Gutterfighting Combatives Seminar

Chin Jab!

Knife to throat

Catcher's mitt pistol disarm

Gun disarm

Group shot!

On Saturday, Combat Hard conducted a three-hour seminar on combatives.  We put things within a scenario-based framework and drilled empty-hand techniques, knife and pistol disarms, as well as improvised weapons (magazines).  Everyone had great questions.  As much as we would like to fill in all the blanks of what could happen and what people should do, of course, some of the variables in any given situation would be anyone’s guess until a real-life encounter unfolded.  We all need to certainly use our imaginations and become critical thinkers, and scenarios are a great way to play with the possibilities, as well.  Emotional content is essential.  I try to feel as I would feel in a lethal encounter, complete with facial expressions and feeling the aggression surging through me.  One important point we stressed was training like we wish to perform out on the street.  Whatever we repeat in training, including bad habits, will come out!  This is why it is critical NOT to do things like hand the pistol or knife back to the training partner after disarming him or her.  This is just one example.  We cannot put this into our motor programs.  SO IMPORTANT!

Thanks so much to all students who participated, and to KBX Gym for making the seminar a success!

Know the Law That Governs You

Something that we have probably not talked about enough on this blog is the law and how it views use of force.  As you might expect, it is going to vary from state to state here in the U.S., as well as in other countries.  So, I highly recommend that you get online and read the local code that governs you wherever you live.  Whenever we talk about use of force, I am always a little surprised at what people do NOT know.  For instance, several individuals have expressed disbelief over not being able to legally shoot an assailant after disarming him.  Granted, if that assailant is still attempting to harm them, it is a different story altogether.  But, if he is no longer exhibiting threatening behavior, and they shoot him anyway, it is basically an execution.  If some guy throws the first punch, and I render him unconscious, AND I CONTINUE to beat him, the law is not going to look at me with a friendly eye.  It is easy to be vengeful and angry for his crime against me, but that doesn’t absolve me of committing my crime.  We have to make the distinction between force and excessive force, and if we use deadly force, we need to be able to articulate why.  Ignorance of the law of the land is never a good excuse, and I really don’t want anyone to transform an act of self-protection into a prison sentence.  Be safe and use your heads!

Imagine versus Visualize

In my last post I talked briefly about helping students to imagine all aspects of a scenario through imagination, using language that speaks to all the senses, not just visual.  Some people really struggle with mental pictures, or have none at all.  For me, it simply became a habit not to visualize.  I once had the ability to vividly create mental pictures, but I was told as a kid to “stop daydreaming!”  Now, I was not able to hold onto the images for long stretches at a time, but I could nevertheless create them.  This could be true for you, as well; maybe you are just rusty!  OR, maybe you need to imagine things with other sensory information.  It is an individual thing.

Brian Willis talks about this very dilemma of visualization in his blog post.  Interesting reading:

http://excellenceintraining.typepad.com/excellence_in_training/2009/10/imagine-vs-visualize.html

Training Notes

What is the best way to train Combatives?  We have been putting our thoughts together in preparation for a new class and re-vamping our current training methodology.  Our goal is to give people something they can use on the street as soon as they walk out into the world.  We have to create an immediate need for the training.  Unfortunately, many people have mental obstacles that prevent them from seeing the immediate need even though they express a desire to protect themselves.  This may be because they don’t really have a concept of what self-protection or real-world violence really entails.  You can hit students over the head with it, which is what some instructors try to do—you can scare them half to death with the brutal reality, but then you run the risk of losing students forever.  These are the very students that need help the most.  People have to be engaged as the individuals they are, because each of us has our own experiences, conditioning, etc.  We have to meet them where they are and bring them into the fold, so to speak, slowly.  People have all these wild ideas in their minds about fighting, based on what they see on television and in the movies, and the sports they watch.  But for real conflict that involves interpersonal human aggression, real mental preparation is required. 

We can tell people that fighting is not a goal, and we express this whenever we have an opportunity.  Certainly people need physical skills, also, for the times when all other measures fail.  Marcus Wynne talked about Combatives training, and expressed that people need to have the end in mind—what do they want to achieve?  Ah.  Imagery.  This keeps coming up in our research.  Students also need scenario training; we lead into this by again, creating the need in the beginning, and sharing real-life stories of survival and winning.  It is important to create a positive learning environment for our adult learners.  Even before running an individual through a scenario, the student needs to witness a trained response to a threat.  This way, they can model their own behavior after a successful response.  The scene should be set with descriptive imagery that appeals to all the senses, which helps to draw their minds into the situation.  Keep in mind that not all people can visualize.  We talked a lot about this in the Brian Willis’ Winning Mind seminar this past winter.  Some people struggle with mental pictures because they are simply not visually-oriented.  In fact, when they are told to close their eyes and visualize, they see NOTHING.  However, they can imagine with other sensory information.  If they are more kinesthetic, help them to imagine feeling.  If they are more auditory, help them to hear the sounds.  Assist them in imagining smells, and taste, if it is warranted.  Make an effort to paint the whole picture with more than just visual data.  

In his book, Sharpening the Warrior’s Edge, Bruce Siddle outlines design methodology and four goals for training.  I have paraphrased, here: 

• Increase the student’s confidence in a skill at the subconscious level.  Quickly.
• Increase the student’s situational confidence through stimulus-training-response exercises.
• Utilize imagery [he calls for visualization, but go further!] to prepare the students for the threat stimulus, and a correct response to that stimulus.
• Train students on breathing techniques to gain control of escalating heart rate. 

He also discusses the seven phases of dynamic scenario training.  Now, in the text, he is specifically referring to shooting scenarios and room-clearing techniques, but these principles can be applied to any combat scenario, in my opinion.  I have paraphrased here: 

• Introduce fundamentals, letting students know what to expect, especially in terms of survival stress.  Give students techniques for diffusing the effects of survival stress.  Students must make a mental checklist of potential threats, the primary response and the secondary response options [what is a “failure drill”?].  Students may not remember stress management techniques initially, so remind them and explain how to apply them to combat performance.
• Perform slow-motion walk-through of the steps and procedure.  This is the soft-wiring of the motor program they are creating in their nervous systems.
• Perform segmented scenario, in sequence.
• Slowly begin the process of engaging a static target while moving.  Speed picks up only after consistent practice in this phase.  If the scenario includes shooting, the students are introduced to target discrimination.
• Role players wear protective gear and exhibit threatening actions—the threat is alive, now.  Students will become more nervous with this new variable and must be encouraged to practice stress management techniques.  Between three to five reps of the sequence improves accuracy.
• Role players can now fight back.  Again, the stress level will increase for students.  The threat is only a single target at this phase, and should be simple and quick, which helps enhance visual reaction time.
• Several scenarios should be designed to test students’ reactions to the fullest extent.  Role players must maintain control; students are still learning to react and are gaining situational confidence.  Survival stress management MUST be reinforced, and it takes several repetitions at this phase for students to become automatic and fluid.  If shooting is involved, scenarios should be varied so students experience both “shoot” and “don’t shoot” situations.

Notice how students are not just thrown directly into the meat grinder with this careful process.  It serves no practical purpose if we want the students to successfully reach the goal.  Variables are changed one at a time.  Role players must be properly coached. 

So, what if practitioners need to perform better?  Following a scenario, instructors can walk them through what went right, and what could be improved.  It is important to NOT focus on the negative.  The scenario can be broken down into segments, so as to work on each individual facet of a situation.  Instructors should minimize corrections, because realistic fights are never perfect or choreographed.  Students must feel successful following scenario training. 

We have talked in previous posts about the critical elements of close quarters battles, and they are: speed, surprise, and violence of action.  Kelly McCann says that martial arts is something you do with someone, and combatives is something you do to someone.  Just as Ignatius Piazza said in his blog the other day, “action is faster than reaction.”  Once the assailant has broken into your decision loop, you are playing catch-up, and it becomes more difficult to regain the upper hand.  If you sense an imminent threat, you cannot wait for confirmation because it may be too late.  Intuition, or sensing intention, must be your guide. 

In addition to becoming unconsciously competent through scenario-based training, students must learn how to articulate their actions for the legal investigation that invariably follows.  They become unconscious competent articulates.  Students must understand when to stop the onslaught when the target is no longer a threat.  If the situation has been diffused, people no longer have the right to physically engage the assailant, within the eyes of the law.  In our minds, it is important for people to win from a physical, mental, and legal standpoint. 

 

References 

Siddle, Bruce K.  (1995).  Sharpening the Warrior’s Edge: The Pscychology & Science of Training.  Millstadt: PPCT Research Publications.

Gutterfighting.org

You may have already checked out their website, but I wanted to direct you to another group of Gutterfighters here in the states.  There is a lot of great information here about World War II Combatives, and if you read this blog regularly, you know we like to give credit where credit is due:

http://gutterfighting.org/Main.html

Dr. Ruthless Blog

Check out Dr. Ruthless (Melissa Soalt) weblog on women’s self-defense.  I love the name: All Fired Up.  No-nonsense kind of stuff, and perhaps you have read some of our previous posts about her and viewed some of her video clips already on this blog, or even watched her DVD Fierce and Female (Paladin Press).  I like what she says on the most recent post.  Fighting is not THE ONLY solution to violence against women, but aggression is a powerful resource when all other measures have failed.

http://doctorruthless.blogspot.com/

Smack!

Check this out.  Gotta love open-hand strikes. 

Not sure why this link won’t play nice with WordPress like it normally does:

http://www.youtube.com/esdsworld#p/u/6/4LggtA8saEg

Front Sight Firearms Training Institute Blog

Here is an interesting post on Front Sight’s blog.  The video shows a skateboarder overpowering a thug who pulls a gun on him in an open area, in front God and everyone.  You just never know where danger is lurking!  Dr. Ignatius Piazza gives his insightful thoughts on what transpires.  Great post, but I will warn you that there is strong profanity in the video:

http://www.ignatius-piazza-front-sight.com/2009/07/26/an-unlikely-hero/#

More Thoughts on Mental Skills

I was on Dennis Martin’s Combatives Forum and I watched a recent interview with Marcus Wynne.  I hear him say, and I am paraphrasing a little bit: “All physical technique is worthless without the willingness to use it.”  He also says that the most important thing for a shooter is “the willingness to pull the trigger on a human being.” Of course, this gets right back to mindset and mental skills.  Without installing the proper mindset, training can be a waste of time and effort.  How does one tap into an individual’s innate sense of survival, that may be latent, or buried under years and years of conditioning?  It’s a very complex thing, indeed.  They must be able to access a state of mind in which they can do, as Wynne describes in The Neural-Based Operator, ”whatever must be done” under extreme duress, with something “close to anger and rage”, but more of a controlled, or “ferocious resolve.”  I believe Kelly McCann calls this “rage with reason.”  One’s belief system is certainly a big factor in all this, as it is the framework (acquired through personal experiences and cultural or religious indoctrination) for self-image and it directs his or her actions.

Well, since we’re not all going to run out tomorrow and court danger every chance we get, we can certainly accomplish a lot through imagery, and through training “in state” or with full emotional content (ferocious resolve!).  It takes a willingness to go there, too, with scenario training, which some students still find frightening.  They think they want to know how to protect themselves, but then they are not quite certain what that means, exactly.  It means what we are always talking about: you have to become the predator.  Being a predator is sometimes a nasty, messy, distasteful business; it gets down to our primal roots as human animals.  But, what is the alternative in a lethal encounter?

Must. . .dig. . .further. . .into NLP!

Knee Strike

I trained knees for years in Muay Thai.  There are a multitude of variations with different names, and it seems like the naming conventions changed several times over the years—I could not keep the nomenclature straight to save my life.  In any case, the knee, used correctly, is a force to be reckoned with.  I failed to find the video on YouTube, but there was a show produced by National Geographic called Fight Science.  It has received its fair share of criticism, but they did some interesting tests with crash test dummies to measure the impact force of different strikes.  I believe Bas Rutten delivered an “MMA kick” to the dummy on one of the episodes.  In addition, a dedicated Muay Thai practitioner threw a knee into the dummy, and according to the show, it was the equivalent of a 35 mph car crash.  I could not determine how many pounds of force that equates to, nor am I a physicist, NOR am I versed in all the science behind crash testing, but I will go out on a limb and say that is probably pretty powerful.  You can generate a lot of force, indeed, and I can attest to the pain of being struck in the solar plexus.  My training partner was moving fairly hard and fast, but not exactly with all his might.  I felt like every last ounce of air had been sucked out of my lungs.  Now, imagine inflicting damage against the bad guy when you really, really mean it. 

The easiest knee strike to teach, and that we often use in Gutterfighting, is the Straight Knee.  It just projects forward from the body, into the target.  The target might be the abdomen, the groin, the inside of the thigh (femoral nerve), or the outside of the thigh (the common peroneal nerve).  Keep in mind the range when you use knees.  I used to see some people try to land a knee from kicking range.  Unless you are launching yourself towards the target (flying knee) like they do in the ring when the opponent is bouncing off the ropes, or you are going airborne in a whole crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon sort of way, you may as well kick him.  The same goes for trying to throw a kick in knee range—if you are jamming yourself against him with your kicking leg, just knee!  The hip drive is the special sauce for this technique.  Even with the Straight Knee, I use my hips.  Some new students’ hips, and glutes, for that matter, are completely turned off.  They don’t really know how to employ their powerhouse.  Without the hips, a punch and elbow are just arms, and the knee and kick are just legs. 

I prefer to grab the body and drive it into my knee strike.  Typically I will hook the back of the neck with one hand and grab the shoulder simultaneously with the other, thereby impaling the adversary on my kneecap.  You could check the shoulder and apply a knife hand to the side of the neck.  You could also wrap the arm, while pushing away the head as you strike.  Alternatively, you could go into the clinch position and apply one Straight Knee, or rapid-fire alternating Skip Knees, like they do in Muay Thai.  Employing leverage here is really helpful in landing the strike.  Just make sure you know how to keep your balance and avoid takedowns.  I think the High Low Principle is very important—the more you can confuse him with high and low line strikes, the more control you exert over his decision loop.  I would also say that it is important to know how to disengage forcefully, after you have finished with a knee coupled with a grab.  Either push him away, or finish with some other strike—it could be a Hammer Fist, or an elbow strike, or whatever your position dictates. 

Kelly McCann talks about a Knee Lift.  With this strike, the opponent is doubled over, and the knee is essentially traveling upward instead of in an outward thrust (TANG!), like with the Straight Knee.  This opportunity might present itself after you have already done something very nasty to him, and you throw in one knee for good measure just before you fly away. 

One nice target for the knee that I want to mention briefly is the head, if it becomes available.  Sometimes it does, and if you feel it is necessary to end the fight and/or keep this guy from running after you, then use it. 

The knee strike is a great tool, and I really recommend you practice it.  I have logged countless hours of practice with it myself, so it is part of my JKD and something I tend to use naturally, now.  I cannot promise you that yours will be car-crash strong, but with some practice, it can be pretty darn effective for you.  

 

References 

Levine, Darren, and Whitman, John.  (2007).  Complete Krav Maga: The Ultimate Guide  to Over 230 Self-Defense and Combatives Techniques.  Berkeley: Ulysses  Press. 

McCann, Kelly.  (2009).  Combatives for Street Survival: Hard-core Countermeasures for High-risk Situations.  South Korea: Black Belt Communications, LLC