Black Friday Violence: The human race hits an all new low.

Long Island, NY- A Wal-Mart worker died early Friday after an "out-of-control" mob of frenzied shoppers smashed through the Long Island store's front doors and trampled him, police said.
The Black Friday stampede plunged the Valley Stream outlet into chaos, knocking several employees to the ground and sending others scurrying atop vending machines to avoid the horde.
When the madness ended, 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour was dead and four shoppers, including a woman eight months pregnant, were injured.
CAUGHT ON CAMERA: WAL-MART CROWD MOMENTS BEFORE DEADLY STAMPEDE"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Wal-Mart worker Jimmy Overby, 43. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed him in front of me. They took me down, too ... I didn't know if I was going to live through it. I literally had to fight people off my back," Overby said.
Damour, a temporary maintenance worker from Jamaica, Queens, was gasping for air as shoppers continued to surge into the store after its 5 a.m. opening, witnesses said.
Even officers who arrived to perform CPR on the trampled worker were stepped on by wild-eyed shoppers streaming inside, a cop at the scene said.
"They pushed him down and walked all over him," Damour's sobbing sister, Danielle, 41, said. "How could these people do that? He was such a young man with a good heart, full of life. He didn't deserve that." Damour's sister said doctors told the family he died of a heart attack.
His cousin, Ernst Damour, called the circumstances "completely unacceptable." "His body was a stepping bag with so much disregard for human life," Ernst Damour, 37, said. "There has to be some accountability."
Roughly 2,000 people gathered outside the Wal-Mart's doors in the predawn darkness. Chanting "push the doors in," the crowd pressed against the glass as the clock ticked down to the 5 a.m. opening.
Sensing catastrophe, nervous employees formed a human chain inside the entrance to slow down the mass of shoppers.
It didn't work.
The mob barreled in and overwhelmed workers. "They were jumping over the barricades and breaking down the door," said Pat Alexander, 53, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. "Everyone was screaming. You just had to keep walking on your toes to keep from falling over."
After the throng toppled Damour, his fellow employees had to fight through the crowd to help him, police said. Witness Kimberly Cribbs said shoppers acted like "savages." "When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, 'I've been on line since Friday morning!'" Cribbs said. "They kept shopping."
But that's not all...
Clear across the country in Los Angels, gunshots break out and two men die.
2 Killed in Black Friday Toys 'R Us Shooting: 2 men with handguns shot and killed each other
Two men pulled guns and shot each other to death in a crowded Toys 'R Us store Friday after women they were with got into a bloody brawl for unknown reasons, witnesses said. Scared shoppers fled but no one else was hurt.
The violence erupted on Black Friday, the traditional post-Thanksgiving start of the holiday shopping surge, but authorities indicated the shooting shortly after 11:30 a.m. was not prompted by shopping frenzy.
Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said the fight was not over a toy. He said handguns were found by the men's bodies. He would not answer a question about whether the shooting was gang-related.
The victims were identified as Alejandro Moreno, 39, of Desert Hot Springs, and Juan Meza, 28, of Cathedral City.
Witnesses Scott and Joan Barrick said they were checking out of the store when the fight began between two women, each with a man. The women were near the checkout area but the Barricks believed the women did not have purchases.
One woman suddenly started punching the other woman, who fought back as blood flowed from her nose, Scott Barrick, 41, said. The man who was with the woman being punched pulled a gun halfway out of his pocket, then shoved it back in, he said.
"He pulled his gun right next to me. I turned to look for my wife and she was already hiding," Barrick said.
"I was scared," said Joan Barrick, 40. "I didn't want to die today. I really didn't want to die today and I think that's what we were all thinking."
The other man pulled a gun and pointed it at the first man but forgot to cock it, Scott Barrick said. The first man tried to run but was blocked by the line of people, then ran back toward the store's electronics section as the other man fired his gun, he said.
The first man reached a dead-end in electronics, turned around and ran toward an exit, pulling his gun and firing back, he said.
"He went up to the cash register, he went to put his hand on the thing and he just went phoomp," he said, indicating the man fell.
He said he did not see what happened to the other man.
Immediately after the shooting, about 20 people rushed into the World Gym across the street from Toys 'R' Us. Sarah Pacia of Cathedral City says she was in the store with her two boys, ages 4 and 6, looking at coloring books when she heard a commotion in the next aisle.
She thought it was people rushing to get a sale item. Then she heard three or four shots. She says she froze, and store employees calmly escorted her out of the store.
Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson said police told him two men with handguns shot and killed each other and that there were 25 witnesses. Ferguson said he asked police whether the incident was gang-related.
"I think the obvious question everyone has is who takes loaded weapons into a Toys 'R' Us?" he said in an interview. "I doubt it was the casual holiday shopper."
Copyright Associated Press
How much has to happen before people come to grips with the reality that there are good an bad in all of us. Under NORMAL circumstances, this can be repressed and hidden. But with the right amount of pressure applied in the right place a person's true nature is revealed.
Most people who haven't been put "under fire" don't know how they will react. TRAINING ensures that you will do what is needed when the "fit hits the shan". Practice and proper training takes the decision making out of it. Would you stop an armed gunmen or a stampedeing croud? I don't know, but you will be able to tell something is going down and get you and your family to safety.
Is the risk of personal safety worth the reward of saving an extra $30 on a Wii? That's your decision to make. Today I'm embarrassed for the human race :oops:. So much for evolution and civility.
Damian

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Mixed Martial Arts Goes Big Time

The State of The Martial Arts Industry: Mixed Martial Arts Goes Big Time

By Damian Ross, The Self Defense Company

Many pundits say that the Lesnar-Couture fight marked the beginning of a new era of Mixed Martial Arts. I happen to agree.

MMA journalist, Joe Rizzo of the internet talk show "The Rear Naked Choke" (http://www.joeted.com) expressed this sentiment in a recent pod cast and I couldn't agree more. I'll go one step further and PREDICT the next evolution of the sport of MMA and the Martial Arts industry.

Mixed martial arts will go the way of boxing and take its place among at the top of the of American combat sports. It's faster and it has an edge that meets the demands of our grow-up-to-soon, over-exposed youth.

The sport of mixed martial arts will continue to grow, regulated and controlled to meet the safety standards of each state. I would NOT be surprised to see MMA become an Olympic sport in the next 16 years.

MMA will take the path of all professional sports. If we look at the boxing model, fighters come out of small local gyms, fight in small venues as they work their way up the food chain. They get picked up by promoters and handled by managers and trainers.

For MMA it will be even harder to break in. The Cinderella, rags to riches story of a kid learning MMA at his local boys club is highly unlikely to happen.

The future of MMA will come from Amateur and Collegiate wrestling. It has already happened. The vast majority of champions have a wrestling back ground. Good striking skills only take a few years to develop and submissions even less than that (you can build up a decent submission DEFENSE in about a year.)

Wrestling in the US has a tremendous infrastructure and talent pool to choose from. On the elite college level, wrestlers already have the work ethic, the attitude, body awareness and of course superior grappling and scrambling skills. As the payday for MMA increases, it becomes a viable option for elite college wrestlers to pursue. The only other options were go to the Olympics or go to work.

I only hope the athletes get their due, which is going to happen since most of them are college graduates, they have more OPTIONS than a starving kid form the street.

The path of the MMA fighter will be wrestle and maybe do some Judo or BJJ as a youth. When he's out of college or high school, he should learn to strike: boxing and muay thai. He will lead a Spartan lifestyle and seek out higher levels of competition in order to improve. This doesn't happen at the local studio, it can't.

What will continue to happen is college wrestlers will be recruited MORE by MMA promoters. I even for see an MMA draft. Athletes will be recruited and placed in in training camps. They will be developed, just like any other pro athlete.

The day of the small local MMA club is gone. The idea of having MMA at the local martial arts school will be the same as teaching cardio kick boxing or aerobics (it's almost there now- most guys just don't know it yet.) There will always be the exception, but on the whole, there in no way that someone who starts training at their local club will be able to compete with a collegiate elite wrestler; NO WAY, NO HOW. MMA will be the business it inspires to be: Major sports entertainment.

So where does that leave the state of martial arts? Martial arts will always have it's niche, cult following. Its the nature of the beast, but that ONLY attracts a small percentage of people who are looking for that lifestyle.

The vast majority of adult practitioners look to martial arts for self defense training. Adult martial arts will be another tool to help them live their lives better. Programs must focus on fitness and self defense to survive. In the next 5 years, if you're not in the self defense and fitness business and you continue to offer ONLY martial arts programs, you're going to be stuck and forgotten.

The mixed martial arts and grappling era on the local level will be soon over. Unless you are teaching wrestling, judo or BJJ you will not be able to compete. Offering MMA in the near future will be like offering professional football or basketball classes.

While most people enjoy watching football, they aren't about to go play professionally. But they still have an interest in related activities. As MMA grows, they will have an interest but no desire to jump in the ring- even if they tried, there won't be much opportunity. But there is always a need for self defense skills.

Today's student just wants the facts, the skills and go about there lives. If you're teaching in a traditional style dojo, you better incorporate self defense training into your program or you can say good bye to your adult program.

Adults are interested in martial arts will want to do only two things: Learn self defense and get in shape. Will you be there for the turn?

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The Rack

This is one that I found at my house. It's a simple dolly that the BOB or spar pro sits on. It makes for interesting practice.
Makes sure your dolly is reinforced and the casters are heavy duty.

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Do you have any CONTROL?!?!

Control. In the martial arts world this is used to describe your ability to come as close as you can to your target without actually hitting him. In my Tae Kwon Do days, we took great pride in being able to come as close to the target as possible without making contact. This demonstrated our mastery over our bodies and our ability to "save a life, rather than take it."Little did I know, it was doing more harm than good.

To become more effective go here: http://www.theselfdefenseco.com/

Competitions were point tournaments. I would actually get penalized and disqualified for hitting someone hard in the body. The result was INEFFECTIVE TECHNIQUE.

Practicing control + Non contact sparring = NO EFFECTIVENESS

In my real life in 1988 I found myself in a real situation where I was locked up with a guy and my shots to his body had little effect, and while his friends proceeded to work my back, the only thing I could do was escape. At that point I was a little pissed and disappointed. And it was at that moment I did something about it (I went traditional!!!)

To discover how "traditional" training works in the modern world go here: http://www.theselfdefenseco.com/

Makiwara training, heavy bag work and bogu (traditional sparring gear) were the tools I used to gain real power. Sure, I never really won too many point tournaments, but who cared, my technique was REALLY WORKING.

Flash forward, kick boxing and the UFC, changed the way martial arts are looked at in the modern word, but self defense is still practiced like point sparring. You mast use control when you practice with a partner. This is an extremely DEADLY mistake. When you are stressed you will practice how you train. If you train to pull your punches in certain situations YOU WILL pull your strikes when the moment of truth arrives.

To be ready for your moment of truth go here: http://www.theselfdefenseco.com/

To train effectively you MUST go 100%. This is the only way to develop power, effectiveness and of course confidence that what you are doing will actually do some damage. The only way to do that is to train with NO regard for your target.

Even at the Training Center, we still do 80% of our training in Self Defense with pads and dummies. We rarely train in these methods against an unprotected partner (get your mind out of the gutter).

To see how we do this go here: http://www.theselfdefenseco.com/

We use the Training System as the only method of self defense preparation. We supplement our training with grappling but that is only an extra. The real stuff is here: http://www.theselfdefenseco.com/

For self defense you need FOCUS, not control. Save your self control for NOT over doing during the holidays.

Enjoy the upcoming holiday,

Damian Ross

CEO, The Self Defense Company

How Would Today's Martial Artist Stack Up in a True Warrior Society?

Not long ago the public was reintroduced to the Spartans and their warrior culture thanks to the film 300 based off of Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name. This latest retelling of events that happen in Greece in 480 BC shouldn't be considered historically accurate; it was never intended to be that way. None the less, the real Spartans even without their "Hollywood Personas" still remain impressive to this day. They were truly a martial society. They understood that in order to remain free you must always be ready to fight. Love of country and each other along with disciplined training made them an unstoppable force. They claimed to be descended from Hercules, but they didn't just talk the talk they walked the walk. Ancient Sparta had no need for walls; it relied on its fighting men alone to protect her.

The historical Spartans descended from the Dorian tribe who were one of the founding tribes of Greece (the great general Alexander the Great shares the same tribal heritage). Strategically located in Southern Greece Sparta was a local power and bitter rival to the city state of Athens. In Spartan society, military service was treated as a privilege and was only open to citizens.

From their first day of life, a Spartans faced a life or death situation. When a child was born, it was examined by city elders to ensure it was strong and healthy. If the child was determined to be unhealthy it would be thrown in a nearby gorge. A Spartan boy would be primarily raised by his mother until the age of seven. She would prepare him for the tough road ahead. Spartan women's reputation for child rearing was known throughout ancient Greece and to the point that many wealthy families sought after them as nannies to their own children. The Spartan mother had to be strict and demanding to prepare her child for what came next.

At the age of seven the Spartan boy would enter in the "Agoge", a state run military school. There he would learn how to be a man and a warrior in environment that can only be described as a twelve-year Boy Scout camp from hell. Here he would learn social skills, military training and hunting along with other necessary survival skills. He would also learn the importance of loyalty and team work. The boys were divided up into troops or "Ageles" and supervised by an "Eirena", thirteen year old Spartan. The young recruits were given little in the way of supplies and food. They were expected to endure pain. Hardship, hunger, thirst, cold, fatigue and lack of sleep forced them to become resourceful, self reliant and live off the land. No blankets were issued and each child was given one piece of clothing for a year. All training was done barefoot and if you wanted a bath it would be in freezing cold water.

Every aspect of the training was designed to test your physical and mental toughness. Everything was a challenge. The young recruits were only given broth to eat while the instructors would encourage them to try to steal their food. If you were a success and stole the food undetected it was yours to enjoy, but if you were caught, you could expect a whipping. Then when you were in your teens, you would be left in the wilderness in the winter without weapons or even proper clothing. This was your final exam. If you survived great, if not it was your own fault and there would be no rescue.

In addition to tough training the Spartan's also understood the importance of good tactics in a close combat situation. Because teamwork was emphasized from day one of training they were able to form the phalanx, a tightly packed formation of spearmen with interlocking shields. The spears would stop any advancing cavalry, and the shields would protect the troops from arrows and other missile weapons.

Every warrior was expected to hold his own in personal combat as well so he would train relentlessly in various forms of martial arts. Boxing, wrestling, and "fencing" with swords, each soldier had to become proficient. Each Spartan was expected to give his all and do everything possible to support your comrades in arms.

Then on his 20th birthday, the Spartan would officially begin his military career. As part of your service, he had to join a mess or club with fifteen other men. These men would become his friends, comrades, and training partners for the rest of his life. During this time he would be allowed to marry, though you probably spend most of your time at the barracks. Spartan males were on active duty until the age of thirty when they became full citizens. At that time, you could choose to remain in active service or join the reserves and remain on call until you were sixty.

On active duty during peacetime a Spartan warrior's service largely consisted of constant training, patrolling of Sparta's borders and keeping a vigilant watch over Sparta's serfs or Helots. Other units worked as police officers or personal protection of government officials. In the reserves you were expected to stay in shape and maintain your equipment. For the Spartan, every day was a day to train and prepare.

Though Spartan women saw it as their duty to give birth to more Spartan warriors if you were a woman in ancient Sparta you would enjoy many rights and privileges more so than any other woman in all of Greece. The Spartans were extremely progressive in this manner. As a woman of Sparta you would have the same educational opportunities as the men and you would also train as an athlete as well. You could own property and you could even divorce your spouse! Since the men could be called into action at any moment, women often took control and made sure the city state continued to run during wartime.
A Spartan warrior aspired to die in battle fighting among his friends and family. Prior to the invasion of Greece, Xerxes King of the Persians asked a Spartan exile named Demaratos if the Greeks would submit to his will. Demaratos replied "Yes, all but Sparta." Xerxes asked why and Demaratos replied that the Spartans only fear the law and the law says no retreat no surrender. At the Battle of Thermopylae and many other battles to follow, the Spartans showed how a few can defeat many with the right mindset, the right training, love of country and love of family.


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Can Martial Arts and Self Defense Training Prepare Our Children for a School Shooting?

The subject hits home to everyone. At one point our biggest safety issue in school was bullying. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. Over the past few years, school shootings have been increasing in frequency and in violence. Imagine, there you are, going through your every day routine, thinking about your next class, upcoming test or joking with your friends and then all of the sudden you are in the middle of a war zone, your world is turned upside down as you try to put your mind around what is happening around you. In the wake of the aftermath, the discussion is always the same and the conversation always leads to two main questions: can this be prevented and how can we deal with it when it occurs? The first solution is always increased police and security on campus. Unfortunately when this starts to happen, the issues of civil liberty violations and rising costs of funding the added security arise. As time goes on, the farther away from the atrocity, the urgency for a solution goes away. At the end of the day our children are left to fend for themselves while they wait for the authorities to respond.


The school system can only do so much. They can plan evacuation and increase points of communication; install cameras in all the public areas, but our youth will need an immediate plan of action for the eternity that is the time of the initial contact and the time help arrives. Children are our most precious resource and a little preparation and a little practice goes a long way. The answers you need are there. They are proven in combat. All you need to do is look at what happened to see what will help them. You don't need to be a hero, you only need strategies that will make you a survivor not a victim.


Before I continue, my thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of these gruesome atrocities. I only hope to provide this information so that these types of events can be minimized or avoided.


The first place to start is where all good self defense and martial arts training starts: your instincts. If you notice something suspicious or someone acting odd let someone know. You might just prevent something horrible from happening before it ever starts. I'm nt talking about holding inquisitions, but a little investigation and asking a few questions can be all it takes to deter some one.


The very next tactic any good martial arts and self defense training program will teach you is to put as much space between you and your threat as possible. Your first instinct should be to run if you have the chance. If you're see someone who's armed, leave the scene. If you are temporarily trapped or out numbered going for cover is fine (you will naturally do this), but you can't give the give the gunman a second chance, so you need to keep moving. Even at close range the assailant is almost 10 times more likely to miss you than hit you so make a run for it as soon as you can. If your school has plans to deal with an attack, study them and memorize multiple escape routes. Some people have proposed staying where you are, this is not good advice unless the room you are in is completely secure and you are isolated from the assailant. Hiding in plain sight, in unsecured areas or just lying in a compliant position is a big mistake. The vast majority of victims froze where they were, hid under tables and desks or simply lay face down in a compliant position. Remember, the further away you're from the shooter the better off you're. No matter how scared you are, the last gross motor skill to leave is the ability to run. Trust your instinct and get as far away as possible. Practice now by telling your children to run at the first sign of trouble.


Unfortunately, when you can't run, and you can't hide the only thing that remains is to fight, and keep fighting until you can escape. This is a last resort, but when people around you are being executed, there is no reasoning. No time for a debate, you need to survive and history tells us that when all other options are exhausted, your only choice is to fight


Martial artists have a variety of interesting theories when it comes to armed attackers. All of which you will not be able to recall in a life or death situation. In reality, you only need a handful of simple techniques and the will to survive (easier said than done). But throwing objects like desks, chairs and over powering the gunman with sheer numbers will increase your chances exponentially. Now no school administrator will ever suggest fighting back because they're worried about being liable by recklessly endangering a child, but that doesn't mean you can't train to fight back.


In 1998 at Thurston High School in Springfield Oregon seven students (five of them boy scouts) overpowered Kip Kinkel who had four guns, a knife, and over a thousand rounds of ammunition. The shooter had already wounded 25 other students before wounded student Jacob Ryker and several others, tackled Kinkel. If you have the presence of mind and you will have an opportunity when they reload like the students did at Thurston.


In the case of Virginia Tech, student's recalled watching him reload and continue shooting. At Virginia Tech many students did run and others barricaded themselves in class rooms, but it wasn't enough. The shooter, Cho Sueg-Hui continued on his rampage until he killed 30 and wounded 17 and finally took his own life.


The Columbine High School massacre, the Platte Canyon High School shooting, and the Virginia Tech massacre, are just a few examples of what a crazed individual is capable of doing. We need never forget those who died, but we need to look at these situations and put into place strategies that will stop these types of attacks from every happening again.


We all need to stop the trend of passiveness and denial and plan. The only way to take down these cowards is to prepare through basic practice and mental preparation. It isn't about courage; it's about practice and training. With the proper training you don't have to think, you just act. When you train in martial arts you learn how to perform simple tasks in extraordinary situation. You discover how to be proactive and look for solutions. Martial arts trains you how to react when fear grips your mind.


As a parent you don't need to be told that there is a lot to be concerned about, but you can't let denial or fear keep you from doing everything you need to do to keep your children safe. Take time out and talk to the children and make sure go over some basic self defense and survival techniques. Also teach them not to be a bully, and to respect everyone around them. Be aware of their peers and sensitive to things out of the ordinary. You don't have to like everyone you go to school with, but you need to respect them. That being said if things become violent it doesn't really matter how it happen it is time to go into survival mode and do whatever is necessary.


Most people think that martial arts training will enable them to defend against any assailant or defeat any attacker. This could not be farther from the truth. For these types of survival situations it takes a little commonsense, a little preparation and awareness to increase your chances of survival. This type of self defense training won't take away from study time or from sports, and the training will help you and your kids stay safe in and out of school. Don't wait for another tragedy to occur, be ready to survive, and protect those around you. Survival is something that is earned through hard work and having the right mindset. School is a place to learn and have a good time, but when terror strikes you need to be ready to fight. Be remembered as someone who took action and helped others not as another victim.



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This promo features Instructor Roger Jones. The first attack is an all out punching and stabbing assault. The second attack is an attempting grab from behind. You might not be able to tell, but the strikes were...hard and on target.
Next up, Mr. Barry.