Training for Sudden Violence - by Rory Miller (Paperback)

About the Book

The speed and brutality of a predatory attack can shock even an experienced martial artist. The sudden chaos, the cascade of stress hormones-- you feel as though time slows down. In reality, the assault is over in an instant. How does anyone prepare for that? The author gives you the tools to prepare and prevail, both physically and psychologically. He shares hard-won lessons from a world most of us hope we never experience.--Publisher.

Book Synopsis

The speed and brutality of a predatory attack can shock even an experienced martial artist. The sudden chaos, the cascade of stress hormones―you feel as though time slows down. In reality, the assault is over in an instant. How does anyone prepare for that?

As a former corrections sergeant and tactical team leader, Rory Miller is a proven survivor. He instructs police and corrections professionals who, in many cases, receive only eight hours of defensive tactics training each year. They need techniques that work and they need unflinching courage.

In Training for Sudden Violence Miller gives you the tools to prepare and prevail, both physically and psychologically. He shares hard-won lessons from a world most of us hope we never experience.

• Train in fundamentals, combat drills, and dynamic fighting.
• Develop situational awareness.
• Condition yourself through stress inoculation.
• Take a critical look at your training habits.

"You don't get to pick where fights go," Miller writes. That's why he has created a series of drills to train you for the worst of it. You will defend yourself on your feet, on the ground, against weapons, in a crowd, and while blindfolded. You will reevaluate your training scenarios―keeping what works, discarding what does not, and improving your chances of survival.

Miller's "internal work,""world work," and "plastic mind" exercises will challenge you in ways that mere physical training does not. Sections include:

• Stalking
• Escape and evasion
• The predator mind
• Personal threat assessment

This is a fight for your life, and it won't happen on a nice soft mat. It will get, as Miller says, "all kinds of messy." Training for Sudden Violence prepares you for that mess.

Review Quotes

Power is the ability to do things. So knowledge isn't power. Just "knowing" has no ability to get things done. Knowledge has to be effectively applied to be powerful. That's why this latest book from Rory Miller is so very important; it teaches drills that effectively develop the ability apply many differing skills and attributes. Rory once again shares his hard won expertise in a logical and accessible way. --Iain Abernethy, 6th dan, World Combat Association Chief International Coach, author--Iain Abernethy, 6th Dan, World Combat Association Chief International Coach, author of Mental Strength, Throws for Strikers, and Karate's Grappling Methods

Those of us who teach self-defense have a vital responsibility to ensure that our students can actually use what they learn. The challenge is that we can never know when a student will be forced to apply their skills. It could be today, tomorrow, next year or never. That makes it the instructor's responsibility to make each and every student as competent as possible as quickly as possible. In Drills Rory Miller gives exercises and training philosophy that serve this goal. Some of the drills are mental, because the author recognizes that survival is not just a physical problem. Some are simple, things you can do right now. Some, like scenarios, are on the leading edge of current professional training. There's a lot in this book, and no fluff. Concise, effective, and useful, I cannot recommend it highly enough!--Lawrence A. Kane, martial artist, author of Surviving Armed Assaults, co-author of The Little Black Book of Violence and Scaling Force

Rory Miller has once again provided a master piece delineating not only his well thought out and useful drills for martial arts and self-defense, but providing invaluable insight for teaching martial arts and self-defense skills across the broad range of experience and need. Many of his drills provide more mental and psychological training than physical and, as such, viable to any practitioner from the novice to the expert. His book provides practical exercises building off of his previous books, Meditations on Violence and Facing Violence.--Jeffrey Cooper, MD, Emergency Physician, Tactical Physician, 6th Dan, Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate

The best way to train for a serious fight is full out; however, if you do that, you may break your toys -- or they may break you. If somebody doesn't get hurt, you are doing it wrong. Rory Miller has developed a series of drills that can help. No drill is perfect, but those in this book on how to survive serious mayhem, are effective. Read it, and learn.--Steve Perry, New York Times bestselling author, Shadows of the Empire

About the Author

Rory Miller is the award-winning author of Meditations on Violence, Facing Violence, Force Decisions, and Conflict Communication. He is the coauthor, with Lawrence Kane, of Scaling Force. A former corrections sergeant, tactical team leader, and contractor in Iraq, he now lives quietly on his acreage in the Pacific Northwest, writing and teaching seminars internationally.