Slap in the face

Freeze-frame: mid-slap

Who would have thought that a slap to the face could rearrange it, albeit temporarily?

Here's the video proof, in super slo mo.

Of course, copping a water balloon in the face would be even more distracting!

Defending the cows - with judo

A former student -- he may well return! -- sent me a link to a real-life judo in the news story:

Judo-trained dairy owner sees off armed youths

A Levin dairy owner used his judo skills to fend off would-be robbers pointing a pistol at his head.

Playford foodmarket owner Tushar Patel was walking out of his Bledisloe St dairy at 1.25pm on Sunday when he saw four young men, two wearing balaclavas, about to enter.

He managed to dial 111 on his mobile before one of youths snatched his phone and tried to punch him in the face. 

A former judo competitor in India, he deflected the blow, grabbed his phone, and held on to his attacker's wrist.

He saw one of the group rushing towards him pointing what looked like a pistol at his head. "I thought, 'That is a bloody gun he has."'

The gunman threatened to shoot Mr Patel, prompting him to push the man he was holding towards the gunman and yell out to his neighbour to call the police. The group ran off.

"I was yelling loudly. I did not think they wanted to kill me – they wanted to rob me."

His wife, Vanita, praised her husband's bravery. "He is a little bit strong man," she said.

It was the third time the couple have been targeted. Two years ago a man threatened Mr Patel with a vegetable knife and demanded money. Mr Patel showed off a bigger knife he kept behind the counter, and the offender fled.

About two months ago a man in a balaclava, brandishing a screwdriver, demanded money before running off empty-handed.

Mr Patel urged dairy owners to be careful and protect themselves. His wife agreed: "They cannot treat you that way, steal like that, otherwise they do it every day. I am proud of my husband but I am scared now."

Two 16-year-olds had been caught, police said. The gun is thought to have been a BB gun.

Thanks, Steve.  Only in New Zealand!

* * *

Apparently I misunderstood the location of this dramatic confrontation.  Steve explained in an email:

Haha.

A dairy is what kiwis call a corner store or a milkbar.
I realise in Australia a dairy is a cow farm :)

I was wondering why these NZ-farmers were under almost incessant attack ...

Self-defence technique meets 1920s chic

Fabulous clip of 7 stone (44.5 kg) Miss May Whitley giving a lightning introduction to the role of unbalancing  in jiu-jitsu  before throwing her good friend "the bandit" repeatedly onto a hard stage floor.  Be sure to watch with the sound turned up to enjoy her wonderful accent and his howls of pain:



Attacks and jiu-jitsu counters demonstrated:

1. Handbag snatch: Arm-lock plus projection throw
2. Rear choke: 1st shoulder throw (kata seoi)
3. Straight punch: Reverse arm-bar (waki-gatame)
4. Front kick: Inner-rear sweeping throw
5. Front choke: Circle throw (tomoe nage)

Thanks to Sue for highlighting this clip and more on her blog.

Simply spiffing: what, what!?

How do we defend against kick-boxers and armed attackers?

Our self-defence requirements include scenario training against differently trained attackers, and armed assailants.  That said, I think that intensive training in weapons and in a fist-and-foot style helps a lot in comfort and expertise in those kind of scenarios.  And that takes training time, whether in one art or many. 

I have trained in ken-jitsu a little bit, and I like it.  In people who have done a lot of sword-work you can see it reflected (positively!) in their jiu-jitsu.  Similarly, as I make progress in chinese boxing, I am finding all sorts of cross-connections with jiu-jitsu.

Real combat, especially when weapons are involved, is of course extremely dangerous.  Personally, I'd rather face a kick-boxer than an attacker with a sword.

If you could choose just one technique...

If you could choose just one technique to build an unarmed combat course around, what would it be? During WWII Moshe Feldenkrais selected Hadaka Jime, one of the rear chokes, for a 10-part course aimed at regular serving British soldiers.

Re-issued in 2009, with a new forward and afterword by Moti Nativ, Feldenkrais's little book includes additional photos, including an appendix with a sequence showing Feldenkrais's teacher Kawaishi applying the eponymous technique to Feldenkrais in a dojo setting.

Very clearly written and illustrated, this book will be of particular interest to students of the Feldenkrais method, especially those with a martial arts background, and to judoka and jiu-jitsuka with an interest in Kawaishi's methods of Judo and self-defence.

But please don't practice the content at home, or anywhere for that matter, without qualified supervision!

Leaving the original text unedited, Nativ has bolded the parts with particular relevance to Feldenkrais's approach to learning and education. Here is some footage of Nativ demonstrating one of the applications taught in the book:

Fans of mixed martial arts will note that the basic Hadaka Jime technique is similar to the rear strangles often used to achieve a submission in such contests. Interestingly, hadaka jime was not included by Kawaishi in his encyclopedic "My Method of Judo", where he preferred other (less larynx-crushing) methods for applying a strangle from the rear. [Tangent: There seems to be two main schools of thought as to whether hadaka jime aims to cut off the air or blood supply, chronicled here.]

Nativ has promised to re-issue another early Feldenkrais martial arts work, his 1931 Jiu-jitsu book, and then his own magnum opus on the synergy between the Feldenkrais method and the martial arts. I am looking forward to reading and reviewing these works!

Stay out of trouble ...

Setting aside issues of technique and conditioning, training for self defence should include:

1. An appreciation for the potential for violence and its consequences
2. Some clues on how to recognize and avoid trouble
3. Strategies to increase your chances of survival in dangerous situations

Without this kind of training you may find yourself ill-equipped to deal with an encounter where-in society does not prove as civilized as one might hope.  Witness this first-hand account of a 53-year old man who bumbled into an unfortunate altercation in suburban Melbourne:

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, my wife and I pulled up directly outside the shop she wished to visit and, like the dutiful husband that I am, I waited patiently in the car for her return. As I sat there getting progressively more bored, I noticed two youths, obviously blind drunk, causing some commotion at a nearby shop. Their pockets were filled with stubbies and, as a result, one of the pair's trousers fell down. He continued to walk a few paces before apparently realising his state of undress and nonchalantly hoisting his pants up.

He then made his way into the shop my wife was visiting and I kept a watchful eye on him. The drunken youth soon exited the shop closely followed by my wife. She apologised for the delay, saying that some yobs had caused a commotion in the shop. I nodded towards the youth who had just preceded her. "That's probably him there," I said. Unfortunately for me, said youth noticed me looking, took objection and, cursing, threw a stubbie hard at the car, on which it landed with a solid thump. Taken aback, I leapt from the car to inspect the damage.

In retrospect, this was not the smartest of moves as the drunken yob took this as a signal to attack me. I saw him rushing towards me, face contorted in fury, then a well-thrown left hook smashed into my jaw.

As I said, I'm 53 and awaiting a hip replacement, I smoke far too heavily and the word "exercise" seems to have been removed from my personal dictionary. So, when it comes to what in former times was known as fisticuffs, I'm hardly on the shortlist for the Olympic Bashing Event. Being Scottish and having a deep sense of personal pride, I was reluctant to let a drunken yob get the better of me, so I defended myself and a rather dramatic fight took place. I was thrown repeatedly over the bonnets and boots of cars and on to the ground and, at one point, had the thug straddling my chest as he literally tried to rip my throat out. Eventually, some bystanders came to my aid and dragged the two of us apart.

My wife and I were advised to get back into our car and drive, which we did quite promptly. Then my wife decided to pull over a few metres further on to call the police.

It was a few seconds after this that the drunken youth put his face threw my window and asked if I was all right. I was taken aback and muttered that I was fine. With that he threw another punch to my jaw, I grabbed him to prevent further blows and my wife, showing a lot of common sense, put the pedal to the metal.

The result of this trip to the shops? A broken jaw, which will take eight painful weeks to heal, a bruised windpipe, lacerations, bruises, a dented car door, a ripped jumper and a pair of glasses missing. Worse than this, though, is the fear instilled in me. All of this was as a result of looking at someone. Do I need to spend the rest of my time in Australia avoiding eye contact? Must I be fearful of going shopping in broad daylight? Must my wife suffer nightmares that the man indeed did kill me, as he so obviously wanted to? Should I replace my Jack Russell pup with a half-starved rottweiler?

So what is violence actually like? It's physically painful, not terribly pleasant and downright scary.*

I generally steer away from teaching short-courses on self-defence because it takes time to acquire and internalize the deeper skills, plus regular practice to maintain them.   Then again, people like this unfortunate gentleman could benefit from a quick lesson or two in staying out of trouble in the first place.

*I should stress that I don't think Australia is a particularly dangerous country. For one thing, we have low gun  ownership, leading to a fairly low murder rate.  And while we do have the most venomous snakes in the world, they generally stay away from people.  And the crocodiles only seem to eat tourists. ;-)

Some Notes on Come-along Techniques

The come-along techniques of Jiu-Jitsu form part of the Restraint and Control syllabus. The come-alongs allow you to not only restrain and control an attacker, but also to escort him out the door: "come-along", "come-along".

A certain amount of pain leads to compliance, but part of the beauty of these techniques is that the pain goes away once they are released: We take the recipient into the region of pain that precedes injury, but work towards a level of skill where effectiveness does not require damage.

The various come-along techniques have different characteristics, leading to their suitability in different situations.

A come-along armbar

For example: The come-along armbar (pictured) targets the elbow joint, requires two hands to apply, and obliges you to stand to the side of the recipient. As well as subduing in place and leading the recipient along, this technique leads nicely into throws and takedowns.

As another example: The pistol grip technique (not pictured) allows you to not only compel the recipient to go to the ground, but also to stand up again.

Comparing the 14 come-alongs (not all of which are labeled explicitly) of the restraint-and-control syllabus I noticed certain patterns emerging:

• 3 primarily target the elbow joint, 7 the wrist, 3 the shoulder, 1 pure pressure point
• 11 comealongs are applied from the side; 3 from behind
• Although "two-hands for beginners" is sound advice, several of the come-alongs can be sustained with one hand

Having learned the basis of a family of techniques, a good way to deepen your knowledge is to then make both an in-depth study of each technique and also examine commonalities and differences. For each technique:

• How can it be effectively modified for use against attackers of different shapes and sizes?
  
• Against which common attacks can it be used as part of a realistic self-defense response?
• If I fail on an attempt to apply it, what back-up techniques can I easily flow into?
• How does the technique interfere with my partner's balance and alignment?
  
• What are the particular advantages and disadvantages of this technique?
  

I could list some more of my findings, but you will learn far far more if you make your own notes.

Later this year I plan to explore some of these questions with my students, and together devise a kata of come-alongs.

Introductory Self-Defence Class: September 10 2008

I have been invited to conduct an introductory self-defence class at Monash Caulfield on Wednesday, September 10. I have accepted the invitation.

• If you are a Federation coloured belt and are available in the early evening and are interested in acting as an assistant, please send me an email.
• This event is already over-subscribed, so if it sounds great, why not come along to one of my weekly classes instead?

Here is an edited version of the draft promotional material:

---

[Host Organization] and
Monash University Jiu-Jitsu Club

present

Self-Defence Night
Come along and learn the basics of self-defence in a safe, friendly and fun class.

Where and when:
[Time and location]

What to wear
Loose comfortable clothing: T-shirt and tracksuit pants are ideal.

What to expect
The class will consist of:
* A short talk about basic self-defence
* Warm exercises (including games)
* Instruction and practice in some escapes from simple holds and grabs
* Q&A and demonstration of some more advanced Jiu-Jitsu techniques
* Cool-down

About Jiu-Jitsu
Jiu-jitsu was the unarmed fighting art of the Japanese Samurai -- the warriors of medieval Japan. If a Samurai lost or broke his sword in battle, he resorted to the striking and grappling techniques of Jiu-jitsu to defeat his enemy.

The term Jiu-jitsu literally means 'gentle art'. Jiu-jitsu emphasizes the efficient use of one's body. Good technique rather than brute strength is used to deliver effective self-defence.

About the Monash University Jiu-jitsu Club
The Jiu-Jitsu club offers weekly classes at both Caulfield and Clayton emphasising:

• Acquisition and perfection of martial art technique
• Realistic self-defence skills
• Development of all-round fitness
• Personal and social development

in a safe and supportive environment. It is open to the Monash and local communities.

About the instructor
Sensei Dan Prager is a 2nd degree black belt with over 15 years experience in Jiu-Jitsu
as well as other martial arts. Dan is the founding instructor of the Caulfield branch of the Monash University Jiu-Jitsu Club. He blogs about Martial Arts and Modern Life.

Jiu-Jitsu is Adaptable

The Adaptable Art
Jiu-jitsu is usually translated as the gentle art, but other translations are valid. I particularly like the flexible or adaptable art as alternatives which help to fill out the meaning.

Jiu-jitsu is adaptable because in just about any self-defence situation it offers a wide range of techniques to hopefully dispel the threat.

If you only have a hammer(e.g. hit 'em in the head) or maybe also a screwdriver (head or groin?) there will be a narrower range of threats that you can deal with, and in more ambiguous situations a nuanced response may be beyond you.

Jiu-jitsu instead offers a wider range of responses via a huge collection of techniques, and limitless combinations. For example, in our system there are around 80 distinct restraint and control techniques, not counting variations. And restraint and control accounts for about 30% of our training.

Decision-making
Of course more techniques means more complex decisions. In a self-defence situation one does not have the luxury of planning! The art must be internalized to the extent that response flows from the situation with minimal thought. This requires long practice and regular training. The techniques must become literally second nature.

One useful exercise is to practice against common attacks. A partner attacks in a pre-arranged way and you respond. At first students of jiu-jitsu learn standard responses, but are encouraged to move on to a more reflexive form of practice in which initially the response (and later the attack) is not pre-determined.

Once someone has a couple years of training and has a reasonable grasp of a range of techniques, a great exercise is to take a pre-determined attack and not plan a full response to the attack, but just try some initial movement and see what flows from there. For example: If someone grabs my wrist, it does not matter whether I twist to the left or the right, I can continue to turn and apply an effective jiu-jitsu technique.

Over time the better initial responses should become ingrained through such training.

Principles
The syllabus is not just a bag of tricks, but rather embodies a set of principles in myriad ways.

In a real attack the situation will not exactly match what has been practiced, but the practitioner must nevertheless respond to the threat. In doing so (s)he will invariably deviate to a degree from classic technique, but will apply the principles nevertheless.

Application to every-day life
If I only have a hammer everything looks like a nail.

We all face difficult situations, often when dealing with others. If we only have one or two habituated responses we are very limited in how we deal with these situations, and will find ourselves with little or no choice. With no choice one inevitably feels disempowered.

By acquiring more options through learning, and becoming more adept at when and how to apply them, we give ourselves more options.

So even in the toughest situation, you can exercise choice. The more options that you can find, the better the chance that you will deal gracefully and effectively with the situation, rather than resigning yourself to endure it.

Now that's empowering!

Japanese Jiu-Jitsu or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

In a comment on a previous post, John asked:

Which is better for self-defence, Japanese or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
These are both fine styles, and while I am trained in a Japanese style of Jiu-Jitsu I have taken a few classes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, attended a seminar given by Carlos Gracie Junior, taken a few classes at the main Gracie dojo in LA, read the books, and followed the buzz.

In this comparison I say go for instructor and school over style.

Look for:

• Safety in training
• Technical excellence
• Skilled and well-behaved students
• Good training atmosphere
• An emphasis that fits your goals
• No lock-in contracts

An experienced martial arts practitioner is going to be in a better position to be discerning than a complete new-comer.

Some more on emphasis. Consider:

• Self-defense vs sport
• What are the main areas of technique that you are training?
• Balance between drills (kata) and free practice (randori)

These factors vary from style-to-style and instructor to instructor.

The broad technical areas in martial arts are striking techniques, throwing techniques, standing grappling techniques, groundwork techniques, and weapons.

Japanese Jiu-Jitsu

In the style of jiu-jitsu that I practice the main areas of emphasis are throwing, groundwork, and standing grappling (what we call restraint and control). Striking is there from the outset, but has less emphasis, and weapons enter later. I personally emphasise the self-defence and health aspects, with a little competition for fun and stress-testing, but not an aim in-itself. We do mainly drills, with a little free practice. If we are optimized for one thing, it's general self-defence.

Because there were many styles of Japanese Jiu-Jitsu -- not to mention the "reconstituted" styles -- technical emphasis and training methods will vary from school-to-school.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

In Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu the main emphasis is going to be on groundwork, because that's their speciality. So if you opt for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu you can expect to get good at ground-work comparatively quickly, while development in other areas seem to be taught later, if at all. Sports / self-defence seems to vary between instructors, but since they are into no-holds-barred, my primary concern would be about safety-in-training. Expect lots of free practice, but this may vary between instructors.

While it is true that a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner can bring a fight to the ground, in self-defense against multiple attackers you need to keep your feet to escape. You may need to look for a school that teaches a separate class in self-defense to complement the usual classes. The Royce and Charles Gracie book Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Self-defense Techniques shows what to look for, and the techniques shown look very familiar to anyone schooled in the Japanese techniques.

Conclusion
Instructor and school over brand. Talk to the instructor, ask around, see if you can try out a sample class. If you can find an "old-timer" who has been teaching for more than -- say -- 25 years, (s)he should have a good perspective on all these issues.

For those in Australia, especially Melbourne, come and have a look at what I and my instructors teach. After you have seen what we and our students can do, you will at least have a handy benchmark.