I get inundated with emails pointing to different self-defense classes and training videos, all asking for my opinion on whether it’s the real deal or not. There are a lot of different flavors of Kool-Aid out there (ours included) – A veritable rainbow of “ultimate” and “unbeatable” systems.

But who has the real Kool-Aid?

Well, serial killers do.

They tend not to be the best physical specimens (so there goes bigger-faster-stronger), they tend not to be trained (so there goes belt-levels), and they tend not to practice (so there goes ring experience).

And yet, they get results.

They get results because results are all they care about. They’re unencumbered by rules of engagement, perceived threat levels, or worrying about closing distance. They don’t care if you fight back. Instead of backing up, blocking or countering, they’re going to go straight for the result and will keep hammering away at it until they get it.

And once they get it, they take full and immediate advantage of it.

That result is, of course, debilitating injury — injury that interferes with normal function. Injury works, and going straight for it is the only way to win in violence.

Now, does this mean I like, applaud or idolize serial killers? Of course not. They’re a sickening bunch and the strongest argument for maintaining the option of capital punishment.

What we have to admit is that they get results without all the things we’ve been lead to believe are necessary in self-defense classes: conditioning, training, practice; being a “good fighter”; and defensive tactics like waiting, blocking, countering.

This is why I caution clients at our seminars and self-defense classes to double-check any questions they might have about violence against the “would it matter to a serial killer” litmus. It takes care of an awful lot of things that we all worry about as sane, socialized people but that have absolutely no bearing on who wins or loses in life-or-death violence.

It’s not nice or comfortable to look at violence from this perspective, but we can either look at what the winners do to win (and most often those examples are going to come from the worst among us as criminal acts) or we can turn away, maintain the mindset of the victim and make it easier for the worst to do their vile work on us.