OPTIMAL BODY INTELLIGENCE TRAINING FOR COMBAT KUNTAO BAGUAZHANG HSING I ...

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1942 US Rangers Combat School - 8 of 9 - Just Declassified!

Jiu-Jitsu Vision

For those with a New Year resolution to start training self defence, no excuses start training any kind of martial arts to not only defend yourself but also others, it makes me want to puke when reading or seeing news about bystanders doing nothing when they see or hear a women who is raped, or other violent crimes where there are 20-80 people just being passive to a crime. Only rule of thumb I have is to make sure of 2 things.

1there is sparring during training in every class, not something you have to wait too many years for, as it could be sooner that you need to find the weak spots you need to train away.

2 that you train all aspects and distances from standing, clinch, ground and the most common used attacks and weapons, no need to train defence against a certain specific styles attacks or train to defend against weapons that you most likely will never encounter as a katana, medieval swords, AK-47, but jabs, cross, hooks, front kick, haymaker, tackle, knife attacks and blunt instruments.

Guns better hope the man is a complete moron who puts his gun so close that it touches your face so you can grab it with both hands, or else run away in a diagonal pattern, but if someone pulls a gun he will either kill you and you will know that when you are full of holes, or threaten you for money that you can give as it is better than your life or to mess with your mind and establish dominance as he is a pussy that needs a gun to show his friends that he has balls to wave around with a gun. If you are in font of a gang and one of them threaten to pull a gun, run like hell and punch him he will be so surprised that he will either never get his gun up and get the safety off or if you are lucky and he will shoot his own dick off if the safety is off as a punch to the face makes you hands clench if he feels pain, get surprised and scared or go limp if he is KO. 

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 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. 

Now it is possible to watch videos from Suarez International, a lot of videos for those who have an interest in combatives go to  video.suarezinternational.com

Laws and Principles of Combat

This is an old article about AMOK! Combatives and any form of combat.

Laws and Principles of Combat
© Tom Sotis

A Law of Nature - Combat is a natural phenomenon governed by physics and human anatomy, which exists purely as a function of nature, and humans must adapt to it.

The Law of Self-preservation - every living creature has the right to defend itself from harm.

The Law of Universal Human Design - our universally designed human bodies are subject to and affected identically (but not equally) by the same forces, thus establishing fundamental unchanging principles of combat shared by all humans.

The Law of Variation of Human Proportions - human anatomy is universal in design but varies widely in their proportion; which explains why sound principles produce widely varying effects.

Because combat is not experienced in fixed or absolute terms and because of the Laws of Variation and Effectiveness, when erecting problem-solving guidelines we can, because of universal design, use rules of thumb to draw those lines.

Combative Rules of Thumb -useful principles or courses of action that have proved to be widely true or effective (because of UHD) – AND are subject to the Law of Exceptions (because of VHD).

The Law of Exceptions - exceptions are respected and embraced for their ability to nullify a CRT or force its modification but they don’t invalidate them.

The Principle of Varying Degrees of Effectiveness - any given action will have varying degrees of effect relative to who is doing it to whom and how well. (same action = different results).

The Principle of Counter-ability - counters don’t invalidate the actions that spawn them; their value is gauged by the likelihood of its outcome which is based on the relative ease or difficulty between the action and the counter (EH+, EE=, HH≠, HE-). This is both action-based (group results) and subject to the principle of varying effectiveness.

The Principle of Usefulness - the usefulness of any action is an inverse relationship between effectiveness and degree of counter-ability (every tool has value relative to the moment).

The Law of Varying Outcomes - an exchange will have varying outcomes whereby either, neither, or both combatants incur damage or are killed; and in turn changes their potential. E/N/B X I/K = VO

The Law of Changing Potentials - the combined and related mental, physical and tactical potential of the fighters’, changes as the fight evolves.

The Law of Physical Deterioration - each fighter’s physical potential progressively deteriorates; mainly through injury and/or loss of stamina (physical and/or mental).

The Law of Human Mechanical Resistance to Pressure - muscles provide resistance efficiently up to 15* of misalignment, (the 15* threshold of resistance) and then progressively deteriorates experiencing complete failure at 45*.

Mechanical Resistance Tests

1. Parallel feet to outward resistance of the wrists
2. Elbows Underside to the legs’ ability to resist
3. Hips aligned to Shoulders ability to resist takedown and punch
4. Head to Center ability to resist a stomach strike
5. Elbow to elbow ability to resist with opposite palm
6. Arm extended walk it diagonally down ability to resist force in only one direction at a time.

The Law of Pressure - pressure creates the need for and governs, the tactics, tools, and mechanics of combat.

THE SIX PressureS

Macro-pressure is defined as, and gauged by, the degree by which the enemy’s torso bears upon you (by leveraging the natural forces of momentum, gravity and torque) and prisms combat into six strata: maximum, significant, reduced, mutual, negative, and vertical.

Maximum pressure is when the enemy attempts to fully occupy (or move through) the space that you occupy. The attacker’s momentum dominates, supplemented by gravity and torque.

Significant pressure is when you are toe-to-toe and the enemy took at least one full step to get there (usually the distance of the initial strike). The attacker’s momentum, gravity and torque are gathered in relatively balanced amounts.

Reduced pressure exists when you are toe-to-toe and the enemy took at least a half-step or less to get there (usually subsequent strikes). The attacker’s momentum and gravity are reduced while torque remains constant.

Mutual (or zero) pressure exists when you are toe-to-toe exerting equal force against one-another. Momentum, gravity, and torque have minimum roles where mainly power, leverage, and technique dominate the micro-dynamics.

Negative pressure is when the enemy’s torso is moving away from you (because he is disengaging and/or because you are striking him). The attacker’s momentum is reversed, gravity is relatively constant, and torque is diminished.

Vertical pressure exists when one or both of the combatants are on the ground. Momentum is minimal, gravity is the dominant force, and torque varies.

Each varying pressure spawns and governs a corresponding tactical realm and dictates the actions (and mechanics) within it. Hence, pressure governs tactics and prisms combat into nine tactical realms.

THE NINE TACTICAL REALMS

Accessing is the realm spawned by maximum pressure because AMOK! training proceeds on the assumption that we’ll be ambushed by a committed capable foe. Amoks learn to more effectively redefine their instinctive protective mechanisms, manufacture opportunities to draw through distance/position/control tactics, and finally, honing elements of drawing, closed use of a folder, and deployment under duress.

   Amoks work at improvising these skills against ambushes, from positions of disadvantage, against committed attacks, non-committed attacks, and attacks that change and transition between them. Practices include working against attacks most preferred by thugs, bikers, prisoners, convicts, soldiers, and knifers.
  Maximum pressure attacks demand that you either vacate the space (footwork) or if you must remain fixed, employ momentum-slowing tools (headbutts, shoulders, and elbows) for your counters to be effective.

Accessing while under attack is a prioritized skill set because it does little good to train weapon-to-weapon scenarios if you don’t have the skill to produce that weapon under duress.

Dueling is the realm spawned by significant pressure because in weapon-to-weapon scenarios that begin out of reach, your foe will close the distance (make the initial strike) and unless he is suicidal, must be concerned with your weapon. Therefore he will close toe-to-toe, and unlikely to attempt to fully occupy your space until an advantage has been gained.

  AMOK!’s initial knifing practices are designed to meet committed and non-injured foes. In this tactical realm, one’s degree of success is directly proportional to their footwork and striking skill, demanding only gross mechanical use of the checkhand.

  Amoks work at honing the counters to single or combination attacks, fakes, grabbing attacks, and traps. Analogous to the children’s game of “rock-paper-scissors”, Amoks develop a tactical hierarchy where each successive level of tactics is designed to defeat the tools from the previous level offering a progressive means of managing the chaos.

Kill-Zone is the realm spawned by reduced pressure. Where initial strikes carry more momentum over a longer distance, subsequent actions utilize less body momentum (usually a half-step or short shuffle) resulting reduced forward pressure.   

  Generally knifers seek to either: close with the enemy, do damage, and exit or close with the enemy, do damage, and take them down. You cannot afford to stand toe-to-toe and exchange strikes, the reduced pressure zone is a high-risk cusp that must be crossed (the equivalent of having to ford a river that runs across the middle of a battlefield.

  In this mutual-kill-zone, one’s degree of success is directly proportional to their checkhand development (and compounded by the type/level of foe’s diminishment) because success is not judged by how much you damage the enemy but by how much they damage you in the process and checkhand development largely determines that.

   Amoks shun pattern drills preferring the spontaneity of free exchange practices. Amoks develop reflexes that promote freedom in targeting the enemy’s arm, leg, head, or torso using a neuro-semantic technique to create imbedded command actions (the act of striking by reflex).

Mutual pressures spawn a four-part realm containing stalemates, hold-ups, disarming, and trapping because at the very start these scenarios neither party is exerting more forward pressure than the other. Of course as soon as an advantage is gained, this will change.

  Stalemates occur when both combatants grab each others’ wrist that holds their blade (the knifer’s equivalent of an empty handed clinch). This is mainly an energy-based skill set where counters emerge from the changing macro-pressures of the torso and/or micro-pressures of the arms. 

  Hold-ups are scenarios where you are being held at knifepoint as in the case of some robberies or hostage situations. Even though jostling occurs, by their very design hold-ups are mainly static positions.

  Disarming opportunities arise most often when there occurs a mutual pulling between your grabbing hand and his blade-hand, thus sufficiently stabilizing his blade-hand enough to effect the disarm minimizing the risk of injury from a moving blade (always expecting him to counter).

  Trapping occurs most often during arm collisions where the two torsos are barely moving towards one another. If either combatant is in retreat the trap dissipates with lack of pressure or if they are colliding hard because micro-pressure traps can collapse under too much macro-pressure.

Empty Hands - Negative pressure spawns the realm that merges with empty hands elements. When an enemy’s blade has been sufficiently neutralized it opens opportunities to safely inject empty hands strikes and follow up with head controls, sweeps, inversions, leg lifts, locks, throws and other means of putting the enemy down.
  Negative pressure also occurs when you are striking with your blade and he is in retreat (and in this case you have turned the tide and are now attacking); but given a choice between the two, striking him down with a short knife can take too long to reap its effects (he takes too long to bleed out) and so it is often safer and more expedient to put him down body to body.

Groundwork - Vertical pressures spawn the realm whereby one or both combatants are on the ground. In some situations one combatant is standing and the other is on their butt or back, and in other situations, both may be on the ground. In either case, the combatant on the bottom must manage attacks bearing vertically down on him

LAHNERTactical

First time I saw this video I was not 100% sure, but then got confirmed that one of the guys in this video I have been teaching for a weekend privately with 2 others in Berlin, Germany, in 2007. Best combo of participants all with martial art, FMA, MMA and military special unit’s experience, the types that are the hardest to convince that it was not BS I was teaching, and what made the whole trip worth spending money on it, was that they were happy customers.

 

LAHNER-Tactical Concepts provides Tactical Training and Consulting to Law Enforcement, Military and Security Professionals.
Selected Programs are also available to Civilian users.

"The Myth of Proportional Armament" af Southnark

Usually when one takes training or instruction what they are receiving is an instructor’s vision of a confrontation and the means to prevent or manage such. A lot can be gleaned about someone’s reference points to the realities of self defense, by examining the methods they espouse. This is important from the standpoint of insuring that you are indeed training in a system that matches the realities of the way life or death struggle flows. One of the biggest areas that I see instructors lacking is in their belief that two individuals in a confrontation will be equally armed. They may acknowledge that disparate force confrontations are common, but does their instruction reflect this? An example: Many proponents of knife work teach a system that is predicated on maintaining range and cutting an appendage as it comes into one’s protective circle. The next thing that follows is usually a statement such as “If you can maintain range, you should since you don’t want close with his blade”. Now let’s stop right there and think about that for a moment. What this implies is that he has a knife and you have a knife, and both of you have been able to get said knives in hand and are at range. How often does it really happen this way folks? In my experience, not very often. So let’s address some things, point by point. Real bad guys aren’t stupid. Most will not make the decision to attack unless the odds are in their favor. They will usually have weapon and a friend or two. They will not approach someone whom they perceive as a hardened target, for the most part. This is where not looking like food comes into

play. Your job is to be alert and be able to see a threat before it gets within your protective sphere. If they do make the decision to attack they have to get close to do so. There may be a ruse involved and some deliberate misdirection. They are certainly not going to let you see a weapon in their hand and give you the time to run. So if it’s probable that the bad guy is not going to let you see his weapon at range, then why do we always see systems and methods that are teaching ranged combatives where the good guy and bad guy are equally armed? Would both allow the other to do so? So at this point what can we do to accelerate the curve of advantage? If you see a threat and acknowledge it as such, it’s probably a good idea to at least covertly establish the grip on your tool of choice, be that a firearm, a knife, or OC. We want to do this because establishing grip on the tool is the most tenuous part of any drawstroke to bring any tool into play. This is due to the fact that the majority of our tools in this day and age have to be kept concealed on our body, and ripping through various layers of garments is the slowest part of the stroke. When we establish the grip on our tool, an acknowledgment of the bad guy and aggressive body kinesics should be utilized. What do I mean here? Picture seeing a guy rapidly approach you. He’s disheveled and his right hand is in his coat pocket. You step back with your strong foot, and sweep your jacket, establishing the grip on your handgun. At the same time, you bring your off-hand up palm out in the universal “Stop” sign, a one-handed fence if you will. Now we ask the guy, in a serious tone, “What do you want?”, and maintain eye contact. What we’ve done at this point, is get through the slowest part of accessing a tool, assumed a protective posture, and challenged the guy non-confrontationally. We’ve also sent him some messages. First that we see him, and second that we are potentially armed. Bad guys carry their tools in the same place that good guys do, so when he sees your hand disappear in your waistline or into a pocket he’ll very likely assume that you are armed. What we haven’t done is said anything provoking or brandished a weapon. We may very well have read it wrong. This process allows you some margin for error in your assessment. Even if he’s not a bad guy, most will still react to aggressive body language. Remember that the majority of our communication is non-verbal. That being said, sometimes we don’t pick up the threat and they are on us before we can preemptively get a grip, on our tool. Remember when I said before that bad guys aren’t stupid. You can be rest assured that his weapon, and there will probably be one, will be in hand, and out where he can use it. He will keep it hidden but in hand, close the gap, and only let you see it when he’s right upon you. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a gun or a knife. So where’s the range now? Is this a place in the confrontation where forward grip has a significant advantage over reverse grip? What about cutting the limb instead of the body to see if that will stop him before we “escalate” to pumping his torso with steel? Do any of these atypical system arguments that we’ve all seen even apply? I don’t think so. At this point, the only thing we can really do is deal with the weapon hands on. At some point while doing this, a window may open for you to be able to access a tool in-fight. This skill sub-set must be practiced and incorporated into your combatives training. Additionally, if your tools are not set up optimally for this type of scenario, you may very well not be able to get them into play. Do you really think you can get that folder out and thumb it open after dealing with an adversary who has just had a knife to your throat during a robbery? And here’s a real key issue: If you have successfully negated an opponent’s weapon, then there is a strong possibility that he’s out of the fight which probably nullifies any legal justification that you may have for drawing a weapon of your own. Think about it. So what are the parameters? Pretty simple. The bad guy is not going to be at range and brandish a weapon, giving you time and the cue to equally arm yourself. If he chooses to go after you, then it’s probably because your awareness has lapsed. Even so, he’s not going to close on you unarmed, and if he does then it’s usually because he has a buddy who more than likely is. So the idea that confrontations begin with both participants equally and proportionally armed is a myth. You will either see the threat and make preparations for a potentially armed encounter, or you will be in one before you know that it’s an armed encounter and have to deal with it hands on or access a tool in fight. Either way it’s usually disparate. Knife on knife at range, or gun on gun at range very rarely happens in the realm of citizen self defense scenarios. Once these parameters are understood, then we can make some educated decisions about hardware and software. I encourage everyone to use the reality of disparate force encounters as the litmus test for a system’s street efficacy.

Paul-E-Palooza Memorial Training Event AAR | Active Response Training

Paul-E-Palooza Memorial Training Event AAR | Active Response Training

CQB TIPS

I subscribe to newsletters from Suarez International, there are a lot of good articles, most important it’s by no means political correct, some may find it offensive but I like their harsh criticism that is crucial for improving the ability to survive, his approach is similar to ours by the fact than Gabe Suarez has been an AMOK! teacher.

Suarez International Group Of Companies

CQB TIPS  First a definition.  "CQB" is an acronym for Close Quarters Battle.  It was coined by the British SAS as far as I know and formed a catch-all category to throw anything to do with fighting in or around buildings.  Since "fighting in and around buildings" is a mouthful by anyone's standards, I will use the British term. Some things to consider. The CQB area is sadly lacking in many a man's training.  Sure, he has been through a shoothouse...maybe even done a paintball game at some point...but there is a great deal more to consider.  Here are some of those things.  He who lays in wait has an immense advantage over he who goes to get him. That cannot be ignored. As well, the tenents of the application:  For the defender...patience and stealth.  The role of the defender is much like hunting from a blind.  But for the assaulter...surprise, speed, overwhelming violence, will mitigate the danger to them...but not eliminate it. If any of these is lost, the danger goes up dramatically. I will also say that a single operator clearing his home...a father moving to rescue a child from a home invader, or a protective agent moving his principal through and clear of a danger area are all doing different things than what a military assault, or a SWAT entry entails. There are similarities in concept...but vast differences in application. Paramount to success is having a clear understanding of mission.  Why are you doing what you are doing.  An understanding of that will dictate how you do it, as well as how much you risk in the application.  In short, the missions are as follows. 1).  Lay in wait - waith for the adversary come to you and then ambush him. 2).  Search and clear - Role reversal from the above.  The traditional clear the house scenario. 3).  Hunt and Kill - Think of a private citizen hostage rescue in the home directed at the home invaders actively hurting family members. 4).  Escape and Evade - In short, how to get out of a danger area under arms. All three are viable missions to consider and each has its own tactics.

Combate Militar com Facas

More Brazilian Combatives videos that looks quite interesting. 

kombato marinha 10 anos.wmv

'Shooting the Bad Guy Off of the Gun!' by Gomez-Training.com

How to Draw and Shoot While Engaged in Close-Range Combat: Close-Range G...

2 good sources for those interested in combat shooting.

Copenhagen Combatives Group new system The Kratos Combatives™

The Copenhagen Combatives™ Group have launched an independent systems besides our regular AMOK! training, which is the most ultra functional system proven in combat based on short blade techniques. This is what we predominately teach as a defence system against armed and unarmed attacks, how to use any object as a weapon, recognising and evading an assault by learning how to spot the subtle cues before an attack is launched.

The independent systems is:

The Kratos Combatives™ a methodology to use any kind of historical weapons inspired by my mentor and teacher Tom Sotis. This is to show how the framework and methodology from AMOK! can be utilized to any kind of weapon. A hybrid martial art based on geometry for empty hand defence, where the goal is to give functional self-defence skills with the minimum amount of time, by utilising the most common flinch responses as a defence. Utilising genetically pre-programmed movements as attacks, as for example using the movement from throwing an object to use it for a punch, throwing is such a complex movement that its not a skill learned its there from birth, but can be improved by training and change it to other purposes. 

After waiting for this project to launch, we can finally announce that it now is possible to see instructional videos with Tom Sotis about how to defend yourself against knife attacks, unarmed or with a knife.