Isolation sparring

The next progression is iso sparring:

box - hands only
kb - kickboxing
kix - kick only

box v kb
v kix
kb v kix


add lo kix

kb
kix

box v kb
v kix
kb v kix

add knees

box w knees
kb knees
kix knees

box v box knee
v kb
v kix

box knee
v kb
v kix

kb v kix

Numerada

Numerada is the drill that takes us back to long range, both armed and unarmed and allows us to take control of the fight at the entry phase and then close to CRA to finish.

eg: Gunting against a punch flowing into CRA rather than from the continuous flow of hubud. 

CRA - Close Range Arts

For CRA we use hubud as our core drill. Though it is not sparring a such it can be done with stick, knife and empty hands and unites all the phases at this range and makes trapping functional as the range that sits between kb and grappling.

We currently practice the 9 CRA methods out of hubud:

lox
dumog
sweeps
tai chi
HKE
HIA
shime
tomate
kino

STMA progressive sparring

At STMA we have 4 main kinds of sparring:

Kali - kickboxing - unarmed - Vale Tudo

each of these has 4 phases to it.

Kali:
double stix
single stick
stick and knife
knife and hand

Kickboxing:
savate
thai
kickboxing
boxing

unarmed:
karate
chi sao
randori
ground TNS

VT:
this is a mix of striking and grappling
- in the unarmed phase this blends kb and grappling with strikes on the ground
- the the armed phase this allows a stick fight to go to ground

so the 4 phases are:
kb
groundfight
stick fight
stick ground

each of these sparring phases has drills which can be isolated
eg sinawalli with double stix
thai pads for thai
etc

STMA 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

JKD Progressive Sparring

Bruce Lee listed 21 phases of progressive 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

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 following 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 will 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.

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!

The Jerry Springer syndrome

This is a Combat Concept.

You've seen the Jerry Springer Show where "guests" on stage are arguing, the argument escalates until they are really shouting, then BANG they go at each other and they go straight to Vertical Grappling phase, with other people trying to pull them apart.

This is how most real fights happen, certainly in pubs and clubs.

You have the verbal stage of build up before the BANG into VG - that's JS Syndrome.

In clubs I manage - I am always the Head Doorman where I work, I never work on somebody else's team with somebody else's rules and methods - I stand so I can watch the bar, the dance floor, and the seating area. I watch for changes in movement that are precursors to a fight.

Have you ever been in a club where a fight suddenly kicks off and the bouncers are already there pulling the aggressors apart, while the rest of the security team are monitoring their friends to make sure it doesn't turn into an all out brawl?

Well that's how we do it - the Head Door will watch for JS Syn and order his bouncers to "dance floor" or "bar" as appopriate. We know these guys will be in a fight before they do.

In SD it is important not to get into JS Syn yourself - avoid the whole verbal stage. Keep the attacker on the Fence and keep calm, keep a cool head. Take him out with a pre-emptive strike while he's still in the verbal stage.

All bouncers who have seen JS Syn from the third person POV will recognise it from the Defensive POV and know how to deal with it.

At STMA we pass this knowledge onto you, so you can apply it when needed.

Longest weapon to 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 simultaneous 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.

Tsui Na - the "Healing" art

Tsui na is the opposite of Chin Na, a part of the healing arts.

Whereas a Chin Na lock such as onikudaki can be used to dislocate an enemy's shoulder, there is a corresponding Tsui na to relocate it.

Similarly, just as we use groin kicks to disable an attacker and strikes to KO, there are katsu methods to revive somebody who recieves such a blow.

Chin na and Tsui na are opposite sides of the same coin and the study of one deepens the understanding of the other.

There is a good tsui na to help re-align the spine after heavy training, a good crack like you get at the osteopath. We'll look into practicing this basic move on each other at class.

Hopefully we'll never need the katsu for a dislocated shoulder, a KO or a groin kick!

DO vs JUTSU

"Do" means "Way. "Jutsu" means "Art".

Karate-Do, Judo, Kendo and Aikido are all Ways.

You first learn the Traditional art, which is what your belts are in.
You learn the Goshin modern Self defence applications.
You learn the sparring aspect and can even go on to compete in the sport version.

Do is a way to improve yourself, physically and spiritually. You train for Self defence, you don't actually train to fight. You come to realise the Way of "Fighting without Fighting".

Jujutsu, Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu are Warrior Arts.

They are combat systems warriors learnt with the intention of going into battle and killing the enemy.

The next 4 GUN techniques

After perfecting and maintain the Standard STMA gun def we then extend our practice using the 4 techniques from the Kenpo Rod series.

This creates a series of 5 effective real world gun defences


The American Karate Masters, including Military Officers and Police Officers have developed "Rod" techniques, effective gun defences.

CAPTURED ROD

DEFYING THE ROD

TWISTED ROD

BROKEN ROD


And remember

- the gun itself is not the threat, it is the bullet that comes from the gun, so we are defencing Angle #5

- if the gun goes off, as it is likely to, it is loud and shocking, and make sure it is pointing away from you

GUN Defence

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 that 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 kicks 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.

The 3 POVS - Points of View

There are 3 Points of View in a fight.

The attacker
The defender
A third person watching

It is important to view the fight from all 3 POVs to completely understand it.

We cover this regularly in STMA training.

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.

SAS Training

Don't get excited! We're not training you for Special Forces Commando or Urban Combat or anything like that so don't turn up in camo gear

In this case,  SAS stands for Sport - Art - Sport.

A is Martial Art
Art is the traditional side, the koryo. We emerse ourselves in the traditional way of training to absorb what is useful and discard what is useless. This applies to the Karate-do, Jujutsu, Muay Thai, etc.

S is Sparring and Sport.
This is the impact work on the pads which leads into sparring in the equipment in KB. It also means grappling and MMA, and also the stick fighting. For those who want to compete it has the added dimension of Sport competitions.

S is for Self Defence and Street Fighting - also Survival
This is the Goshin Modern element - making what we have trained in functional for the Pavement Arena.

Further list of KYUSHO

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 - List of main 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

Soto - 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.

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

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 we 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! ;D

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

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 the 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.

5D - the FIFTH Dimension of Combat

5D is where we start getting into the metaphysical stuff of MA.

Mushin - Wu Wei - No Mind.
The empty cup, the Void, the 5th level of the Godai, the 5th element.

In Mushin we go beyond Doai and Maai, the dimensions of space and time, and we just are.

I could write volumes on this one topic or I could write nothing.

The point is - you get there when you get there. It can't be forced, it can't be rushed.

Think of Neo in The Matrix when he realises he is The One. He sees the green code for what it is, not what it appears to be. Once he's achieved this,defeating his "unbeatable" enemy is easy.

This is where YOU want to be!

The Four Dimensions of Combat

The 1st Dimension
Length. Advancing and retreating.
This is best demonstrated in the Krabi drill - moving straight forward, hitting on one line with one angle.
Also seen in Jun Fan's Jik Chun Choy straight blast.
Rather then being limiting, this tactic takes away our need to have to think - we crash forward with power and pressure. The enemy is forced to retreat, he runs backward.
In boxing or Thai we drive him back onto the ropes or into the corner.

2nd dimension
Height. Attacking high and low.
In boxing this means bringing in body shots as well as the head shots. Same applies in KB and karate.
In lo kix and Thai we add leg kicks and the leg block.
A whole new dimension to give the enemy a wholenew set of problems.

3rd dimension
Width. Lateral movement.
The triangle footwork from Kali.
This can be applied in stickfighting, karate, boxing and KB.

4th dimension
As all Sci Fi geeks know, the 4th dimension is Time.
Having the 3 dimensions of space covered - Do-ai - distancing, we need to cover the dimension of Ma-ai - timing.
You can't go instantly from outrange to corto - you progress there and that takes time - what we call beats.
Imagine an opponent attacking with a J,C,H ABC - you defend using parry, roll, salute.
To defeat him with timing you Intercept him on the half beat.
No matter how fast he is you will always get there first. You have moved ahead in Time - you have moved through the 4th dimension!