I bit the bullet and did it. I finally took a boot camp - the ABC’s of attraction Chicago bootcamp that ran from 08/05-07.
Before I go into the specifics, I’m going to start out with some general concerns I had going into the bootcamp. I thought it might be a scam, and it didn’t help that every bootcamp site looked super spammy. I thought it might be a waste of money, especially because I read a lot of comments online that were along the lines of “dont do a boot camp, you can just practice by yourself and you’ll save the money”.
I’m going to go with the analogy of learning to play a piano here. There are people who can teach themselves the piano. There are plenty of books and online resources to help you get started, and you can always just practice until you get good. But taking lessons will help you learn faster and avoid forming bad habits which will be harder to correct later. Additionally, some people just need to be taught - I honestly think that it would have been extremely difficult for me to start learning this stuff on my own. The thought of just going to a club/bar to practice picking up girls was just completely foreign to me. I personally am really glad that I took the bootcamp - it accelerated the learning process by helping me overcome my AA and fears of going out, as well as giving me a very structured and comprehensive guide to learning pickup.
A bootcamp will not make you a PUA master overnight. Like learning the piano, you won’t get better unless you practice. But what to practice, how to practice, where to practice, and most importantly, the balls to actually get out there and practice - this is what I gained from the bootcamp, and I don’t regret spending a single cent.
On to the review of the bootcamp:
During the lecture portions, we were taught the entire process from approach to how to get the girl back to your apartment. I have no complaints at all about the lectures. They were absolutely fantastic - this bootcamp was taught by JT himself and Ben J, and both were very good at explaining everything clearly and concisely. We had a range of skill levels from a guy who had taken the bootcamp a month back in NYC (it was so good that he had to take another one
, to people who were completely new to PUA (like me and this one other guy from Texas). The lectures were well organized and very comprehensive, and both Ben J and JT answered our numerous questions really well.
Each night we went out to a local venue. One thing I would really really recommend is that if you’re serious about taking a boot camp, GO OUT AND PRACTICE APPROACHING before you take it. I mean I’m pretty socially well adjusted, but that first night I literally froze up. I was supposed to approach at least 10 sets in the first hour or so but I just couldn’t do it. I think you will definitely get more out of it if you get your AA to at least a somewhat manageable level. Ben was our main field instructor - he pulled several sets of girls to talk to us and also went into sets with me to demonstrate as well. Unfortunately the clubs were really loud so I couldn’t really hear what he was saying, but I asked him to demonstrate on me the next day and he did several approaches that he had used the previous night. It was definitely super helpful to see someone in action, and Ben is really really good. Even if you decide not to do a bootcamp, I would really highly recommend trying to find someone better than you to go out with. By the third night, I had my AA almost completely under control, and was able to hook several sets - one of them was these two super sexy blonde girls, and I managed to get kisses from both of them (only on my cheeks though, but keep in mind I had never ever approached a girl in a club before this. Ever.). Also the third night we practiced AMOGing which was really fun
.
The thing that I liked the most about the bootcamp was that Ben and JT genuinely cared about the students. You could tell that JT would get really excited when one of us achieved one of our goals, and he would get upset when we failed to meet his expectations. Ben is one of the nicest guys I have met, and a really great field instructor. They teach not just for money but also to help other guys struggle through what they themselves struggled through in the past.
I will definitely be posting FRs as I go out more. I'll be in Chicago til Aug 26th, and then in San Francisco once I start school in September. I'm really happy I took the bootcamp, and I hope to improve a lot in the upcoming months
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