One of the things I missed from being raised in ranch country was the work. No running water, we (I) packed it from the creek in five-gallon buckets. Enough for all household use and enough for all the animals that were penned and couldn’t get to the creek themselves. The first two years, until dad … [Read more…]
I’m cribbing from an unknown author today. Somebody wrote something and I penciled it on a post-it note and it now hangs on the bathroom mirror. I didn’t write down who said it, and it deserves a lot of credit. Everyone has the will to win. When two people show up at a contest, both … [Read more…]
There’s a vocabulary to close combat that a lot of people lack. You need to be able to understand and identify touches, and that’s hard. Infighting is hard to learn verbally or visually anyway. The eyes and neocortex are too slow and you need to work a deeper part of your brain. That part works … [Read more…]
Part of this is about engaging the correct part of the brain…and paying respect to the parts that will be engaged despite your desires. One of the biggest lies in self-defense training is “You will fight the way you train.” No, you won’t. Not the first time. You will try and there might be … [Read more…]
The One-Step is the primary drill in most of my training. there are more, of course, and like any drills it has its flaws. No one goes to the hospital, so something about it is not right. A few posts back on my blog, things are getting a little heated up. That’s fine. everyone is … [Read more…]
Technique-based training is concrete. “He throws a straight punch and you outside block, side step and throw an inside knife-hand strike. Go do a thousand reps.” It’s easy to teach. He does X, you do Y. Reps. But I can think of zero actual fighters who find this valuable (except as a business model). To … [Read more…]
Someone asked me about going up against odd angles, different leads and southpaws. *** On this hand we have the need for mental flexibility, commitment and adaptability. On this hand we have the hamster wheel of endless what-if’s. Choose wisely. </ sage kung fu master voice> One of the problems you can run into is … [Read more…]
One complaint originating from certain advocates about promoting self-defense training (typically in reference to women) is that ‘knowing” self-defense is no guarantee a person will be able to successfully prevent or interrupt an attack. Many times, this opinion is voiced from someone who claims to have implemented “self-defense” strategies, yet he or she was assaulted … [Read more…]
Saturday just gone saw me driving over to Winsford, Cheshire to meet up with Glyn Evans and his Saturday morning crew for one of their training sessions. Up with the lark and on the road by half six it was a beautiful drive over varied countryside and not a motorway in sight. The foothills of … [Read more…]
Planning the section on defense for “InFighting.” And there’s a snag. Not a big one, probably easily solved, but it is part of the schism between learning and doing. Or talking and doing. Or, obviously, writing and doing. Infighting is close work. And fast. You have to do most of it by touch. And defense … [Read more…]