This post comes from Brian Wilson, an attendee of the PDR Combatives Camp held in Las Vegas in 2011 by Blauer Tactical Systems, not an event run by NOVA Self Defense.

"Tonight I was out a bar with a few friends and after closing walked out onto the street. There were two men who approached and began to talk to us. They did not look like your typical out for a good time bar types. I saw one of them had a hand tucked behind towards his back, so kept looking at that hand, until he turned enough to reveal a large machete.

At this point rather than completely freaking out at this drunk guy with a blade as long as my forearm, eyeing us up as he talked to us, my training kicked in.

I remembered to watch his hands, I put myself in a nonviolent posture and remembered the three D's. I started to go through visualizations of what I would do if the man moved in anyway aggressively towards us and kept close enough to him that the range of the weapon wouldn't be significant.

More than anything I knew this didn't have to become physical but I was ready for it if it did. I kept calm, relaxed and do anything that would telegraph how ready I was to hurt one of them. The men talked crap about a police cruiser that drove by, told us their names, asked if we were down to party and eventually took off in a cab. Now I'm not sure if anything would have happened or if they were just looking for people to hang out with them. Either way I had confidence I could deal with it thanks to my training at the PDR Camp at Crossfit Sin City.

Thanks Tony Blauer, Omari Broussard, Evan Dzierzynski, Ryan Fredericks, and everyone else I trained with at the camp. You guys might have helped save my life tonight."

Great job Brian! Glad you were able to keep cool under stress and assess your situation.

Visualization is not a new concept in the martial arts or self-defense training world. Training without using visualization or training partners often becomes nothing more than simply exercise, rather than preparation for conflict.  

However, often times when we are told to visualize our opponent or visualize success, we don’t understand how to make it happen and benefit from it.

Let’s walk through a CrossFit weight-lifting example.  For me personally, I achieve my PR's (personal records) on lifts when I tie an emotional element to the lift, when I am dealing with really heavy weight.  

No longer am I thinking about where my feet are, how I am positioned, or hoping I lift the bar off the ground.  Instead, I visualize the scenario:
 
Someone I care about is trapped under a car or heavy object and I need to get it off of them.  Now!  

Today I was mentally out of focus and told my training partner that I failed on a dead-lift attempt lift (of less than my previous PR) because I was not able to visualize my scenario and the success of making it happen. He helped me re-focus by drawing this chalk stick-man.  Thanks Steve!  I ended up successfully dead-lifting 425, a new 2-rep max for me!