OpenEdgeTMTactical Self-Defense

OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense...was founded by world renowned reality martial artist and survivalist, Andrew Clough of BOONDOCK SURVIVAL®.  It is a system firmly rooted in seeking out the most effective solutions and preparation for real-world survival scenarios and is taught in an "a la carte" format (individually focused areas of study) for the purpose of better developing specialized skills.  Areas of study include offensive and defensive striking (with use of head, fingers, hands, elbows, forearms, knees, shins, feet), escape from holds (scenarios standing, sitting or on the ground), offensive takedowns and takedown defenses, ground fighting survival, gun disarming & retention (handgun and long gun), knife & long-blade weapon defense and disarming, knife fighting, stick/long handle defense and disarming, and more.

Training Programs:

OpenEdge™ Tactical SD - Essentials...This program contains everything we feel is "essential" for real and effective self-defense for adults (men and women) that we can effectively pack into a four-day course. This program stays consistent with the same immersion training format of our other camps just in a bit more condensed manner for each study area. This is a no-nonsense program without any fluff. It does not dig as deep into certain study areas as our more specialized adult courses but is everything you need for a solid foundation in reality-based self-defense.

OpenEdge™ Tactical SD - SchoolHouse...This program is for parents, martial-arts/self-defense instructors, school teachers/coaches, fitness professionals, summer camp counselors, etc...and contains everything we feel is "essential" for teaching real and effective self-defense for kids (boys and girls ages 4 and up) that we can effectively pack into a four-day course. This program also stays consistent with the same immersion training format of our other camps just in a bit more condensed manner for each study area and is also another no-nonsense program without any fluff associated with other children's martial-arts/self-defense programs. This course will teach you everything you need to be able to share with kids to help them build a solid foundation in reality-based self-defense for real-world situations.

OpenEdge™ Tactical SD - Training "a la carte" (Specialist Training)

This is specialized training with 4-levels in each study area...Level 1/Foundation, Level 2/Intermediate, Level 3/Advanced, Level 4/Specialist.

Areas of Study: Grappling & Ground Survival, Combative Striking, Gun Disarming Tactics , Combative Knife Tactics

People tend to excel in areas of study they are most interested because interest fuels effort.  Our "a la carte" type study format enables students and instructors to zero-in on areas of study most intriguing to them and which fit their personal wants and needs best.  What this means is that if an OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense "instructor candidate" wants to focus their certification efforts entirely on Gun Disarming & Retention they can work in that one area of study all the way to Master Level Instructor without having to go through repetitive training they may have already mastered elsewhere in another system. 

An example could be that an expert in Muay Thai kickboxing wants to learn gun disarming techniques but feels he does not need lengthy and intensive work on developing his punching, kicking, knee and elbow striking abilities.  Someone like this could simply integrate segments of the OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense system into his personal quiver without having to worry about going through  a multitude of material he is already skilled to get to the areas of study he seeks.  An expert in Muay Thai could still benefit from our striking program because there are always different angles to learn similar subjects and our striking program is geared towards reality based self-defense instead of competitive kickboxing, but our "a la carte" system simply puts the freedom of choice into the training opportunities we offer to them without forcing study areas they don't want.

Bottom line...with OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense you can train and certify to teach in the areas you want and feel you have weaknesses instead of spending valuable time and energy having to go back through re-learning things you have already been doing for years elsewhere.

Further Insights into Our Approaches to Training:

No Organizational Politics

Take what you want and need from OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense to fill voids and weaknesses you may feel exist in what you currently train without having to worry about organizational restrictions or politics from us.  We are here to share our bundles of knowledge packaged in a way that suits your specific needs best.  We treat training as a gift and we will never seek to dictate what you can train or teach, how, when, where, or what you mix it with to complete your own personal arsenal.  What you learn from us is yours to take and make it your own.  We simply ask you to be ethical and responsible with potential real world uses of your training and with whom you share your gained knowledge.

Realistic Training for Realistic Situations

Real attacks often occur at ferocious sprinting speeds and intensity instead of what most people actually train for in the gym or dojo.  To survive or thrive in a hostile environment you absolutely must accept that you have to condition yourself for vicious quick bursts of attacks instead of measured "sparring" with an opponent as you may be used to watching or participating in sport competition.  Think violent raging attacks that start with 5 to 20 second bursts of explosive energy instead of the 2-5 minutes rounds of metered aggression in friendly competition.

You must train to move effectively on your feet while protecting your balance and learn to minimize injury during a fall instead of making the mistaken habit of working from an unrealistic starting position on the knees with your training partners.  You must learn to survive on the ground but realize that staying on the ground "rolling" with an attacker can be a recipe for disaster if the attacker is more skilled or weapons and/or multiple attackers are in play.  If going to the ground is either unavoidable or advantageous, aggressively defending or disabling the primary threat and getting back to your feet as soon as possible in order to regain a more mobile defensive position should be of utmost importance instead of getting locked in a lengthy grappling struggle on the ground where you could be open to possible vulnerabilities.

You have to realize that in the violence of real life attacks you may be fighting for the very draw of your actual next breath of life.  Your own intensity, preservation of energy and effective targeting of the vital areas of your attacker's body are all paramount to your survival before you reach a defenseless state of exhaustion.  You must also learn and condition yourself to strike preemptively when necessary and counter under attack instead of after attack.  You must be able to target on the fly and conserve energy to finish the fight fast so that you have enough reserve stamina necessary to move on to safety or defend the next advancing attack by potential additional persons. 

OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense certified instructors help students develop skills to maximize their chances for survival through real life attack scenarios at as close to real life speeds and intensities as possible without sacrificing the safety and longevity of the student's health and ability to train.  New concepts and techniques are always developed in gentle-slow motion until students are ready to begin progressively increasing speeds and intensities to levels they can physically and emotionally handle over time as they develop their skills.  Our ultimate goal is to prepare you for the real world.  This is REALITY BASED SELF DEFENSE (RBSD).

Initial Confrontation, Verbal Assault and Your Emotional Restraint

You should always try to avoid confrontation whenever necessary.  It is better to stand down and be left standing than to find yourself lying six feet under in a grave because of ego and attitude.  You must condition yourself not to get drawn into a fight by someone's provocative verbal abuse or raging outbursts of direct verbal assaults no matter how repulsive.  Your goal should be to avoid conflict whenever possible and find victory in the ability to walk away.  Only use force as a last resort or when your job as a professional demands it.   

OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense conducts training camps focused specifically on helping you measure and develop your mental strength to survive and thrive during life's most challenging moments.  Whether you seek to have more control over your emotions and actions in your personal life with people you love, want to strengthen your ability to get work done and accomplish business goals, or simply want to be able to manage your fear and patience during a confrontation these camps are for you. 

Tapping Your Aggression for Ultimate Survival

Just as there ares times which call for emotional restraint and trying to reason things out with an aggressor there are also times when people are forced into bad situations where they must be able to dig down into the darkness and call forth their primal warrior in order to ensure the survival of themselves and their loved ones.  We will help you both embrace and harness this valuable asset to use in great times of need. 

OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense always seeks to share our knowledge in controlled and focused “LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS" with the best instructors.  We strive to provide students with solid opportunities to learn and develop individual concepts and techniques over time by geting them to utilize our “9-STEP PROCESS OF DEVELOPMENT"..."1st Seeing  Demonstration of Concept/Technique, 2nd Exploring, 3rd Learning, 4th Correcting Errors, 5th Understanding and Knowing, 6th Developing Through Drilling, 7th Cleaning, 8th Mastering 9th Polishing

We will expand on this with greater explanation on video and at camp. 

Finding Greatness Through Patience...Immersion Training

The mind can only absorb so much new information in an effective way during given periods of time.  And…If the subject material is not layered properly with meaningful connections instead of gaps and interferences, a student’s mind can become overwhelmed and confused to the point where ultimately they do not effectively retain information shared.  This is why at OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense we conduct the majority of our classes focused around “IMMERSION TRAINING” where students dive into a given study area getting to know the details of the subject in and out…upside and downside…left and right…top and bottom.  We "immerse" our students into a specific focus and keep them there to develop a foundation through repeated repetition and drilling for an extended period of time so that they have a true opportunity to "Learn and Burn" effectively...meaning "burn" the training into both the brains visual memory bank and automatic stimulation of motor movement/muscle memory.

Immersion training gives us a good head-start into our 9-Step Process of Development within individual areas of study.  It gives students a better chance of actually absorbing and remembering material than do sampling type teaching platforms where students are shown many different moves that may not be layered as effectively or which jump around areas of study that are completely different with little connection.  

Approaching Martial Arts like Baseball

Baseball is a game that both children and adults enjoy throughout American life.  The game is not played any different fundamentally at the "little league" level than it is in the "Big Leagues".  Everything is just bigger and the ball moves faster when the stars of the game take the field. 

A professional baseball player makes it to the elite level through a disciplined process of practicing the same basic fundamentals he devoted himself to conquering from the very first moments he stepped on the field as a child.  He builds his successes upon foundations of fundamental skills which he has mastered over time and then combines his own individual assets to make the game his own. 

What separates players who excel at America's favorite pastime from the masses who never "make it" is a disciplined process of developing proper skills through repetitive practice of the same things...over and over and over.  Professionals simply put in the time mastering their chosen sport with their success rooted in repetition.  They do not try to recreate the game or try to find new ways to always swing the bat or throw the ball.  What they are focused on is simply getting better at their game. 

It is easy as martial arts and self-defense instructors to fall into a trap of thinking we need to share an overwhelming amount of fresh techniques with students to keep them from getting bored.  This is quite often a mistake and sets students up for mediocrity by promoting exploration without true learning, understanding and mastering of anything explored.  Students sample a lot...but master nothing.  More is not always better. 

At OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense we seek to follow the same process of success development as the biggest stars who have made it to the Big Leagues.  We approach martial arts and self-defense as if we are seeking to master the game of baseball by focusing on developing our game instead of trying to always create new ways to play it.  We want to focus on what we know works and condition our students to get satisfaction from the improvement of their fundamental skills...not by how many different tools they have hanging on the wall gathering dust.

Help Over Havoc

OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense classes and camps always begin with a strong declaration that each student’s most important task and goal is not to just learn and do well themselves but to help their training partners learn and do well first.  Everyone's first job when attending our camps and classes is to be a good training partner.  The best training partners cooperate and help each other learn and progress in a more productive way than uncooperative or overly competitive training partners who are always trying to one-up each other.  Nobody likes to work with "that guy" who makes training and drilling a lesson in frustration instead of productivity.  

It is a founding cornerstone of OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense that each student and instructor be driven by an “attitude of servitude which seeks to serve the benefit and advancement of others before demanding advancements for ourselves.  Students embrace their partners with camaraderie and our instructors embrace their students not from a pedestal above but from a knee taken below. 

We stress supporting each other at both the micro (training partner/individual) and macro (training group/community) levels of our OpenEdge™ Tactical Self-Defense community with a culture of friends and training partners who work together so that everyone has an equal opportunity to grow and accomplish their goals.  We always like to say at the beginning of each class and camp..."We are all starting as friends...but we are going to leave as better friends."

Our culture is aligned with the belief that the greatest masters are developed by the greatest master servants and selfless comrades.