Simon Squires Body Armour (your Thoughts?)

Wow!! Just watched some of the videos on Simon Squires site (see link below)
http://www.personaldefencesolutions.com/?page_id=16

Looks insane but good if you know what I mean.

So.. who's done it and what was the experience like for ya?
Do you take turns wearing it? or is there just one unfortunate or kinky soul that wears it thats been picked up from ww.Dominate.me.you.bigboy.com

i find the padded assailant very good training,a have a suit and use it regularly to test students

testing yourself safely,against a resisting opponent with arms legs and movement this can be a great way of proving you've got what it takes

yes your in a safe environment,and your life's not in danger

but a fights a fight,the body still reacts in a similar way,if you've not tested yourself this is a very good way to see if your training is working but also get a feeling of the effects of adrenaline and help you acclimatise to it

but you have to adapt it to each opponents skill level

from letting people go pre-emtivly to fighting on the ground its a very good tool

when I've got the suit on unless I'm doing a specific scenario,i don't tell people what I'm going to do,telling them to attack if they feel for their own safety,but just because I've got the suit on does not mean I'm going to attack,might chat and then walk off,just like on the street unless someones windmilling in at you,you never really know whats going to happen,so it also helps with one of the hardest decisions,and thats
going first

and with the padding an them not knowing what im going to do i can make it very very difficult,especially when they dont go when i think they should,the good thing is make any mistakes here and you can learn,on the street you dont always get a second chance

Davey wrote:So.. who's done it and what was the experience like for ya?

Si is excellent in the suit, arguably one of the best (IMHO), and plays to the person in front of him drawing out the best without rolling over! Lee has him teaching at his New Blood seminar next month so if it might be worth heading over to that, If not get yourself on one of Dennis Martin's courses where you'll usually find Si being a big blue meanie!

jimmyfatwing wrote:

Davey wrote:So.. who's done it and what was the experience like for ya?

Si is excellent in the suit, arguably one of the best (IMHO), and plays to the person in front of him drawing out the best without rolling over! Lee has him teaching at his New Blood seminar next month so if it might be worth heading over to that, If not get yourself on one of Dennis Martin's courses where you'll usually find Si being a big blue meanie!

it was only through training with si that i realised the potential of the padded assailent,at some of the seminars he takes on loads of guys,big respect to him

IMHO Si is one of the few people I've met in other suits that truly understands just what this type of training is for and why we do it.

So many think it's about giving people a fight against a big shouting man. It's is so much deeper than that. The ability to traumatise and negatively condition is massive if it's not done correctly.

I'm lucky, I've learned my lessons from the originals like Bill Kipp and Matt Thomas.

Si and his team have done it the hard way, made their mistakes, like many pioneers, and have learned and improved from them.
I have massive respect for Si. Great guy who is doing this training for exactly the right reasons.

Dik

I did the Simon Squires scenario at New Blood. Its very good. Similar to the bullet man. Before we started he had a guy like an army drill sergeant screaming at you making you do press ups star jumps etc and we had been doing some of his anaerobic conditioning drills before so we started at a huge disadvantage. I have done the bulletman courses about six times now including once with Bill Kipp and in many ways they are pretty similar. I have huge respect for them getting a kicking week after week as they do. One of my instructors was a bullet man and having trained with him after a session I know what a hammering they take on occasion.

We use a similar thing at work with a red man suit, it allows students to pressure test techniques and us to test them.

We also do something similar with regards to someone getting the adreneline pumping before engaging the red man by shouting and being threatening outside your personal space. It needs to be controlled for us and not just red mist or reverting to haymakers and not what has been taught and practiced.

I first did this kind of training with Bill Kipp of FAST Defence. It was on a weekend training course with him in Germany. I wrote an article on this for Irish Fighter magazine (see http://www.hardtargetselfdefence.com/journey_into_fear.html)
I have also been in the suit as part of my instructor training with Aidan Carroll of Hard Target Self Defence and it also helps condition you somewhat to someone going all out on you...but of course you are totally padded up so nothing really compares to sparring or animal day type training.

I find it to be a great way of testing your cardio, getting to grips with the adrenal side of things and developing a strong mindset for not giving up. I think more people should be doing this kind of training.

Hi guys, i have trained with si many times and have fought the suit more times than i can keep count of. there are three instuctors that wear the suit in the weekly class, si squires, john pardoe and john youseff, all these guys fight diffentley in the suit so bring something different. I always found the waiting was worse than the fight as you know you are going to be put through pain even before you get a belt from the suit.
The guys in the suit fight to the level of the students and have the skill to bring the best out of the student without damaging there confidence. i have been hit in the head whilst wearing the helmet and can honestly say it is horrible.

Great forum guys, i will post an introduction.