Now with my new venture into new martial arts, I do what I normally do with any new venture: I seek out as much information as I can. Devour knowledge.
Found a nice website on basic Muay Thai techniques.
Martial Arts
On fear
Last night I finished reading Col. Jeff Cooper‘s book To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth.
An interesting and enlightening book. Cooper, no question has his mind set in particular ways. You may not agree with him, but without question he’s been a major influence on the craft of shooting. The book comes across as a series of “talks” or stories on a topic. Some remembering past hunting trips, told as if you were sitting around a campfire having a beer and sharing with your mates. Some passages were Cooper’s take on pistols or rifles and how to use them properly. Certainly there was a dose of his philosophy, politics, and view on life and the world.
A common question from the hoplophobes (Cooper’s term) regarding gun ownership is “What are you afraid of?”. Questions about your mental state and your level of paranoia inevitably arise. This passage from Cooper’s book struck me in this regard:
Danger, to be appreciated, must be known. Our lives were all forfeit when we were born, but the hour of our peril is not always apparent to us. As you read this you may be seconds away from a fatal heart attack, but you are not in danger – so to speak – since you do not know that you are. Danger, in this sense, is the awareness of the possibility of imminent death. It is always a shocking experience but it need not be terrifying – and it absolutely must not be allowed to become incapacitating.
“Fear” and “terror” are words too often used in the Age of the Common Man. When I was a lad they were not admissible. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan, for example, said, “I do not know what you mean by ‘fear’. I do not want to die, if that is what you mean, but you speak as if there were something more to it than that.” Fear that nullifies a man’s ability to cope with the danger which gives rise to the fear is an unacceptable emotion. The awareness of peril, however, is not the same thing at all, because in properly organized personalities it heightens perceptivity, sets the heart and mind to greater activity, and stimulates the entire consciousness in a way not otherwise realized.
I like Cooper’s distinction here on the effects of fear. That is, if fear paralyzes you, that’s not good. If instead you are aware, accept, and acknowledge peril exists and it motivates you to greater things, that’s good.
I don’t think the world is as horrible as the mainstream media paints for us and taints our perception. I don’t think there is evil lurking around every corner waiting to pounce on me, my wife, my children. But I do know evil is out there, and it only takes one incident to be too many. I work to make myself aware of peril and allow it to motivate my heart and mind to greater activity. Denying it exists doesn’t make it not exist, it merely puts you in a state of denial. Not being prepared puts you at a disadvantage, regardless of context or situation.
Some people find it odd that I study defensive pistolcraft and martial arts, but yet my sincere hope is to never use them in contexts beyond training, practice, and recreation. Why study them if you intend to never (truly) use them? We study language because we wish to communicate with others. We study math because we wish to engage in commerce. We tend to study and learn things specifically because we wish to directly use them. But this martial stuff…. that’s one of those “I’d rather have it (the knowledge and skill) and not need it, than need it and not have it” sort of things.
Next Class – Wow!
I just got back from my first “stand up” session from Warrior’s Edge Martial Arts. On Monday night’s it’s 2 things: first class is “stand up” MMA with Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai, Kali, Silat sorts of empty hand skills and drills; second class is western boxing.
In a word: awesome.
So far, this feels like what I’ve been looking for.
The first class was taught by Guro Ray. We worked on various drills, working on getting inside and what we can do from there. For instance, right haymaker comes at you, shoot in and block, and from there various things could happen: a chicken-wing arm-bar, a bent-elbow shoulder lock, or other sorts of arm bars and locks. And as I’m doing this all I can think to myself is: ah, that’s Ki Bohn Soo #3, oh, that’s this other Kuk Sool thing. The key is that the body moves in only so many ways, so there’s only so many things you can really do. My Kuk Sool knowledge isn’t discarded; in fact, it came in quite handy in performing the locks, sweeps, and takedowns. Didn’t hurt my kicking skills either. But the key difference? Learning how to apply things.
I’ve always felt that the library of “techniques” you learn in Kuk Sool isn’t necessarily meant to be a literal library of movements. Sure the constant execution of them does teach you things, does teach you how to move, but it’s static and not very alive. I’ve always felt that what the “techniques” are more doing is teaching you a concept, teaching you about some way to move the body be it your body or more importantly your opponent’s body. So you’re being given an abstract notion. Trouble is, in most all of my 6 year Kuk Sool history, it never really went beyond that. There was never really any application, any “let’s get in there and work it”. Sure I attempted to do it now and again on my own, but in terms of it being a good part of how things were taught, it just wasn’t there. That was one reason I left. I’d say that tonight I got a good dose of how to actually apply and get in there and take the abstract knowledge of the body and work it from there.
Then the western boxing class.
Ouch. 🙂
It was drills. The teacher was a gentleman name Abel, and he took as a beginner and taught me accordingly. The drills? Good grief. I am in good condition and physical shape, but I am not in good condition for that particular activity. 🙂 My triceps, shoulders… they were truly exhausted by the end of the class. But I got a good intro to western boxing, now I just need to practice and continue to apply. This was a nice start.
In the end, I walked out of there after 2 hours just drenched in sweat and thoroughly exhausted. It was awesome. 🙂 This is exactly the sort of thing that I’m looking for. I feel safe in saying that Warrior’s Edge Martial Arts will be my new home for the next however long.
Good stuff. Good stuff. Happy me.
Great collection of videos
Just stumbled upon a great collection of videos by YouTube user “billardjay”. Lots of western boxing, a few other things, but mostly with an eye towards instruction. Good stuff.
Survivalist Guide to Martial Arts – My Response
Over at SurvivalBlog.com, “Brick” submitted his thoughts on good martial art choices for the survivalist.
It’s not a bad piece. It appears his effort was to speak in some generalized terms about your popular choices, because not every town has accesss to more esoteric arts. So he examines popular/common arts such as Karate, Taekwondo, BJJ, Boxing, etc. and how applicable they could be to survival/defensive use. I’d also throw in Krav Maga as that is geared as a “no-nonsense self-defense” style, but you have to be careful as some Krav studios tend to be nothing more than “martial aerobics”. “Brick” wrote up a decent piece and I don’t disagree with what he wrote.
What I would like to do is add to what he wrote.
The trouble with studying these arts is they take time and dedication to gain proficiency. If you’re taking this from the angle of “survivalist” you may not have years to dedicate in study to get you where you need to be. Plus if your desire is to just deal with an “unarmed” situation quickly enough to escape or perhaps transition to a firearm or other weapon, you may not need years of study in some traditional sort of martial art to get you there.
There are groups out there such as InSights Training Center, Blauer Tactical Systems, special classes from Rangemaster. There are certainly others. These are more focused courses that aim to provide some sort of empty hand skills to help you survive an encounter (or avoid one before it ever begins) but not necessarily be caught up in kata and rituals and so on. Of course, the downside of these groups is it may be difficult to obtain that training as they aren’t as available. Nevertheless, look around and see what is around, and don’t discount having to travel some to get that training.
I would also add that if you have to go the “traditional” route but find time to be short, consider focusing on something. Often a martial art has some degree of breadth in what is offered. They might provide kata/forms, some striking with hands and feet, maybe weaponry, maybe other things offered too. When you have only a certain amount of time to train, if your training is divided across many things it will take you longer to gain proficiency in all of those things or any one thing. If however your training is focused, you’ll get up to speed in that one thing much faster but of course the trade-off is that you’re only trained in that one thing. In a survivalist sort of situation, something like western boxing could be very useful as it is very focused (hand-based striking primarily, tho of course there’s physical conditioning (good thing!), footwork, and other things).
In the end, it all depends upon your goals. In my own martial arts study, my goals have changed. Because my goals changed, I’m taking a different approach. You just have to determine what you want and what’s available around you that will be best towards helping you achieve your goals.
High Gear demonstration
Tony Blauer demonstrates his High Gear suit.
Man, that’s so much better than those Redman suits.
Full contact MMA training, tactical training, anything that involves movement, motion, and contact. Man, that’s some nice gear. No, I’m not affiliated or being compensated or anything. Just a guy happy to be getting more involved in better martial arts training, contact training, etc.. I follow what Blauer does because I like his approach to things. This High Gear stuff looks cool, I’d like to check it out.
I also like a comment Blauer makes in the beginning of the video:
Training can and should hurt — because that’s how you develop confidence — but training should never injure.
I like that distinction between “hurt” and “injure”.
Flow with it
Yesterday was my first class and today I worked out at home trying to remember all that I could.
First, I spent some time on the heavy bag.
- 3 minute round, working on skills. 4x
- 30 second round, punch-out drills (fast as possible, hard as possible). 4x
- 3 minute round, working skills, 4x
Thank you rossboxing.com. Some jump rope too.
Then well… get this. Some long time ago my in-laws bought me some 8′ long bamboo sticks. They meant well, but the sticks are not something I could actually use because they are too brittle to take impact; I could tell from their dye job that they were made for home decor. Nevertheless, it was thoughtful of them, and I just kept them in a corner of the garage. Well, they came in handy today! I cut one down to 3′ lengths and viola… some makeshift baton to practice with. I will not actually use these since again they cannot take impact, but for now doing drills in the air to help me remember what I learned in class until I get proper sticks, they are just fine and will do the job. Plus they have a larger diameter and are a bit heavy, so that’s good for training.
So I worked on my drills, what I could remember from my first class. Just basic movements, trying to remember what I could, trying to not feel awkward, especially on transitions and not getting my arms all tangled up now that they’re 3′ longer. I even put the sticks down and used a dan bong as a makeshift knife, doing the same drills but now with a knife. Then put the knife down and try it empty handed, same drills.
I really like this. It flows. It’s simple. It works no matter what’s in your hand, including nothing. I’m doing my best to not think about what I’m doing, especially risking over-thinking it. Just relax and let it flow.
Gah, I’m excited and invigorated. 🙂 I think I’m going to like Kali.
Second impressions
Ended up taking my first class tonight at the new martial arts school. I haven’t signed up, but took this as a trial class.
First impressions
My actual first impressions came on a motorcycle ride.
A New Journey – Part 3: Moving Forward
This is part 3 of my story of my new martial arts journey. If you have not yet read “Part 1: Getting Started” or “Part 2: Things Fall Apart“, you should go back and read them before continuing. Once you’ve gotten caught up, please continue reading on how I’m now moving forward.
Stuff From Hsoi 