Book Review: "Neural Based Training - Retrospectives" by Marcus Wynne

Book: Neural Based Training - Retrospectives by Marcus Wynne (2020). To the best of my knowledge, this book is only available for the Kindle. Price is $4.99.

    Marcus Wynne's has had a lengthy career in law enforcement, writing, training, and research into training. That is, not just figuring out what to teach people, but how to teach them so that they learn faster, better, and retain more: i.e., neural based training. Although he has worked for entities such as NASA, most of his work, it appears, has been with teaching shooting and tactical concepts for police and military special units. 

    This book is the first of a planned series, and gives you an overview and examples of neural based training as applied in the realm of shooting and self-defense. As Wynne writes in his introduction, "[t]his book is not intended as a textbook, but rather a notebook that provides a map one can follow in subsequent books." In a way, it stands to firearms and self-defense training in the same way that Hatcher's Notebook stands to gunsmithing. A collection of notes and ideas, some abstract and some very concrete examples that you can put to use immediately, interspaced with advice and lessons learned.

    For instance, early in the book, Wynne provides his "Random Tips for Winning On The Street":

• The number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.
• Make up your mind right now about what you are willing to do to win in a fight.
• Be alert to your surroundings.
• Avoid conflict.
• There is always someone better than you.
• Keep moving.
• Action beats reaction.
• There is no "second place" on the street.
• Always cheat. Always win.
• Keep breathing and moving your head.
• Don't escalate the situation. If they escalate, finish them.
• Keep your head moving and your vision in play.
• Always, always check behind you (check six); always, always check around you (check 360).
• Have the mentality to do what-ever has to be done. Make up your mind in advance.
• Fight until the threat is over. Be sure it is over.
• Watch the triangle (head (eyes) to shoulders) and the hands.
• Have a plan.
• Have a backup plan, because the first one won't survive first contact.
• Don't drop your guard.
• Be aggressive enough, early enough.
• The faster you finish the fight, the less hurt you will be.

And what he terms the Golden Rule: "Know when you're in a fight. It starts long before the blows get thrown. Most people get hurt because they don't recognize an interview or the impending cues around that that tell you--you're in a fight."

    Wynne's mindset for training combatives is that you don't train it by reading about it; you don't train it by listening to somebody else talk about it; and you don't train it by watching a video or playing a video game. Much of the book is about how to train someone in it by focusing on the mental aspects because, as Wynne relates, there are aspects of mental training that relate specifically to enhancing performance, including visualization,  mental rehearsal and techniques drawn from kinesthetic learning. Other aspects of mental training install attributes such as the willingness to engage in personal violence, the ability to recognize and manage stress, situational awareness, etc. And then training that enhances control of what he describes as "the physiology in the mind/body matrix: autogenics breathing and psycho-physiological state management (or access)." 

    Wynne then gets into some more concrete work and examples, such as training and improving situational awareness, including paying attention to what our senses are telling us. One of the concrete examples he provides is teaching young children (up to 5 or 6 years old) how to recognize or spot evil. I think the book is worth the $5 just for this. Wynne explains:

    Set up a relaxed, casual environment. I like to think of setting the stage for this learning as similar to "Come here and sit, I want to tell you a story..." Don't preface with a lecture. Their brains aren't ready for that. Tell a story, ask questions, get simple answers. Start with this: "Can you think of time when you were really, really SUPER happy?"

    Watch their faces. If you know your kids, you'll see a change that shows they are remembering that time. Then say, "Where in your body do you feel that SUPER HAPPY feeling ... show me! Put your finger on it!" And then they will do so. It will be different for each kid - probably their belly, or their heart region, or maybe somewhere in their face/throat. But it's individual to each kid. Have them PLACE their finger on that spot. Then laugh a little bit, talk about what they remember. Then ask this question, "Can you think of a time where you were really, really scared? In a movie, or in a story, or something you saw?" And carefully watch their faces, because you want them to remember an incident, but not go too far into the memory... and when you see their face change, ask "Where in your body, right now, do you feel that SCARY feeling?" And have them put your hand on that spot and say, "Okay, let's remember a happy feeling again!" And have them put their finger on the happy feeling spot. Hang out in that for a little bit.

    Then, if you've taught them not to talk to strangers ... give them this additional protocol, "If someone comes to you that you don't know, ask yourself, 'Do I feel something in my Happy Place ... or in my Scary Place?" Role play it a little bit, but gently. It doesn't take much to introduce that. What they need to internalize is a very fast intuitive feeling: "Is this a good person or a scary person?" And ACT.

 Of course, you then need to teach them how to react and practice it a bit.

    Moving to adults, he discusses methods of increasing situational awareness, including increasing the range of their peripheral vision. In fact, he claims that "Within 2-3 iterations [of an exercise he describes], you can change the baseline to about 180 degrees for peripheral vision."

    He also gives instructions on how to over-write bad habits or past training (including learning to shoot with the non-dominant hand), practice the draw and sight alignment, breaking down the drawstroke, and working with a raw beginner to teach shooting and weapons handling. A lot of this involves getting the student quickly involved with actually handling a weapon and working through issues before stepping in so that they don't rely on the instructor as a crutch. He finishes up with drawing from concealment and learning to shoot so that you do so in a thoughtful manner rather than simply following your training program. As he points out, "if it's easy to do, you're not learning. You're just validating what you already know." The goal is to be able to shoot fast and accurately, solving problems that crop up, all while under stress.

    Obviously, the people that probably would benefit the most from this book are trainers, whether the professional trainer that teaches classes or the parent teaching a son or daughter how to shoot and shoot well. But I think that every shooter can benefit from the information and advice that Wynne offers, especially if you have someone with whom you shoot so you can try out some of the training exercises.

    In short, it is a good book that I recommend.