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Drills: Training for Sudden Violence
A collection of drills by Rory Miller of ChironTraining, author of "Meditations on Violence" and "Facing Violence." This book describes many of the exercises used by Rory in his seminars as well as some training techniques usually reserved for private students. This book is a must-have for any martial artist who wishes to transition from the training hall to real life.
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First published March 1, 2011
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About the author
Rory Miller
63 books135 followersSergeant Rory Miller is a corrections officer, a martial artist, and an instructor in both of those areas.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 17, 2011
I was traveling all weekend, which meant I wasn't home when my new copy of Facing Violence arrived. So I contented myself with re-reading Drills: Training for Sudden Violence instead.
I'm now getting deep into Facing Violence, but I haven't hit the drill section of that book, so I don't know how much overlap exists between the two. It hardly matters. The Drill Book is worth getting, especially at the stupidly cheap price that Rory charges for it.
The title is actually slightly misleading. Well...perhaps that's unfair. The title is not misleading. But the book contains a bunch of things that people won't expect. There, of course, lots of physical drills; Rory starts with the one-step, which is the foundational drill he tends to build everything off of, and a whole bunch of variations. If you have done one of his seminars, you will have experienced some or all of these. In point of fact, having seen the drills in action will enhance the value of this book (though that almost goes without saying), but a reasonably intelligent instructor/advanced practitioner should be able to make sense of most of the material here on their own. Brand new students might have trouble, but I'm not sure that those are the people this book is targeted at.
The reason I stay the title might be considered misleading is that there is a whole of stuff in here that,on the surface, has very little to do with violence. It actually has a lot do with it, but it's big picture, "how do you view/understand/value the world" kind of stuff, not "how do you eye-gouge a mugger" kind of stuff. The latter is what most people expect. The former is, in my opinion, infinitely more useful. Rory's version of the bucket list (and the follow up exercises) are gold for any human being, regardless of their interest in self-defense training. Seriously. Every person on the planet should do those exercises. (And do them right. Don't skip ahead. I did not, and I am glad I did it the right way).
More and more, I am becoming convinced that self-defense training has very little to do with martial arts, and a lot to do with just understanding how to live life. Martial arts are fun and dandy, but there's a huge disconnect. Frankly, it's rather liberating, in both directions.
Anyway. I'm rambling now, and this will detour into non-review territory, so let me sum up.
If you are self-defense instructor or student, buy this book. If you are a human being, it may still hold value (especially at less than $10). If you are meat popsicle, it may be lacking.
I'm now getting deep into Facing Violence, but I haven't hit the drill section of that book, so I don't know how much overlap exists between the two. It hardly matters. The Drill Book is worth getting, especially at the stupidly cheap price that Rory charges for it.
The title is actually slightly misleading. Well...perhaps that's unfair. The title is not misleading. But the book contains a bunch of things that people won't expect. There, of course, lots of physical drills; Rory starts with the one-step, which is the foundational drill he tends to build everything off of, and a whole bunch of variations. If you have done one of his seminars, you will have experienced some or all of these. In point of fact, having seen the drills in action will enhance the value of this book (though that almost goes without saying), but a reasonably intelligent instructor/advanced practitioner should be able to make sense of most of the material here on their own. Brand new students might have trouble, but I'm not sure that those are the people this book is targeted at.
The reason I stay the title might be considered misleading is that there is a whole of stuff in here that,on the surface, has very little to do with violence. It actually has a lot do with it, but it's big picture, "how do you view/understand/value the world" kind of stuff, not "how do you eye-gouge a mugger" kind of stuff. The latter is what most people expect. The former is, in my opinion, infinitely more useful. Rory's version of the bucket list (and the follow up exercises) are gold for any human being, regardless of their interest in self-defense training. Seriously. Every person on the planet should do those exercises. (And do them right. Don't skip ahead. I did not, and I am glad I did it the right way).
More and more, I am becoming convinced that self-defense training has very little to do with martial arts, and a lot to do with just understanding how to live life. Martial arts are fun and dandy, but there's a huge disconnect. Frankly, it's rather liberating, in both directions.
Anyway. I'm rambling now, and this will detour into non-review territory, so let me sum up.
If you are self-defense instructor or student, buy this book. If you are a human being, it may still hold value (especially at less than $10). If you are meat popsicle, it may be lacking.
July 14, 2019
If you have a serious interest in protecting yourself, you should consider reading this book and everything else Rory Miller has written.
If you teach self-defense professionally, you MUST read everything written by Rory Miller if you care about doing your job the best it can be done. This is not debatable. Every competent self-defense instructor would agree with this statement.
I teach Karate and self-defense internationally and have for several decades. And I talk about Rory Miller often. When people ask me which book I suggest they read, I always say "All of them!"
You can thank me later. ;-)
If you teach self-defense professionally, you MUST read everything written by Rory Miller if you care about doing your job the best it can be done. This is not debatable. Every competent self-defense instructor would agree with this statement.
I teach Karate and self-defense internationally and have for several decades. And I talk about Rory Miller often. When people ask me which book I suggest they read, I always say "All of them!"
You can thank me later. ;-)
March 4, 2012
Unfortunately this book has very few actual drills that can be trained regularly with a partner or small group of partners. This book is an extension of the author's other work which likes to delve into the psyche of a predatory attacker. The part of the world I live in luckily has surprisingly little crime-based violence and sadly has a large amount of unprovoked, alcohol fuelled primate scraps. The violence I've encountered is just as vicious and dehumanising as muggings etc. The book has a lot of thought experiments aimed at getting the reader to think differently. I agree this is very important but I had hoped the book would include more mechanical stimulus/response drills that mimic the senseless violence I'm likely to find myself in if and when it does occur. There are points made in this book wish I wish my fellow martial arts students and even especially instructors would think about; the very fact that every drill is flawed because nobody gets hurt, no bones broken, no knock-outs; the fact that we do it in a safe, well-lit classroom environment; the fact that people are in a training frame of mind. I will be recommending this book to a lot of my classmates (and instructors) in the hope that they have a moment of clarity and realise that a martial art, self defence and survival are three disparate entities and that there are ways of training each so that they are conducive to each other.
Whether you've just started a martial art or been doing it for many years, this book may drum some sense into you, but you may have heard it and done it all before, especially if you've read Rory Miller's other books; it's still worth reading though.
Whether you've just started a martial art or been doing it for many years, this book may drum some sense into you, but you may have heard it and done it all before, especially if you've read Rory Miller's other books; it's still worth reading though.
June 30, 2015
Written for experienced martial artists and instructors. The ideal reader is someone who knows their style well enough to know its gaps - not faults in the style, but areas where a master of the style would fall short.
The drills are presented in Miller's conversational style (I've attended two of his seminars, and he speaks in exactly the same cadence as he writes; it's uncanny). There aren't any photos or diagrams. In many cases that's okay; in some cases you might struggle a little.
Fortunately, this book is dense with not only drills but the reasoning behind them. Pick the ones you find valuable and work them.
The drills are presented in Miller's conversational style (I've attended two of his seminars, and he speaks in exactly the same cadence as he writes; it's uncanny). There aren't any photos or diagrams. In many cases that's okay; in some cases you might struggle a little.
Fortunately, this book is dense with not only drills but the reasoning behind them. Pick the ones you find valuable and work them.
February 9, 2014
One of the two best books of drills out there. (The other is Perkins' _Attack Proof_.) The physical drills are clearly described and useful (and contra some other reviewers, there are plenty of them). Novice to intermediate practitioners may feel cheated that so many of the drills are mental; they tend to want more on the mechanics of breaking joints or ripping out nostrils or what have you. Wiser practitioners will understand that the mental work may actually be far more important to their success -- and Miller's mental exercises are really, really good.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews