Most martial arts barely touch weapons defense.We built an entire academy around it.
What you actually want
It isn't techniques. It's knowing you won't freeze.
01React instead of standing there.
02Take control before the weapon moves.
03Do what everyone else thinks is impossible.
Why you don't have this yet
Most martial arts give weapons defense about a minute a week.
01Warm-ups, forms and sparring get almost all the time.
02Thirty classes may add up to one focused hour.
03The subject often stays locked away until black belt.
Someone who is an experienced martial artist like myself will benefit even more than a beginner from training and learning these techniques.
Prof. Bob Stines · founder of Sanshin-Ryu Jiu-Jitsu, 45 years
What you're actually buying
The weapon comes off. Then they laugh.
01It works on demand, in seconds.
02Even forty-year martial artists haven't seen it.
03“I can't believe it's that easy.”
01
You can perform it, on demand, in ten seconds
Almost every skill you can buy is invisible. Nobody can see that you're good with money or good with people. This one you can do at a barbecue, with a TV remote, and watch a grown man's face change. It pays out every time you use it, for the rest of your life.
02
It's rare in a way you can check
Go and look for someone who teaches only this. You won't find one. Every weapons-defense program on earth is an add-on to something else — a jujitsu system that gets to it at black belt, a military course where it's one or two percent of the syllabus because the operator has his own rifle and six teammates. Almost nobody on earth possesses this skill. That's the real scarcity, and it has nothing to do with seats.
03
It beats the credential you already have
Mike Tyson might be the greatest boxer who ever lived, and boxing does not help when there is a gun against his head. A cardiothoracic surgeon has spent a career on hearts and shrugs when his daughter's boyfriend has a sore eye. That isn't a failure. It's specialisation — and this is the one specialty almost nobody chose.
04
Then it stops looking like magic and starts being easy
A magician makes an elephant vanish and you say “how the hell did you do that?” Then he shows you, and you say “that's it?” — and you're right. It was easy the whole time. You just didn't know what you didn't know. The motion that puts a man in serious trouble is sometimes less than a quarter of an inch.
The WDA system
Putting physics back into weapons defense
Not sparring. Not theory. One continuous, four-step response built for the moment the weapon is already there.
You only get one bite of the apple!
1
React
Beat the freeze — a trained, instant response to the weapon before his brain catches up.
2
Distract
85% of the disarm IS the distraction. It will give you all the time you need. Overload his attention so he never sees the counter coming.
3
Control
Redirect and dominate the weapon-holding arm so it can never track back to you.
4
Disarm
Because we're using fulcrums, leverage and structure to strip the weapon — strength is not necessary. It will look as if he is giving you the weapon. Clean, controlled, final.
Where the weapon is
Level one, and it starts on day one
Four positions, each broken down across ten short videos — every variation, every drill, every mistake corrected. This is the first of six levels, and it's where everybody starts.
The techniques that made a million people stop scrolling.
Viewers already treat these breakdowns as practical, credible, and worth practicing.
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Love this stuff keep showing these little defensive moves over and over.
@kevinoneill41
Most of the time I think videos like this are bullshit but I believe this guy could actually do this without getting killed.
@vincenzom24
Spent over forty years in martial arts and combatives, and I must say these are the best weapons defense vids on the internet. Salute and thanks for the knowledge.
@streetkombativesystem4704
You look so natural true to life as if you were born marcial arts fighter.
@user6101569106580
Awesome stuff, teaching and practicing with family... tough times ahead potentially.
@kenmackenzie1375
Very informative and nicely displayed, thank you W.D.A.
@davidfaulkner4760
Phenomenal video and teacher, this instructor relaxly clothed as a normal citizen explains the correct principle and strategy better than these traditional GI cladded wannabes that many times miss the point.
@Despierto
He takes time to explain what is the principle that makes the technique work and the general strategy. No foreign languages, no meaningless mysticism, no crazy salutes, no crazy clothing just pure knowledge.
@Despierto
It kind of reminds me of when a Tech genius billionaire called Steve Jobs showed up with a black T-shirt and jeans expertly explaining a masterpiece of creative technology, very relaxed, very casual, no fluff.
@Despierto
This Gentleman understand the concept or the principles. It's not just for train a bunch of random techniques; going deep inside the reason why we do things the way we do.
@Despierto
This type of knife defense if so important. And It's so easy once you practice the right technique.
@michaelgiovanniello3230
Being a correctional officer for 25 years; True a good knife fighter won't attack you like that. However when you're in that position this technique work great. I use this particular technique all the time. Works every time. GREAT TECHNIQUE GUYS!!!!!!
@joey_fam663
Hello my friends, since I found you here on YT I have read the comments of some people, they are saying that your technike don't work but honestly don't care.
@juanvera9211
I'm a fighter, I am with fighter every day and we are having a lot of fun testing your way to do things. Like I said in another occasion: It works, purely! So thank you for sharing with us.
@juanvera9211
So awesome! I never considered taking a weapon class like this but will soon.
@srishoots_
That was awesome and this method bears the ring of truth, in my experience.
@breakingbear3559
I'm a musician by training among other things. Enjoyed seeing you get close to full speed here. But I see where your actions are tied to an internal Rhythm and I'm the beat that you decide to hit the drum you hit the drum and the gun is in your hand.
@Hndsmstrngr1
Bro this old man is str8 killer I love it teach me the ways your a OH.
@Mr.shorty44
I have seen a few videos these last few days and I am quite impressed. You take your time to explain the principle instead of showing random techniques, I come from the world that the principle is the main thing, the technique is an illustration of the principle.
@Despierto
Can you do a brief video on your background it seems quite solid, well learned. I see other instructors attacking techniques from other systems but they do not show them correctly that only shows that they do not understand the principle behind the technique.
@Despierto
Another great video. Thank you for breaking this down. Practice, practice, practice.
@johnjohnson3744
Keep it up. I like the pinky move. Not sure how secure I am with the right hand grab. I honestly don't know how loose a man's fists are when surprised. Either way... impressive techniques that I have never seen before, and that is rare.
@croweniii
As a Hapkido practitioner, I appreciate this and would like to see more of these detailed videos. Thank you.
@andyh3065
Good stuff - keep'em coming!
@rwm5518
Excellent techniques...I love it...
@jorgelabrador4104
These posts and self defense techniques are enormously helpful and empowering. Please keep posting!
@kai_kaden
Great training video. It's so painful. Be careful with your partner. Don't break their wrist's.
@johnjohnson3744
So so so real! Not like all of these outerspace super commandos showing bullshit that will get you deleted! Thanks for this keep up the awesome work!
@beatdowngym
I really have to laugh-not at the video or the techniques being shown, but at the comments, most of which are from people who have zero training.
@coolassjoe2021
A lot of people have a bunch to criticize about these techniques but I'd like to hear what they have to say when their joints are being manipulated and their wishing their toes were just a bit longer to try and alleviate the pain.
@coolassjoe2021
Very detailed. Thank you. Greetings from Hurth near Cologne, Germany.
@rgtrz9466
Outstanding.
@breakingbear3559
I'm practising navaja Style Fight since the early 80's and have still the opinion that you better don't fight a person with a knife even if you have also one. If you can better leave but sometimes you can not leave the situation so you have to fight against a knife.
@juanvera9211
I'm thankful and proud we have someone like you, teaching us great methods to protect us from mayor injuries, so thank you. I'm a big follower.
@juanvera9211
This is great. You'll get the comments saying this never happens in a real fight' etc. But if you look at real footage of situations, this is Exactly the sort of thing that happens, being threatened with a blade at odd angles. Love it.
@shed_ninja
This guy I love him. He's one of the real gems. Thanks for being so darn candid! It so much fake stuff on the tube and every where. How can I become a student?
@MalikShabazz-pi5fd
Excellent and thank you from the U.K where knife crimes are predominant. I will practice with my 27 years and older sons using ONLY A SAFE NON HARMFUL stage knife. Cheers guys.
@davidfaulkner4760
Love this stuff keep showing these little defensive moves over and over.
@kevinoneill41
Most of the time I think videos like this are bullshit but I believe this guy could actually do this without getting killed.
@vincenzom24
Spent over forty years in martial arts and combatives, and I must say these are the best weapons defense vids on the internet. Salute and thanks for the knowledge.
@streetkombativesystem4704
You look so natural true to life as if you were born marcial arts fighter.
@user6101569106580
Awesome stuff, teaching and practicing with family... tough times ahead potentially.
@kenmackenzie1375
Very informative and nicely displayed, thank you W.D.A.
@davidfaulkner4760
Phenomenal video and teacher, this instructor relaxly clothed as a normal citizen explains the correct principle and strategy better than these traditional GI cladded wannabes that many times miss the point.
@Despierto
He takes time to explain what is the principle that makes the technique work and the general strategy. No foreign languages, no meaningless mysticism, no crazy salutes, no crazy clothing just pure knowledge.
@Despierto
It kind of reminds me of when a Tech genius billionaire called Steve Jobs showed up with a black T-shirt and jeans expertly explaining a masterpiece of creative technology, very relaxed, very casual, no fluff.
@Despierto
This Gentleman understand the concept or the principles. It's not just for train a bunch of random techniques; going deep inside the reason why we do things the way we do.
@Despierto
This type of knife defense if so important. And It's so easy once you practice the right technique.
@michaelgiovanniello3230
Being a correctional officer for 25 years; True a good knife fighter won't attack you like that. However when you're in that position this technique work great. I use this particular technique all the time. Works every time. GREAT TECHNIQUE GUYS!!!!!!
@joey_fam663
Hello my friends, since I found you here on YT I have read the comments of some people, they are saying that your technike don't work but honestly don't care.
@juanvera9211
I'm a fighter, I am with fighter every day and we are having a lot of fun testing your way to do things. Like I said in another occasion: It works, purely! So thank you for sharing with us.
@juanvera9211
So awesome! I never considered taking a weapon class like this but will soon.
@srishoots_
That was awesome and this method bears the ring of truth, in my experience.
@breakingbear3559
I'm a musician by training among other things. Enjoyed seeing you get close to full speed here. But I see where your actions are tied to an internal Rhythm and I'm the beat that you decide to hit the drum you hit the drum and the gun is in your hand.
@Hndsmstrngr1
Bro this old man is str8 killer I love it teach me the ways your a OH.
@Mr.shorty44
I have seen a few videos these last few days and I am quite impressed. You take your time to explain the principle instead of showing random techniques, I come from the world that the principle is the main thing, the technique is an illustration of the principle.
@Despierto
Can you do a brief video on your background it seems quite solid, well learned. I see other instructors attacking techniques from other systems but they do not show them correctly that only shows that they do not understand the principle behind the technique.
@Despierto
Another great video. Thank you for breaking this down. Practice, practice, practice.
@johnjohnson3744
Keep it up. I like the pinky move. Not sure how secure I am with the right hand grab. I honestly don't know how loose a man's fists are when surprised. Either way... impressive techniques that I have never seen before, and that is rare.
@croweniii
As a Hapkido practitioner, I appreciate this and would like to see more of these detailed videos. Thank you.
@andyh3065
Good stuff - keep'em coming!
@rwm5518
Excellent techniques...I love it...
@jorgelabrador4104
These posts and self defense techniques are enormously helpful and empowering. Please keep posting!
@kai_kaden
Great training video. It's so painful. Be careful with your partner. Don't break their wrist's.
@johnjohnson3744
So so so real! Not like all of these outerspace super commandos showing bullshit that will get you deleted! Thanks for this keep up the awesome work!
@beatdowngym
I really have to laugh-not at the video or the techniques being shown, but at the comments, most of which are from people who have zero training.
@coolassjoe2021
A lot of people have a bunch to criticize about these techniques but I'd like to hear what they have to say when their joints are being manipulated and their wishing their toes were just a bit longer to try and alleviate the pain.
@coolassjoe2021
Very detailed. Thank you. Greetings from Hurth near Cologne, Germany.
@rgtrz9466
Outstanding.
@breakingbear3559
I'm practising navaja Style Fight since the early 80's and have still the opinion that you better don't fight a person with a knife even if you have also one. If you can better leave but sometimes you can not leave the situation so you have to fight against a knife.
@juanvera9211
I'm thankful and proud we have someone like you, teaching us great methods to protect us from mayor injuries, so thank you. I'm a big follower.
@juanvera9211
This is great. You'll get the comments saying this never happens in a real fight' etc. But if you look at real footage of situations, this is Exactly the sort of thing that happens, being threatened with a blade at odd angles. Love it.
@shed_ninja
This guy I love him. He's one of the real gems. Thanks for being so darn candid! It so much fake stuff on the tube and every where. How can I become a student?
@MalikShabazz-pi5fd
Excellent and thank you from the U.K where knife crimes are predominant. I will practice with my 27 years and older sons using ONLY A SAFE NON HARMFUL stage knife. Cheers guys.
@davidfaulkner4760
Who this isn't for
Let me save some people the trouble.
If you're not going to come to two classes a week for ninety days, don't do this. If what you want is to watch videos and feel prepared, don't do this either — there are cheaper ways to feel prepared.
And if you're looking for a fight system — striking, sparring, conditioning, competition — this isn't that and never has been. There is no rolling, no sparring and no getting hit anywhere in it.
What's left is a fairly specific person: someone who has worked out that the weapon is the gap in what they know, and who will actually turn up twice a week to close it. If that's you, the rest of this is for you.
How it works
Three things happen
01
We figure out exactly where you are
That's the first call. What you've trained, what you already know, where you struggle, and what you actually want to be able to do.
After twenty-five years of teaching this I can usually see pretty quickly what's going to come naturally to you and what's going to take more work. I'd rather know that before you start, so we can build around it.
02
Everything opens on day one — and you grow into it
Six levels, 24 courses, 200 videos. All of it opens on day one. Nothing drips out and nothing is held back.
But you're not expected to know how to do all of it on day one. You build one skill on top of another, so what looks difficult today starts feeling natural later.
By the time you get to defending against two attackers at once, it shouldn't feel overwhelming. You'll be as comfortable working on that as you were with the basics when you first started. That's the point of the progression — you're always moving forward, but you're never thrown into something you're not ready for.
03
Somebody actually watches you do it
This is the part you can't get from a video library.
We want you training with us live at least twice a week, but you can come to five classes a week — or more when extra training is running. That's where we watch what you're doing, catch the little mistakes, and help you make the movements your own.
You also get six private coaching hours one to one, with me or with Prof. DeArcia or Prof. Stines, scheduled around where you actually are. And on top of that there's a $1,200 credit for training here in person — all of it one to one. My private rate is $300 an hour; in this program you pay $200, so that credit is six full hours with me on the floor. Come down for a couple of days and use them however you like — it never expires. We see things in person that are almost impossible to catch through a screen.
Because watching two hundred videos isn't what makes you good at this. Having somebody who knows exactly what to look for watching you do it is.
What you get
The whole Academy, and the people who built it
Everything the other tracks earn over months and years, handed to you on day one — plus the thing no other tier has: the founders, live, beside you.
01
The entire curriculum, unlocked on day one
All six levels — 24 courses, 200 videos across knife, gun and club. Nothing drips, nothing waits. Every other member earns access over months; you have all of it from your first login.
02
Five live classes a week, plus Saturday from the floor
Not recordings. Live Zoom sessions where an instructor watches your motion and fixes it while you're doing it. You can learn a movement from a video. You cannot see what you're doing wrong. We're running five a week now and adding more as the room fills.
03
Six private coaching hours, one to one
With Vince, or with Prof. DeArcia or Prof. Stines — both 8th Dan, both founders of this Academy. Scheduled around your progress: we look at where you are, fix what's stuck, and plan what's next. This time exists in this program and nowhere else.
04
Six hours on the floor in Bonita Springs — and they never expire
A $1,200 credit for in-person training, all of it one to one. A private hour with Vince is $300; as a member of this program you pay $200, so the credit covers six full hours with him. Use it however you like — one trip, two trips, or save it, because it never expires and it rolls over year to year. Fly into Fort Myers; we're twenty-five minutes out.
05
The complete Weapon Map, yours to keep
Point at where the weapon is and every defense we've filmed for that spot comes up. Knife, gun or club; front, side or back. Members see a fraction of it. You get the whole body, every video live, and you keep it as your reference for life.
06
You finish certified — and there's a rung above it
Each level you complete earns a Weapons Defense Specialist certificate; there are six. Finishing the program earns the Associate Instructor certificate. Above that sits the full Instructor Certificate, which requires a four-day, forty-hour Master's Seminar — and you can only attend it if you've been through this program.
Where it leads
You don't finish this. You start climbing it.
Ninety days gets you the skill. What happens after is a ladder that most people never realise is there — and every rung of it is a thing you can put on a wall, on a website, or in front of a room.
01
Weapons Defense Specialist — six of them
Every level you finish earns its own certificate, and there are six levels. You aren't waiting three years for one piece of paper; the first one is inside reach within weeks, and each one is a real marker of what you can now do that you couldn't before.
02
Associate Instructor
Finishing the program earns it. That is the rung where this stops being something you know and becomes something you're recognised to teach — and for anyone already running a class, it's the credential that lets you put this on your schedule.
03
Instructor
Above Associate sits the full Instructor Certificate. It takes a four-day, forty-hour Master's Seminar, and you cannot attend that seminar unless you have been through this program. There is no other door into it.
04
Master Instructor — and the one nobody expects
Above Instructor sits Master Instructor. And the ladder doesn't end at paper: some of the people who train here end up teaching here, on our staff. That door is genuinely open — Prof. Bob Stines came to us from the outside, liked what we were building enough to start training in it himself, and is now one of the founding instructors of this Academy.
What it's worth
Add it up honestly
These are not inflated numbers. Group training here is $60 an hour and a private hour with Vince is $300 — every line below is priced at what we actually charge. The one discount in it is yours: in-person time in this program is billed at $200 an hour instead of $300, and the stack still counts it at the $1,200 you receive.
The whole curriculum — 6 levels, 24 courses, 200 videos, day one
$3,294
65 live classes across the 90 days (5 a week, at the $60 group rate)
$3,900
Thirteen Saturday sessions from the Academy floor (3 hrs each)
$2,340
Six private one-to-one coaching hours (at the $300 private rate)
$1,800
Six in-person hours in Bonita Springs — credit never expires, rolls over
$1,200
The complete Weapon Map — 142 filmed defenses, indexed by body zone
$497
Six Specialist certificates + Associate Instructor certification
$1,500
Total value
$14,531
By applicationWhat it costs, we go through on the call — after you've seen how it works and we both know it's a fit. It is a serious investment and it is not for everyone. That is exactly why there's a call and not a checkout button.
The entire curriculum — six levels, 24 courses — unlocked day one
Five live classes a week, plus Saturday from the Academy floor
Six private one-to-one coaching hours with Vince or a founding instructor
Six more hours in person in Bonita Springs — a $1,200 credit that never expires
The complete Weapon Map, yours to keep
Six Specialist certificates, and Associate Instructor at the end
Two hours a week with us. Ten minutes a day on your own.
No gym, no mats, no drive, and nothing you have to give up to make room for it. The classes run on Zoom five nights a week plus Saturday, so you take the two that fit. And you don't quit your dojo, your range or your instructor — this bolts onto whatever you already do.
Train anywhere
The whole academy fits in your pocket.
Your membership works in the members app for iPhone and Android — and in any browser. Watch a breakdown on your lunch break, drill it with a partner that night, and pick up exactly where you left off. Every video, every course, every certificate travels with you.
Free members app for iPhone and Android
Short videos built for training on the go
Your progress syncs across every device
This online course is the closest thing to having your own personalized master in your house on your own schedule.
Daniel Asher · three-time world champion
The 90-Day Disarm IntensiveTake a knife off a man in about a second.Get StartedNinety days · or you keep training free
Who's teaching you
Meet Your Instructors
Four chief instructors. A combined 200+ years of martial arts experience. All focused on one thing.
Chief Instructor & Founder
Vincent Waterhouse
A 10th-degree black belt with over 25 years focused specifically on defending against armed attackers. He trained in Shanghai, founded the Weapons Defense Academy, and was named Grand Master of the Year — and he's taught these exact disarms to an audience of over 1,000,000.
His method strips self-defense down to what actually works under the worst-case pressure of a knife, gun, or club — no decade of martial arts required.
Co-founder of the Weapons Defense Academy and one of the most decorated jujitsu masters alive. Prof. Castoldi spent 60+ years developing a system of street self-defense by adding weapons defense to Wally Jay's Small Circle Jujitsu — and his fingerprints are on every technique we teach.
When Prof. Castoldi demonstrates a disarm, the biggest men in the room become believers in about three seconds.
Soke (founder) of Sanshin-Ryu Jujitsu — a curriculum now recognized in 67 countries — and a former world champion competitor with a professional record of 35-5-1 with 17 knockouts. Prof. Stines brings a rare combination: academic martial arts depth and real competitive fire.
He fought in Chuck Norris' World Combat League and still teaches with that same intensity.
If you ever doubted that size doesn't matter — one round with Randy will end that debate. At 5'6" and 150 lbs, he is the living proof of every principle this system is built on. He is also the engine behind the Academy's weapons library: constantly finding, testing, and memorializing new defenses.
He will kick ass on the biggest guys out there and teach you how to do the same thing.
A 10th-degree black belt with over 25 years focused specifically on defending against armed attackers. He trained in Shanghai, founded the Weapons Defense Academy, and was named Grand Master of the Year — and he's taught these exact disarms to an audience of over 1,000,000.
His method strips self-defense down to what actually works under the worst-case pressure of a knife, gun, or club — no decade of martial arts required.
Co-founder of the Weapons Defense Academy and one of the most decorated jujitsu masters alive. Prof. Castoldi spent 60+ years developing a system of street self-defense by adding weapons defense to Wally Jay's Small Circle Jujitsu — and his fingerprints are on every technique we teach.
When Prof. Castoldi demonstrates a disarm, the biggest men in the room become believers in about three seconds.
Soke (founder) of Sanshin-Ryu Jujitsu — a curriculum now recognized in 67 countries — and a former world champion competitor with a professional record of 35-5-1 with 17 knockouts. Prof. Stines brings a rare combination: academic martial arts depth and real competitive fire.
He fought in Chuck Norris' World Combat League and still teaches with that same intensity.
If you ever doubted that size doesn't matter — one round with Randy will end that debate. At 5'6" and 150 lbs, he is the living proof of every principle this system is built on. He is also the engine behind the Academy's weapons library: constantly finding, testing, and memorializing new defenses.
He will kick ass on the biggest guys out there and teach you how to do the same thing.
Read the two quotes below before you play anything. One man founded his own jiu-jitsu system and captained the United States team; the other holds three world titles. Neither is a beginner, and neither of them is describing a beginner's discovery.
I thought we had a decent base in that until I met Vince Waterhouse.
Prof. Bob StinesFounder of Sanshin-Ryu Jiu-Jitsu · President, American Sport Jiu-Jitsu League · retired WFC world championRecorded before he had any stake in this Academy. He liked what we were building enough to start training in it himself — and came aboard afterwards as a founding instructor, helping build the thing he's describing.
I thought I had a pretty good self-defense until I met Vince Waterhouse.
Daniel AsherThree-time world champion · USA Sports Jiu-Jitsu Team · training since 1996
What it costs
Somewhere this morning, a parent paid for Spanish 101.
More than two hundred American colleges charge over $50,000 a year. Two semesters, five classes each — about five thousand dollars a class. Fifteen weeks, three hours a week. Forty-five hours in a lecture hall, and then the book goes on a shelf for twenty years. Nobody blinks at that. It's just what education costs.
Ninety days here is about a hundred and ten hours — sixty-five live classes, thirteen Saturdays on the floor, and six of them alone with me. Then the classes keep coming for a year. And you don't put it on a shelf; it's on you for the rest of your life, and it works the one day you need it.
It's priced like a single university class. I don't put the number on a page, because a number means nothing until you know what's behind it. We go through it on the call.
You go in and it's a specialized technique. It's like working in a graduate program in college.
Prof. Bob Stines · president, American Sport Jiu-Jitsu League
If you run a school
Be the only school in your city that teaches this
Everything above, plus the part that makes it a revenue line instead of a purchase. You keep teaching exactly what you teach today — nothing gets cut. This is the chapter your style never wrote.
01
The authorization letter — and it's exclusive to your city
A formal letter from Vince and the Weapons Defense Academy that lets you market this curriculum locally as officially certified. Your school becomes the only authorized Weapons Defense Academy school in your city. It's annual, and it renews with your access.
02
Business Foundations
How to actually fill a weapons-defense seminar in your own town — landing pages, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, built for a school owner who isn't a marketer. Most owners have a great curriculum and a quiet seminar. This closes that gap, and it doesn't need a big ad budget.
03
The seminar and marketing kit
A ready-to-run weekend seminar outline — timing, drills, pricing, registration copy — plus a tiered pricing guide for a recurring adult track, promotional copy for email and social, and the playbook other schools used to fill their first one.
04
The school-owner group
A private peer room of certified schools. What filled, what didn't, what's working this quarter. You're not the only school in the country running this curriculum — just the only one in your city.
Run the numbers against your own school
One weekend seminar. 25 seats at $297 is $7,425 in two days — more than the whole program costs you. You are square after one weekend, before you've taught the curriculum inside your school a single time.
A recurring adult track. $50 a month to 30 of your existing adults is $18,000 a year in new recurring revenue. Recovered in month four; profit every year after that.
The bleed you stop. Every adult student you keep is $1,800 a year. Hold on to two or three a quarter who'd otherwise have left and that's about $16,200 you didn't watch walk out.
The moat. There are five to fifteen schools within ten miles of you and on Google they all look identical. Being the only one that teaches real defense against knives, guns and clubs is the kind of thing that gets a local news segment and gets mentioned at a birthday party.
By applicationEverything in the Intensive, plus the school layer · authorization renews annually · we go through the numbers on the call, against your own school
Everything in the Intensive — $14,531 of it, at our own rates
City-exclusive authorization letter — the only certified school in your town
Business Foundations: how to actually fill a seminar locally
The seminar outline, pricing guide and marketing kit
Add the school layer to the stack and the honest total is $20,031 — priced at what we actually charge for every line of it. It pays for itself in one weekend.
You've got questions
I've got answers
Do I need any martial arts experience?
It doesn't matter, and that isn't a sales line — it's just how this works. What Vince has spent twenty-five years developing is unarmed defense against an attacker who already has a weapon: a knife, a gun, a club. Most martial arts systems, and most military and law enforcement programs, spend very little time on it, because their operators carry their own weapons and work in teams — a SEAL with six teammates and four guns rarely finds himself alone against a knife. So even elite professionals have this gap, and they know it. If you've trained twenty, thirty, forty years, this is a direct add-on to what you already know; Vince isn't asking you to abandon your system, he's filling the one hole almost every system leaves open. And if you have no training at all, that's fine too — sometimes easier. We start you at the top: weapon defense first. Once you understand how to take a weapon away using leverage, distraction and body mechanics, everything else falls into place underneath it. Think of it as starting at 6th-degree black belt and working your way down.
I'm not big or strong. Will this actually work for me?
Size and strength matter when nobody's trained — the bigger man wins that coin flip, right up until training enters the picture. Navy SEALs aren't big guys. A little girl can grab a big man's finger, put a fulcrum on it and drop him to his knees, because the bigger you are the longer the lever. That isn't a metaphor, it's physics. Think about a 300-pound refrigerator: you can't pick it up, but you can tip it to its balance point and hold it there with one finger. Find that point and weight becomes irrelevant. That's exactly what this teaches — where to strike, what to grab, how to take someone off balance and put their weapon hand somewhere it can't recover from. Strength is the last thing you need once you understand the fulcrum.
I'm in my sixties. Is my body going to handle this?
Vince is 69, with a rebuilt back, a rebuilt shoulder and a rebuilt hip, and he trains two to four hours a day. He isn't the hero of that story — he's the evidence. There's no rolling, no sparring, no getting hit, no road work and no footwork you can't do. You step in once, about a foot. The work is done by leverage, not by you, and the motion that puts a man in real trouble is sometimes less than a quarter of an inch.
Do I need a training partner?
It helps enormously, and it doesn't have to be a martial artist — it can be your wife, your brother, your son, a friend. One rule: the person holding the weapon controls the pain, not you, and you start far slower than feels useful. The Filipino martial artists say slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. One of our students, a man in his fifties, drills with his 75-year-old mother; he describes touching her hand like touching a butterfly wing, so softly the wing would never be damaged. He gets better every session. Go too hard too soon and your partner will never train with you again — and they'd be right.
How is this different from a regular self-defense or karate class?
It doesn't compete with any other system — it adds to them. Taekwondo, boxing, Muay Thai, Krav Maga, military combatives: all of it is good. The difference is that almost none of them spend serious time on unarmed defense against a weapon that's already within arm's reach, and almost all of them save it for black belt. Think of the best cardiothoracic surgeon in the world — a career operating on hearts, and then your daughter's boyfriend says his eye hurts and he shrugs, because that isn't what he does. Mike Tyson might be the greatest boxer who ever lived, but when someone puts a gun to his head, boxing doesn't help. That's the gap. Vince has spent twenty-five years filling that one gap and nothing else. No fluff, no filler — and technique, once you know it, is like a magic trick. Once you see how it works, it becomes simple.
How does the guarantee work?
Do the ninety days — go through the courses, come to at least two classes a week, use your private hours, put in the reps. If you can't do it at the end of that, you keep training with Vince free for a full year of classes. That's about two hundred and fifty of them. He can promise that because he isn't handing you a video library and disappearing; he sees you every week. If you showed up and did the work and it hasn't happened, that's on him and he'll finish the job.
Is any of this legal?
It's a fair question, and the honest answer is that it depends on where you live — self-defense law varies from state to state, and nothing here is legal advice. What we can tell you is exactly what the training is: unarmed, and a response to a weapon that somebody else has already brought within arm's reach. We don't teach you to carry anything, and we don't teach you to go looking for trouble. For how any of it applies to your own situation, ask an attorney licensed in your state — we'd rather point you there than guess on your behalf.
Does this cover more than knives?
Knife, gun and club, and the same four-step system runs through all of it. Level 1 alone is four complete courses covering knife across the throat, knife to the side of the neck, knife to the stomach and knife pointed at the throat — each with multiple disarm variations, body-mechanics drills and empty-hand applications. By Level 2 you're adding body movement, the club, and a threat that's moving. Levels 3 and 4 bring in knife from behind, slashing attacks, and gun threats to the head and stomach. The full curriculum runs to hundreds of variations — standing, moving, one attacker, several, close range, back against a wall. Once you understand the principle, every new threat is just another application of the same motion.
I run a school. What does this look like for me?
The same program, plus a school layer that turns it into a revenue line: a city-exclusive authorization letter — your school becomes the only authorized Weapons Defense Academy school in your town — plus Business Foundations (how to actually fill a weapons-defense seminar locally), a ready-to-run seminar and marketing kit, and a private group of the other certified school owners. Nothing you currently teach gets cut; this is an add-on, not a replacement. The math is the persuasive part: one weekend seminar at $297 with 25 seats is $7,425 — more than the program costs — and a $50-a-month adult track offered to 30 of your existing students is $18,000 a year. Apply through the same application and mark that it's for your school; we go through the numbers on the call against your own student list.
Who is Vince Waterhouse?
A 10th-degree black belt with more than fifty years in martial arts, the last twenty-five spent on one specialty: disarming an attacker when the weapon is already within arm's reach or on your skin. He trained in Shanghai from 1979 to 1981 under Master Xu Guo Ming, and was the first Caucasian student permitted to train at the legendary Jing Wu Athletic Association after the Second World War. He holds a 9th-degree in Castoldi Ju Jitsu, founded the Weapons Defense Academy in 1999, was named Grand Master of the Year by the American Sports Jujitsu League in 2019 and inducted into the Jujitsu America Black Belt Hall of Fame the same year. His videos reach a combined audience of over a million followers. He still trains and teaches two to four hours a day, every day — and he is an admitted attorney in Florida and New York.
Where is the Academy, and can I train in person?
Bonita Springs, Florida — about twenty-five minutes from Fort Myers airport. In-person training is included in the program as a $1,200 credit, and all of it is one to one. A private hour with Vince is $300; in this program you pay $200, so the credit covers six full hours on the floor with him. Use it in one trip or split it across two — it never expires and it rolls over year to year, so plenty of people use it in year two. Everything else runs live on Zoom five nights a week plus Saturday morning from the Academy floor, so you can do the whole thing from anywhere in the world and come down when it suits you.
Either way
There's a short application. Ten questions, about two minutes, and I read them myself.
If it's a fit, we'll get on a call and map the whole thing out — what you do first, what it costs, how long it takes. If it isn't, I'll tell you that plainly and point you at the free material so you can make a start on your own at no cost. I'd rather do that than sell you something you shouldn't buy.
— Vince
Ninety days. Or you keep training free.
That's the whole thing. Do the work and you'll take a knife, a gun or a club off a man faster than anyone you will ever meet — and the man you take it from will laugh, because he won't believe how easy it was.
