FEATURED AUTHOR
BILL KIPP
 Bill Kipp has become a leading authority on the subject
of adrenal stress response training through decades of
colorful personal experience. “I am an expert on the adrenal
fear rush because I have made every mistake possible with
regard to this physiological response and yet lived to
tell about it,” he tells his students candidly.
Kipp's experience started early, with years of repeated
beatings perpetrated by an older brother. Because Kipp
was vastly outweighed and overpowered, his only defense
was to curl up in a ball and take the beatings. As a result,
he was conditioned to freeze up whenever he encountered
a scary confrontation. Thus, despite being athletic and
strong, when faced with the inevitable altercations of
youth, he would experience the common adrenal stress effects
of weak knees, rapid breathing, and queasy stomach.
Finally, after experiencing the humiliation of freezing
in a schoolyard fight in front of dozens of fellow students,
Kipp decided to take stronger defensive measures.
Bruce Lee's soaring popularity at the time was a major
factor in Kipp's entry into the martial arts. At the age
of 15, he joined a small Goju Ryu karate school near his
hometown of Madison, Connecticut. In retrospect, he now
sees this as the first step in a long journey toward eradicating
fear from his life. Yet even after achieving the rank of
black belt, Kipp found that the adrenal fear rush still
overcame him during heated arguments and confrontations.
Although he could perform fancy martial arts moves that
looked good during training, the hard wiring from his brother's
assaults years earlier prevented him from applying those
techniques when he most needed them.
The next step of his journey was to join the U.S. Marines.
As a member of the 3rd Marine Recon unit, Kipp became a
Recon team leader and traveled throughout Asia training
with elite special forces of other countries. Still, despite
arduous training, the freeze response remained a serious
impediment whenever he encountered heated arguments and
conflicts. Among those conflicts were an armed robbery
and two attacks by gangs. It was in his second gang attack
that everything changed for him. In the middle of the melee,
Kipp was able to switch his fear-induced paralysis into
full-on pissed-off fury. His Recon buddy had been cornered
and was taking a beating, and this incensed Kipp, transforming
his fear into power. Diving into the mass of attackers,
he felt for the first time what the biochemical force of
adrenaline can accomplish when channeled and applied correctly.
Unknowingly, Kipp had just had his first encounter with “the
missing link.”
After his four-year tour in the Marines, Kipp moved to
Manila, where he attained another black belt in arnis
while supporting himself as a bodyguard and barroom bouncer.
His days were filled with studying the martial arts, and
his nights were peppered with skirmishes and brawls, many
of which were quite violent. Yet he was still unable to
apply the complicated martial arts skills that he'd worked
so hard to perfect. In other words, there was clearly something
missing from his traditional martial arts training when
it came to applying that training in the heat of battle.
From his bodyguard work Kipp learned a very important
lesson: that most confrontations can be talked down, or
de-escalated, with good verbal skills. Through experience,
Kipp gained the ability to stay calm in the midst of the
adrenal rush and find creative resolutions to problems
that previously would trigger him (and tend to trigger
most people) into knee-jerk fear responses—the kind that
get people into serious trouble every day.
 Two
years later, Kipp moved back to the United States and settled
in Boulder, Colorado, where he received training as an
adrenal stress response instructor from Matt Thomas, the
founder of Model Mugging. This unique program involved
the use of a fully padded assailant that allowed the students
to fight full force while in the adrenal rush state. While
running his own Model Mugging courses from 1989 to 1999,
Kipp was invited by noted Paladin author Peyton Quinn to
help teach the Rocky Mountain Combat Applications Training
(RMCAT) program, now considered the Cadillac of adrenal
stress response training programs. Kipp redesigned the
Basics and Weapons Defense programs for RMCAT and, together
with Quinn, personally teaches each class to this day.
In 1998, Kipp created his innovative FAST (Fear Adrenal
Stress Training) Defense program, incorporating the latest
advances in scenario-based reality self-defense into powerful
short seminars. He now travels full time, training instructor
teams around the United States and abroad. At this point,
Kipp has logged more than 30,000 scenarios in the padded
suit and is arguably the most experienced person on the
planet in this type of training.
 His
unique approach to teaching self-defense is changing the
way martial arts and self-defense are being taught by creating
a bridge from the dojo to the street. Students can now
learn how to work effectively with the adrenal fear rush
without having to go through the school of hard knocks.
 Kipp
has designed programs for men and women, teenagers, and
children, as well as specialized courses for law enforcement
officers. He has also taught onsite corporate courses for
the likes of Lucent Technology, MCI, Coors, and Lockheed
Martin. He consistently receives rave reviews from everyone
who experiences the FAST training.
Most significantly, the majority of FAST Defense graduates
report that the verbal skills they learned work incredibly
well to de-escalate most hostile situations before they
become violent. “Verbal defense truly is the most important
self-defense technique of all, yet it is missing from almost
all self-defense training,” Kipp says. “FAST Defense has
refined it to an art, and at the risk of sounding cliché,
it is ‘the art of fighting without fighting.'” He calls
FAST Defense “the missing link” between traditional martial
arts and modern-day self-defense training, a label that
inspired the title of his first Paladin video. The
Missing Link: Self-Protection Through Awareness, Avoidance,
and De-Escalation identifies the common mistakes people make
under stress and focuses on how to not only overcome the
adrenaline response but actually harness the power of adrenaline
so that it becomes your ally in violent confrontations.
Kipp looks forward to producing future videos with Paladin
covering the physical techniques and unique training process
used by FAST Defense to defend against single, multiple,
and armed attackers, as well as his practical approach
to ground fighting. FAST Defense also offers courses on
defensive knife fighting, stick fighting, and scenario-based
firearms training. For more information, visit www.fastdefense.com or
contact Kipp at Billkipp@aol.com for
instructor training inquiries.
Q&A
Paladin: How does FAST differ from Model
Mugging?
BK: Model Mugging was designed
as self-defense for women taught in intensive 25–30 hour
formats. FAST uses a similar instructional method with
some powerful new innovations to teach self-defense in
a much shorter time that is as or more effective than the
original format. The main difference I would say is that
Model Mugging focused more on the emotional dynamics of
assault, and FAST focuses more on the adrenal stress components.
FAST Defense also teaches courses for men, teens and children,
where the original Model Mugging was only taught to women.
Paladin: How does FAST differ from RMCAT?
BK:
RMCAT started as a reality-based course taught by Peyton
Quinn and Mike Haynack where they only taught techniques
that either of them had used in real situations at least
three times. Although the techniques were proven, the teaching
methodology needed polishing. Over the years as various
instructors joined the instructor team, it improved dramatically.
When Peyton created his incredible RMCAT training facility
in the Colorado Mountains , he asked me to design and teach
the new RMCAT using the same teaching methods that have
made FAST Defense so effective. In a nutshell, the two
use very much the same concepts and techniques. RMCAT does
so in an intensive immersion into the process and FAST
Defense in shorter, more refined modules. If RMCAT is considered
the “Cadillac” of adrenal
stress conditioning, then FAST Defense could be considered
the “Porsche” of self-defense.
Paladin: What can someone who attends
a FAST course expect?
BK: One can expect miracles! The teaching
methodology used in FAST allows students to literally control
and focus the powerful adrenal rush that occurs in any
sort of attack, be it verbal or physical. Just as a person
can be conditioned to be a victim for their entire life
by a single assault where they failed to react, we can
train people very quickly to be successful and use the
adrenal fear rush as their ally. FAST uses state-of-the-art
training methods to take the students through a simple
but very potent step-by-step process where they learn to
control the adrenal rush that gets so many people into
trouble in even low-level altercations. Fear will never
again be the enemy after taking even a single FAST class.
Paladin: What should someone who buys The
Missing Link expect to take away with it?
BK: The Missing Link encapsulates
the most important self-defense skills of all: how to diffuse
or de-escalate a situation before it becomes violent by
staying cool and looking for other creative, nonviolent
solutions. In this day and age, physical defense should
be the absolute last resort, only when all else has failed.
Yet historically, physical defense is all that is taught
in most self-defense courses. The
Missing Link provides
the means to handle the vast majority of assaults effectively
and safely using techniques that can be learned from a
video. Not only can The Missing Link video literally
save your life, it provides skills that make life's daily
confrontations much easier to deal with. Students invariably
walk away with greater confidence and ability to handle
altercations at work, home, and play!
Paladin: How does the video differ from
one of your courses, or does it follow a similar format?
BK: The video covers two of the three
crucial modules that must be included in any comprehensive
self-defense course. These modules are addressed in a similar
fashion as an actual FAST course and encompass awareness
and verbal skills to avoid, de-escalate, or deter most
incidents before they become physical. The final module,
combat skills, are beyond the scope of this initial video
and will be addressed in future projects. Of course the
skills included in this video will be greatly enhanced
by also attending a live FAST course at one of our many
training centers where you can experience the combat phase
firsthand!
Paladin: Have you experienced any resistance
to the adrenal response concept from traditional martial
artists or schools with the attitude that their physical
skills are sufficient to handle confrontations?
BK: The martial arts world has changed
a lot over the years with the new push for reality-based
training. Although there still exists pods of resistance
among martial artists, most are now seeing that this technology
really is the missing link to traditional training and
not a threat to it. This is because we are working off
a much different training paradigm that focuses on the
concepts of avoidance and verbal measures, and the use
of adrenaline with very simple martial arts techniques
for the combat phases. The martial arts are technique-based
paradigms and filled with a rich variety of techniques
to cover the myriad of different situations that might
arise. The schools that are combining both paradigms are
producing black belts that can perform equally well in
the dojo and in the street. Although some martial artists
still choose to criticize the FAST teaching methodology,
I have yet to see even one person not be totally sold on
the concept after experiencing it!
Paladin: What traditional art(s), if
any, have a tangible presence in the courses you teach?
BK: The physical techniques in FAST
are extremely simple and can be found in just about any
martial art. The real trick is in how we teach these techniques.
I have found the fluidity and rhythm of the Filipino arts
to be powerful teaching tools. Also, since people tend
to move too fast, too short, and too choppy under duress,
tai chi style practice is used in the initial phases of
training to help people find maximum power when the adrenal
rush hits. This can be confusing to those who haven't experienced
the training because certainly one doesn't actually fight
in slow motion like tai chi. But having fought literally
thousands of martial artists in my Bulletman suit, the
#1 problem they (we) have is slowing down enough to use
the hips and body for maximum power. With just a short
amount of training using our step-by-step process with
rhythm and fluidity, students learn to hit incredibly hard
with amazing timing in the heat of battle.
Paladin: Beyond the adrenal rush conditioning,
how would you best describe the specific self-defense techniques
you teach your students?
BK: I explain
our techniques as “Martial
Arts 101.” When the adrenal rush hits and we switch from
high brain (cognitive) to low brain (survival), research
has shown that humans can process a maximum of five bits
of information. In self-defense this translates to a maximum
of only five techniques that can be employed under duress.
Due to loss of fine motor control, these techniques should
be kept to simple, gross motor skills. FAST Defense is
self-defense for the masses. We are not training UFC fighters
who train for years to master complex combat technique.
The techniques we use are designed for a smaller person
to apply against vulnerable areas on a potentially larger
and stronger attacker. The best techniques of all are the
will to survive and spirit that says, “I'm not going to
fight unless I really have to, and if I must, I'm going
to fight until 5 minutes after I'm dead!” The physical
techniques are merely an expression of that spirit, and
with this mind-set, chances are you'll prevail against
even a very determined assailant.
Paladin: How are weapons addressed in
a FAST course?
BK: Weapons are addressed in the Level
3 course, after the Level 1 Basics and Level 2 groundfighting
courses. The FAST stand on weapons defense is to:
- Comply and give up your possessions if it's a robbery.
You can always replace material objects, but you cannot
replace you!
- In the case of a physical attack with a weapon, keep
the techniques very simple. The tactic used in FAST
is to feign compliance, get control of the weapon, and
fight like hell with everything else you have. Expect
to get injured but keep on fighting until you can escape.
I do not recommend attempting disarms until the attacker
is greatly disabled. With proper training, it is very
possible to defend against an armed attacker.
Paladin: Share a story or two with us
about students who've taken your training and have gone
on to use it to de-escalate and avoid potentially violent
confrontations.
BK: I have literally hundreds
of stories where FAST Defense students have thwarted attacks
with good verbal defense skills alone. Just recently a female
black belt graduate of FAST stopped a potential attack
where she and two male friends, both multiple black belt
martial artists, got into it with a hostile drunk in San
Francisco . Both of the males got hooked by the verbal
taunts of the drunk and literally froze, so she stepped
right between them to de-escalate the drunk. When the drunk
continued his taunting, she assertively commanded, “Back
off now!” He stood shocked for a moment, then turned around
and left them alone without another word.
In another, a woman who had been abused for years by a
battering husband backed him right out of the house when
he began his well-versed tirade. This occurred just a day
after she attended a single FAST Defense course. One guy
who got verbally abused by another guy who thought he took
his parking space (just like a scenario in the video) de-escalated
the situation, and the abusive guy ended up apologizing.
This is how most altercations go with our graduates, who
usually require no physical defense at all after employing
good awareness and verbal defense skills.
Paladin: Have you heard from students
who have been unable to avoid a violent confrontation but
were able to utilize the FAST training to defend themselves
against an inevitable attack?
BK: The FAST awareness and verbal techniques
work like magic to avoid violence altogether. Still, there
are times when violence is unavoidable. Dozens of FAST
Defense graduates have reported successfully using their
physical defense skills. One such woman was a 68-year-old
grandmother who jabbed an attacker in the eyes and dropped
him with a knee to his groin, allowing her to escape virtually
unharmed. Another was a teenage boy who was being badly
bullied by a small gang at school. Two weeks after attending
FAST he was accosted and broke the nose of the gang leader
with a palm heel strike to his face. Because the administration
had been made aware of the situation beforehand, he was
exonerated without a hitch. We have also had three abduction
attempts successfully thwarted by graduates of our children's
program.
Paladin: Are the FAST and RMCAT courses
co-ed, or are they specifically for men or women?
BK: Unless a group requests a private
gender specific class, both FAST and RMCAT courses are
co-ed. Obviously there are distinct differences between
attacks on men versus women. But the process of adrenal
stress conditioning is the same regardless of sex, and
we can easily customize each scenario accordingly to meet
each persons needs. Typically, the male students appreciate
having women as classmates and vice versa.
Paladin: Do you teach the same techniques
to women and men? How about children?
BK: Many
of the techniques work for people of all ages and gender.
But we do teach variations that have proven to work better
for each specific group. We also customize the scenarios
to accommodate for any differences. The most important
thing that we do teach across the board is indomitable
will and spirit. When it comes right down to it, the person
who can transform their adrenaline, fear, and emotion into
full “go for it” power will usually prevail.
Any student of this training will definitely be a force
to be reckoned with if ever put to the test!
MISSING LINK
Self-Protection Through
Awareness, Avoidance, and De-Escalation
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