Common questions.
Questions about the training, the engagement structure, and how to get started. If something is not covered here, the Discovery Call is the right place to ask.
How do I know this is not another online program that sells a video library?
Most programs in this category are exactly that, and the skepticism is reasonable. The differences here are checkable rather than claimed. Pricing is published on this site rather than quoted on a call. There is no membership and no login, because there is nothing to be enrolled in. The newsletter and the briefings are optional and you are never required to give an address to read anything published here. There is no countdown, no limited enrollment and no discount that expires. The only action this site asks for is a thirty-minute conversation, and nothing is owed after it. Coaching is delivered live, one to one, and is built around your situation rather than issued as a course.
What are Steve's credentials?
Steve Frassetti is a first-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Gracie Barra, a lineage that can be verified independently. He teaches and continues to train. He is also a Field CTO in enterprise infrastructure, which is the less common half of the background: the program is built for executive schedules, executive travel and executive exposure by someone who has spent a career inside them. Instruction in this space is usually one or the other. The combination is what the Five Dimension System is built on.
Do I need prior martial arts or self-defense experience?
No prior experience is required. Physical Readiness and Capability are developed alongside the other dimensions, not as a prerequisite. The program begins with your current physical baseline and is built around your actual schedule and capabilities.
How much time does this require each week?
Between sessions, the protocol is typically 20 to 30 minutes two to three times per week. The between-session work is where capability builds. It does not require a training partner, a gym membership, or any special equipment. The program is designed around the schedule of a working executive, not an aspirational training plan that collapses the moment a quarter-end push arrives.
What does a typical session look like?
Each session begins with a review of the between-session protocol from the previous week. The session then moves to the dimension or scenario work planned for that engagement, with real-time instruction and adjustment. Every session ends with a specific protocol for the work to be done before the next one. Sessions are 60 to 90 minutes depending on format.
Is this available outside Texas?
Virtual coaching is available worldwide. In-person sessions are conducted in Texas. National in-person engagements are available on a case-by-case basis with travel arrangements agreed during the Discovery Call.
How is this different from hiring a personal trainer or taking a self-defense class?
A personal trainer addresses physical conditioning but does not address situational awareness, avoidance, capability under resistance, or the contextual decision-making framework that governs when force is appropriate. A self-defense class delivers a technique catalog but not the first-principles framework that makes those techniques hold under real conditions. This program covers all five dimensions: Awareness, Avoidance, Physical Readiness, Capability, and Context. The integration of all five is what distinguishes it from either alternative.
What does first-principles training mean in this context?
First-principles teaching starts with the handful of absolute truths that govern physical confrontation: positional hierarchy, structure and base, control before force, the relationship between distance and danger. Techniques are taught as applications of those principles, not as isolated memorizations. The result is capability that adapts when conditions change and holds under real resistance, which technique-catalog training cannot produce.
Do I still need self-defense training if I can hire executive protection?
Executive protection and personal capability solve different problems. A protective detail manages risk around you when it is present. It is not with you in a hotel gym, on a morning run, in a parking structure, or during personal and family time, and most executives do not retain coverage around the clock. Self-defense training closes the gap a detail cannot: it makes you capable in the moments you are alone. The two are complementary, not alternatives. For most executives, individual capability is the layer they are missing.
Does this cover stalking and targeted threats, or only random crime?
Both, and the distinction runs through the whole system. Opportunistic crime finds you because you were readable in the moment. A targeted threat finds you because you were predictable over time, and predictability has a different answer: Context, which is your own exposure written down rather than a general profile, and Awareness, which is reading an approach while Avoidance is still available. One boundary, stated plainly. If there is a named person or a pattern of contact you can point to, the first calls are law enforcement, an attorney and, where the situation warrants it, a protective service. Coaching does not stand between you and anyone. What it does is the part that comes after and is usually left to you alone: the months of watchfulness nobody has trained you to carry, and a family that needs to understand something without being frightened by it.
Is Brazilian jiu-jitsu effective for an executive with no fighting background?
Brazilian jiu-jitsu is built for the person who did not grow up fighting. Its core principles of leverage, structure, and position before force let a smaller or less aggressive person control a larger one without relying on speed or striking. That is precisely why it suits an executive starting from zero. The training begins at your current baseline and develops capability through principle, not through accumulated mat-years you do not have. No prior experience is assumed or required.
I already train. Will this be worth my time?
Being in condition puts you ahead of most people who start, and it means the early work skips the base-building phase entirely. What structured lifting or running builds is the platform: the capacity to work hard without falling apart. What it does not build is performance against a person who is not cooperating, at a heart rate no treadmill produces. Those are separate adaptations, and only resistance from another human being develops the second one. The principle is the same one that governs your own training: nothing improves a lift except the lift.
Will this interfere with my current training program?
It does not have to, and this is worth planning rather than guessing at. Grappling is the conditioning work on the days it happens, so it replaces a cardio session rather than being added on top of the week. Two days a week is enough to build real capability. Expect four to six weeks of feeling more tired than usual while the adaptation is paid for, after which it settles. The limiter in the first month is technique rather than conditioning. One effect that catches people out: gripping hard instead of relaxing taxes the forearms, so pulling strength can feel slightly reduced early on. It passes, and it is a technique problem rather than a training-load problem.
I cannot afford to get injured. Is that a problem?
It is the right thing to raise, and it is not a problem. Contact is set at a level that keeps you working, and it is a decision you make rather than one the training imposes. The dimensions that resolve most situations carry no injury risk at all: reading environments, planning exits and understanding your own exposure are worked without contact. Capability is developed fourth in the sequence rather than first, and at an intensity you set. For anyone whose income depends on being uninjured, this ordering is not a modification. It is how the system is built.
What happens on the Discovery Call?
The Discovery Call is a free 30-minute conversation to assess fit. The discussion covers your specific context: the environments you move through, your travel patterns, your protective responsibilities, your current physical baseline, and what you are trying to develop. There is no commitment following the call. If there is a fit, a program is scoped and proposed. If there is not, that is communicated directly.
What is the typical engagement length?
Most clients begin with the 8-session executive program, delivered over 8 to 12 weeks. The foundational 4-session program is available for clients who want to assess the work before a longer commitment. Long-term clients typically move to an annual retainer structure after completing at least one full program. The Discovery Call determines which format fits your context and goals.
Is this confidential?
All engagement details, including the fact that someone is a client, are confidential by default. Inquiry submissions, Discovery Call content, and training specifics are not shared with anyone, used for testimonials, or referenced publicly without prior written permission. A formal NDA can be arranged before the Discovery Call for clients who require it.
Who is this program not for?
This program is not designed for casual participants, competitive martial artists seeking sport-specific preparation, or anyone looking for a weekend seminar. It is built for executives and high-level professionals who approach this the same way they approach any high-stakes domain: with sustained commitment and a long-term perspective. If you are looking for a quick fix or are not prepared to invest in between-session work, there are better alternatives available.
Questions not covered here are best addressed directly. The Discovery Call is a free 30-minute conversation with no commitment required.