Programs 2001–2024
The One-Year Instructor’s Program
A full year of live-in training in Thailand, ending in instructor certification. The longest and most demanding of the Total Warrior programs, built for students who intended to teach professionally.
The Instructor’s Program took a student through all five ranking levels of Rick Tew’s Martial Science over twelve months of continuous live-in training, ending in certification to teach the system.
Why a full year
Short programs teach technique. A year changes how someone moves. The reasoning behind the length was straightforward: a two-week camp can introduce the nine areas, but only sustained daily training builds the depth required to teach them to somebody else.
Students trained alongside the shorter camps, so a first-year instructor candidate was constantly working with beginners — which is itself the skill being certified.
What the year covered
- All nine areas of focus — stances, rolls, falls, strikes, kicks, body movement, knowledge, combat and self-defense strategies, weapons
- All five ranking levels, two skills drawn from each area per level
- Weapons work with sword, stick, knife and staff
- Full-contact sparring, grappling, Muay Thai and Krav Maga style street combat
- The Winjitsu mental curriculum
- Outdoor and multi-terrain training across the island
- Teaching practice — running sessions for camp students under supervision
Who took it
Students came from every background and every level of fitness. Some arrived as experienced martial artists from other systems; many arrived as beginners. Because each ranking level draws from all nine areas, an experienced fighter still started at level one in weapons, rolls and body movement.
You can be an expert martial artist, and still you will be a beginner somewhere in the system — be it weapons, body movement, or maybe you’ll pee your pants on the side of a rock 500 feet high. So this is a place where everyone can learn something.
Current status
The Instructor’s Program is not running and is not accepting applications. Rick Tew is no longer teaching the live-in programs.