BLS’s video for “Overlord”
That’s just awesome. Too damn funny.
Martial Arts
Not what but how
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) or Traditional Martial Arts (TMA). Sport systems vs. reality-based systems. When it comes to picking a martial art, which is better? It’s a debate that fuels many an Internet forum.
When I was reading Low Tech Combat’s 25 Best Comments of 2010, a couple of the best comments came from a posting LTC did about TMA vs. Modern Systems. A couple snippets of those comments.
From Marc G.
I agree as well. There is something of value in many of the martial arts. And they all have their strengths and shortcomins. There is nothing wrong with absorbing what is useful from many…as long as you are actually training and learning reliably, not just to pad a martial resume youmight say. It is the intent and intesity of the training that make a superior martial artist…not a “superior art”.
From Ed:
We are not talking about “TMAs v. MMAs” here. What we are talking about is separating the “Sports” or “Hobbies” from the path of warriorship. A warrior wears no label. He honestly inventories his surroundings and threats and compares them to the tools he already possesses. If his arsenal contains an effective response, great, he works to perfect the employment of that tool. If it does not, he MUST (becuase he is a warrior, not a student of a specific style) seek out an answer to the problem. If that search crosses the TMA/MMA border in either direction, so be it.
It’s not what you choose to train in, but how and why you choose to train.
The first part really is why. You have to know why you’re training in martial arts to know if you’re getting what you want. I know many people who train in martial arts that couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag. Is that bad? So long as they are meeting their goals and honest with themselves about their path, no it’s not. I know these people do it for exercise, for recreation, for the social aspect. There’s nothing wrong with that.
The second part is how. You could train in the best combat art style there is, but if it’s not trained towards combat, what good is it? A lot of people dig Krav Maga, and on paper it’s a great combat art. Trouble is, a lot of places teach it like “martial aerobics”; if you want a hard workout great, but if you’re actually wanting to defend yourself, that’s not going to help you. Take an art like Aikido, which when properly used does have real world applicability. But if it’s trained too compliantly, it’s not going to be of much use to you unless your attacker cooperates with you (and how likely is that?).
The third part is what… but really, it’s not. What you train in really doesn’t matter that much. Sure it matters some; if you want become a better puncher, Judo isn’t going to help you as much as western boxing. But for the most part, style isn’t that important. You need to know why you want to train, set your goals, then know how the training needs to be to get you there. Some style might be better served than others, but I’d say what might matter more would be the teacher. My old Kuk Sool instructor, Dewain Perry, may have all this TMA behind him but I know he can kick some ass. Other Kuk Sool instructors I’ve experienced might be able to do one hell of a backflip into a 360º spin kick, but they couldn’t fight one lick.
Don’t get too caught up in styles. They have their place, but it’s more about you and your training. It’s more about a good school, a good teacher, and the ability to set and meet goals. Focus on what’s important, discard the rest.
SCAN! SCAN! SCAN!
Reading Low Tech Combat’s 25 best comments of 2010 article, it pointed me to their article about the 11 Key Differences Between Training and the Real Thing. It’s a well-written article highlighting how all of our training, be it for sport or “the street”, is still artificial compared to real-life confrontations. It’s good to be aware of these things and do what you can in your training to remedy them.
One that stood out to me was #11: Tunnel Vision.
Tunnel Vision. The are many effects on the body caused by the stress of combat. Tunnel Vision is arguably the most limiting. It generally happens in conjunction with slow motion time. Tunnel Vision only happens under immense stress. Many people have experienced it to some degree at some stage in their lives. It is there to benefit us and help us focus only on the threat we face and cut out all irrelevant information at that time of danger.
The problem lies when we face more than just one threat. When experiencing Tunnel Vision, naturally we lock onto the threat. We do not look away at all. We are focused 100% on the threat we are facing. The problem with this survival mechanism is apparent when we throw in a second, third or fourth attacker into the equation. It is very easy for them to come at us from the side or rear as we will not detect it as we are 100% focusing on the one threat to our front. Rarely will training get us to experience tunnel vision and the problems this can cause.
Briefly, the best way to break this tunnel vision is through training. Every time you face an attacker in scenarios or multiple attacker training, ALWAYS continue to look left, right and behind you at all times. Maintain 360 degree awareness. In this way, hopefully when you experience tunnel vision when facing a threat, it will be a habit to look around and behind you for others.
In KR Training’s Defensive Pistol Skills 1 class, we introduce this concept to students. The student will shoot a string of fire, then they must scan around to look for one of the assistant instructors holding up a sign telling them what to do next (e.g. shoot target to your left), or maybe no sign at all. The intent is to get the student to break their tunnel vision, look around for more assailants, and if one is found take action. Of course, when students are first introduced to this concept they don’t remember to look around, so inevitably we start yelling “SCAN! SCAN! SCAN!” at them and they get going.
Personally, I like using the command “SCAN!” because it’s a simple, clear, and directed command about what you need to do. It’s so ingrained in my own head that it’s played out for me in pressure situations. For example, I was a student in a force-on-force simulation class and was the “designated good guy” in the simulation. The situation had me at home; I hear the sound of someone breaking in; I hunker down in the bedroom, arm myself, dial 911. Next thing I know, bad guy enters the room and a gunfight ensues. I dispatched the bad guy and I distinctly remember standing there, staring down at him, tunnel vision had set in and my brain starts to say “SCAN! SCAN! SCAN!” so I start scanning just in time to see bad guy #2 show up in the doorway… and we both shot each other. Key point is playing the “SCAN! SCAN! SCAN!” tape over and over in my head after so many practices played out under pressure; yeah I got shot (bad situations don’t always have happy endings) but at least I took him with me, and burned a stronger neural pathway about the importance of scanning (and doing it sooner rather than later).
To relate this to empty-hand martial arts, most martial arts do not incorporate this. Most of your traditional martial arts, if they spar at all, are very single-opponent focused. Some, like Aikido, actually do incorporate multi-person randori but this is exception and not rule. Most of your MMA training is sport-oriented and thus you’re expecting only one person. Even if your chose art doesn’t involve scanning and breaking the 360º, YOU can incorporate this into your training. When you spar, scan. When you’re working the bag, scan. When you shadow box, scan. When you spar, add in a second opponent. Just be clear on what your training goals are and work towards those goals; hopefully your coaches, instructors, and training partners will be supportive, else maybe you need to find new ones.
One important point. When you scan, make sure you are actually looking and processing what you see. Don’t just flick your eyes over and around. Make sure you actually SEE and actually PROCESS what’s in your new visual field. Slowing down helps this. Many people finish their scan in about 1 second; sure your moved your head and eyes, but do you recall anything about what you saw? did you process anything about what you saw? Try it now. Do a scan and take about a second to do it; it feels natural, but did you grok what you saw? Now try that same scan but take 3 seconds to do it; now try it with 5 seconds. Yes it’s slower, but now you’re actually processing what you saw. Also, realize there can be a graduated scale of scanning. For instance, I shoot and finish shooting. I may do a quick scan to my right and left (not breaking 180º) to look for anything immediate. If that proves all clear, I may start a second scan that goes 360º at a slower pace. There’s no one way to do it, you just have to ensure your brain actually processes what you see and you don’t move faster than that, else you waste time doing a double-take to re-parse things.
You must integrate scanning into your practice routine. It must be habit for what you do in practice is what you’ll do when the flag flies. Whether it’s live fire with guns or dry fire practice (especially work it into your dry fire routine!), or empty-hand sparring, make sure you SCAN! SCAN! SCAN!
A collection of comments
Catching up on my blog RSS’s and I see Low Tech Combat posted a collection of the 25 best comments from 2010.
I was surprised to see one of my comments in the list (cool!), but there were a few comments that stood out to me. A collection of discussion of fight philosophy, ergonomics, lessons learned… it’s really a great collection of material and I’d say an essential read for anyone that cares about combat (martial arts, guns, self-defense, whatever). Reading through spurred a lot of thoughts in my head, and I think I just may write a few articles based upon what I’ve read there.
Ajarn Chai’s Muay Thai basics
A series of videos from Ajarn Chai Sirisute, narrated by Dan Inosanto, on Muay Thai basics.
I like how the video builds. Starts with stances, basic leg and arm techniques, then into sparring techniques. It all builds. It’s all fundamentals, and those are what’s key to being successful in just about anything in life.
GM Remy Presas Sr. – 6 count drill
GM Remy Presas, of Modern Arnis. 6-count drill.
This is one reason Filipino Martial Arts appeal to me: weapon, empty hand, it’s all the same, principles apply regardless. You train your body to move, and it moves regardless.
I also dig the footwork visible in this drill. Gotta keep moving!
Wally Jay – Small Circle Jujitsu
What to do… what to do….
This is one of those times where the blog is more for me… where I want to write something to help me think through it, to help me remember what I’m thinking. But if someone wants to comment, great.
I’ve got some things rolling around in my head. Trying to think about what to do.
Guns, specifically reloading
One gun thing that I’m not waffling about… I need to step back on my formal working and step up my informal working. That is, be it teaching classes or taking classes, I have to be selective and moderate here. I’ve been really diving into this because there’s so much I want to do, but it’s consuming too much time and I have to pull back. Because the flip side is, I have to get to the range more regularly. The trouble is going to the range is a massive time sink for me but you know… if the ONLY thing I can do is go to the local indoor range and do “abridged” work (e.g. can’t practice draw from concealment, but I can practice press-outs, I can practice 25 yard groups) well, so be it. Some live fire is better than none, and if my only recourse is the local indoor range well, so be it.
On the reloading front…. as you can see, I’m getting back on the ball with .38 Special. If I keep up with it, even if I slack off a day or two here and there, it should be done by the end of the month. So… rifle time. But, what? .223? 6.8? .308?
I recall when I did rifle last time (which was my first time ever with rifle reloading), I had a dog of a time and it just wasn’t happening. Why? Potentially numerous factors, but too difficult and costly (time and money) to nail down. But my thinking then was to just load cheap 55 grain .223 FMJ’s using well-establish recipes and see how that did. Work out any bugs in technique or gun issues or whatever, then go back to serious loads (e.g. hunting stuff). Since that time I’ve gotten into 6.8 SPC and really want to reload for that… but the main reason there? Because I want to use those Barnes 6.8 SPC 95 grain TTSX’s, which you can’t get in a factory load. The thing is tho, reloading 6.8 is just costly, period. Even trying to do “cheap plinking loads” isn’t cheap. And for whatever reason, a few days ago I got some itch to do .308.
Yes. My present leaning is to do .308 Win. Why? I’m not really sure, but I think it’s because .308 is such a great caliber and well.. it’d be cool to do something beefy. 🙂 It’s kinda hard to do .308 wrong… so many people just say “yeah… 45 grains of Varget or 4895 and you’re good to go”. I’ve got a bunch of 147 grain FMJBT’s from Dock, I’ve got powder, I’ve got primers, I’ve got cases, I’ve got dies and shell holders and everything you need. Why not? My thinking? The new range up north has really long yardage. I’ve been toying with the idea of an elk hunt with my Dad. If I want to do that? I probably should be able to ring the gong on demand out to 500 yards. So… working up a .308 plinking load would be in my best interest. And once I can ring the gong like that, then get some Barnes 168 grain TTSX (or maybe 180 grain, if my rifle can handle it) and make a hunting load.
So I don’t know. I may well change my mind again. But I picked up 1000 CCI #200 large rifle primers today, and my present leaning is .308 Win, just cuz. 🙂
Empty Hand Martial Arts
I stopped Kuk Sool practice for 2 main reasons: tired of the political bullshit and greed, tired of the lame-ass training approach. The art is sound, and while it has things I don’t care about (e.g. sword), it’s rather solid in its foundations so long as it’s taught and trained in a practical way.
That’s part of why I went to Kali, Silat, Muay Thai, JKD, boxing: practicalness. I wanted to focus (thus why I didn’t add BJJ to the mix), I wanted more practical, where people did spar and go to town. Where a takedown was performed and you went to the mat because you were put there, not because you said “ok, and now I cooperatively fall to the ground”. The only real reason I stopped this was a practical one: just couldn’t make classes.
So I’ve been out of the formal mix for some months and want to get back to it. I have been thinking about Aikido and even paid a brief visit to a local dojo. Been talking to an old friend about it, reading up. And while there’s something about Aikido that interests me, for some reason I just can’t pull the trigger on it. Yes the philosophical notions are interesting to me to explore, but they conflict with my own philosophy. Furthermore, let’s just be frank — I like hitting things. 🙂 There’s really no striking in Aikido (yes there is atemi, but certainly nothing like say Muay Thai). Plus you have to find the right school, because Aikido spans so much and risks being watered down and too new-agey-touchy-feely; old-school Aikido I could be cool with.
So I found this one school, “Martial Arts Center of Austin“. I know the location and well, while the website doesn’t strictly say, I know that was Brian Duffy‘s place. Brian Duffy’s a legit guy in the world of Ed Parker’s American Kenpo. I even recall my old Kuk Sool teacher, Dewain Perry, telling me how he and guys from Duffy’s school would get together and full-contact spar all the time, only having to stop because they were getting too hurt from going too rough (they liked to “go”). 🙂 Thing is, last few times I drove by that place I don’t think I saw Duffy’s name on it. And if you look at this MACA website, they are really devoid of any idea of who is running the place… no instructor names, no instructor bios. But I do see Kenpo on the schedule. The schedule tho… it’s got a ton of stuff, seems an eclectic place. Not 100% sure what to make of it. Then over here, this guy reviews all the Aikido-related places around Austin and spoke highly of MACA. I’m not sure what to make of the place
But the real kicker? Watching the videos of that school rekindled a desire for particular training. Yeah, I kinda like traditional arts, formal but not uptight. In the end, the body only moves in so many ways, and heck, if we want to talk about Aikijujitsu lineages then Kuk Sool eventually falls from that tree (look at the Hapkido bridge). So really, what’s the difference? I have had thoughts about rejoining Kuk Sool, because I didn’t get to leave it under the circumstances I wanted to. Especially now that Master Lee has broken off from WKSA gosh… he’s a great guy, worthy of respect because of who he is, not what he is. I know if I joined up that way, there’d be no real political b.s. to have to deal with. But what about training? As much as I love Master Les and know HE can be a pretty hardcore guy, the way he runs his school is very family oriented and NOT hardcore at all.
While out shopping I ran into an old training buddy, Ricky. We got our 1st degree black belts together, and were testing together for 2nd, so we were “classmates”. Of course, I left, but he stayed on because it’s been his dream to have his own school. Well, when Master Lee broke off, he did too, and started his own school. Running into him today was purely by chance, but it was really cool to see him and his wife and talk about things. He extended an open invitation for me to work out at his school any time and I may just take him up on it…. dust off the dobok and see how much I’ve forgotten. 😉 The cool thing? Talking to Ricky about how they train there. They are of similar philosophy to me, which is good. But also slightly different, for Ricky and the old school stable of friends well… they’re all at least 10 years younger and me and with slightly different motivations and goals than I have (e.g. I just can’t do the gymnastics they like doing). Will it mesh? Will it work? I’m not sure. Plus, could I have the long-term growth that I want? The freedom to explore and work “outside the box”? I’m not sure. But that this happened is good as it gives me more options.
So I don’t know. There’s a lot swirling around and perhaps there’s a reason I haven’t been able to pull the trigger on things. That I bumped into Ricky was odd, but perhaps part of the bigger picture. Don’t know, we’ll see.
But I think I might dust off my dobok and see how much I remember. 🙂
Situation analysis – does Aikido work?
Poking around the Internet searching for stuff about Aikido, I came across the website for the Big Sky Aikido dojo. The head instructor is Gregory Olson, who has studied Aikido for over 30 years. He’s also a University professor, so he’s written numerous articles on Aikido-related topics. One article is Aikido, Judo, and Hot Peppers: A True Story of Violence Averted. The gist of the story is Olson Sensei goes out to dinner with his family when his wife noticed someone breaking into their car. Olson Sensei confronts the individuals, uses some judo and Aikido to control the situation, eventually the police arrive and cart the thief away. But, the details of the confrontation are important, so please read the article (or at least sections “The Incident”, “The Confrontation”, and “Epilogue”, all of about 2 pages).
Did Aikido Work?
The big question everyone wants to know is, did Aikido work? These days if it’s not muay thai, Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, judo, wrestling, western boxing or whatever ilk can feed into MMA-style work, then it’s considered crap. I admit, there’s something to that line of thinking, but we have to remember what a person’s individual goal is in evaluating “did it work”.
In the simplest sense yes the Aikido worked. The thief was stopped and turned over to police. The physical action taken by Olson Sensei was able to stop the crime.
But let’s look at a larger context. Aikido is not just a series of movements, but there’s an underlying philosophy of nonviolence and redirecting the opponent’s energy. If we take it in this context, Aikido truly worked because the thief came out not just unharmed, but as an improved citizen. Olson Sensei recounts what happened a few weeks later:
Several weeks after the incident, the young man, a local high school football player, came over to my home with his father to apologize to me for his behavior that night. He said he and his friend had been in my van looking for a new tape to play in his car’s tape player. He told me he had spent a long night in our local jail pondering his predicament and the costs of not acting with integrity. He told me he was sorry that he had “goofed up.”
The boy was able to learn from the incident. Hopefully he truly did learn something and will grow and become a better person for having gone through what he did. As Olson Sensei put it:
I experienced the warrior spirit and philosophical training coming together to protect the young man who was making a small but not insignificant mistake in his life.
So I would say that Aikido truly worked. It worked on its physical level. It worked on its philosophical level.
Now let’s think what could have happened if the only training Gregory Olson had was in MMA-style arts. If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail. Chances are the kid would have gotten a good beating. Maybe not, but when the flag flies we revert to whatever our body is trained to do in monkey-brain mode, which generally means “bash head with rock”.
Now take it a step further. Suppose the only training Gregory Olson had was with a gun and he was able legally carry that gun. I don’t know what Montana law says about defense of property, but here in Texas yes one could legally use a firearm to defend their property. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. And just supposing Mr. Olson had a gun doesn’t mean that boy would have ended up dead. But these are things worth thinking about.
Let’s delve further into the story. After taking control of the thief, Olson Sensei recounts how 5-8 other young men came around — friends of the thief! They immediately surrounded Olson Sensei and started yelling at him to let their friend go. I don’t care how badass you are, a 8 on 1 fight is generally going to leave the 1 at the mercy of the 8. Is any sort of empty-hand martial art going to help you here? Maybe… the interesting thing with Aikido is it practices against multiple opponents, so perhaps it could help him. Still, the odds are generally not in your favor, especially in a snow-covered parking lot. This is a point where I personally would appreciate having something to even the odds, like a baseball bat or a gun. Again, nothing saying you will end up using them, but while you wait those 12 long minutes for the police to arrive, the best you can hope for is to keep them at bay.
Did it?
The reason this story struck me is because of the situation I presently find myself within. I’ve studied martial arts where you are given the range of options, from simple submission to more painful and damaging solutions. I spend a great deal of time studying defensive handgun use. I like having options and not being artificially limited because you don’t know what life may bring you. Sure, just one guy in a parking lot may be easy to handle, but when his 8 friends step out of the darkness, that changes the situation and calls for a different course of action.
At first I did not want to consider Aikido study because of its philosophical limitations: sometimes a violent response is the best and right response, and Aikido frowns upon such a course of action. But I’m now at a point where I think studying in that way would be good for me. It would help bring some balance to my mindset. I don’t know exactly how good or bad it will be for me, just have to start on the journey and see what happens. I don’t believe studying Aikido will be a waste of my time. Oh sure, the MMA-types will say I’m wasting my time, but well… my daily life doesn’t involve combat, it involves living. While the crux of martial arts is fighting, there is more to it. I’d like to see where Aikido can take me.
I appreciate having options. While on the one hand I want to expand my toolset to allow myself more options, on the other I want to throw away options to hone and refine my toolset. Aikido’s physical skillset is limited (compared to more comprehensive arts), so that’s focus and refinement. Aikido’s philosophy is limited, so that too is focus and refinement. What sort of insight will it bring to me? We’ll see.
Train like you’ll fight
Tam returns from carbine class. Makes comments about gear, the best of which is:
For what it’s worth, my tactical pants in the class were by Wrangler, and they come with two single 30-rd mag pouches, one right over each butt cheek. I can about guarantee that, should the balloon ever go up for real, those will be the pants in which I’ll be fighting, so I reckoned I might as well practice fighting in them…
It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, be it gun training, empty hand training, or taking the training seminar on how to use the company’s new phone system. Your training should be as close as you can get to the realm of application for what you’re training for. So UFC guys train for their sport and train as close as they can get to that. If you’re taking a training class on how to write iPhone apps, it’ll probably help to have an iPhone and a Mac. And if you’re training for self-defense shooting, you should be as close to your normal situational dress and carry as you can be.
I’ll grant, to help make classes run smoothly for everyone you make some compromise. For instance, wearing a Camelback (especially in the Texas summer heat) is good, because dehydration will make class miserable for you and slow things down for everyone else while the instructor has to stop class to tend to you. I may normally only carry one spare magazine, but if the constraints of the class allow me to wear my Comp-Tac Beltfeed (4 mags), I will because that will make life flow smoother for everyone on the line. We have to realize, class is class — it’s artificial by it’s very nature. What’s important is to ensure you can learn and that you put yourself in the best position to be able to learn without distraction (gear problems are distraction). Then after class when you practice, you should try to go further. So for instance, if during class I carried the gun OWB and used the Beltfeed because that allowed class to run smoother, outside of class when I practice the class skills I should go back to my normal carry setup of IWB and a single mag pouch. Allow class to be an environment for learning, then reinforce those afterwards in practice.
The main thing is to not continue carrying on in an artificial way. If your goal is private citizen self-defense, getting all tacti-cooled out for class may be one thing, just don’t always do that in practice. Same with empty hand martial arts… we don’t wear our dobok/gi out on the street, so practice in your normal street clothing once in a while to see just how constraining those jeans really are.
Stuff From Hsoi 