One think i will say is you all seem like top lads and are not being deliberately malicious, i can understand being sceptical because i myself have always been a pragmatist. The defence lab marketing really doesn't help either its so so bad, I don't even know why they keep focusing on flash and special effects instead of the core body mechanics, the only thing i can think is the marketing team thought that was boring and said to do it.
Also just to lighten things up. [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka2QqBtQ97Y"]Toxic Fighting System: The Fortress - YouTube[/ame] Enjoy
Honestly it's probably because they aren't good enough to sell the art on its own without the flash, want self defence there's better stuff out there (Geoff thompson springs to mind) want to learn a sparring system which teaches a high guard to protect your head that also works on the street (go do crazy monkey it's been proven in and out the ring) want to learn ground defence go to any local bjj club they will be light years ahead of anything the lab teaches. In absence of a martial arts USP you have to create one, so make it flashy show the schools owner as a trainer to the Hollywood stars etc
Re-stomp the groin. OK he's called Rigan (pronounced "heegan"). Icefield's spellchecker changed it to Rohan (I'm assuming...and I know he knows the proper spelling) and he didn't notice and now you've repeated his mistake. As far as I can remember Andy Norman got his blue belt in the late-90's-early 2000's in the first rash of BJJ instructor's coming over to the UK, doing seminar's and giving out blue belts quite easily/very easily. He got his the same sort of time (may have been the exact same seminar) my old BJJ instructor Darren Currie (now a black belt) got his blue from Rigan. Many blue belts from that time have gone on to be great BJJ players but quite honestly I'd not put much stock in a blue belt from that time. Royce was notorious for handing out easy blue belts in that era.
The USP of this has been described to me as defence against street attacks and surviving being attacked by groups. The reason i say that its the marketing team because i've seen the core mechanics, by flashy i'm referring to the editing. Also another thing that shows with the marketing, each instructor is supplied with banners and leaflets and what not, having seen them i can honestly say they are not good. I could bin DL and just focus on my Panantukan but i enjoy it.
I dont like the endorsement either, not a fan of Liam Neilsons strange opinions on self defence. Ie emply hand totally fine but the second a gun comes into play no you cant use it.
It's not a matter of asking. A unique selling point is something that is unique to you/the style. I know of huge numbers of good instructors in a range of systems who teach to address both those areas. I teach to address both those areas and have done so not only here in the UK but on foreign seminars.
Well to me the USP is that it's worked for me on multiple occasions, i don't live in a nice part of the UK and i have to deal with Johnny Chav starting fights with me based on my appearance. I also have had the misfortune of before i found defence lab of getting jumped by a guy who ran up and cold cocked me in the head while i was walking home to impress his mates. When i started to fight back he mates also got involved and i got ruined i'm pretty sure if the neighbour hadn't inteviened they would have carried on kicking me in the head.
That's more a reason to stick with it rather than a USP as there is other good stuff in your area, but if you're enjoying it then stick with it.
That's great, but it's not unique. Other arts have worked for people on multiple occasions too. All we're saying is that it might be a selling point, but it isn't a unique selling point; as in a selling point that no other style has.
There's one USP...Defence Lab does seem to have cornered the market on garish green logos and type faces.
The other things in my area are; Jukado Bujinkan <- have not heard of that one About 3 kickboxing schools 2 BJJ schools of questionable quality that have sprouted out from gyms Karate a TKD im pretty sure i've seen somewhere
1.Jukado was a Bruce Tegner hyrbid - I have seen little of it, but the name alone puts me right off....Tegner was a legit practitioner back in teh day if stories are true, but 2. Bujinkan is the modern from of "ninjutsu" - quality control is an issue 3. Why "questionable"? and if they sprouted then what was the "parent" gym"?...BJJ is not a panacea, but does have stricter controls in place than most 4. Karate is a VERY broad term - styles vary as do individual gyms 5. TKD - the "family friendly" one, that has a very widespread practice and IMO suffers from quality control as a result...in it's defense it does not always claim to be anything other than an fast paced sport....but then again often it does Is there no boxing/muay thai near you? Judo/Wrestling? - these are the "cornerstones" for a bread and butter system of physical skill...others can met the criteria but with a much less apparent track record or quality control
Worth mentioning that Andy was a good scrapper and teacher, even back when I knew him - I cannot imagine his skillset has lessened over the years, and in fact I would venture he improved quite a bit
Isn't one of the Karate schools in your area Enshin? It admittedly isn't self defence focused but there's no question that it makes strong hard hitting practitioners. If you're enjoying your DL we certainly wouldn't advise you to change, but I'd wager if you gave the nearest town members here could point out a mass of good places.
