Continue reading »]]> Saturday & Sunday 2 Day Self Defence Seminar

The course is open to everyone- young*, old, fit, unfit, male and female. No experience is necessary. Just bring a note-pad, pen, towel and water. Lunch is supplied and all who attend will receive a certificate on successful completion from Chief Instructor Aidan Carroll.

Course Curriculum:

•Understanding body language before conflict

•Protecting your personal space

•Pre-emptive strikes

•Release from chokes & strangles

•Defence against knife hold ups

•Knowing when and how to strike

•Self Defence and the Law in Ireland

*Due to the realism of the training under 18′s will need parental permission.

Next Course Details:

Date: April 14th & 15th

Time: 10am – 3.00pm

Venue: Hard Target School of Self Defence, Redleaf Business Park, Turvey North County Dublin

Price: EUR120 or EUR200 for 2 people booking

For more details phone: (01) 807 5037

Continue reading »]]> I recently had the honour of getting to interview Geoff Thompson – the Legendary Martial Artist, BAFTA WINNING author of thirty-four books published in 15 languages, five multi-award-winning films, three stage plays and hundreds of published articles. Geoff Thompson was once described as the most inspirational Martial Artict since Bruce Lee and talking to him it is easy to see why – he is a truly insightful and inspirational person to talk to and someone I would best describe as a “Gentleman Warrior”. Find out what Geoff Thompson had to say….

http://www.geoffthompson.com/

Continue reading »]]> Presented by Aidan Carroll (4th Dan, Founder of Hard Target Self Defence Systems) and Tony Somers (5th Dan under Geoff Thompson). With guest speakers Colette Cunningham and Alan Matthews.

Over the years Tony and Aidan have presented many seminars and master classes together and due to demand they have just released the dates for their next unique course. As always this next course will bring more challenges with lots of motivation and inspiration. This course is open to everyone regardless of your background. With over FIFTY years of combined experience, you can be sure this course will offer nuggets of information for everyone. These training days always fill fast and places are limited, so early booking is strongly advised.

About The Team

Aidan Carroll is one of Ireland’s most respected Personal Trainers, with over 20 years of experience in the health and fitness industry. He is regularly featured on National television and radio, such as Ryan Tubirty radio show, TV3 Ireland am, 98fm radio and City Channel TV. His views and opinions have been featured in the Sunday World, Sunday Business Post, Irish Times and the Sunday Independent. He is the founder of Focus Fitness Personal Training and Hard Target Self Defence Systems.

Tony Somers is an inspirational coach and Master NLP practitioner, who served as fire fighter for 17 years. He also holds the rank of 5th Dan in the Real Combat System. He is a qualified counsellor/coach who has worked in many diverse areas ranging from hospices to mental health. He is also the producer and presenter of the highly
acclaimed documentary “Embrace Your Fears”

Colette Cunningham has been working as a Hypnotherapist for over 12 years. She is a member of the Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy (ICHP),she is also a Supervisor for other therapists.

Alan Matthews has been a guest speaker on many of Aidan and Tony’s seminars over the years. His inspiration, inner strength and tenacity to overcome depression and challenge fear are infectious. To quote a participant from our last seminar…
” After listening to Alan’s speech about overcoming what I can only describe as my worst
nightmare, really made me rethink about how I live my life, I can honestly say after meeting Alan and hearing his story – changed my life overnight, I am forever grateful”

Continue reading »]]> It’s something we all do on a regular basis, extract cash from the ATM. In recent months robberies have increased at these cash dispensers. In today’s hectic world everyone seems to be in a rush. Everyday items – household, domestic, commercial and even the food (if you could call it food!) that we see on the supermarket shelves is fast, faster and fastest! Let’s all slow down for a while, and if you decide to take money from your account by means of an ATM, you must slow down.

It is a fact that when we are distracted and our brain is engaged with thoughts other than the task at hand, we will be switched off to our surroundings. The TV safety campaign showing some idiot texting on his mobile while driving and causing a fatal accident seems to go over most people’s heads.  The amount of people who are switched off to their surroundings and those around them while using ATM machines is staggering. So the next time you use the ‘hole in the wall’ please keep in mind these following safety tips.

Chose a machine that you can use regularly.  Choose wisely and look for possible ambush points. It is always best if your regular ATM is located in a shop, as opposed to a street. Try to use it in the day time. Before making your transaction take a minute to observe the area and those people in the area. Pay attention to parked cars. If you suspect anything untoward move away immediately. This is  what I refer to as your internal alarm – INTUTION, and it will never trick you, listen to it – always.

Take a moment to examine the machine itself; does it look like it has been tampered with in anyway? If so, do not use it and report your suspicions to the bank and not the shop.
Never count or display your money at the ATM. Always take receipts and statements, never put them in those little bins on the wall beside the machine. Some countries I have visited have drive-up ATM’s, if using these be sure that all doors are locked and only open your window a few inches.

Never give your pin code to anyone. A genuine bank employee or police officer will never ask this question. Always shield the keypad as much as possible.

These tips are by no means a complete source of safety information. They are just some of the main points to watch out for. Always remember that if you are caught off guard and held up for your cash, my advice is to hand it over, it’s simply not worth getting into a brawl over cash, or worse ‘a knife fight’. Remember to slow down.

Continue reading »]]> What is Box-It?
Box- IT is a unique form of fitness training designed to work every major muscle in the body while also burning more calories than any other programme in a standard 45 minute session. Each student is partnered up and every module involves the use of focus pads.

What are focus pads?
Focus pads have been used for over 100 years as the main training equipment for boxers. They can be used for striking, using hands, elbows, knee’s and feet.

Will I be fit enough?

Each class is designed so that every technique used can immediately be adapted and/or progressed to suit the students fitness level.

What is the duration of each class?

Each class is 45 minutes, which includes a 5 minute warm up, 5 minutes stretch, main phase 30 minutes and a 5 minute cool down.

Does it include exercises to work my stomach muscles?

Yes, the class works every major muscle group, with a large emphasis on toning the abdominal area.

What do I need to bring?

A towel, water and the will to train.

Venue: Hard Target School of Self Defence Times: 7.00pm – 7.45pm
Dates: February 13th – April 16th

Time: 7-7.45pm

Price:€100 for members and €120 for non members or Drop in for a Class even if course has begun and pay on the night.

Venue: Hard Target School of Self Defence

FOR MORE DETAILS:  HARD TARGET SELF-DEFENCE 

OR TO BOOK YOUR PLACE

Contact – info@hardtargetselfdefence.com OR

Continue reading »]]> Seven Steps to Legal, Emotional and Physical Preparation – This book stands alone as an introduction to the context of self-defence. There are seven elements that must be addressed to bring self-defence training to something approaching complete. Any training that dismisses any of these areas leaves you vulnerable.

1. Legal and ethical implications. A student learning self-defense must learn force law. Otherwise it is possible to train to go to prison. Side by side with the legal rules, every student must explore his or her own ethical limitations. Most do not really know where this ethical line lies within them.

2. Violence dynamics. Self-defence must teach how attacks happen. Students must be able to recognize an attack before it happens and know what kind they are facing. Understanding attack rituals and the criminal mind-set is something we teach regularly here at the HT School.

3. Avoidance. Students need to learn and practice not fighting. Learning includes escape and evasion, verbal de-escalation, and also pure-not-be there avoidance.

4. Counter-ambush. If the student didn’t see the precursors or couldn’t successfully avoid the encounter, he or she will need a handful of actions trained to reflex level for a sudden violent attack.

5. Breaking the freeze. Freezing is almost universal in a sudden attack. Students must learn to recognize a freeze and break out of one.

6. The fight itself. Most martial arts and self-defence instructors concentrate their time right here. What is taught just needs to be in line with how violence happens in the world.

7. The aftermath. There are potential legal, psychological and medical effects of engaging in violence no matter how justified. Advanced preparation is critical. Any teacher or student of self-defence, anyone interested in self-defence and any person who desires a deeper understanding of violence needs to read this book. Highly recommended.

Continue reading »]]>

It’s probably no real surprise to most of you reading this that consuming a lot of refined sugar is bad for your health. The majority of houses in Ireland will have sugar in the kitchen press or a bowl on the table! This sugar comes mainly from sugar cane or to a lesser extent sugar beet. In its raw state, cane sugar is dark coloured, thick syrup better known as black molasses. It is this syrup which is refined to produce the clean looking granulated form we all know but along the way, all of the original goodness, the nutrients contained in its original form are removed in the refining process. This leaves a handy product that is very sweet to the taste but is devoid of any goodness whatsoever.

As someone who wants to improve their health, or maybe lose some weight, there are two main varieties of sugar that you should be aware of. They are:

• Intrinsic Sugars
• Extrinsic Sugars

Intrinsic Sugars are those sugars that occur naturally in fruits and vegetables and are called intrinsic because they reside within the cell structures themselves. The good news is that you do not need to cut back on these sugars if you want to lose weight or get healthy because they are natural. They also come with a variety of wholesome vitamins and minerals plus dietary fibre which are all essential to the body’s normal functioning. Simply put, these are good sugars to include in your diet.

Extrinsic Sugars are those sugars not contained within the cell structures of the above mentioned natural foods. Instead they themselves fall into two main groups. These are:

Milk Extrinsic Sugars: these occur naturally in milk products

Non Milk Extrinsic Sugars (NME): these are added to foods

NME sugars are added to foods for a variety of reasons, but are mainly added to sweeten them, to increase their bulk or to preserve them. From a health and weight loss viewpoint, it is these NME sugars which should be avoided. The reason is they contain no useful nutrients for the body, so are metabolized and stored as fat. The problem for dieters when this happens is the body never gets to use its stored up fat because we never get hungry, so it just keeps piling it on.

That’s the main reason you gain weight when you eat large amounts of NME sugars. However, if you cut down hard on these sugars and exercise regularly, your body will have no choice but to use up the stored fat and then you will start to lose weight.

Negative Health Aspects of Consuming Refined Sugar

What are the negative health aspects of eating refined sugar?

Sucrose in its refined form, when consumed is broken down by the body into glucose and other simpler sugars that are used by the body for producing energy. When this is done in small quantities, there is no real problem, but when sucrose is taken in and broken down into large amounts of simpler sugars, the blood gets a rush of these sugars which causes an imbalance in blood sugar levels.

As a general rule of thumb, the more refined the sugar you eat is, the more likely your body will react in a negative way to it. In this sense, blood sugar levels are constantly rising and falling sharply when you ingest too great a volume of NME sugars. This is countered to some extent by the body’s own regulatory system in the form of insulin. Insulin is a hormone manufactured within the pancreas. Its main job is to regulate blood sugar levels. So when those levels get too high too quickly, insulin is released in large quantities to break those sugars down fast and return the blood sugar levels to equilibrium.

What happens is that you get a fast rush of energy from the sugar as its processed and released into the bloodstream. This is rapidly followed by a rapid drop in energy as the insulin does its work. You then eat more food or drink more liquids that contain high levels of NME sugars and the process begins again.

What this does is put a terrible strain on your pancreas in the constant creation and release of insulin. Eventually, the strain becomes too much and insulin production becomes erratic, meaning that blood sugar levels can no longer be effectively regulated. This leads to the onset of type II diabetes, which if not diagnosed and is allowed to degenerate further can lead to type I diabetes, which means having to manually injecting insulin to stay alive.

The recommended daily allowance of sugar is 90g. Calculate how much you eat daily, you will be surprised. If you would like more information on diet and/or nutritional advice email info@focusfitness.ie

Continue reading »]]> Ever wondered how you go about becoming a bodyguard or what training or qualifications are required to operate legally as a CPO (Close Protection Operative)? Intelligent Security Training in association with Hard Target Defence Systems will be running a fully accredited Close Protection Operations course from February 20th – March 2nd inclusive.

DOWNLOAD BROCHURE

Upon successful completion of the course each candidate will receive a Btec level 3 qualification in Close Protection Operations which is awarded by Edexcel, an internationally recognised awarding body.

This qualification is essential for operatives who wish to work within Ireland, Europe or England or for any U.K registered private contracting company. It is the law in the U.K under the private security act 2001 that all operatives are licenced by the Security Industry Authority (S.I.A) and there are substantial fines for those
caught working without a licence.

The qualification also has its merits elsewhere in the world as more and more employment agencies in this particular sector of security are recognising the certification received as a standard internationally. We have contracts with supply companies from as far afield as Tahiti and Kazakhstan to train their existing staff to this level.

This is a unique opportunity for those employed in the security industry to take their profession to the next level. It is also a valuable course for ex-military or police looking to bridge the transition to the civilian executive protection market.

Whatever your background, this course could very well be the key to a new and exciting career that may take you around the world providing protection for the rich and famous.

The course is intensive and requires a great deal of self-motivation, discipline, team work and focus, all attributes of a well-rounded C.P.O (close protection operative).

The usual class time is from 09.00 hrs until 18.00 hrs but candidates are then expected to work on tasks and assignments that the instructors give on a daily basis, so be prepared to work into the night!

Each candidate is expected to complete a portfolio of their work over the two weeks which includes a 47 question workbook and all missions or assignments that they are given to work on. This portfolio will be assessed by an internal assessor and must be passed in order to complete the course.

There is also a main operation to be planned and executed which will also be assessed and finally a 60 question multiple choice exam on the final day.

Course Content:

• The CPO and team
• Body protection drills
• Embus and Debus drills
• Route selection and planning
• Reconaisance
• Searching of vehicles, persons and venues
• IED awareness (improvised explosive device)
• Surveillence awareness, anti/counter surveillance
• Operational intelligence / Operational planning
• Conflict Management
• Law and Legislation
• Communication – radio, written
• Immediate action drills
• Assassination case studies
• Convoy driving practical skills
• First and third party defensive techniques

FOR MORE DETAILS OR TO BOOK YOUR PLACE

Contact – info@hardtargetselfdefence.com OR

DOWNLOAD BROCHURE

Continue reading »]]> The OODA loop is probably best described as an information processing system.

The term itself is an acronym for OBSERVE ORIENT DECIDE ACT.

In simple terms the thinking behind the “OODA Loop” is that we all firstly observe what is going on around us, we then orient or analyze the information, we decide what that information actually means and finally we take action based on our analysis.

Once we take the appropriate action, we observe the result of that action and thus the loop is restarted. This is a constant process at work in all of us, most often, subconsciously.

For example, if I am walking along the street, before I cross the road, I observe what is going on around me, I watch for traffic, I see the road is clear and I orient that information which leads me to the decision that I can safely cross the street. I then act on that decision.

The man who coined the term was John Boyd. Boyd himself was a fighter pilot and he was curious as to why some pilots were more successful than others. He came to the conclusion that the pilots whose loop was quickest were the most successful. Those pilots were setting the pace as it were, where their opponent was constantly being forced to react. It has been described as ‘getting inside your opponent’s loop’

So what does all this mean in the environment of self defense? In terms of conflict between two protagonists once you are inside your opponent’s loop you are the one setting the terms of the conflict. Your adversary is only in a position to react. This will give you a decided advantage as action will always be quicker than reaction, and as such you are in a position to change the focus of your attack, to change your tactics and targets so as to keep your loop spinning quicker than that of your rival.

If you look at the diagram, imagine that while you are acting, your rival is only then observing, in other words while he is taking account of your action and by the time he orients what he is experiencing and reaches a decision as to what action he is to take, you have already started a new action thus rendering his orientation and decision redundant as there is now a new set of circumstances for him to deal with.

This shows us the importance of the speed of our thoughts in dealing with an aggressor, turning the tables as it where and to act rather than react.

Albert Mc Cready

Continue reading »]]>

FOR MORE DETAILS OR TO BOOK YOUR PLACE

Contact - noellehardtarget@gmail.com

OR 

Phone: +353 (01) 807 5037.

www.hardtargetselfdefence.com