Chris asked:

The “quiet bullet” term I heard you use on one of your clips really got me thinking.

If I understood correctly you were saying that the object should be to make the movement instinctive enough so that it is thrown with the required intent while still allowing for rational thought?

Is the end goal the required mindset without allowing aggressions to impact or be a driving force on the success of the technique? Full commitment without surrendering objectivity and rationality? With your striking it seems to me that the tool used is largely not an issue rather if you are using the whole body correctly as a platform the opportunity for using the tool presents itself and will be instinctive provided you have drilled to fire the “quiet bullet” correctly?

Steve’s answer:

I think you’ve grasped what I said. I use the emotion to raise the generation of force, and then later I can recall a representation or generative image of that force I’d generated and effect I caused. But in the recollection, I don’t need the emotion anymore. Not until I’m looking to go up another level, that is!

That doesn’t mean I’m not emotive; I still have bad intent.

But my conscious mind needs to be free to scan for cues, to plan ahead, implement tactics, etc. and let the details of the organization happen at an instinctive level.

At other times I’ve said it’s a bit like driving a car. I want to be able to drive at 200 mph without being in a road rage. I’m steering the wheel; the engine’s somewhere down inside me.

The main thing is, though, that you’ve got to be able to fire the bullet, before you can make it ‘quiet’. You learn to fire the bullet, then you can integrate it into your fight strategy and everything else you’ve got to be dealing with.

I’ve said it before and it’s worth repeating. Many people, because they’re concentrating on technique, they have to slow down the bullet in order to hit the target. But when you’re shooting, that’s not an option. YOu just change your aim. So when I’m training you, I want you to get that bullet of yourself first. Then we’ll start dealing wtih the detail of how to aim it, so to speak.

I’m glad, Chris, that you picked up on that point. I look at my clips and the viewing counts on them. And there are some clips where what I’m doing is very obvious, and they get high counts. This one, not so much. But it’s a really key point. I’m more or less telling you how you can move to another level, and a lot of people don’t even seem to pick up on it.

PS if you’re referencing the clip that Chris posted, we’ve moved things around on the site since then. Here’s the clip: