Saturday, January 9, 2010

Knife Defence: The Cover -Drop -Drive principal

Below is a very quick clip showing how the Juggernaut SD COVER-DROP-DRIVE principal, which forms the basis of our Self Defence system, can work in a knife defence situation.

In this Case Darren and Sam, who are both Juggernaut SD Instructors are doing it in a drill type situation, but the mechanics of the cover drop and drive are clearly visible.

The short clip also highlights the effectiveness of another of our primary principles, being discreet hitting. Notice the shoulder to the attackers ribs on the way through the duckunder. Very effective strike, that is barely noticeable unless you know what you are looking for. But more on that in a future post.

This drill is the advanced version, with Darren going straight into the duckunder. A beginer would learn an extra step to achieve the duckunder until thier base skills had developed sufficiently to make the duckunder second nature. This entails getting an underhook and a forearm to the face. Again something for another clip. I can tell you though that Sam (the Attacker) was really trying to drive that knife into Darrens ribs with a fair bit of force.

Again this stresses that having minimal responses to whatever you are confronted with makes it a lot easier to choose the correct response. As our response to virtually everything is to COVER-DROP-DRIVE, there is little need for thought. The only variation to our standard head punch response is that Darren has used his left arm to block the knife strike, whilst the right hand stays in the cover position untill he has bridged the gap and reached the assailants body.

Using the COVER - DROP - DRIVE as a first resonse, even if Darren had stuffed up in the initial moments, he would likely have still achieved at least having an arm covering his vital organs/ main arteries to some degree. This has been achieved by putting his arms in front of his face/ body, his body is contracted and made a smaller target and he is no longer in the position that the attacker expected him to be.

The end result is one of only 3 end points we have being to either Escape (run) use a shield or put them on the ground for control. In this case Darren has used a takedown and tied up the knife bearing limb.

I will put up a clip of the same response to a slash to the face some time in the future.

By the way, for those people who say you cant use grappling in knife defence and on the street, this clip shows that you can, almost everything that makes up the principles used here are based on wrestling/ grappling.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

New Year - New Opportunities

Well its 2010. A new year.

And like many others, I like to set some new goals for the year, make some changes. Be a better person, a better martial artists. Take on new ventures.

One of the goals I have set is to devote more time to this Blog. I will do my best on that one.

I plan to continue to train and research better ways as they relate to my martial arts, my fitness and health, work, study and most importantly my family.

I wish everyone who takes the time to read my blog the best for the new year. Much of the research I do in relation to martial arts, fitness and health I will post on this blog as the year progresses.

Please check in and comment if you agree or disagree, I am always open to testing my opinions and comming up with better alternatives.

In the end though, remember it is all about the relationships we build with people, so keep that in mind when dealing with family, friends, students and teachers. Without those relationships the world is a very lonely place.

Have a good year and train smart.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Edged Weapons Seminar - 30 August 2009

This is a big one. 4 Hours of expert weapons defence instruction.

On Sunday 30 August 2009, Juggernaut MMA is hosting the World Renowned Ray Floro for a 2 hour seminar. He will be teaching from his flexible and improvised weapons syllabus. This is the stuff that will be in his next DVD, so see it first and learn why he is in demand the world over. Special forces from around the world use Rays stuff because it works and because it is easy to learn.

THEN, we have Rob Halijian. Rob is a 6th degree black belt in the filipino art of Doce Pares. He is a legend in the world of filipino martial arts and and expert instuctor. Rob H is going to be teaching us from the Doce Pares system, a system that is recognised as one of the best weapons systems in the world.

Finally, I will be doing a presentation on using a single defensive structure, in this case, what we call the "A" Frame (looks a lot like a basic cover). I will be showing how to use this basic structure against empty hand attacks, edged weapons and multiple attackers.

This will be 4 hours of martial arts instruction, focused on weapons defence. Opportunities to train in these systems at the one place, for a very cheap price, come rarely, so any one interested in learning to defend against weapons should do whatever it takes to get there.

Where: The function Room at the Marina Motel, Hastings Vic.
When: 10 am - 2 pm Sunday 30 August.

If you are interested, and who wouldnt be interested in learning to defend against weapons attacks, enquiries can be made by email or phone;

email: juggernautmma@netspace.net.au

Phone: 0421 146 952

Oh and as it is at a pub,we can retire after the event to discuss things over a cold beverage.

Cost: $50 Early Bird (prior to August 21)
or $60 on the Day.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Knife defence drill

Heres a short clip that helps to develop a number of skills, including;
  • picking up someone reaching for a weapon within a grapple situation
  • dealing with the sudden appearance of a blade/ edged weapon after a confrontation has started
  • taking the back

I find this is a really usefull drill, that ends as do most of our SD drills and scenario's with our guys taking the back and using 'head control' to take the attacker to the ground.


Friday, July 3, 2009

Knife Defence - FFS Variation

Ok, this video is a basic knife defence against one of the two most likely knife (edged weapon)attacks, being either a stab to the stomach or a slash to the face. The video shows Darren (JSD Instructor) being attacked with a typical body stab, by Sam.

The defence he is using is a variation of the Floro Fighting Systems (FFS) knife defence for this situation. In this case he is using the Universal Shield to block/ stop the strike, deflecting or pushing the energy of the strike to the right, attacking the body (because its big, hard to miss and slower moving, as opposed to trying to catch a fast moving arm), then climbing the body to our head control position.

This technique comes from our level one syllabus.

Using the head control he takes Sam down to the ground, and controls the weapon bearing limb.
This defence blends elements from FFS and grappling as do many of our self defence concepts.

Next week I will try and put up a variation of this same attack and defence but in a multiple attacker situation. How will we do this? You will have to wait and see.

We have standing instructions that the attacker must continue to attack if he or she has the opportunity. In fact we believe this is a fundamental part of any real training and testing process.

The filming location is my home training gym.

We are back / New Training Location

Its been a while since I last posted, for which I apologise to the people who do take the time to read this blog.

I had planned to put up a bit of video, till the camera went kaput. But its back and working so will get into putting up a few clips in the future.

Keeping that in mind, if any one wants to see how we deal with a particular self defence situation, please contact me via email or leave a message on the blog and I will put something down on video. Please keep it real, we havent quite figured out howto deal with alien abductionsyet, but we areworking on it.

Our first video will be a basic knife defence concept/ technique.

On another matter we have just moved location.

Our new training location is, 13 Latham St, Mornington. This is a fantastic full time set up, run by Sifu Joe Sayeh of Wing Chun Kung Fu. Sifu Joe has made us feel welcome and I thank him for that. There is a heap of space for our BJJ and MMA classes, and he even has a cage for us to train in. There are obviously a heap of Wing Chun classes run by Sifu Joe Sayeh as well.

So feel free to come and do a couple of free classes, or if you are just in the area, come by, say hello and join in if you have the time.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Ishinryu Seminar

Last Friday I did a seminar on Knife defence for the Ishinryu Karate guys at thier Mornington Dojo.

We had students and instructors from a number of the nearby Ishinryu clubs come along to learn the Floro Fighting Systems version of Knife defence.

The Ishinryu guys and girls were all extremelly friendly and keen to learn. This obviously makes it easier on the instructor (in this case me).

We started with the basic FFS universal shield, then applied that defensive structure to the two most common types of knife/ edged weapon attack, being an overhand slash/ stab and the stab / thrust to the body. The basic FFS follow up was practiced, then I showed a couple of variations where we move into a head control position similair to what is commonly known as the 'shredder'.

The same universal shield was then used to enable a quick escape from the dangerous situation of edged weapon attacks.

We then dealt with general defensive tactics, including some very basic verbal considerations, and the difference between threats vs actual attacks and the different options applicable to each.

The tactical options shown were well received and performed very well by all attending.

I would like to pass on my thanks for the enthusiastic reception and open minds of those attending, in particular to Tony Hester and Peter Hollowood who organised the seminar.

It was appreciated by myself and Darren my assistant instructor.