Kratos Combatives is back!

After a long break from an injury we are back again, we have developed a lot of new stuff from our R&D lab. We have discovered new things that we have not seen before in any other systems and hope that others have found similar discoveries, as we want to expand our knowledge and learn from likeminded individuals. 

A lot has changed since this video on so many levels, our hope is that we can create new videos created with content from seminars, so if anyone is interested to host Kratos Combatives seminars please contact us.

The future of our videos will not just become what we dislike, a few seconds video clips and lots of photos showing of titles in various cities that only reflects the amount of ego the weekend diploma Instructor/Master of Disaster have, and only hides how bad they move and the apparent lack of skillsets, in some cases it even shows how bad it is.

Knife sparring Popeye vs Line

Grappling unarmed and empty hands training

Miyamoto Musashi’s book “”The Book of Five Rings”

I have the last 5 months reread Miyamoto Musashi’s book “”The Book of Five Rings” and have had quite a lot of eureka moments, as the more times I read it I get a completely new perspective about bladed combat, I have lost count as it is more than 10 times as I don’t take notes but try to understand the full picture than just a few pieces of the puzzle, as I view it from my interpretation of the book that has changed or rather confirmed my view on how to use long bladed weapons, which is completely contrary to how I have been taught to do in sport fencing, the FMA styles I have trained and other systems where the weapon is launched first and the body moves after or at the same time.

As it is nearly the same as I have learned training AMOK! stick and machete, making it easier for me to change muscle memory and an easy transition, that in the end has removed any doubt about if I should or could combine previous training and concepts, but I cant as they are incompatible with my current one, but also teach how others systems attacks to have general idea of why and what to expect, and most importantly persons with no training based on watching how untrained persons swings a stick horizontal at shoulder height as it is the most natural way for the shoulder, so they are exposed to very different attacks to learn and experience the difference in oppositional training and sparring. 

The emphasis on using the body first to launch the attack, and with heavy stickiness on impact which will keep the pressure on the line of attack instead of a possible redirection of his weapon and an unknown counter attack path, creates situations that I have been training a lot and have explored all kinds of variations for swords, inspired by a really good chi sao like sensitivity drill I was taught by a HEMA instructor Dan Smith from the EHCG, which then opens up for a lot ways to find a Guided Discovery path/way to attack while keeping the opponent locked in a momentary fixed position, that leaves him no choice than to keep him there to avoid being cut as the power output is maximal and if he breaks contact he will get cut, or try to find a way to attack without disengaging the blade to blade contact. That is only 1 element of many that makes the book so interesting to keep reading it over and over again, the book is so full of wisdom that I find it worth to keep on finding as much as possible from a source with so much to offer.

I have used the same concept with knives and it is perfect for martial arts trained opponents that does not move their hands outside the frame of their torso when they parry, as while the other is working on a solution and is at the start of the second OODA loop (Observe, Orientate, Decide, Action) after his parry which is his 1st loop, I find a path by reflex and have finished my actions and have completed the 2nd OODA loop with my second attack that is combined with a pin, control of his weapon hand, trap, takedown or something else while keeping him on the start of the next one while I execute my Actions fast and extremely aggressive non stop, as the Decision is to go AMOK!, so he has to Observe constantly and will have difficulty to reach the Decision point. 

If the OODA loop is an unknown term I recommend reading about it as it is one of those things that is extremely important to know, and it has even more applications than only strategic warfare and combat, same goes with Musashi’s book ”The Book of Five Rings". 

Cold Steel Training Gladius Test vs Cinder block

I have decided to introduce training with ancient weapons, from Roman Gladius, medieval swords, tomahawks and at some point also sabre fencing which is tons of fun, I have never lost a match the year I was training foil fencing, I lost interest as I never lost a match, so I decided to train something that would challenge me and lose. 

That I found in MMA and BJJ, I really did experience to be completely dominated for the first time in my life and feel that I had no living chance, the only reason that I didn’t quit even if I had bent the ribs on both sides, was that I improvised a submission the first day and didn’t know what the hell to do but managed to get a tap out from a more experienced student. Getting pawned for weeks non stop and only when someone new stepped in was the only victories the first 6 months, when I reached the level that I didn’t get submitted before 10 seconds, could defend myself for a round and once in while submit others who had trained at least the same amount of time as me was what made me come for training, but the discovery of having a huge lack of skills was the primary motivator.

There is as far as I know only one DVD on the market for combat with the Gladius, I didn’t like it as it was FMA with a Gladius, nothing wrong with that but it didn’t show me anything new, or had a historical reference which is impossible as there are none for the use of the Gladius in combat from ancient Roman text as far as I know, only that the biggest problem was that some general was concerned with his soldiers using it for slashing instead of stabbing, which kills a lot faster. So it will be using AMOK!™ methodology combined with my previous training with sport fencing, European medieval weapons, to not recreate but to rediscover and innovate how to use it to its best potential, that was the reason for creating the Kratos Combatives Combat Laboratory, to learn by Guided Discovery™ how to fight with ancient weapons that have no use in today’s arsenal of weapons for combat.

The Cold Steel Training Gladius is unbreakable and a relative safe training weapon, I like steel but it cost a lot more and if the gladiators used wooden swords for training, I see no point in using a steel training model. I have broken 4 steel swords, and one of them was a heavy high quality Lancashire sword that was created to be unbreakable as it was very heavy, but it broke when I blocked an attack that was delivered with maximum force and I applied maximum force to match that. So to keep the cost low and safety high, it is IMHO the best choice, as a broken sword depending on the angle does not stop the attack unless one can control and stop before impact and the piece that is broken can fly anywhere and by accident hit some ones eye. But we need proper protection, as look at the video and think what would happen if a slash hit bone.

Short Flow Drill Video HD.mp4

Solo Drills part 2 HD

Part 2 of Solo Drills. We have no forms, kata, jurus or anything like that, the closest would be shadow sparring with a safe blade to start with, as many hit themselves more often than they should, it is better to prepare with a dull edge with no point before using live blades.

This can be done anywhere as it requires only a little space, it is for training speed, broken rhythm and train to use any angle, and not only have a fixed amount of angles and combinations as there is an endless amount, the only limit is the imagination, drawing the alphabet with the point of the knife gives you more variations and they are natural to use, as they are imbedded from many years of writing with a pencil or drawing as a kid.  

Copenhagen Combatives Solo Drills 1 HD

Solo Drills I use for several purposes, to keep training to be faster, heal my injuries by replenishing the fluids in my damaged elbow joint, get used to use various blades and tools, the bonus is that I can do it in a very confined space. 

Kratos knife combat accidents HD

How to deal with injuries in training, after over 25 years of training and most of them full contact, I have accumulated various injuries, the reason I have trained so many styles is that I changed style depending on the current injuries. As an example I trained MMA and BJJ, but after the second serious contagious skin disease I had to stop to not infect my team and the it took over 2 years to get rid of that disease, so I started training Escrima and combat with medieval European weapons again after a long break, when I was healed I started to train Submission Wrestling again but suffered a serious nerve damage in my dominant right arm and had to stop, as I tried to continue training but the after surgery I was advised to not train any combat sport that would add pressure on my elbow or use elbows to strike and any contact to my fingers triggers excruciating pain, so now I teach and have stopped cross training other martial arts, but as I teach 6 hours every week and have to fight often when teaching, I don’t want to risk to have a permanent injury and get enough training without risking to worsen the damage. If you use an injury as a new way to train other important aspects of combat instead of seeing it as an impediment and not train, you loose the opportunity to learn how to fight under less than perfect conditions, there is no guarantee that you will be attacked when you are fresh and have no injuries, better to do it in a safe environment than have to find a way to deal with it while you are under attack on the street completely unprepared. https://www.facebook.com/KratosCombatives

Kratos Combatives combat laboratory HD

Experiments with new ideas in a non cooperative format, we test our new ideas without telling the other what you have planned to get a real response based on reflexes, and not by letting him counter what you are doing by announcing your intention. This is how we experiment in a sparring format, were the primary goal is to test if the idea works or not, it’s not a sparring match to see who wins, only to try and functionalize our plans and see if it can be done with the lowest risk to be countered, as a double kill is not a good trade off, we want to see if we can succeed and avoid getting hit while delivering the attacks.