Description of Marc MacYoung's seminars

Marc MacYoung
Writer, Teacher, Expert Witness, Thinker

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Seminar/class descriptions

Standard 'weekend' package
Crime Avoidance/ Martial Mechanics/ Knife Survival

Full Knife
Defending against/ Defensive Knife

Martial Mechanics
Beginning / Advanced

Conflict Communications
4 Hours / 7 hours / Weekend

STANDARD WEEKEND PACKAGE -- Friday evening , Saturday, Sunday

Crime Avoidance is an hour-and-a-half lecture. It is open to the general public and is a great way for the host to get free advertising in local papers, event calendars, and for flyers you can post in other facilities.

Many martial artists spend years, if not decades, learning how to protect themselves from criminal attacks. But they haven't spent any time looking at how criminals select victims or commit their attacks. 'Crime Avoidance' is a court-recognized system showing you how to identify and articulate what the criminal did to set you up for a crime. It's mostly how to nonviolently foil a felon's attempts to rob, rape, or assault you.

The system is court-tested because it gives you the words to explain why you had to do what you did and why your acted in self defense and not in a consensual fight.

This lecture is included in the main cost of the seminar or people can sign up for it alone (or show up at the door) for a $10 (US) fee.

After the Crime Avoidance lecture, we do a Q&A of 'The Animal.' This is done in a more intimate atmosphere. The informal setting allows attendees to relax, get to know the instructor and each other, creating the ultimate seminar experience for the next two days.

As an alternative to Crime Avoidance, a Friday night Conflict Communications lecture can be scheduled. The seminar host can chose which topic he or she wishes to be discussed. Both are informative, and both have been well-received by audiences.
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Martial Mechanics/Force Physics is NOT system specific.

That opens it to students and teachers of all combative systems, all types of martial arts, law enforcement, bouncers, and anyone who is in a job where he or she can be physically attacked.

It is not about generating more power (although you will learn that, too.) It's about how NOT to lose power. If you're losing 98 percent of your power because of bad body mechanics, it doesn't matter if you double your power -- you're still losing 98 percent. A 120-pound woman, who can deliver all her power, will hit harder than an 180-pound man, who loses most of it because of poor delivery mechanics. Within an hour, people at the seminar will go from merely holding the kicking shields and remaining standing to be being blown across the room.

It's the difference between being hit by a pillow or a steel rod. Same amount of energy in both, but which will do damage?

Think of it this way. The way most people move is like trying to bail out a sinking boat with a spaghetti strainer. If it weren't for all those holes, what they are doing would work. I'm going to help them by plugging those holes in their defensive and offensive movements.

I'm not going to teach them my style. I'm going to make what they already do better.

Then I show them how changing the timing of what they do turns them into powerhouses. Things that never really worked well in the their systems all of a sudden sends partners flying across the room.

Again, it isn't style specific. I want people to take this information and apply it to what they do. Or as I say: It's not about my system, it's about making you better at yours. It's about understanding what you do so you can do it better.

Once we've plugged the holes, we move on to better ways to deliver force. It's not just about hitting. It's about moving your opponent in such a way that he cannot attack you. At the same time, the effectiveness of your attacks is tripled. The key is learning to end a physical conflict in three moves. In two seconds, the dude is on the floor. What shape he's in ... well, the situation dictates.

More than all of that, this seminar's drills and techniques are not based on muscle. It's training along the lines of a quote from Helio Gracie, "Train as if you are an old man because one day you will be." This kind of power doesn't fade with age, like muscle and endurance. The older you get, the better you get.

Finally as a teacher, it's a way to explain concepts that you know, can do, and understand, but people tend to screw up. These classes are just stuffed with easy ways to remember things. Instructors love this seminar because it makes them better teachers and gives them enhanced ways to explain concepts and techniques.

Example: Single, combined, and sequential movement.

Are you doing only one thing? Or are you doing two, three, or four things all at once? Or are you doing two different things one right after the other, but so closely together they blend and build off each other's energy?

Once students have that model, we get into application. Those last two really affect range. Combined movement has a shorter range -- and I honestly don't know why. The location of your opponent dictates whether you do a combined or a sequential movement to deliver maximum power -- including moving into range. Once class attendees know these terms, they can diagnose what they're do that causes a move to fail. (E.g., "You're doing it as a combined movement. It's sequential.") For instructors, it makes teaching physical elements so much easier because with that one sentence, the student knows what to change.
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The Knife Seminar is only partly physical.

Much of it is based on understanding how knives are used, and why people get stabbed. (With just a few simple 'cues,' I can trigger a part of your brain that will make you take the absolutely most dangerous and stupid course of action against a type of knife attack -- and then I'll attack that way. I teach people to beware of that trap.)

I talk about the effects of adrenalin on perception and how it will make you 'walk into (a blade) weed whacker.' (Because of the adrenal surge, you'll swear he attacked you, but the security video will show you charged and attacked him.)

I also explain the different kinds of violence and why your response is not 'fighting.' Your attacker has to be on the ground dying or unconscious in three moves or less ... or you will be.

This is important because it also teaches how to assess a situation where lethal force is not necessary. I cover a lot of the legal aspects and how to deal with law enforcement after an incident. It is here in fact, we want police involved in the seminar so they can say, "Yeah, that is what happens when we show up, and there's a body on the floor." So if you want to make connections with the local police force, invite a couple of their training officers to the seminar for free or at a reduced cost. I know of no one else out there who is teaching about knives who is also a court-recognized expert witness on knife violence.

One thing I am famous for is taking complex things and boiling them down to simple, easy-to-understand, easy-to-remember ideas. Information you can access easily even in a live-fire situation so the incident is over in three moves or less. That's what you can advertise.
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Price:
Early weekend registration (in US) $125
Past discount date $150
Week before or at the door $175
One day $75

Questions? Email me at marcmacyoung@earthlink.net

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