I’d like to thank reader Ricky for sending in this real-life account and for letting me post it. It’s in his own words, with my comments following.
This story took place just a week ago. My mom is a teacher, and I don’t get to spend time with her that much during the week, so last weekend ( Saturday the 11th) we decided to go and spend the day together. We were going to go to a book store, but had to stop at a little Dollar Store, to get some groceries. I had just gotten a catalog (knives, swords, and self defense weapons, go figure) and my mom was going in, just to get a few things.Posted in Real Life Combat by .
bsc
MMA and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu have become all the rage lately, and it seems everybody is wrestling. A problem is that people get focused on move-countermove, then countering the counter move, and get lost in the weeds, where they lose sight of the drawbacks of grappling against multiple opponents and knives.
bsc
The one move no one seems to do is the suplex. If you’re going to learn just one grappling move other than a choke, I think this is it. I must start by saying this is dangerous, which is why you should add it to your arsenal. Imagine executing this move in a parking lot, or a concrete floor, and the opponent’s head isn’t landing on a mat. A broken arm from an opponent trying to catch himself or break his fall is another very real possibility.
bsc
You needn’t even do a suplex (with the back arch). Any time you can move to the opponent’s back, such as by a duck under or arm drag as depicted below, you simply lift with your hips and slam him to the ground. My nephew, James Cook, a collegiate wrestler, uses this to great effect (See here at 7 minutes.). On the street, it’s a fight-ending move.
bsc
Posted in Uncategorized by .
Get the Big Stick Combat Book! Big Stick Combat is a simple yet sophisticated system. It is a powerful fusion of Filipino arts with the American baseball bat.
Feb 12
16
The Left Hook
I greatly admire Freddie Roach as the mastermind behind Manny Pacquiao’s dominance in professional boxing.
My ears perked up at 1:00 when Roach mentions, “If a good hook misses, the elbow lands.” Hmmm. He then quickly adds, “I’m not teaching you to be a dirty boxer…” Of course, on the street, “dirty” is a desirable trait. How could you work this little tip into your training?
See Mike Tyson in action in the following clip, in which he executes one of the most brutal left hooks I have ever seen.
At 5:10 Mike Tyson hits Long with a textbook left hook, knocking Long into the ropes! (See it on slow mo at 7:00.) The commentator observes that Tyson nearly knocked his opponent out of the ring. By the time Long catches the third left hand, the doctors rush into the ring.
At 7:29 you can see the second left hook in slow motion. The commentators note how close (i.e. tight) Tyson’s punch is.
Posted in Other Fighting Styles Technique Videos by .
Feb 12
11
Staff Fighting of Shastarvidiya
I first wrote about Nidar Singh here. You can’t really tell from pictures whether or not a martial artist is genuine or a
Master Nidar Singh
poser. With Master Singh’s wild outfit and exotic weapons, I feared for the worst. But having seen him in multiple videos, I can say he’s the real deal. He has a mastery of multiple weapon and unarmed arts as well as an understanding at a very high conceptual level. He can not only do it, but he can explain what he is doing, and why.
Recently I’ve written several posts on staff and long stick methods (The shovel. Ilustrisimo Dos Manos. Modified Tapado.) Master Singh’s method of staff fighting is unique and highly effective.
Here are my notes on his method:
1:27 Construction of staff (ebony) and length (from outstretched fingertip to outstretched fingertip).
1:40 Other Indian staff methods –the staff method and the “gatka” method, which he refers to as an “exhibition style”
3:30 The Shastarvidiya stance
5:50 Master Singh contrasts the vatya (? my guess) method with his method. Essentially, he begins by thrusting, but not just thrusting –he uses curved thrusts and thrusts that come up from under an opponent’s field of vision so that he can’t see it coming until he’s hit.
7:40 He explains how he does a curved thrust. I immediately added this to Big Stick Combat. GM Estalilla does a variety of tricky strikes, but does them one-handed. I have found that devious strikes are easier when done two-handed.
9:40 “This art is the most boring art to look at, but the end result is where all the excitement is.”
10:25 Photographic evidence that Master Singh not only knows what he’s talking about, but can actually fight. The photo captures him launching a thrust right at his opponent’s throat the moment he raises up (telegraphs) to strike. Of course, because the idiot wasn’t actually killed, he continued prancing around. How many people in the crowd recognized the fight-ending potential of Master Singh’s first strike?
13:00 He fights two opponents. Master Singh opens with a thrust, then follows up with strikes once he’s created an opening.
16:30 He demonstrates the pole ax. This reminds me of the Dane ax.
Katar
19:00 What if you get rushed? What about the staff in close? This is the challenge of the big stick and the staff weapons: you’ve got exceptional reach and power at a distance, but are at a disadvantage in close. Master Singh explains how the Indian dagger, the katar, can be used as an equalizer.
This seems to me to be the answer for the big stick –instead of a stick and a knife in each hand, the espada y daga method, carry a knife that enables you to hold a stick with two hands.
22:00 He returns to the instance of the challenge match. What can you do when your ignorant opponent either can’t recognize, or refuses to acknowledge, the fact that you have bested him? Unfortunately, killing him to prove your point isn’t an option. But these guys will flourish, putting on demos, running big schools, and winning tournament trophies.
Posted in Other Stick Styles Technique Videos by .
In an earlier post I referred to Sikhs defending their temple during the London riots.
bsc
Something similar happened in the United States in 1844. Nativist yahoos, fueled by anti-Catholic and anti-Irish sentiment, launched virulent and ugly attacks. Fortunately, Catholics had a defender in the form of Archbishop John “The Dagger” Hughes, who never failed to defend the Catholic church.
bsc
According to one source,
When, therefore, he heard that a threat had been made to burn down his cathedral, he caused three or four thousand of the most intelligent and prominent Catholics to arm themselves, and to take possession of the churchyard in Mott Street, and defend the building. When the “Natives” heard of these preparations, they were afraid to attack, and no more was heard of the threat.
bsc
It was during this same era that Catholics in Philadelphia armed themselves and fought nativist mobs in the streets, with several people killed and a couple of churches torched.
bsc
Ultimately, the members of a church must be prepared to defend it. Pacifist churches such as the Quakers and the Mennonites exist only at the mercy of those who are willing to do their fighting for them.
bsc
But once again the Catholic church is under assault. The Obama administration has ruled that all employers must provide insurance covering contraceptives, abortifacients, and abortions. Although this violates the conscience of Catholics, the Obama administration allows for no religious exemptions.
bsc
This is not just an issue for Catholics, but for everyone concerned with religious and constitutional freedom. The first step is to fight in the courts, and the next step is civil disobedience, to surround the church figuratively and literally if need be.
b
sc
The true meaning of being a warrior is larger than wearing black belts, doing demos, and fighting in nightclubs. The warrior class has always been the elite of any society, those who are called to a higher standard than fighting for their own egos, but defending a larger cause, standing for greater truths such as justice and freedom.
Posted in Commentary by .
bsc
bsc
In the fight above Micky Ward is getting his butt kicked. The announcers are ripping him to shreds, basically saying that Micky and the fight are a joke. A few commentators’ snide remarks:
“…that threatens [Ward's] participation –if you wish to call it that– in the fight.”
“Sanchez, with absolutely nothing to fear…”
“This is a fight that should be stopped, for the fighters’ well-being, and for the people who are paying to see it.”
“If anything interesting happens, we’ll let you know.”
“If I were paying for this fight on pay-per-view, I’d be wanting half my money back.”
“That was a good body shot by Ward, maybe it will turn him around.” (sarcastically)
bsc
Out of nowhere, Mickey drops the liver shot, and the commentators are stunned. After the body blow and Sanchez is literally crawling across the ring…
“Was that a lucky shot, or did Micky just make idiots of us all?” I’d say the latter.
Remember, in order to land the liver shot you need to angle to the outside.
Micky Ward is a great example not just of a boxer, but of a warrior with fighting spirit. In the next video Micky is taking incredible punishment, at one point even getting blasted into the ropes, yet he struggles back, in many cases successfully coming from behind. There is a lesson here –survival may mean coming back after you’ve been cut, or shot, or blindsided by a punch you didn’t see coming.
bsc
There is another lesson here outside of physically fighting. When we train, we are toughening our resolve to persist when other people have written us off. We are learning not to quit when quitting is easy and the only “sensible” thing to do.
bsc
bsc
Posted in Other Fighting Styles Videos by .
bsc
bsc
Following Manny Pacquiao’s annihilation of Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton, it was easy to dismiss Ricky as an unworthy opponent, when nothing could be further from the truth. In the above video, you can see Hatton knocking opponents out with body shots, something I don’t remember seeing anyone else do. Bob Arum, the legendary boxing promoter, said after the [Hatton-Castillo] fight, “In 42 years of boxing, I’ve seen that punch [left to the liver] land maybe 5 times”.
bsc
Note How Hatton Angles to Castillo's Outside
bsc
Martial artists often debate how applicable boxing is to the street. One of my concerns is that punches to the head are 
valid in boxing, because your hands are wrapped, taped, and encased in padding, but on the street a bare knuckle on somebody’s skull can result in a broken hand. However, with a punch to the body, there is less danger of injuring your own hand, and as Hatton ably shows, a body punch can knock someone out, especially a person without the aerobic and abdominal conditioning of a pro boxer.
bsc
Another of my concerns is that lowering the hands creates openings at the head. In my thinking about what is effective, I have focused on using the hands for highline attacks, while using the knees to take the place of the hook to the body, which allows me to maintain cover at my head. Hatton has forced me to reconsider this. In Hatton’s method, when your hands are down throwing a hook or uppercut low, you are outside the opponent, in a safer position.
bsc
Rick Hatton has a reputation as a brawler who always charges forward and never retreats, but I was surprised to see there is great sophistication to his methods. I shouldn’t have been surprised, because nobody racks up a record like Hatton’s on accident.
bsc
1. A key of Hatton’s technique is his angling. Hatton continually angles off to the side, often landing a left hook to the liver or floating ribs from a spot that is nearly behind his opponent.
bsc
2. Hatton moves to the side to throw a punch right down the opponent’s centerline. Suppose we have two fighters hunched together in close, facing each other. If I throw an undercut to the pit of my opponent’s stomach, that punch tends to come in at an oblique angle, an angle that enables my opponent to deflect it or block it with his tucked-in elbows. But if I step to the side, I can throw that uppercut in a straighter line, in between his elbows and right into the pit of his gut.
bsc
3. Hatton credits Roberto Duran for the in-close uppercut. Ricky points out that even with one arm tied up, and you’re forehead to forehead, you can still blast an opponent with an uppercut, as can be seen in the video below.
bsc
4. The Hitman makes excellent use of the offbeat. Just as the opponent is trying to regroup, or senses a lull or a break, Hatton attacks when his guard is down. He mentions a sneaky technique of launching a barrage of shots to the body. The opponent responds by tensing his abdomen. When Ricky “breaks,” the opponent will now breathe in deeply to catch his breath. Right as the opponent sucks in, Hatton launches a devastating hook to the stomach, flooring him.
bsc
5. Check out the huge abdominal pad on Hatton’s trainer, which lets Ricky practice full power body shots on a moving opponent. This more realistic training is key to developing Hatton’s crushing power and accuracy.
bsc
bsc
“Es un arte marcial que viene de muy antiguo.” It’s a martial art that comes from the ancient past.
bsc
Tolete Canario is an intriguing martial art from the Canary Islands, a Spanish-speaking part of Spain that is actually closer to Africa than to Spain. One meaning of “tolete” is a policeman’s billy club. A more obscure meaning is an “oarlock,” which as far as I can tell from photos, may have resembled a belaying pin, the famed club in the pirate movies.
bsc
What is unusual about Tolete Canario is that the stick is grasped in the middle. With a light stick, I would dismiss this method out-of-hand. But with a heavier stick, or a club, such a method might make sense. There is a video available from Budo International. Reportedly the style has caught on with law enforcement agencies in Europe; however, we must be careful not to read too much into this because police tactics are often more about controlling a drunk without hurting him than crushing the skull of someone with a 
knife (in which case a cop would be justified in shooting him).
bsc
“La mas brutal de las varitas.” The most brutal of the sticks.
In the second video the man refers to Canarian immigrants to Cuba successfully using the tolete against machete-wielding Cubans.
Posted in Other Stick Styles Videos by .
Jan 12
28
Self-Defense with a Shovel
If we consider all of the exotic features of the martial arts, such as the kimono-like gi, barefooted practitioners, machetes, rattan sticks, kneeling techniques, and so on, they were all sensible characteristics of everyday life in another culture, such as Japan or the Philippines. When we bring those elements to the United States, they have a novel appeal, but the problem is that they are out of place.
bsc
I think we must force ourselves to focus more intently on eliminating the exotic elements of foreign martial arts that make them appealing, but are irrelevant to the lives we live. So I ditch the uniform and wear clothes like those I normally wear. Although I have nunchaku and enjoy playing with them, I know I must put them aside and train with a long-necked beer bottle. The beer bottle isn’t a sexy weapon. No one is going to post You Tube videos of himself wielding a bottle, but if you’re good with the nunchaku, you just might go viral.
bsc
Which brings me to the shovel. Let us look at the shovel as an improvised weapon. If you work construction, landscaping, or farming, or if you live in a cold climate where shoveling snow is a regular event, a shovel is a weapon you just might have to use. But the shovel isn’t a glamorous weapon, so the temptation is to pick up the spear, or the three-sectional staff, or those really cool hook swords. The guy who does the seminar where everybody carries swords and dozens of knives will have a line around the block, but the guy offering a seminar on self-defense with bottles, shovels, and pens should be certain to keep his day job.
bsc
Looking at the attributes of the shovel –and you really do need to pick one up– is that it is heavy, especially at the blade end. The heaviness means that large swings are too slow and therefore impractical. From low guard, with the blade resting on the ground, your primary attack is a direct thrust forward, attacking the opponent’s shins, knees, ankles, and groin. Trying to bring the blade up to block will also be too slow. You are better off evading or thrusting as a stop hit.
bsc
A couple of GM Estalilla’s long stick techniques are also applicable to the shovel. One technique is to bounce a strike up off the ground and into a thrust. The blade of the shovel serves like a spring, so that you can bounce the shovel off the ground and forward into a thrust. Another technique is that guys who had sticks made of bamboo and cut at an angle to create a sharpened tip, had something like a small cup at the end of their sticks, due to the bamboo’s hollowness. With the tip of the stick resting on the ground, you could scoop up dirt and fling it into the opponent’s face before launching an attack.
bsc
If you realize that this sort of tool (shovel, rake, hoe, pruner, etc.) is one that you use regularly, a good resource is William Cheung’s “Kung Fu Dragon Pole.” You also might want to carefully choose the lightest shovel you can find, and sharpen the blade.
bsc
bsc
Feb 12
12
Beware the Demo Art
bsc
But it’s the big, wasted movement that makes for exciting demos.
bsc
In my staff demo, with the tip on the ground, I block the opponent’s lowline strike with almost no movement, except a shift to face the strike. My counter moves to the opponent’s nearest target, traveling a foot or two off the ground. There isn’t much to see, and the audience would be bored.
bsc
A person in the audience might think, “Hey, I could do that! What’s the big deal?” Which is exactly the point –every technique should be something that almost anyone in the audience could do. Once you get into techniques that the average person can’t do, such as spinning kicks, backflips, complicated series of moves, you have moved into the realm of impractical techniques. Just as the person in the audience can’t do that backflip kick, you won’t be able to do it when you get older and your knees are giving you trouble, or when you’re on an icy sidewalk, or aren’t wearing your loose-fitting gi.
bsc
I love this quote from Master Nidar Singh: ““This art is the most boring art to look at, but the end result is where all the excitement is.” Master Singh points out that the show styles use lightweight “weapons” not because of their effectiveness in combat, but because they are easier and flashier to swing around. The show arts also emphasize hitting stick on stick. The constant smashing and clacking of sticks is noisy and exciting –the downside is that your aim is to hit the opponent and drop him, not hit his stick. Constantly blocking and clacking sticks is a bad habit to get into.
I’ve always recognized this as a problem faced by GM Estalilla and Kabaroan. The short stick styles move blindingly fast, clack, clack, clack, which makes for an exciting demo. The long stick, though, seeks to evade, merge with, or blast through the opponent’s weapon, and targets the head. How do you demonstrate that safely?
bsc
Similarly, Tapado has few techniques. It doesn’t look like anything. What the guy in the bleachers doesn’t see is the body mechanics, the subtle positioning of the feet, the careful placement of the contact point and angle of the stick, the unseen movement of the wrist.
bsc
So what is the martial artist to do? The irony is that the poorer styles will always look better in demos. The most effective moves, because of their economy, will lack the larger motions that the audience can detect. Is the answer to have a demo art and demo techniques, but actually teach the real deal to students?
Posted in Commentary by Darrin. 2 Comments