Defenders USA

09/17/2026

Starting tomorrow, I’ll be teaching at the 2026 Guardian Conference put on by Concealed Carry at the Oklahoma City Gun Club.

This is an incredible organization with great people with a similar heart as I to teach good defensiveness to others.

It’s a humbling honor to join so many great instructors to help those attending to grow skills and thoughtfulness in this area.

Check out ConcealedCarry.com.

I’ll be teaching multiple rounds of two separate classes.
1. “Structural Handgun”
2. “That Others May Live”

Many thank you’s to Heckler & Koch for being a huge sponsor to this fantastic annual fi****ms training conference.

Adam Winch

09/17/2026

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 fi****ms 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.

09/11/2026

Sept. 11, 2001

This day is seared into memory. Twenty-five years later and it still feels like just yesterday.

The horror. The flames. The falling bodies. The death. The ash. The extreme bravery even while pure evil was still at work and on display. The huge planes ladened with souls and fuel going into buildings or into a field.

I was with fellow warriors watching it live on TV and the moment we saw the second plane flash towards the second tower, I knew we had been attacked.

Even as the massive explosion from that second plane strike was still mushrooming through the second tower, I instinctually breathed out that we were going to war.
My fellow warriors nodded silently.

America changed in those moments. The paths of our lives changed, with my own trajectory altered forever and completely, some for good, some for bad.

Then Sept. 11, 2013, we were symbolically attacked again and our politicians allowed our warriors to die.

Too many have been lost to the evil behind this day, and may those evil people not yet erased from the earth one day face the harsh justice they deserve.

It is coming again. Another variation is coming, possibly even worse.

May we be ever-vigilant and may the next one be stopped before Evil strikes again.

In loving memory for those horrifically lost and in heartfelt sympathy by so many painfully affected by our 9/11's.

May we not just remember but also continue to educate others of the radical diabolic evil that leads some in Islam to commit and justify such terror. If we don't educate those who've come after of this evil still seeking to cause mayhem, it will certainly be visited on many more of us again.

May God still bless America.

Adam Winch

Created by Steve A. Please note: YouTube has determined that this...

09/10/2026

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 us

I 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.

See more on Defenders-LIVE.com

09/08/2026

IYKYK.

Lots of handgun and some r***e courses coming up in OK, AZ, NV, MT, IN, IL, SC, TX, OH, GA, and AL.

We’d love to see you there.

It’s also easy to host Adam! Just let us know!

Defenders USA
Adam Winch

09/06/2026

Let’s not tell Heckler & Koch! ;)

hecklerandkoch

09/03/2026

Heading out in about two weeks for the Guardian Conference near Oklahoma City, put on by Concealed Carry.

An excellent training conference put on by great people.
There may still be a few spots left, for those who'd like to experience getting to train with some of the best in the industry in one venue for three full days.

See you there!

Adam Winch

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BrWpejTBT/

Most defensive fi****ms training is built around protecting one person: you.

But what happens when you’re responsible for someone else?

At the 2026 Guardian Conference, Adam Winch of Defenders USA is teaching That Others May Live, a 4-hour intermediate pistol course built around exactly that problem.

You’ll begin by refining shooting and gun handling before adding close quarters, obstacles, and other people. Then the problems get harder.

How do you direct someone during an emergency? How do you shield them? Control their movement? Move with them? Fight while protecting them?

Because the person beside you might be your spouse, your child, your friend, or someone who has absolutely no idea what to do when violence erupts.

Adam is taking students beyond simply learning how to run a handgun and into the much more complicated responsibility of fighting for someone else.

THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE
Instructor: Adam Winch | Defenders USA
4 Hours | Intermediate Pistol
Estimated Round Count: 250

And this is just ONE of the training blocks you can choose.

Guardian Conference attendees get 24 hours of instruction across three days, building their own training schedule from at least six different blocks of instruction taught by nationally recognized instructors.

Three days. At least six classes. 24 hours of training.

What will you choose?

09/03/2026

Some threats look like threats. Others don’t. Liz Lazarus has experienced both.

As a college student, she woke to an attacker kicking through her bedroom door. Years later, she found herself in an entirely different fight, trying to protect her aging mother during a years-long guardianship battle.

Those experiences taught her some hard lessons about what it really means to protect yourself and the people you love.

In this episode, you'll hear:��
Why your instincts deserve your attention�
How small actions can buy critical time when something goes wrong�
Why women sometimes ignore red flags and what we need to do differently�
What stalking victims taught Liz about documenting threatening behavior�
Why every family should have important legal and healthcare decisions settled before a crisis�
The difference between owning a fi***rm and actually being prepared�
How to keep fighting while accepting that some things are simply outside our control

Liz turned some of the hardest experiences of her life into stories that now help other people become more aware and prepared.

Watch more at Defenders-LIVE.com or subscribe for future conversations.
More at lizlazarus.com.

09/02/2026

Resiliency.
Perseverance.
Building energetic-ness.
The ability to keep going when it’s hard.

How’s yours?

It felt heavy today. The heat pressed the senses, the humidity wrapped like a warm, wet blanket. The sun blinked not. Sweat cascaded into pools.

Working out consistently is far more than just working out. Yes, it’s about health…but also about growth through the hard. That consistency of doing the hard on a routine basis causes growth beyond the grinding strain.
Approached thoughtfully, it grows the soul as much or more than the body.

I vividly remember a fight almost to the death with a just released felon who tried to kill my partner and I, and whom seemed to also be trying to hurt or kill two kids.
It went on forever…so it seemed and felt, when in reality it was only estimated to last somewhere around 4.5 minutes.

I gave everything I had…being extremely fit at the time and well trained in hand-to-hand fighting techniques, it was only just enough. Thankfully it was enough…but just barely…and at times I wondered in the midst of that forever if we were going to die. Or if I give it all and still lose, causing the loss of my partner and two innocent kids.

When the fight was over, my partner was laying bleeding and immobile from sheer exhaustion on top of the catatonic Mr. Dirtbag. I was laying on top of them both, bleeding a little, completely spent and unable to move. Oxygen was seemingly rare and felt precious, and my lung gasped greedily for more.

Two firefighters and two cops had to physically pick me up and three more firefighters and another cop physically picked up my partner and manhandled him off to an ambulance.

Screw Mr. Dirtbag. Prison re-awaited him.

Here’s the two general points:

1. Physical fitness is your friend in the moments of need, no matter whether you enjoy engaging with that monster or not in the easier days of not dealing with evil.

Do you give it some priority? Should you? Could you give it just a little more priority? And, should you?

I’m not advocating becoming Arnold (imaging saying that name with Schwarzenegger’s cool accent) but some helps…and I’d say too many in the gun world could lose a pound or two and grow a muscle or two and increase their cardio a bit…and it’d be just as important or even more important for the longevity of life and long term safety and happiness than working to increase a draw stroke by a few more tenths of a second.

And as the gift that keeps on giving, you’ll look and feel better naked.

I’m probably more consistent with my working out than I am with my dry fire…as I’ve felt the need for physical strength more often in real life than is stated here and more often than I’ve also had to legitimately produce or use fi****ms.

If I could encourage a few more of us to pick up a weight, or eat a Wheatie, or knock out a push-up or three, or run a couple steps…or a mile now and again…especially anyone who legitimately considers themselves a Defender of life (side-eye looking at you hefty or toothpick-thin Cops out there)…it’d be a job well done.

2. Learn to fight with a gun.

That ain’t just fast or just accurate. It ain’t just fast and accurate. Fighting is more than just those two…and a real fight often easily goes beyond just drawing and shooting quickly and accurately.

From experience, I’d advocate that once those skills are automated in you - being able to safely handle a gun while drawing it quickly and shooting it accurately at realistic speeds - it’s time to move on from the basic square range training.

In order to help with such training, I introduced the Fighting Handgun Concepts over a decade ago, constantly refining the curriculum through the years based on how fights happen and the needs of those who attend.

It’s a solid, tough course…and very realistic, all professionally done with high standards of safety.

I encourage you to consider attending the few Fighting Handgun Concepts training courses left this year and into 2027.

It does involve a degree of fitness, hence the start of this post…

Upcoming Fighting Handgun Concepts:

Oct. 23 - 25th
Lafayette, Indiana

Oct. 30 - Nov. 1st
Cottageville, SC

March 19 - 21st, 2027
Fort Valley, VA

Oct. 1 - 3rd, 2027
Cohutta Pines, GA

More information can be found at the link below.

Ode to resiliency and perseverance -

Adam Winch

Upcoming Training Opportunities Category: CategoryArial Precision RifleBank Employee Security TrainingChurch SecurityClose QuartersColorado Concealed Carry PermitCorporate TrainingDry Fire ClinicFighting Handgun ConceptsHandgunHeckler & KochInstructor DevelopmentLaw Enforcement TrainingLong RangeNat...

08/27/2026

What if the biggest thing keeping you stuck is a lie you don't even realize you're telling yourself?
"I just need to get motivated."
"I'm waiting for the right time."
"I really want it."
"I'm just being nice."
Sometimes those things are true. And sometimes they're the stories we tell ourselves because the truth requires us to do something uncomfortable.
In this episode, leadership coach Matt Ware and I get straight to the heart of it.

We talk about:
Why motivation may not be what you're actually missing�
How being "nice" can become a way of avoiding hard truths�
Why wanting something isn't the same as being willing to work for it�
How past failures AND past successes can keep you stuck�
Why honesty and personal responsibility are essential for real growth�
What it means to stop waiting and play the shot that's in front of you

At the heart of this conversation is something every defender needs: the courage to tell yourself the truth, take responsibility for what is yours, and act on the shot that's in front of you.

Watch Ep. 197 of Defenders LIVE with Matt Ware at Defenders-LIVE.com.
More about Matt at www.themattware.com.