Great Combatives Site

 

To learn more about Combatives, check out Dennis Martin’s Combatives Community:

http://combatives.forumotion.com/

Join the forum and you will find a wealth of helpful information.  Down and dirty stuff! 

Combatives on BOB and Striking Pad

 

We performed these on the dummy and a pad, but I highly recommend practicing on a partner also (not full force, of course).  Kelly McCann talks about Combatives being 90 percent attitude.  Especially when you are performing on pads and dummies, hit like you mean it.  I try to visualize the scenario as I perform the techniques.  The training must evolve into something more dynamic and realistic with emotional content.  I often wonder, if someone cannot even let loose on pads or a dummy, what will happen if they are confronted with a life or death situation?

 

Drill 1

 

1. Block the haymaker.  This looks like a Thai boxing cover. 
2. Chop (axehand) to the neck/side of the neck. 
3. Swivel punch to the midsection (really engage those hips!)
4. If the assailant is down, stomp on his leg (could be a break here).  If not, you can continue on with a myriad of other techniques.

 

Drill 2

 

1. Thai cover
2. Chop
3. Face smash (cup your hand like you are palming a grapefruit and get those fingers in his eyes)
4. Kick to shin

 

Drill 3

 

1. From a guard stance (maybe you have your protective fence), move right into the short chop to the windpipe (maybe it goes to his face, too).  I step in and drive forward—I think my foot even drives into the ground.
2. Long chop (more power here with your hip rotation)
3. Vertical chop to side of neck/top of the shoulder—you need power, so use your strong arm, just like throwing a cross

 

Drill 4 (On Pads)

 

We used the long cylindrical pad for this one so students could practice the face smash (it really hurts on BOB).

 

1. Thai cover
2. Chop
3. Face smash
4. Low side kick

 

Drill 5

 

1. From your protective fence, a flick to the eyes
2. Face smash
3. Left horizontal or snap elbow
4. Right horizontal or snap elbow

 

Drill 6

 

1. Flick to the eyes
2. Palm heel strike to the nose
3. Knee to the groin or body
4. He is down, stomp the leg (we stomped on pads) and drive through with your heel

 

Drill 7

 

1. Chin jab (with the heel of your palm, drive through his chin much like you would with an uppercut)
2. Immediately go to the face smash and push him to the ground

Single Stick Drills on BOB

 

Try performing these for timed rounds.  Begin light and then try adding some power.  If you are feeling froggy, try the left side, too:

 

1. X pattern: Angle 1, Angle 2, Thrust to the throat
2. Angle 1, Angle 2, Angle 1, Backhand (hit and retract) to the chin
3. Angle 1, Angle 2, Angle 3 (horizontal), Angle 6 (thrust to throat/area of collarbone)
4. Angle 1, Angle 2, Angle 7 (like Angle 6, opposite side)
5. Angle 1, Angle 2, Thrust to ribs and drag it across the body (Think of a sword here.  It penetrates the body and you turn your wrist counterclockwise to lead into the slash (or drag) across the midsection.)

Blog on Threat Indicators and Personal Safety

 

I wanted to share a good article on threat indicators.  We talked about some of these the other night in class.  The author, Thomas Gerace, a cop and martial artist, shares his insight on body language of a potential aggressor and what it can mean to you.  Do take the time to check it out:

 

http://tdatraining.blogspot.com/2008/12/threat-indicators-and-personal-safety.html

Sticks, Knives and Hubud

 

This drill is fun, though a little tricky to explain.  We begin with sticks:

 

1. Angle 1, Angle 2, Angle 1
2. Feeder feeds backhand to the head, you defend with a roof block
3. You follow up with Angle 1, he performs an inside deflection and disarms you
4. He still has his stick, and goes to Hubud, and on the second beat after his attack, you disarm him
5. You both go back to Hubud, empty-hand

 

After practicing for a bit back and forth, we add on:

 

1. From Hubud, he flows into an arm drag.  With that arm pulled across his body, and as he is turning his body clockwise, he uppercuts (under the arm)
2. He is heading for the armbar, but you draw a knife and slash (reverse grip)
3. He evades and you thrust the knife (high line)
4. He can block with two hands, or block and hit (palm strike to the face works well here)
5. He strips the knife

Knife Draw, Slash and Thrust

 

Combatives and Knives

 

We did a really cool drill the other day with our knives.  The assailant is advancing.   You might put up your protective fence, but then you slap him in the side of the head, like we do in our basic attack sequence.  Immediately you go to a face smash–check out the description here:

http://www.urbancombatives.com/facesmash.htm

Perhaps it stops here, especially if you were able to push him to the ground and run.  If it doesn’t stop here, move on to something else, and in this case we moved on to our concealed knives.  We practiced both a cross draw and a strong-side draw.  The cross draw was much easier for me.  As we drew our weapons, we slashed once across the body (or whatever is in that vicinity) and thrust into the mid-section.  Control his body with your other arm and lean into him as you thrust.  With the strong side draw, you will have a reverse grip.  It takes a lot of practice to properly retrieve the knife out of concealment without getting it tangled on clothing.  Try both methods of drawing and pick the one you prefer, then drill it like crazy, especially if you have intentions of carrying a concealed knife.

Balance and Double Sticks

 

 

Okay, so it is highly unlikely we will be fighting while deliberately balancing on one leg.  It is very likely we will find ourselves trying to recover balance on a regular basis, ESPECIALLY in fighting.  Think how much better the stabilizers in your legs and core will be if you master balance while moving your upper extremities, by swinging sticks, no less!  I know from experience that it does not take a terribly long time for the nervous system to wake up and adjust.  Consistency is key.  It takes your brain approximately 21 days (more or less) to form a new habit–lots of rewiring must take place as neurons are learning to fire together.  You’re not going to be a master super secret ninja in 21 days, but you’re going to see a heck of a lot of improvement in yourself in a month.  You’ll be building in some handy margin of error, and you never know when you might need it.  Who doesn’t want to be more balanced?  I’m currently using resistance bands, doing some balancing exercises with a medicine ball, and performing leg swings (with no support other than my base leg).  I improve every day in an effort to rehab my left knee (why does it always take injury to make us do what we need to do for ourselves?–But I digress)  We used to perform battle punches on one leg in Wing Chun as part of our training.  Great stuff.

Playing with Hubud

 

 

It’s still a little early with our students to really be flowing with hubud, but we are working on it.  I think once people get tremendous fatigue in their arms from trying to arm wrestle, they finally relax into the sensitivity drill it is supposed to be.  Then, they can start feeling for things like locks.  We worked a few last week, including a simple wrist lock and a shoulder lock.  We also worked on the arm bar and discussed, as we always do, failure drills in case the techniques just plain don’t work.  I was having trouble putting a wrist lock on one student, but I could easily get it on the instructor.  I always have to keep in mind that some techniques don’t work as well on certain body types and/or the combination of my body type WITH his or her body type.  In order to really flow, we have to be able to move on to the next technique and stop beating a dead horse, if you know what I mean (remember the definition of crazy?).  This does not preclude us from practicing a technique until we get it right, but again, we were focusing on sensitivity and flowing with the hubud.

Closed 6-Count Double Stick Drills

 

 

We often work on Heaven, Standard and Earth 6-count drills.  In Heaven, tips point up (forehand, backhand, backhand), in Standard, the tip is down on the second and fifth stroke, and in Earth, tips point down as strikes go to the low line.  We practiced some other 6-count patterns, including Redondo 6 (redondo on second and fifth strokes), Roof 6 (again, on second and fifth), Umbrella 6, and Shield 6 (the forehand hits and retracts instead of pulling the stroke through, which leads into the shield).

Try drilling them all together, back to back.