Wim Demeere Podcast

Wim Demeere has conversations about martial arts and self-defense. But the podcast goes beyond that to cover issues on society, science, health, and much more. If you have a wide range of interests like him, stick around!

WDP 172 - Everyday Awareness and Options - Dawn Armstrong 09/11/2026

WDP 172 - Everyday Awareness and Options - Dawn Armstrong Dawn Armstrong is the founder of ThinkSafe Seminars in Tucson, Arizona, where she teaches civilian situational awareness, conflict management, travel safety, workplace violence prevention, and basic physical defense. She holds a 4th degree black belt in Kenpo and is certified as a Situational Awareness Specialist, with additional training through Gavin de Becker and Associates and Vistelar. She works with corporations, organizations, and the public, and also works with 500 Rising, which is why her material sits next to what martial artists already teach on prevention and women’s self-defense. The second part of our talk with The shownotes with links mentioned in this episode: Summary: Dawn describes ThinkSafe Seminars as a civilian program built so people do not have to learn situational awareness only after something goes wrong. She defines awareness as more than “pay attention”: scanning during transitions, locking the car with the habit she calls close and click, and practicing those habits in daily life so they transfer to work. Wim compares that to driving and parenting. Dawn uses stories to reach people who have never experienced violence, and she separates a knee-jerk reaction from a more thoughtful response. They also cover assertive versus aggressive action, social excuses that let you leave without a scene, and students who jump into heroic action when the setting does not allow it. The second half is about why people still skip training. Dawn says the general public still treats the material as common sense, while larger organizations are building behavioral threat assessment teams that bring security, HR, and other departments into a single process. They talk about self-presentation, students who dismiss techniques after two months on the mat, the slogan “teach men not to attack women,” and the victim-blaming charge aimed at instructors who teach options. Dawn’s line is that an attack is never the target’s fault and that people still need options. Wim adds agency, insurance-style negligence, and predator timing. They close on concealed carry treated as a complete plan, and Dawn’s classroom question: what are you willing to fight for, from a wallet up to a child in a car or when taken to a second location. Key takeaways: Close and click is the model for ThinkSafe habits: get in the car, shut the door, lock it before the phone comes out. The same small transition habits apply when you leave an office or arrive home. A reaction is fast and emotional. A response is slower and aimed at ending the problem. Dawn uses a bump-and-insult drill to show how matching tone can start a fight and how a short apology can end it. Prepared social exits work when force would be the wrong tool. “I have to use the restroom” or “I need to talk to that person” gets you out of a wine tasting or a rising argument without announcing that you are de-escalating. A husband, a security desk, a nearby police station, or a gun does not replace you as the first person who has to act. People who target you wait for the gap: hallway, parking lot, or any moment you are alone. Dawn’s planning question is what you will fight for before the moment arrives. Most students will not go to the hospital for a wallet or a car. A child in that car, or being moved to a second location, changes the answer. Figure that out at home, not mid-incident. Support the podcast and get instant access to dozens of bonus episodes, HUNDREDS of exclusive videos, and much more: New book/video email notification list: Website: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook group: Merch: /episode/index/show/wimdemeere/id/42874290

WDP 171 - 500 Rising Beyond the Founder - Tammy Yard-McCracken 09/03/2026

WDP 171 - 500 Rising Beyond the Founder - Tammy Yard-McCracken Tammy Yard-McCracken is a psychotherapist, Krav Maga instructor, and founder of 500 Rising, a nonprofit that trains instructors and runs women’s and girls’ self-defense programs in North America and Europe. She founded Kore Self-Defense and Krav Maga in Northern Virginia, has taught with the Violence Dynamics instructor group, and works on conflict communication, scenario training, and instructor development. The second part of our talk with Q&A from my Patrons is here: The shownotes with links mentioned in this episode: Summary Wim and Tammy pick up about three years after their last talk. She describes handing Kore Self-Defense and Krav Maga to her instructor team when the lease ended so she could stop splitting bandwidth between the school and 500 Rising. The nonprofit now fields training requests in the US, UK, and Europe, with early conversations about Zambia and Australia. Next steps she names are short online courses for instructors and the public, a larger US board of directors, tying that board to the European advisory council, and moving herself out of the de facto CEO role so the work is not personality-driven. They then work through the resistance 500 Rising draws: the claim that men and women have identical personal-safety needs, the claim that women cannot defend themselves so training is pointless, and the “what about men” demand that is rarely followed by anyone building a men’s program. Tammy separates a few openly misogynistic comments from people picking a fight and from people whose core beliefs are being violated. Wim and Tammy argue over ego and outdated studies, the difference between jealousy and envy, accountability when an instructor is wrong on the mat, why strangulation stats look different for women than for men, and whether MeToo-era boundary management is revenge or a new workplace rule men are still learning. Key takeaways - Tammy’s stated goal for 500 Rising is to make the curriculum outlast her. Training directors already deliver the courses. She wants the US board expanded and someone else in the top leadership seat so the organization does not vanish if the founder does. - Most online hostility she sees is not hard misogyny. A larger share is people looking for a rise. Another subset is reacting because women’s self-defense contradicts a belief they have built identity around. New data that kills an old teaching point hits that same nerve. - Specialization is treated as exclusion. 500 Rising trains women and still lets men into the instructor courses. When critics ask where the men’s self-defense class is, Tammy’s reply has been: put one on. That offer has produced crickets. - Crime figures are a snapshot, not a verdict. Definitions change, reporting collapses when police do not act, and sexual-violence reporting in the US data they use is roughly 10 percent men and 90 percent women, with male cases known to be under-reported. Talking about one pattern does not make the other pattern disappear. - On the mat, unacknowledged errors break rapport and stop students from asking hard questions. Tammy uses the choke-versus-strangle example: a male instructor can be statistically right that strangulation is rare for men and still wrong for the women in the same room. Support the podcast and get instant access to dozens of bonus episodes, HUNDREDS of exclusive videos, and much more: New book/video email notification list: Website: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: Facebook group: Merch: /episode/index/show/wimdemeere/id/42727740