Martial Arts

Visualization for self-defense

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

There’s been much said on the notion of “creative visualization” and how it can help improve performance. That said, we can and should use visualization techniques to help us in self-defense training.

Visualize yourself in self-defense situations and how you will respond and perform. There’s not really any right or wrong answer, except perhaps to say if you die it’s wrong and if you live it’s right, but even that isn’t necessarily so cut and dry. Certainly you should be visualizing yourself coming out a winner. Trouble is, often this creative visualization can get a little too creative and enter into the realm of fantasy, especially if you have unrealistic expectations or assessments of your skill level and ability. False bravado is not useful here. This is why visualization can only be a tool, reality-based training is certainly necessary.

Nevertheless, visualization is useful. What can help is to have a situation or a context that you did not come up with, thus you didn’t create something “perfect for your success”. The folks at Teddy Tactical have a fantastic archive of scenarios. There’s also a tremendous amount of other articles and information there, but really check out the scenarios. Read through them. Think how you would act.

Furthermore, take the advice of Tom Givens of Rangemaster. Every day look in your local police blotter. See what crimes were committed. Ask yourself what you would do in a similar situation. Furthermore, what could you have done to avoid the situation in the first place? You may be surprised to find that the answers to these scenarios often never involve drawing a gun, shooting a gun, or getting into any sort of fight or confrontation.

The goal of this visualization is to make yourself a playbook of sorts. That you may find yourself in a situation and instead of having to figure it out as you go along, risking precious time, risking making potentially costly mistakes, now you’ve got yourself a plan. You already know what to do so you can just do it. It’s easier to work with the familiar and known instead of the unfamiliar and unknown, especially in a pressure situation.

More Useful Acronyms

/ hsoi

Previously I’ve mentioned some self-defense acronyms and the 3 D’s, and here’s a few more courtesy of John Farnam:

ADEE – Avoid, Disengage, Escape, Evade

AOJP – Ability, Opportunity, Jeopardy, Preclusion

BUIS – Back-Up Iron Sights

DOA – Dead On Arrival

DRT – Dead Right There

IBD – Israeli Battle Dressing

VBC – Victim By Choice

VCA – Violent Criminal Actor

Shocknife

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

In the discussion on Blueguns, Dan Cosgrove pointed me to a product called the Shocknife. I just spent some time on their website and then Googling about it, so I thought I’d offer up my opinion on it.

Continue reading →

Mike Brown and Bushmaster

/ hsoi

Last night I watched the WEC 41 rematch of Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber. Great show. Some long exciting bouts, some that were over in seconds. I have to say that I wasn’t happy to see Jens Pulver lose and lose so quickly (he won me over as a fan some long time ago), but no question he made a mistake putting his head down and Josh Grispi was right on top of it and locked Jens up for the submission. Great feather in Grispi’s cap, but I really hope Jens doesn’t retire or at least if he does retire from fighting that he stays active as a trainer or something. Very emotional night for him.

Anyway, the point of this posting was watching Mike Brown walk to the ring and seeing Bushmaster Firearms as one of his sponsors.

That’s awesome. 🙂

The Brown/Faber fight was great. I wonder exactly what happened with Faber’s hands, and I can’t help but think that if he had full use of his hands he would have won the fight. I would love to see them have a Brown v. Faber 3 as their next fight.

But again, what tickled me the most was seeing Bushmaster as a sponsor. Nice exposure for them!

Blueguns

/ hsoi / 11 Comments

Tam’s random gun post mentioned Ring’s Blueguns.

I’ve got one of these that replicates a Springfield XD-9 Service model. The detail is amazing. It’s a direct mold and that’s what makes it so nice. It has the same feel as your carry gun, fits in the same holsters, everything except weight, trigger pull (of course), and perhaps any custom mods you have have done (e.g. sights). In my case, I did have to take the Dremel to it because the grip safety button was molded too… but whereas on the real gun the safety depresses and you never feel it, it’s solid on the bluegun and thus doesn’t depress and is irritating in the hand; a little Dremel work and it was gone and feeling like the real XD would in the hand.

The great thing about such training aids is you can use them for all manner of training that doesn’t require live fire, nor would you want live fire. With this big block of blue plastic in your hand, there’s no mistaking it for a gun (no rules violations). It’s good for working with a partner… you have the bluegun in your concealed holster, you work with a partner in a live scenario, and you can roll right into defensive actions including drawing and pointing the bluegun at them. Safety.

I often use my bluegun at home when I’m practicing mixed combatives and don’t want to risk damage to any real guns while I’m practicing something. I also think it’s a little less bothersome for any neighbor that might see me practicing.

Rings offer a lot of things, not just guns (e.g. replica pepper spray cans, radios, etc.). It’s all meant to help you perform training exercises where you need the realism but not the dangers.

Lessons from NTI

/ hsoi

John Farnam writes on his experience at the National Tactical Invitational.

Some take-home points:

  • Capacity is good.
    • Carry a reload. Even a back-up gun (BUG).
  • Keep moving.
  • Keep your head up, always looking for threats.
  • All situations don’t always require or necessitate using a gun.
  • Practice shooting your handgun at longer distances (e.g. 25 yards, 35 yards, 50 yards)
  • Just because someone has a gun doesn’t mean they’re a threat. Be sure of your target before shooting it.
    • Corollary: be mindful that someone else might see your gun and think you are a threat.
  •  If you get involved in a fight (fists, guns, knives, whatever), expect to get hurt. Keep fighting anyways.
  • Be alert! The sooner you get into the loop, the better choices you are going to make.
  • Hit first and hit fast.
  • There is no substitute to personal competence and practiced weapons skills.
  • Indecisive ditherers have no chance.

Good stuff.

Kimbo to UFC, sorta

/ hsoi

So Kimbo Slice is going to go to the UFC, by way of their The Ultimate Fighter TV show.

I think this is great!

Kimbo is an interesting phenomenon. You’ve got this huge, muscled, tough, big black dude. He does bare-knuckle brawling in backyards. Gets video taped. Tapes put on the Internet. The buzz builds about this guy. Next thing you know, he’s a star. I watched some of Kimbo’s fights before he hit it big and I was impressed with the guy. He came off rough and crude, but effective at least in his element. But I also noticed in the videos that he was a sportsman about things; he may have been aggressive and mean in his attitude, but you could tell under it all this was just sport to him.

So he hits it big. The short-lived EliteXC promotion basically builds a promotion around him, but the fights aren’t that great and really show how weak Kimbo is going up against even modest pro fighters. The first 2 fights Kimbo fought were wins, and certainly Kimbo could hit like a freight train (Tank didn’t look too good). But the 3rd fight against James Thompson really demonstrated Kimbo’s weaknesses, only winning due to the freak rupturing of Thompson’s cauliflower ear (which was mighty gross). 

I will give Kimbo some credit. He does appear to want to learn. He does appear to want to get better and become more of a “legit” fighter. So I’ll give him credit for that. Going on TUF furthers that notion that he’s willing to learn, he’s willing to work his way up. And hey, he’s also willing to take the payday. The man certainly knows how to work his fame into fortune, and I can’t blame him for that either. And Dana White well knows this will make a lot of money for him as well. TUF has been floundering a bit, and this will certainly be a ratings draw. If Kimbo happens to win it, it’s going to really be a big story and big money. So really, this is a win-win situation for both parties, and should bring some spice and drama to the pro MMA scene.

Our TV’s await….

Working the heavy bag

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Boxers know it. The heavy bag is a great training tool.

Unfortunately I do not have a true heavy bag at home because I don’t have a means for mounting one. However, I do have a Wavemaster XXL, which is better than nothing.

I use the bag every so often in my workouts because striking something gives far more feedback than just “air striking”. But the past couple weeks I’ve been almost exclusively focusing on bag training in my at-home workouts. It’s been quite a workout too, and a welcome bit of variety.

The heavy bag isn’t just about working on your striking, but it can also help with your footwork and even defensive skills. This is where the floor-mounted bag like the Wavemaster is at a disadvantage, since the swinging of a true heavy bag is really needed to work these. Nevertheless, I still try to keep moving and do the best I can with what I have.

Check out rossboxing.com’s heavy bag training routines. Doing 3 x 3-minute rounds of skills, 4 x 1-minute rounds of power, followed by 5 x 30-seconds of speed is just killer. Another routine from Ross. 

An overview/intro to bag workouts from bodybuilding.com.

Work the bag into your workout routine. If nothing else, sometimes hitting something is just great stress relief. 🙂

If one thinks, he will be taken by his thoughts.

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If one thinks, he will be taken by his thoughts.

–Takuan Soho

I subscribe to Brian Enos’ Maku mozo! mailing list. This was today’s quote.

It struck me because of my morning range experience. I’ve discussed this in other places on my blog when I talk about guns or martial arts or mindset, that when you think about something well… you’re thinking about that something and it consumes your thoughts and probably your actions too. This is neither good nor bad in and of itself, but what it causes you to do could be judged to be good or bad. This morning at the range I didn’t think about speed, I didn’t think to not think about speed (which is ultimately still thinking about speed). I did think about being smooth. Thus, I was smooth. When I assessed my performance and then thought about speed, I realized I wasn’t too bad with my speed but moreover I was shooting accurately and consistently (well, 25 yards needs work). If I allowed myself to be taken by thoughts of speed, that’s how I would have focused my shooting and that would not have lead me to the results I wanted. Instead, I allowed myself to be taken by thoughts of smoothness, and that lead me to the results I wanted.

Takuan’s words aren’t good or bad, it’s what I choose to do with my thoughts and even if I choose to think at all.

Alternative workout clothing

/ hsoi

When you have your workout, you probably have some sort of designated workout gear. Maybe it’s a t-shirt and sweatpants or shorts. Maybe it’s a dobok/gi. Whatever it is, we usually work out in such clothing because it’s purpose-built for the activity. Maybe there’s a formal uniform aspect. There’s strength of fibers (e.g. if you grapple and throw you don’t need the gear to rip). It should be roomy and comfortable so it doesn’t bind or constrict but not so loose as to flap around. It should wick away sweat. All sorts of things that help make for an ideal workout.

If your workout is for practicing self-defense, what are the chances you’ll be wearing that ideal workout gear during an attack? I’d say next to zero.

From time to time your workout should be performed in your normal street clothing. Consider what you wear on a normal basis and wear that, then work out. Maybe you wear a suit 90% of the time, so work out in a suit. If you don’t want to ruin your expensive good suits, try to find a “beater” suit at a store somewhere, something that’s inexpensive and you can sweat in, but again it should be representative of your daily wear. From time to time, switch to some other clothing. I usually wear jeans and a t-shirt or a button-down shirt, untucked. But sometimes I have to tuck in, so that makes a difference. Sometimes I wear shorts. Sometimes I wear a suit. Try these all out. The point is, get used to moving in that clothing so it doesn’t feel strange.

Another good reason for doing this? Find out if your wardrobe is a help or a hindrance. Maybe those pants are too tight and you cannot kick. Maybe the suit jacket is cut wrong and it’s tough to throw punches. Maybe the clothing and/or your carry location inhibits a good draw of your concealed handgun. There may also be advantages. Maybe you’ll discover that jacket conceals things better. Maybe you’ll learn that belt is a handy makeshift restraint. These are all things worth figuring out.

When you mix up your workout routine, try mixing up the attire as well. Make sure everything you’ve got works for you.