Welcome to Progressive Combat Systems

Brian Copeland Chief Instructor

Top 10 Reasons to Choose Progressive Combat Systems

1. You Won't Get Hurt
   • We value safety and work with you slowly when you are new
   • All of our students are good-natured and help each other develop
     
     
2. Reality
   • Our no B.S. approach to self-defense/combatives/martial arts eliminates the mystique of traditional martial arts
   • We study real attacks and asocial violence and model our system to win in REAL situations
     
     
3. Well-Rounded Fighter
   • Giving a name to a style automatically puts limits upon it. A boxer doesn't kick, a kickboxer doesn't grapple, a grappler doesn't punch, a weapons school doesn't grapple or strike, etc.
   • Each martial art style aims to be a specialist in their area, whether it be sport, tradition, ground fighting, stand-up or weapons.
   • We aim to make you a generalist in every area (stand-up, ground, weapons, etc.) and a specialist in real violence
   • When you are a specialist in violence and a generalist in all other areas you can then chose to be a specialist in any other area that you choose, this is Jeet Kune Do
     
     
4. Experience
   • Our chief instructor Brian Copeland trains a broad spectrum of students from a variety of walks of life to deal with some interestingly unique aspects of violence. Such as:
   • Law Enforcement Officers and Corrections Officers to deal with suspects and prisoners
   • Airline Pilots and Flight Attendants to defend their flight decks and jets
   • Mature responsible teens to defend against school bullies
   • Blind people to defend themselves with their own unique limitations
   • Men and women of all ages to feel safe in their own cities
   • International Operatives to do... well I am actually not allowed to know what they do
   • International travellers to avoid kidnapping and escape if God-forbid they are taken!
   • Martial artists who want to be well-rounded warriors prepared for anything
     
     
5. Neurophysiology & Neuropsychology
   • As esoteric as that may sound, a good understanding of how you will deal with the emotional and physiological rush of adrenaline, endorphins and other fight, flight or freeze responses is critical to your success in a real situation
   • Using behaviors to influence attackers to open themselves up, drop their guard or intimidate them into backing down are just as valuable, if not MORE valuable than any strike you could do
     
     
6. Tactics Before Techniques
   • In military operations as in a real fight or attack, tactics always trump techniques.
   • Tactics put you in the most advantageous position and put your attacker in the least advantageous position.
   • This allows a less skilled, smaller or outnumbered fighter to win!
     
     
7. Complete Fighter
   • Any martial art that ignores the reality of real violence is not really doing their students a favor
   • The majority of all violent assaults are committed with weapons
   • At our school we learn to defend against and use knives, clubs, handguns and other common weapons of opportunity
     
     
8. Scenario-Based Training
   • An alarming statistic is that untrained individuals will defeat trained martial artists 70% of the time
   • This is likely due to the development of skills without context or tactics, many martial artists "unlearn" how to fight... we put context to our training
   • At first you may learn a target to strike, a technique, a tactic. But then we will put you in a situation and teach you to use those skills from those unique positions.
   • On your back, against multiple attackers, during a verbal assault, being shoved, sucker punched, tackled, car jacked, etc.
   • You must be ready for anything
     
     
9. Legacy
   • You will be part of the heritage of Bruce Lee.
   • Bruce trained Dan Inosanto, Dan trained Paul Vunak, Paul trained me.
   • Oh and Paul trained the elite Navy SEAL Team Six too!
   • We may not be traditional but we are rich with heritage
     
     
10. Self Mastery
    • As reality-based as we are, we haven't forgotten the deeper roots of martial arts... self mastery and spiritual growth
    • While we won't be meditating or chanting mantras anytime soon, there is an interesting enigma that happens as you practice violence
    • You will find that you become a more peaceful and relaxed person
    • When you know you are capable of hurting people you won't walk around feeling scared or the need to defend your ego.
    • Thus you become a more calm, controlled, relaxed and ultimatley happy person... who just happens to have the ability to handle any scenario thrown their way. This will impact your life and the lives of those you interact with in ways you can't imagine.

What is Progressive Combat Systems?

Surviving an actual violent encounter is not about belts, traditions, styles, competition or any such luxuries. It is about truth. The truth about real asocial violent encounters is uncomfortable, but if you don't learn to face reality you will be unprepared when it rears it's ugly head, and that may mean that you don't make it home to see your spouse, kids or loved ones.

Progressive Combat Systems is about the truth.

Our techniques are proven effective and are in use by our elite Special Forces, Navy SEALS, FBI, CIA, DOD, SWAT and over 50 police departments in addition to normal everyday citizens.

"Simple? Yes!
Effective? For sure!
Brutal? Well yes, but we are talking about learning how to deal with potentially life threatening encounters here."
- Student of Progressive Combat Systems

What is Progressive Combat System's goal?

First and foremost we want to provide you with a world class formula to survive any act of random violence. Whether it be a street fight, carjacking, parking lot assault, rape, home invasion or other.

Whether you are traveling on vacation or business, at home or walking into a dimly lit parking lot, asocial predators are looking for victims. Our goal is to keep you from being a victim.

Secondly, we are committed to perpetuating Bruce Lee's concept of Jeet Kune Do. A philosophy of Martial Arts that states that the individual is more important than any established system. In other words, rather than being forced to use techniques that won't work well for you, we encourage the individual to use the techniques that work best for them and eliminate the useless. Imagine a small female trying to out punch a larger man; if she can then great but in most cases it would be better for her to use a different strategy. Our goal is to help you find what works for you to be able to defend yourself in a real self defense scenario.

"We have no honor in how we fight, our honor lies in why we fight"
- Paul Vunak

What do we teach?

What we teach is military technology. What do I mean by that? It is not for sport; it is gritty, realistic and lethal against any foe no matter how scary or intimidating they may seem. Using conventional traditional or sport Martial Arts a smaller female would likely not be able to defend herself against a large male attacker, God forbid he be jacked-up on PCP and acting crazy. That is why there are weight classes and rules in sport Martial Arts. Our system moves the odds to your favor.

We teach you the tactics, tools, targets and behavioral / mental aspects required to escape with your life and health intact! We teach you how to survive the most common types of violent situations you may find yourself in; on your feet, on the ground, attacked with a weapon or multiple attackers. Our methods are not pretty, they are gritty, real and violent. I am not going to lie to you and tell you that with 3 easy payments, and my special black belt, you can apply a graceful flowing technique that you might see in a movie to peacefully subdue a large 6'6" 275 lb maniac... You can't! The only way to win is to cheat and use as much violence as possible, that is what we will empower you with.

"If you're thinking brutal self-defense system must mean
brutal training, then don't worry;
Brian's classes are very safe, relaxed, and even fun!"
- Student of Progressive Combat Systems

Having said that I don't think it is good mojo for my clients to be kicking each other's butts and leaving with black eyes each class. That type of enviornment usually leads to frequent injuries, burnout and lack of progress. The approach we take is to introduce new concepts slowly, allow you to work with them and slowly add more resistance which allows you to build confidence in what you are doing. Over time you will be able to go full speed with no hesitation, costly mistakes or flinching... and remain injury-free!

Why so much violence?

Violence is an awful thing. I never want to use it on a human being, ever!

And I hope you do not either. However, the bad guys of the world have no problem using violence. There is a line that most civil social people won't cross, to the asocial maniac, there is no line. Trying to outclass and out-technique a larger, stronger more aggressive violent attacker is like trying to use a fly swatter against a lion... right tool, wrong job.

Violence is only a tool, just like a hammer or a car. It can be used for good or for evil. Your nature will determine how you use it. With the proper training, you will have violence in your tool belt. And with that tool you can walk through life with a peace that can't be described. You won't walk in fear but with respect for your fellow mankind.

Letter to a new student...

Welcome To Progressive Combat Systems

Our Philosophy:

The root of Martial Arts is violence, either causing it (the Military), avoiding it or being forced to deal with it (law enforcement and private citizen). Sport-based Martial Arts are fun to watch; it is amazing to see champions like GSP, Fedor and Anderson Silva dominate opponents with skill, speed, strength and raw talent. No doubt they have worked very hard to get to where they are.

However, what is missing in sport training is the element of reality. In sport fighting there are weight classes and rules… for good reason. Could you imagine Brock Lesnar vs. BJ Penn? What about a 115lb female MMA champion against a 225lb male MMA fighter...? Not sure that either of those would work out too well in a “rules based” environment. But in the real world there are no rules, weight classes, gender classes, refs, time limits, etc. You can't bring a weapon or your friends in the ring or cage with you.

In the real world a 95lb teenage girl could find herself being attacked by a 250lb man; she sure as heck isn’t going to out punch or choke him. A 175lb man may find himself being attacked by two 200+ lb men, one with a crow bar. Once again, sport techniques are out. Only quick, pure violence utilizing the most effective moves possible and putting as many factors in your favor as possible will allow you to “survive” not “win” as one would in sport.

A wise man once said, "sport fighters are fighting for real, but they are not in a real fight."

Our System:

Everything we do begins with the end in mind. We are not interested in ego. Ego based fighting is pretty, fancy, hard to learn and not the quickest way to take someone out. We are interested in results. Results mean that your attacker(s) are so injured that they cannot continue attacking you. You will learn to defend yourself by any means necessary!

We begin with the system that Master Paul Vunak taught to the U.S. Navy’s legendary SEAL Team Six and countless law enforcement and special operation units across the nation; the R.A.T. The "RAT," an acronym that stands for Rapid Assault Tactics is battle tested by Paul, the Navy SEALs themselves (boy do I have some stories for you) and countless others; basically if a technique or tactic didn’t work, it was thrown out. We are talking about people whose lives depend on their martial abilities, not their egos in a ring, totally different ball game.

The RAT will teach you to take out an attacker on your feet, on the ground and with weapons in the quickest possible manner, no fluffy stuff and it is actually quite quick to learn. In real self-defense we deal more with principles than with techniques. Principle #1: people can take trauma and still fight but people cannot take injury (think punch versus thumbing an eye out!)

After the RAT, which is pure self-preservation, we move to the Golden Goose. Like the fable of the goose that keeps laying the golden eggs, the Golden Goose provides us with an unlimited supply of martial arts skills, techniques and training methods that we utilize to develop ourselves into very well rounded and complete martial artists. We can and do utilize sport techniques because when we can seamlessly blend lethal with non-lethal fighting skills we are a more complete fighter capable of dealing with the silly drunk guy or with the gun or knife wielding rapist, mugger or terrorist!

Just a sampling of the arts we will pull from are:

• Rapid Assault Tactics
• Original Jeet Kune Do a.k.a. Jun Fan Kickboxing
• Brazilian Jujitsu
• Western Boxing
• Muay Thai
• Wing Chun
• Sambo
• Savate
• Escrima
• Kina Mutai (Filipino art of biting and eye gouging)
• Savate
• Dumog (Filipino grappling)
• Tai Chi
• Judo
• Krav Maga
• Pananjakman
• Panantukan
• Combative Firearms
• and many more.

This is not an exclusive list and from the Jeet Kune Do perspective, we will accept any technique that is efficient, effective and works for YOU. Already have a martial arts background? Great, let’s keep the useful and eliminate the non-essential. The best martial artists do fewer things better!

In addition to "styles" of martial arts / combatives, we also introduce the concept of Behavioral Combat and the nervous system.

We understand that certain physiological reactions will happen in the body during the Fight, Flight or Freeze response that you will experience in a real situation. So, we teach you how to deal with that, use it to your advantage, exploit your attacker's behaviors, see an attack before it happens by watching for behaviors and how to use the nervous system to shut your attacker off! And I don't mean useless pressure points or mystic chi energy, I mean knowing which targets to attack to cause a neurological meltdown!

What is Jeet Kune Do?

Jeet Kune Do, means “way of intercepting the fist”, was a term coined by the late Bruce Lee. Lee believed that the individual is more important than the style or art. Thus instead of demanding that a 60-year-old woman learn to do spinning back kicks like her 40 year old male Korean martial arts expert teacher, she could instead be free to explore techniques that worked more for her.

We all have strengths and weaknesses as martial artists and varying levels of athleticism, so our job is to exploit our strengths while minimizing our weaknesses. Some people have amazing timing and quick hands and will do well with a style like boxing (but modified for the street), others have slow hands and poor timing and will do much better closing on their opponent and entering a trapping or grappling range where they can use proprioceptive tactical input to “feel” their opponents moves and defeat him. Either way the goal is to find the techniques that will allow you to win any situation.

Even if you are an amazing grappler, your goal is not to go to the ground, try to submit your opponent while his buddy is sticking a knife in your back… this happened to a former police officer friend while on duty and he can tell you he is lucky to be alive!!

On the other hand if a uncle Bob has had one too many and starts getting mean at the family reunion, rather than knocking his teeth out and biting his nose off maybe you can put him in a restraining hold until he cools his jets. You need both sets of skills, both violent and less-violent, to be a complete martial artist. You do not necessarily need both sets of skills to be able to defend yourself. You decide, are you a martial artist dedicated to lifelong skill development or are you purley self-preservation oriented and only want the minimum to defend your life in most situations.

Our Training:

I have spent the better part of my life in various Martial Arts schools and gyms. You typically find very poor training either based on perfecting technique with no reality behind it or too much time gloving up and beating the crap out of each other, which in a gym like that, only the naturally gifted and determined students will rise to high levels of skill. Another draw back of gloving up and hitting each other is that it is limited to sport techniques. If I can head butt my opponent in the nose and then rake a sharp elbow across his temple before tearing his ear off how do I practice this “full contact” with a sparring partner? We need a balance of realistic techniques with realistic training methods and no one going home with injuries.

So, we begin our training by progressively learning the tactics, tools and targets that Bruce Lee, Dan Inosanto, Paul Vunak and myself have found to be especially combative and effective against any opponent. Then we practice those techniques in somewhat realistic scenarios using a controlled slower speed; this builds what I like to call your “targeting computer”. Literally it programs it into your brain via a sophisticated system called motor mapping.

As your abilities progress we pick up the speed and provide more resistance allowing you to advance and actually become a good fighter. This system is far better than the sink or swim approach most martial arts gyms use. Now, when we want to go full speed and power we have a couple of options: we shadow box (fight imaginary opponents), we do drills against pads or we use a punching bag, etc. But when we train with real human partners we always put safety first and thus go a little slower but as your skill improves you will be able to go near full speed (or full speed) and remain safe; but this will always be with drills not with sparring as it is far too dangerous to make contact with the techniques we use.

Closing:

Progressive Combat Systems is a school where martial arts return to their origins. Like the Samurai or Roman Soldier who has no time on the battlefield for ineffective techniques or tactics, we will practice real fighting how it really happens in the real world. Master Paul Vunak says that one can attain peace through violence; a peace that only comes from having a .45 strapped to your hip or knowing that you can elicit so much violence that your would-be attacker can’t possibly conceive. When you are capable of that kind of violence you now have more responsibility to use it wisely. You will become a better person through the practice of violence, and God forbid, if you ever have to use it one day; violence will always be an ally on your side that you can count on. Remember, “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away!”

By the way, in Aurora, Colorado there are less than 2 police officers for every 2,000 registered citizens.

Whether you are coming to me to learn as a non-martial artist wanting to learn the bare minimum of self-preservation, of if you are an experienced martial artist wanting to add the reality based RAT to your skill set or a lifelong martial artist who will make Progressive Combat Systems their home, I welcome you and encourage you to become the best Warrior you can be!

Brian Copeland – Owner and Chief Instructor of Progressive Combat Systems

If you are a regular Joe or Jane and want to have the empowerment of our system contact me today.

If you are an experienced Martial Artist from any background and you want to know how to take your already exceptional skill and translate that into the quickest way to end a violent encounter possible, then contact me today.

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