About me

Nathaniel Cooke is a martial artist, trainer in communication skills and student of  psychology / NLP who has spent most of his life not getting hit.  Nearly all of it, in fact. 

 Through training professionals in presentation skills and communication, and by  studying theories of training and controlling large groups of people through your own   verbal / non-verbal signals, he has found that many of these techniques can be applied  to aggressive or potentially violent situations.  Further research proved that these  methods are in fact the same ones that are applied by doormen, bodyguards, police  officers and control & restraint experts across the land.  He decided there was a book in  that.

His first foray in to the martial arts was at the tender age of 14 at an Aikido class with his dear old man, which lasted for a good three years before he discovered girls and alcohol, and getting up at 7am on a Sunday to train no longer seemed such a good idea. Over the years he has also studied in freestyle Karate, Jujitsu and is currently training in Taijutsu, in which he holds the rank of 3rd Dan, and Wing Chun.

One of the many ironies of martial arts is that the more you learn, the less likely you are to have to use it as your confidence and understanding of violence grow.  Nathaniel wanted to find a way to articulate this, to give people the same knowledge without the years and years of rolling round on padded floors in Japanese pyjamas that usually goes with it.  How Not to Get Hit is the result of this desire.