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Defenders LIVE Podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Lora Thorson, Defenders USA
Welcome to the Defenders LIVE community! This is where you can find information and inspiration to grow as a defender both on and off the range.
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The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 4 days ago57 min
Ep. 206 | Could Your Dark Past Become A Gift To Others? | You Can Do Hard Things Series
What if the parts of your story you’re most ashamed of could actually help someone else?My guest on this episode of You Can Do Hard Things is Mike Romero, a new firearms instructor who reached out to me looking for some advice.He had questions about getting started, finding students, and dealing with imposter syndrome. But when I asked him why he wanted to become an instructor, our conversation went a lot deeper than either of us expected.Mike has a past he’s still struggling to make peace with. And even though he’s working hard to build a different life, he has a difficult time seeing the good in himself.I think a lot of us can relate to that in one way or another.Defenders LIVE is supported by you. To join our live group calls, consider becoming a paid subscriber.One of the things I asked Mike was whether the pain he’s been through might someday become his greatest gift. I don’t think he’d ever considered looking at his story that way.I’m so grateful he had the courage to reach out to me and then take an even bigger step by sharing his story publicly. I know that wasn’t easy for him.And I hope someone watching this realizes they don’t have to have everything figured out before they can make a difference in someone else’s life.This is part of my You Can Do Hard Things series, where I’m having honest conversations with people about the challenges they’ve faced and what they’re learning along the way.I’d love to hear what you take away from Mike’s story.Thanks for reading Defenders LIVE! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.defenders-live.com/subscribe
- 1 weeks ago50 min
Ep. 205 | Could An Old Concussion Still Be Affecting You? w/ Mike Ox
I’ve had multiple concussions over the years, and there are still things I struggle with that I’ve pretty much learned to live with.So when my friend Mike Ox came back on Defenders LIVE to talk about concussions, sleep, and brain health, I was especially interested in what he had to say.Mike has experienced 15 concussions himself, and he’s spent years studying the brain and trying to understand how to improve its function.We got into some really interesting things about how our brains respond to stress, why sleep matters so much more than we might realize, and how things we think are helping us perform better might actually be working against us.I also shared a few of my own experiences, including a little experiment I did last year that definitely didn’t go as planned!I love having Mike on the show because he’s genuinely curious about how things work, and he cares about helping people. I always come away from our conversations with something new to think about.Thanks for reading Defenders LIVE! This post is public so feel free to share it.And I’d love to hear from you. Have you ever wondered whether something you’re dealing with today might be connected to an old injury?Learn more about Mike and his work at FocusAmplifiers.com and PeakBrainReboot.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.defenders-live.com/subscribe
- 2 weeks ago59 min
Ep. 204 | The Four Words That Almost Broke Her w/ Bethel Wagner | You Can Do Hard Things Series
I’m kicking off a new series on Defenders LIVE called You Can Do Hard Things, and my first guest is my good friend Bethel Wagner.Bethel and I recently spent eight days training at Defenders University with Adam Winch. It was physically exhausting, mentally challenging, and full of lessons neither of us expected.During one particularly frustrating rifle drill, Bethel was struggling to hit a tiny target when four little words popped into her head.And those four words brought up something much bigger than a missed shot.After training, Bethel wrote about the experience in her journal. When she first read it to me, I completely lost it. I mean, I really cried.I recognized so much of myself in what she wrote.I’ve had plenty of moments when I’m doing something difficult and suddenly the biggest struggle isn’t what’s happening around me. It’s what’s going on inside my own head.And sometimes those thoughts have been there for so long that I don’t even question whether they’re true anymore.That’s what I loved about this conversation. We talked about the stories we tell ourselves, how they can hold us back without us even realizing it, and how our faith helps us recognize what’s true when our thoughts are telling us something different.Defenders LIVE is supported by you. To join our live group calls, consider becoming a paid subscriber.We also talked about learning to speak up when something isn’t working, finding strength when we’re exhausted, and why doing hard things can teach us so much more than whatever skill we’re trying to learn.I started this series because I’m genuinely curious about people and what they’re learning through their experiences. I don’t expect anyone to have all the answers. I certainly don’t! But I think there’s a lot we can learn from each other when we’re willing to have honest conversations.And Bethel was willing to share something pretty personal with all of us.I’d love to hear what you take away from this conversation, especially if you’ve ever found yourself fighting a battle in your own head while trying to do something hard.Thanks for reading Defenders LIVE! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.defenders-live.com/subscribe
- 3 weeks ago1h 6m
What Happens When You Can't Get to Your Gun? w/ Cecil Burch
I recently spent some time at Defenders University, and one of the days we worked on combatives with Jeremy Horn. My husband was my training partner, and let me tell you, there is nothing quite like having a 200-plus-pound man laying on top of you to remind you how much you don’t know. 😂He wasn’t even trying to hurt me. He was just using his body weight, and I was struggling to do some of the most basic things we’d been taught.It was frustrating, humbling, and honestly, a little scary to realize how difficult it would be to defend myself against someone that much bigger than me.So I had plenty of questions when I sat down with Cecil Burch this week.Cecil is the founder of Immediate Action Combatives, a third-degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, and someone who has spent decades figuring out how firearms and hand-to-hand fighting actually work together.We talked about what happens when someone gets close enough that you can’t access your gun, why being a good shooter doesn’t necessarily make you good at fighting, and how easy it is to make a bad decision when things aren’t going the way you expected.Defenders LIVE is supported by you. To join our live group calls, become a paid subscriber.One of the things Cecil explained was that we tend to go straight to whatever we’re most comfortable with. Shooters want to reach for their guns. Grapplers want to grapple. But knowing how to do those things individually doesn’t mean you know how to use them together.I also asked Cecil about learning jiu-jitsu as a smaller woman because, frankly, I’m struggling with it.I appreciated that he didn’t try to make it sound easy. He acknowledged that it IS an uphill battle, and that becoming proficient takes time and a lot of repetition. We sometimes expect to take a class, learn a technique, and immediately be able to use it. Then we get frustrated when we can’t.I needed the reminder that struggling with something doesn’t mean I’m not capable of learning it.Something else I found interesting was that after nearly five decades of martial arts training, one of Cecil’s favorite things to teach is how NOT to get into a fight.We talked about awareness, recognizing potential threats, managing distance, and how much we might be able to prevent simply by paying attention to what’s happening around us.I loved his perspective on what makes someone a good fighter, too. He talked about being confident in your ability to handle yourself without feeling the need to prove it. Being capable without being arrogant. Knowing your strengths and understanding your limitations.And I really appreciated his heart for teaching. Cecil talked about how important it is to meet students where they are, especially when they’re new, intimidated, or struggling. He wants people to get better, and he understands that making them feel foolish isn’t going to help them get there.I wish more people approached teaching that way.By the end of our conversation, I was wishing Cecil lived a whole lot closer to Montana because I’d love to spend some time training with him.I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him, and I came away with a lot to think about and a few things I want to put into practice.I think you’ll enjoy this conversation too.Watch this week’s Defenders LIVE with Cecil Burch right here, and learn more about his training at IACombatives.com.Thanks for reading Defenders LIVE! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.defenders-live.com/subscribe
- Oct 1, 202657 min
Ep. 202 | The Biggest Thing Firearms Training Gets Wrong w/ Instructor and Writer, Kevin Creighton
As shooters, we spend a lot of time trying to become better shooters. We want to be faster, more accurate, improve our draw, get better at all the things we can measure.But how much of that actually prepares us for what we’re carrying a gun for in the first place?That’s a lot of what I talked about this week with Kevin Creighton. Kevin has spent more than 20 years in the firearms world as an instructor, competitor, and writer, and I really enjoyed his perspective because he looks at training a little differently.One of the things we talked about was how easy it is to train for a situation we’ve already scripted in our heads. We imagine how something is going to happen, what we’re going to do, and how we’re going to respond. Real life obviously doesn’t work that way.Kevin brought up things like using your environment to your advantage, actually carrying your gun instead of leaving it in the car, training from concealment, and being realistic about what our mission is as ordinary armed citizens.And one of my favorite things he said was that he looks at the defensive pistol lifestyle more like jazz.You learn the chords. You learn the fundamentals. You understand the context. But then you have to be able to respond to whatever is actually happening in front of you.I had never heard anyone explain it that way, but it made a lot of sense to me. We also got into Kevin’s novel Salvation, which led us into a completely different conversation about faith, strong male role models, doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do, and living your life for something bigger than yourself.There’s a lot in this episode, but the part I keep coming back to is that being a good shooter and being prepared to defend yourself are not necessarily the same thing.Of course I want to continue becoming a better shooter. But I also want my training to make sense for my actual life, my actual mission, and the people I’m responsible for protecting.Kevin gave me a lot to think about with this one, and I think he will for you too.See more at quietlyarmed.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.defenders-live.com/subscribe
- Sep 24, 202611 min
Ep. 201 | Perfect or a Piece of Sh*t? | Lora Thorson, Defenders LIVE
Five oatmeal cream pies. In a couple of hours. Yep. I did that. And as ridiculous as that sounds, what happened in my head afterward is the reason I’m talking about it.One poor choice became another. Then another. And pretty soon I wasn’t simply thinking, “That was a bad decision.”I was in what I call the shame cave.“You know better.”“Why can’t you control yourself?”“What’s wrong with you?”That’s the part I want to talk about.This week’s Defenders LIVE gets into something I’ve struggled with for a long time, my “perfect versus piece of s**t” mindset.I’m talking about:Why one bad choice can make the next one easierHow accountability can quietly turn into shameWhy I learned to associate perfection and control with safetyWhy recognizing the pattern doesn’t automatically make it disappearThe difference between “I made a bad choice” and “I am bad”Why trying to perform my way back into feeling worthy never worksHow remembering who I am in Christ helps me make the next right choiceI’m still figuring this out. That’s actually why I’m talking about it.Maybe the problem isn’t that we keep failing to be perfect.Maybe the problem is believing perfect or worthless were ever our only choices.Defenders LIVE is supported by you. To join our live group calls, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.defenders-live.com/subscribe
- Sep 17, 202637 min
Ep. 200 | We Probably Shouldn't Have Recorded This | Adam Winch & Lora Thorson | Defenders LIVE
Apparently I “weenied down” a workout in Arizona, Adam cannot handle a computer without having a complete meltdown, and I hauled guns all the way to Arizona because HE begged me to bring them...only for us to never even use them. 😂And that’s just where this conversation started.Adam Winch is the founder and lead instructor of Defenders USA, but he’s also a good friend, and our conversations behind the scenes don’t usually look much like a formal interview.So we decided to let you guys in on one.We got into some ridiculous things we’ve seen online, bumper stickers and how much information we unknowingly give away about ourselves, some of the weirdest things students have brought to firearms classes, things Adam does that drive me crazy, things I do that drive him crazy, and why sometimes you can hear something 20 times before it finally clicks.I’ve done some pretty serious episodes of Defenders LIVE lately, and I wanted this one to just be fun. There’s no single big topic. It’s pretty much what it sounds like when Adam and I have a normal conversation and you guys get to listen in.Let me know what you think of this format and if we should do it again.Thanks for reading Defenders LIVE! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.defenders-live.com/subscribe
- Sep 10, 202611 min
Ep. 199 | The Question I Couldn't Answer Until Everything Stopped w/ Lora Thorson
When is enough, enough? I had been wrestling with that question, and then just hours later I became so sick that almost everything I normally do came to a stop.No normal everyday life.No workouts.Almost no screens.Very little I could actually do.And in the stillness, God answered the question in a way I wasn’t expecting.In this week’s Defenders LIVE, I’m sharing something different... a journal entry I wrote after a few difficult days and what they taught me about:* The difference between growth and constantly believing we need more* How internal chaos can exist even when we’re surrounded by peace* The ordinary blessings we stop noticing* What happens when all the “doing” gets stripped away* Pursuing goals from gratitude instead of believing we’re not enough* Recognizing what God has already given usI don’t want to have to get sick to notice my life.Maybe enough isn’t something we’re supposed to finally reach. Maybe we need to recognize how much we’ve already been given.Defenders LIVE is supported by you. To join our live group calls, consider becoming a paid subscriber.Earlier this week, I was sitting with friends wrestling with a question: When is enough, enough? We were talking about my fitness goals, but I knew the question went much deeper than that. Hours later, I became incredibly sick, and for the next couple of days almost everything I normally do was taken away. I couldn’t work. I couldn’t train. I could barely read, write, or look at a screen. I was forced into stillness.And in that stillness, God showed me something I hadn’t been able to see while I was busy doing, striving, growing, and pursuing the next thing. The peace I was looking for was already around me. So were the blessings. My family, my home, my health, my freedom, the ability to move my body, food, safety, nature, and a life filled with more than I had stopped long enough to recognize.This episode is simply me sharing what I wrote in my journal after those few days and what I believe God was teaching me through them. I still believe in goals. I still believe in growth, discipline, and doing hard things. But I’m learning there is a difference between pursuing growth from a place of gratitude and pursuing it because we’ve convinced ourselves that who we are or what we have isn’t enough.Maybe the question isn’t, “When will I finally have enough?”Maybe it’s, “When will I recognize that I already do?”Thanks for reading Defenders LIVE! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.defenders-live.com/subscribe
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