Here is a blog post from my instructor’s instructor explaining how changing rules and overall fighter development in MMA competition have given many people the idea that jiu jitsu isn’t as effective for self-defense as it really is. It isn’t a super-power, no martial art is, but the likelihood of encountering a guy with taped hands, padded gloves and an extensive grappling skill-set in a self-defense encounter remains quite low.
This man and his students have shown me how important it is to train on your feet, train on the ground, train with strikes and train to stuff weapons draws. Make jiu jitsu violent again!
My $0.02 on difference between fear and lack of aggression in sport/competitive settings.
Fear is good. If you didn’t fear the double-leg takedown, you wouldn’t bother to sprawl. Knowing where a credible threat exists is important if you’re going to mount an organized response and present a credible threat of your own.
Freezing up due to fear is bad. This is why getting smashed is an important part of the process. You’re in a controlled setting, so your chance of bad outcomes is really quite limited. Once you get used to the discomfort of training, you will gain a better awareness of how others can threaten you and mount a more organized response. Your brain will start to work better under stress.
I don’t freeze up because I’m scared of getting hurt or made to be uncomfortable anymore. I freeze up if I’m caught in a position and don’t have an organized response. This happens less and less as I train more, but it is still an important part of the process for me because it shines a light on deficiencies in my skill set. I’ve had three recent reminders that I don’t have a good escape from Kesa Gatame (a side-control headlock). Last Saturday I just laid there like an idiot trying to remember what to do, then got beat a moment later when I failed to mount an organized response.
In that moment I displayed a lack of aggression as well. I probably could have powered out of the position somehow, but that’s one of the differences between jiu jitsu and wrestling. Powering out aggressively is not my goal, refining my technical response is. Of course, when I have a technical response putting lots of power behind it can make it a lot more effective, but that’s different than aggressively moving about without knowing exactly what you’re trying to do.
You should talk to your coach about this as well. After all, he’s in the business of turning kids like you into monsters.
Thought for the day: Opinions from around the tactical world. Lets start with some Gracie JJ for LEO’s and move on to Kyle DeFoor offering his view on carrying a fixed blade along with your primary weapon. Whether you agree or not, always try to learn.
Not every encounter or engagement is going to be a static target 25 yards away. Most attacks happen within what’s called the combative bubble. If you were to draw a circle around yourself that was 7 yards from your centerline, that is your combative bubble. Anything that happens within this 7 yards will more likely than not happen too quickly for you to present your primary weapon (your pistol). In this case, you need to have a backup plan and that plan typically is a blade.
For blade work, I tend to look to Steve Tarani, Janich (Martial Blade Craft) and Southern Narc (Shivworks). There are others to be sure but all of these have been well vetted over multiple years in the LE world.
Thought for the day: I think everyone here knows this, but: Always train to fight an opponent of equal or greater skill.
Also, something different that I only think about when traveling, since, it is basically out of my realm. However, I was in Dubai for a few days last month and got stuck on the top floor of a national chain hotel. I checked out my escape routes, but, the internal stairwells where the only choice, not good. I was trying to find a way onto the roof, but, security did not like that and escorted me off the floor. lol.
Worth reading if you work in a high rise, if you don’t have time: Basically have some type of plan, but, that is true of all situations.
Thought for the day: Why not just use throwing stars? or as the article said: soup cans? How about everyone having a baseball bat? I know, weighted footballs. Wait, how about condoms filled with lead?
ha, I know you have a couple of hockey pucks on your duty rig. The sad truth? You unleash the puck with a good throw, knock out the perp, and the department will probably suspend you for carrying an unauthorized weapon and excessive force.
As the old saying goes; The lion may be king of the jungle. “…But you throw him into the Shark Tank and he’s just another meal.” – Renzo Gracie
Another view on fighting:
as a student of violence I couldn’t be any less concerned about what martial art to practice. I’m very much interested in winning fights along with teaching others how to win fights. I respect people and desire results; ideas and theory do nothing to make sure people are going to come home alive.
Using the past to guide our future we must also be aware that the enemy is constantly adapting. As we continue to produce solutions to problems presented by our adversary, our adversaries will present new problems until one of us finds an opening to finish the other. In the age of information what happens in real fight and what works in real fights is no longer a subject that is up for any type of academic debate.
Let me take a moment to speak plainly; if MMA fighters aren’t doing it(insert X martial art here), it’s not worth doing. If your instructor has avoided competition or learning the elements of MMA (BJJ, Judo, Wrestling, Sambo, Muay Thai, Boxing, Kickboxing) you should avoid them. There is no proving ground that is as close to real fighting as MMA. Believe it, accept it, it’s true. Now that is not to say that there aren’t trace elements in TMA’s that we can learn from as modern martial artist.
To this day there are many people/charlatans are continuing to furnish to students “counter to X” plans. There is no such move or technique set to counter another skill set. The only way to defend against any fight plan is to be good at executing that fight plan. If what you’re doing can be stopped with the simple plan of CLOSE-DOMINATE-FINISH it’s time for you to realize the ice age has come and you are not one of the pioneers of the new world.
Busted. Pucks are part of my load out. I keep my stick in my locker until needed though. Quick story; a bunch of us were doing a line search for evidence in tall grass/underbrush. We all brought hockey sticks to pick through the vegetation as we went. I remember thinking, ‘20 Mounties walking through the woods with hockey sticks. This might be the most Canadian thing that ever happened’.
Not sure where pucks fall on our use of force continuum. You’re right, I’d need to do some pretty creative typing if I took a guy out with a puck, or any of the sharp things I carry for, ummm… cutting seatbelts.
Their all about adapting FMA concepts to modern tactical applications. Interesting idea. TriCom is their Mil/LE program. Apparently it’s been offered to a few agencies and is court defensible. Any experience with their material?
@Watchdog Sooner not say on here. It’s a small world. I try to keep my comments fairly onside, but I still like to kid myself that there’s a degree of anonymity lol.
