Martial Arts

Fast or accurate?

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Fast or accurate? Pick one, because you can’t have both. Yes sure you can always be faster, you can always be more accurate, and to some degree you can always improve your level of both. But in the end, to get the most accuracy you’ll have to give up some speed, or to get the most speed you’ll have to give up some accuracy.

Caleb is participating in the Bianchi Cup and posted his results from The Mover.

The thing that I’ve learned about Bianchi is that accuracy is EVERYTHING. No one cares about how fast you are, because just about everyone can make the time limits here. Shooting IDPA or USPSA isn’t great practice for Bianchi…but shooting Bianchi will make you better at IDPA and USPSA.

I know I focus a lot on speed. I think about defensive shooting and how seconds are critical, so my brain thinks “must be fast”. Lately I’ve been trying to pull myself back on that. When I do my dry fire practice, I’ve been working on being slow and smooth: “slow is smooth, smooth is fast”. I’m trying to be accurate, I’m trying to be precise and correct. I wanted to go to the gun range yesterday and do the KR Training 100 Round Practice drill, but given the impending holiday weekend figured I was better off getting job work done first then visiting the range after the weekend. Still, that sort of drill is all about accuracy (not speed) and what you must to to be accurate.

I think about my last black belt testing or even being in normal classes. One frustrating thing is how there’s so much emphasis on speed. Maybe not directly, such as the instructor saying “OK, everyone go fast” but when you get in a group there’s all this pressure to not be the last one done… so everyone zooms along. I kinda hate to see that because accuracy goes down. You watch the group and it can look like a sloppy mess. If I’m in class and get to do something like forms on my own pace, I take my time. Sure I try to still apply the five principles of form, movements are still meaningful. But I try to be accurate, I try to be correct first, fast later. 

I’ve often said that no one cares about the first person to get the wrong answer. That can apply in many ways. To throw a fast kick that doesn’t find its target, to rush a draw and peel off a shot that misses the A-Zone on an IPSC target. It all doesn’t matter. I want to make every shot count, every punch matter. So, I have to slow down. I know this, I’ve known this. I’m still struggling to apply this, but thankfully it’s happening. 🙂

Ground-fighting for self-defense

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I know this is opening a can of worms, but I’m fine with that. 8)

In a previous post on Modern Army Combatives I stated that while I think it’s good to know ground-fighting skills to ensure you’re a well-rounded fighter, I think the strategy of “going to the ground” is unwise. You have to realize that my perspective isn’t sport-fighting, which is fun to both watch and participate in, but as I’ve only so much time in a day to practice what I practice, I prefer to practice and orient myself towards self-defense and fighting applications. Thus my strategy is not to “go to the ground” but perhaps to put my opponent there, and if I end up there that I want to get back up as fast as possible.

Marc MacYoung has a great article on ground fighting and grappling and how it (doesn’t) fit into the realm of self-defense combatives. I say it’s a great article because we’re in agreement. He provides a detailed list of why “going to the ground” isn’t ideal. He also provides a detailed list of when such skills are applicable. If you disagree with this article, I’d like to hear your line of reasoning. Not everyone likes MacYoung, he’s opinionated, but he knows his stuff and there’s no bullshit.

Yes ground skills have their place and it’s wise to know how to fight on the ground, how to apply chokes and submissions, but I’d say it’s even more important to know how to use those skills to get yourself up off the ground and back on your feet.

Applying what you know to what you don’t know

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So after having made a cane and immersing myself in cane videos, I got to thinking about further ways to study the cane.

You see, in Kuk Sool’s cane curriculum, there’s only a limited bit of cane taught. This is understandable, and really no one system or style can teach it all — they’re all limited in some manner or other. Thus to really get the most out of something you need to freely explore it on your own. Still, sometimes it’s tough to freely explore something without at least some degree of direction to get started in. I’ve found something that works for this and I’d like to share it with you.

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Martial arts cane videos

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In light of my cane making, this morning I found myself going around YouTube in search of cane videos. Man, I remember when I used to search for martial arts videos and would find nothing. Now there’s just too much to list. 8)  From my searching, I wanted to highlight some of what I found.

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The “Triangle of Death”

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An article at the Force Science News about the “triangle of death.” The triangle of death is the part of a white t-shirt that peeks out from behind a button-down shirt or vest, unbuttoned at the top (below the neck/chin). Looks like a triangle, and the article demonstrates that it makes for a great target. Good if it’s the bad-guy you’re shooting at, bad if it’s you wearing the triangle.

What happens is, especially in a low-light situation, the triangle stands out. When you’re in a pressure situation your eyes scan and have to take in massive amounts of information in limited time, so you tend to process what stands out and/or what your eyes/brain tends to focus on. So, especially in a low-light situation, a little peek of white against an otherwise dark background (e.g. police uniform) is going to stand out, be zeroed in on, and likely become a point of aim.

I’ve seen this myself in FoF scenarios or even just pressure-stages (e.g. timed events) against realistic targets. All too often where do rounds hit? in the hand. The hand is holding a gun, pointed at you, you’re shooting back, your eyes focus on the gun, and you end up shooting at the gun.

Lessons to learn? When it comes to shooting, you’ll have to train yourself to better pick up on cues and indicators and shoot what you’re supposed to shoot instead of what your eyes may get drawn to. When it comes to what to wear, blend in with your surroundings, which may mean in a low-light situation that you wear more subdued clothing.

Modern Army Combatives

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Via Hell In A Handbasket I am introduced to “Modern Combatives.” I do like what they write on their webpage introduction:

There are a couple of basic tenants of Modern Combatives that are important to understand. The first one is that the winner of the hand-to-hand fight in combat is the one whose buddy shows up first with a gun. This is important thing to remember because it puts combative training in perspective. If you drop an enemy dead at your feet with the Vulcan death touch, and his buddy comes in with a gun, you still lose. As Rex Applegate said in his book Kill or Get Killed “Unarmed combat is just what the name implies- a system of fighting intended for use when weapons are not available or when their use is not advisable” Where then does combatives training fit? It must be an integral part of the close quarters fight. Too often “hand-to-hand” is treated as if it were a side note to the actual training. When your weapon malfunctions three feet from the bad guy is no time to start integrating your techniques. Noted Firearms instructor and author Massad Ayoob said it best, “At close range it’s not a shooting contest; it’s a fight.”

The man behind this group is Matt Larsen, who apparently authored FM 3-25.150, the US Army’s latest Combatives field manual. If you look at the manual, it seems to be based heavily on BJJ. While I believe BJJ is great for what it is and I think some sort of empty-hand martial training is better than none, I’m not so sure this is the best thing to teach for battlefield combatives. Perhaps I’m showing my ignorance here (and folks are welcome to enlighten me), but if going to the ground in a streetfight isn’t a sound thing (attacker’s friends mob you, stomping your head into the pavement), I just can’t see how going to the ground in a battlefield is any more sound. This isn’t to say the stuff in FM 3-25.150 isn’t sound in and of itself, and there is more in the manual than just groundfighting; perhaps the way the course is taught gives a proper perspective, different from the manual.

Either way, I do enjoy reading military manuals such as these. Always chock full of good information.

Update: Allow me to clarify something.

I am not saying it’s unwise to learn ground fighting skills. I think it’s quite important to know how to do takedowns, defend against takedowns, fight from the clinch, fight on the ground (all positions: mount, guard, half-guard, etc.). Ground skills are certainly an important aspect of being a well-rounded fighter and lacking them leaves a big hole in your skills.

What I am saying is I’m not sure it’s wise to have combatives stressing ground-fighting as the primary means of unarmed hand-to-hand combat. If the new teaching is “take it to and keep it on the ground”, then you better hope that insurgent you’re wrestling with doesn’t have a bunch of friends nearby to stomp your head in… or that you’ve got a bunch of friends with M4’s backing you up. Do your best to put your opponent on the ground. If you wind up on the ground, you want to get up off the ground. 

This is why I wonder about the actual classes and how the combatives are taught. If the approach is more of having a well-rounded skillset, then that’s great. Just the field manual makes it appear the new teaching is emphasizing “take it and keep it on the ground”. Hopefully I’m wrong and it’s just my ill perception.

Is Hand Placement Important?

/ hsoi

Just finished a workout (Kuk Sool-based) in the front yard. I want to cool down before I hit the shower, so that gives me some time to write up something I observed during the workout.

Hand placement. Does it matter? 

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