It Just Takes a Step of Faith

Just for my fighter buds who may read this, I’ve decided to explain briefly – MY personal method for stopping a constant left jab.  This takes a bit of preparation and some skill, as counter-striking, unlike other styles takes footwork, pinpoint timing, measuring of tempo, beat, cadence, a scary blocking technique, a rock solid left jab and finally – NO FEAR!

So, I find myself in the dojo, maybe on a mat or in the ring, sparring with another kickboxer or MMA fighter.  These guys can box pretty well and the jab is the attacking weapon that usually begins the intermediate zone where punching works well.  Many years ago, I naturally developed into a counter striker due to the back lot rules of Karate Tournaments that I used to frequent 20 yrs ago.  They would line up all of the guys in a row and if you were my height 6′ they’d toss you in against the heavyweights because you looked too big for fitting their lightweight division – plus it made for rounder numbers!  I found myself at 6′ 178 lbs. fighting guys who went 220 to 250 pounds.  Sound crazy?  It was, I was injured many times by my sheer determination to compete, rather than get a refund and go home.  You learn quickly not to run up into these big guys, but just pepper them like a swarm of bees upon any mistake they make. 

I used to take my fingers and rapidly thrust them straight into my eyeballs for several minutes without blinking or closing my eyes, until I could feel my fingertips actually touching my lashes, until there was no way I would close them in the face of an incoming punching combination, for years (not everyday – but every week).  You have to see at all times in exchanges of blows – it’s the ones you don’t see that put you on your back.

Already armed with decent boxing skills, I began my counter to his left jab.  Yes the left jab – as fighters are predominately right handed and will normally use the traditional – left side forward, on-guard position, which has the left hand leading whatever they do, which is usually a left jab or left backfist.

I’m in a right side forward stance too – mirroring the opponent.  He keeps flicking hard jabs but is not connecting yet.  I begin to give ground, as this draws him in deeper.  I note the body language and tempo or cadence of the exchanges and begin to formulate my move.  Then, at the precise moment that he slides in and starts to throw that left jab, I pick it off with my back hand (just a whisker away from connecting) and not disrupting it with my lead hand.  At that exact moment, I have also planted my feet (he closes the gap with his own footwork) and throw a crunching left jab back (eyes wide open!) and now, mis-directed, he lunges right into it – unable to stop anything in enough time from being clocked with my jab, now made exponentially stronger by my setting down into the punch and brushing his jab away with my right (back hand).  The combination of his lunging in and meeting no resistance and my stepping in with a very stiff left jab, eyes open and headed for his nose or point of chin – is like mixing gasoline with fire – a big explosion inside, as his brain is jarred and unexpectedly at that.  It will put a larger man down on a knee, or kind of on queer street, long enough to follow up with some real hard knocks.  Occasionally it even produces knock-downs on some pretty big guys (by comparison).

So there you are, once you’ve stepped into the jab, eyes open, with a proper rear hand block and launch your own jab as he falls into it – you’ll love me for teaching this, just in case you didn’t know how to do it yet.  All it takes is removing natural fear of getting hammered and a little faith in your technique – it works – it REALLY works!

Take A Deep Breath and Hold It!

I wanted to comment where I’d left off on this intriguing show, featuring two very tough, game fighters traveling across the globe and trying out major fighting styles.  They have the opportunity to train under the most renowned Instructors but they train all day – every day for a week and then fight a match against one of the tougher students of the system in which they are training.  The two young Americans are first rate gentlemen and enjoy the brutal training regimen that they are thrown up against.  It almost seems scripted in – the terrible punishment they endure in one week of training - wow!  They are two superb choices for USA ambassadors of martial arts, their enthusiasm is infectious.

So everyone wants to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu eh?  For those who didn’t see it, they traveled to Rio for classes with the Instructors of Gracie family jiu jitsu.  They got a lot of great instruction as could be seen by anyone with any experience with this martial art could tell.  Being bested twice I believe, by a wiry young woman who’s exceptional technique showcased the “science” of Gracie Jiu Jitsu, not to mention the dozens of other arm, elbow, knee locks and a bunch of different choke-outs. Center, balance, power, technique steeped in a deep understanding of anatomy and physics were taught and practiced by the two young men.  I’m sure that the Gracies are not all owners of PhD’s in these sciences but they are definitely self educated masters of  science, as applies to grappling and the submissions that they are so adept at using.

This has been the most scientific martial art we’ve been treated to on the Fight Quest series thus far.  I found myself fascinated watching the most explosive and lethal submissions being “pulled off” by simply knowing the proper way to rotate the hips just a smidge, or when to push away to create distance for a technique to work or when to hold the opponent tight, smothering a technique he is getting ready to apply.  There’s a lot of feeling out and “pawing” at each other’s hands and shoulders while standing, then in the blink of an eye they have shot in and taken down the opponent, gotten the top or “mounted” position and then after some crucial maneuvering, our guys were getting submitted so hard and fast that I even winced.  The Brazilians showed off super-tight chokes and joint locks from almost any position.  In fact, it’s all about “position” in BJJ.  The only thing I’d have liked to see would have been for them to spar without a gi top on.  I did notice that the gi (uniform) was used to cinch many chokes in and to grasp – as a method of tripping or just stopping the movement of an opponent. 

It was given a 5 star rating from this old martial artist – the best segment yet!

Why Do They Do It?

I heard on the news Friday, I believe, that there were four school shootings last week.  Later on, I was reading some Yahoo groups – chit chat and a member had asked why there were so many shootings and stated that there were 7 school shootings.  The topic at hand was “what’s the cause of all of the school shootings”.

Well, they were definitely teens or mentally challenged I decided, after reading the replies.  They were of the nature of…”well at our school there’s so many people all stuffed in one building and they don’t know everybody so somebody in one group gets pissed off at somebody and says what the hell and starts shooting at them”. 

This would be the “too many rats in the cage” theory, which although I must agree that severe crowding can enhance the tensions between students, I can’t believe that our youth have been reduced to laboratory rat behavior or that it really has any merit at all in this context.

Another one comments: “there were four school shootings just in our State – the kids don’t care about school and get pissed off at the teachers and having to go to school – so they get in fights and arguments to blow off some steam and then one of the kids will get too mad and doesn’t have any friends either – so they try to shoot at anybody when they get a gun and come back to school”.

I have never heard a group of young people or anyone for that matter discuss such a major issue in such a brain fog of disjointed thinking and partially formed sentence fragments – unbelievable!

For me, and w/o getting into a deep analysis (too long to post), I think there are a few dynamics at work and more that I’ve never really heard about or thought of.  They would be things like the extreme amount of violence, sex, vulgar dialogue and plots displayed earlier every night on TV.  I’m not a TV addict by any means but my wife and I both noticed that there are highly promiscuous shows airing as early as 7pm sometimes and it goes on – all night long.  Non-stop action movies with extreme graphic violence, teens involved sexually with their schoolmates or friends, foul language and some flat out sick shows like the ones paying $10K? to the winner of Fear Factor where they eat sexual organs from animals and the offal from their stomachs and other selected filth that is not meant for people to eat unless one were in imminent danger of dying from starvation.

We also feel like the graphic and super- realistic video games that the youth play since the advent of gaming – both on the PC, TV and on Play Stations or handheld Gameboys.  You know fun games like killing everything that moves with a combination of high-tech weaponry and sorcery powers.  I’ve watched my sons (long gone and married now) play some of these games when they weren’t as bad as they are now and they were still offensive.  Virtual killing, spilling over into “acting out”.  Now, let’s add parents who may be self-absorbed in their own lives, refuse to discipline their kids, abusive, alcoholic or just plain too permissive, by comparison to the kind of parenting I got back in the 50’s and 60’s and we’re starting to see a pattern emerging.  Kids need heroes, kids need balanced mentoring from their family and teachers,, they need attention and boundaries set in their lives.  I tend to think that the negative influence or lack of ANY positive influence is a recipe for these types of tragic events.  They wanted to take “God” out of the schools and have largely succeeded – “He has left the building folks!”  Now his enemies have entered the schools.  No spiritual development of any kind – not a good idea!

Care to comment?  Please add your thoughts!

I Never Knew These Animals Were So Tenacious

More reports in our small town have been generated in the past few weeks about coyotes in our area.  We live on a peninsula with a single, two mile long, access bridge.  I have called it home my entire life.  Not to say I have never resided in other States or out of the country a couple of times, I just always end up back here again. 

I can be away for a couple of weeks or even a weekend but the smell of the water hits you with that familiar scent of home.  This is confirmed by everyone in our area if this subject pops up.  We can smell home miles before we arrive.  It’s a wonderful and comforting feeling that spreads from that first scent, across the brain and into every cell in my body.  Kind of like Judy Garland saying “there’s no place like home” over and over as she rockets through time and space form Oz, all the way back to Kansas.

So what’s my point – if you’ve bothered to read this far?  The point is that the once extinct coyote population began again about 15 years ago, give or take.  First there were a couple of unsubstantiated sightings of coyotes working the huge limestone slabs that border the bridge as it begins and ends.  I always dismissed that connection since the animals would have to depart the shelter of these “off road” banks and actually get up on the road, a State Route, and the only way to continue to our exit on the other side and far beyond.  In other words, it would seem impossible for one to cross that expanse of bridge, with the amount of traffic and survive. 

Are there coyotes here now?  You bet there are, there have been so many sightings, increasing with time due to dwindling habitat, that just about everyone has seen one over the past couple of years.  Not to mention the sightings witnessed by some families – as they watch their family dog getting chewed up, on the end of his chain or “run”.  They certainly pick off their share of dogs that are left unattended.  Just when you forget about them – you hear a story from one of the kids about a family living nearby and losing their dog amidst a few yelps, when they let them out for few minutes before bedtime.

I get phone calls weekly, from women mostly, who want to know if they should pick up a stun gun or pepper spray to thwart these wily canines if they’re attacked by a coyote or even another neighbor’s dog.  I always give them my canned reply.  Purchase a 300,000 volt stun baton to carry while walking your dog, so that you have a reach advantage and never have to try and use your hands to extricate two angry dogs.  Forget about a stun gun – that’s too close for comfort.  As far as defense sprays, I recommend the standard Mace brand Canine Pepper Spray for protection and hands free protection when going for a walk, bike ride or a jog.

Either of these products perform very well against a coyote or the neighbor’s dog, who for some reason is always running around raising hell and not on a leash or chained.  These house pets can be one family’s beloved pet while at home but turn into the neighborhood bully when they are either let out to run wild or somehow escape their yard and the restraint system employed.  For all of these creepy critters, try one or both of the deterrents mentioned and you’re on your way to a worry free outdoor environment.

Savate And Hapkido Training

Last Friday for those who get Discovery channel on your TV, there was a new segment on Hapkido training with Master Instructors and a replay of last week’s segment on Savate.  Both left me less than impressed although they are better fighting systems than not training at all.

Hapkido Master teaches some joint locks ending in direct takedowns or move the opponent in a circular motion and end up reversing the direction which locks the joint and cinches it even tighter and gives a little more impact than a straight-up joint lock would.  Most of these locks can be fought off - or out of but they were choreographed to have students come up in a line or from a circle and grab the Teacher’s wrist and he peels the grip off, locks their wrist or arm/shoulder and puts them down – one, two, three, four and so on.  These were all locks that could have been escaped from easily until the Master explained that they would strike a knuckle into a pressure point which made the opponent become so weak that he couldn’t escape.  No room for misses, you must hit the exact spot on the meridian or they don’t get weak and slam to the floor so easily.  I particularly don’t like this sort of thing since many sparring sessions and real fights have taught me that the opponent will not run up and pose for you while you apply some magical technique to cause them harm.  In fact, if you look too hard for the “spot” you might get knocked out!  The USA fighters who visited ended up trying to fight against their students and only use Hapkido that they learned.  One pleased the teacher with a leg sweep and the other with a take down fairly – normal sparring as in any point fighting Karate tournament – allowing light to medium contact.

The Savate segment was kind of funny since they started by claiming that their kicks are the most devastating in the world and some are fatal and are banned from being used.  Yes, just like a Black Belt must register his hands as lethal weapons….laughs….!  One of the Teachers, a former or current Savate champion really “creeped out” and started showing one our guys how to “act tough” by acting so dangerous and exploding toward the fighter saying “you want to fight me?”  “You want to fight me?”  Acting really crazy and posturing – then he comes back to earth and mentioned something about that kind of attitude is the way to feel and think while training.  YOU WANT TO FIGHT ME?????  In a gritty French accent was all I could bear – he was way happy that he could show them some training tips and approved of their serious fighting “looks.”  They do snap kicks with boxing shoes or similar footwear and target areas like the liver or solar plexus.  The trick to their kicks appears to be deception, as their knee crosses the centerline between the fighters (a no no in other martial arts) giving the impression, to a trained fighter that no kick will be thrown and then they snap the foot in with a lot of speed and try to pinpoint crucial target areas.  Good kicks?  I don’t think so and I’ve trained with Bill  “Superfoot” Wallace – now that’s some fast and hard Karate kicking.  Not to mention all of the Muay Thai kicks which will almost cut a man in halves – that’s really hard kicking.  Then there are the rules that they follow, which always weakens a system or a fight since the other guy is going to exploit the weaknesses of your rules! 

I have always had good luck in shutting down fighters who are “kick crazy”.  All you need to do is duck a couple and move around a bit to establish what his rhythm is and the moment the knee chambers up for the high kick – throw an explosive – rising side snap kick (karate style) and it will meet their groin as their kick extends or if it strikes short of the target and hits the inside of their kicking leg, the natural construction of the body allows the side snap kick to bounce off and continue through and into the groin.  Just a couple of these and there’s no more crazy jump spinning wheel kick  or high “axe kicks” to worry about anymore.  They have to bring them down to save their testicles from getting hammered almost every time they go head-hunting with the high kicks.  Savate – go figure eh?

Now Those Are Some Bruises!

Just to set the record straight, I was very harsh in my post on the Kali episode.  I am sorry for offending any practitioners of Escrima/Kali.  I am a practitioner for over 20 yrs myself!  I love all martial arts – some more than others and Eskrima is at  the top of my list right below 31 yrs of Shorin Ryu Karate in which I hold a 6th Dan ranking.  So, I’ve been around and seen a thing or two in my time.  I became angry because the show displayed the students and mostly the Instructors and top students as sadistic and cheesy – beating the hell out of the visitors and not showing much of any techniques.  Aping for the cameras mostly.  I came to realize that this was a week of training with real Masters – Maestros and that they surely learned a lot of the art while training there but the show had only so many minutes between commercials to air it.  So, naturally they showed the worst bangs and bruises, concentrated on the visitors getting knocked around and all the stuff that would “hook” a potential viewer.  I’m quite certain there were many hours of boring footage with the boys learning footwork and basic solid defenses and strikes/cuts.  I wanted to see that but would the rest of the family be entertained by it – not really.  I blame myself for not having thought about it before posting and again offer my apologies to my fellow brothers in this art.  Sex sells they say, but so does blood and gutsy action!  I guess the network cheated everyone by not presenting more background.

That said – I loved the guys’ training in Pentjak Silat (a.k.a. Pencak Silat) and loved the whole mind, body, internal training along with the flashy postures – probably from Chinese influence.  They say it is an Indonesian martial art who’s influence was derived from Chinese and Indian martial arts.  I have read that there is some Malaysian influence or versions (not sure about that).  I enjoyed the training of front kicks off of the submerged logs, placed like a path into the water, trying to force the body to remember where the feet are placed.  I have tried this many year ago (on land of course) and it is very difficult at first to place that foot back in the exact spot.  Look to see where to put it?  Bang!  Down you come – you lost your center!  They were very interested, patient and enthusiastic Instructors who took time to show techniques without reservation and took time to show humility and encouragement.  I also liked their meditation and sense of “balance” throughout all aspects of training – which feeds the internal power as well as the physical strength of the body.  The fights were great with a great sense of style but not arrogance and they could really dish it out.  It was very reminiscent of watching good Kung Fu sparring.  The visitors were treated with honors, for coming to train and to be part of their martial art and culture.  By far my favorite art covered in the series so far!