THE STORY SO FAR

"Be nice, until it's time not to be nice" - Dalton, Roadhouse

Almost a year ago to the day I was sat in a hotel lobby in Nuremberg,Germany with Lynn C Thompson, the Founder and President of Cold Steel Inc when he issued me a challenge.

Lynn is truly a self made man.
A man who embraced what he calls a "Warrior Lifestyle".
Training daily with the world's greatest exponents of a myriad of martial arts, highly proficient with every weapon you can imagine (from knives and swords to spears, guns and rifles), lifting weights...Lynn has given his life to the sometimes controversial pursuit of martial excellence.
Supremely confident, loud, outspoken and proud he is an intimidating figure.
Yet Lynn is genuinely a nice guy.
His favourite quote (which i feel sums up his "warrior lifestyle" perfectly) is from the Patrick Swayze movie Roadhouse.
"Be nice, until it's time not to be nice"

I had made a short film (entitled Life on the Edge)about Lynn and his warrior ethos the year before. I had great plans for making an epic documentary following Lynn as he shot guns, trained in martial arts and did all the things that seemed so exciting and crazy to a sheltered nerd from the UK.
I enjoyed being behind the camera, watching this madcap action from behind the scenes and living out schoolboy fantasies of kicking ass and shooting guns vicariously through Lynn's exploits.
So it came as a complete shock to me, sitting in that hotel bar, when Lynn threw down the gauntlet and challenged me to become a warrior!

I have issues with violence. Bullied since a small child for being overweight, a victim of violent crime and possessing "one of those faces" that seems to land me into more trouble than i care for. I'm not one for fisticuffs.
I am 31, heavily overweight, insecure, neurotic and something of a geek.
Hardly the stuff of champions, I'm sure you'll agree...
I have some experience with martial arts (a trained for several years in Filipino Martial Arts before the desk job and the bacon sandwiches took their toll), but i am generally bookish, slovenly and a poster child for the Internet and pizza generation.

Lynn would be the first to tell you he is not a skinny guy. He's often ridiculed by youtube hecklers who refuse to see past his belly and look at the skills he displays.
Yet none of this seems to bother him. He isn't held back by his size.
He challenged me to stop hiding behind my own stereotype, to man up and face all the fears that have held me back, and to try and live as he does, as a modern day warrior.

It took me a few months to pluck up the nerve to take him up on this offer, but I'm going to go for it. I don't know what's in store for me..but I'm sure it'll be entertaining.

I'm inviting you guys to join me for the ride

Andy