Before I met David Wygant, I was pretty well versed in most Pickup Artist teachings.

So… when I finally started hanging out with him, I couldn’t wait to see how his style was similar or different from all the other PUAs I’ve met before!

You can only imagine how stoked I was to see the unofficial inspiration for Hitch live his life and interact with people.

Every time I came back from hanging out with him, I remember feeling good about myself.  I felt energized… totally empowered to be whoever I wanted to be.  The interesting thing was… even after hanging out with him a few times, I couldn’t put a finger on what exactly he taught.

Unlike what you learn in a bootcamp with a pickup company, David doesn’t teach any specific techniques. He doesn’t tell you to do A, or B, or C.

Instead, he spends a lot of time talking to you about you… and then… about himself.  He starts by asking you where you are from, what do you do, what do you like to do.  How were your previous relationships?  How is your dad or your mom?  Even though you may just have met him, , you’ll end up sharing with him some very personal stories.  You’ll end up telling him your hopes, your dreams, your goals, your struggles.

It all feels very natural.  He feels like a good friend.

In return, he’ll share with you his own struggles, what he has learned about women, the insights he got from his own failures with women.  If you are lucky, he may even share with you how he lost his virginity.  Talking to him feels like you are talking to the older brother you never had… or a really really cool uncle.

As you talk to him, you’ll notice that there’s a some sort of “bad boy” serenity to the way he carries himself.  When he talks about his struggles, he doesn’t seem bummed about them.   He acknowledges his down moments but never for a minute do you sense that he feels bad about them.  He learns and he moves on, and for that, you can’t help but respect and admire him.

He walks you around the city and shows you how he talks to people, how he engages them in a conversation.  Everything feels very free flow. Everything is done out and about.  There’s no classroom time.

I remember on the first bootcamp I went on with him, I kept on wondering (more…)

Bootcamps are always an interesting affair. 

From a student/client’s perspective, you are there to absorb as much as you can, see how things are done in-field and you hope that you get enough 1-on-1 attention to kick your game up a notch even though… this is just the beginning for you.

From an instructor’s perspective, bootcamps are always hard work.  If you care for your clients/students, you make sure they are learning and improving under your watch but you also want to make sure they are having a good time.  Sometimes, you have to sacrifice your own fun to make sure the student/client is doing ok.  Sometimes, you have enough good instructors with you that you can afford to get a little enjoyment yourself while on the job.

Overall, it takes a lot of energy out of you if you are an instructor.  Everyone learns at a different pace.  Give the students/clients too much theory and they get bored.  Give them too little role play, not enough drills and too few exercises and they don’t internalize the concept.  In field, if you don’t walk them through the process at first and if you don’t give them enough personal attention, they feel lost.

By the end of a bootcamp, I want a client/student to gain enough social awareness so that he can navigate any social interactions with confidence.  If he can do that, he shouldn’t have too much trouble attracting more women in his life afterwards and if he can follow-up with these women… [smile]

So this past weekend, I agreed to help Adam Lyons run his very first U.S. bootcamp alongside Johnny Wolf and Adam’s girlfriend Amanda.  We had 4 students coming in and we had 4 instructors. 

Let me tell you, the weekend turned out to be one of the most fun bootcamp I’ve ever participated in.  I’m not sure if I can credit this to Amanda as she brought balance to this highly testosteroned environment or if it was because… when you hang out with truly exceptional guys, whatever you do always turns out fun.  (more…)