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A Richard Dimitri seminar has been on my martial arts to-do list for quite some time. I don’t remember where I first heard the name, whether it was in Blitz magazine or on YouTube, in a martial arts forum or in the company of my own instructor, but somewhere along the line I decided that Dimitri and his famous ‘Shredder’ system were in need of my investigation.
On 14 May I had my chance, as Dimitri and some of his Senshido representatives were completing a seminar tour of Australia. This visit saw him teach at seminars on the Gold Coast, hosted by Southern Cross Martial Arts; in Sydney, hosted by Military Combatives; and finally Melbourne, hosted by Jim Armstrong of Raw Combatives.
In Melbourne a diverse group of martial artists filled the hall at Monash University expecting the entrance of the leading player — a tattooed, tough-talking Canadian — at any moment. I examined my fingernails: yep, nice and short and no sharp edges. My hands were ready to Shred. Little did I know at that stage, it wouldn’t be my hands doing most of the work that day.
As Dimitri explained, “There is far more to Senshido than the Shredder. But, because most real violent confrontations happen in close range and dialogue alters ranges and distances, we use tested and consistently proven psychological, behavioural, emotional and physical tactics to attempt to de-escalate a situation. The Shredder thus becomes the primary choice tool and tactic to use.”
Dimitri says Senshido offers a variety of things to a variety of people, depending on what they are looking for. “It’s hard to define beyond the pure and applied self-defence and mixed martial art aspect of it. That is the vehicle, if you will, but some will only enjoy the ride and miss the opportunity for what lies beyond it, which is self-development, as Senshido is also a movement for betterment, human evolution and peace.”
Having introduced himself, the Canadian began his Senshido Fundamentals seminar by explaining that he was not there to teach us to fight, but instead how to avoid fighting. My first discovery for the day was that he sees the fight as being the start of a greater battle, be that a battle with an opponent’s friends and family, the legal system or oneself.
As he candidly shared stories from his somewhat violent past, Dimitri revealed a few of his own battle scars. He admits that in his earlier days his general outlook on life had a significant effect on the way he reacted when provoked by a potential attacker. “Dealing in the business of pure and applied self-defence, most of your clients tend to have been victimised in some way or another, from paedophilia to rape, to attempted murders and everything in between,” he explains. “You’re dealing with other people’s pain and miseries. You’re constantly exposed to the darker side of the world. Man, I don’t know how certain law-enforcement officers do it and I’ve worked with many, so bless them for doing what they do to protect others.”
Dealing with such issues daily deeply affected Dimitri. “Because of my anger, cynicism and general hatred of the world, I was self-destructing… As hard-headed as I was, only when I hit rock bottom did I listen to some very close people in my life who were patient enough to stick with me ‘til I changed my perceptions of life, and the world as a whole, for the better.”
The first set of drills for the day were not physical; instead, students practised the art of talking their way out of trouble, otherwise known as verbal defusing. In pairs, we took turns at playing the bad guy, shoving our partners around the room and hurling abuse at them, while our partners aimed to realistically calm the situation before it came to blows. The drill tested me, and others, both mentally and emotionally. It was a prime example of how Senshido is simple, but not always easy (more about this later).
During the lesson, Dimitri explained that the four worst things you can do in a verbal confrontation are: challenge, command or threaten your attacker, or insinuate they are wrong. Sound easy enough? I thought so, especially as I consider myself a passive, easygoing individual who can count the number of heated confrontations I’ve had on one hand, with fingers to spare. Also, being female, I’m devoid of that testosterone-driven ego that gets hot-headed males in over their heads.
Well, that’s what I thought. I was working with my instructor, Jim Armstrong, with whom I’ve trained for a couple of years and am completely comfortable with. Midway through the drill he shoved me hard — harder than anyone ever had. I felt my head snap back, and instinctively I shoved him back like a boy in a schoolyard brawl. And there it was: in a matter of two or three seconds, I had just challenged and threatened my attacker.
The image of myself — all 48kg of me — playing shoves with a man quite literally twice my size is a tad ridiculous, but when I was shoved my ego was hurt, and ego, as Dimitri told us, makes people do ridiculous things. And so the drill went on, with spilt-beer and road-rage scenarios playing out around the room.
Dimitri amazed us with some examples of his success with verbal defusing in real situations. One story started with him sitting alone in a bar waiting for a friend when a surly patron stormed up and bellowed that stellar line: “What’s your f***ing problem, mate?” Dimitri calmly and earnestly told the man he was having a bad day and went on, at length, to describe exactly what his problems were. The angry patron went from wanting to knock Dimitri’s head off to wanting to console him, or at the very least, to politely stop the conversation so he could get back to playing pool.
However, as mentioned before, even Dimitri wasn’t always good at verbally defusing situations. This vital skill came about through research and training. “I was first introduced to the concepts of verbal defusing and set-ups via Geoff Thompson, prior to studying with Tony Blauer, who himself took it to another level,” he says. “I found the information to be solid and exceptional, as well as innovative and rare, especially in the martial arts/self-defence industry back in the late ’80s. Only a handful of people were doing that and I had found Tony Blauer’s to be the most well researched, not to mention closest. So via training with Tony and being inspired by the likes of Thompson, [Marc] MacYoung, [Sammy] Franco, and [Peyton] Quinn at the time, I launched out and began my own research.”
Dimitri also got the chance to regularly test out what he’d studied. “This, of course, exposed me to various experiences that I continued to research and thus, Senshido was eventually born. Nothing of what I teach can be called my own except for my personal experiences and the very way in which I transmit my information, based on what I have trained in, researched, lived, taught, fought and experienced.
“Even the things I discovered on my own were already out there for others to discover and rediscover. So, through research, training and real-life experiences, I’ve fine-tuned the art of defusing to a more accountable level,” he says. “I teach people to be responsible for their actions and their ripple effects.”
Rich explained that when faced with a threatening individual, you have to decide if he is a good guy having a bad day, or a bad guy. This will ultimately affect the way you deal with the confrontation physically, as well as ethically or morally. If you are faced with a good guy who’s having the day from hell, then verbal defusing is worth a shot first. If he’s a bad guy, plain and simple, then the threat escalates and you need to start looking out for what Dimitri calls ‘pre-contact indicators’.
Having worked as an undercover security guard, bodyguard and bouncer for some 18 years, Dimitri has observed more than his fair share of street fights. And like any artist, he has made a habit of studying his subjects closely.
“Back in 1994, a friend and student, Shane, was working at a fast food burger outlet — ‘Kevlarred’ and everything,” he recalls. “He was one of three armed security there whose shifts began at 2:30am and ended at 6am, due to the place being open until 5am and the local clubs closing down at 3am.
“So Shane calls me up one day and says to me, ‘Brother, you gotta come check this place out at 3am. It’s like South West Detroit’.” Not only did Dimitri go, he made it a regular field trip to study the alcohol-fuelled violence that would regularly erupt in the burger joint. “I’d arrive around 2:30am with my bro and go and sit one level above, which was closed off to the public. I brought paper and pen and I just watched the violence unfold from a bird’s eye view. It got crazy in there. People died — one brother was actually axed in the back.
“I took all kinds of notes on the development of the fights, the types of shoves, the pre-contact indicators, the posturing, the most common attacks, weapons, etc. and I’d go back to the school with my observations. With my team, we’d recreate scenarios and drills, building new ones, improving on old ones, etc. It added a whole new dimension to Senshido because prior to then, my experiences with violence were first-hand. We didn’t have the luxury of the Internet back then, to be able to research violence simply by punching ‘sucker punch’ into YouTube.
“Second-hand experience from a bird’s eye view validated and solidified much of my own experiences and added a completely new perspective — that of the average citizen. My own experiences were not necessarily relatable to the general population because they didn’t live the life I had. Those experiences made me look at violence from the average citizen’s point of view rather than from the martial artist/bouncer/bodyguard’s.”
Another one of Dimitri’s influences mentioned in the seminar was Gavin de Becker, author of self-help book The Gift of Fear. In his book, de Becker looks at people who use intuition to avoid dangerous situations right before the critical moment, and how some people are more in tune with their intuition than others. The second part of Dimitri’s seminar trained us to fine-tune and engage our intuition by looking out for the slightest indication of danger in various situations. For example, one drill was based around three people having an innocent conversation. At any stage during the chat, one person set up to throw a punch. The idea was that the victim in the drill was to make relaxed conversation while being alert to any shift in body language, facial expression, movement or weight distribution that might signal the beginning of an attack.
Through his extensive research, Dimitri has come to the conclusion that any person, regardless of size, ethnicity, gender or motivation will go through the exact same motions as the next guy when launching the same attack. For example, anyone about to throw a sucker punch will widen their stance, shift their weight back, change their facial expression and cock their swinging arm. Working on the premise that action is always faster than reaction, Dimitri insists that we have to use timing rather than speed in order to stop an attack before it reaches us. In other words, by training to recognise pre-contact indicators we can train to act on them before it’s too late.
As the day wound up, it was time for the last drill. And at last my Shredding hands got a workout when we were introduced to Senshido’s five core principles, which essentially make up the ‘Shredder’. These principles dictate that you attack the nearest target on your opponent using your bodily weapon (e.g. hand, head, knee) that is closest to that target; you aim for a few primary targets (e.g. eyes, throat); and you employ economy of motion, non-telegraphic movements and tactile sensitivity.
One of the reasons I found Senshido unique is that instead of teaching students techniques such as a reverse-punch, hip-throw or thigh-kick, Senshido focuses on general principles that can encompass a range of techniques or attacks. This idea is fundamental to Senshido’s success as a system of self- protection and here’s precisely why: While I mentioned before that the body mechanics of an attacker can appear the same from person to person, the street fight or attack scenario is far from simple or easy to prepare for. There are so many variables that can affect your ability to execute that perfect kick, punch or sweep. Have you ever tried to land a head-kick while wearing a pair of skinny-leg jeans? Or what about if you are carrying your newborn in your power arm when you are confronted? Could you pull off a hip-throw when being mugged on a staircase at the train station?
By practising only techniques as a form of self-defence, you run the risk of tying yourself down to certain physical responses and limiting your options. This became clear when during the drill we were asked to use the five principles to Shred our attacker. Suddenly there was a myriad of options available: an eye to gouge, hair to pull, an ear to grab… But suddenly I can’t reach my partner’s head; all I can access is arms. I wonder what happens if I grab the back of the arm and squeeze really hard? It was improvisation at its best.
Before attending Richard Dimitri’s seminar, I had various images of the Shredder in my head that played out like a movie trailer. Having now seen the feature, I can say the shorts don’t do it justice. There is no doubt the ‘Shredder’ — the climatic car chase scene, if you will — is impressive. Anyone can apply it, regardless of strength, to devastating effect, making it a real equaliser in self-defence strategies. I found the system of Senshido itself — the plot — to be comprehensive, encompassing all stages of an attack from the minute that ill-tempered guy at the bar gets up out of his seat to the minute he is on top of you and it’s all systems go. I also found it to be very analytical. Senshido asks its students to continually question and explore the motivations of their attacker — the way they speak, the way they move — but also to explore what is going on inside themselves.
Earlier I said that Senshido was simple but not always easy. Senshido’s main principles and their execution are deliciously simple; it is the act of looking inside yourself at your own motivations and discovering your own ego that is the hard part, but also very rewarding.
Finally, I feel I must mention the director. While he insists he is merely a man standing up in front of people “doing some shit” (his words, not mine) I found Richard Dimitri to be much more than a tough-talking tattooed Canadian. Dimitri is a credit to the system he created, feeding it with passion, honesty, a thirst for knowledge and the desire to ultimately make the world a better place. I’m glad I ticked this one off my list.
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