Home Invasion And Tactical Urban Survival (HIATUS) Class

We practice our respective arts on a daily basis, and train to be the best we can in competition, self defense or whatever other of the many reasons there are to train, but how often, in these pursuits, do we make the scenarios we practice real or at least realistic?

Last month I was privileged to be able to participate in a unique class offered as an extra at my school. The class is titled H.I.A.T.U.S. which I'm sure based on the title you've discerned means Home Invasion and Tactical Urban Survival. In this class we spent about 6 hours crash coursing in useful practices and skills for protecting our homes, making bug out bags (survival packs for cars and home), executing basic self defense for real life situations, in real world areas (not in the dojo) and even going as far as learning to escape from binding materials like duct tape, zip ties, rope and even handcuffs (yes the bad guys sometimes use them too).

Almost all of what we learned can be executed by anyone so a martial arts background is not needed to learn what we now know. Obviously based on my background I would still recommend that to you as you don't build muscle memory for defense in one day like this, but a class taught like this (properly) can provide a ton of useful information that could save your life. I encourage you to educate yourselves in a similar way.

As the old saying says, "luck favors the prepared".

Channel 3 came down to film parts of the class for a news spot they were doing about preventing home invasion. Here's a link to the story.

H.I.A.T.U.S. class on WFSB

Train on.

Practical Defense and Conceptual Application

I recently received some instruction on some new defense techniques in my curriculum in Sho Bin Ju. There are 5 defenses per belt and as I move up in rank in this system I'm enjoying the increase in complexity as well as the conceptual application the instruction provides. 

We had a great lesson in class the other day where we had to practice our defenses for out current rank with a partner, but the defenses all had to be executed off of a left punch. This sounds like a simple task but the drill invokes a great deal of thought. How I would execute was different than how my partner would execute the same technique. It also caused a great deal more thought when we realized that we shouldn't just be practicing these defenses off of a left straight punch but a hook, reverse, and uppercut should all be included in the thought process for maximum versatility. We also were assigned to practice the same defenses off of a right kick with the same lessons to be applied. Not just a front kick, but a round, side and back kick should also be taken into consideration, and similar results were seen. My partner would execute one way while I did another (ie. he'd step to the inside and deflect while I'd step to the outside and grab). 

It also caused us to stop and think because a lot of these defense techniques had to be executed on a totally different plane than normal, which caused us to have to set them up differently than we normally would. Movements were altered and footwork had to change to fit the situation appropriately. 

None of these differences between partners were wrong per-say, but we did have some constructive discussions about why we thought one method was more effective than another, sometimes we'd agree and sometimes not but always pushing on to further our understanding of what's useful to each of us individually. 

As you practice throughout your martial arts walk keep that in mind, especially when working defenses in a system like Sho Bin Ju, Kenpo or Taekwondo where we practice choreographed defense techniques. These techniques aren't meant to be executed in the basic manor they are taught when you first learn them, but are designed to provide an example of how that technique could be applied. It's up to each of us individually to study them and break them down so that they are effective against multiple attacks from multiple angles, and sometimes from multiple attackers. 

To paraphrase the words of Bruce Lee, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 techniques once, but the man who has practiced 10 techniques 10,000 times". Learn how to maximize the effectiveness of what you know. Black belt is an amazing goal, as is the title of Master, but in modern society I see too many who have that title but haven't really mastered what they know. 

Train on. 

Flow Drills @ Plus One

Recently my head instructor did some flow drills coupled with a cool locking set that one can practice with a partner. They all built on each other nicely and I thought it would be good to have the videos located in one place so that people know they are meant to be together.

These types of drills are great for practicing conceptual implementation of your defense techniques, especially in styles like Kenpo or our school's Sho Bin Ju.

I highly recommend you check these out, but don't think of them as fighting techniques or just drills. Think of them as a platform to practice off of. For example try implementing a Kenpo defense off of the middle of the 3rd video which covers a Sarmiento drill. It evokes some deep thought about when the defenses can be put to use and how well you should know your defenses for them to be practical if you were in a situation where you'd have to use them.

Hopefully you'll never have to use your defenses in a live scenario, but mixing them into these flow drills can definitely help you understand how quickly a live scenario would be and how fast you'll have to react and think, or not think, in real life.

Train on.

Energy Drills

This is an incredible video from YouTube explaining some Wing Chun energy drills and their purposes. I figured I'd share it because we use some of these drills at my school and I've heard a few people ask what their purposes are. I hope you enjoy it like I did.

 

I encourage you to check out Master Wong's other videos. He posts a lot and from what I've seen, really knows his stuff.



Chosing the Correct Path

So, recently I was asked my opinion on finding a new Martial arts school from a coworker. This man used to practice as a child and then again as a teen in a MMA gym. As a person of experience I wanted to provide accurate advice so I had to ask what he was looking for out of his new training experience as an adult. His answer surprised me.

He wants to find a more traditional school than he's attended in the past, more centered around the merging of the mental and physical rather than the typical "meathead MMA gym" experience he been a part of in years past. He was thinking of finding a kung fu school, because what he'd been reading on the subject showed that kung fu (real kung fu, not wushu) offered what he's looking for. That said, he told me the schools offered in his area seemed a little gimmicky (at least based on their web pages) and he wanted to know the way to pick a good school over a bad one. On top of that he has a very limited selection of schools near where he resides.

I told him there's no really good way to pick a school without trying them out and seeing what they offer. Most schools offer a trail class or some kind of free intro package that you can participate in without committing to anything. I also told him to be open minded about the "McDojo" chain schools in his area, since his selection is so limited, because just because a school is part of a chain (like a Villari's or Kicks Taekwondo) doesn't mean it's bad. You have to see what they are offering. If you can earn a black belt in a year or 2 and basically buy your way up to black belt then you might want to consider training somewhere else because the focus is on money, not the student. You need to see what the focus of the school is. The teachers really make or break the experience. For example: I do know of a Villari's in my area that happens to be quite good, because the teacher that bought into the franchise makes it a good place. The tests are incredibly demanding and while they are teaching Villari's system, she adds in a lot of personal touches to curriculum from her past martial arts experiences.

I also told him that a school can be what you make of it. I trained at a great Taekwondo school for years, and then stopped for a few years to go back to college. I went back to the same place after I'd completed my time in college and found the focus had shifted from students to money. I still trained there for 2 year and got a lot out of the classes because I took the time to practice and see what I could find out on my own as well as what I was being taught in class. I ended up moving and finding a new school which I am currently attending and love and is focused on the students, but I got almost as much out of those other classes because I made something out of it.

For those thinking of beginning a martial arts journey of their own: Ask yourself what you want to get out of your training, and shop around for a school that has what aligns with your goals. Remember to put your all into your training so that you get as much out of it as possible. Meeting your goals and giving it 100% is what's going to leave you feeling fulfilled at the end of the day, and in the great scheme of things, that's what matters.

Three Dimensional Human

Last night my head instructor gave us a wonderful conceptual lession about how we all operate in 3 dimensions.

He talked about how the body can only operate in 3 ways in the marital arts. There is depth/lateral movement, rotational/width based movements, and there's height movements which I've come to understand as a combination of the other 2 on a different plane.

We learn our defense techniques as we practice, and a lot of this is choreographed to grant us basic concepts, but as we grow in the martial arts we need to learn to apply these techniques in real world situations. In the American Kenpo system you can learn a defense technique like "Delayed Sword" and just learn the choreographed basic technique, but last night in our advanced class we recieved an assignment to execute delayed sword and then figure out a finisher to it if the technique were to fail or not be as effective as you expect it to be. There were a lot of different techniques executed after that last knife hand chop to the neck. We saw varience based on people's backgrounds and cross training, all of which were interesting and some more effective than others.

Then Sensai talked about efficiency and how (with practice) you can predict what the average Joe on the street will probably do and, utilizing a different type of force than the attacker is throwing your way, you can effectively and efficiently block, deflect or redirect that attack.

We ran through the defense again after he finished explaining this and the modifiers and extensions were much tighter and more efficient the 2nd time around.

Sometimes concept is more important than pure technique.