Apr 12
11
Kendo vs Big Stick Combat
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A reader sent me the above video and asked if the techniques can be applied to Big Stick Combat.
I have to start by saying that you can always learn from another style. We should remember Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which took the traditional Japanese art and stripped it of its traditions and formalities, and moved in the direction of practicality. The result is a highly effective art. I think the same could be done here. Keep in mind that the techniques are based on the sword and on traditional Japanese dress. Speaking of formalities, note how ceremonial the demonstration is –the first technique doesn’t occur until the 2:00 minute mark.
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It is instructive to observe that the first 3 techniques don’t involve blocking. In these instances the practitioner steps off line and delivers an attack. Evading and countering is generally better than blocking and countering.
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The third technique at 3:00 involves an off-side strike that I call “Twister.” This is a handy offense that enables you to hit from the other side from where your weapon is chambered.
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In the last two sequences the defender hits on the offbeat, as the attacker regroups and draws up (winds up) to launch the overhead blow.
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I think we should be careful not to write off other styles, such as Irish or African stickfighting, or police combatives, because they often have a radically different perspective, a new approach to combat. I’d be interested to see if someone has studied Japanese kendo and incorporated it with the Filipino martial arts, or applied it to a modern setting with different clothes and weapons. I’m curious to know if these techniques can be applied while sparring. How realistic is kendo sparring with the full gear and shinai? What is the difference in application between sword techniques and stick (bokken, wooden sword techniques)? These are all questions worth exploring.
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Try these eskrima vs. kendo vids. In the first video, the eskrima guy does better. In the second video, the kendoka does better; he is much faster with the overhead strike. Pay attention to the one hand thrust to the throat in the second video. This is a sneaky strike, and striking the throat with a bladed weapon may very well result in a “game over.”
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Posted in Other Fighting Styles Videos 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.
Apr 12
5
Hammer Time
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While the country is focused on the sensational shooting death of Trayvon Martin, in the same town of Sanford, Florida, a 
50 year-old man was nearly beaten to death by two young hoodlums with a hammer.
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The victim was attacked while he was inside his car. Then he was dragged out of his vehicle and into the nearby woods, where they continued their assault. Fortunately, someone heard the victim’s cries and called the police.
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Keep in mind that while the media is focused on certain crimes, very serious and brutal crimes occur daily without anyone noticing. Don’t get lured into a false sense of security just because the woman whose face was slashed with a box cutter had her story –all two paragraphs of it– buried on D13 of the newspaper, next to the used lawnmower ads.
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We return to one of my frequent points, that the hammer is far more likely a weapon than a stick, far more lethal, and far more probable as an improvised weapon that you will need to use to save your butt. In fact, while searching for the Sanford incident with the term “man attacked with hammer,” there were so many results that I had to narrow my search.
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My Mini Hammer Will Kick Your Kubotan’s Butt
I was surprised the other day when I was at Wal-Mart and spied a mini hammer, also called a “stubby hammer.” Compare this to all of the fistload weapons out there, like the kubotan and the mini-flashlight. Most of these weapons are just very short sticks, and the typical strike is the downward butt strike.
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But if you consider the qualities of the mini hammer, you have a compact package with the ability to hit at a right angle to the handle, and hit powerfully. Coupled with boxing skills, this would add considerable power to your punches.
The heavy weight (6-10 ounces) concentrated in a fist-sized package creates the ability to hit hard in close. It wouldn’t be too hard to carry one or two of these on your person, say tucked into your belt, and even easier to stash in your car, desk drawer, work area, gym bag, etc.
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In looking at these small hammers, they really don’t have much of a butt strike capability. Does the mini hammer need a stronger pommel? Would it be worthwhile to make one’s own handle for the mini hammer, with a heavier, wider pommel? What techniques are most natural, and perhaps unique, to the mini hammer as a weapon?
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Stubby Hammer
Posted in Weapons by .
Barack Obama Does Big Stick Combat
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As can be seen in the photo above, Barack is doing Big Stick Combat. Note that he is gripping the bat with the left hand over the right.
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The only catch, though, is that the president is left-handed, so the Big Stick Combat stance for him would be left foot forward and the right hand over the left.
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Almost!
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Posted in Humor by .
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Thanks to Kuntawman’s blog for tipping me to this video. It’s really impressive how Bernard is able to talk in depth about strategy, angling, and technique.
Check out his move to the outside at 3:00.
He credits Bruce Lee at 3:25.
At about 4:00 he outlines a passive posture that provides lots of cover.
5:13 –The uppercut from this stance.
At 7:00 there’s a great angling attack that takes advantage of the opponent’s attempts to evade it.
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Bernard Hopkins
Thanks to reader Shawn for tipping me to what has to be one of the most unusual episodes of Real Life Combat, where restaurant worker Anthony Brisbane grabbed a
Real Life Puncture Weapon
sword with a broken handle to confront an armed robber. Anthony had found the mask-wearing suspect, Trevor Pufall, in the kitchen.
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When Anthony pressed the sword into the robber’s stomach, the intruder pleaded, “Don’t kill me!”
Then he swung a tire iron and hit Anthony in the head three times.
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At that point Pufall dropped the tire iron and the two men scuffled, trying to gain control of the sword. In the melee, Anthony shoved the robber to the floor and hit him over the head with a beer bottle. He then grabbed a screwdriver and held it to Pufall’s neck, escorting him to the front of the restaurant where the police were arriving.
Lessons Learned
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1) There is Always a Weapon. Even in the highly monitored and strict conditions of a prison there are weapons, much less a restaurant. How the sword got there, I don’t know. Like a knife, a sword is a poor choice of weapons because you have fewer non-violent, less than lethal alternatives, not to mention you can’t really carry it without violating the law or looking like an escaped lunatic.
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1a) There Is Always a Real Weapon. There are weapons all over the place in this real-life incident, but observe that they are real weapons. There weren’t any nunchaku, commando daggers, or rattan sticks. Even the one martial arts weapon isn’t what I call a “show weapon,” but has a busted handle. This means you may have to improvise on the spot to use it effectively.
Does your kali work with a tire iron?
The beer bottle is an example of a short, heavy stick, which most FMA ignore. I frequently use a beer bottle in my training scenarios. You are much more likely to encounter a beer bottle than a 28 inch stick. A tire iron is another example of this category of weapon. By the way, try to do an abaniko with a beer bottle or tire iron.
The screwdriver is an example of a puncture weapon. The typical prison shiv is a thrusting weapon, not a cutting weapon. I suggest less training with double-edged fighting knives and more with puncture weapons. If you must use a pen or scissors to defend yourself, you will be using a puncture weapon.
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2) Have a Semi-Impromptu Weapon. Your work place is an environment that you are very familiar with and exercise a great deal of control over. At a restaurant, you know where the knives are. When I worked at Pioneer Chicken, we used an ax handle to stir the fryers. So not only should you be aware of what weapons are available to you, but choose implements you will use with an eye to their usefulness as weapons.
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3) Be Aware of Reaction Range.Within a certain distance, the initiator will have the advantage. In this case, Anthony
Real Life Weapon: The Club
was clocked with a tire iron before he could react. I’m also guessing he wasn’t familiar with a sword and how to use it. He would have been better off maintaining distance, giving him more reaction time and room to strike.
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4) Be Weapon Conscious. You must assume the weapon. I don’t know if Anthony actually saw the tire iron in Pufall’s hand. You must scan the opponent’s hands and waistline. Assume the presence of a hidden weapon or weapons.
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5) Protect Your Head! For any injury to the body, at least you’re conscious. Brisbane is lucky that the tire iron didn’t kill him outright. If he had been knocked unconscious, then Pufall could have carved him up with the sword as he slept. You can’t afford that! Your hands should always be up. Train to defend against the sucker punch, or in this case, the overhand blow with a weapon that comes out of nowhere. One blow with a tire iron to the skull is easily a fight-ender –How Bruisbane survived this, I don’t know.
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Posted in Real Life Combat by .
According to George Zimmerman’s account of events, Trayvon Martin came up from behind him and confronted him after George had been following him. The two exchanged words, and with a single punch, Martin clocked him. Once on the ground, Martin began slamming Zimmerman’s head into the concrete. Lacking a counter, Zimmerman shot Martin.
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In most martial arts schools, students practice prearranged moves. Usually, the student knows in advance exactly which specific attack is coming. Students are a comfortable distance apart. Just as commonly, the attack, say a right punch, is delivered at less than full force, often in slow motion. Even in free-flow sparring, students start at a comfortable distance across from each other. Some schools don’t allow punches to the head (I have sparred under these restrictions.) or have focused on punches to the body in order to provide greater safety.
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The upshot of all this is that many martial artists don’t have a practical awareness of the dangers of, or a practical counter to, the sucker punch. At close range the opponent is inside your reaction range, meaning that whoever throws the first punch is likely to land. That first uncontested punch landing solidly on someone’s face is often the fight-ender, with the puncher following up with multiple blows and the defender never having the chance to compose himself and form any kind of a defense other than shelling up and trying to protect himself. With the blows raining down on your face and head, it’s practically impossible to recover enough to mount any kind of counterattack.
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In the case of George Zimmerman, if his account is true, he was so off-balanced by that first punch landing, he was completely overwhelmed, and was in such a deep hole that he felt shooting was his only way out. If that is so, then if George had a realistic defense against the sucker punch, Trayvon might be alive today.
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Enter Tony Blauer. I have become increasingly interested in his SPEAR system. His hypothesis is that human beings have a natural startle reflex that is quicker than conscious thought. In close, the opponent typically will have the initiative (Keep in mind that a large part of his clientele is composed of law enforcement officers.). If you plan on consciously responding to that attack –let’s see, that’s a right punch, so I’m going to go with a rising block here– you will be too slow.
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Blauer’s solution is rather than suppress the natural protective response, which is buried deep within the primal portion of our brains and is blindingly fast, because it completely bypasses mental deliberation, is to go with that instinctive response. By harnessing the body’s natural defensive mechanism, the result is an instinctive, instantaneous response to any threat.
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The more I consider this, the more it makes sense. This video isn’t exciting, but it’s something every serious martial artist should study carefully.
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Posted in Commentary Other Fighting Styles Real Life Combat Videos by .
Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman
The shooting death of Trayvon Martin has resulted in non-stop media coverage. Mass rallies have been held in support of Trayvon and against Zimmerman. Some of those rallies are little more than lynch mobs, demanding the arrest of Zimmerman, and the Black Panthers even offering a bounty for Zimmerman.
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There is good reason to ignore the lynching mentality of the mob. One eyewitness saw Trayvon on top of George, hitting him. Zimmerman had wounds on his face and the back of his head, as well as grass stains on his back, all of which were consistent with his account of having been assaulted and knocked to the ground. Zimmerman’s lawyer says that his client had a broken nose and a cut requiring stitches as a result of the incident.
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But regardless of whether or not Zimmerman is innocent, he still stands to be found guilty, especially if the mob has its way. Out of fear for his life, Zimmerman has wisely decided to go into hiding. Even if he was in the right, he must be asking himself, “How could this whole mess have been prevented?”
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1) Avoid Conflict. In this case Zimmerman chose to pursue Trayvon, even after the dispatcher told him to break off contact. If he was going to follow, he should have followed at a distance that he could flee from an attack if Trayvon turned and charged him, which appears to be what happened.
Again, it appears as though Trayvon at some point turned and rushed Zimmerman. Keep in mind that Trayvon was not the baby-faced boy depicted in the carefully selected photos of him, but a six-foot-two football player. He may have thought he had the edge on Zimmerman, or perhaps let his anger at being followed get the best of him.
Both Zimmerman and Trayvon learned that you never know how any conflict is going to turn out. There are too many variables and unknowns involved. In their encounter, Trayvon was probably winning –right up to the point when he got shot.
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2) You Need Levels of Force. You need to have a variety of tools to deal with a violent encounter. Every martial artist has had the person ask, “What would you do if I had a gun?” Of course, the people saying this never actually have a gun on them when they ask this dumb question, but supposedly it’s a great “Gotcha!” moment in their drab lives.
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Okay, let’s say you have your hypothetical gun on you. Someone takes your parking space and starts poking his finger into your chest. Do you shoot him? How are you going to draw your concealed weapon at a range where you can feel his spittle on your face? You may just have to fight to keep your gun.
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If someone makes a pass at your wife, or gropes your daughter, are you going to shoot him?
This is the same problem faced by the world’s deadliest style –Black Scorpion Death Sting; Kill ANY attacker in seconds!!!– and the guys who carry knives.
Your best friend Bob is dangerously drunk at the Christmas party, but he insists on driving home. You must get the keys from him. What do you do?
A. Shoot him.
B. Stab him.
C. Gouge his eyes, chop his throat, then break his neck.
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Am I against carrying a gun or a knife? No, but you need to have a set of options that fall short of lethal force.
There is no reason why George Zimmerman shouldn’t have been carrying some sort of non-lethal weapon. If George had been carrying a baseball bat, would Trayvon have charged him? If he had a Kel-lite flashlight, which my dad swore saved his butt as a cop on multiple occasions, he might have been able give Trayvon a solid whack, creating space for him to draw his gun. This would be more likely to have created a stand-off until cops arrived. Even if Zimmerman had some sort of self-defense skills, he might have been able to stay on his feet and off the ground, where he felt he had no other option but to shoot.
I just received my new ASP P12 collapsible baton. It has never been easier to carry a stick with you. If Zimmerman knew he was going out to patrol the neighborhood, there was no good excuse not to have a non-lethal alternative with him.
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George Zimmerman is learning a hard lesson, just as GM Estalilla’s father learned when he accidentally blinded a man in a fiesta sparring match. Real combat is never pretty. Sometimes “winning” feels a whole lot like losing.
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Posted in Commentary Real Life Combat by .
Apr 12
6
Bruce Lee at the Stoplight
In my last post, a man in Florida was attacked while in his car, and beaten with
a hammer.
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Martial artists will respond with, “I’d block the hammer, then do a wristlock.” Or, “I’d parry the hammer, leaning to the side, then slam his hand down on the edge of the door.” “Grabbing the striking hand, I’d pull him into a punch.”
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The key, though, is to think tactically. Reader Tommy says that labeling something “tactical” merely increases the price, like a “tactical” flashlight. But in this case of a man attacked at a stoplight it’s best not to think in terms of techniques to counter an assault, but tactics that will avoid the assault entirely.
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1) Awareness. At a stoplight, are you aware enough of your surroundings to see the guys stepping off of the curb, or emerging from the vehicle behind you?
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2) Be Prepared to Run the Light. I don’t say this lightly, but you need to decide ahead of time that if think you need to run the light for your safety, you will do so.
My sister-in-law was at a stoplight when a man lunged out from shrubbery in the median and reached for her door. Terrified for her son, who was an infant in a car seat at the time, she punched it and raced through the intersection against a red light.
You need to be prepared to do the same if you need to.
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3) Create Space Between Your Car and the Next. Instead of pulling up right behind the car in front of you, leave enough room so that you are not boxed in, and can drive off to the left or right without having to back up. If you see a threatening guy crossing toward your car, you are not trapped. Someone may try to box you in by parking behind you, or may ram your car. With enough space you aren’t trapped, and can race away.
This tactic is not only useful against assaults. One driver stopped at a light and looked up in his rear view mirror to see another driver with a boat on a trailer hurtling toward him. He could tell that the guy with the boat was unable to stop. Because he had left a gap in front of him, he was able to pull to the side, and the driver of the boat trailer slammed into the car in front of him.
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4) Arm Yourself. Check with your local laws, but many localities allow you to carry a weapon –even a loaded firearm– in your car, as long as it is not concealed. There is absolutely no reason for you to be unarmed in your car. You want a weapon that is close enough for you to reach it while you are belted and sitting behind the wheel.
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You'd Need More Than a Hammer to Jack This Car
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Posted in Commentary by Darrin. 3 Comments