Archive for October, 2010
Kung Fu Technique Adapted for Street Fighting
The popular martial art, Kung Fu Wing Chin is effective for self defense when involved in a street fight. Because Wing Chun techniques are a southern style of kung fu, it is different than other styles of kung fu. One very effective Wing Chun technique is called the straight blast or chain punching.
The straight blast technique is basically a chain of circular punches that effectively drive down the vertical center line of an attacker’s body. When you attack the centerline of an attacker, you can fire off and land many punches very quickly. However, you should know that using the Wing Chun techniques for self defense has disadvantages as well as advantages.
Ground Fighting Self-Defense Techniques
Almost all altercations will eventually go to the ground. This hold true whether you are in a street, military or law enforcement fighting scenario.
There are many ways the fight can end up on the ground. You could execute a throw or takedown, the attacker could bring you to the ground, one of the combatants could trip, one could be stunned and fall, etc. When you get to the ground, it is imperative to recognize that this is a dangerous place and situation. Spending too much time on the ground opens you up for other attacks. Also, the more time you spend there, the more time your attacker has time to capitalize on the situation as well. If you are in the military you always need to be aware of what other weapons may be available to your opponent during the fight. They may have lost their rifle, but still have access to their sidearm if they are able to create distance to shoot. This holds true with civilian or law enforcement scenarios as well. There is always a chance that your opponent maybe carrying a concealed weapon or use a weapon of opportunity during the fight. Because of the heightened risk associated with ground combat, you need to end the situation quickly. The benefit of learning ground fighting techniques is that most attackers are not familiar with ground fighting tactics and make common mistakes which can be easily capitalized on and allow you to finish off your attacker.
Appreciating Groundfighting
The sport of mixed martial arts is often misunderstood by fans of other sports, even other combat sports. When fights hit the ground, casual viewers often complain that the action is hard to decipher, or that the fight becomes boring as the athletes neutralize each other and try to gain better positions. Others may point out that the striking is not as crisp or technical as it is in boxing. I’m guessing there’s not too many of these complaints from the current audience, but it has often been derided as too bloody or barbaric. Let’s tackle each of these ideas, starting with some common misconceptions about ground fighting.
Victims of Success
When is the last time you heard a coach say “You’re doing great, now do something different”? When something is working, we should keep doing it, right? Not always. Two recent fights displayed this exact kind of strategic conundrum.
Last weekend at UFC 120 in London, the main event between Bisping and Akayama was a great example. Early in the fight, Akayama landed a thudding overhand right to the left cheek of Bisping. it was eerily similar to the punch that Henderson floored him with at UFC 100. Bisping looked staggered, and retreated for the rest of the round to clear his head.
Front Choke Defense Against a Wall
When I see a martial arts techniques that talk about “Front Choke Defense” I mostly scream BULLLLSHIIITTT!!!
Step 1 — Slap your opponents arms with a dragonball fist
Step 2 — Strike nerve center X78C2 to temporarily blind your attacker
Step 3 — Twist their nipple into compliance.
Lets be honest — the front choke is really not an effective attack, NO ONE is just going to grab your throat and start choking you on the street. It doesn’t make sense and all you have to do is turn your head to escape.
MMA Ground and Pound for Self-Defense
Ground striking is something that most of us think is “easy” or is a “no-brainer”. The fact of the matter is that striking on ground, is actually a lot harder then you think — especially if you have an opponent who is strong, can keep you down, and control your motions.
The ability to strike on the ground is something that MMA fighters do very well. Reality-Based Martial Arts and MMA have more similarities then they would both like to admit. The both use very similar techniques, yet change the mindset to work for the situation that they are in. That is why I personally train both in sport fighting and reality based self-defense. When training for sport I am honing my skills, teaching myself natural reactions and learning to deal with fear, aggression, and adrenaline. Training in sport allows us to progress in our martial art. But — I also train specifically for self-defense. I do many drills, scenarios, and specific training that relates to real self-defense.
Front Choke Defense — Spear Hand to Throat
The front choke is a common attack used to either threaten or seriously harm a victim. When it is most common is when used to pin a victim against a wall, car, etc. It is also a common ground fighting attack. This particular response: The Spearhand, found in the H2H Combat System, can be used standing or on the ground to create an opening for more techniques. It causes an extreme pain response, but not a disabling response. It can be used as an opening to either get away or QUICKLY follow up with other attacks.
Crashing Technique Against Punches
Most martial artist think of blocking punches as either some “Daniel-Son” type of karate block or possibly fighting like a boxer who slips and parries to avoid punches. But the most natural human reaction to being punched is to put our hands up over our face and cover our head. This is actually not a bad approach to defending ourselves; but the technique of it actually needs to be tweaked a little bit.
One of the techniques we work the in the H2H Self-Defense System is called the crashing technique. The crashing technique is the act of strategically covering our head and vital targets and then crashing into our opponent. This self-defense technique does a variety of things.
Self-Defense Against a Wall
It’s rare to be involved in a fight where a walls, fences, cars, poles… cages are not involved. I can rarely think of a real fight that I have seen (whether on video or in person) where the fighters have not had hard objects around them. Yet sometimes in our training, we ignore the important value of fighting against a wall (I’ll use wall as a blanket term for all of the previously mentioned hard objects). Most of us martial artists train in an open environment where the wall is not used, not trained against, and is not taken into the equation of real combat training.
Luckily for myself and those who have trained in the H2H Combat System over the years — the wall has become a very important part of our training. Personally, I use the wall extensively in my training. One of favorite training environments was in my instructors home built dojo. It was a shed that was converted into a traditional Japanese Ju-Jitsu dojo in his backyard. It could fit about 12 adults. The walls were re-enforced and when we sparred, the walls were ALWAYS used. We would pin each other against the wall, do takedowns against the wall, use it to our advantage to get up, or to keep a stronger opponent down.
MMA and the Military
I was brought on board to investigate the positive relationships between MMA and martial arts and military training. There are many natural overlaps in the areas of physical readiness, close quarter combat, and mental preparation. This can be approached a lot of levels, from the macro to the micro, from strategy to specific physical techniques and how they apply across both disciplines. By nature both require an integrated approach. Where there are useful similarities, we’ll explore them and put them in the proper context.
Let’s start with some of the similarities.
