Customer Reviews

Real Fighting: Adrenaline Stress Conditioning Through Scenario-Based Training

5 star:		(14)
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The subtitle of this book is "Adrenaline Stress Conditioning through Scenario-Based Training." When deciding to purchase this book, I interpreted this subtitle to mean that the book would provide lessons as to how one can control the innate surge of adrenaline that overcomes people just prior to a violent incident. As a police officer, I know that acquiring this ability to "remain calm under pressure" is essential yet difficult to do. I therefore anticipated learning from this book how to minimize the adrenaline surge in such incidents so as to be more effective. Unfortunately, this book did not provide what I was looking for, in more ways than one. The book does not specifically tell you how to control the adrenaline surge. It tells you that in order to become an effective fighter, you must train to fight in a way that replicates, as close as possible, a real fight situation. That's pretty much it. The author spends most of his writing effort telling stories and citing examples to back up this theory. Now, mind you, the author is very knowledgeable and makes excellant arguments to support his point. The problem is that after about the second or third chapter, you've got the point. I continued to read through the rest of the book hoping to be taught how to control the adrenaline but, the lesson never came. The reason for this is because, according to the author, this lesson must be taught through real life experience. The author frequently refers to the training facility that he runs out in Colorado that does just that. The real kicker, however, is that nowhere in this book does the author tell you any information that would enable you to train at his facility to learn adrenaline stress conditioning. Nor does he tell you how to set up a "Real Fighting" training method of your own. And so, after a little over 170 pages, all that you have learned is that you must train for the real thing by simulating the real thing. I don't give this book a bad review, just an average one. It is an informative book especially if you are new to physical self defense training. Those that are more advanced will probably find that this book does little to improve their skills.

This books main premise is that if you want to survive a real life street encounter you have to train for a real life street encounter and this means training realistically. That sentence took Mr. Quinn 175 pages to cover. This book is just a diatribe on how ineffective the martial arts are for streetfighting because they don't train with any real contact. Mr. Quinn is absolutely, 100 percent correct, but he does not give us any solutions to this problem. From reading this book I am to understand that the only way I can survive a streetfight is to go to Mr. Quinn's Colorado training center and train with him personally. Believe me, if I could I would, but the large majority of people reading this book will not be able to drop everything and go to Boulder. This book was completely unnecessary and would have been better as an article in Black Belt or a similar magazine. When I bought this book I thought I would be getting instructions on how to build to the "Bulletman" suit or how to adapt my martial art to this type of training. Instead the book reads like a lecture from my father, he has a lot of good points but never tells me how to realistically solve my problem. There are a few good points to the book, like the part where Mr. Quinn shows us the backhanded strike and the two usoto gari throws, but other than these very few points the book is not worth what I payed for it. However, the reason I am so disappointed was because after Mr. Quinn's first book, A Bouncers Guide to Barroom Brawling, I expected something as phenomenal as that. Take my advice, ignore this book and go straight for A Bouncers Guide to Barroom Brawling, it is infinitely better than this book and is worth every penny and then some. If you are looking for a book that will try and help you to take your martial art to that next level, check out Marc MacYoungs book on the subject.

The first third or so of this book is similar to Quinn's first book, Bouncer's guide to barroom brawling. There is some discussion about the realities of real-life fighting, Quinn teaches one technique to the reader, and so on. After that, Quinn starts to discuss the benefits of realistic force on force (FOF) training. The tone of the book changes totally, and it seems that the first third of the book doesn't really belong into this book. It's as if Quinn did not have enough things to say about FOF training, and he had to put some extra material to the book. This doesn't mean that the beginning of the book is not good, though. In fact, I thing that the beginning of the book is the most valuable part (if you are already familiar with FOF training, that is).

As the book is almost ten years old, at the time of writing the material on FOF training (which Quinn calls "adrenal stress conditioning") might have been new information, but today everyone realizes it's importance and benefits. As Quinn concentrates mainly on establishing justification on using FOF training, and because today FOF training is recognized as superior training method, that means this book is at least partly outdated. In the book, Quinn does not tell how to organize FOF training scenarios, nor does he give any other practical advise on the subject. It may be because he considers these things trade secrets, but still the main portion is of little use, if you already realize the benefits of FOF training.

Through the book, Quinn makes references to his earlier book and his instructional videos. I find this kind of advertising a little annoying. If I like the book I am reading, I might buy other books by the same author, but not because the author asks me to. Otherwise, the book is easy to read and there are some war stories from Quinn's bouncer days to spice up the text.

I believe that this book was much more important when it was published, but today the ideas are not new, therefore lessening the importance of the book.

First, I must say, that I am sorry I did not read this book years ago. And, I wish such a book was in print in the 1970's when I began my search for realistic self-defense training.

The author's philosophy of training for real life encounters is extremely accurate. Although, it is not supported by scientific research, such as the book by Bruce Siddle "Sharpening the Warriors Edge" a book designed for police training in lethal encounters. Yet, Quinn basis this concept on practical experience and a realistic understanding of what truly takes place during a fight. Which is very refreshing in todays world of unrealistic mythical martial arts that make fictitious claims about there style of self-defense abilty.

The concept is simple, inoculate the mind and body to the effects of stress (FEAR) created adrenaline; to overcome the effects so as to prevail in any given self-defense situation. To create this level of skill one must train under circumstances as close to realistic as possible. This means actual hand to hand combat at close to full force and power as one can safely accomplish.

As the author states, and I agree 100%, boxing is as close and as realistic of a form of training for this process of inoculation yet, most people do not have the time or the desire to submitt to the practice necessary to achieve the goal. So, Quinn has designed a system of training that achieves a level of competence that is sufficient to meet the desired goal.

The Law Enforcement community formally realized this about 15 years ago with the dynamic scenario (RED MAN) training. Although, police academies for years prior had required cadets to box or wrestle full contact. That is before the politically correct individuals got involved and said that women officers should not have to fight the men officers, and that this is a kinder gentler society. So, no one in police academies have boxed or trained at full contact now for over 20 years. No wonder, there are so many lawsuits filed against police agencies for excessive and unlawful use of force! The officers were not given the proper training and inoculation to this adrenaline stress so, they over react. I digress only to make a point of fact in reference to this concept of training.

The book maintains a practical view of self-defense. That is, situational awareness and perception of a threat and then avoidance of said threat is the best technique. Avoidance and preemption is always the best strategy.

One must achieve the proper mindset and mental preparation before any technique can be effective. The individual must be conditioned to control and channel the effects of fear and the adrenaline stress that follows it. Once this is accomplished the individual can now concern himself with the physical skills and techniques of hand to hand combat. Without this conditioned response to the adrenaline stress, all else is useless.

Buy the book and include this type of training into your self-defense program. This book is for all people interested in self-defense programs that need to be effective, including police and military, martial art instructors, firearms instructors, and the citizen who accepts responsibilty for their own safety and security.

This guy has been a bouncer in some of the toughest bars in the country and he also holds rank in several martial arts, but his take on real world self defense is surprising indeed. He identifies the real problem in defending oneself against a real world assailant and it just isn't about "martial technique" at all. He offers really priceless insights into how to avoid a fight and how to spot an ambush or "interviewer" who's conversation or threats ( woofs) are designed to see if you are safe to attack. This information is priceless, yet I have never even seen this discussed in my whole libray of martial arts "how to do it" books. Yet, when I read this stuff I know I have seen this before myself in every real fight I ever saw . Yet he puts it togeather in a way that makes sense, it's understandable, clear and very practical and usefull on the street. I read his first book, "A Bouncer's Guide to Barroom Brawling" and that one started me really thinking, it dealt with techniques and drills mostly but still presented the basic problem of adrenal stress and how most people are just not prepared to deal with "stand up agression" and how the aggressor knows this and counts on it. But in this last book he gets right down to it, Showing you how and why you must deal with "tough guys" & aggresive and hostile people before the fists start to fly. It also makes very clear what "proper combat mindset" is all about and to shift gears and "be there" if it comes to a real fight. If you are into martial arts, but especially if you are a martial arts instructor, or self defense program instructor, this is adefinitely a must read. But anybody can learn a great deal from it even if they have no intrest in martial arts at all.

Well let me start off by saying I knew most of what was in this book from experience. However if you don't want to find out the hard ways (a series of brutal atacks from "bully" types), then you should invest in this book. Let me explain what you will get. The first part of the book is dedicated to explaining what a "Bully" type personality, and woofing really is. The "Interview" as it is called is peyton word for the intial verbal bashing the Bully type gives you before an attack. Quinn also explains that the "interview" is the process the bully takes to select a victim. Quinn goes indepth by explaining in a straight forward amnner that Bullies aren't looking for what your thinking, but instead looking for a sense of power over another person. Made since to me. It also explained why every smuck in North Carolina had to waste my valueable time picking a fight with me, and why when I made it clear they were going to have to put some work into beating me down then they retreated. Quinn expands on thes thoughts with the effectiveness of senario based training. Quinn explains how senario based training can indoctrinate an indivual in as little as a weeks time. At some points, unfortunaly, it sounds like he is just advertiseing for RMCAT, or it is some kind of manifesto. Still the book was of great value since it explained in frank english the truth about fighting. Most of the self defense books I hve seen only showed me techniques, some were more effective techniques than other. However, in stressfull situations the techniques did me no good. This book explained to me what I actually needed to make those techniques effective. I need to control myself. The battle is decided before the first two sword ever cross.

I read the reviews of my book and I was very happy to see the high rateings it got. But I also found most of the critisisms of it quite valid too. Hence I want to address them.

The major negative critic I see here is thatI just define the true problem in self defense very well.But that I suggest the only solution is to come to Colorado to my RMCAT, adrenal stess conditioning training camp (RMCAT.COM)for a weekend(many have done so too from many different countries and every American city)

But, many can not afford the time or money to do this. Hence, at thr request of the National Association of Profesional Martial Artists (NAPMA.com), I have developed a version of the RMCAT training for their martial arts schools(of which thee are 2000). Hence, you may find this program taught localy, they call it EZ Defense. Peace be with you all. Peyton Quinn

Being the author of several books on the martial arts and fighting, I am always looking for books of exceptional quality to add to my library. If I have a book in my library, it's definitely worth owning. One such book is Peyton Quinn's, "Real Fighting."

I found Peyton's book to be a very good "reality check" for those of you out there that think that your "martial art" is superior to everyone else's. Well guess what, its not! As every person who has more than a passing resemblance to a human being will tell you, there are no superior martial arts, just superior martial artists.

The most important thing to remember when reading this, or any book dealing with self-defense techniques, is that the principles behind the technique are far more important than the technique itself. Peyton does a great job of this, and you would do well to sit down and read this book from cover to cover several times in order to grasp what he is trying to teach you.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed what Peyton had to teach in his book, I must admit that I am not a big fan of the generalization that seems to take place when people compare "real fighting" to the martial arts. It seems that a lot of the martial arts are pigeonholed into the prevalent "McDojo's" that seem to be so popular these days. That simply is not the case.

Peyton is one of the few "self-defense" authors out there that seems to realize this. He not only respects the teachings of the martial arts, but also understands their overall purpose and the benefits derived from them for those of us that study and live the martial way.

I am a traditionally trained martial artist in both Karate and Tae Kwon Do, as well as being ranked in several other disciplines. However, unlike a lot of schools that seem to have degenerated down to teaching a diluted "sport" version of these arts, I was fortunate enough to be taught the practical version of each technique alongside the traditional version.

A lot of traditional martial artists may find the information contained in this books a little disheartening, but take it from me, if you have one ounce of sense you will buy this book and study it. And when you think your finished and have learned everything in this book, take it off the shelf and read it again.

I think we would all do well to remember that the most important element that the martial arts teach you is not technique, but self-discipline!

My name is John Perkins. I am the author of ATTACK PROOF. I have only been a bouncer as a youth but as a police officer I have been involved in well over a thousand arrests. Over 100 of these arrests turned into blood baths. Many more could have gone in the same direction if not for knowing how to read a possible serious violent conflict ahead of time. Mr. Quinn's book REAL FIGHTS is one that I highly recommend to my students. Many of these are Nightclub security specialists (bouncers) in NYC and other establishments which were considered "problem" clubs. After reading the book and following with classroom practice my students found that the principles worked well in many cases. My law enforcement students also use a good deal of the information. The military is a bit different. The engagements of my Marine and Spec Ops members are of a different character in the field but during civilian situations the information has proven quite useful. Read this book carefully and then read it again. It could save you a bunch of paperwork as well as your hide. Remember, luck always favors the prepared man. Take care

As a Police Officer, I'm always seeking information on hand to hand fighting and related topics. This book delivers! Peyton Quinn and Marc Macyoung are two men who have lived the realities of street violence. The training Mr. Quinn refers to in this book is just now catching on in Law Enforcement. Too often I see Rookie Cops freeze when confronted with their first taste of combative and resistant subjects. This book should be reference text for all Police Defensive Tactics Training. As a Police Officer I've used several of Mr. Quinn's tactics to either de-escalate a bad situation or if diplomacy fails to put the bad guy down quick! I highly recommend this book to any Cop, Security Guard, or any person who comes in contact with society's malcontents via their occupation.