After only a few minutes, Leslie went in, and shortly thereafter, a limo with vampire-safe tinted windows left. Justin and I spent the next hour going over basic form for blocks and punches. It wasn’t that the members of Leslie’s family didn’t know how to fight; it’s just that they didn’t have any formal training. My training wasn’t formal in the old sense of the word, but I knew I had near perfect form.

We spent part of the second hour going through my usual yoga routine to encourage...