Self Defence

If self-protection were a cup of tea, then awareness would be the hot water.  It is vital for a good cuppa, and blends and combines the other ingredients. Like a cup of tea, Self-protection would be pointless with out the hot water of awareness.  This is why awareness is referred to as the cornerstone of Self-protection.  Without it your self-protection would crumble.What is meant by awareness in the context of self-protection?

There are many on-going debates in the SP and security training worlds.  Debates that will never, ever be resolved.  Which is the best type of shooting system – aimed or point?  Which is the best knife technique – forward grip or reverse grip?Falling firmly into this category is the never-ending argument of which is best for “Real fights” open hand strikes or fist fighting techniques.  For me the above rhetorical questions are a moot point.  Which is best?  Well to be honest neither and both!  For me they are 2 sides of the same coin.  Have a favourite by all…

The full sentence is actually - By way of deception, thou shall do war. It is the motto of the Israeli intelligence service - the Mossad.  The Israeli service is small in size compared to its cousins in the intelligence war, and so has to be able to hit fast and hard by using deceptive tactics over its larger adversaries.This is something that is a core concept for those who study the strategies and techniques of self and personal protection.Now I'm sure that we'd all like our fights to be against comparatively weaker or at the least a similar sized…

It’s one thing to be aware, it’s another thing to move on to assessing or evaluating what you observe and to then take the appropriate action. A simple tool that can aid us in this process is the Colour Codes of Awareness.The man most widely recognised for the development of the colour code system is Jeff Cooper, a combat pistol instructor in the U.S.  Originally they were designed to provide Law Enforcement Officers (LEO’s) a means to recognise, evaluate and act upon rising levels of threat.  They are also referred to as “Coopers Colour Codes”, and the “Colour Codes of…

Across the globe in almost every dojo, dojang and kwoon, any place where martial arts are taught, it is preached that what the student learns there is only to be used in self defence and fighting and violence should be avoided.  It’s probably the most common mantra heard in the martial arts. Most of us would agree with this tenet, but how do you avoid violence? How do you stop a heated argument turning physical?  It is often recommended to avoid violence, but seldom are methods and tactics provided other than the old fall back line of  “Just walk away”.…

Sooner or later in this game the question is asked “Ok what type of martial art do you do then? Usually at this point there is a pause as you try to explain that you don’t train in a “traditional” system but in the much more unorthodox and hard to categorise  “combatives.” The retort is then a confused “What’s that??  Is it a BJJ style” “Errr – similar name but no, not quite” How do you define the answer to that question.  It can mean a whole host of things to different people.  Many instructors have spent whole books trying…

Almost all martial artists include sparring in their training. However, there are many different types of sparring and there is some debate as to what types are most realistic. Indeed, some question if sparring has any relevance to self-protection situations. To my mind, the amount of relevance that sparring has to the street is determined by how that sparring is structured.In the majority of karate dojos sparring is based on the rules of modern competition. If your aim is to win tournaments, then obviously you need to base your sparring on the nature of competition. There is nothing wrong with…

In this series of articles we are discussing how to make your sparring relevant to real situations. As we've discussed in previous articles, the sparring in many dojos has little in common with real situations. Karateka train for a variety of reasons, so it is to be expected that they will spar in a variety of ways in order to address a variety of goals. If being able to protect yourself is one of your reasons for training, then your sparring needs to specifically structured so that it has relevance to the street. In previous articles we have covered six…

Believe it or not, you're better off hitting someone with your hands than most of the 'improvised weapons' out there.Ripping lumps out of someone with a key isn't actually as effective as a good solid bang in the head - it's messy undoubtedly but definitely not a high-percentage 'stop'. It's true that you can turn anything into a weapon, but it's usually not much of a weapon if you look at it objectively!

How many times do we hear about a fighting method being instinctive, natural even? I personally adhere to the idea that it can't be, in that very little of what we do, if anything - whatever the style, system or method - can be accurately described as truly instinctive, rather they are actually learned and conditioned responses. I'm a confirmed believer in the whole 'swim with the current' approach regarding combative training, purely as a pragmatic and functional approach to achieving the most result with the least effort. If something is easy to do, and works 'straight out of the…

I sat down and worked out the other day that I have been involved in what is loosely called close quarter combat for just over 20 years.  Scary!! I threw my first “Tiger claw” when I was fifteen; this was followed by tutelage in a whole range of close combat skills and techniques over the following years.I have never been what you might call a “traditionalist” preferring the more practical approach to close combat rather than studying the intricacies of an art or style.  Since that time combatives has been turned into an industry by some and has become the…

There is a phrase that is in vogue in the intelligence community at the moment in relation to the war on terror. It is known as “feeding the machine.” Perhaps a brief description is in order? In order to keep on winning the counter-terror war, the intelligence services have to keep a supply of useful information in order for the military to track down the insurgents and terrorists. Once the intelligence reaches the command and control centre Predator UAV’s are dispatched to that area and engage the targets with extreme force. Thus the information keeps the machine constantly fed with…

On guard! Hands high or low?As many people know an answer to such a question depends upon the ‘situation and environment’ that they might find themselves in. However, it goes without saying (even if I am saying it!) that if your sport is boxing or whatever you would enter into the bout/fight using the protocols and proven strategies of your chosen sport. For boxing it would generally be (especially when in striking range) hands held high to protect the head and elbows in to protect the ribs etc. (And no flapping of elbows when punching!) When I first started training…

“Why”: the dreaded single syllable word that a child can use repeatedly to raise an adult’s temperature and stretch his comfortable and established philosophies of logic, reason and beliefs to breaking point. I have seen many an adult reduced to a blubbering mess or a ranting dictator, as he tries to explain and justify his answers, while a six year old sits calmly with only the smallest traces of a mischievous grin on his face asking again and again “Why?”  The innocence and naivety of a child’s questioning is the perfect foil for an adult, who has a natural instinctive…

How do we teach children to be efficient students of realistic self-protection and martial arts? It’s a tough question and if training children is to be seen as an allegory for teaching fundamentals then it is not surprising that this very element is where the martial arts education industry is at its weakest. I see teaching children as a path to retraining ourselves about base principles and commonsense. In short, the premise I set for myself when I first founded CCMA (Clubb Chimera Martial Arts) was if I cannot deliver a system that can be applied by those in our…

On a good day I will be able to ask my junior martial arts class what our club’s first tenet is and a sea of eager hands will shoot up. Some – those who haven’t quite got to grips with our fourth tenet of discipline – will blurt out the answer: “Respect!” And so it is. But why should I place such high importance on this particular tenet in a very modern system of self defence? Some might argue that it is a throwback to the classical martial arts forms that take their lead from trying emulate the times of…

Steve Rowe:  To carry on with the theme of intimidation and how it affects a person on the inside, I think we need to talk a little on the subject of Chi, Qi or Ki…Dennis Jones: I think you’re right!SR:  The best English word I’ve found to describe it is “animation”, it’s the way we “animate” our mind, spirit and body.  A person without animation is a corpse, the more powerfully we can animate and focus it – the more skilfully we are using our chi. 

First published in Martial Arts Illustrate May 2003 Vol. 15 No. 12 Dennis recently visited my centre and bought a videotape containing a collection of violent confrontations from his huge archive of footage…This was to help students understand how violence starts and how to avoid and deal with it.  Whilst he was here I asked him to talk about how bullies single out their targets.Steve Rowe:  Dennis, we’ve just watched a videotape made up from over 100 confrontations that you’ve filmed-and I understand that’s just a snippet from your archives.  What strikes me is how violence seems to start from…

Self-defence with a Walking-stick: The Different Methods of Defending Oneself with a Walking-Stick or Umbrella when Attacked under Unequal Conditions (PartI) By E.W. Barton-Wright From Pearson's Magazine, 11 (January 1901), 35-44. Introduction It must be understood that the new art of self-defence with a walking-stick, herewith introduced for the first time, differs essentially from single-stick or sword-play; for a man may be a champion in the use of sword or single-stick and yet be quite unable to put a walking-stick to any effective use as a weapon of defence. The simple and sufficient reason to account for this is that…

I've written plenty concerning my thoughts on sparring, specifically symmetrical vs. asymmetrical tactics and the training I recommend to reinforce the latter.When I was younger I absolutely loved sparring, in fact I wouldn't stay in a club or school that didn't focus on it! I truly believed that sparring was the pinnacle of training, and that everything else was merely supportive.Unfortunately, as good as I got at sparring - and I did more than a fair impersonation of someone who knew what he was doing - it seemed when I tried to replicate my sparring prowess in actual altercations it…

How many times do we hear, regarding the effectiveness of some system, various statements such as ‘technique not strength’, ‘no matter the opponents size’ etc? Strange how the people usually hard-selling such notions are often not in ‘prime’ condition themselves, or their target market are the vulnerable persons wanting a ‘magic-wand’ system of evening the odds already stacked against them. Time to wake up ladies and gentlemen. Combat is an intense physical affair. It stands to reason that the more physically capable you are, the better off you’re likely to be should you decide, or be forced, to indulge. Technique…

“You don’t do that do you?” said my Instructor as I parried off an attack from my training partner and then countered with a strike to his face. “What do you mean “I don’t do that?”? I just done it didn’t I?” I respond very confused. “On the Door when you’re working. You don’t do this!” he replied cheekily mimicking my “tappy tappy” parries. “Well… erm… I was avoiding the punch and setting up the counter!” I explain. “Throw an attack!” he commanded.

I was impressed by an article in Martial Arts Illustrated magazine written some time ago by Maurice (‘Mo’) Teague. Not because Mo is a BCA Instructor, rather because it once again brought home the gulf between how we train on a regular basis, what we train for and how events unfold in real life where we may need to resort to our combative skills.Mo’s main point was that in a military context unarmed combat is rarely a skill you would be called upon to exercise and if you did you would probably have bigger problems than your hands and feet…

I'm a huge believer in traditional training practices - and all the truly effective training I have ever seen is traditional in approach believe it or not, no matter how 'modern' it purports to be. Unfortunately the mere word 'traditional' seems enough to send most 'progressive' types into shock - yet a great deal of them, the ones that get the best results anyway, are a lot closer to using these so-called 'outdated' methods than they believe.Before getting into the meat of this article, let's establish exactly what I mean by the term 'traditional' lest there be any misunderstanding. It's…