First Strike By Alpha Nation Training Course: Review By An Ex-Cop

The first strike website describes the product as being "The ONLY 17 Combatives Moves You’ll Ever Need For Terrible Effectiveness In Any Violent Encounter — Each Taught In 3 Minutes Or Less".

OK, so that is about as hyped as a product can be.

But oddly it is a very accurate description of what the product is.

The course contains 21 videos that last 3 minutes or less that teach you a direct, simple self-defence technique or tactic.

And I have to say; there is nothing that doesn't work inside this course.

While I don't think these are the only 17 combative moves you will ever need, they are all very practical, relatively easy to pull off and highly functional.

But much more than that, they are focused on self-defence and not sport fighting.

What's The Difference Between Combat Fighter And First Strike?

For those of you exposed to the Alphanation ads online, you might have seen the ones for Combat Fighter.

And rightly, wonder what the difference is.

Well, Combat Fighter is quite an aggressive product in terms that it is pretty brutal and offensive-minded.

First Strike is more based around the attacker making the 'first attacking motion' (hence the name First Strike) and for that reason, it suits those of us who are happy to defend our loved ones, but feel more comfortable if you defend their first attack.

Now, I am not going to make this a debate about the nature of pre-emption.

There is a lot to be said for pre-emption, and generally, I support this.

But, you can't always be the first sprinter out of the blocks in a race.

And make no mistake, self-defence is a race. So if you aren't striking first, you need to have yourself a backup plan.

And this is where First Strike comes in.

What Are The Techniques In First Strike?

The techniques in this training course are all what I call SOLID.

By this, I mean there is nothing inside this course that isn't applicable for real self-defence.

We have defence against shoulder grabs, defence against skilled fighters, defence against chokes, defence for when you are on the ground, and they are standing and many others.

For such a concise product, you do get a lot of value.

The instructor is clearly knowledgable and even talks about 'The Fence' which kind of sold it for me, as that is a concept from self-defence legend Geoff Thompson.

So the instructor knows his market.

The moves are solid combative moves and therefore have a long history of use in real situations. This is classic combatives on display.

Who Are The Instructors?

This product comes via Todd Lamb, but he is just the stooge for the demos, the coach is a guy named Ari, who is named as Ari Knazan but I believe he is also known as Ari Bolden.

Ari is a BJJ black belt and is the man behind popular BJJ YouTube channel Submissions 101.

My understanding is that the BJJ forums have had some kind of hate thing going on with Ari? But as I am a Judo player and ex-boxer, I make my own mind up when I watch people (most forums are full of venom).

And Ari knows his self-defence techniques for sure.

He teaches in a clear, articulate manner and gets the message across well.

Is It Worth The Price?

This product is short. But I do kind of like that.

If you ever watch the average instructional DVD/ online course, it goes like this:

Intro/ amusing story- 5 minutes.

The technique is shown once- 5 minutes.

The technique is shown again- 5 minutes.

The technique is shown from a different angle- 5 minutes.

The technique is shown again from a different angle- 5 minutes.

One technique= 25 minutes of footage.

This description might be tongue in cheek, but often I find instructionals never get to the point and can be pretty dull.

Not to mention they act as if we can't rewind, pause, freezeframe and so on.

In reality, you get a few techniques and pay a hefty price for it.

This product costs $29 at the time of writing and comes with 3 bonus reports which are an OK read.

But I have to say I enjoyed the material and was a happy customer.

Who Is First Strike For?

First Strike is one of those products that are what I call 'plug and play'.

The techniques don't take long to watch, digest and learn; this makes the product ideal for the complete beginner.

But I also think the lessons and techniques are ideal for a sport or traditional martial artist. If you are a coach, you have 17 weeks of self-defence techniques you can use by adding one onto a lesson each week.

And I think for those running or looking to run self-defence courses, the lessons here make for an excellent syllabus.

So, if you are smart, you could turn this $29 course into a good income.

But the product is just solid self-defence, sure, it is a little on the short side, but it is for our attention-deficit era, spo it hits the mark quite nicely.

The Verdict