Astronomy analogy

Being Start Trek/Star Wars geeks we naturally have developed a good Astometrics analogy for how STMA works.

The astronomy model is a star which has planets orbitting it.
A planet can have moons orbitting it.

A star is formed when a planetary body becomes so massive it collapse and ignites.

We use this model to describe an MA system. With ST Karate, after many years, it got so massive it "ignited" and became a system in its own right.

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Jupiter was almost massive enough to become a star in it's own right, although it did not. As it is, Jupiter has several moons about the same size as Earth, Venus and Mars, a little sub solar system. Had Jupiter ignited, these moons would now form a planetary system.

We can see binary star systems in our own galaxy - a smaller star orbitting a larger star. This is what potential could have happened in our system with Jupiter.

In STMA, our Jujutsu system did achieve critical mass and ignited becoming a star in it's own right, a seperate system.

ST Karate is our core star with ST JJ orbitting, forming a binary star system.

The other arts that make up STMA are planets that orbit our stars. The subsystems are the moons.

ST Kobudo is a planet orbitting ST Karate, a system made up of the weapons of karate. The moons are the individual weapons themselves.
If you wanted to specialise in Nunchaku Do, you would land on the nunchaku moon orbitting the kobudo planet. There you would spend time learning the kihon, kata and kumite of the nunchaku.

Kobudo and eskrima are a binary planet system, much like Pluto and Charon are now understood to be.

Eskrima's moons consist of largo, serrada, sinawalli, kadena, etc.

JJ, being a star, has Judo and Aikido as planets. Though I am only a 1st dan in Judo and never graded in aikido, what I teach is ST JJ, and the planets are my interpretation of what those arts manifest as.

ST kobudo may one day become a star.

We also have an analogy based on Quantum Mechanics - but that is far too complicated to post here!)

Tyson in attack - Ali in Counter

Tyson in attack

If you watch the early fights of Mike Tyson he would use power and pressure to drive his opponent's back to the ropes or corner and finish them with powerful short range hooks and uppercuts.

He rarely used the jab and cross as blows in their own right, just for pressure.

Watch his fights against Burbank and Spinks when he took their titles. Watch his fight against Pinkton Thomas and his first fight with Bruno.

In attack we will use thise Tyson concept - enter, drive the opponent back with pressure, terminate with close range hooks and uppercuts.

In KB we add kicks to phase entry and pressure.

In Thai we use Knees to terminate in the clinch.

In MMA we use takedowns and the ground and pound for pressure and terminate or terminate with a choke or lock.

In street we use the whole HKE at termination phase.


Ali in Counter

Ali would backpeddle and use his fast jab and set his opponents up for fast powerful cross.

Against Liston he ended it with jabs.

In his second Liston fight he used ABD to draw Liston onto a power cross.

When Foreman fought Frasier he took his head off with a power hook.

When Ali fought Foreman - the Rumble In The Jungle - he used "Rope a Dope" to defend and took Foreman out with straight blasts.

In counter we fight like Ali - this applies to KB, Thai and MMA as well.


Tyson vs Ali

People like to speculate what would happen if Tyson and Ali had a fight in their prime. (Think of the Computer fight in Rocky 6).

Having watched the two fights Ali had with Liston, and keeping in mind Tyson is virtually a copy of Liston, I can see it goingthe same way.

Perhaps Tyson would have close the gap and gotten Ali on the ropes where he could unleash his short range hooks and uppercuts?
Well so did Foreman, and Ali used rope a dope to defend and then took Foreman out with straight blasts.

Then look a how Holyfield out boxed Tyson.

I can't see any way Tyson would have beaten Ali.
But that's just my opinion.

The Captain

This was a name I was "awarded" during my time leading a competition team.

I was, of course, Captain of the team and often got called "Captain", or "Skipper".

It occured to me that this was a good thing. Rather than being a General or Manager who sat back and gave orders I was a Captain who led from the front.

In the dojo, then and today, I am not someone who gives orders and stands back, but who works out as a member of the class. From the student's points of view, you know this training is authentic, because it is MY training. You do it with me - or I do it with you, depending how you see it.

So rather than being some distant "Sensei" I am the Captain, just a member of the team.

It's the same as being the big brother of a family - not of a higher, older generation like a Father or Uncle, just someone who's been around a bit longer and has more experience.

I refer to everyone as "members" of Shiro Tora" rather than "students".
(Or even worse, as "my students"!)

I view members of Shiro Tora as just that - members of a family.

In "My dojo" I have members who train WITH me, not students who train under me.

In our team I am The Captain - just a member of the team, the most important member obviously, but just a member like anyone else.

In military terms I am not an Officer who you all salute, call "Sir" and take orders from. I am the sergeant - just a soldier like you, who has risen through the ranks and earnt his stripes one by one (which is all belts in MA are).

A Black Belt should not be viewed as an Officer, but as a sergeant.

Sure you respect your sergeant and obey his orders - he has more experience than you and can kick your ass! But what you do is follow his lead and learn from him. Call him something casual like "Sarge" not "Sir".

Disability and language

Some of you will be aware of my work with disabled athletes and Martial Artists.

I'd like to share one of my favourite poems, by Lois Keith, a wheelchair bound writer who has this amazing take on the power of language.

If this isn't the "JU" gentleness in Martial Spirit, I don't know what is!


Tomorrow I am going to rewrite the English Language.
I will discard all those striving ambulist metaphors
Of power and success
And construct new ways to describe my strength.
My new, different strength.

Then I won't have to feel dependant
Because I can't stand on my own two feet.
And I'll refuse to feel a failure
When I don't stay one step ahead.
I won't feel inadequate if I can't
Stand up for myself
Or illogical when I don't
Take it one step at a time.

I will make them understand that it is a very male way
To describe the world.
All this walking tall
And making great strides.

Yes, tomorrow I am going to rewrite the English Language
Creating the world in my own image.
Mine will be a gentler, more womanly way
To describe my own progress.
I will wheel, cover and encircle.
Somehow I will learn to say it all.

Lois Keith

Martial Arts Register

Martial Arts Caterham

http://www.martialartsregister.co.uk/clubdetail.asp?id=4488

http://www.martialartsregister.co.uk/clubdetail.asp?id=4550

Karate compared to Kenjutsu

Karatedo in Japan is practiced a lot like Kenjutsu.

One of Funakoshi's maxims was "think of your hands and feet as swords".

Kendo is like karate kumite - you line up one step with a partner and put on armour for free sparring.

Iaido is kata - you practice with a live blade for a live feel, pre-arranged moves in sequence, and they all have bunkai which you need to understand in depth.

Batto is like tameshiwari - you cut for real against straw targets.
(You can't do this with a replica sword from Battle Orders!)

Kihon - kata - kumite

Karate is made up of 3 parts - kihon, kata and kumite.

Kata I've explained in it's own post.

Kihon is a set of moved you practice on your own. Single punches, kicks, blocks and strikes.
These are first practiced on the spot, then moving - forward, backward, and turning.
Then you practice combinations.

Kumite is pre-arranged partner exercises.

Tori steps forward and punches, uke steps back and blocks. That sort of thing.

There is 5 step, 3 step and one step sparring, then one step semi free. Free kumite is free sparring.

In a way kata incorporates kihon and kumite, if done to it's obvious potential.

Take a section of kata and you are practicing kihon. Practice the bunkai with a partner and you are practicing kumite.

In fact, at Black Belt classes this is how I teach kata.

Students learn the basic kata on the way to Black Belt. I then use the kihon and kumite method to teach the advanced katas.

Newaza pins

We have 8 basic pins we use:

Kesa gatama - scarf hold
Kata gatama
Makura kesa gatame
yoko or mune gatame
tate shiho gatame
kami shiho gatame
kuzure kami shiho
ushiro kesa

we also have The Mount and The Guard

Newaza - The Guard

Finishes from the guard:

Sangaku jime - triangle choke

Juji gatame - arm bar
3 versions - uke standing, lie back, facedown


further locks:

ryo hiza - double knee
uberplata - arm lock
shime garami - knee
ude hishigi
ude gaeshi

Newaza arm locks

Juji gatame
kuzure kuru garami - juji henka
ashi sangaku - uberplata
kesa garami
gyaku kesa garami - from ushiro kesa
ude garami - 2 versions
ude gatame
mune gyaku - ude gatame
waki gatame

newaza neck locks

from kesa - atama hishigi - head crush
kesa neck crush
stocks

from mount - kubi neck crank

from guard - reverse crush

newaza leglocks

all fours - hiza hishigi

achilles - kata ashi
ryo ashi
ankle lock

newaza shime - chokes

No gi:

hadaka bar
sleeper choke
sangaku triangle
do jime - body choke
guillotine
kata gatame - from kesa or mount


Gi:

ashi jime
juji jime
3 henka - gyaku, kata, nami
okuri eri jime
kata eri jime
kata hajime
kakato jime
koshi jime
sode jime

Thursday 24 September

We went through the lock flows for hiji waza - the elbows, and covered a couple of tebuki waza - wrist locks.

We revisited gun defence, and those who weren't here on Wed got to try it.

We did the usual sparring session. Chico and I got the heavy gear on and sparred the FC structure - boxing, KB and Thai.

We got the pads out and did impact boxing work on focus pads and some Thai pad work.

There was stix for those with stix and we were able to demo the krabi 5 step drill, the use of power and pressure and how it relates to unarmed Muay Thai, and how to add the tiip push kick to both the Krabi sword drill and the pad drills.

Those doing boxing were able to practice the driving footwork with jab and cross to get the opponent onto the ropes where you can terminate with hooks and uppercuts.

Thai boxers were able to practice the use of the knee following an entry and pressure phase with tiip and dte.

We demonstrated the four points of power kicking at the end on the Thai pads.

Paul and I demo'd serrada's sombrada drill and how to close from largo to medio range using the #1 strike as the entry point.


Coming up:

Gun:
We will make sure all members are fully familiar with the gun defence and that it is then practiced regularly.

Locks:
We will make sure members all know the hiji 5 sequence and can practice with each other. Also we'll make sure it works on the left.

We'll cover the tebuki sequence and make sure everybody is functional in basic lock flows.

Feng Wei:
We've introduced regular chi sao, so we'll be building on that.

We've also introduced Kali's hubud drill and how that builds defence and counter in knife and empty hand, as well as part of the lock flow.

KB:
We'll make sure everyone understands the "Tyson in attack - Ali in counter" concept and apply it not just in boxing, but in KB, Thai and MMA.

We'll examine driving footwork on the focus pads boxing and Thai pads.

We'll work more ABCs for boxing, kb and Thai.

Stix:
We'll get stick members competent in the Krabi 5 step drill and basic sinawalli.

We'll then look at serrada - the entry 3 to sombrada to hubud so you have single stick drills through 3 ranges. We'll cover stick locks from corto range.

Locks

Shioda Shihan 10th Dan Aikido lists 160 techniques in his texts, though it must be said that many of these are just very subtle variations.

He lists 10 variations of ikkyo alone. However 5 of these are individual waza in their own right. The same applies to the first three forms of nikyo.

So it is fair to say there are 100 locks in Jujutsu, just as there are 100 throws.

That makes 200 techniques to learn from standing grappling!

Throws

Though there are about 100 throws in Jujutsu and 40 that made the Judo gokyo, we have 10 primary combat throws which we will practice on the mats.

The first 5 are hip throw:

O Goshi - Major Hip Throw
Koshi Guruma or Cross hip or Hip Wheel
Tai Otoshi - body drop
Uchi mata - inner thigh throw
Harai goshi - sweeping hip throw

Seoinage - shoulder throw or flying mare

O Soto Gari - major outer reap
O Uchi Gari - Major inner reap

Morote Gari - double leg takedown
Single leg takedown


However as you progress through your training you will encounter many other throws. Some you will want to add to your personal repertoire, which is to be encouraged.

Shihan Mifune 10th Dan Judo lists over 100 throws in his texts. Coming from Jujutsu, these can all be classified as Judo throws.

Here are some of my favourite secondary throws:

Okuri ashi harai
Kata guruma - shoulder wheel
Soto makikomi
Tani otoshi - valley drop
Tomoe nage - stomach throw
Kani basami - crab scissors
Kuchiki taoshi - rotten tree fall

and three from wrestling:

belly-belly suplex
belly-back suplex
rice bail

However:
The rice bail appears in Judo as tawara gaeshi.
It is an excellent counter to morote gari attack from a shooter.

Belly back suplex appears in Judo as corner drop

Kuchiki is similar to aikido's irimi nage, though here we use an o soto step to block the back of the opponent's leg.

In Tomiki shomen ate is another variation of this technique.

That's 3 different variations from 3 different arts - Judo, Aikido, and Tomiki - arts that all stem from JJ.

That's what the eclecticism of STMA is all about!

The 5 Ways of defence

Distance

Block

Parry

Evade

Interception

The 5 Ways of Attack

SDA - Single Direct Attack

ABC - Attack by Combination

PDA - Progressive Direct Attack

HIA - Hand Immobilisation Attack

ABD - Attack By Drawing

Wednesday 23 September

Our second Wed session.

We started with Feng Wei, examining Interception, the most advanced of the 5 Ways of Defence.

We covered the important gun disarm drill from the holdup position. (Allen's ears are probably still ringing! )

We covered knife defence lin sil die dar.

We covered the tactic for when an attacker goes for a hidden weapon, how to trap and ake command of the situation before the weapon is drawn.

We did stix for those with stix and then some sparring.

We will make sure everybody gets to learn the gun disarm. I personally teach this drill as a one on one to make sure the students gets it right and there are no holes and no mistakes.

We will do more work on lock flows so everyone can flow from a trap to a lock when the need arises and we'll make this a regular part of our training sessions.

Locks

We have 5 major HIJI WAZA elbow locks and five major TEBUKI WAZA wrist locks we practice in STMA.


Hiji - elbow:

ikkyo - oshi taoshi - straight arm bar push down
ude gaeshi - figure four arm twist
hiki taoshi - inside arm bar push down
ude hineri - branch up arm twist
waki gatame - arm bar


tebuki - wrist:

kote gaeshi - wrist twist - supination
kote hineri - wrist turn - pronation
nikyo - hon gyaku - bent arm wrist bend
tenkai kote gaeshi
tenkai kote hineri - into sankyo, then hiki taoshi

sankyo - a variation on kote hineri

Gun disarm

There is only ONE gun disarm we practice from the holdup position because we only need one - and it is THE ONE THAT WORKS!

We don't want to log jam somebody who faces this situation - you need ONE response to this threat hat you have drilled so many times it is second nature. You do not want options or choices you want ONE response that SAVES YOUR LIFE!

The scenario here is the attacker is standing in front of you holding the gun at your face or chest. You put your hands up, and he approaches. He is not shooting. This is most likely in a robbery situation.

1. Clear the gun and the line of fire. The gun may go off, it will not go off at you.

2. Grab the BARREL of the weapon and turn it back on him.
If it goes off now he will shoot himself and nobody else.

3. Use atemi to distract and remove the gun from his hand.

4. Finish using the gun butt as a striking weapon, backed with lo kix and HKE.

Do NOT shoot him with his own gun!

This scenario is based on REAL gun defence situations.
It is not imagined or assumed.

Ground and pound!

Attributes

We take the position that attribute is more important than technique.

Techniques are punches, kicks, traps, locks, etc.

The first three attributes are form, speed and power.
Get the form right, then add speed and power to it.

Further attributes are:

Balance and co-ordination
Distance and timing
Line familiarisation
Reaction time

How - why - when

Most Martial Arts teach you HOW to do a technique, how to punch, how to kick.

So do we - it's the basics.

But most MA have no idea WHY you do that technique or WHEN in the fight you do it.

WHY do you do a cross there?
WHY do a kick that particular way?
WHY use that throw or that lock?
WHY use that counter to that attack?

WHEN do you do it?
You can have the fastest punch or strongest kick in the world, but without a sense or proper timing you'll never land it. Without the proper sense of distance you'll never be in range, always too near or too far.

We don't just teach the HOW at STMA, we teach the WHY and WHEN.

Third point

This is a combat concept.

(Skillfully avoiding the obvious jokes) nobody has 3 legs like a stool or a tripod.

If you wobble a tripod it's balance will redistribute to the 3rd leg.
Wobble a person and they have to either step to where the third leg isn't or they fall over.

This is Third Point theory - the place where there is no leg.

Throw your opponent to the third point without allowing him to step to regain his balance and he will fall that way.

The next 30 PSNA

Tendo - the crown
Tento - the fontenalle
Mimi - the ears
Seidon - above and below the eyes
Danchu - the summit of the sternum
Kyototsu - the ren point at the base of the sternum
Kyoei - the 5th/6th rib space, beneath the armpit
Inizuma - above the hip - the iliac crest
Ushiro inazuma - the ischium
Ganchu - pec insertion
Myojo - the dan tien - below the navel - the bladder
Denko - the 7th/8th rib space
Kusagakure - the outer top foot
Dokko - mastoid - behind ear
Soda - between the shoulder blades - summit of T spine
Katsusatsu - spine T12/L1
Kodenko - base of spine - L5/sacrum
Bitei - coccyx
Hijizuma - elbow joint tendon - brachioradialis
Ude kansetsu - elbow joint - bone
Kote - wrist
Uchijakuzawa - inner forearm
Sotojakuzawa - outer forearm

The miyakudokori tendon at the wrist pulse
Deltoid
Bicep
Thumb pot
Clavicle - sternocleidomastoid
Chin shelf ren point
Zygomatic - cheekbones

Kyusho - Pressure Points - PSNA - the first 26

Here is a list of the first 26 you have already been introduced to in class and that you will no doubt recognise (and remember painfully!).

Eyes and groin are obvious PSNA that can be atacked by a strike or pressure.
The eyes and called ganseki. The groin is kinteki.

Wanshun is the back of the upper arm, the tricep.
In the lap sao drill you strike this point.
In ikkyo henka you rub the tendon just above the elbow.
In tonfa ikkyo this point is self evident.

Kokutsu is the shinbone.
We have all had that experience where you've "barked" your shin on the coffee table when crossing the room in a hurry.
In combat we strike kokutsu to give him that "coffee table moment".

Hizakansetsu is the knee joint, attacked with a strike, usually a kick.

Uchikurobushi is the inside of the ankle joint.
Believed by some to be the most painful PSNA on the body, especially when rubbed.

Sobi is the back of the leg at the base of the calf.
A good target in keri kudaki, or vertical grappling.

Yako - the inside of the upper thigh, the long muscle. Painful if kicked at kb or vertical grappling range.

Fukuto - Ben's vastus the "teardrop" muscle at the lower inner thigh, just below where Yako runs to. The target of the "Ben Kick".

Miyakudokoro - inside the forearm.
Against an opponent punching you will cause real pain when cut into with your shuto.
Also a press and rub point when applying locks, particularly yonkyo.

Akiresuken - the achilles tendon.
Can be attacked with a strike.
Particularly effective when pressure is applied in ground fighting.

Three well known body blows are:

Suigetsu - solar plexus.

Kanzo - the liver.

Jinzo - the kidneys.

Sonu - the base of the throat, great for an ippon nukite strike or pressure attack.

Shofu - side of the neck - attack with shuto.

Keichu - nape of the neck. Attack with shuto.
The site of boxing's infamous "rabbit punch".

Komekami - the temple.

Three on the face which can be struck or pressed:

Miken - nasion or bridge of the nose

Jinchu - philtrum

Gekon - the labret point

NOTE: You CANNOT kill somebody by "punching the nose bone into the brain" That is a common myth spread by people who have no real experience. If this was possible boxers would die in the ring every week.

Mikazuki - the jaw - KO!

Hichu - adam's apple

Quad sweep - the outer thigh, where we land the Thai kick.

Kori - upper foot. Stamp on this!

Shuko - back of the hand. Strike or grind.

Kyusho - Pressure Points - PSNA

Pressure points are one of the most misunderstood and exaggerated areas of MA.

Kyusho is the Japanese word.
PSNA stands for Pressure Sensitive Nerve Areas, an American anacronysm.

People who don't know about them claim there are anywhere between 25 and 360 and they do various things. You can buy lists and charts showing all kinds of alleged PSNA. Most of these do nothing. The ones that do something are meaningless unless you are shown how to apply them in combat in real tme.

For example, we punch to the chin for a KO. A groin kick will stop an attacker. But to actually land these shots you need to train for them, not just know them theoretically. So it is with PSNA.

I teach a primary list of 54 PSNA for use in combat.
(One for each week of the year more or less!)

I do not give out lists and charts to be memorised. You learn these PSNA in context, in the dojo, and you remember them.

There are 3 kinds of PSNA:
ones you strike
ones you press
ones you rub

NRG - energy drills at STMA

Chi sao from Wing Chun:

dan chi - single hand parallel
bon lop
shuto awase - single hand matched

luk sao - rolling hands
gor sao - advanced


Hubud lubud from kali:

basic hubud and switch
low hubud
outside hubud
tapi


Mantis:

Harmonious spring drill


Tai Chi:

Push hands drill

Weapons:

Tendensia knife flow drill
Single tap
Triple tap

Taiatari tsubazarai from kendo
Chi kwane from WC Pole

The Bow

The first precept of Karate is that it "begins and ends with courtesy".

The second is "karate ni sentenashi" - in karate there is no first strike - you never strike first.

We see this in each kata in that it starts with a bow and the first move is a defensive move, such as a block (even in higher katas such as bassai or kanku, the first move is still defensive).

When we meet a live opponent, we don't literally "Bow", but we do keep the mental attitude of "rei" - we show respect for ourselves, our tradition, our teachers, life itself, and even the opponent. We don't invite trouble. If he makes an attack, then we defend, and only do what is necessary.

A pre-emptive strike is not an attack. If an opponent gets "in your face" he is making a common assault. A pre-emptive strike is a method of self defence - you are legally entitled to use this if you are genuinely afraid for your safety.

So in training, whether kumite with a partner, or just doing kata, we always start and end with a Rei - we begin and end in courtesy.

What is the most important part of the martial arts? The Rei. Not the punch, the kick, or the armbar, but the bow.

Otherwise what we are doing is not Martial Art.

The 12 angles of Eskrima

The first strike is Number #1 - the caveman strike from the caveman chamber - the natural strike of the human animal.

The 2nd strike is number #2 from the backhand chamber.

There are only these two chambers - all angle strikes are delivered from these, like in tennis - the forehand and the backhand.

With 2 exceptions.

The number #5 thrust is delivered from a low hip chamber.

The tenchi strike in kenjutsu - a two handed strike which is delivered from jodan no kamae. This strike itself is neither an 8 or 11 - it is tenchi, unique to kenjutsu.

Angles are based on geometry:

+ X .

x covers the diagonal strikes - 1, 2, 9 and 10

+ covers the vertical and horizontal strikes - 3, 4, 8, 11 and 12

. is the thrusts - 5, 6, and 7

This is the number system used in Cabales serrada, and the one we adopted for STMA.

An appendix strike is the #13, which is a 12 delivered behind.

A 12 is all vertical up strikes - a kingeri, uppercut, elbow. It applies to weapons as well.
(comic buffs will know that Judge Dredd KO'd Batman with a stick 12 in Judgement Over Gotham.)

A 13 is a mule kick, groin slap or back up elbow.

Blow before throw - atemi

In Jujutsu and grappling we practice throws.

But for VT and street we lead into a throw with a strike - an atemi. This causes pain and distracts the opponent from resisting and countering.

In a clinch, we might use HKE before a throw. A knee before turning into uchi mata is a good example. A head before o soto gari is another.

Kill the cockroach

This is a concept invented by the New York boxers.

Imagine a roach crawling across the floor (In NY they don't imagine it - you get them in those old buildings the boxing gyms are housed in). You stamp on the roach and squish it.

That's the movement you use with the lead foot when performing a hook - kill the cockroach.

Progressive sparring

At STMA we take progressive sparring to new levels.

Hands
Jab only
Lead hand only
Cross only - gyaku zuki in karate
Jab v Cross

Boxing
Both boxing
Boxing v jab only
Boxing v cross
Boxing v lead hand only
Boxing v kicks only
Boxing v kickboxing
Boxing v lead foot only

Lead hand and foot
Each
v boxing
v kickboxing
v kicks only

Boxing and lead foot
each
v boxing
v kickboxing
v lead hand and foot

kickboxing
both

lo kicks
both
v boxing
v kickboxing
v lead hand and foot

Thai - add knees
both
v box
v kb
v lo kix

Throws and takedowns
both gis - Judo
Both no gi - wrestling
Judo v wrestling

Newaza - jacket or no jacket
pins
submission
pins v sub
jacket v no jacket

MMA Ground
add hand strikes

VT ground
add all strikes - HKE

Grappling
v kickboxing
v boxing
v Thai boxing
v lo kix

Shootfighting
v grappler
v boxer
v kickboxer
v Thai boxer
v shooter

Progressive sparring

Bruce Lee listed 21 phases of progresive sparring:

lead jab only
lead hand only
lead hand and foot only
lead hand and foot v boxing
lead hand and foot v kicboxing
lead hand and foot v kicks only
jab v cross
boxing v boxing
boxing v kicks
boxing v box and lead foot
boxing v kickboxing
boxing v lead foot
boxing and lead foot both
boxing and lead foot v kicks
boxing and lead foot v kickboxing
kickboxing both
add knees and elbows
add takedowns and throws
add grappling
kickboxing v grappling
boxing v grappling

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Ground and pound!

Grappling

Groundfighting

Kickboxing 2

Kickboxing

Nunchaku sparring 3

Nunchaku sparring 2

Nunchaku sparring

Endgame!

More blade v stix

Blades v stix

Judo and Jujutsu

BJJ is the latest craze MA to get involved with and people have been rushing to take classes and seminars.

I myself first got involved about 1997 when carlos Gracie first came to the UK for his seminars. At the time some of the old Judo Sensei were telling us we didn't need BJJ as everything they were teaching, which seemed "new" was already in Judo.

Not only did this turn out to be true, but Judo is actually a far more effective combat system.

Judo is distilled from Jujutsu, so the hrows can be practiced safely and in real time. Gene LeBell, famously named "The Toughest Man Alive", and one of the few people ever to defeat Bruce Lee in a match fight was Judoka and a wrestler. He came up with the iconic maxim "A man can take a kick or a punch. But can he take being dumped on his head?"

So it is with contact grappling. We know from boxing, KB and Thai that fights often end up in a clinch. Thai is the only striking art to properly address this with it's use of the knee.

Judo starts with vertical grappling and is all about throwing the opponent.

In karate a point is scored if the technique would have been enough to finish the opponent had the fight been real and the strike landed with real force.

In Judo the point is scored when the opponent's shoulders hit the mat. In practice the uke breakfalls safely. In combat the throw would have been enough to finish the fight.

Randori is Judo's "throw sparring". Shiai is competition. In a Judo grading, a student has to fight at each belt level to pass to the higher grade. When you meet a Judo Black Belt, you know he's really earnt it!

This is something that has been sadly missing from karate, with the exception of kyukushinkai, and something we have re-introduced at Shiro Tora. Here, technical knowledge is not enough, you have to be able to apply it in real time under pressure. "If you see it taught, you see it fought"!

Newaza, Judo's ground grappling method is very much a secondary element. It is for IF the fight goes to the floor with no point being scored with the throw. It doesn't assume that it naturally will.

You can win if you pin your opponent to the mat for a count, as you can in wrestling.

In submission grappling, both in Judo, wrestling, and BJJ, the opponent must tap out when you apply a choke or lock. In combat there would be no tap out, you would choke the opponent unconscious or break the arm.

The theory that "95% of all fights go to the ground" has been proven satistically to be a falesy. It is true that a mismanaged fight will go to vertical grappling RANGE, but the proper use of HKE and throws will end the fight there. The opponent may go to the ground, but you don't have to go down with him and roll around the floor looking for a submission.

Judo newaza is basic and effective, and it's quite sparse in the kyu grades.

So those who don't stick with Judo once they have their Black Belt, much like those who never take an advanced driving lesson after they've learnt to drive, don't ever do the dan grade newaza and never learn what the Judo Sensei have been telling us about how much more there is in Judo newaza

BJJ starts with groundgrappling, it's where you start your training. You don't learn to throw til much later. It's really not much different from Judo, as we've been told, it just has a different starting point.

BJJ is incredibly detailed from day one in it's examination of newaza, much the same way as boxing is with punching.

BJJ get good at "rolling" very quickly, the same way as Judoka do at randori and boxers do at, well, boxing.

Of course, looking at street combat, BJJ would stand you in good stead should the fight end up there.

However the fight won't start there. You have to go through kick and punch and vertical grappling phase to get there.

It's also the last place you actually want to end up in a street fight, rolling around on concrete while his mate kicks you in the head.

So for real combat, Judo would be a far more comprehensive system to learn than BJJ.

If a student asked me where to go for supplemental grappling I'd always say go for Judo. I wouldn't say avoid BJJ, just don't choose it over Judo. If you can do both, great, but if you can only choose one, choose Judo.


In the early UFCs Royce Gracie showed us the remarkable effectiveness of BJJ, taking his opponents to the floor and finishing them all there, winning the first two events outright.

However, when concerned with street self defence, when fights don't start from the floor, and you really don't want to go there if possible, a lot of people are looking once again to Judo to deal with things if the striking ranges collapse and you end up in vertical grappling.

Judo is a far more effective self defence system than most people realise. (But then so is rugby, in fact it was invented by the army to teach soldiers unarmed combat.) Gene LeBell, once named "The Toughest Man Alive" and one of the few people ever to defeat Bruce Lee in a match fight, was a Judoka as well as a wrestler. He came up with an iconic maxim that defines grappling for combat:
"A man can take a kick or a punch. But can he take being dumped on his head?"

The effectiveness of Judo lies in this statement. Perform a Judo throw, one that would have resulted in an ippon had it been on the mat, to a street attacker on concrete, and the fight will be over.

When the UFC started it was style vs style. As the grapplers dominated the early events, strikers realised they had to learn to grapple. However, doing a few months or even a few years of grappling did not make one able to beat somebody who had done it all their life. What was needed was to find ways to not be taken down by the grappler and for the fight to finish standing with a KO. This is what we started to see happen. Wrestlers, Judoka and JuJutsu men started getting knocked out by strikers, especially Thai boxers who weren't afraid to get in a clinch and use the knee. Then there was TaeKwonDo expert Mark Weir who could manage the long range and knock grapplers out with a head kick.

LeBell's famous argument now had a conjecture.
"A good grappler can take being dumped on the mat. But can he take a full on leg kick from a Thai boxer? Can he take being punched full in he face by a boxer?"

It was like when kickboxing first started. Originally we had karateka who learnt to box and boxers who had learnt to kick. As KB evolved, we had new styles developed for this kind of event. So it was for MMA, and now we have MMA training studios and people who have only ever trained this way and for this kind of event.

The Gokyo

The Gokyo are the 40 throws of Judo. They are split into 8 sets of 5, hence "go" kyo.

There are about 100 throws in Jujutsu, some of which are variations on a basic theme.

40 of these throws made the Judo gokyo, the safe format that can be used competitively in randori and shiai. You learn the gokyo in Judo as your syllabus on the way to your black belt.

However Judoka pick only 2 or 3 throws to focus on for their use in randori, with 2 or 3 as backup. Nobody tries to perfect all 40 throws for daily use. In fact, most competitors don't start to really examine the gokyo until they retire from competition and start working on getting their higher dan grades.

In STMA we have picked the most applicable throws whcih work in randori and have combat application.

Judoka who train with us need to keep in mind that what we practice is Jujutsu not Judo and we are ultimately interested in combat throws not competition moves.

We also practice throws without the gi jacket, using the "wrestling concept" of collar and elbow tie up.

Finally, in a Judo match you will be against another skilled grappler fighting for throws. Your opponent on the street will not be a skilled grappler. He will also not be restricted to grappling and will be trying to strike you and maybe have a weapon. This is fine with us as we practice Atemi strikes "Blow before throw", such as HKE.

Combat Concepts

Longest weapon the closest target

This is a combat concept.

It means what it says:

Use your low lead kick to hit the opponent's leg as he steps into range.

Use your lead jab to his face, or eye jab to the eye as he moves in.



Lin Sil Die Dar

This is a combat concept.

It means similtanous block and strike.

We have various ways of practicing this.
It's harder to do, but more effective than "block then punch".


That "coffee table" moment

This is a combat concept.

You have all had that experience where you've "barked" your shin on the coffee table when crossing the room in a hurry. It makes you forget what you were originally rushing to do and focusses all your attention on the site of the pain.

In combat we strike kokutsu, the shinbone, with a hard kick, to give him that "coffee table moment". It makes him forget all about attacking us.




Buffalo eyebrow

This is a combat concept.

One of our primary concepts is that we defend angles of attack rather than worry about specific weapons or what style the attacker trains in.

The strike that comes in to the left side of your head is angle #1. You defend it with the appropriate block.

It doesn't matter if the attacker is:

a "street fighter" throwing a haymaker
a boxer throwing a hook
a karate stylist throwing a shuto
another stylist throwing a ridge hand
throwing a crane beak
throwing a "buffalo eyebrow"
or anything else

"Buffalo eyebrow" is of course made up. It's not a real technique (as far as we know!)

It provokes laughter when we cover this concept in class and that helps you remember it.

Freestyle Karate and Semi Contact Kickboxing

Freestyle Karate and Semi Contact Kickboxing are pretty much the same thing. They have the same moves and ABCs and the same protective equipment and sparring rules.


J - Jab
gz - gyaku zuki
maw - mawashigeri - round kick
ura - uraken - backfist
haito - ridge hand
kek - kekome - side kick
mae - mygeri - front kick
hk - hook kick

r - rear
l - low


Basic ABCs:

J - gz
J - maw
gz - r ura
maw - gz
j - ura - gz
Gz - r haito
- henka "drive by"
- henka g, h, maw, ura
gz - j - gz
haito - gz
ura - gz - r maw
kek - ura
r maw - ura
ura - gz
mae - ura
maw - ura
angle maw
gz - r maw - gz


Advanced ABCs:

kek - maw - gz
gz - haito - r maw
hk - maw - kek
r maw - j - haito - hk
jump spin hook - gz
hk - spin hk - gz
(r hk) ura - spin ura - gz
lo j - spin hk
feint - hk - maw
kek - maw
maw - spin hk
gz - hk
gz - r hk

jump gz - maw
gz side door
- box guard
- SC guard


Sweeps:

hk, sweep, gz
ura - reap
de ashi - gz - r maw


Retreating:

jump haito
jump kek - spin hk
jump hk
kek, spin hook


defensive ABCs:

uke gz - r ged bar - r ura
uke gz - lo bon - ura
uke j - slip block - sweep - gz

Boxing

This is Western boxing, hands only fighting.

The main tools are:
Jab, Cross, Hook, Uppercut

The target is the head, the purpose is the knockout.

With lead and rear hooks and uppercuts, this generates 6 basic punches. You learn and practice these on the pads, then try them out in sparring.

Drilling is progressive:

Basic punches - the "big 6"
Defences
Attack combinations
Defensive combinations
Sparring

ABC means "Attack By Combination".

For ease, we use abbreviations for writing ABCs.

J - Jab
C - Cross
H - Hook
U - Uppercut

L - low, as in LJ or LC

R - rear, as in RU or RH. As the C is always rear we don't write RC.

These ABCs are practiced on the focus pads, drilled in lineups, then tried out in sparring.

J, C
J, J
C, H
RU, H
H, RU

J, C, H
J, C, J
C, J, C
J, C, J, C
C, J, C, J
J, C, H, RU, C
RU, RH, H
RU, H, C
J, C, H, C
U, RU, H, RH
H, RH, U, RU

Defensive ABCs

UKE attack - defensive move - counter

Uke J - slip out - LJ or C
Uke J - slip in - LC or H
C - slip out - LC or H, RU
J - snap back - J
C - roll - C
H - duck - LH
H - Bob & Weave - RH pr LH, RH
RH - B&W - H

Glove drill - cover punch then return J, C

Pressure ABCs:

J, J - forward pressure footwork
J, C, H - triangle footwork

Ken - fist - knuckles

Though we tend to think of the word "ken" as meaning "sword", as in Kendo and Kenjutsu, (even though the Japanese word for sword is actually "To") in Karate we use the word Ken to refer to our physical weapons or striking tools.

The word ken perhaps best translates to the English word "fist" or "knuckles".

When making a strike it is vital to be aware what Fist you are making and what knuckles you are hitting with.

Make a clenched fist and you have a Fudoken.
With this you might do a boxing cross using the first two knuckles
or a Wing Chun choy and use the bottom three.

Shuto is the knife hand. As well as the fleshy part, you have a knuckle at the base, the pisiform bone.

Haito - the ridge hand, using the index knuckle.

Koppo Ken - the thumb knuckle

Uraken - the backfist.
You'd be surprised how many people, having trained extensively in pads, actually think you hit with the back of the hand. Good way to break the metacarpals on the opponent's skull.
Use the back of the first two knuckles of fudoken.

Palm heel - heel of the palm, obviously.

With the long bones such as the elbow, knee or shin - well, we've all seen the cartoon dog holding a bone in it's mouth, with the nobbly ends. It's these nobbly ends we're using as "knuckles".
The elbow, knee and shin kick use the knuckle at the end of the ulna, femur and tibia respectively.

When kicking with the foot, use the knuckle of the foot, not the laces. If you have steel caps on, this makes your shoe a weapon.

Koshi is the ball of the foot.

The heel is the bottom of the heel, like in a stamp.

Head. The general rule for a headbutt is the line above the eyebrows is the weapon and the line below the eyebrows is the target.

The Japanese name for he head as a weapon is kikaku ken. But another term is zu tsuki meaning horn thrust. Imagine you have horns on your forehead, like a bull. Use one of those. Forward, down, sideways or up.

The Caveman Strike

The number #1 strike is the Caveman strike, the natural strike of the human animal.

The Caveman chamber is when we chamber from the right shoulder.

The Police use this chamber and strike in their ASP wor.

There are other chambers, notably the number #2 chamber from the backhand position on the opposite shoulder.

Kyusho - Pressure Points - PSNA

Pressure points are one of the most misunderstood and exaggerated areas of MA.

Kyusho is the Japanese word.
PSNA stands for Pressure Sensitive Nerve Areas, an American anacronysm.

People who don't know about them claim there are anywhere between 25 and 360 and they do various things. You can buy lists and charts showing all kinds of alleged PSNA. Most of these do nothing. The ones that do something are meaningless unless you are shown how to apply them in combat in real tme.

For example, we punch to the chin for a KO. A groin kick will stop an attacker. But to actually land these shots you need to train for them, not just know them theoretically. So it is with PSNA.

We teach a primary list of 52 PSNA for use in combat.
(One for each week of the year!)

We do not give out lists and charts to be memorised. You learn these PSNA in context, in the dojo, and you remember them.

There are 3 kinds of PSNA:
ones you strike
ones you press
ones you rub

What I NEVER want to see is people in class trying to explain to each other what PSNA are "There's one there", "there's one there", things like that. You learn these at the proper time in the proper context, not from some chart or book, or what "a mate who does Jujutsu showed me".
Practice, not theory!

Keep in mind you can strike and grind these points with stick as well as your "body tools".

Here is a list of the first 26 you have already been introduced to in class and that you will no doubt recognise (and remember painfully!).

Eyes and groin are obvious PSNA that can be atacked by a strike or pressure.
The eyes and called ganseki. The groin is kinteki.

Wanshun is the back of the upper arm, the tricep.
In the lap sao drill you strike this point.
In ikkyo henka you rub the tendon just above the elbow.
In tonfa ikkyo this point is self evident.

Kokutsu is the shunbone.
We have all had that experience where you've "barked" your shin on the coffee table when crossing the room in a hurry.
In combat we strike kokutsu to give him that "coffee table moment".

Hizakansetsu is the knee joint, attacked with a strike, usually a kick.

Uchikurobushi is the inside of the ankle joint.
Believed by some to be the most painful PSNA on the body, especially when rubbed.

Sobi is the back of the leg at the base of the calf.
A good target in keri kudaki, or vertical grappling.

Yako - the inside of the upper thigh, the long muscle. Painful if kicked at kb or vertical grappling range.

Ben's vastus the "teardrop" muscle at the lower inner thigh, just below where Yako runs to. The target of the "Ben Kick".

Miyakudokoro - inside the forearm.
Against an opponent punching you will cause real pain when cut into with your shuto.
Also a press and rub point when applying locks, particularly yonkyo.

Akiresuken - the achilles tendon.
Can be attacked with a strike.
Particularly effective when pressure is applied in ground fighting.

Three well known body blows are:

Suigetsu - solar plexus.

Kanzo - the liver.

Jinzo - the kidneys.

Sonu - the base of the throat, great for an ippon nukite strike or pressure attack.

Shofu - side of the neck - attack with shuto.

Keichu - nape of the neck. Attack with shuto.
The site of boxing's infamous "rabbit punch".

Komekami - the temple.

Three on the face which can be struck or pressed:

Miken - nasion or bridge of the nose

Jinchu - philtrum

Gekon - the labret point

NOTE: You CANNOT kill somebody by "punching the nose bone into the brain" That is a common myth spread by people who have no real experience. If this was possible boxers would die in the ring every week.

Mikazuki - the jaw - KO!

Quad sweep - the outer thigh, where we land the Thai kick.

Kori - upper foot. Stamp on this!

Shuko - back of the hand. Strike or grind.

Torite and Chin Na

Torite is the art of seizing limbs and locking joints.
It also covers kyusho - Pressure Points.

In Chinese this system is called Chin Na.

Although it is a subset of Jujutsu, Karate, Kung Fu, Kali, etc, it is also a complete MA system in it's own right if developed to a high enough level.

In class, you may hear me refer to Chin Na or Torite in context, or that we are having a "Chin Na" session.

Throws

Though there are about 100 throws in Jujutsu and 40 that made the Judo gokyo, we have 10 primary combat throws which we will practice on the mats.

The first 5 are hip throw:

O Goshi - Major Hip Throw
Koshi Guruma or Cross hip or Hip Wheel
Tai Otoshi - body drop
Uchi mata - inner thigh throw
Harai goshi - sweeping hip throw

Seoinage - shoulder throw or flying mare

O Soto Gari - major outer reap
O Uchi Gari - Major inner reap

Morote Gari - double leg takedown
Single leg takedown

Shiro Tora Budo Kai

Close quarter combat training taken from our core arts of
Karate, Jujutsu, Muay Thai and Wing Chun

Impact training and sparring from Freestyle Kickboxing.
Weapons training, combat and defence from Kobudo – Eskrima
Grappling and matwork from Judo, Jujutsu and Wrestling

All forms of Defence Combat taught

Strikes, Kicks, Punches and Counterattacks
Headbutts, Knees, Elbows (HKE)
HIA, Trapping, Energy Drills and Chi Sao
Chokes and Strangles – Locks and Controls
Throws and Takedowns – Ground and Pound
Boxing - Kickboxing – Thai Boxing
Grappling – Groundfighting - Vale Tudo – MMA
Focus pad training – Thai pad training
Stick and Knife – Sword and Staff – Nunchaku and Tonfa
Gun Defence and Knife Defence training that works
Threat Awareness – Threat Avoidance – Threat Response
Self Protection – Street Fighting – Unarmed Combat

Learn from a 6th degree Black Belt with over 30 years training and almost 10 years real world experience on the doors of Britain’s pubs and clubs.

Training sessions held in Caterham (Over 18s)

Caterham Methodist Church, Coulsdon Road, Caterham-on-the-Hill

Thursday 7 – 9 pm £5 a session

email: ShiroToraTiger@yahoo.co.uk
website: ShiroToraTiger.blogspot.com


Beginners Welcome

Feng Wei at White Tiger

Feng Wei is the name we have given to the core Fighting System in Shiro Tora.

In Chinese it means "Phoenix". It is a streetfighting system for the streets of Britain at the start of the 21st Century.

As well as holding a 6th dan in karate, which has Okinawan and Chinese roots, Shihan is a full instructor in Wing Chun Kung Fu. Shihan's training has included classical and modified WC, as well as private training from the late great Master Derek Jones of Body Mind Spirit.

Shihan has been involved for many years in Jun Fan Gung Fu and Jeet Kune Do, so has trained in various aspects of Bruce Lee's art from the modified WC of Oakland to the Seattle Jun Fan to the LA JKD.

So as well as a core of Applied Karate, FW heavily borrows from WC and JF.

There are also elements of Jujutsu, Kali and Muay Thai.

Our Threat Response system is unique to Shiro Tora and the FW class is the best place to learn them.

Classes include: Tool development, lineups, defence and counter drills, attack by combination, HIA traps, locks, chokes, immobilisations, takedowns, KOs, multiple opponent drills, the fence, threat escalation, conflict management.

Whether you want to work in security, or just want an effective Self Protection system, we have it all right here.

This is the best class to start with as it just requires an empty room and people. It's diverse and we train in drills over modules for maximum skill uptake. We've had a lot of success with this format before and it isn't rivalled by anybody else doing the same thing.

It takes the core skills of Wing Chun, but not just traditional WC, but the modified style, and also the BMS system.

We've also added a lot of Jun Fan and JKD drills over the years, and a lot of the boxing skills.
There are also drills from Karate, Thai and Kali, as well as Jujutsu.

We have to call it something other than WC or JF so we call it FW.
(But it's just a name, don't fuss over it!)

We've adapted the functional training for the streets of UK at the start of the 21st century, so it really is a new streetfighting system. It contains the drills we and our doormen and security personnel practice and use, and it's fully effective in those scenarios.

It is done unarmed, one on one, with no equipment or mats.

We start with sequences dealing with punches, kicks and strikes, and counters.

We progress to HIA - Hand Immobilisations - Traps.
Locks from JJ.
Chokes.

NRG - Energy - drills.
Mainly Wing Chun - dan chi, bon lop, luk sao, into full chi sao sparring.
We also have drills from Mantis and Kali.

Sparring is based on 2 ranges from 2 core arts, and done without protective pads:

Wing Chun and Jun Fan Chi sao.
Karate Jiyu kumite.

Karate kata

For those wanting to grade in Traditional Karate-Do there is a kata assigned to each belt level:

9th Kihon kata
8th Heian Shodan
7th Heian Nidan
6th Heian Sandan
5th Heian Yondan
4th Heian Godan
3rd Tekki Shodan
2nd Bassai Dai
1st kyu Kanku Dai

black belts:

1st dan Jion
2nd Jitte

The kata we practice here is Japanese Shotokan kata.
However we also look at the ShotoKai versions of the kata for a more fuller understanding, and the Okinawan versions of the kata.
The Heians are called Pinan on Okinawa and performed slightly different. The Tekki are called Naihinchi, etc.

Nobody has to learn kata for STMA and I don't teach it in class regularly. It's there for people who want to add the dimension of kata to their training, or for those who want to learn the Traditional karate-Do.


I will sometimes teach a kata move and it's bunkai in class, explaining where it came from, to give students a deeper understanding, but they don't have to learn the whole kata.
In fact, I tend to start with bunkai and work back, so a kata is really a sequence of bunkai. This gives a greater understanding of what you are doing it for.

We also teach the 3 Wing Chun forms:
Sil Lum Tao
Chum Kil
Bil Jee

We also teach the Yang Tai Chi short form.

There will be weapons kata in the future for those who want to add that dimension to their kobudo.

We have kata for each of the Okinawan weapons:
Bo
Nuncha
Tonfa
Kama
Sai

in fact there are several nuncha kata we use.

There are forms for the WC Bart Charm Dao swords and the Kwane "Dragon" Pole, which is very different from Bo.

For the Japanese kobudo, "kata" means something different, so there are no set forms, although there is a Jo "kata" in Aikido worth learning.

Kihon kata
The basic kata. Teaches one step, one block and one strike. Also how to turn. The heian katas, and many other Shorin katas, are based on this basic pattern.

Heian
Called Pinan on Okinawa. Heian means "Peaceful mind", meaning that somebody who has perfected this series of 5 kata has a complete Self defence system and can protect themselves confidently.

Tekki
Called Naihinchi on Okinawa, as they were performed in the Naihinchi stance. Tekki are all performed in the Kiba Dachi horse stance. There are 3 Tekki kata, Tekki Shodan being the first you learn. They are strong Shorei kata.
Tekki means "Victory". Funakoshi was told by his teacher that they are the easiest and the hardest to learn. He spent 3 years learning each kata, spending a decade on the Tekki series alone. Like Heian, Tekki is almost a MA in it's own right.

Bassai
Called passai on Okinawa. Another Shorin kata, based on the moves of heian, specifically heian godan. A powerful combat kata meaning "to storm a fortress".
Bassai Dai is the second of the two bassai kata, but the first you learn.

Kanku
Called Kushanku on Okinawa after the Chinese fighting monk who introduced it to the island.
Kanku means "to look at the sky".
A Shorin kata, again based on the Heians, primarily Yondan and Nidan.

Jion
A powerful Shotokan kata that makes up a series with Heian Godan and the two Bassai.
At STMA this is the black belt kata

Jitte
The favourite kata of Master Enoeda. Meaning "10 Hands" - the person who has perfected this kata can successfully defend himself against 5 opponents.
This is the 2nd dan kata.

Taikyoku
Taikyoku refers to the singularity before the split into Ying and Yang polarity. It means harmony with the Universe, the goal of Zen.
Taikyoku Shodan is actually the Kihon Kata. However, practiced at black belt level it takes on a whole new meaning as basic technique becomes advanced technique.
The difference between a white belt doing Kihon kata and a black belt doing Taikyoku Shodan will be obvious to any observer.
A set of 3 kata.
Taikyoku Nidan introduces the high punch.
Taikyoku Sandan introduces the back stance and middle block.
On Okinawa, students learn the 3 taikyoku before the Pinans.
In STMA it's not until you get to black belt that you learn the other two Taikyoku.
You now have a greater appreciation of the Heians - they are no longer just some katas you did to get your first few belts.
The 3 Taikyokus and Heian Shodan make a nice series of 4.
H Ni to Go also makes a nice series of 4.

For 3rd dan there is no set kata or grading as such.
However you need to learn the next 2 Taikyoku, so you have all three, the next two tekki, so you have all three, and the next Bassai and Kanku. This fleshes out your understanding.

You then learn Ji'in, a Shorin kata based on Jion and Jitte, that makes a set of 3.
With Heian Godan, the Bassais, and the Jis, you have powerful set of 6 kata to perform.

Also, it's not just a case of knowing these kata, it's being able to break them down, perform the bunkai and teach them.

At 3rd dan you are awarded the title "Sensei" and the right to teach and grade your own students.
It is not something given away lightly, it as to be earned!

You now have the following kata:
3 Taikyoku
5 Heian
3 Tekki
2 Bassai
2 Kanku
Jion, Jitte and Jion

The next kata you learn are Enpi and Hangetsu.
Enpi is a Shorin kata, while Hangetsu is a strong Shorei kata.

You now have a total of 20 kata.

This is around the level we would look to promote you to 4th dan and award the title of Renshi

There are now 10 more kata we practice that you can learn over your progressive years in black belt training, if you wish:

Chinte, Gankaku, Meikyo, Seienchin, Wankan
Unsu, Nijushisho, Sochin, Gojushiho Dai, Gojushiho Sho

This makes a total of 30 Karate-Do Kata.

Kickboxing at STWTMA

Boxing

This is Western boxing, hands only fighting.

The main tools are:
Jab, Cross, Hook, Uppercut

The target is the head, the purpose is the knockout.

With lead and rear hooks and uppercuts, this generates 6 basic punches. You learn and practice these on the pads, then try them out in sparring.

Drilling is progressive:

Basic punches - the "big 6"
Defences
Attack combinations
Defensive combinations
Sparring


Kickboxing - Full Contact

This is basically boxing with the addition of the 4 primary karate kicks:

front kick - mygeri
Round kick - mawashigeri
Side Kick - kekome
Back kick - ushiro geri

These are learnt on the shield and primarily delivered to the stomach.

Head kicks are secondary and you don't have to learn them unless you want to.

Other secondary kicks include the hook kick, done to the head, and jump kicks.

Practice is progressive:

ABCs:
Hand, hand
Hand, Foot
Foot, hand
Foot, foot

There are of course defences for the kicks and defensive combinations.

Then there is progressive sparring:

Boxing v boxing
Boxing v kickboxing
Kickboxing v kb

Then isolation sparring:

Lead hand only
Lead hand and leg only
LH and LL against kb
...etc


Semi Contact Kickboxing

This is the same as Freestyle karate.

Primary drilling is done on the focus mitts. Sparring uses the lighter mitts and is touch or semi contact only.

Additional hand techniques include the ridge hand and backfist.

The stance tends to be more side on the FC, and there is more use of the side push kick than the front push kick.

Good head kicking is necessary to become really proficient at SC KB.


Lo Kix KB

Same as FC KB but includes low kicks to the leg, and involves the leg block.


Thai boxing

With KB we have taken our drilling mainly from karate and boxing.

Thai boxing takes training methods from Muay Thai, a different MA.

This involves the use of the knee, and training on the Thai pads.

Weapons

Krabi
Krabi Krabong is the weapons art of Thailand, the military weapons forerunner to the unarmed combat art of Muay Thai and the ring sport of Thai Boxing.

Krabi uses twin stix, the number 1 strike and jodan uke block.

It uses an advancing pushing, pressure step, and retreats with defence.

5 step sparring involves advancing and retreating in attack and defence.

We start with a single step and strike, then progress to a double step and strike.

We finish the sequence with a power strike, a "kradot" jumping strike or a double "tenchi" strike.
It is also possible to put in a kick at the end of the sequence.

The stixs represent swords, as in kali. Though brutal as a stick combat art, the ultimate intention is to train for blade combat.

It is , like boxing, a very basic and primative art, with not a lot to learn. Which is what makes it so effective.

Eskrima and Kali
Eskrima and Kali are the weapons arts of the Philipines, referred to as Filipino Martial Arts or FMA.

Training is done with the short stick, single or double.

In Eskrima we fight with the stick, so stick training represents stick combat.

In Kali we fight with swords, so stick training represents blade combat. That is the real distinction between the two. Kali is a lot like Krabi, but also very different, as you will see.

Eskrima training consists of:

Sinawalli - double sticks
Largo mano - long range single stick
Serrada - close range single stick
Kadena de mano - knife and hand


Largo
Largo is the long range.

Largo mano actually means long hand, but we use it to cover weapons method as well.

The basic drill is an advancing and retreating 5 step kumite.

This can be done with the single stick, the longer stick, the sword and the staff, both jo and bo.

We can also mix and match weapons:

stick v 2 stix
boken v stix
boken v bo
boken v jo
jo v stix
bo v stix
tonfa v stix
tonfa v boken
tonfa v jo
tonfa v bo


Sinawalli
Sinawalli means "weaving". It refers to the patterns the stick make in the drills.

Sinawalli is done with double sticks at the largo range.

The first thing you learn is the basic different counts:
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

4 count also has a twirl and sipat henka
5 also has a sipta henka
5 and 7 are also performed "offside"

6 count is a series in it's own right, containing standard, heaven, earth, redondo, stab and sipat henka.

The second thing you learn is "chains" - 2 and 4,
4 and 6,
2, 4, 6
6 chains such as heaven, earth

Then you learn concepts:
chaining, matching, mirroring, redondo, chasing, etc.

It is a very dynamic, thorough and fulfilling art to learn and practice.

It's also a lot of fun!


Serrada
Serrada is the close range system done at the medio and corto ranges.

Drills include:

sombrada - both 3 and 5 count
box sombrada
hubud
entry from largo to medio and out again
move from largo to medio to corto and out
locks with stick

Serrada uses the 12 angle number system of Cabales Eskrima.

We can also drill with tonfa at serrada, and even nuncha (called tayok in FMA)


Knife
Though we do Japanese tanto training from kobudo and ninpo, the bulk of our knife training is from Eskrima.

Kadena de mano means knife and hand. It is the close range art of fighting and defending with the knife.

Knife to knife, hand to knife, and hand to hand are the 3 phases.

Knife uses the first 7 angles of Eskrima.

Knife defence we work on at an early level.

Knife "fighting" itself is taught to seniors.

Tonfa and nunchaku
We play tonfa and nuncha in serrada range as well as largo.

stick v tonfa
stick v nuncha
tonfa v nuncha
nuncha v nuncha
tonfa v tonfa

Bokken, Jo and Bo
We play these at largo range, extending the range out as needed.

On the mat

Grappling
The first thing you learn is the pins.
In certain competitions, such as Judo or wrestling, you can win a match by pinning the opponent's shoulders to the mat.
In submission wrestling or combat grappling you need to pin the opponent before you can move to a finish.

So you learn the pins first:
The Mount
Kesa gatame - the scarf hold
Yoko gatame - the side hold
The Guard

Pins such as Kami shiho gatame and kata gatame, which some of you are familiar with are secondary pins.

Each pin has various escapes and you learn these in time, how to turn a position of disadvantage into one of advantage.

An early drill we pactice is escape the mount - pass the guard.

Submissions
We cause the opponet to submit or "tap out" by putting them in a choke or jointlock.
In Judo you are only allowed to lock the elbow, whereas in free fighting you can lock the wrist, knee or ankle.
The achilles lock is a particularly good leg techniques, a pressure point lock.

You learn straight armbars such as juji gatame, and the bent arm variations.
There are leg variations of some of these done from the guard.

Mount - ude garame, juji gatame
Yoko - ude gaeshi, both up and down branch
Scarf - choke, juji
Guard - sangaku jime, juji, ude gaeshi
Leg open - achilles, ankle lock
Uke turtles - take the back - choke, leglock, arm hammer

These are some basic moves, there are further secondary moves you learn later.

Every move also has a counter and reversal.

Throws
We focus on the Jujutsu nage as they are refined in Judo.
The first thing you learn is the appropriate breakfall for the throw to be practiced.
Then you practice uchikomi - the entry.
Then you learn to give and take the throw.
Then you practice throw for throw loop drill for flight time.

Turning throws include:
o goshi hip throw
koshi guruma - cross hip throw
seoinage - flying mare

Reaps include o soto gari and morote gari leg takedowns.
There are also single leg takedowns.

Sweeps
There are sweeps done in Judo, which we cover, but we focus more on sweeps as they appear in karate.
You can use them as part of an attacking combination (ABC) - kick, punch, sweep - or in defence where you sweep the opponent's kicking leg or his support leg.
There are also waza where you catch his kicking leg and take him down.
There is a whole dimension to leglocks done here.

Locks
We also practice our Jujutsu locks, taking the uke right to the mat for a finish. These are done more "positively" then possible on the wood.
We also practice locks with the stix and tonfa here.

Thursday 17th September

A great session, and some great MMA.

We started off instructing at the corto range - the use of HKE, and the close range hand strikes, eye gouging, and the now infamous "forearm shiver".

We played the Thai roll drill - which has a "cousin" in Greco.

We looked at the sleeper choke in context.

We had those who wanted to roll on the mats doing so. We were able to personally instruct fighters in the importance of escape and defence. Like KB, if your defence structure is no good, he'll knock you out first. Against a stronger or more experienced player it is important to have your defence and counter working.

If you can't defend his lock and his pin you'll never get one of your own.

Members were able to roll with each other and try moves out. As with anything it's all about "flight time".

On the wood we got the focus pads and Thai paids out. Again we worked more on single shots and the attributes such as form, speed and power, before looking at naturally flowing into combinations.

In freeplay we looked at simple SDA to ABC:

SDA:
punch
kick
block

ABC:
punch punch
punch kick
kick punch
kikc kick

Defensive ABC:
Opponent punches - you block
Opponent kicks - you block
block and punch
block and kick

It soon builds into a skillful exchange of free sparring.

Back on the mat we played VT - the kickboxing soon went to a clinch and the we had groundfighting.

We saw more use of the strikes on the ground and some fights were finished with ground and pound.

We also started to see some natural takedowns occur, and we were able to do away with "stop and kneel" in at least one match.

There was weapons practice for those who wanted it, which is also a good way to cool down, or if you have had enough of the fast pace of VT.

We'll carry on with VT training by doing rolling and KB seperate, as the cmpetition fighters do, then playing the mixed sparring.

We'll do more clinch more, regularly do the Thai roll, and look at how that expands with escapes and finishes.

We'll do more HKE.

We'll do throws and takedowns from the clinch, with and without gi, and how to defend and throw and puncher or kicker, see how long it takes for that element to come out in the MMA matches.

We'll instruct more pins, and their escapes, and finishes from the ground, both locks and chokes. We'll practice ground and pound with the pads.

We'll look at the 3 standing chokes as they work in the Street, ones from the Door.

With impact, we'll look more at building the attributes with focus pads and Thai pads for the 4 main KB structures, and we'll look at drilling concepts as well as ABCs and def ABCs.

Remember - if you see it taught you see it fought!
We don't practice flowery stuff for the sake of it - you practice moves that you'll bring out in your sparring that will be there if you need it in the ring or on the Pavement.

We'll get more use of the shield as well for power body kicks.

With weapons we'll get everyone doing stix through the first 9 sinawalli so they can drill together.

We'll get those with sword working sword vs stix, then sword vs sword.
Then we'll bring in more Bo, and some Jo.

Dealing with 5 or more attackers

This is maybe the most difficult scenario and is a matter of spirit before tactic before technique.

Very few people can really fight through 5 attackers. I have seen it done, but that is an exceptionally well trained and tough person and a lot of luck.

The first thing to do is change your mind set:
there is actually no such thing as being attacked by 5 people.

You are being attacked by one plus one plus one plus one plus one.

The main man will be coming for you and his mates will be folowing him.

If he takes you down, they will all follow his lead and pile in.

You have to reverse this.

The best method is to double tap the main man and the closest of his mates.

BANG! BANG!
"Who's f**king next?!!"

Now, if all 3 rushed you they would cause you a problem.

But you are not dealing with THREE people. You are dealing with
one plus one plus one.

Each ONE of them is thinking "Not me" and backing off.

The Karate kata Jutte means "Ten hands" - meaning the ability to fight opponent's at once. It is the 2nd dan kata. This is where our spirit, tactics, and LASTLY techniques can be found.

Red letter day

This is a combat concept.

Against three or more attackers.

Think of them like bills coming through your door on the same day. You don't rush to pay the one that's the first bill - you rush to pay the red letter, the final demand that threatens to cut you off.

Out of the 3 attackers, one will be the main man, the other will be his 2 mates backing him up.

Take out the main man - the "red letter" with a pre-emptive KO.

Then you can hit the next two with a double tap.

Sometimes it won't work out clean - you get the second man and end up in a grapple with the third, but that's OK, coz you're now one on one.

Sometimes the third man wil back right out of range when the first two go down, which is fine as well - let him run away.

Double tap

This is a combat concept.

Against 2 opponent's, get them lined up during the verbal phase and then treat them like two focus mitts - land a cross to each of them.

This is very effective in a live situation.

Sometimes the second shot is not as clean as you'd like, but then you just go into a followup in a one one one.

Ranges of combat

We start our kobudo training with single stick, so base our range system on that.

Ranges in kobudo start from the outrange, the pre-contact phase.

Then there is weapons range where the stick can hit each other.

Then there is largo where we can hit the hand.

Then there is medio where the stick reaches him, we can check his weapon hand with our alive hand, and our kix can reach him.

Corto is close range where we can hit with the punch, the punyo - butt of the stick, our punches and our HKE. It is the range of stick locks.

Grappling range is body-to-body where we use the stick chokes and throws.

Ground range is when the fight goes to the ground.

The weapons range and largo range extend out to sword range and spear range for the longer weapons.

Range in Kickboxing starts from the outrange.

Then we get kick range, then punch range, which are self explanatory.

Corto for KB would be the range of hooks and uppercuts in boxing, knee and elbow in Thai.

Boxing of course has no kick range.

A TKD fighter wuld be like a largo mano fighter, staying at long range throwing big kicks.

A karate fighter would use kicks and punch ranges then come out. They would not court corto range.

A kickboxer would be comfortable in corto, using hooks and uppercuts, and Thai fighters love to get in and use the knee.

Wing Chun fighters stay pretty much at corto. They enter quickly through kick and punch range, avoiding the whole kickboxing phase so theycan epmploy traps and close range blasts.

A grappler ingores kick, punch and trap ranges and starts with a collar/elbow tie up from which he looks for throws.

It can be argued that the tie up is corto and the uchikomi is the entry to grappling range.

Shiro Tora grades

What we'll be doing from now on is giving grades in "Shiro Tora Budo Kai", which is "White Tiger Martial Arts".

We only wear belts if we are doing weapons training and gi grappling so the question of what belt you are is academic.

If you want to be awarded a belt and grade and wear a belt of the appropriate colour that is your choice, it is something we offer, not enforce or insist on.

A Judo gi comes with a white belt which is adequate for training unless your want to wear your grade belt.

There is no fee for a grading, no registration fee, and we don't do certificates, though we can look into that.
I am the Founder and Chief Instructor of STBK or WTMA so your art and grade comes from me. We don't pay somebody else to certify it for us.

For the black belt that is a lot more significant and you may want your dan grade registered and certified, which we can look into at the time. My grades are of course registered as I am under a Hanshi who I will be taking my 7th dan with.

As well as the traditional Japanese ranks we'll be adding four "Western" ranks for black belts, as they do in systems such as Jeet Kune Do.

1st dan is Apprentice Instructor
2nd dan is Assistant Instructor
3rd dan, as well as Sensei, is Associate Instructor
4th dan, as well as Renshi, is Full Instructor

These are the titles and licences you need to teach Shiro Tora Budo Kai, the White Tiger Martial Arts, under my endorsement.

Matwork at The White Tiger

Grappling
The first thing you learn is the pins.
In certain competitions, such as Judo or wrestling, you can win a match by pinning the opponent's shoulders to the mat.
In submission wrestling or combat grappling you need to pin the opponent before you can move to a finish.

So you learn the pins first:
The Mount
Kesa gatame - the scarf hold
Yoko gatame - the side hold
The Guard

Pins such as Kami shiho gatame and kata gatame, which some of you are familiar with are secondary pins.

Each pin has various escapes and you learn these in time, how to turn a position of disadvantage into one of advantage.

An early drill we pactice is escape the mount - pass the guard.

Submissions
We cause the opponet to submit or "tap out" by putting them in a choke or jointlock.
In Judo you are only allowed to lock the elbow, whereas in free fighting you can lock the wrist, knee or ankle.
The achilles lock is a particularly good leg techniques, a pressure point lock.

You learn straight armbars such as juji gatame, and the bent arm variations.
There are leg variations of some of these done from the guard.

Mount - ude garame, juji gatame
Yoko - ude gaeshi, both up and down branch
Scarf - choke, juji
Guard - sangaku jime, juji, ude gaeshi
Leg open - achilles, ankle lock
Uke turtles - take the back - choke, leglock, arm hammer

These are some basic moves, there are further secondary moves you learn later.

Every move also has a counter and reversal.

Throws
We focus on the Jujutsu nage as they are refined in Judo.
The first thing you learn is the appropriate breakfall for the throw to be practiced.
Then you practice uchikomi - the entry.
Then you learn to give and take the throw.
Then you practice throw for throw loop drill for flight time.

Turning throws include:
o goshi hip throw
koshi guruma - cross hip throw
seoinage - flying mare

Reaps include o soto gari and morote gari leg takedowns.
There are also single leg takedowns.

Sweeps
There are sweeps done in Judo, which we cover, but we focus more on sweeps as they appear in karate.
You can use them as part of an attacking combination (ABC) - kick, punch, sweep - or in defence where you sweep the opponent's kicking leg or his support leg.
There are also waza where you catch his kicking leg and take him down.
There is a whole dimension to leglocks done here.

Locks
We also practice our Jujutsu locks, taking the uke right to the mat for a finish. These are done more "positively" then possible on the wood.
We also practice locks with the stix and tonfa here.

Disabled Martial Arts

It's great when people who have a disadvantage turn it round and make it into a positive.

I was watching the London Marathon and they had one of those wheelchair athletes being interviewed. He had no legs, a custom "bath" chair and he pushed with arm stilts. He had made a huge amount of money for charity through sponsorship and was promoting awareness.

The interviewer asked him why he was doing this.

Know what his answer was:
"To help people less fortunate than myself."

A guy with no legs trying to help people less fortunate than he is.

Now that's a true warrior and a humbling experience.

Ninjutsu

The Ninjutsu we cover here comes from the modern schools of Genbukan and Bujinkan.

There are 9 schools of Ninjutsu that survive today. The core of our practice comes from the Gyokko ryu of Koshijutsu, a unique unarmed combat system similar to Jujutsu.

We back this up with the weapons system of the Kukkushinden ryu school of Happo Hikenjutsu. Primarily a sword school it focusses on the short straight Ninja-to and the 3 foot hanbo staff.

We also practice techniques from other ninja schools such as the bone breaking of Koto ryu koppojutsu and the chokes and strangles of Takagi yoshin ryu jutaijutsu.


The 9 schools of nunjutsu are:

1. TOGAKURE RYU NINPO
2. GYOKKO RYU KOSHIJUTSU
3. KOTO RYU KOPPOJUTSU
4. KUKI SHINDEN RYU HAPPO HIKEN
5. KUMOGAKURE RYU NINJUTSU
6. GIKAN RYU KOPPOJUTSU
7. SHINDEN FUDO RYU DAKENTAIJUTSU
8. GYOKIJSHIN RYU NINPO
9. TAKAGI YOSHIN RYU JUTAIJUTSU

Ninja Politics:

The claim by the Bujinkan is that the 34th and current Grandmaster of the Ninja, Masaaki Hatsumi, is the only person qualified to teach these 9 schools, having inherited them from To*****uga Takamatsu the 33rd Grandmaster.

The Bujinkan claim is that one man, Takamatsu, was the only person to train and master all 9 schools and the only person he ever taught was Sensei Hatsumi.

However the Genbukan hold that Sensei Takamatsu trained many students, including the Grandmaster of the Genbukan, Sensei Tanemura.

While both schools have different claims to the ninja heritage, both have a lot to offer.

It is also believed by some that many other Ninja schools survived, and were passed down in secret father-to-son, as was their tradition.

We don't get involved in any of these theories or politics, just enjoy training in what both schools have to offer.

Vale Tudo

Vale Tudo is from the Brazilian, it means "anything goes".

Basically it mixes kickboxing and grappling, what is now being referred to as Mixed Martial Arts in competitions.

There is also the lighter option of Jujutsu Kumite which mixes light contact karate style points sparring with Judo throws and newaza.

VT also includes "ground and pound" - striking while on the ground in a grapple.

Every dimension of unarmed combat is examined, drilled and sparred.

Jujutsu

The Jujutsu we practice here is Kempo Jujutsu, which Shihan is currently a fourth dan.

It uses the close range kicks, punches and strikes of Kempo (Iron Fist) backed up with the techniques of Jujutsu such as chokes, strangles, locks, controls, throws, takedowns, groundfighting, and grappling.

Also called Goshin Jutsu and Combat Jujutsu it is a modern systems of self defence and the perfect complement to the Combat Karate of Shiro Tora.

Karate

Our karate is Shiro Tora, Shihan's own style. As a 6th dan Kyoshi, Shihan is entitled to found his own style and call it what he wants. The style is Shiro Tora, the White Tiger style.

The background is the Funakoshi style developed in Japan from 1930 to 1950, originally called Shoto Kan (shoto's house). The modern Shotokan practiced in the UK is developed from Master Nakayama's 1957 JKA style. What is now called Shoto-Kai (Shoto's council), founded by Master Egami, is closer to Funakoshi's original Shoto-Kan.

Hence our style draws from modern Shotokan, which has more kumite drills, and ShotoKai, whch has more kata applications.

We also trace our style back to the Shorin and Shorei styles of Okinawa.

We also draw from Master Oyama's powerful kyukushinkai, especially some of our harder drills and knockdown kumite.

We have also studied Okinawan Goju and American Kenpo, to get a full flavour of the evolution of karate.

This karate system is kata based. We practice the 5 heian, 3 tekki, 2 bassai and 2 kanku as our first 12 forms. We then study a further 18 forms. Our study is heavy on bunkai, the application of the kata moves in self protection.

There are strong comparisons with Japanese Jujutsu and Chinese kung fu.

We also practice kihon solo drills, and kumite partner drills.

Grappling

The grappling class is done on mats and looks at non striking combat involving throws and groundgrappling.

The core is Jujutsu, and it has many street fighting and combat applications. It is realistic and full on, but also fun and safe.

Throws are from JJ and Judo, as well as Western wrestling systems such as Olympic Freestyle, Greco Roman, and Russian Sombo.

Sparring is done fighting for throws, randori style with jackets as in Judo, and wrestling style with no jackets.

Groundgrappling is drawn from Judo and Brazilian Jujutsu, as well as a lot of wrestling techniques with and without the gi jacket.

Ground sparring is progressive:
pins,
submission using chokes and armlocks,
add use of leglocks

Grappling can start from kneeling, or from standing where a throw or takedown has to be made before grappling can start.

This has skills from Judo, Jujutsu, Brazilian Jujutsu and wrestling systems such as Freestyle, Greco and Sombo.

It's about learning throws then how to spar with throws, like in randori.

Then it's about groundfighting, as in newaza.

Both styles of sparring are done with and without gi jackets.

There is full wrestling done from standing and incorporating groundwork.

Sparring:

randori - fight for throws
wrestling - pins
- submission

The submission techniques include chokes, armlocks and leglocks.

Wednesday 17th September 2009

A good turn out for our inaugral Wed session.

We started in FC KB structure, looking at boxing and then Thai boxing, first with some drills, then we sparred kb and included low kicks.

We then used the focus pads and Thai pads for impact work.

Those who had weapons were able to do a half hour of weapons work, including sinawalli, krabi, sword, stix vs sword and sword vs bo.

We were also able to demonstrate the Krabi footwork and everybody was able to try it out, and see the relevance to Muay Thai as well as krabi.

Now we have members drilling and sparring in the 3 FC phases - boxing, KB and Thai, we can open up that dimension more.

We will develop the focus pad training and Thai pad training as well as more use of the shield.

With weapons, members will learn the full range of sinawalli drills - there are 9 counts - then the concepts of sinwalli.

We will then look at serrada - single stick - and the 4 main ranges of this phase:

largo - drills such as entry 3
medio - drills such as sombrada
corto - drills such as hubud, also stick locks
grappling - including stick chokes and takedowns

We will also get the krabi 5 step drill a regular part of training, and make use of karate's 5 step, 3 step and one step kumite, which works on the same principles.

If a training method like step kumite evolved in two seperate countries independently and generically - Japan and Thailand - there must be a lot of merit in it - something worth exploring deeper, wouldn't you agree?

For the longer weapons we will get members to work on the four step bokken drill, then look into other kenjutsu drills.

We will drill stix against sword, and more sword against bo.

We'll look more into the 2 against one weapons drills as well.

Some members who study Jo and Bo, are working concepts for the longer weapons. We will also look at naginata and yari concepts in the drills.

The Fence

Keep your hands between you and the attacker, as a protective "fence" around your property.

Keep him at arms length so he has to close the gap to attack you.

Don't just stand there with your arms by the side - get in a bladed stance and get your fence up.

You can then line him up for your Pre-Emptive strike.

The Pre-Emptive Strike

This is when you have an attacker on The Fence at the Verbal Phase.

He's busy telling you what he's going to do to you, before he launches his attack - which will probably be a right hand punch.

He is in your space, making threatening behaviour.
He is committing common assault.

You have the LEGAL RIGHT to hit him once in Self Defence if you think your safety is threatened - if you honestly believe you feel afraid for your safety.

Hit hard - hit fast - hit first!