F*ck Fear! The Most Important Self Defence Skills With Tony Blauer (#116)

Introduction to guest:

Coach Tony Blauer is a global Fear Management expert and creator of Blauer Training Systems, SPEAR Personal Defence Training, High Gear high-impact training equipment, and KNOW Fear training for enhanced personal performance.

He has been in the martial art, self-defence, defensive tactics, and combatives industry for over four decades and has helped thousands of people over the years with his insights on mindset, resiliency, mental toughness, fear management, and strategies and tactics for confrontation management.

Enjoy the show…And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel!

More from Tony:

Website: blauertrainingsystems.com

Key quotes and takeaways from the show:

Even coaches need coaches.

They’re called smart phones but they make a lot of us really dumb in different ways.

SPEAR: Spontaneous Protection Enabling Accelerated Response.

The SPEAR system builds upon our natural flinch response. It teaches you how to weaponise the flinch. “Every one of us has an organic airbag.”

Martial arts wont eliminate your fears.

What often prevents the deployment of necessary physical movements is not understanding how to manage fear.

Fear interferes with everything we do on a nonconscious level.

Fear throttles everything you do in some way… who you talk to, who you marry, where you work, how much money you make, where you live, etc.

CHOOSE SAFETY! (but don’t play it safe).

The physiology/biology of fear is different to the psychology of fear but both impact each other. How you feel affects how you think, how you think affects how you feel.

To regulate and manage physical fear responses you can use breathing, movement and meditation techniques; however, you can never completely eliminate the physiological response to fear. To regulate and manage the psychology of fear you can change your perspective, talk to your fear and train yourself to be comfortable with the feeling of fear.

FEAR: False Expectations Appearing Real.

You can’t eliminate fear, you have to learn how to manage it. “Changing your relationship with fear doesn’t make it go away but you’re not amplifying it.”

“The big superpower is self awareness.” Be clear about what you fear and lean into it (in a safe way – choose safety!).

Fear creates doubt, doubt creates hesitation. Have the self awareness to understand when you’ve entered that fear loop.

FUCK fear: Face it, Understand it, Control it, Know it.

“Time is the only resource we can’t regenerate.”

“Every victim of violence, who lived to tell the tale, said they had a bad feeling before the confrontation.” Act on your instincts.

“Learn to spot danger before danger spots you.”

If you’re in danger, you’re not supposed to feel good! Your body will tell you if something is wrong.

Tap into your instincts, intuition and intelligence.

There are lots of considerations to make before getting involved in violence: situational awareness, self awareness, verbal de-escalation and moral/ethical/legal considerations should all precede physical fighting.

“You improve your situational awareness by improving your self-awareness.”

To pressure-test self-defence techniques use Realistic, Relevant & Rigorous training scenarios.

Immediately after fear we go into a denial state, then your executive function (thinking brain) switches off and you fall back onto your instincts (or training).

Primal gross motor skill > gross motor skill > complex gross motor skill > fine motor skill > complex fine motor skill.

“Fear is contagious but so is courage.”