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The quality of the other reviews is daunting, but I'll throw mine in the mix -- first an actual review, then FRs for my own enrichment.
I'm 24 years old, Canadian-born Asian. I came into this bootcamp with basically zero romantic experience with women, and no knowledge of game. As a grad student in STEM, I can tell you this is a woefully common predicament among my peers.
Ultimately I want to become attractive, learn how best to express my intentions, and how to have genuine, emotionally meaningful engagements. I had realistic goals for the bootcamp and it really helped me with the following:
-be mindful of body language (aside: I've noticed that consciously fixing posture/expressions/movements has really improved my mood)
-manage approach anxiety
-internalize the fact that attraction is to a great extent a learnable skill
-have a fantastic structured way to practice and analyze mistakes
-meet people at all stages of development, with powerful and inspiring stories. we're all in it together
Our instructors were the Asian Playboy himself, Mike Smooth, and guest appearances from Tommy on 1st & 2nd night, with 7 students in total. The program was very effective for beginners: it opens the door and kicks your ass through it. They covered a ton of material, much of it intuitive, but overwhelming details at times, leaving no stone unturned. More important than techniques, the instructors showed us the mindset needed to become a sexually confident, emotionally powerful man. By learning about their experiences with pickup, we had a roadmap for the long road ahead. If I had any regrets, it was giving myself very little time to prepare for the bootcamp, especially mentally. I could've approached far more but made excuses, and often ejected at the first feeling of discomfort. Nonetheless the coaches did a good job of throwing me in there when I couldn't do it myself.
This bootcamp will show you the way thereby saving you time and effort, and hopefully give you that last push towards sustained improvement. However, they can only amplify your efforts; if you put nothing into the bootcamp, you will get nothing out of it.
Field reports:
1st Night
Focus on the approach and initial impressions. Approached 15 sets; mostly indirect.
Some of the conversations turned boring, so I left them. It's a bad attitude; I should be taking these conversations to better places.
Tommy teaches us some kamikaze openers; he's got great attitude, with fun written all over him. I kamikaze a tall brunette. She responds very candidly "I'm really flattered, but I'm right here with my boyfriend. Thank you though, I really appreciate it!" This allays my fears: direct is not offensive if I'm positive, genuine and confident.
Takeaway: approach more! look to make fun out of otherwise stale situations.
2nd Night
Compliance and comfort, escalate if possible. Approached 15-20 sets.
Most of the sets went something like this: Opener (half direct, half indirect), brief banter, invite to table.
Very cute blonde girl is talking with her black friend. Go in with a kamikaze opener on the left, address the friend "though you're cute too!", turn back to the blonde ask what they're celebrating. Talk about our celebration and invite to the table, she takes my hand and we head up; her friend takes my sales pitch but with a little skepticism. JT runs game and gets us seated; she to my left, her friend to my right. I banter, trying to keep both engaged, 30% attention on friend. Mike throws in a wing. I go into DHV story with blonde, we talk about our fears and hopes, career ambitions and so forth. Tommy sneaks in two pictures; I'm throw in a few BT spikes as needed. Physically we move closer, she starts cuddling up, intense eye contact--her eyes are glossy with thick pupils and my vision gets hazier too. She's a senior about to graduate, so I talk about taking risks and following your passion in life. Propose a skydiving date; get her number. Sexual compliance test 1 passed, test 2 passed, hesitate for a second about going in for a kiss. She's looking down, smiling and waiting for me to make a move -- my wingman moved off a minute ago so her friend is bored and interrupts us. Black girl grabs the blonde over to the dancefloor.
Some time later find the two dancing. Talk to the black girl first, talk about how awesome it is that she's a nurse, and with the most genuine intention tell her how underappreciated the profession is. Start dancing with blonde, escalating with kino, hand on lower back then hips; she starts grinding on me. Bring face closer; she's looking down with that coy, embarassed smile of arousal, and I should have lifted her chin and gone in for a kiss. Brush her hair and cheek, she's still looking down. Can't pull the trigger; she moves away as the chord changes. Try verbal escalation "so what do you do when you're not hitting on men?" "I'm not hitting on men! I'm hitting on her!" Starts dancing with one of her girlfriends to get attention. For some reason I eject; sexual anxiety--I felt clueless. At the end of the night I see a look of disappointment from the hot blonde (JT assesses "It's like having erectile disfunction!"); a look I've seen a lot in my lifetime, ugh.
Direct opener with one girl at the bar: effective. Wanted to come to our table but wanted a drink first; she got impatient and threw olives at the bartender, at which point I ejected (who the hell does that?).
A nerdy girl was dragged there by her friend. I chat her up, bring near the table. There's a serious makeout session going on at our table, so nerdy girl is hilariously reluctant to sit down over there. Tommy's doing a great job keeping her friend engaged, but I'm unable to break through the skepticism. I eject from exhaustion; she's too unwilling to come to the table.
One girl I attempted to bring back to the table but must've sent off the wrong signal -- she thought I was shaking hands but was attempting an elephant walk. Have to work on positioning and statements via body language.
Takeaway: PULL THE DAMN TRIGGER. Kick my fear in the balls and ramp up sexually; I'll have time to be scared when I'm naked and exhausted!
Sidenote: What JT said about compliance from hot girls is so true. The less physically attractive the girl, the more skepticism I encountered at the opener. What seemed to help was using a little less energy, and more honesty and factual talk rather than fun banter.
3rd Day
Day game. We paid a little extra and Mike gave us a day game lesson and took us out sarging in a busy shopping district. Honestly I was too exhausted and confused to get the most out of the experience, but Mike did a good job given the situation. AA got the better of me twice, one girl walked away too fast; day game is more sporadic by nature though.
Approached 3 cute international students; 2 Italians and a French girl. They seemed quite happy to be approached and knew what was up. I start talking about my travels to their countries, find out their situation (studying here for 3 more weeks), and attempt but fail to bring them to our nighttime event. Mike throws in a wing, but the French girl becomes disengaged and I start losing steam with one of the Italians. My tiredness was showing so they politely extricate themselves after taking my number and making vague promises of hanging out.
Takeaway: Day game is a different kind of hard. I have to think quicker on my feet.
3rd Night
D, E, F, how to handle AMOGs and enter mixed sets. Approached 10 sets.
Absolutely brutal environment for running game -- a crowded forest of tall dudes and what few groups of girls there were did not appreciate banter of any sort (one girl was actually tripping balls).
Men are actually easier to befriend than I thought in this kind of environment. The few unfriendly ones make themselves known loud and clear through asshole body language.
Approached someone who turned out to be an Italian model from Russia. Touch on the elbow, huge smile "Hey I just wanted to say that's an awesome hairstyle." She replies with a pleased smile and a thank you. I go off elsewhere.
Returned half an hour later, having found out about her career:
"My friend tells me your a model, no wonder you've got great style. You're from italy?" "I am fluent in Italian but I am from Russia."
*notice she's Asian-looking* "You must be from the West, near Kazakhstan."
Surprised, she says, "Yes!" blah blah. She asks, "Where are you from?" blah blah; she's engaged in the conversation. A lull and we start dancing; I'm not a particularly impressive dancer. Should have continued running game (BT spike either verbal or dance, isolate), but I was really put off by someone who treated everyone else as basically toys for self-amusement. Perhaps that's an excuse; in a PUA lens I left for no good reason.
Approached two aloof-looking black girls leaning against table, serious f*-off body language. "Hey great hair!" *introduce*. One girl ignores, another muttered "f* you". Probably came in with too high energy; doubt anything could've been salvaged anyhow.
Late in the night I realize bootcamp is coming to an end, and just how much work it will take to become successful with women. I get very down and have to stop.
Mike winged for one of the students in a super hostile 3-set. The energy, persistence, and sheer balls to go into that situation gives the student 5 more minutes; one of the hostile girls even cracks a smile. That's some serious skill.
Takeaway: maintain an immovable positivity. the best way to improve a situation is through conviction -- in an interaction the stronger belief is more influential.
My next steps:
I've been given a solid foundation upon which I can improve this area of my life, but the hard work (and fun!) remains. Although I have some useful tools and abilities I have some serious roadblocks. I could not fully push through my sexual anxiety in these three days. Furthermore, I had difficulty getting into the nonattached, perhaps mercenary mindset, which is essential to practicing and therefore improving. From my experiences with musicians, one of the surest signs of a future professional is not mere talent, but a preternatural ability to practice, practice practice. Technically I need to work on dominance, especially in day game. The journey ahead will be a struggle to reshape my internal attitudes, but ABCs has convinced me that improvement is possible through systematic external practice. I know now that I am not alone, and that every shared experience (with sets, AMOGs, wingmen, and all) can be enlightening.
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