody else get this feeling, 00:12:23.206 --> 00:12:27.078 that's kind of cool. If I can keep them safer, that's obviously a bone, you know, cool. 00:12:27.415 --> 00:12:30.178 But then if I could also make them a little bit better person. 00:12:31.530 --> 00:12:36.100 They enjoy their life a little bit more because it's something I taught or something 00:12:36.100 --> 00:12:38.810 I helped them become more capable at. It was kind of cool. 00:12:41.110 --> 00:12:43.327 Since then, I've just kept doing it. 00:12:45.330 --> 00:12:46.450 It's only been my, 00:12:47.565 --> 00:12:52.190 my vocation the last four years up to that point it was my avocation that i 00:12:52.190 --> 00:12:54.897 did as a side gig for fun because i loved it yeah. 00:12:55.977 --> 00:13:01.875 Yeah yeah uh how did that transition go going from as you say avocation to vocation 00:13:02.129 --> 00:13:06.470 It was cool it was cool you know i you know i spent 30 plus years in this white 00:13:06.470 --> 00:13:12.549 collar professional gig dressed up all the time tailored shirt tailored slacks ties 00:13:12.903 --> 00:13:17.257 sometimes jackets unfortunately you know my nice alan edmund shoes and 00:13:17.628 --> 00:13:23.091 you know having to look good you know monday through friday 8 30 to 5 30 in a very very, 00:13:24.112 --> 00:13:29.789 specific dress code right the epitome of a non-permissive environment, 00:13:30.457 --> 00:13:35.310 um and getting through that and trying to figure all this stuff out and then, 00:13:35.844 --> 00:13:40.755 you know after my it was a family business and then after my um my mom died, 00:13:41.278 --> 00:13:42.880 I was like, I didn't want to do it anymore. 00:13:42.950 --> 00:13:45.370 I just, it wasn't enjoyable, you know? 00:13:46.090 --> 00:13:48.590 So I turned the business over to my brother and I said, okay, 00:13:48.590 --> 00:13:50.293 I'm going to open my own jujitsu academy. 00:13:50.978 --> 00:13:53.780 And that was cool. That was cool. I tell you what, my immediately, 00:13:53.780 --> 00:13:59.134 my first visit to my pulmonologist after I opened the academy and I transitioned out of the, 00:13:59.946 --> 00:14:09.599 old job, my blood pressure dropped from a regular of about 130 over 88 to 117 over 78. 00:14:10.307 --> 00:14:11.290 Yeah. Like that. 00:14:11.290 --> 00:14:11.903 There you go. 00:14:12.054 --> 00:14:14.600 Just by doing something like that. And I'm like, oh, okay. Well, 00:14:14.600 --> 00:14:15.653 that was a good decision. 00:14:17.749 --> 00:14:21.560 For sure. For sure. Oh, that's great. I'm glad to hear that. 00:14:21.560 --> 00:14:23.670 I mean, that's, that's always good news. Yeah. 00:14:23.990 --> 00:14:28.413 In a day and age where so many of the U.S. population is stricken with hypertension, 00:14:29.435 --> 00:14:32.730 sometimes a lifestyle changes what's, what's in order. 00:14:34.375 --> 00:14:38.478 Yeah. Yeah. I love hearing, you know, you share your story about, uh, 00:14:40.103 --> 00:14:41.682 you know, getting into 00:14:44.207 --> 00:14:48.197 Jeet Kune Do and, you know, martial arts and things from a young age. 00:14:48.197 --> 00:14:52.917 And you mentioned something like what that did for me. I'd like to hear you 00:14:52.917 --> 00:14:55.121 just kind of maybe elaborate upon that a little bit more. 00:14:55.907 --> 00:14:58.717 If you wouldn't mind going a little bit more detail of like what it's really 00:14:58.717 --> 00:15:00.825 done for you in your life. 00:15:01.724 --> 00:15:07.157 Well, when you, you know, especially the better fighting systems, 00:15:07.157 --> 00:15:11.987 the ones that, you know, are, are, are taught well, that have, 00:15:11.987 --> 00:15:14.014 you know, legitimacy behind them. 00:15:14.745 --> 00:15:18.675 When you go through them, you start and everybody does, it happens to everybody. 00:15:18.954 --> 00:15:22.541 You start and you're a giant bag of just disaster. 00:15:22.965 --> 00:15:27.446 Like, unless you're a super athlete, you can, you know, you're always good at, you know, whatever. 00:15:27.655 --> 00:15:30.557 Um, you know, we always start and it's like, Oh, I can't do this. 00:15:30.557 --> 00:15:32.886 And I don't understand this. And I suck at this and whatever, 00:15:33.292 --> 00:15:36.026 but you keep going. You keep your, you keep your nose to the grindstone. 00:15:36.293 --> 00:15:38.547 You keep pushing. And all of a sudden you're, you're into it, 00:15:38.547 --> 00:15:41.355 whatever, six months, a year, two years, five years, whatever. 00:15:42.087 --> 00:15:43.770 And all of a sudden you go, wait a minute, hold on. 00:15:44.652 --> 00:15:50.707 I'm way better than I was. I know, I, I know in my heart of hearts, I'm more capable. 00:15:51.038 --> 00:15:53.337 I couldn't do this thing that I just did. 00:15:54.022 --> 00:15:57.637 I couldn't do that six months ago, a year ago, and I couldn't do it as well. 00:15:58.676 --> 00:16:05.032 And when you start to do that on a regular basis, you go, wait. 00:16:06.624 --> 00:16:11.328 Are you saying that if I just work at something, if I just keep working hard 00:16:11.328 --> 00:16:14.768 and just be diligent and trying and not, 00:16:15.796 --> 00:16:20.048 getting depressed by the failure that we all feel on a regular basis, 00:16:20.048 --> 00:16:21.769 right, and things happen, 00:16:22.628 --> 00:16:27.684 but you just keep going, you come through it, and you accomplish things, and man, 00:16:28.213 --> 00:16:31.823 emotionally, mentally, yeah, physically, right, I'm in better shape, 00:16:32.050 --> 00:16:34.808 you know, you do a hard fighting system or whatever, okay, you're in better 00:16:34.808 --> 00:16:38.458 shape, lost weight, you have muscle whatever but mentally and emotionally you're 00:16:38.458 --> 00:16:40.589 so much better off you're you just, 00:16:41.146 --> 00:16:47.561 you know nobody has to tell you oh you're a warrior cecil or or you're this or whatever the, 00:16:48.223 --> 00:16:54.149 lingo is you know in your heart of hearts man i am so much more capable, 00:16:54.891 --> 00:16:59.175 than i was x amount of time ago and nobody did that except me, 00:17:00.168 --> 00:17:03.181 and that's just such a cool feeling and and um. 00:17:04.493 --> 00:17:07.335 And I, and I think there's one of the true benefits of, you know, 00:17:07.335 --> 00:17:09.845 what a lot of people refer to as the combat sports, right? The, 00:17:10.211 --> 00:17:14.765 the most effective fighting systems, uh, boxing, uh, wrestling, 00:17:14.765 --> 00:17:18.384 jujitsu, and, you know, and all the sister related arts of that. 00:17:19.005 --> 00:17:22.767 You have to do it. There's no, there's no faking jujitsu. 00:17:23.707 --> 00:17:29.959 The mat does not let you lie. The, the, the boxing ring does not let you lie. 00:17:30.220 --> 00:17:35.655 So you go in there and you either do, or you do not. Right. Right. Very Yoda. 00:17:36.875 --> 00:17:38.895 I can relate to this, 00:17:39.335 --> 00:17:45.714 You know, and and when you do, right, even on a little level, 00:17:46.492 --> 00:17:50.509 man, you nobody can ever take that from you ever. 00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:57.154 You own that for the rest of your life. And that's just for me, 00:17:57.270 --> 00:17:59.581 it was this constant positive feedback loop. 00:18:00.521 --> 00:18:03.755 Oh I'm a little bit better at this so I'm going to go a little bit more and 00:18:03.755 --> 00:18:08.115 I enjoy it more oh but now I'm even better and now I'm more successful oh now 00:18:08.115 --> 00:18:11.565 I'm more more more more now I can teach it to people oh and now I'm reaching 00:18:11.565 --> 00:18:14.935 more people and I get the positive feedback loop and it's just this, 00:18:15.515 --> 00:18:19.335 this constant thing of like yeah and there's failures all the time right there's 00:18:19.335 --> 00:18:24.020 always man oh I tapped in oh I've had miserable competitions where I just got 00:18:24.397 --> 00:18:28.246 stomped you know like a narc at a biker rally or something like that. 00:18:29.667 --> 00:18:37.179 But those are the the the little pieces along the way the overall journey has been so hugely positive, 00:18:37.980 --> 00:18:44.374 that it just sticks with you and you become makes you happier more more content 00:18:44.374 --> 00:18:45.886 with yourself more like okay, 00:18:46.594 --> 00:18:50.614 i'm not i'm not a perfect person i make mistakes and all that but hey look what 00:18:50.614 --> 00:18:54.510 i've accomplished and it's and it's very internal it's not external because 00:18:54.696 --> 00:19:00.324 oh i got a job promotion or I have this money or I bought this car, right? 00:19:00.324 --> 00:19:02.684 That's all external stuff that can disappear. 00:19:03.177 --> 00:19:08.394 The internal is what you've accomplished. Like, I have a bunch of medals from, 00:19:08.974 --> 00:19:10.474 Jiu Jitsu tournaments and stuff like that. 00:19:11.124 --> 00:19:12.889 They're in my garage, nobody sees them. 00:19:13.777 --> 00:19:16.384 My wife doesn't even see them, they're on my side of the garage, right? 00:19:17.554 --> 00:19:21.974 They're on the wall, they're on a bunch of plaques, big boards on the wall. 00:19:23.217 --> 00:19:25.992 My car is usually parked in front of it. Nobody sees it but me. 00:19:26.183 --> 00:19:29.610 And all I do is look at it and go, man, who would have ever thought I would 00:19:29.610 --> 00:19:32.139 have won silver medal here? 00:19:32.360 --> 00:19:34.850 Who would have ever thought I would have won American nationals? 00:19:34.850 --> 00:19:37.160 Who would have thought I won Pan Ams? Who would have thought that I, 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:43.964 you know, whatever it was, right? That's me that I get to own from now on. And it's just. 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:49.430 I think shooters get that too. You know, very accomplished shooters get that. 00:19:49.430 --> 00:19:53.880 You know you you because shooting is hard especially handgun shooting right 00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:59.276 it's you know that it's so hard and it's such a easy skill set to, 00:20:00.333 --> 00:20:04.360 to fall apart so if you keep working at it and you shoot a match you know it 00:20:04.360 --> 00:20:07.490 could be a local match or it could be whatever you go to a conference and you do well, 00:20:08.158 --> 00:20:13.922 and it's just like oh man i did look at me look at what i just did you own that 00:20:14.085 --> 00:20:16.929 And I think that's such a cool thing in training, 00:20:18.984 --> 00:20:22.220 that just sticks with you no matter what. Let's say you go through your entire 00:20:22.220 --> 00:20:23.920 life and you're fortunate. 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:27.599 You're never victimized by violence. You never have to face up to it. 00:20:28.377 --> 00:20:32.730 But you're doing all this training, got you this other internal stuff. 00:20:32.730 --> 00:20:33.700 Man, it's well worth it. Yeah. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:34.780 Yeah. 00:20:36.312 --> 00:20:40.358 One of the reasons why I said a moment ago that, you know, that resonates with 00:20:40.358 --> 00:20:43.218 me is when you were talking about, you know, do or do not. 00:20:43.238 --> 00:20:48.328 It's because I quote that in pretty much every class I ever teach. 00:20:48.328 --> 00:20:52.460 I quote Yoda's words of, you know, do or do not, there is no try. 00:20:53.738 --> 00:21:00.788 And the lesson there has to do with, it's usually to help my students calm themselves 00:21:00.788 --> 00:21:04.494 down when they're getting ready to shoot a performance-oriented test. 00:21:04.610 --> 00:21:08.458 Or you know like hey we're gonna shoot this drill uh we're gonna measure you 00:21:08.458 --> 00:21:10.531 we're gonna see how that goes see where you stack up 00:21:11.303 --> 00:21:16.905 and where i find so many people struggle is they end up wanting to over try 00:21:17.323 --> 00:21:22.153 you know because they want to do what we all want to do well and the problem is is when we 00:21:22.983 --> 00:21:25.018 we we try too hard we try to uh 00:21:26.536 --> 00:21:31.838 You know become this this ideal version of ourselves that we we picture in our 00:21:31.838 --> 00:21:35.558 mind, but the sad reality is that that's not the truth. 00:21:36.149 --> 00:21:39.408 We're actually here, you know, and it's like, I want my students to understand, 00:21:39.408 --> 00:21:42.859 like, it's okay. Like, you are where you are. You have put in work up to this point. 00:21:43.376 --> 00:21:46.765 Trust in that work, whatever that amount of work is. 00:21:47.223 --> 00:21:51.960 And now's the time to just go do the thing. And if you can just do the thing, 00:21:52.906 --> 00:21:57.528 it usually goes a lot better for you than trying to do something that you're 00:21:57.528 --> 00:22:00.618 actually not quite yet capable of, or at least not capable of consistently. 00:22:00.618 --> 00:22:02.119 That's really the problem is people 00:22:03.117 --> 00:22:06.698 I think they have that kind of one-hit wonder. 00:22:07.610 --> 00:22:11.348 They nailed that bill drill once upon a time, and, man, it was awesome. 00:22:11.348 --> 00:22:14.652 And they think, oh, I could do that again. And you probably can. You did it once. 00:22:15.139 --> 00:22:17.858 But doing it consistently is a whole other thing. 00:22:18.838 --> 00:22:18.958 But. 00:22:23.005 --> 00:22:27.978 The benefit is not the single end state. The benefit is the journey and the process, right? 00:22:29.818 --> 00:22:34.847 There's a version that I say I steal it. it's hicks and gracie who if he's not the greatest, 00:22:35.428 --> 00:22:39.148 jiu-jitsu fighter of all time he's on the mount rushmore oh yeah and he said 00:22:39.148 --> 00:22:42.649 this years ago and i say this all the time in my classes over and over again, 00:22:43.195 --> 00:22:49.301 he goes there's two outcomes in jiu-jitsu you win or you learn that's it there's no other outcome, 00:22:49.951 --> 00:22:56.868 so great you go you win a tournament great gold medal yes he's your fan champion yay Or cool. 00:22:56.868 --> 00:22:59.808 You learned something from that. Okay. You didn't win. 00:23:00.406 --> 00:23:04.608 What did you learn from it? Oh, well, he did this to me. So I need to work on that. Awesome. 00:23:05.270 --> 00:23:09.717 That's it. That's, that's the benefit. Not because you did. 00:23:11.151 --> 00:23:14.285 This thing like you said oh you get the build drill great, 00:23:15.357 --> 00:23:19.677 did you have fun working to get to that build drill when you were on the range 00:23:19.677 --> 00:23:24.047 practicing to do the build drill did you enjoy that did you learn from it are 00:23:24.047 --> 00:23:29.605 you better now that's the benefit not this singular, 00:23:30.261 --> 00:23:32.623 thing because we've all had those what we bought like you said, 00:23:33.546 --> 00:23:37.377 we've all had that you hit a build drill awesome two seconds beautiful and then 00:23:37.377 --> 00:23:41.437 you go and do it again and you oh my god you were lucky to get it and in four 00:23:41.437 --> 00:23:45.636 seconds or, you know, whatever. We all have that. It's this up and down thing. 00:23:46.216 --> 00:23:50.663 But man, even as we're going up and down, are we doing this? 00:23:51.180 --> 00:23:53.949 Is it still the upward trajectory? That's all that matters. 00:23:54.285 --> 00:23:57.097 Yeah, yeah, so true. 00:23:57.097 --> 00:24:00.147 And I really appreciated you explaining that further just now. 00:24:00.147 --> 00:24:03.627 And also earlier, you know, a few minutes ago, you were kind of, 00:24:03.627 --> 00:24:10.255 you know, talking about this, you know, talking about what this journey has done for you over time. 00:24:11.166 --> 00:24:16.716 I, one thing I perceive in students and people I've worked with over the years, 00:24:18.037 --> 00:24:22.492 and sometimes it's actually a question that comes up directly is Riley, 00:24:22.637 --> 00:24:26.102 you know, or Cecil, I've been putting in all this time, all this work, 00:24:26.526 --> 00:24:27.857 and I just feel like I'm stuck. 00:24:27.857 --> 00:24:32.987 I feel like I'm plateaued and like, you know, it's been months and I'm just not getting anywhere. 00:24:33.504 --> 00:24:38.537 And I mean, it could be that, hey, you know, if you find that doing the same 00:24:38.537 --> 00:24:41.257 thing again and again and again is not resulting in anything new, 00:24:41.677 --> 00:24:42.967 probably it's time to change something up. 00:24:42.967 --> 00:24:46.617 But the other thing, too, is I find, and I'm just curious your thoughts on this, 00:24:46.617 --> 00:24:52.907 that as we're talking about this journey, that sometimes it's we have to kind 00:24:52.907 --> 00:24:55.260 of struggle in the suck for a while. 00:24:55.707 --> 00:24:57.645 And it feels like we're not getting anywhere now. 00:24:58.811 --> 00:25:02.135 But the reality is we are, we just don't know it yet. We don't see it yet. 00:25:02.135 --> 00:25:06.155 And then like you said, you get some number of months or even years down the 00:25:06.155 --> 00:25:09.465 road and you look back, you're like, oh, I get it now. 00:25:09.465 --> 00:25:13.425 I see now what was actually happening and how I was actually growing. 00:25:13.425 --> 00:25:18.188 It didn't feel like it at the time, but the reality is I really was growing and developing. 00:25:18.461 --> 00:25:25.764 Yep. There's a very famous bodybuilding coach and author and bodybuilder too, Bill Pearl. 00:25:26.426 --> 00:25:31.215 He was huge in the 60s 70s and 80s stuff and he wrote a couple really important 00:25:31.215 --> 00:25:33.895 books and one of them I loved and. 00:25:35.708 --> 00:25:40.312 The story he tells resonates he had this client who'd been with him like 10 00:25:40.312 --> 00:25:45.999 years and the client started when he was like 60 and he got him on this program 00:25:46.173 --> 00:25:48.495 and with certain reps certain, 00:25:49.789 --> 00:25:55.368 exercises certain weights guy came three times a week came to pearl's garage 00:25:55.664 --> 00:26:00.366 trained with him three days every and basically was doing the same program, 00:26:01.225 --> 00:26:07.175 every time and like 10 years in the guy says to him hey bill you know this is 00:26:07.175 --> 00:26:13.468 kind of frustrating you know i'm basically doing the same thing and and pearl goes dude. 00:26:14.931 --> 00:26:22.222 You're 70 years old and you were doing the same exercise the same physical capability you did at 60. 00:26:23.017 --> 00:26:30.924 How is that not a huge growth but our perspective is skewed right it's because, 00:26:31.878 --> 00:26:37.308 fighting entropy is probably the most important thing we can do anyway and that's 00:26:37.308 --> 00:26:41.448 a gain and we don't see that and i think that like you said you're on the plateau 00:26:41.448 --> 00:26:43.595 and you just keep working And then all of a sudden, maybe, 00:26:44.570 --> 00:26:47.878 a month in, two months in, six months in, two years in, all of a sudden now 00:26:47.878 --> 00:26:52.883 there's this, oh, yes, I am above where I thought I was. 00:26:53.155 --> 00:27:01.875 And man, that's what we should be focusing on is the journey and that continuing 00:27:02.275 --> 00:27:07.041 movement forward. Even if it's one tenth of 1%, okay? 00:27:07.302 --> 00:27:12.057 But just do it every day, every day, every day. And you will get there. 00:27:14.466 --> 00:27:19.104 And you own it. It's yours. It's not like, oh, I got lucky. I got this fluke. 00:27:19.878 --> 00:27:23.568 Something happened. I shot this drill and everything was just flying. 00:27:24.485 --> 00:27:28.281 Yeah, but, you know, that might have been a lot of other reasons, 00:27:28.694 --> 00:27:31.265 right? I roll with somebody and I get a tap. 00:27:31.933 --> 00:27:35.498 Yeah, but maybe he had a bad day, right? It doesn't mean I'm ever going to tap 00:27:35.498 --> 00:27:38.088 him again. But if you keep rolling, training, training, training, 00:27:38.088 --> 00:27:42.408 three, four years in, And now I'm doing consistent stuff, you know, 00:27:42.408 --> 00:27:46.037 and, and that's, and really that's what we should be enjoying. 00:27:46.989 --> 00:27:50.978 Right. I don't think there's, we should look at an end state, right? 00:27:51.858 --> 00:27:55.368 I want to keep working. I want to keep working my shooting. I want to keep working 00:27:55.368 --> 00:27:59.075 my jujitsu. I'm going to keep working all this up. I'm going to keep working my strength training. 00:28:00.741 --> 00:28:00.961 Yeah. 00:28:01.077 --> 00:28:06.720 As long as I'm still doing that, that's the progress in and of itself. 00:28:09.744 --> 00:28:11.993 Man, spitting bars, spitting truth right now. 00:28:14.458 --> 00:28:21.900 I love it. One thing that I know about you is that you like to – 00:28:25.213 --> 00:28:29.261 you're quite skilled in dealing with weapons access in close space. 00:28:29.812 --> 00:28:35.733 And I'd like to kind of hear kind of how you got into that a little bit more. 00:28:36.393 --> 00:28:40.433 Your background is interesting because a lot of times guys in this space will, 00:28:41.351 --> 00:28:47.053 you know, come at this because they were in law enforcement or military or whatever for a long time. 00:28:47.053 --> 00:28:51.283 I love, you know, your background coming more from a white collar world who 00:28:51.283 --> 00:28:56.713 happened, you know, who happened to also be a practitioner of these combatives, 00:28:56.713 --> 00:28:58.946 you know, combat sports, let's just say. 00:29:00.304 --> 00:29:04.753 And I like that because that I think relates to a lot of regular folk. 00:29:04.753 --> 00:29:08.060 Yeah. Right. Because most people, this is not what they do full-time. 00:29:08.431 --> 00:29:12.663 They're trying to live their lives and work their jobs and their careers and 00:29:12.663 --> 00:29:13.713