C-Tac®

Training With Sensei Erik Paulson: Lessons From a Private Session at the CSW World Conference

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During a recent trip to Orange County, California, for the CSW World Conference, I had the opportunity to spend some private training time with Sensei Erik Paulson. In this session, we explored a series of highly effective shin locks and lower-body submissions while discussing the concepts, transitions, and details that make them work at a high level. This experience was a reminder that no matter how long you’ve been training, there is always something new to learn from great coaches and dedicated practitioners.

Another Outstanding Week at the Executive Protection Institute

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Fresh back from another outstanding week at the Executive Protection Institute, I had the opportunity to teach Protection Response Tactics®, work with an exceptional group of future protection professionals, and spend several days on the range during EPI’s Personal Pistol Course. This trip was especially productive as I introduced new material into the PRT curriculum, captured valuable video content for future YouTube projects, and was honored to be invited to join the EPI instructional staff as a firearms instructor. It was a week filled with learning, teaching, professional development, and exciting opportunities for the future.

The Grappling Backdoor Escape 

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In this seminar highlight, Sifu Alan Baker breaks down the backdoor escape and explains why some grappling habits can become a liability in more hostile environments. This is not just about escaping bottom position. It is about understanding posture, access, movement, awareness, and why staying flat can cost you when the environment changes.

The Limitation of Perspective and the Search for Real Educators

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As human beings, we have enormous potential, but one of the greatest limitations placed on that potential is our perspective. Whether we realize it or not, we are constantly drawing conclusions based on our background, ourexperiences, our conditioning, and the things we have been exposed to throughout life. This happens automatically. It is one of the natural functions of the mind. We compare, categorize, interpret, and

Timeless Tools

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I talk about developing timeless tools all the time, because I’ve watched the same story play out for decades. A student starts training, gets excited, gets strong, gets fast, learns a pile of techniques, and for a while, they feel unstoppable. Then life shows up. Mileage shows up. Injuries show up. Stress shows up. Work, family, travel, responsibility, time under tension in the real world. Somewhere down the road that same student starts saying the sentence that makes my eye twitch: “I’m just not what I used to be.”

Flipping The ‘State’ Switch

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When people watch high-level performers, they often ask some version of the same question: “How do you just flip that switch?” One moment, you are relaxed, laughing, talking with friends. The next moment, your posture changes, your eyes harden, your breathing drops, and your whole presence shifts into a different gear. From the outside, it looks like magic. It is not magic. It is training.

Gear Creates An Illusion Of Safety And False Outcomes

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If you spend any time in the defensive tactics, martial arts, or combatives world, you have seen the same scene play out. People suit up in large, padded outfits, full-face helmets, thick gloves, groin protectors, shin guards, and sometimes chest and back armor. The instructor announces that they are going “full force” and that now the training is “real.” From the outside, it looks intense and impressive. From the inside, everyone feels the adrenaline spike. They breathe hard, struggle, shout, and come away with the sense that they did something truly serious and realistic.

Building Tools for Every Level of Force In The Encounter

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You should have answers and tools for every part of a combative encounter. If the only option you trust is your firearm, stress will pull you toward that single solution. When you build more trained options across the force ladder, you can solve problems at lower levels and reserve higher force for the moments when you have no other choice.