Penn and Teller

Penn and Teller did a segment on the Self Defense Company - I like their stuff, I feel it compliments my traditional Chinese arts background and military training. The language is a bit NSFW, so be forewarned.

Do yourself a favor, watch the short clip and if you have questions, drop me a line and ask - or visit my friend Darren's site here.

Pistolcraft

From Indestructible Training comes an article on Pistolcraft. I bring this up because it ties in with one of my core philosophies, which is to bring the ancient arts of the warrior up to date with the modern world. Traditional arts and training have immense value, but modern techniques and ways of training need not be ignored. Indeed, doing so may leave large holes in your self-protection strategies.

James Keating (ComTech) and Pete Kautz (Alliance Martial Arts) express in much better terms the same concepts.

A quote from the article -

In its time the sword was the weapon of choice for the armed citizen. Today the weapon of choice for the armed citizen is the pistol. We carry pistols to protect ourselves in the same way that the sword was carried in feudal Japan. The pistol has replaced the sword as the preferred implement of combat.

You could break the study of Musashi’s way of strategy into two parts: the study of the sword and its techniques and the study of the strategic and tactical use of the sword. We could similarly break down the study of pistol strategy.

Seek out the ancient and the modern methods of training. 

Realistic Training Environments (update)

Following along with our post about realistic training environments, here is one from Damien Ross and the Self Defense Company.

Not sure how to 'safely' practice when drinking/otherwise impaired.

One of my premises is to work in both the sterile, mat-filled room type of environment, to get techniques or principles down and working, then ensuring that you train in the realistic environment.

Balancing the yin/yang, the hard/soft, the yau/gung.

And it all comes down to determining your objectives in your studies of self protective arts. As we have discussed briefly before.

Train hard, train smart.

Interesting Links

Modern Combative Systems - a post on what are called 'Active shooter' situations. Bit touches on the subject of teaching our kids useful skills (first responder, first aid skills).


SOFREP -  this link deals with women's self defense and visualization in a practical way. Also a good resource for real SOF news and commentary.

Just wanted to get these resources out to you. They are also being posted at www.yachtsecurity.blogspot.com - because I believe they contain powerful messages that cut across a lot of lines for everyday usage.

Training Objectives

Saw a news article today (link here) - the news story is a sad commentary onour society being full of predators. But it had a good ending.

Anyway, the article made me think about why and what we train for, and how training may need to be adjusted for different members of our society. In this case, the child escaped her attacker/abductor. This is what we should be teaching children - awareness, and to scream, yell, and escape to a responsible adult. Not necessarily katas and gymnastics - but self - protection measures that will work.

As the child matures, or an adult desires training, we need to evaluate what his (or her) objectives are - I like to train with a firm base in traditional Southern Chinese Martial Arts, and adding other drills and training methods to prepare them for real-life applications, in the least amount of time. Training time should not be spent on conditioning drills, in my opinion, although direction can and should be given to maintaining health and fitness. Class time is for practice/training.

Just my thoughts. Any comments? For the people who read this - send it out to other blogs and get
other feedback. Thanks.

De-Escalation

Have seen a couple of articles lately (such as this one at USCCA) which have been talking of the need for de-escalation skills.

The gist of the article is we are living in a more 'aggressive' time than in our past. Popular media and culture rewards people who 'get in your face' and 'assert their rights' in an overly aggressive manner. Being quiet, not looking for the spotlight seem to be denigrated. An example is the amount of flaming done on online forums. Ad hominem attacks seem to be on the rise (attack the person, not the issues), especially in our political discourse.

Here are a couple of quotes from the article I thought relevant.
1. "I was never taught to get emotional about a threat whether it be natural forces, a human threat or an animal threat. I was not taught to posture. I was taught to deal with threats quickly and logically in order to protect my life and the lives of my loved ones. However, all around me now I see people arguing, posturing and even fighting in public with total disregard to consequences. I see such lack in impulse control."

2. 'This is written as a warning to everyone reading it. If revenge and settling matters to a standard of emotional satisfaction are part of your operational protocols, then you greatly increase your odds of needing to use that carry weapon, and you increase your odds of dying. Also, you increase the odds of family and friends with you dying as collateral damage due to escalating such situations."

3. "Be careful who you engage in any sort of confrontational manner whether it be body language, verbally or in the language of road rage using your motor vehicle as the extension of your body. The next time you feel the adrenalin start to pump, control it. Do not let it control you. Think of the things coming out of your mouth before they slip passed your tongue. The physiological fight or flight response of an adrenaline dump is actually a  bad thing to have going on when it does come time to physically defend yourself. In many people, it will shut down their ability to use fine motors skills needed to successfully manipulate a firearm during a lethal threat encounter."

In closing, as practitioners of some sort of self protective arts, we are expected to remain calm, look at the situation as dispassionately as we can, and look for the least amount of force to effect a solution. Are your daily actions in congruence with this? Just something to think about.

Perfect practice makes perfect

Post here from Old Style Muay Thai - about practice making perfect.

A great reminder to all practitioners of any martial art/combatives/self-defense activities. We need to fight against inertia, the complacency that can set in after a while, etc.

One quote - 'Americans demand instant gratification... that may be our greatest weakness as a society.' 

Also one of the driving forces behind being an American - to go faster, farther, more efficiently. We just need to be reminded that, at times, honest repeated effort is needed to make great things happen. 

So, now I'm off to practice my stances and footwork......and maybe some yoga....