Women fighing in MMA

When I was sitting in McNichols Arena in November of 1993 with less than three thousand people in a venue that held 18,000 I never thought I was present for the birth of a whole new sport. But since then what was then called "No Holds Barred" or "ultimate fighting" has evolved in what we now know as Mixed-Martial arts and it has indeed taken the world by storm.

Many fans would agree that Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, and Randy Couture are household names. However, true MMA fans realize that the sport isn't limited to the UFC .

Outside of that organization, there are women who fight and receive little recognition for it. Many praises to EliteXC (despite their many other faults) and other, smaller promotions that allow these fine athletes do what they do.

My favorite backpedaling on women in MMA was done while Dana White was on the road doing interviews in the Mall of America in Minneapolis and Canada pre- UFC 87.




While being interviewed in Canada, Dana was asked about women in MMA, and instead of giving the old Dana answer that women were not meant to fight, Dana stated that "there just are not enough women to fight" and he elaborated stating that far more men were available for fights so finding enough fighters to fill out a card was much easier for a fight organization to just handle men.
This of course is a far departure from Dana flatly saying that he did not like to see two women fight using mma.

And truth be told, some of these women have skills beyond what any MMA fan would expect.

Gina Carano (aka "Crush" on American Gladiators...a name that best describes her effect on me) is a female fighter with an immense amount of skill, strength, and heart. Gina is the first American female to win a Muay Thai championship in Thailand, and after beating such worthy opponents as Julie Kedzie and rosie Sexton (No Relation) she is currently undefeated in womens MMA and her fights are every bit as entertaining as those between UFC elites.

Whatever your sex, that's an accomplished mark.

White has been known to say that women are "too pretty" to fight. He's also stated that when two women fight, one is a "pretty girl" and the other looks like "a man."According to White, the "man" always wins—and no one wants to see that.

Well Dana, Gina Carano and Julie Kedzie have met in combat. Which one do you think looks like a man?

Carano (left) and Kedzie (right) would probably love to hear what you have to say...

I am sure if Dana had shown an interest in hiring female fighters, he would have been quite surprised at the number that would turn out for auditions. Possibly not enough for the number of weight classes that the men have but enough to showcase a few matches at each UFC event.
Of course I wouldn't want him to stop there. My idea for a TUF season featuring women fighters competing for a contract and shot a a title in the UFC.

Such a series might possibly draw more viewers than the regular TUF series with men.
The women would surely have spats where the men have fights while living so close together for six weeks, but I doubt there would be any house destruction or drinking binges (too many empty calories for the weight savvy gals) or the peeing on themselves and fecal pranks that the men found so compelling.

Apparently there now is room to hope, although I am sure it will take a long time. It is possible that instead of the EliteXC being accused by Dana of copying his business mdel, Dana will be guilty of copying the EXC'S women's fights which drew so much interest to the CBS programs.

So tell me...how do you feel about women fighting in MMA?

Scenario Training: Are You Teaching Your Students to Fail?

(Courtesy of TDA Training)

How do you prepare for an attack outside of the dojo or gym?

While training in class, we’re surrounded by friends in a controlled environment. We’re assured that we won’t be seriously harmed while practicing our techniques against one another. We take precautions, like protective gear and floor mats to help guarantee our safety. While everyone is instructed to ‘control’ their attack in order to prevent injury.

However, on the ‘street,’ its another story; there’s no safety equipment, no rules, no precautions, and our attacker’s full intention is only to harm us. This means that the self-defense techniques that we practice in the comforts of the dojo or gym may look and feel much different when we have to apply them for real.

The difference, of course, is stress. In class, we are allowed, even encouraged, to make mistakes. If a given technique doesn’t work, we may simply restart and try again. Our instructors and fellow students are hopefully supportive and give us advice to help us improve.

In a real situation, there is no second chance. You can’t count on anyone being around to help or support you. If your technique fails, you better have a back-up plan or you’re going to be in serious trouble.

The anxiety of being in this sort of situation causes an adrenal-stress reaction in the body. In order to help you survive the encounter, your body releases adrenaline into your system, causing your heart to pump faster, your lungs to take in more oxygen, your nervous system to feel less pain, your vision to narrow, and any unnecessary body functions (like digestion) to shut down.

In order to account for this type of reaction, many schools practice “scenario training;” where they try to mimic the conditions of an actual attack. The purpose of this type of training is to create a stressful situation so that the students’ can prepare for their body’s natural reactions to the environment.

The students are often further challenged by surprises during the scenario. The ‘attacker’ may suddenly produce a weapon, move in an unexpected direction, or be joined by an accomplice. The drill forces students to respond to unanticipated circumstances.

While scenario training is an excellent tool for getting people to deal with the realities of combat, it’s also the cause of the #1 training mistake that most instructors make.

The problem is that this type of training is often used too soon, before the student has a solid grasp of the way the techniques should be used.

Many instructors, in their zeal to prepare their students for the ‘real world’ neglect to first provide them with a solid foundation. The students are overloaded by the difficulty of the situation and its potential obstacles.

This is a lot like teaching someone to swim by throwing them into the deep end of a pool. Under the stress of drowning, a person might somehow learn to flail their way over to the edge of the pool, but he or she won’t really understand how to swim.

That person wouldn’t be able to win a swimming competition or save themselves if they fell out of a ship at sea. They simply wouldn’t have the skills necessary to excel at swimming.

Furthermore, this type of training could actually backfire, making the person more afraid of water than they were before the training.

Like swimming, self-defense training is best done by slowly acclimating the students to the environment. In a good swim class, students are given plenty of time to get used to the water. They are taught how to place their face in the water, how to float, and how to swim before they are ever allowed to enter the deep end of the pool.

Self-defense needs to be taught in much the same way.

First, the technique needs to be demonstrated and explained. Students should focus on learning the movement correctly and not yet bother with possible contingencies. Potential problems can be addressed after the technique has been properly learned.

Once the student can accurately perform the technique, it should be rehearsed over and over until it becomes ingrained into the muscle memory. The student must practice until he or she is able to react to an attack without thought.

Focus mitts, bagwork, shadow boxing and kata are all great training drills for improving our ability to use techniques without having to think about what we are doing. In this way, we learn to move naturally, without hesitation.

Light partner drills are also beneficial. They allow students to get used to striking or grabbing an actual person. As the student’s ability begins to improve, the partner may begin slowly increasing resistance against the attack.

It’s important to train carefully. If either partner is injured in the gym, they will be less able to defend themselves on the street. At this point, partners should only allow one another to ‘get a feel’ for the attack without having to struggle.

Next, comes the most enjoyable part of self-defense training. The instructor should now ask, “What could go wrong?”

This is where our training becomes much like a game of chess. The goal is to anticipate the ways our attacker might respond to our techniques and develop ways of countering them.

Together, the instructor and students explore the ways that their technique might be foiled. They then try to prepare for these problems and address different ways for dealing with them.

Since everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, each person needs to develop their own individual strategy for handling these issues. What works well for a short person may become a liability for a taller person. A response that makes sense for a grappler might not be a good idea for someone who prefers striking.

In the end, everyone needs to have at least one or two alternative options in case their technique doesn’t’ work as planned.

In addition, combat principles such as reciprocal action, disorientation, complex torque, pressure point activation, mechanical advantage, or variable pressure can also be used to increase the effectiveness of the technique and help to ensure that it will work when needed.

By combining combat principles with a back-up plan, a redundant strategy is created. Like the brakes on an airplane; if one system fails - another is ready to take its place.

(For example; if my finger jab to the opponent’s eyes fails, I’m still in position to strike the neck, kick the groin, or initiate a take-down. Striking toward the eyes causes disorientation which makes a groin kick possible, while also throwing my opponent off balance and giving me the mechanical advantage needed to enforce a take-down. Each piece of my strategy helps to set up another possible attack.)

Once the students have properly ingrained the movement into their muscle memory and have rehearsed possible contingencies, they may begin practicing scenario training.

They might train outside or in an area designed to resemble the scene of an attack. Training partners can engage them with threatening dialog similar to the tone used by an attacker. Everything in the environment and the manner of the opponents should be staged to recreate the conditions of an actual self-defense situation.

To increase the stress level, the opponents might surprise the defender by changing their attack or pulling out practice weapons.

Armed with the well-trained techniques, the defender should now be able to adjust to the changing circumstances and face the attackers with confidence. If not, the drill should be stopped so that the technique can be relearned or so that the combat strategy can be modified.

It’s okay to return to previous training methods if the student isn’t ready for scenario training. It’s better to review basic skills than it is to have the student endure a negative experience during the drill.

“Losing,” in a scenario drill only teaches a student how to get beat up. (Something they don’t need to learn.) This is why it’s important that the student is successful at this drill. The idea is to build confidence.

The goal of this training is for the student to feel as though he or she has already successfully faced many attacks. This way, if someone really attempts to harm them outside the dojo, they will react naturally without becoming overly anxious.

Scenario training is one of the best types of self-defense drills available. However, it’s important that students are adequately prepared.

Trying to train a high-stress scenario is much like attempting to run a marathon without the proper preparation - it will most likely result in injury. (Either physical or psychological.)

Remember, too much, too soon, is never a good way to train.

I hope you find this post useful in your own training,

Respectfully,

John

Newton's Laws Moves Me

Gunfighter Gene Hackman is shot. Right in the head. The beautiful Sharon Stone beat him to the draw in the grand finale scene of the Quick and the Dead western. To accentuate the drama, Hackman flips completely over in the slow motion macabre of a spaghetti western. How many viewers thought that such a flip could actually happen? Or just think bullets can move people around? Do bullets move people? If so, how much? What do we tell our officers, our practitioners and students about this in training?

In 2007, a police officer published a disgusted tirade in police journals trashing Hollywood and these acrobatic misrepresentations of gunfire. He stated that cinema action misrepresents the truth, confuses the public, the media, lawyers, juries and well…even some police administrators about shootings and what does and doesn't happen in a gunfight.

But this irate officer is not alone in voicing his opinion on the subject. There is always a healthy argument running somewhere about it. On one extreme, experts say that bullets hit and move people. On the other end, some argue that bullets do not and cannot move people. Semantics and science are involved here, as well as – some people just like to argue. So we have two groups, the Movers and Non-Movers.

Many of my complainants and my friends who have been shot, and research I have looked up, have repeatedly used interesting phrases and symbols to describe their wounding. Baseball came up a lot.

"It was like getting hit by a baseball."

Or your hear, "…like getting hit with a baseball bat."

Two SAS officers on a CNN special described being shot as "being hit with a sledge hammer."

And the responses do run the whole gamut from being "knocked back, knocked down" to "a slapping feeling." Knocked back or down? What say the Non-Movers about all this?

The Non-Movers quote Newton's Laws of Motions and what I nickname the Newton Impact, on this. Ol' Sir Isaac Newton has some lasting impact on the world with his three laws. His second law states in summary, that for every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, if object A exerts a force on object B, then object B also exerts an equal and opposite force on object A. When this comes to shooting people, many will tell you that the force – the recoil of a weapon in your hand, or on your shoulder is equal to the force striking your target. In short, if you don't flip over when you shoot the bad guy? The bad guy will not flip over when he is hit. This would mean that if you fired a perfect kill shot, such as one by a successful sniper, 100 times, 100 bodies would drop straight down dead. They would not be the slightest tumble or turn to one side from the impact. President kennedy's head did not move when shot. Nothing. Cold. Ballistic block science. Algebra. The Newton Impact: Equal in the hand/equal on the body.

The Movers: Conversely, the Movers cite other variables than cold science, like the situation, flesh, blood, and psychology – that cause people to move in the split seconds before, during and after actually being shot.

Before: People may well be already moving in a gunfight. Also, people about to be shot at often see the gun up and aiming at them. They physically react to this presented gun by ducking, dodging, diving, spinning to run, etc.

During: The human body contains bone mass, mobile joints and a central nervous system. We yank our hand back from the hot stove. We move our arm from a bee sting. We flinch from an insect on or near our eye. Our nervous system reacts from simple touches, to bug stings or higher levels of pain and impact. When bullets strike this anatomy, live body parts react differently than ballistic clay. Explosive sound alone may make the body move. Since the 1930s there are piles of research on the startle reflex and audible responses from shocking explosions. Dr. Robert Simmons has documented as many as 25 different body responses from audible shock in what he calls his Startle Museum (24 of them are not fighting stances by the way). In these cases the bullet's sound at least, may cause movement.

After: After being hit one or more times, shooting victims often do not die right away and therefore act like wounded humans, continuing to move. Once downed, there may be "after-death" throes.

There is quite a bit of motion involved with the before, during and after of being shot. The threat of the bullet, the impact from the bullet, even the sound of the bullet causes it.
The Hackman Flip -But, since we started out with the Gene Hackman western movie sample, has anyone ever really done a "Hackman flip?" In the 1990s I discovered another Hackman-style Flip.

I was reading a Vietnam War memoir and a soldier talked about a fellow troop of his being shot in the helmet. The troop told him "it knocked the life out of me," and that he "saw his toes flip up in front of his face" then he blacked out. The author saw his friend flip almost upside down and the helmet was destroyed, virtually split in half. The guy immediately recovered and appeared unhurt. (but, the writer mentions the man died back in the states years later from a brain aneurysm?)

I Read this from the non-fiction book. Code Name: Copperhead. My True-Life Exploits As a Special Forces Soldier, by Sergeant Major Joe R. Garner, U.S. Army (RET.) "In Ban Me Thuot, a friend who had been wounded told me, 'Joe, you just cannot believe the impact that the AK-47 has. I got shot in the leg and it knocked me head over heels. My rifle went ten feet from me. The NVA came up, and if it hadn't been for one of the other men killing him, I was unarmed and the NVA would have killed me.'"

These are two Newtonian, equal-force, flipping, head-scratchers! Did both these shooters flip too when they shot these flippers? What say ye, Mr Newton? More interesting is that these two shots are complete surprise shots without warning. So the bodies were not in dodge or dive mode.

But, aside from the dramatic and unusual Hackman flips, is there more science and math than this the simplistic equal-equal force, Newton Impact equation that explains these bodily reactions to bullets? Dr. Sean Ross of New Mexico is a government scientist who works on various weapons projects for the U.S. Military. He reports:
"Newton's laws of motion do apply here, but Newton's 2nd law applies to forces - force isn't what knocks a person down unless the force is crushing. Momentum transfer is what knocks something down. The correct way to analyze this is using the time integral of Newton's 3rd law F=mA, namely I=delta P, the "impulse momentum" theorem. The Impulse is the integral of the force over time, F=-delta T. That impulse is equal to the change in momentum imparted to the body."

Okay! Got that? The 3rd law explains and allows more than the 2nd law. Even if you don't get this now, before you use "Newton Impact" line again to defend your non-moving, equal/equal argument, you should school yourself on the 3rd law, else the experts will cluck-cluck and chastise you as uneducated and ill-informed. Don't just regurgitate what some old gun magazine article or some range instructor...had regurgitated to him...and so on.

Which leads me to The Law of Violent Impact, the 7th Rule:

"No one can guarantee what a punch, a kick, a stab or a gunshot will do to you."





And another truth I hold to be self-evident? The 1st Rule!
"Who wouldn't flip over Sharon Stone in leather chaps?"

Boxing for Self-defense and MMA

There are differences between the boxing ring, MMA, and self-defense applications of boxing. Let's look at them.


Boxing is one of my base arts because (no particular order):

• It has a "flow." Intrinsic to this art and "sweet science," is a smooth integration of offence and defense, with built in combinations coming from the position one technique ends in flowing into another technique, and so on
  
  
• Boxing training teaches one to take a hit and deliver one back, because you can practice all the legal techniques safely with some control and do no harm to your partner
  


• It smoothly integrates with other systems and styles, as seen in muay Thai, American Full-Contact, and MMA (including all hybrid sport styles), and has even changed point fighting
  It's effective - boxing techniques generate the most power out of hand techniques, with the possible exception of the spinning backfist
  



• Every martial artist must learn to defend against boxing punches, so most instructors who teach self-defense or "reality" fighting have to know it to some degree
  

Today we will address how Western boxing has been integrated into MMA competition, and contrast it with its uses in self-defense training.

Boxing in MMA: Boxing seems to form the basis for standup striking with the hands for all MMA fighters that I've seen. Its basic punches (jab, straight/cross, hook, and uppercuts), plus elbows have formed the basis for the upper-body arsenal. I like it, it's effective, and most striking KOs in MMA seem to come from boxing techniques. With the addition of the little 4-Oz. MMA gloves, gone are the open-hand strikes that were a mainstay in the early days. Striking is now encouraged by the rules, and even the better grapplers must know it, know how to defend it, and are using it to create openings for takedowns. Where I have a problem with MMA fighters use of boxing is in two areas:

1. The jab is almost a forgotten punch. The jab is designed to lead, stop-hit (intercept and counter) a curved strike, as a range-finder, and disrupt an opponent's offensive rhythm. It's been replaced by rear-hand leads haymakers and overhands, which look cool, but are an open invitation to get countered. More jabbing would get fighters in to do damage safely. I may never have stepped into a cage, but I've watched and participated in fighting of one form or another for over thirty years, and I can tell you that more jabbing will make most of these fighters and fights better.
   
2. The open or "peek-a-boo"-style guard is nearly universal. When you are standing up and away from your opponent, use a guard that puts your hands in the way of straight punches; force your opponent to work for an opening by keeping something in the way. The peek-a-boo works for boxers because they also use constant side-to-side movement of the head (see an early Mike Tyson for a good example), and dip to avoid straight shots. MMA fighters have to worry about leg kicks, surprise head kicks, but also blasting straight punches. Keeping the hands up and out in front will take care of that. When you get inside, that open guard position is perfect for stopping hooks and elbows.
   

Boxing for Self-Defense: There are quite a few differences between boxing in a ring or octagon, and for self-defense. What you may learn from actually hitting someone in the head with no gloves on is that you won't hit as hard without gloves, due to fear of injury, and that the fear of injuring your hands is well-founded. When adapting boxing for self-defense you need to:

1. Modify all techniques aimed at the hard parts of the head to be palm or hammerfists to avoid injury. Much has been written on this (by me, and many, many others), but hitting something hard with your fist isn't smart. In a real fight for your life it could be suicidal as your hand may be disabled, and the pain may distract you long enough to get killed. The jab should morph into an eye jab or lead-hand palm to the nose, chin or forehead. Open hand strikes (like a hook, but with an open hand) should replace hooks and overhands.
   
2. Boxing techniques to the body are excellent, except the body jab, straight, or cross. To perform any of those properly, you have to get your shoulder level with the target. That will put your head in perfect position to accept a knee to the face. Stick to uppercuts to the groin, bladder, solar plexus and kidneys. Hooks are the same, but may also be used to the side of the neck with great effectiveness.
   
3. Defensively, slipping and parrying, are great, but ducking is a no-no. It will get you flattened by a knee. Add in bumping with the shoulders and hips, and checking or grabbing with your hands. Traps are also possible now.
   

Are Kata/Poomse Important? (This should get some comments lol)

Seems like every time I bring this up on a discussion board I get a flurry of responses...usually negative. Keep in mind that I don't consider myself an expert at kata, though I consider myself good at their performance, I also don't claim to know all the bunkai (application) of the kata I "know."

What forms are good for:

1. Preservation of classical or "traditional" technique.
   I once had a prospective student come into my school and ask whether we taught traditional martial arts. I smiled and said, "depends on who's tradition you're talking about!" Tradition is subjective, but the commonly accepted techniques in an art or style are contained in its kata or poomse (for you TKD wonks). At each level, what your style considers important is contained in the forms. If not, then they are probably just ways of marking progress and making sure you wait long enough between belts to show progress-in other words, meaningless.
   
2. An excellent workout.
   If performed properly, forms are a great workout! After I finish a form in thirty seconds and I am sweating, breathing hard, and my thighs are shaking, I know a good workout. I get sore muscles in almost every part of my body from kata because I fire off all my muscles as I complete each technique, then relax between. Most excellent!
   
3. Teaching concentration and memorization.
   To perform kata properly, you must focus on every technique, as well as the pattern, plus put the "intention" on every block, punch, kick, and strike. You also focus your vision as if you are actually in combat. Great for memorization. I love this aspect.
   
4. Demonstrates and preserves the beauty of the martial arts.
   I think there's nothing more awesome than a well-performed kata. At a tournament I saw on TV, there was a black belt competitor who looked about 50 years old, and was an Okinowan stylist, I think. He was so precise and focused with every technique, with every stance, that I was in awe of his basics. I enjoyed his performance much higher than the 2o-ish competitors that did backflips and cartwheels and multiple high-kicks. Just me, but I want "martial" in my martial arts.
   
5. Forms provide steady income for schools.
   Forms give martial arts schools a reason to give private lessons, extra classes, and the variety of belts (some schools/systems have as many as twelve belts before black). Forms give you a justification to have so many. Right or wrong, it's income.
   
6. Forms break up the monotony of training.
   In defense of the income point, not everyone is a good fighter right away. Forms keep your interest.

What they are not good for:

1. Kata techniques aren't used in self-defense.
   I have never seen anyone fight like they perform a kata. I don't think I ever will. Kata are an exaggeration of the technique which one might use in fighting, but, as you perform the way you train. Some who are excellent at forms may dispute this contention, but I challenge them to send me a tape showing the forms in action. Granted, a few techniques will be used (knifehands, reverse punches, etc.), but they are all modified for real-world practicality. A good fighter doesn't chamber the pulling hand on the hip, unless he wants to get tagged in the head.
   
2. Kata performance is not an efficient means of preparing for sparring, fighting, or self-defense.
   If it was, Lennox Lewis, Tyson, and all other fighters with millions on the line would be doing them, wouldn't they. Oh, they're boxers? How about martial artists? Did you see a Chuck Norris, Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis, Nasty Anderson, or Arlene Limas (dating myself, eh?) doing forms to prepare for competition? No, of course not. Enough said.
   

Kata aren't the most efficient way to prepare for unarmed combat, but are a great way to carry on the techniques of the past in your respective arts. I will continue to do them into the future because I love them, but I'll be training for battle in another way.

12 Step Self Defense Program

A while ago I was introduced to the "12 Step Self Defense Program" by a great martial artist named Hock Hocheim. I've since hijacked it and modified it to my needs as an instructor and tend to use it whenever I teach a seminar...be it a Womens Self-Defense class or a seminar designed to train nightclub doormen. Here it is and I hope you might like to comment and discuss. Please note that this is written as if it was a class outline and talks about what areas each step should open up for discussion.

Step 1: W.W.W.W.H.W?
Who? What? Where? When? How? and Why?
These are the classic cop questions when taking a crime report and investigating crimes. The questions must be used here in all the following 11 steps of the program. In Step 1 we explain it. Crime and combat is situational and that is why there are really very few universal answers for people to use when in jam. For a quick exercise, imagine a common mugging and answer the"W" questions. You will have dissected the victim, the location, and the criminal and how he attacks you.

Another big subject here. The WHO of who attacks you? Here I talk about the common and uncommon, organized or disorganized criminal. I highly reccomend reading Dr J. Reid Maloy's Violence Risk and Threat Assessment.

Step 2: The Recon
To prepare yourself, where do you travel? This works for the professional or the civilian. A "pro" like a soldier, guard, or cop has more travel plans to worry about than a civilian But, either a pro or a civilian, how can these routes and stops of your life be dangerous. List the high percentage problem events with the high percentage problem people. Educate yourself and prepare for them. (big glitch here is that many people -and martial instructors- THINK they know these answers).

Think like a criminal. How will criminals recon victims?



Step 3: The Stance
Communications experts say that some 90% of communication is non-verbal. This means your face, your clothes, your physical appearance., how you hold your hands and arms, etc. This covers three areas to me:

Area a) mental - what stance do you take in your mind about confrontations? Area b) physical - how will you actually "stand" when confronted;

* try to keep some distance

* keep the body slightly bladed
for quick, athletic response

* move about slowly and advantageously
(the very word "stance," hypnotizes you
into thinking you have to stand still.)


Area c) martial arts gobblygook review, advise and consent. Many martial arts systems obsess about stances, turning them into anal retentive, black and white still photographs of perfect group, statue form. This is best used for organized group training sessions, not fighting strategies. When actual fights are full-color, hi-def motion. The so-called fighting stance is really about balance and power in motion. There is no "football-scoring stance."


4) The Talk
Given the many "Ws" variety in Step 1 and many places of Step 2's "life recon", what in general are you prepared to say and to whom? What will say (scream, whisper, or yell to you) Collect verbal ideas from seminar participants here.


5) The Fear
Fear is a two-way street yours and his. And here I like to mention:



*Issues on mind set

* A quick, user-friendly, non-techno-jargon
speech on the bio-mechanics of fear

* preconceived notions and the common
misunderstandings and misuse of
adrenaline issues in fighting. Trainers
can often further scare the student
with negatives about adrenaline.
Many are still using a 1980s model
and subsequent scare tactic
marketing plans to lure students
into various training programs.

* repetition training issues

* crisis rehearsal issues

* fortune favors the prepared


Step 6: The Four Targets
For a long time now I have mentioned my "college" speech on this, "You graduate the college of self defense by majoring in eyes, throat, groin, top of the feet...with a minor in fingers."

Major: By eyes, I mean the shooter's triangle around the eyes.
Major: By throat I mean the entire circumference of the neck
Major: By groin...I mean his nuts
Major: By top of the feet I mean around there on the feet - the shoe laces - and the ankles

Minor: By fingers, I mean cranking and breaking those suckers.

These are great self defense, close-quarter targets.

Step 7: The Four Stops
When angry parties do charge you, it is not uncommon that they "stop" at four points upon each other.

Stopping Point 1) At the hands. Since many people push or reach up to grab you, their hands are up. Your hands are likely to be up to respond. This often leads to parties held at hands length, sometimes with their fingers entwined. Please remember that I am not talking about a UFC fight here, but the real world folks. Watch the TV news and you will eventually see the Taiwan parliament, or the West Palm Beach City Council, or any other people in a fight and see members caught at times, at finger length. I often teach finger locks and catches at this range not un similar to aiki-jutsu and aikido.

Stopping Point 2) At the forearms, basically limb grabs. People either crash at bang forearms or grab each other's forearms. I often teach grab releases and...the Block, Pass and in Drill (the great forearm-to-forearm drill - which can be as alive or as dead as you want to make it) for response options here.

Stopping Point 3) Shoulder stops and chokes. I show basic old-school self defense here. Many common fights and crimes with citizens, police, criminals and today's modern military start with the ubiquitous shove to the shoulders . I teach an entire, mixed weapon module called The Shove Module, here in this progression.

Stopping Point 4) Bear hugs and arm wraps. I show what some might call JuJitsu here...grappling. I show old-school, basic self defense here.



Step 8: The Big Four Takedowns
In the opening of this century, several criminal justice departments of major USA colleges, along with the famous law enforcement street survival institute Calibre Press put together a list of "the 4 ways we hit the ground." How are we taken down. While I am sure the basic order of them might be debatable, I do think was can all agree that we are taken down by these four categories quite a bit:

1) Tripped down
2) Punched down (at times I use the words struck down, but the study said "punched.")
3) Pulled down
4) Tackled down


1) We trip. Probably the most common. In the real fight, many stumble over ourselves, furniture, curbs, etc. Here I introduce "grounds awareness" ideas, footwork and balance training.

2) We are punched down. The experts list this as second. Maybe? Maybe not? But the subsequent order of successful punches do make sense, as the majority of "street assault" attacks are perpetrated by untrained people do not know how to execute a sports jab or cross:

a) Sucker punches / strikes reviews
b) Roundhouse haymakers
c) jabs and crosses


And here we must do much work. Sucker strike recognition and responses, then the basic blocks and strikes of street strikes and punching. Issues of broken hands. Then, the "advanced" work of dealing with jab/cross/hook/uppercut/overhand sports striking and what they mean to survival. At times I use the words struck down, but the study said "punched"

3) We are "pulled down." That is to say we do a takedown and the guy hangs on to you with enough mojo to yank you down with him. He is on one knee or the ground and he pulls you down. (yes, they list this as third!) More balance, awareness and footwork.

4) We are tackled. Listed as last? I beg to differ. And they mean not sport tackles either. Crazy wild man leaps and so forth. Here I teach basic takedowns and basic countering

The order is not that important to me as the overall idea of the "big four takedowns." GREAT teaching concept. Perhaps we can use them as just a list of four things, but these are the four big ways the bad guys take us down.




Step 9: The Ground
If we are prone to hit the ground, whether on purpose or by accident, we had better learn to fight and survive there, and in a mixed weapon world. Here is where I teach the street survival material with a dash of very practical submission fighting for arrest, control, restrain and contain material.
This includes:


- Kneeling vs standing
- Kneeling vs kneeling
- Kneeling vs the downed
- Downed vs groups
- Top vs bottom
- Bottom vs top
- Side vs side
- Ground striking module
- Ground kicking module
- Ground maneuvering module
- Basic ground escapes
- Basic, practical submissions for capturing criminals and soldiers
- Fighting with uniform duty gear on
- Climate and terrain awareness




Step 10) The Weapon
Stats say that 40% of the people civilians and police police fight are armed with concealed or brandished firearms, impact and edged weapons. In the military, pretty much 100% of the people you fight have firearms. Observatinal skills (find the heat) and disarms/jamming tecniques are addressed here.

11) The Group
Stats say that 40% of the time civilians and police police fight two or more people. In the military, pretty much 100% you fight two or more people. Addressing defense againt mulitple opponents is addressed here.

12) The Aftermath
You have to be constantly asking yourself, what happens next? Okay, if I do this, what happens next? If I beat the overzealous, panhandler flat with my commando and World War II Combatives course? What happens to me next? The police arrest me? What?

The basic, final answer should be this: "I am home safe and the police will not arrest me."

This area is where I bring up legal issues, what and what not to say to responding police and how to do it. What actually happens in the criminal justice system? Given my training, education and experience I am qualified to expound on these subjects.

Also we cover some other after-the-immediate-fact things to do. Check yourself out for injuries. Proper authortiy notification, etc.

"My name is John, and I will never stop working on my 12 Step Program.
Thank you and good night"

Homosexuality in the Martial Arts

A few months ago I posted the following on my myspace blog in an attempt to generate a discourse and to see where some of my fellow martial artists stand on this issue:

"I overheard this in a conversation recently, a judo guy was saying how he was very uncomfortable with going to train at his college's judo club after an openly gay man joined. he said he was afarid the gay guy is in it for the wrong reason (the club is apparently 90% male).

As fellow martial artists, what are your thoughts on this? How would you feel if a fellow MA student or Instructor was revealed to be homosexual?"

I was surprised, shocked...sometimes disappointed but very pleased with the repsonses (especially the number of them). A generalized answer I tended to recieve was "I would have a problem with it, especially when practicing (insert name of grappling art here)". To the rather juvenile "That would freak me out!." My response is...That's your problem not theirs. So you need to get over it. Automatically assuming that a gay person is there to pick up on a member of the same sex is the same as assuming men only go to schools that also train women so they might get to feel some boobie during sparring or randori. May happen from time to time but that tends to be exception rather than the norm.

Here are some quotes of reponses I have recieved. I have not edited them for content or grammer...or spelling. Quotes are in Italics and my less-than-humble-opinion is in red.

"Personally I'd rather train with an openly gay man than closet cases. (Don't worry I'm not naming any names) Well as long as he does not come to sparring class wearing a dress" Unless you have to wear one of those Hakima things.

"while i have not (to my knowledge) grappled with a gay man (Bet you have) i don't think it would be a problem for me. as long as he wants to train and does not have other motives what's the big deal? hell i grapple with girls and i am able to control mself perfectly fine, why would a gay guy be any different? also i am rather sure that as much as we would all like to belive otherwise most of us are not greek gods who inspire lust and prolly are in no way attractive to your average gay man." Speak for yourself...I'd be more offended if they didn't. I'm one sexy bitch.

This is one of my personal favorites. "I've heard this debate time and time again. My opinion has always been, "Grow up and get the fuck over it". Chances are more than pretty good that you have already trained with a gay person...and you ain't caught the gay yet. I've had gay students, assisstants and instructors. At no time was I afraid the scary gay person."

"Personally, I don't care if he's gay... as long as I don't SEE it
physically in class. If it makes any of the men uncomfortable, I
would make an effort to pair him with a female partner.
If he is "flaming" and that causes disruptions in the class, that's a
different story. I have to question what I would do.
As we all know.. there are many more gays and pedofiles out there
than we are aware of... most are careful to hide their desires..
THOSE are the ones I'm afraid of." This guy is just an idiot. Gay does not equal pedophile. I wonder why this guy is affraid of closeted gays but he refused to respond to my queries?

We don't have problems teaching gays (if we have one ) in our Karate & Aikido class, but for Judo and BJJ its off-limit for the 3rd sex. It's not that we discriminate them, (Actually thats exactly what you're doing) it's just that the game has too much body contact and students tends to isolate themselves with the 3rd sex and we don't want isolations in our class. So to avoid problems like these it's better that we set some few rules...not offense..." I'm waiting for a translation for that last part. And an answer to the question I replied with "So do you allow males and females to train together in your grappling classes?"

"I also know that when you
teach BBJ, and other close quater self defense systems, and a student
finds out another is gay, and it gets around, you start to loose
students. (Not necesarily) So, it goes back to the don't ask, don't tell.
Now for those who do not llike that I am sorry, but to me if a
teacher decideds not to teach gays, that is their choice." Just like it is my choice to avoid their school, not spend money with their sponsers etc.

Pretty broad responses. I actually had to deal with this issue when I owned a school. One of my studentswas openly gay (he did't flaunt it but he's somewhat effeminate...3 guesses why he wanted self dense training). Another of my students came to me insisting that I throw out student A, citing everything from student's safety to religion. Students A had never caused me any problems and was possibly one of the most promising students I had. Student B was being disruptive, rude and abrasive to everyone...including me. After several warnings and discussions with him... had no choice but to remove Student B from my school.

I realize my veiw may differ from others and on the whole I respect others views but I can never seem to get behind the persecution of a group of people based on something that really isn't anyones business.



(ducking and covering)

Handicap sparring: Striker vs Grappler

One training method in which I am a strong believer is handicap sparring, whereby you improve one area of your skill set by isolating it. In this case, striking versus grappling. The striker (with boxing gloves) is allowed to use any strike in his arsenal, and the grappler can use any takedown, submission, or choke he wants. Years ago I did a similar drill called "Snake vs. Crane" which may sound familiar to some of my USSD readers. Basically one person is on the ground in the ground defense position and the other is standing (with the kids we sometimes had the standing person stand on one leg).

I strongly encourage Traditional stylists to begin inluding such sparring drills in there lessons.

Not sure who these two jokers are, but it's a good example of the idea of handicap sparring. Enjoy, discuss and comment.

It’s not what’s there, It’s what’s missing

Keep in mind that while I consider myself a scholar of the Martial Arts, I'm far from a historian.

My thought: different arts aren't really defined by what they include, but by "what they take away." To expound on this thought, what is fighting? Hochheim states it's everything from ICBMs, tactical/battlefield nukes, B-57s, gunships and artillery, machine guns, rifles, pistols, clubs, knives, then empty hand. Notice how much there is there? You can further take the subset of combat, empty hand, and include:

Strikes:
head butting
biting
shoulder thrusts
elbows
forearms
open-hand strikes
fists
hip checks
knees
all the various kicks

Grappling:
standing grappling
ground grappling
throws
traps
locks/breaks
takedowns, trips, sweeps, etc.

There's more, you're welcome to add to that list via comments, but the idea is the same. What differentiates styles is what they take away from that list.

Judo, for example, started out as what? Jujitsu. So did Aikido. What differentiates them from their ancestors? What they took away - much of the vicious striking and some of the grappling techniques were refined/modified.

The same is true of every other art, including karate (I always use lower-case to denote the generic Okinawan and Japanese striking arts and their derivatives, including TKD). What's taken away, in general, are many of the items on the lower list of grappling. Not all. Stylistically, some will include more or less than others on each list, but the formula is more or less correct.

Just a thought...

Nonsense and Punching

Ordinarily, I make it a point to politely ignore Black Belt Magazine columnist Jim Wagner, the self-proclaimed, young inventor of reality fighting in the late 1990s, oh, say 1997 (my God, where would we all be without him?). But, this last issue I read his remarks on "Closed Fist vs. Open Hand, and I simply could not bite my lip yet again.

Former Sky Marshal Wagner makes his main points:

- "Men tend to close their fist under pressure."

- "Advocates of the open hand techniques say that a person runs a higher risk of breaking his hand if he strikes an opponent with a closed fist. This is nonsense."

- "When I hit someone with my fist, the last thing I worry about is injury. I can get it fixed later at the hospital." (if its such nonsense, why even mention a trip to the hospital?)

To suggest that humans are genetically predisposed to fighting with balled-up fists is one thing, but to say that we therefore should be stuck fighting with fists is something else. Wouldn't this "punching gene" also mean we should also de-emphasize grabbing and grappling and have natural troubles striking with eye attacks, hammer fists, forearms and elbows? Somehow, with a little very training, people do these other things.

The open palm strike or palm heel strike was placed into military and police doctrines for a some good reason. Whenever the closed fist accidentally hits the ducking forehead/skull, there is an increased chance for injuries. Even some classical oriental systems prefer strikes with the so-called "knife" edge of the hand. Otherwise they spend decades "toughening" the fist to counter-attack the harsh reality of injuries.

Ducking skulls? The human head has a predisposition to duck down versus incoming attacks. The so-called slap or palm heel was emphasized to keep the soldiers from debilitating or incapacitating their hands in the middle of a fight for their life. One such modern, recognized source for the heel palm strike is the British military during World War II. The program called for restricting punches to the jaw-line and below to avoid striking the dense, ducking, bobbing and weaving bowling ball called the skull.

All this in an effort to avoid the several levels of hand injuries which may result:

- First: your hand could be injured and still function. This has happened to me, and many others I know.

- Second: your hand could be injured and somewhat incapacitated. This also has happened to me, and others I know. You can still use your hand somewhat but it becomes swollen and only partially dexterous. In the middle of a fight, I could not grab the suspect in any way. Nor cuff him. My hand became a dull, heavy slab. Plus, a second or third punch with this partially wounded fist might finish your hand.

- And lastly: you may suffer an injury with such electric pain that it shuts the fighter right down. This has not happened to me but has happened to co-workers right before my eyes, as well as numerous assault cases I have worked on.

In three decades of police work, I can hardly think of a time, I didn't have a friend or complainant with a hand cast from punching someone.

In terms of sport fighting, it is not uncommon for NHB, UFC rage-cagers, even when wearing some thin gloves and wraps, to damage their hands on the ocular cavity, forehead and skull of an opponent. Mounted ground-pounders sometimes break their hands punching heads pinned on the ground. Least we forget that Mike Tyson punched a mugger one night and broke his hand. Sadly some of the biggest names in modern martial arts have broken their hands doing their vertical fist battle punches and closed fist strikes in real encounters, against the cursed ducking skull.

The U.S. Department of Justice advises us that we (citizens and police) are attacked by two or more people, some 40% of all encounters. In dissecting this information, the stat holds up better versus the police, but could be even worse for citizens. Incapacitating your hand on the skull of one opponent could leave you in serious danger when in the midst of finishing off one person, and then fighting the others. Plus and even worse, some 40% of the time, the opponent is armed with an edged weapon or firearms. Common sense strategy calls for fully functional hands for as long as possible, to deal with these and other problems, such as disarming, grappling, handcuffing, operating your weapons, telephones and radio equipment. It is under these real-world problems that the palm-heel strikes were introduced.

I want to make two last notes; you can develop a wicked, wicked palm heel strike and/or slap with little work. Plus/secondly, keep in mind there are Neanderthal fighters out there with thick fists the size and density of sledgehammers. Instructors refusing to recognize the frailties of the hand, often use these cavemen as anecdotal examples to maintain the their status quo;

"Billy hits people in the skull!"

Well…Billy ain't you. Nor is he most of the student population. These monster hands can punch titanium and laugh out loud. Don't let them teach you their way of fighting and punching. If they can do it, doesn't mean you can do it. However, should you, as a professional instructor get such a caveman in your class? Maximize his uniqueness and let him punch away as his personal, primary tool. It is hard to imagine that Hulk Hogan would break his hand punching anywhere on Pee-Wee Herman. But this is an extreme example.

just today I met a black belt who threw a hook punch at a guy's head in a fight. The guy reflexively ducked his head sideways. The punch glanced off the skull, separating the black belt's pinky knuckle from the hand, split to the wrist. His hand was ruined for the rest of the fight. He said it was crippling pain and to this day he cannot put his fingers together.

Nothing is perfect, and nothing is imperfect. Everything is situational and positional. The smarter systems have embraced this reality advice "hit something hard with something soft. Hit something soft with something hard." I don't think anyone suggests that fighters should give up punching completely. I also don't think reality fighting systems should suggest you should punch anywhere, all the time as if you were a gloved boxer, and then report to the hospital later. You might not make it to the hospital. Strategic survival fighting also means surviving the fight, with as many body parts intact as possible, to keep on fighting.

Courtesy of www.hockscqc.com

You’re about to learn more about boxing gloves than you really need to know.

Boxing gloves protect you and your opponent. The earliest form of boxing glove originated in Greece and was called a Cestus and consisted of something meant to inflict pain and suffering rather than reduce it. It was basically leather straps that may or may not have things such as studs embedded in them. In short, they made boxing fights good and bloody.

Lucky for those of us practicing boxing today, boxing decided to become more civilized. Boxing gloves, while they haven't changed a whole lot, have benefitted from better materials and an understanding of science in the boxing glove development process.

Two Types of Boxing Gloves

1. Bag Gloves (Training Gloves)

Bag Gloves Protect you, Not your opponent

Sometimes people talking about boxing gloves are really referring to bag gloves or training gloves. The difference is that bag gloves are for hitting heavy bags and not people. Bag gloves are designed to protect you and not what you are hitting. Bag gloves can be used over wrapped hands or unwrapped hands and are designed to offer some padding and protection against scrapes and contusions while conditioning your hands for progressively heavier impacts. Bag gloves, like boxing gloves, come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Most boxers tend to use a heavier bag glove as a conditioning tool to increase stamina and endurance (especially in the shoulder region).

2. Boxing Gloves

Boxing Gloves will protect you and your opponent

Boxing gloves are used to protect not only you, but your opponent. Most common sizes of boxing glove are sixteen, twelve, ten, and eight ounce sizes (16oz, 12oz, 10oz, 8oz) and can come in a variety of styles. Some boxing gloves are pre-moulded meaning that they are already formed in a fist shape. You slide your fingers into the gloves and they naturally have to curl. Some are not moulded and you have to form the hitting surface. Some boxing gloves are fastened with string, others with velcro.

How do Boxing Gloves Work?

Boxing gloves are made with one thing in mind - force of impact. Force and the reduction of it on impact is what boxing gloves are designed for. A bigger, heavier boxing glove will decelerate and accelerate at a slower rate. This deceleration will reduce the forces involved at impact both on you and your opponent. They will cause less acceleration of the brain inside the skull cavity resulting in less damage. If you know anything about kinetic energy, a bigger boxing glove will transfer less kinetic energy on impact. As well, the increased size of the boxing glove will dissipate the force of impact over a larger area. In short, a bigger boxing glove will cause less damage to you and your opponent.

How are Boxing Gloves Made?

Boxing gloves are designed based on achieving a certain amount of compression. When the boxing glove strikes the target, the force is reduced or absorbed as the glove compresses. If the material used loses its ability to compress then the boxing gloves ability to reduce forces is dramatically decreased. The material that is supposed to compress becomes nothing more than a dense layer of padding that will protect the wearer of the boxing glove but will do little to reduce forces on impact. High density polyurethane, cotton, and horsehair are some types of padding materials often used.

Much like the space age memory foam mattresses a lot of people sleep on, padding also exhibits memory characteristics. The best padding will lose it's memory very quickly otherwise an initial blow will compress the material and subsequent blows will not benefit from the padding.

Boxing gloves must also be highly durable and resistant to tears, scrapes, and thousands of high speed impacts. For that reason, top grain leather is used - especially cowhide and goatskin due to their highly durable nature. The stitching has to be top notch to ensure the padding stays where it is supposed to and is usually a nylon based thread.

What Size of Boxing Gloves Should You Buy?

The answer to that question depends on what you are using them for. In general, How to Box recommends you use the following sizes of boxing gloves depending on your boxing activity:

a. Sparring: 16oz gloves

b. Training: Bag gloves - 12oz for beginners, increase weight to increase intensity and endurance

c. Amateur Fights: depends on the rules of the fight - generally 10oz glove is used and will be either red or blue with a white target area to help the judges score.

d. Professional Fights: will be decided in the rules of the professional affiliation the fight is sanctioned by. I believe 8oz gloves are the norm.

Boxing Gloves that Fit You

After deciding what size of boxing glove you want, the best way to buy boxing gloves is to wrap your hands and then try them on. If you are shopping without your hand wraps, you can put something about the size of a roll of quarters in your palm and then slip on the boxing glove. It should be tight, but not to the point where your hands are going to be deprived of blood. Your fingertips should fit firmly against the top of the glove and it should lace up or velcro tight around your wrist. The last thing you want is a glove flying off when you punch. I've never seen it happen, but a loose boxing glove could potentially cause all sorts of grief.

You will also want to consider where you will be using the boxing gloves. If you are training by yourself, then opt for a velcro fastener. It really sucks trying to get your gloves on and lace them up by yourself. Velcro will make it slightly easier.

Does Boxing Glove Brand Matter

To some people it does and to some people it doesn't. The top boxing manufacturers, Everlast, Title, Ringside, Rival all make excellent boxing gloves. There are a lot of other manufacturers that also make good boxing gloves. In short, you sometimes end up paying for a brand name, and you may or may not want to do that.

Boxing gloves you should avoid are the cheaper vinyl gloves. While the price is right, the quality isn't. The material will wear out very quickly and you'll end up buying another pair in the near future. Spend the money now for a quality pair of boxing gloves for your purpose and you shouldn't have to invest in another pair anytime soon.

Ring vs. Reality

The issue of whether or not a particular martial art is effective or not comes up all the time. What is realistic?

1. Actual hand to hand combat in war.

2. Surprise attacks,
-muggings
-kidnappings.

3. Fights for honor
-the school yard
-the bar
-arguments (petty and otherwise)

4. Crazy people, drunk or on drugs.

5. Intervening on behalf of someone being bullied or mugged

6. Intimidation (including turf defense and "hating out")
-by an individual
-by a group.

7. Professional encounters
bouncers
body guards
police.

A matched fight has several things these above fights don't. The first is parameters. The fight happens right here, when they ring the bell. And there are rules, no weapons, certain blows likely to maim or kill are usually forbidden. The fight will be stopped if one person concedes defeat. In addition the only surprises are likely to be techniques or strategies. The opponents are roughly the same size and wear the same types of gear. There is likely some advantage gained by conditioning or numbing one's body to take a hit (of little use in a knife fight for instance.)
If you are training for a matched fight you train specifically for the constraints of that fight, even down to studying the previous fights of your competitor.
Matched fighting and real fighting are completely different animals.

The Game of Self Defense

Okay, let’s play a quick little game that’s sure to improve your self-defense skills.

It’s really quite easy to play and almost anyone can do it, regardless of their ability or expertise in the martial arts.

First, watch the short clip below. It’s from a video called, “Self Defense Against Attacks From All Directions.” Available at RisingSunProductions.net.

The video clip provides us with 5 European martial artists showing us self defense techniques from a variety of styles, including Penchak Silat, Jeet Kune Do, Kali, and Tae Kwon Do.

The presenters each show us multiple ways of handling the same type of defense situation as it is practiced in their particular discipline. In this clip, we see how the martial artists would handle a two-person attack or an attack with a weapon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyd5CxfL96Y



Now, here's how we play the game;

First, watch the entire clip and pick out one technique that you really don't like; something that you think wouldn't work 'in real-life.' There's probably at least one move out of the bunch that doesn't seem realistic.

Now, ask yourself, "How could I make that technique work?"What would you do to improve it? Would you move differently? Strike another target? Grapple instead of strike? (Or vice-versa?)

Even though we practice and drill our techniques a certain way in class, there's always the possibility that during the chaos of a fight, we might find ourselves in an unfamiliar position. By playing this mental game, we allow ourselves to think our way out of a bad situation.

Go ahead and try it!

Now, let's play the game again, only this time find a move that you really like; something that you think you would actually try to do in a fight. Remember, there's five diverse styles represented here, so there's bound to be something appealing to you.

Now, (here's the fun part) ask yourself, "What would I do to improve that technique?"

Even though you feel it's a good move, there's probably still a little room for improvement. What would you tweak?Would you change the timing? Could you simplify the movement? Is there an opening somewhere that needs to be defended? How could the attacker counter you?….

Be creative and please post your thoughts in the 'comments' section below.

Here's how I'd play:

LEAST FAVORITE TECHNIQUE

One of the moves that I really didn't like much took place 36 seconds into the clip. In it the guy in red (Looks like Silat - it doesn't matter) is approached by the side and from behind.

He first hit's the guy to his side with a strike to the chest (that doesn't even seem to phase him) then gives the guy behind him a back kick (which luckily drops him), before finishing up by blocking a roundhouse kick and countering with a groin kick.

I don't think his initial strike was very strong and believe that he would be in big trouble if his back kick fails to drop the man behind him.

If I were in his situation, I would try to attack the man behind me first with a reverse elbow (if close) or a spinning backfist (if further away).While striking, I would move myself out of range of the other attacker and attempt to place the man behind me between us. I would angle off to his left and continue punishing him with elbows and strikes to the neck and head keeping him between myself and the other attacker. I would finish with a low kick to the leg, sending him down.Then I would rush the other attacker, sweeping his base leg as he attempted the roundhouse kick and run away before either of them could get up… At least that's the way it plays out in my mind.

MY FAVORITE MOVE

At 54 seconds into the clip, one guy's arms are grabbed by two attackers. He groin kicks the opponent on his right, then side kicks the opponent on his left. (Pretty good so far.) Then he does a really cool punch-release to get out of the right opponent's hold. With his right hand now free, he traps over the other opponent's arm and lets loose with a right punch to the neck.He then kinda arm bars as he moves off of the angle of attack to escape.

A really good technique, I think.If I had to change anything, I guess it would be the fact that he puts an awful lot of confidence in the groin kick taking out the right attacker. (It might work… but then again, if he misses, that guy will be on him quick!)I think that rather than attempt the kinda arm bar and moving off angle, he should pull the left opponent over into his buddy. (He could still control the arm while he does this.)This way, if the right opponent is still able to fight, they both end up tangled together. (Or, if he's on the ground holding his groin, 'Lefty' ends up tripping over him.) Allowing the defender to escape.Also, I think that I'd change the target of the side kick lower into the leg. A rib shot is okay, but I think that a hard kick to the kneecap has a better chance of dropping the attacker.

What do you think?

Are my ideas any good?

What would YOU DO?

Let's play!

The Finger Pointee/Half-Assed, Lame, Hand-Grip Mistake

This topic came up in one of my numerous reality vs. fantasy debates i have on discussion boards. It took me mere minutes to find a sample on a martial arts webpage. I always worry about instructors and then their students doing joint locks and limb catches with the showy, prissy, dangerous mistake of, when doing said joint locks and their related takedowns, using their pointer-finger as a directional guide and then barely grabbing the limb they are manipulating. See picture. Look at grab.

This is a sample of someone proud enough to use this photo on his webpage. Look at the pointee finger. Look at the lame, three-finger grip on...a KNIFE-BEARING LIMB!!!! (You might call this thumb-up pose another version of my coined phrase "Knife Cancer Grip.")
Why? Why? Why? What sense does this make? Real people fighting need ALL their fingers involved in a fight. especially against a knife.

MA Dictionary and explanations

Things I've learned from other martial arts

Point sparring: hit and run (tag your it)

Judo: why hit them with your fist when you can hit them with the ground

Aikido: best block don't be there

Brazilian Jujitsu: we're a lot more even on the ground

Krav Maga: eyes, nuts, throat…nuff said

Kempo: the quick and the furious

Boxing: some times its the simple techniques that are the best

Taekwondo: intelligent feet are better than a dumb ass

Muay Thai: Pain...much pain

Karate: see kung-fu

Wrestling: to avoid being taken down you need to have a good base :::slam::: see you weren't paying attention.

Kickboxing: hell yeah I can take a hit

Hapkido: how to completely embarrass somebody with joint locks.

Vale Tudo: Higher consciousness through harder impact

Kung fu: not only can I kick your ass but I look good doing it

MA Definitions

Some Martial Arts Definitions...

VARIOUS QUOTES FROM PEOPLE

Kempo: Percussion class with people as the drums

Aikido: Origami with people

Jiu-jitsu: people who fold your laundry for you----while you are still wearing it.

Tai Chi: martial art overdosed on valium...

• The idea of Taiji is to yield to your opponent's attack.... in most cases the yielding seems to be so pronounced that the idea must be to play on the opponent's pity. :^)
• Someone once told me my Tai Chi would only be useful in fighting NFL replays.
• I once described Tai Chi to my fellow classmates as being just like standing still, only faster.

Minor Martial Arts Dictionary

Aikido: A martial art which allows you to defeat your enemy without hurting him. Unless of course his does not know how to ukemi in which case he has his wrist broken in about 20 places.

Arnis: "Harness of the hand." A Filpino martial art, also known as eskrima and kali, centering around stick, blade and empty hand combat. Mispronanciation of the art guarantees a quick taste.

Bo: A stick.

Bokken: A stick that looks like a sword.

Buddhism: A religious doctrine and a marketing tool to populate asia with statues of short fat bald men.

Chi: A biophysical energy generated through breathing techniques, which in defying the laws of physics and the basic scientific common sense, allows the user to develop super human strength.

Dan: A term used in the Japanese martial arts for anyone who has achieved the rank of at least first-degree black belt.

Darn: The sound uttered when the wearer of a Dan realizes that they will now get hit harder and more frequently during training.

Dojo: "The place of the way." A training hall or gymnasium. Very similar to a B & D parlor but without the mistress.

Hakama: A skirt sometimes worn in the Martial Arts but we don't really like to talk about it.

Iaido: "Way of the sword." The modern art of drawing the samurai sword from its scabbard. A rather interesting art developed around the principle of "look how big mine is".

Judo: "Gentle way." A Japanese art where grown men roll around cuddling each other without apparently doing any damage. These men are often closet Hakama wearers.

Jujitsu: A lot like judo except that these boys like to inflict slightly more damage. Tend to get very angry when accused of being Hakama wearers and often are heard saying "You gotta a big mouth"

Karate: "Empty hand" or "China hand." The primary purpose of this art is the destruction of wood and other natural products. Most Karate styles have a placing on Green Peace's most wanted list. This art will be outlawed by most countries by the turn of the century. Karate people enjoy pain, this is shown by their habit of fighting with their fists on their hips.

Kata: A series of prearranged maneuvers practiced in many of the Oriental martial arts in order to avoid free sparring or anything else that may involve pain.

Katana: A sharp metal stick.

Kendo: A strange and unusual past-time involving hitting each other with sticks and making in-human sounds. Could be a cult ??

Kuk Sool Won: A combination of Kata, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Zen, Jujitsu and Master definitions but of course the tapes for Kuk Sool Won are much more expensive.

Kung fu: A generic term for a majority of the Chinese martial arts. Many of these arts involve the emulation of animals. Many students of Pray Mantis spend years attempting to obtain the other 4 legs while students of Monkey Kung-fu tend to find themselves being carted off by men in white lab coats.

Master: A title bestowed on a martial artist who has attained advanced rank after long years of study or has started his own style after achieving kyu grades in at least 4 arts, or has completed the "Become a Master by Video" course available for only 19.95 per month.

Naginata: A stick with a sharp bit on the end.

Ninja: A rather confused individual who likes sneaking around at night in his pajamas.

Ninjutsu: The art of being confused and sneaking around in your pajamas

Sparring: Bashing each other senseless in the hope that nobody realizes that you don't know any kata or techniques.

Tae kwon do: An unusual martial art that relies on its followers to have the flexibility of a professional ballet dancer and requires no ACTUAL fighting ability whatsoever.

Tai chi chuan: Another unusual art that promises ultimate power from moving very slowly for many years. The drawback being that by the time you develop the ultimate power you are close to death anyway.

Tatami: "Straw mat." A mat usually measuring three by six feet and three inches thick (with bound straw inside.) Original purpose to prevent blood stains on the wooden floor.

Three sectional staff: Three sticks linked together.

Zen: The discipline of enlightenment related to the Buddhist doctrine that emphasizes meditation, discipline, and the direct transmission of teachings from master to student. Mostly taught by rather old and confused monks who have had one too many rocks fall on their heads during waterfall meditation. Works best when sitting in a cave facing a wall for 10 years or so.

Teaching and Self-Evaluation

There is a great line attributed to Churchill that if you are in your 20s and are not a liberal, you don't have a heart. If you are in your 40s and not a conservative, you don't have a brain. While I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with him, the message relates clearly to how your belief system can change at different stages of your life and career. Many of us went from the dungeon dojo to a more motivational school with a big emphasis on personal development. This attracted a huge kids market but did it create better martial artists? I don't think so. It's pretty clear I'm not the only one because we are seeing a return to a more adult oriented and intense school, but not a return to the dungeon days of past.

The first time I visited California, I got into an argument with a black belt who was my host for the weekend in his small townhouse outside of San Francisco. It was 1992 and I was in the midst of a transition for my school from a school of adult fighters to a school of kids with an emphasis on positive development.

The argument rose from a conversation we had concerning his three-year-old son. I asked if he planned to have his kid take martial arts lessons. He made it clear that his son would learn to defend himself. I added that the martial arts are also really good for character development. The line had been drawn in the sand. He said he didn't care about his kid helping old ladies across the road. He wanted his kid to be able to, "knock someone on their ass" if needed.

I regurgitated a line that I had heard as a seminar that, "The world didn't need more fighters, it needed more respect and courtesy." He scoffed at the notion. He said his kid gets plenty of good messages from his favorite TV shows like Sesame Street. The boy attended church each Sunday with his mom and attended a good school. All of them taught him to be respectful and polite. What they didn't teach him was how to get out of a fight." He wanted his boy to be able to handle himself. I told him his approach to martial arts was "old school thinking." He laughed and we agreed to disagree.

Now, 15 years later, I've watched the martial arts evolve from a unique, cross-style vantage point. The more I think about it, the more I believe that my foul-mouthed friend was right, with some qualifications.

I certainly don't feel that the movement towards character development has been bad for schools. It has been great. However, years ago I warned that if we continued to stray away from our core services and values, our schools would become little more than motivational day care centers. I think we are getting pretty close.

Today it seems that instructors are judged more on their ability to get kids to recite pledges of good behavior and scream YES SIR! than on their students' capacity to "knock someone on their duffs" if they need to. I have a very good friend who has transformed his school from adults to kids and now back to adults again. Like me he had marketed to kids and cloned what the "Big Schools" were doing for character development. He began to pass kids for their "effort" in order save their "self-esteem." More and more he found his school had become a kids center with hundreds of children yelling "YES SIR!" at all the right moments during a speech.

Never mind that many of the kids really didn't know what was being said in class. They just knew at the end of a question to scream "YES SIR!". He also noticed that his upper-ranks began to look pretty weak. While passing every kid in exams may be good for retention, that very fact means eventually you are going to have a school full of Pooh Bears. Kids who are soft and nice, but easy targets despite the color of the belt.

In time, my friend began to not like his own school. He didn't want to be there. He missed the camaraderie and pride of creating black belts to whom he could teach fighting to without upsetting the student's mommy.

Then one day, something happened that he told me he would have down at anyone else it happened to, except it happened to him. One of his 11-year-old "self-esteem" Pooh Bears came running into the school crying. It seems another kid, who was no bigger or older had punched him in the face. The student had been standing in front of his karate school wearing his uniform and his BLACK BELT while waiting for his parents. Somehow he got into an exchange of words with a neighborhood kid who popped him in the nose. My friend was sickened. Not only had an unfortunate incident happened in front of his school, but also one of his black belts was crying and bleeding.

My friend was humiliated. That's not supposed to happen. When we were students, stories of our black belts defending themselves always ended with the bad guy in the hospital. That was the end of the student creed and passing exams for taking the effort to show up. It has taken him nearly two years, but he now is back to nearly 500 active students with only 20 percent under the age of 12, a complete reversal of where he had been when the kid got popped. He looks forward to going to his school each night and is having a blast running the school with a healthy mixture of personal development and realistic training and expectations.

My friend is one of the best black belts I know. He and I have talked about this new dynamic in the industry dozens of times. The conclusion that I've come to is that the introduction into the classroom of positive character development is a good "undercurrent" for a school. It's the perfect counter-balance to good physical training and self-defense. But many schools are out of balance. Technical execution and self-defense have become an afterthought to personal development. Why? It's a heck of a lot easier to teach a kid to play act like Boy Scout with a belt than to take the time effort and honesty required to produce a black belt who can defend himself.

But, as many people have discovered, in time you may be teaching at a school you hardly recognize anymore. You will have students who stand up straight when shaking hands but with rubber backbones. Worse of all, like my friend learned, you may have one of your students crying and bleeding that pseudo self-esteem all over your floor.

Square-eth in the Yonder Back

Oh ye' who do-eth all the frisking, pat downs and body searches. Hear Ye!

Hear Ye! Bewareth of the knife that is carried right down the spinaleth cordeth. For such is a place where the common hands do not travel. And instructors do noteth teach.

For I feareth we shall forget and it is good to cast eyes on yonder rig so as to implant the suggestion that the sonth-of-bitchth might be carrying there...eth.

Prepare ye for the sabereth gripeth!

The Keys to Parenting a New Karate Student

I once had my own school where over 70% of it's students were kids, and I was always asked by the parents of new students, "Mr. Sexton, you are so amazing at teaching and all. How often should we have our son practice every week at home?" Keep in mind that the first part was not usually a part of the question, but I've inserted it to add to my credibility (hah!). I would answer with the following:

1. You shouldn't make your child practice. [At this point, I would have to assist said parent with raising his/her jaw back to a normal position] We shouldn't approach this as if it's football or soccer practice where some parents are more interested in their son/daughter playing/starting/winning than the kid is. Catch this: this is something that your child loves now. If you make him practice, it's not his anymore, it's yours! If you force him to practice, he will resent it.
2. Instead, ask your child to show off! Instead of saying, "Junior, get over there on the wall like that incredible Mr. Sexton said, and do 500 round kicks off the wall!", say, "Hey Junior, show Mom that cool roundhouse you were doing in class last night. Wow!" In other words, have him or her show their stuff and make sure they know you're proud of it. Make sense?
3. At some point, your child will have goals that you can help him meet: a belt test, a tournament, a demonstration team tryout. That's the point where you need to ask the advice of your child's instructor, then develop a training plan that the child explicitly agrees to, then follow up. In other words, make sure the training plan is coming from Mr. Instructor, not Mr. Mom, and it has credibility in the eyes of your child, then you can hold him accountable.
4. Another idea, is to tell him that he's not allowed to practice during the week, if he's a very contrary child, and you can be assured that he will!
   

Never underestimate what can happen when you show you love your child by making sure he knows you're proud of him. Love never fails.

The Crippling Legacy of Martial Arts Hero Worship

Originally posted by Hock Hochheim:

I was in in a store the other day and saw an interesting guy walking around. He was a guy my age, or a bit older. He had a stature and while not an olympic athlete, you could tell he worked out, or whatever is that alerts your senses to such a person in your area. On the chest of his polo shirt read, Grand President." Sure enough, as he wandered closer I saw three or four martial arts belt logos on the breast. A closer look and I saw an Asian organization embroidered. Grand President. President wasn't enough. One had to be a grand president. I will now await to see the title Grander President, because obviously, grander would be better than grand?

It is, of course, a version of the Grandmaster title wars. I have even heard of people jockeying over the oneupsmanship of Grandmasters now with Great Grandmaster and I have even heard of a Supreme Grandmaster. Now that is pretty lofty ain't it? Who actually sits around and dreams up these titles? What do they accomplish?I recall a 36-year-old practitioner, an executive in a successful manufacturing business, tell me that he once signed with a local Asian MA school and one day he spotted one of the school instructor staff in the local supermarket shopping. A kid. 26 years old? The man introduced his wife to this guy. The instructor later chastised the older man for not calling him Master, even in street clothes, in the supermarket. The man quit the school immediately. Perhaps this might work when "Local Master Johnny" is teaching a bunch of elementary kids? But what is the age, breaking point where Master Johnny becomes Johnny-Johnny?

Now, I am a guy who had trouble saluting every jake-leg officer in the Army that waltzed by, so you know my twisted mindset, but all this kind of stinks to me. It smells and for me there is even just a little odor around having to call people "sensei" or master, and all that. I know...I know some of it makes some of the world go round, but I turn up my nose to it.

In the big picture of martial arts, there are just too many splintered martial arts systems, too many great grandmasters in charge of too many systems and too many goofy, paper-mill, Halls of Fame making them for a fast buck. One 40-year-old knucklehead I know of has made up an "international organization" and is selling grandmaster ranks for $100! Nice looking piece of paper. 11 by 14 inches. Color. But in reality? Its all eye wash and ass-wipe.

What I am trying to say is, one might call people like Ed Parker, or Funakoshi a master, Or Dan Insosanto a Guru - people with real and significant, international accomplishments - but Larry Dingballs at the local tire shop? Who dresses up three nights a week in a gi?There are some other characters I know who make seminar attendes kneel down and kiss their rings at the end of seminars. Now, excuse me for going redneck here for a moment, but you know what? They can kiss my ass before I'll kiss their ring. Who do they think they are? The Pope?

But, some people eat that kind of crap up! Love it! If you love the system so much? Or, the system head so much? You may well love it too much! There are cultists in all walks of life. I think some people hero-worship their "Sensei, Sifu, their Guro and Master." too much. They hero worship their UFC champ and their subsequent system. They rush in to learn every precise aspect of every method as if each were perfect manna from God. They have no intention of evolving or changing anything. They just want to be like their hero. Next, they start making excuses for the holes in the manna system. They start stretching the Grand President's doctrine out paper-thin to cover the holes in the doctrine. These people tend to be a personality type. They approach politics and religion on the same sort of blind way. Their Guro, Sensei, Grandmaster or President is 'the way," and all others are at fault or blind.

I recall a world-famous, joint-locking system that never showed, or even suggested that there are counters to the joint-locks. I taught the counters one seminar and they group nearly fainted. They stumbled to their notebooks and hung on every word I said! This is unhealthy. There are people out there who think they can just tap a few pressure points on a charging UFC champion and render him into a quivering, vomiting ball on the floor. Unquestioning people who just blindly love their system too much!

Years ago I was talking with some Thai Boxing systems and their general talk was getting to travel to Thailand and "The Temple," to train. What did this Temple teach? What religion? So you to go to a church to study Thai? You have to bow say a Thai prayer to a Thai God before a fight. Wha? Red Flag!

Inside this topic, there are two approaches to signing up and joining any martial system:

"I want to learn every thing that the Grazzies do, exactly as they do it.They are masters of the universe. They solve all problems."

or

"I want to see how people do these things and also to learn ways to defeat them.I reserve the right to evolve and problem -solve.Respect will be earned by personality and performance"

The second choice is really a studious, open-minded, smarter approach, a non-brainwashed, open mind, one for evolution and growth. If you study a system to learn new things with an eye open to defeating it, you are a smarter. Every thing I teach, I explore its weaknesses and counters as part of the subject module.

Gut Check/Cult Check

There are many extreme parallels, but great examples. Look at Billy Graham compared to David Koresh or Jim Jones. How deep runneth your kool-aid? The difference between inspiration (Graham) and idiocy (Koreah and Jones). How can you guard yourself against this?First, if you head up a system? Is your head on straight about all this? To avoid this hero-worship and cultism, a smart system is all about the student - what THEY get. It is not about a Grandmaster, a dynasty, a legacy, or hero worship. This cult and legacy approach is stifling. I have gone over to a tactical, practical format of martial training eleven years ago - modeled on courses I have seen in policing and the military - in hopes to avoid all this. I also shun being called any martial title I have earned. I know some people are being nice when doing so, but it really makes me wince a bit to hear it said. Calling me Guro or Sensei reminds of all this stinky stuff, and I am no Ed Parker or Inosanto. I am just a average athlete in my 50's with some really good ideas and outlines. I have to try to balance just enough humility and ego to make a strong business presence and advertising statement. That's it. That's appropriate. Please just call me Hock. Please!

Next, does your system let you train in other systems? This is a giant red flag of mind control. Does your system spend a disproportionate time ridiculing and maligning ALL other systems? Do they let you go train elsewhere, but talk smack about it the whole time?

Finally, you have to look deep into yourself. You must decide, do I train Filipino Arnis, Kung Fu or Judo because I just love the whole look, feel, flavor and exercise as a hobby? Am I after self defense? Am I prone to jump into hobbies, sports, politics and religion with both feet? Faithful beyond reason? What do I expect? What do I really want? Dare I speak up and ask the Sensei a controversial questions? Will I challenge his answer? Or will I try to make his square answer fit into a round hole?

If you are not a hobbyist, not a historical enthusiast, and instead seek combatives and self defense, a system should be about YOU. Your growth. It is about the material. Know what you want and know the differences. I am a but mere vessel for you to get this information. Its a very Zen thing, and I think it is the proper way to learn, teach and grow.

Take a cult check. Do you love your system too much?