Training for Sudden Violence: 72 Practice Drills

The speed and brutality of a predatory attack can shock even an experienced martial artist.

The sudden chaos, the cascade of stress hormones―you feel as though time slows down. In reality, the assault is over in an instant. How does anyone prepare for that?

As a former corrections sergeant and tactical team leader, Rory Miller is a proven survivor. He instructs police and corrections professionals who, in many cases, receive only eight hours of defensive tactics training each year. They need techniques that work and they need unflinching courage.

In Training for Sudden Violence Miller gives you the tools to prepare and prevail, both physically and psychologically. He shares hard-won lessons from a world most of us hope we never experience.

• Train in fundamentals,combat drills, and dynamic fighting.


• Develop situational awareness.


• Condition yourself through stress inoculation.


• Take a critical look at your training habits.

“You don't get to pick where fights go,” Miller writes. That's why he has created a series of drills to train you for the worst of it. You will defend yourself on your feet, on the ground, against weapons, in a crowd, and while blindfolded. You will reevaluate your training scenarios―keeping what works, discarding what does not, and improving your chances of survival.

Miller's internal work, world work, and plastic mind exercises will challenge you in ways that mere physical training does not. Sections include:

• Stalking


• Escape and evasion


• The predator mind


• Personal threat assessment

This is a fight for your life, and it won't happen on a nice soft mat. It will get, as Miller says, “all kinds of messy.” Training for Sudden Violence prepares you for that mess.