Richard "Mack" Machowicz, an ex-Navy SEAL and former host of the cable-TV series Future Weapons, as well as a student of taekwondo, muay Thai, kali, boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Paul Vunak's jeet kune do,discusses the three dynamic elements of combat (movements, weapons and targets) in this exclusive footage shot on location by Black Belt magazine. "Rarely if ever will you experience combat," Richard "Mack" Machowicz says, "and most likely you will never see combat in a literal sense, but the principles that make for effectiveness in battle are relevant to the daily challenges you face." It's his way of telling people that the benefits of what he's about to explain extend far beyond fighting. After interrogating Richard "Mack" Machowicz for 10 minutes, however, I learn that it would be a huge mistake to dismiss him as a guy who uses self-defense to preach self-help. It would be just as erroneous to brush him off as just another retired military man who doesn't know that the skills civilians need are radically different from the skills soldiers need. Twenty minutes into our interview, it's clear that Mack is a martial artist who can throw down and a guy who sees the big picture with respect to violence. Which is probably why he's so successful at what he does.

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After he'd become a hand-to-hand-combat instructor for his SEAL Team and studied muay Thai, kali, boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Paul Vunak's take on jeet kune do, Mack found himself in an interesting quandary. “There were so many ideas I wanted to convey that [I had to convert them] into simple principles," he says. “Why? Because people tend to get stuck on technique. They don't understand that techniques apply to specific situations at specific times in specific ways. That means techniques are limited. Principles are more universal. The basic principle of 'target dictates weapon and weapons dictate movement' can apply to everything in life because everything is a target, a weapon or a movement."

Mack explains that fighting is composed of three dynamic elements, then forces me to exercise my brain a bit to see the light: “From nukes to hand-to-hand combat, everything in life is a movement, a weapon or a target."

During the photo shoot to accompany the interview, he put the theory into practice with our creative director, as shown in this video:

RICHARD "MACK" MACHOWICZ VIDEO Ex-Navy SEAL on Movements, Weapons and Targets in Combat

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