Pop quiz, hot shot! “Are you ready for tomorrow’s fight? And if so, how do you know?” That’s where Craig Douglas and Shivworks can improve your life for the better. They can help you answer that question should the unfortunate encounter ever occur.

Craig Douglas and Shivworks

This is not about being a “prepper” but more about being able to handle one or two bad guys in a possible bad-to-worse situation. Almost everyone reading this article is a firearm and knife enthusiast who owns multiple guns. No doubt you also spend a fair amount of time actually training. And I’m sure you also hit the gym and look like a stud. 

But ask yourself this. If you find yourself in a scary situation with someone who doesn’t play by the rules and wants that new Rolex Submariner you are wearing, how will you handle it? What if the person engaging with you grabs your gun hand, and you end up on the ground wrestling around? This is where Craig Douglas and his ShivWorks program come into play.

Real-World Experience

Craig Douglas (AKA “Southnarc”) is a U.S. military veteran and a retired LEO who served his community for over 20 years in narcotics and SWAT. Over his long career, he has dealt with some of the lowest of lows. 

When in narcotics, he did a lot of crack and cocaine buys, which means he had contact with the dregs. Craig has been in some scary situations, including fighting over a pistol in a vehicle during a narcotics operation and even being severely beaten by multiple attackers while fighting over a gun another time. Truth be told, many cops would have retired or taken an office job, but Craig pushed through and used his life-threatening situations as a learning tool to create his ShivWorks company.

ShivWorks is a training company offering real-world solutions for personal protection. They have a combination of 50% open enrollment and 50% closed enrollment. The closed enrollment is a mixed breakdown from different LE agencies, federal agencies, and three military and intelligence community branches.

When you sign up for a class at ShivWorks, you need to have basic knowledge of firearm safety and etiquette and how to shoot. Craig’s classes are intense and are all hands-on. As fierce as his curriculum and as intense as the situations are, Craig maintains a calm voice the entire time while teaching and coaching. While most instructors match their tone to the situation, Craig keeps a very low yet direct tone to ensure he gets his words across while the training continues.

Next-Level Self-Defense Classes

One class is called ECQC (Extreme Close Quarter Concepts). This class is designed to put you in real-world, life-or-death situations within a 5-foot range. This class will pressure cook your knowledge on firearms, edged tools, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, boxing, verbal articulation, and your mindset. 

Some of the situations presented will involve up to two bad guys. As extreme as some settings are, they are all quite realistic. This class will show you your strengths and expose your weaknesses. 

For example, one of the evolutions can start with a good guy concealing a firearm and being stopped by another individual asking him for directions to a random location. From there, the individual can turn it up verbally or physically depending on the response of the good guy. Maybe the individual in question has a firearm. 

Maybe he doesn’t and wants to rob you using bullying techniques, or perhaps the person was just asking for directions. Another example of something that can happen in one of the evolutions is gun-on-gun during a grapple. BTW, the good guy doesn’t always win.

Learning From Your Mistakes

After the training sequence is over, Craig will talk to the individuals involved in the training and discuss some of the decisions they made while the controlled fight happened. An example could be, “Why did you start shooting someone when the person was only asking you for the time?” or, “Why did you wait so long to shoot the bad guy when he was stabbing you?” These are all scenarios based on real-world events.

Another class offered is called VCAST (Vehicle Combatives & Shooting Tactics). This course is designed for the individual who wants to learn how to use verbal articulation, firearms, and empty hand techniques as a way to deal with encountering a hostile individual inside or around a vehicle. An example of one of the evolutions in the class could be that you picked up a nice-looking guy who claims his car broke down and needs a quick lift to the gas station, but instead, he pulls a gun on you in your car and wants you to find an ATM so he can rob you. 

From there, you must decide how you’re going to engage this individual inside of your car who is pointing a gun at you. How do you grab the gun from him? How do you end up fighting him and getting to your gun? These are all examples of situations that you will go through and learn how to handle during this class.

Craig’s Personal Experience

I have trained with Craig Douglas and am a believer in his course curriculums and teaching style. I used to think I was untouchable because I carried a firearm and trained with it nonstop. All of that went out of the window when I was taking his ECQC class.

 While I did well in his class (and outshooting everyone), it taught me I needed to learn how to fight better with my hands and understand the basics of grappling, leading me into my jiu-jitsu journey.

Craig puts a lot of time and energy into his course curriculum, as any good teacher would, and truly cares about his students. I highly recommend training with him if you are looking for the next answer to protect yourself and your family when the time comes. You can view his courses and everything else he offers at shivworks.com.

Shivworks Blades

Besides his training seminars, Craig has a line of knives designed for self-defense through ShivWorks. His knives are exceptionally well thought out, from blade style to handle configuration. He partnered with some Tier 1 knife-makers who took some of his classes to help develop an ultimate self-defense tool.