Following on from my KO post, I want to post some links which feature sucker punching. Escalation from verbal confrontation to physical violence is a common tactic employed in conjunction with deceptive language to lower the opponents defenses (see Geoff Thompson's 3 Second Fighter or Pavement Arena books and videos for more on this). The first video I found has all this and more, check it out here. Warning these videos have strong language, racial slurs and strong violence, which is because they are real, not some Hollywood BS.
Here's some more "lessons from the streets":
Stomped
Bartender
Let sleeping dudes lie
Ground and pound
Notice the ambush tactics employed and the fact that where there is verbal preamble, none of the folks have there hands up in a 'deescalation posture' or (as Geoff Thompson calls it) a 'fence'. The bartender does have his hands up, but doesn't use them to control the space between him and the other guy.
He's some more:
Police Woman
Boxing
Lastly look at the shifty behaviour and body language of the offender in this video.
Sometimes Sucker Puncher's don't punch, sometimes they glass you or stab you. Rewatch the knife attack and look for the clues he's going to attack.
Feb 26, 2009
Art of the KO
I was watching a youtube clip from Richard (from Street Fighting Secrets) the other day talking about the best way to knock out an opponent. In the video Richard tells us not to believe what he has to say but to search youtube under "knock outs" and see the type of strikes that successfully knock people out. Doing this is very enlightening, as a matter of fact you should go and do this now. Watch boxing knockouts, MMA knockouts and street fighting knockouts and as Richard recommends look at the tool that was used (punch, kick, knee, chop, etc.). Also look at the target being struck and the angle of energy transfer and also the intensity.
Here's some links to get you started:
right punch to jaw
left hook
flying knee
knock out kiss
knife hand (shuto)
knee
headbutt
elbows (lots of elbows)
Here's some links to get you started:
right punch to jaw
left hook
flying knee
knock out kiss
knife hand (shuto)
knee
headbutt
elbows (lots of elbows)
Feb 20, 2009
Clubbed - A Geoff Thompson Movie
I just finished watching ex-Coventry Doorman Geoff Thompson's latest movie release "Clubbed", which is based on his time on the door. It is an thoughtful and yet action packed film, but don't expect big budget Hollywood glitz. It's pure British Grit!
Watch a preview here.
The movie does contain profanity, drugs and violence, in keeping with the subject material. So if you are easily offended, then harden up! Seriously though, it is a good if confronting 95 minutes.
Now that the review's out of the way, I'd like to share a thought I had whilst watching. In one scene our (anti-) hero, Danny goes into confront a sociopathic Ganster type wearing a balaclava. It is the type with just two small eyeholes. I thought to myself, 'well it protects your identity, but it really limits your vision'. My thought then took an extra-step on me and conceived a defense against the balaclava wearing thug... Reach out grab the balaclava then spin it so the eyeholes face the wrong way. Then do what you need to to end the confrontation.
It is so riculously obvious, I'm amazed the thought hadn't occured to me before, kind of like the Spetznas defense against the plastic bag over the head carjacking routine.
Watch a preview here.
The movie does contain profanity, drugs and violence, in keeping with the subject material. So if you are easily offended, then harden up! Seriously though, it is a good if confronting 95 minutes.
Now that the review's out of the way, I'd like to share a thought I had whilst watching. In one scene our (anti-) hero, Danny goes into confront a sociopathic Ganster type wearing a balaclava. It is the type with just two small eyeholes. I thought to myself, 'well it protects your identity, but it really limits your vision'. My thought then took an extra-step on me and conceived a defense against the balaclava wearing thug... Reach out grab the balaclava then spin it so the eyeholes face the wrong way. Then do what you need to to end the confrontation.
It is so riculously obvious, I'm amazed the thought hadn't occured to me before, kind of like the Spetznas defense against the plastic bag over the head carjacking routine.
Feb 18, 2009
It's not ESP but it's close!
One of the powers attributed to martial arts masters, Ninja and Oriental Mystics is the power to sense the intentions of an opponent, thereby avoiding this danger. Such powers are the stuff of legends, but is it possible for the everyday person to develop such abilities. I think such powers are real but misunderstood. I don't think you have to have psychic powers to do this either.
What you do need is to develop your perception, look for warning signs and have an understanding of the psycho-physical aspects of humanity.
If you read my previous post referring to 'micro-expressions' then you already know it is possible to sense someone's deep emotions, even if they are attempting to conceal these from you. But you must be looking for these signs. I will vouch for the fact that you can have this knowledge and be looking, but failing to see the signs presented to you. After-all being eternally vigilant is initially hard work. From childhood many of us get into the habit of switching off the sensory impulses of events in the world which disturb us. For example, you are a small child and mum and dad are having a heated argument... So you may well stick your fingers in your ears or pull your pillow over your head to block out this unpleasant sensory input.
If this coping strategy becomes habitual then you get in the habit of 'playing ostrich' when reality presents it's ugly face, rather than the pleasant one we all prefer. This means we not only don't look for signs of trouble before it occurs, but will actively blot out these signs out of fear and habit.
So first we must get back in the habit of' looking' and 'seeing'. From here we must learn what to look for (eg the wrinkling of the forehead that indicates fear, the splaying of the arms/ hands that suggests imminent attack). Lastly we must understand that the human mind and body are functionally indivisible, so any thought has an effect on the body.
A quick exercise before we move on - first feel inside yourself with your mind, paying attention to the quality and speed of your breathing, your posture and the tone of your muscles. This is your psycho-physical baseline. Now imagine a time when you thought you were going to die, relive this moment, make it real to yourself, relive it. How's your breathing and posture now. Now think about the last time you had really good sex, what does this do to your breathing and posture? These thoughts will do something to your body.
The reverse is also true. This is one of the reasons that you can feel so great after having a massage. As your body relaxes, so does your mind.
Now back to sensing your opponents intention...
Know that your opponents thoughts are written on their body, in the way they hold themselves, in the tension patterns of the muscles of the face, in their breathing (is it short, sharp and shallow?), in the clenching and unclenching of their fists and in the quality of their voice.
One of the methods used as a 'lie detector' is the voice stress analyser. This looks for spikes in vocal tension to tell when someone is anxious about something they are saying. What creates this vocal tension? The answer is muscular tension, in this case the tension of the diaphragm, other muscles of respiration and the muscles of the throat (including vocal chords, which are also muscles).
So go now and talk to some people and notice their posture, breathing and vocal quality. Talk about a variety of subjects to elicit different emotions in that person. Find an animal rights activist and ask them their opinion on fox hunts or slaughter houses, ask the right wing fanatic about communism, etc.
As Miyamoto Musashi says in his classic on swordsmanship, Book of the Five Rings - "Study this deeply".
What you do need is to develop your perception, look for warning signs and have an understanding of the psycho-physical aspects of humanity.
If you read my previous post referring to 'micro-expressions' then you already know it is possible to sense someone's deep emotions, even if they are attempting to conceal these from you. But you must be looking for these signs. I will vouch for the fact that you can have this knowledge and be looking, but failing to see the signs presented to you. After-all being eternally vigilant is initially hard work. From childhood many of us get into the habit of switching off the sensory impulses of events in the world which disturb us. For example, you are a small child and mum and dad are having a heated argument... So you may well stick your fingers in your ears or pull your pillow over your head to block out this unpleasant sensory input.
If this coping strategy becomes habitual then you get in the habit of 'playing ostrich' when reality presents it's ugly face, rather than the pleasant one we all prefer. This means we not only don't look for signs of trouble before it occurs, but will actively blot out these signs out of fear and habit.
So first we must get back in the habit of' looking' and 'seeing'. From here we must learn what to look for (eg the wrinkling of the forehead that indicates fear, the splaying of the arms/ hands that suggests imminent attack). Lastly we must understand that the human mind and body are functionally indivisible, so any thought has an effect on the body.
A quick exercise before we move on - first feel inside yourself with your mind, paying attention to the quality and speed of your breathing, your posture and the tone of your muscles. This is your psycho-physical baseline. Now imagine a time when you thought you were going to die, relive this moment, make it real to yourself, relive it. How's your breathing and posture now. Now think about the last time you had really good sex, what does this do to your breathing and posture? These thoughts will do something to your body.
The reverse is also true. This is one of the reasons that you can feel so great after having a massage. As your body relaxes, so does your mind.
Now back to sensing your opponents intention...
Know that your opponents thoughts are written on their body, in the way they hold themselves, in the tension patterns of the muscles of the face, in their breathing (is it short, sharp and shallow?), in the clenching and unclenching of their fists and in the quality of their voice.
One of the methods used as a 'lie detector' is the voice stress analyser. This looks for spikes in vocal tension to tell when someone is anxious about something they are saying. What creates this vocal tension? The answer is muscular tension, in this case the tension of the diaphragm, other muscles of respiration and the muscles of the throat (including vocal chords, which are also muscles).
So go now and talk to some people and notice their posture, breathing and vocal quality. Talk about a variety of subjects to elicit different emotions in that person. Find an animal rights activist and ask them their opinion on fox hunts or slaughter houses, ask the right wing fanatic about communism, etc.
As Miyamoto Musashi says in his classic on swordsmanship, Book of the Five Rings - "Study this deeply".
Feb 11, 2009
It's all in your head...
Last night after coming home from training, I sat down in front of the TV to eat dinner. My wife and housemate were watching the show "Lie to me". In this particular episode the main character (the human lie detector guy) was viewing a picture of a person which would then change briefly to a different emotional expression, before returning to the original facial expression. A new character, a younger Hispanic lady is introduced as wanting to join his team. He turns to her, indicated the video screen with the faces he has been studying and asks her "what do you see?". Well at this stage I pipe up "fear" narrowly beating the TV character's dialogue. The next photo flashes, I pipe up in unison with the character "anger", right again. Lastly I pre-empt the character with "sadness"...Three for three.
Now my wife is not surprised, but my housemate says something along the lines of "how did you know that, all I saw was a flash". The answer is that the software being used is a late model version of Ekman's Micro Expression Training Tool, used in law enforcement and 'hush-hush' governmental groups to help in training officers and operators to recognise what someone is feeling. Often this is done to gauge someones emotional response to a particular question or statement.
To the uninitiated this appears to be some sort of magical power, when in fact it is just very specific knowledge of which facial muscles are activated when someone feels a particular emotion. The difficulty is that these micro-expressions flash by in about a fifth of a second. However it is a skill which can be trained and developed to a high level.
The reason I was able to call the emotions featured on the TV show easily, is that I have used the METT tool over a number of years as a training exercise to enhance my awareness skills.
Bruce Lee once said that too much time is devoted in martial arts training to technical skill development at the expense of the overall physical conditioning of the participant. Well I believe that too much time is spent in learning responses to acts of violence at the expense of training the participants awareness and avoidance skills.
Ask yourself when you last spent time training your senses to perceive aggressive body language, micro-expressions or the deceptive language patterns attackers use to stop you noticing they are about to attack you. Well when was it?
If physical conditioning was the under-rated aspect in the 60's and 70's when Bruce Lee was around, then the mental aspects of combat are the neglected aspects of today's martial arts and self defense scene. After all a lot of folks go to the gym and work out, but how many of you spend time training in the brain gym????
Note: Some pioneers have addressed these areas, people such as Geoff Thompson, Paul (my current Ninjutsu and Street Edge instructor) and some of the other reality based self defense pioneers who have worked in security or law enforcement roles.
The difficulty lies in developing a mental training regime for self preservation. For this reason I have been developing a state of the art training system called "Code Black Protective Systems". This system applies the principles of Emergency Management to personal threat situations. The name 'Code Black' is a reference to the colour code used in Australian Standards relating to Emergency Response practices dealing with Personal Threat, Armed Robbery, Civil Disorder and Illegal Occupancy. Rather than creating another defensive tactics program, I have taken a holistic approach to the problem of personal threat situations.
Most defensive tactics and self defense programs pay lip service to training awareness but spend most of their time looking at responses to violence. In Emergency Management Systems Theory, response is only one of four essential areas. The Emergency Management Cycle consists of Prevention (Mitigation), Preparation, Response and Recovery. I have never seen anyone address ALL of these four areas when teaching or discussing defensive tactics.
Prevention is determined by one's ability to avoid situations that expose you to violence. As such areas that are covered here are awareness building skills, criminal modus operandi, ambush theory, crime statistics (including who, what, where, when, why and how attacks happen), body language, psycho-physical responses, gait analysis, counter surveillance and escape and evasion training. These areas are covered in some circles (intelligence operations, law enforcement and military) but have not been tuned to the needs of the citizen attempting to survive in an urban environment.
Preparation is the actual training of awareness and response. It is the development of a 'game plan', of strategy, of physical and mental skills.
Response is the implementation of the skills developed through the preparation phase of training. This will include paradigms which address ambush fighting, verbal confrontation leading to violence, multiple opponent and weapons attacks. This is the area of emergency management that most self defense and defensive tactics deal with. As such Code Black doesn't re-invent the wheel, rather it acts as a overlay on existing programs to enhance their effectiveness. Code Black provides a context into which the systems fit and addresses the time before violence occurs and the time afterward also.
This brings us to the Recovery phase of emergency management. Recovery, as the name suggests, is how we deal with the aftermath of violent confrontation. It includes First Aid measures, legal implications and processes related to the incident you have just survived, increased security demands should the assailant seek retribution or should you be required to testify against them. It also provides strategies for emotional and physical trauma recovery. Another essential point is ensuring your life can go on. If injured and unable to work, how will you provide for your family? What if the scumbag who attacks you, then tries to ruin your life by suing you, what will you do then? These are all crucial aspects of the recovery phase of the Code Black program.
Most of these areas are never covered by even the best of traditional programs, however this doesn't mean they are not essential, just neglected.
You may win the fight and lose the battle if you don't plan ahead. Self protection in the modern world means a lot more than devastating martial arts skills...
Now my wife is not surprised, but my housemate says something along the lines of "how did you know that, all I saw was a flash". The answer is that the software being used is a late model version of Ekman's Micro Expression Training Tool, used in law enforcement and 'hush-hush' governmental groups to help in training officers and operators to recognise what someone is feeling. Often this is done to gauge someones emotional response to a particular question or statement.
To the uninitiated this appears to be some sort of magical power, when in fact it is just very specific knowledge of which facial muscles are activated when someone feels a particular emotion. The difficulty is that these micro-expressions flash by in about a fifth of a second. However it is a skill which can be trained and developed to a high level.
The reason I was able to call the emotions featured on the TV show easily, is that I have used the METT tool over a number of years as a training exercise to enhance my awareness skills.
Bruce Lee once said that too much time is devoted in martial arts training to technical skill development at the expense of the overall physical conditioning of the participant. Well I believe that too much time is spent in learning responses to acts of violence at the expense of training the participants awareness and avoidance skills.
Ask yourself when you last spent time training your senses to perceive aggressive body language, micro-expressions or the deceptive language patterns attackers use to stop you noticing they are about to attack you. Well when was it?
If physical conditioning was the under-rated aspect in the 60's and 70's when Bruce Lee was around, then the mental aspects of combat are the neglected aspects of today's martial arts and self defense scene. After all a lot of folks go to the gym and work out, but how many of you spend time training in the brain gym????
Note: Some pioneers have addressed these areas, people such as Geoff Thompson, Paul (my current Ninjutsu and Street Edge instructor) and some of the other reality based self defense pioneers who have worked in security or law enforcement roles.
The difficulty lies in developing a mental training regime for self preservation. For this reason I have been developing a state of the art training system called "Code Black Protective Systems". This system applies the principles of Emergency Management to personal threat situations. The name 'Code Black' is a reference to the colour code used in Australian Standards relating to Emergency Response practices dealing with Personal Threat, Armed Robbery, Civil Disorder and Illegal Occupancy. Rather than creating another defensive tactics program, I have taken a holistic approach to the problem of personal threat situations.
Most defensive tactics and self defense programs pay lip service to training awareness but spend most of their time looking at responses to violence. In Emergency Management Systems Theory, response is only one of four essential areas. The Emergency Management Cycle consists of Prevention (Mitigation), Preparation, Response and Recovery. I have never seen anyone address ALL of these four areas when teaching or discussing defensive tactics.
Prevention is determined by one's ability to avoid situations that expose you to violence. As such areas that are covered here are awareness building skills, criminal modus operandi, ambush theory, crime statistics (including who, what, where, when, why and how attacks happen), body language, psycho-physical responses, gait analysis, counter surveillance and escape and evasion training. These areas are covered in some circles (intelligence operations, law enforcement and military) but have not been tuned to the needs of the citizen attempting to survive in an urban environment.
Preparation is the actual training of awareness and response. It is the development of a 'game plan', of strategy, of physical and mental skills.
Response is the implementation of the skills developed through the preparation phase of training. This will include paradigms which address ambush fighting, verbal confrontation leading to violence, multiple opponent and weapons attacks. This is the area of emergency management that most self defense and defensive tactics deal with. As such Code Black doesn't re-invent the wheel, rather it acts as a overlay on existing programs to enhance their effectiveness. Code Black provides a context into which the systems fit and addresses the time before violence occurs and the time afterward also.
This brings us to the Recovery phase of emergency management. Recovery, as the name suggests, is how we deal with the aftermath of violent confrontation. It includes First Aid measures, legal implications and processes related to the incident you have just survived, increased security demands should the assailant seek retribution or should you be required to testify against them. It also provides strategies for emotional and physical trauma recovery. Another essential point is ensuring your life can go on. If injured and unable to work, how will you provide for your family? What if the scumbag who attacks you, then tries to ruin your life by suing you, what will you do then? These are all crucial aspects of the recovery phase of the Code Black program.
Most of these areas are never covered by even the best of traditional programs, however this doesn't mean they are not essential, just neglected.
You may win the fight and lose the battle if you don't plan ahead. Self protection in the modern world means a lot more than devastating martial arts skills...
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