What are Combatives?

In the previous post I discussed my first exposure to combatives. Some of you may not be familiar with the term, from wikipedia:

"Combatives is a United States Army term for hand-to-hand combat training and techniques."

There's quite a bit more in the entry, pretty much all centered around US military training. Not sure who made that entry, calling combatives army hand-to-hand combat is reasonably accurate but it's not a US-only system (actually was pioneered by the British) and I wouldn't consider MAC combatives. My definition of combatives would be something like:

Combatives - A system of self-defense based on gross motor skills. Training is focused integrating natural body movements and reactions into a fighting system rather than learning a large number of techniques. Combatives is based on the WWII-era close quarter combat training methods of William E. Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes.

Combatives could be considered as a compromise system, the type of results-oriented training required when you have a very limited amount of time. "Techniques" used are easy to remember both in the future and under stress, and the focus is on results - techniques that are proven and demonstrable. If you had a day to train someone who might need to fight for his life, what would you teach?

As someone who has been in high stress situations, I discovered that I had a hard time applying my martial arts training in actual fights. The fear/adrenaline dump would overwhelm me and techniques that seemed to work quite well in sparring would absolutely fail when I needed them the most. Some of this can be blamed on sport-oriented training but much of it is unavoidable. When people are under stress, they tend to revert to more gross motor-type skills - it takes a great deal of training to handle the body's adrenaline dump and utilize more fine or complex motor skills, more training than most people will ever achieve. Open hand techniques are favored to reduce the risk of injury to the hands. Punching someone is a great way to break a hand - a soldier with a broken hand can no longer grab the enemy, handle his or her firearm effectively, etc. Combatives have become a lot more popular as people continue to search for more effective training methods, systems that will actually work in combat or in a self defense situation.

From A CLOSER LOOK AT THE FIGHT OR FLIGHT REFLEX:

1. FINE MOTOR SKILLS -- skills which are performed by small muscle groups, such as the hands and fingers. These frequently involve hand/eye coordination. In the survival skill category, a fine motor skill would include any action that requires precision hand/eye coordination, such as shooting a gun accurately or striking a small target with an impact weapon. These skills peak between 100-110 BPM, and drop off rapidly at 115 BPM and above.

2. COMPLEX MOTOR SKILLS -- skills which involve a series of muscle groups in action, requiring coordination and timing. Complex motor survival skills include things like a shooting stance that has muscle groups working in different or asymmetrical directions (Weaver or modified Weaver stance, with the strong hand pushing and the support hand pulling against one another), or a takedown that has more than three independent movements from different muscle groups. These skills peak between 115-145 BPM, and drop off rapidly as the heart rate goes higher.

3. GROSS MOTOR SKILLS -- skills which involve the action of large muscle or major muscle groups. An example of a gross motor survival skill would be a simple action such as a straight punch or forward baton strike. These skills remain effective at 200 BPM and above.

To say that fine and complex motor skills can't be used under stress would be inaccurate - they can be used, they just become more difficult, less effective. The more you train and the more you simulate stress in your training, the more likely you can use the full range. For those with limited training time (probably almost everyone), especially those who aren't training extensively in hand-to-hand, the more you may want to consider more combatives-oriented training. I'll provide some training examples in a future post.

My Introduction to Combatives

My first exposure to combatives was over 20 years ago, around age 12. My maternal grandfather was visiting and I had just come back from a Hapkido class (or TKD?) and he asked to see some of my moves. I think I did a kata for him and such. My grandfather was in the Canadian Army during WWII and mentioned that they did a little hand to hand training back then. He asked if I wanted to see some, I foolishly said sure. I believe I dropped back into a backstance, while assuming my best don't fuck with me face. As soon as my foot was planted he scraped his heel down my shin (OUCH!), my hands dropped and he chopped me in the neck. That was the end of that sparring session.

My grandfather had never done any martial arts training before or after his army stint. My grandfather (in his 60s) was able to drop me in seconds with one of a handful of techniques he learned around 45 years ago - in an afternoon training session. At the time I was pretty impressed by what he did, the "cool technique." Looking back on it now, I am absolutely astounded not by the technique but at his retention of it. For him to effectively apply a fighting system that was briefly learned - 45 years ago! - and rarely (if ever) practiced, is truly amazing.
______________________

My Grandpa was a great man, we all miss him very much.

Women's Self Defense

I recently came across a very interesting person on the American Apocalypse blog. She had a made a very cool comment on being proud of her lifestyle and I checked out her profile and blog: My Path to Freedom.

Note: If you read this Jennie, I will remove your blog info if you'd rather not have it mentioned.

She has a lot of great information on homesteading and gardening.

She had also posted something on women and wrestling that caught my attention. I hadn't intended to write much if anything on martial sports or combat on here, I'm no expert, but it is a topic dear to my heart. Seems there was an effort to keep girls from competing with boys in wrestling in her home state. She made some great points:

"Women need to know how to fight. Think how many hurts and abuses could be avoided if more women had adequate knowledge of defensive fighting. How dare you tell girls they shouldn't wrestle, that they shouldn't fight boys. Nearly 1 in 3 American women will be physically abused in their lifetimes. Do you have a wife, a mother and a daughter? Chances are one of them will face it. I'd argue we should be teaching wrestling in every high school to every girl that will learn. AND teaching them to use it against both genders."

And in the comments section:

"you say men are trained to treat women gently, but the statistics on physical abuse of women, (usually by a male she's living with) shoot holes in that view of how-the-world-works. I don't doubt that YOU were taught that, and maybe your sons/brothers too, but fact is, that's sadly not universal. I'm not advocating that that sort of training stop. I don't see any disconnect at all between teaching boys to respect girls AND teaching girls how to defend themselves from boys that don't get the lesson."

I've seen a lot of women's self defense classes and I've known many women martial artists. Almost universally, the training that I've seen them receive is of little to no value for self defense purposes.

When it comes to wrestling, I think it's a great sport for women to be involved with. It's just a great sport period, an amazing emphasis on physical fitness and a lot of fun (yes, I am a former competitor and coach, rather biased). And considering the nature of assault on women, it's a lot more practical for them to have some idea of what it's like to physically struggle against a man then to practice punching someone with keys in their fingers!!! Or doing 10,000 katas.

A couple of years back a female friend asked my what I thought of women doing martial arts or self defense training. She was concerned about being attacked out a party for example. This is some of the comments I sent to her, I thought some might find it useful:

That's a very interesting question. Better discussed in person probably but I will do my best.

I don't like "women's self defense" classes. Or at least all of the ones I have seen and the majority I am aware of. A lot of them are taught by martial artists or by those with past martial arts training. Sometimes they are run by cops. Or, even worse, they are run by women trained by those people, making the training even more watered down. Or dear god, MMA enthusiasts *shudder*

A lot of this goes back to my (discussion board) old post about martial arts. It's very difficult to take someone seriously, who is teaching you something that is supposed to be "life or death" related, who has never even been in a fight. Even a dumb school fight. It's one thing to learn a martial art from these people. Their are many reasons to learn martial arts besides fighting. I (mostly) respect that even if it's not my thing. But a self defense class is supposed to be about saving your life, not about a 500 year old tradition.

The stuff that you learn in a karate class, for example, doesn't work for shit in 3 years of training. It's not any easier to use it when you learn it over a weekend.

Also, police training from what I have seen doesn't work very well for the cops (men or women) that use it. There training in hands on techniques is rudimentary and, if any good, job specific. It isn't going to translate well into what a woman needs to do.

Martial artists, myself most definitely included, often have an unrealistic focus on empty hand techniques. Real fighting should always focus on weapons first. That should be your base. Never fight someone bare handed unless you have no choice or have a damn good reason. Also recognize that if you are attacked by someone that wants to hurt or rape you, there is a very good chance that person will have a weapon.

Now, most women will most likely never be attacked by a stranger so it is hard to say how much time they should put into this. That's a personal decision. But there are some simple techniques to learn that can be learned over the course of an afternoon (better over a weekend) that could be practiced and that may, just may, help if they feel that fighting back is the best option (note: I'm referring to combato here or related systems).

Awareness is of course the best defense since, as you have pointed out, the greatest risk to a woman is from family, friends and newly met acquantainces. So. If I was going to "train" someone from a self defense standpoint, a few realities would need to be looked at and/or considered. Following all of these may be unrealistic but you should at least be questioning some of these things. Or think about them.

1. Men have all the advantages. You can't expect to fight them and win (it's not impossible but it's really unlikely).
2. You are probably going to be attacked by someone when vulnerable and have no reason to expect attack. A party at a friend's house where the booze is flowing is probably more risky than a parkade (for most of us middle class folk) in terms of getting sexually assaulted.
3. Know your friends. Think about who you drink with.
4. Always tell someone where you are going, who are you are going out with and when you expect to be back.
5. Don't accept alcohol or drugs from a man. Personally I no longer drink and have never done drugs, best to avoid mind-altering poisons altogether.
6. Don't let some guy drive you home.
7. If you walk into a place and don't feel comfortable, leave. Don't be pushed around by people's opinions.
8. Carry a cell phone everywhere you go.
9. Carry your purse everywhere you go.
10. Always know where you are and how to get home.
11. Always have cab fare.
12. Don't crash at houses.
13. Don't think that you will be able to run away if there is trouble. You are probably wearing party clothes and probably couldn't outrun a man anyways. I'm in terrible cardio condition but I can still outrun most women, even those in good shape, in a very short sprint. If I am sober and they aren't, it gets worse. Also, fear makes it difficult to breathe and will degrade athletic performance.
14. If you must fight, fight. Rip off his ears, put a thumb through his eye, tear off his balls etc. It's not sparring.
15. Always look for a weapon. USE IT!! He's going to be bigger and stronger and most likely took you by surprise. You need to even the odds.
16. Scream your bloody head off. If you can. Hard enough to breathe when you are scared and struggling.

As for actual fighting and fight preparation, I could go on quite a bit but some helpful things for women:

1. Get involved in a contact sport or at least a physical one. Learn what it's like to be physical and to get hit (wrestling, rugby, lacrosse).
2. Find good training that meets your needs - time, size, etc. Also, if some esoteric art takes 10 years of 3 hr/day training to learn, move on!
3. Practice fighting when you are drunk and/or stoned (I don't take drugs but if you do, take that into consideration).
4. Train as much as possible in clothes that are like what you wear when you go out.
5. Always carry a weapon where you can - three is better. In some places carrying weapons is illegal. I don't know what to suggest there, you'll have to make your own decisions.
6. Practice pulling them out and using them.
7. Practice awareness - of people and of weapons. LOOK at people around you.
8. Learn to shoot, even if you don't carry (note: if you can legally carry, do it!) The more firearms familiarity, the better. He may have a gun, you need to understand the limitations of firearms and how to use it if you take it away from him.
9. Learn (practical) knife fighting - super high priority.*
10. Get in shape.
11. Practice running in your going out clothes (or something similar). Then consider what you wear on a night out, if it's a good idea.
12. Find people that will do proper simulation training - very physical, at night, outdoors, etc.
13. Let someone slap you in the face. See what it really feels like and then consider what getting punched in the face is like. etc.

That's sort of a starting point. Again, it depends how serious you are. It may seem over the top but I know many women that claim to take martial arts or self defense classes to feel safe. Why not put the same effort in and try and learn something that will actually work?

Education without experience is....I dunno. It's not real. You can tell someone something until they are blue in the face, I don't think most humans will really process it without at least very good simulations.

*What I've seen in Chinese/Japanese arts for weapons fighting is...unimpressive, especially with knives. Defense against knives is especially bad as taught in your neighbourhood mcdojo. I would look at basic, streamlined styles that are either related to Filipino martial arts (Michael Janich) or western European styles (fencing, bowie knife fighting, i.e James Keating).

For example, it was once pointed out to me that Aikido is one of the best martial arts for defense and that some styles (i.e Tomiki) have a heavy focus on knife defense. They do regular tournaments. So......the rules are:

Tanto Techniques

A. Criteria for tsuki-ari (effective tanto techniques) The pre-condition for tsuki-ari (effective tanto stabbing) is that Tanto’s arm must be stretched when the rubber knife lands in Toshu’s body. If one stabs with his elbow hooked at a right angle, it will never be accepted as an effective one.

1 Specific conditions:

a. The rubber knife must land in the part of the opponent’s body between armpit and belt levels. This includes the front, back, and both sides of the body, as well as the upper arms. However, the belt itself is not included in the target area.
b. Tanto must step in and stab with his back straight and his balance stable.
c. The rubber knife must touch the opponent’s body at an approximately 90-degree angle. But this particular condition does not have to be satisfied when Toshu is either off balance, has assumed an undesirable posture, or has already fallen on the mat.
d. Rubber-knife stabbing should never endanger the safety of the opponent. Particularly, the type of stabbing with the fist landing directly on the opponent’s body is subject to penalization. However, if Toshu comes in without proper taisabaki, it is considered to be his fault.

2 Tanto is allowed to stab the opponent’s flank by swinging his tanto from the outside (“Mawashi-tsuki”) as long as all the conditions in #1 are satisfied.

3 Tanto is allowed to stab the fallen opponent once right after the latter has fallen as long as all the conditions in #1 are satisfied.

4 When Tanto scores a tsukiari point at the same time that Toshu scores a yuko or greater point in techniques, then the tsukiari point will take precedence over the toshu technique.

B. Inadequate (ineffective) or invalid stabbing

1. Tanto techniques that do not satisfy the above conditions will not be counted as effective stabs.

2. Tanto techniques will also be regarded as invalid unless the tip of the rubber knife has clearly touched Toshu’s body and Tanto has stabbed with proper foot movement.

Well, that's realistic, for sure! Nice rule set....I don't know what they are trying to do here. It's an odd sport without an ounce of practical application. I don't see it as fitness related or traditional either. Doesn't look like fun. Whatever it is, I hope NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND thinks it is practical or effective! Just look at it in action! Imagine if that was a real knife.

Randori Final Southern Region Kyu Grade Open


Aikido Tournament 2010 Campbell 006.MPG


Aikido Tournament 2010 Campbell 001.MPG


No doubt people will say I am picking on Aikido. Not to worry, I think many other martial arts are just as silly :)

Martial Arts

I've trained in martial arts and sports for about 25 years, started when I was 8. Long enough to realize just how little I know and how ineffective they generally are in actual fighting.

This is going to be a very long post. I'm going somewhere with this, eventually, so bear with me. I don't think I am doing to do many posts on martial arts but I started a post on women's self defense and realized it might make more sense if I explained some of my background. This is a brief outline of my experience, in more or less chronological order, lots of overlapping:

- 2-3 years of ITF Tae Kwon Do, typical start for children.
- 2-3 years of Hapkido.
- 6 years of Chen Tai Chi Chuan and a variety of scattered training in Chinese martial arts styles: Mostly Wing Chun but also Hung Gar, Northern Shaolin and a bunch of other stuff
- About 5 years of judo and ju-jitsu. Some BJJ but most of it was informal, not structured
- 6 years of freestyle wrestling
- 10 years of combatives, mostly not taught in any formal setting.
- 1 year of boxing
- Working on some FMA and knife training
A bunch of seminars and short stints in various arts as well.

By informal training, I mean that I learn from various people when I have the opportunity and often that time is spent teaching myself (yes, videos and other ways) and working out with others, no expert instruction available. I don't consider myself proficient in any style and I am certainly not a fighting expert.

I used to work security, some work as a bouncer, and was a reserve police officer for several years, general duty policing. I've had many chances to put what I learned into practice.

One of the major influences on my training was a book I read when I was 12 - Bruce Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do. You could safely call that a life changing experience for me. Just the thought of cross training was so....amazing! At that point I was training Hapkido and Judo but the thought of integrating them, the idea of focusing on your strengths, dropping kata, all very amazing.

An incredible book, it opening my eyes to a lot of new ideas and approaches. After that, I went to every martial art school in the city and trained with as many people as possible for as long as they would put up with me. I wanted to see what people did, what worked, and how good the instructors were. I looked at everything from Ninjitsu to Choy Lee Fut! :)

I'm sure it came across as incredibly arrogant to have a teenager show up at a school and challenge the instructors. Wasn't my intent, but I used to think "if these guys can't even beat me, I'm wasting my time here." Some people took it well, others...not so much. An example of the type of bizarreness that can occur when an instructor feels challenged in martial arts:

When I was around 16 or 17, there was a girl in my school that I was quite attracted to. She was some sort of Tae Kwon Do champion (pan-american? can't remember) and I asked her if I could do a story on her for a school project. I was very shy around women and wasn't sure how to ask her out so this was the best I could come up with! I ended up going to her school and watching. As mentioned, I did ITF TKD when I was young but she was involved in WTF - the Olympic style of TKD. Very, very different. ITF (back then at least) was a lot more practical. Yes, there was a lot of ridiculous spin kicks, but we also spent part of every class learning dirty fighting techniques, fighting multiple opponents and other good stuff. Hilarious to think what that guy was teaching 8 year olds but it saved my ass on the playground. I think he used to be in the army. If my memory serves (looooong time ago) he was Israeli and I believe army service was mandatory. A lot of the stuff we learned reminds me of some of the Krav Maga techniques I have seen.

Anyway, I watched her work out with the instructor for a while. At the end of the class he came over and asked what I thought. Something that jumped out at me was that there was absolutely no punching and they always kept their hands down. I asked him about that and he immediately became defensive. He told me that punching was a waste of time, that hand techniques were slow and weak. I was a little stunned. I mentioned that a punch had a lot less distance to travel and kicks leave you off balance. He told me he could kick me in the head faster than I could ever punch him. I wasn't trying to challenge him, I was just puzzled by the whole thing. I suspect he just wasn't used to being questioned and decided to make a point. So, a grown man, 7 millionth degree black belt (they pass out belts like candy), without warning, tried to do a spin kick and take my head off. He scared the shit out of me! Which is why, when he kindly put his back to me, I punched him in the spine and he did an ugly face plant on the ground. What a fiasco. But a not uncommon attitude - questions not really encouraged, no practical fighting experience*, practical techniques ignored, no cross training with other styles, etc. These instructors learn something take as gospel truth (a belief) then indoctrinate others in their "true path" ignoring any evidence that might suggest their training system might not be perfect.

I have had relatively positive experiences too. A buddy of mine and I, when I was 17 or so, went to check out a new Judo class. I'd been looking for some new training in it but no one seemed to be teaching it. Finally found a class, they were mostly teaching kids though, but I ended up training with those guys for a couple of years. Anyway, I asked if I could have a go at the instructor and ended up going up against the 2nd level guy they had. 2nd degree black belt maybe. He told me I could use whatever techniques I wanted. So of course I dropped levels, did a nice double leg and rolled him in a cradle! Was a little bit funny. Then the main instructor came over, he was a Japanese from Japan guy - he proceeded to wipe the floor with me. Was AWESOME! I've never really been thrown around before, the guy was very good. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a falling out a few months and he wouldn't work with me any more but I still stuck it out for quite a while in the class. He never relented and I ended up moving on, no one else was all that good.

So, a little off topic now.....I'll always remember my first real fight in high school. I was a skinny kid, very smart, got good grades, wore cheap clothes (no money), had a weird religious upbringing and basically had a target on my back - total nerd, geek, loser with a chivalrous bent. Can you say dead meat? I made the mistake of getting in a conversation with someone in class about martial arts and another boy took exception. I was about 5'8 and 115 lbs. He was 6' and at least 200, some fat for sure but a big 14 year old. After the teacher left the room, he told me he was a boxer and he could kick my ass, all that martial arts stuff was shit. I was trapped in the classroom and had no choice. Nothing like throwing down in grade 9 algebra class.

I was scared. I was frequently scared the first two years of high school, I was constantly harassed, attacked by groups of boys, and was in more fights than I could count. But, when I would get cornered and had to fight (yes, I used to run away or back down), things usually went my way. In this case, as I watched this monster put up his hands, I kicked him in the knee with a stepping side kick (thanks Bruce Lee for JKD), he put his head down and I actually threw him with a hip toss, went to the ground and choked him out. Whaddya know, some of that shit did work....

*one of the things I find most troubling about martial arts is that the instructors generally have no actual, practical experience in using them. Some guy who has never been in a fight in his life is the "expert" teaching me to defend myself.

One of the great strengths that grapplers have vs. traditional striking styles, is that they train the way they fight. Karate guys for example, spend most of their time hitting pads or doing sport/touch sparring. All that board breaking? Why? If they do use some harder contact, there is normally a long list of rules, a lot of padding, and it's all done in the "dueling" format - we both square off, we know we are fighting, we're fighting someone that fights the same way as us, etc. I understand that it's pretty tough to get in a bare knuckle full contact training fight 2-3 nights a week - people would get hurt all the time. Yet you fight the way you train and these styles don't teach people to apply the techniques they learn. No one knows if what they learn will actually work. The first time I punched someone in the head it hurt a lot! And by that point I'd already spent years conditioning my hands.

Back on topic - usually they teach them pitty pat striking (touch sparring) and ridiculously complicated techniques that are very unlikely to work under stress. There are ways to simulate fighting, to put stress on people and make them react to it, but they are rarely done. There are some exceptions to the little-to-no-contact striking (boxing, muay thai) but even they tend to get watered down for the non-competitive athlete.

Now grappling arts, BJJ, wrestling (yes, I include wrestling), Judo and others, their practitioners can go full out all the time. Yes they are mostly sports not combat arts but the techniques still work one-on-one - chokes, holding people down, assuming dominant positions, etc. Watch any of the old Gracie challenge videos on youtube - painful and pitiful to see what they would do to people.

Here's a couple of classics:

Kenpo Black Belt Instructor vs Royler Gracie - Gracie Challenge NHB!

royce gracie vs kung fu expert VINTAGE MMA!!

I'm not suggesting grappling is the be all and end all of fighting (it isn't), but it's good to have a grappling base - especially for women, which leads to my next post.