Integrated Street Combatives

Personal Protection Systems also offers a full-time system of self protection called Integrated Street Combatives (ISC). ISC is an eclectic style of self protection which covers the following ranges of combat:

  1. Psychological range
  2. Ballistic ground fighting range
  3. Stand up grappling range
  4. Punching range
  5. Kicking range
  6. Weapons range ( gun, knife, club, O.C.)

Personal Protection Systems follows a four-step process before accepting anyone into the ISC program:

  1. SEARCH: look for students who usually seek us out
  2. SCREEN: Once a potential student has been identified & has shown interest, prior to being accepted into the training program, ISC staff conduct a 45-min. interview with each potential candidate to ensure that they want to train for the right reasons. We have declined potential students at this step in the past.
  3. FILTER: Once accepted into the CORE Level I program, the first 4-6 weeks are designed to push students to both their physical and more importantly psychological limits. It is at this step that we have on average a 45% voluntary drop out rate.
  4. TRAIN: for those students who make it past the first 4-6 weeks, training in combatives now begins.

It should be noted that in any of the above noted steps, including step 4, ISC instructors could ask a student to leave the program.

There are 5 levels in ISC, we call them Combat Oriented Response Evolutions (CORE):

  1. CORE Level I Beginner
  2. CORE Level II Intermediate
  3. CORE Level III Advanced
  4. CORE Level IV Assistant Instructor / Senior
  5. CORE Level V Instructor/ Coach

CORE level I is the basic course which spans over a six month period. Each class is approx 1.5 - 2hrs in length, and students come twice a week. Topics covered include:

  • Combative theory and mindset development
  • Combative Fitness Drills
  • Combative Attribute Drills
  • Pre-contact psychology
  • Non-verbal, verbal Communication strategies
  • Hand/arm techniques (finger jab, palm heal strikes, hammer fists, elbows,
  • forearm strikes)
  • Leg Strikes/Kicks (Shin hack, knee strikes, front and rear snap kicks,
  • front and rear thrust kicks, stomps, low round kick, back kick)
  • Break contact drills that we call CRASH (Combative Responses Against Spontaneous Hostility) chokes, grabs, bear hugs, ect.
  • Combative movement drills
  • Alternative body strikes/Attacks (head butt, groin slaps, biting, spitting, rips gouges and squeezes, ear percussions, shoulder butts)
  • Immediate Disposal Drills from all Ranges
  • Combative throws and chokes

At the end of the six-month CORE Level I program, there is a four hour testing phase which includes a written test, physical proficiency test, and scenario based Force on Force testing. Upon successful graduation, CORE Level I students are moved up to what ISC calls the advanced class, which consists of student in CORE Level II, III, IV, and V.

CORE Level I is the foundation from which everything else in ISC is to be learned. In fact, students will not be learning any new techniques in CORE Level II, III, IV, and V, they will just be taking the principals they learned in CORE Level I, and applying them in diverse applications such as:

  • Multiple opponents
  • Weapons (Gun, knife, club, O.C.)
  • Scenario based Force on Force training
  • Ballistic ground fighting

Once a student reaches CORE Level IV (Assistant Instructor), and prior to attaining a CORE Level V certification, they must:

  • Team-teach with a CORE Level V instructor for one year to ensure that they have the required abilities needed to be a facilitator to learning. Although an ISC student may have superior fighting ability, not all are suited to be an Instructor/Coach
  • Read several books on Combatives, which they are tested on (some include Killology, Sharpening The Warriors Edge)
  • Write a thesis-style paper on any topic relating to self protection/ combatives which must be approved by Lead Instructor

To make the training as realistic as possible, we have strobe lights, a 4 speaker sound system, fog machine, wind fans, uneven floor space, 4 fixed video cameras, as well as other gadgets and gizmos to make the training environment as real as possible. We even have the ability to drive cars into the school for vehicle training if needed.

If you have never fought in an environment where the strobes and lights are blinking, the music is blaring, and the smoke is thick (as in a Bar/Club environment), it can really cause problems with your combative perception/reaction big time. The more real one can make their training environment, the better. ISC calls this “Environmental Stress Inoculation Training”, which definitely gives one a combative edged.

Some of the other things ISC does to make the training as real as possible:

  • Tying of an arm to the body to replicate a broken or injured limb
  • Covering one or both eyes to deal with site deprivation and increase tactile sensitivity during Close Quarter Battle
  • Wearing goggles that are obscured to blur vision
  • Training out in the environment ( during heavy rain, on hills, uneven ground, darkness)
  • Video feedback training. We have 360 degree video coverage at the school which allows us to immediately project recorded video onto a wall (20′ x 20′) that allows students to see what they are doing. This is especially powerful during scenario based training.

These are but a few of the principals found in the ISC syllabus. If you are looking for a “realistic” self protection program, and if this type of training interests you, please give us a call.

“Combatives Training Without Stress Is Merely Exercising”

For more information, contact us.