Pain in Combat

I clicked a link over at Kojutsukan to a t.v. interview/panel discussion on pain. 

To summarize, two elite athletes, one in Cricket and the other a boxer, discuss pain, or the lack of pain, that they experience during their chosen sport/profession.

The boxer discusses how she has only been hurt or felt significant pain twice in her fighting career.  She was aware she was being punched in the face but it didn’t really hurt. 

Is she superhuman?  Immune to pain? 

No.  She goes on to say that she feels agony when she stubs her toe at home.

There are panel guest who explore the why’s and how’s of it all.  I watched a good deal of it.  Here’s the link, if you're interested.

Well, it got me thinking...

PAIN:

People experience pain in varying degrees and in varying situations.  This stands to reason. 

If you are training to survive a violent encounter, you must factor in the fact that you and your opponent may experience pain, or my not experience pain, during combat.  

Bottom line, if you are fighting for preservation in a real world attack, the techniques you’ve practiced that hurt like hell during controlled, partial power practice, may have little or no effect on your attacker.  This will be exacerbated by the attacker’s level of commitment, focus, anger and adrenaline. 

Pain is an interesting thing.  As Dalton said in Roadhouse “Pain don’t hurt”.

  

Many people practicing martial arts have never been hit, not really been hit.  Hopefully most people won’t ever be assaulted by someone who is really trying to hurt them.  But if you are, you may feel pain, or you may feel numbness, or confusion, or a combination of these sensations.  

I’ve been on the receiving end of a couple good hits in my lifetime.  While shocking to a degree, I did not feel pain, per say.  I was acutely aware that I had been hit hard, possibly injured, but the actual acute pain didn’t set in until a while later, when the situation was resolved.

The experience is quite off-putting, to say the least, and if you aren’t prepared for the shocking nature, you may naturally sort of ‘shut-down’, covering up (natural to a degree) as opposed to defending yourself.  There are a lot of videos on-line where you observe people just kind of ‘taking it”.  It’s tempting to ask why they just stand there or cower and continue to receive a beating.

Like so many things, you have to prepare yourself mentally.  If you haven’t been hit before, understand that it might hurt or it might not but it will be a jarring experience.  Visualize receiving this shocking blow and use the mental rehearsal to create a trigger or response stimulus.  For those of you who have experience, do the same.  Use it like the gun going off to signal the start of a race.  The race in this case being your survival.

Beyond your own reaction, be aware that your attacker may be less fazed by your defense than you anticipate.  They may not be stopped by a well-placed strike or two. If they are on drugs or alcohol, their pain centers may be further impeded.

This is why, when training for the worst case scenario, the situation you couldn’t extricate yourself from safety, you need to make sure your training is effective, brutally effective. 

Any training for realistic self-perseveration should include techniques that do real damage. 

Consider joint locks and breaks and attacks to vulnerable targets like eyes and throat. 

Even if your attacker doesn’t feel pain, you need to disable their attack ‘delivery system’.  If they can’t stand or their limb or hands are disabled, or they can’t breathe or see, then they are less able to injure you and you are more likely to be able to create an opportunity to get away to safety and get help. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Real violence is ugly and nasty.  Make sure that your training and mindset is prepared to match this reality. 

Be safe.

JM.

Further reading:

I posted some time ago about pain compliance techniques and when they can (and can't) be used effectively.  Click here and here.

More reading on pain:

Joint Locks and the Pain Game Part I

Joint Locks and the Pain Game Part II

Enjoy.

Throwing in the Martial Arts. Are we doing it right?

To go or not to go…with the throw.  That is the question...

When you learn to do throws and break fall, you need to be pretty cautious.  You need your partner to be cooperative on both ends of the equation.  If you don’t then one of you is likely to get hurt. 

Once you get the hang of the mechanics, though, you need to start adjusting your technique.  When you are the one being thrown, it is easy to get in the habit of assisting your partner by ‘jumping’ into the throw even if it’s not being executed properly.  While a certain degree of cooperative effort is required, if you regularly leap into throws, you are doing your training partner a disservice.

A properly executed throw requires 'kuzushi', the breaking of the balance of the "throw-ee”.  When done properly, the person being thrown literally falls over you, and you just assist them in trajectory and force.  If you program yourself to assist too much, your partner will never master kuzushi.

In the real world, you either need this balance breaking or you need to ‘muscle’ the technique, which isn’t normally a good idea.  It tends to involve twisting and lifting at the same time, a nasty combination and a good recipe for injury.

Even if you do break someone’s balance, they may not react as smoothly as a trained uke.  You need to discover what it feels like if someone lilts to one side as they go over so you can learn to adapt and finish the technique effectively.

Don’t forget the fact that most throws and break falls are performed for the benefit of the one being thrown.  

When you examine most throws, the actual damaging portion usually occurs previous to the person hitting the ground.  The throw/break-fall is meant to protect the person being thrown.  

When you break down the throws, you’ll discover that there is normally a break of an arm or dislocation of a shoulder or other joint prior to the person going airborne.  

In fact, if you were to actually perform one of these techniques for real, there’s a fairly good chance that the person would appear more to crumple than to majestically fly through the air. 

When practicing throws, keep both points in mind.  As the thrower, the end goal is not always a big throw, and as a throw-ee, don’t be too quick to ‘go with it’.  

Both are problematic.

Food for thought.

Train well.

Tough Questions About Training

You've just had a great session training in your martial art.  You worked up a good sweat, you worked the heavy bag, you drilled your blocks, strikes and stances. Maybe you sparred or did kata, or both. You nailed all of it.  You're on a post workout high, all those feel good endorphins running through your veins.  It was a good night.  Not a night to question what you're doing.  Or is it?

From time to time you've got to ask yourself some tough questions about your training.  Did that fantastic workout get you any closer to your goals?  Assuming your goals are self defense and preservation, that is.  

So here's the tough question.  Do any of your training methods answer to the type of risk or attack you might face in the street?  

All of the aforementioned training methods have some value, but they must be applied properly, or realistically.

Take the heavy bag.  Sure it's got lots of benefits, but are multiple combinations of punches and kicks really responding the the realities of an attack?  How many punches and kicks can you actually expect to land in a real encounter?  How likely is it that you'll land more than one, and if you do, once you add in the dynamic of movement, where are your strikes going to land?  You could easily injure your hands, feet and shins, even breaking them if you catch your opponent's hard parts.

Sparring?  Well, sparring is great too, but it's not real fighting.  No one bounces back and forth for extended periods of time playing tag and stopping once they land a technique.

Kata?  The core of many martial arts.  Misunderstood, there's not much value to them, from a self defense standpoint.  Understood, yes there are self defense benefits, but many just go through the motions.  Sadly, most kata is so exacting and inflexible in it's execution, it can be challenging to learn how to respond to anything other than a 'perfect' attack.  And some of those scripted attacks on which kata is developed are unrealistic in the first place.  It's easy to get lost in the minutia and miss out on the concepts contained therein.  

Stances?  You need some form of stance for all you do, but to root into one for long periods of time will do little to assist you in a constantly changing assault.  

Blocks, strikes and kicking drills.  All good too, however in a real encounter, after the first block or strike or combo, you'd best be moving to a position of advantage, to get away or as a set up for the next technique.  

So, throw away all your training methods?  

Of course not.  Just adapt or adjust them to match the real world.  There is now nearly unlimited access to actual assaults that have been recorded on the internet.  Watch how they happen.  Put yourself in the shoes of the person that was attacked.  What would you/could you do to respond to the attack?

Study how you could have avoided it altogether. Then study the pre-attack cues, the hints that troubles on it's way. Then study the attack itself. How you would respond, first to the initial attack, and then what would you do as a follow up? You'll likely discover patterns in attackers attacks that you can then develop drills for.

Figure out what you'd do and where you'd move.  Then make sure your training syncs up to that reality.  

The next time you're using the heavy bag, think knees and elbows (harder to injure yourself, easier to injure your attacker, even if they're covering up).  Do your strike, or knee or knee elbow combo and then move.  Come around behind your imaginary opponent or practice getting out of there altogether.  

Sparring has some good movement, or it can, but most sparring prohibits any striking to the back of your opponent, so not many people practice getting behind their opponent.  So make sure you do.  Also, from time to time, keep going after a successful hit (if you do point sparring).  Don't drill yourself to stop fighting as soon as you make contact.  If you're an in close type of fighter, after you've tagged your opponent, move in and tie them up/set them up for a finish.

Kata?  That's a bit harder.  Take a kata technique and practice it against different types of attacks.  You may have to do it a certain way in a grading, but that shouldn't prevent you from experimenting with a concept and adjusting as necessary.  

Stances, go into them, but practice popping out of them and moving.  You don't want to be fighting in a straight line, so get off the tracks, you can always drop into another stance once you've angled off to the side or back of your opponent.

Nicely put, Nike

Blocks, strikes and kicking drills?  Same thing, strike and move.  Move in, move out, move to the side, move behind.  Every technique you do should improve your position, make your opponent's position worse and protect yourself from injury.

One of the best things you can do for self defense is to study actual attacks and then tailor your training to respond to those realities.  Training to respond to the most likely type of attacks from the most likely type of attackers will put you miles ahead of most in the self defense world.

"You will fight as you train" 

This is very true in martial arts.  Under stress, your training will kick in.  So make sure your training is addressing the type of violence you're most likely to face.  If all your training is static straight line training,  you'll never move to a position of advantage under high stress.

We are lucky in many ways to have access to such a large database of actual attacks.  It is now possible to tailor training to more accurately respond to what's happening in the real world.

Food for thought.

Back to Basics - Stop making self defense so complicated

"Advanced techniques are the basics done better"

This has long been a mantra in my system of Jiu Jitsu.  I agree with it, but it's also easy to forget.

I'm good at Jiu Jitsu.  Really good.  Actually, I may be too good.  Which makes me, um...not so good.  

Some of the techniques I regularly employ are so advanced that I forget to go for the simple stuff.  When an attack comes in, I often go for an unnecessarily complex response.  Don't get me wrong, most of the stuff works, but for true self defense, often the simplest response is the most effective.

This came to light (again), the other night in practice.  We were working on instant responses to attacks, be they wrist grabs, lapel grabs, lapel grabs with a punch, wrist grabs with a pull/punch, chokes, double lapel grabs, bear hugs, headlocks, etc etc.  A whole gambit of attacks.

One of the important things we are working on is adding movement into attacks. No one grabs a wrist of lapel just for the sake of grabbing, there is always another purpose.  Attacks are not static, so neither should the responses be.  Add in momentum and multiple attacks and you find your arsenal of defenses must be examined.  Not every defense can be applied when you are being rushed, attacked from behind or when you're being shoved.

A key element in self defense is responding instantly.  As soon as the person grabs (or before!) you must move.  There are exceptions where you may allow a person to get a hold of you, deliberately tying up several of their weapons, but in general, in real self defense, the quicker the better (and then get out of there). 

So we started from wrist grabs (as a set up to an attack, again, no one grabs your wrist and just stands there).  I impressively (hint of sarcasm) went into a variety of intricate 'advanced' techniques.  Bravo.  Problem was, they weren't all instantaneous.  I had to think about some of them.  

After I had exhausted my impressive list of responses, Sensei had a go.

Sensei started with several defenses utilizing the thumb to break my grip and my balance.  They were lightning fast and simple.  I simply could not hold on to him and he ended up in a position of advantage for a follow up if he needed, or he provided an opportunity to escape.  Over and over, easy, simple effective responses.

He asked if I recognized any of these. 

I did.  

From my first day of Jiu Jitsu. Ever.

On class number one, over two decades ago, we went over escapes from grabs.  We learned about balance and the strongest and weakest parts of the hands (and body).  

Of course, I've seen these very techniques countless times over the years, and usually again whenever a new student starts.  It's part of an 'intro' to Jiu Jitsu as it demonstrates that strength is not required in most techniques.  They are also techniques new students can remember, take away and apply if need be in real life.  There's beauty in their simplicity.

Now, in some respects, they are being applied in a more advanced way, incorporating movement, momentum, unbalancing and positioning, but at their core, they're still "Day #1 basic techniques".

Never forget that simple doesn't mean ineffective.  Less is often more.

A bit of a pun, but appropriate none the less

Never forget the basics.

There is much truth to the saying "Advanced techniques are the basics done better".

Food for thought.

Low-Light Training

In my last post on training blindfolded, I touched on the use of low light training to improve your ability to prepare, and survive, a violent encounter.

Making training as realistic as possible is never easy.  Short of ‘surprise attacking’ training partners outside of the dojo, it can be tough to create, or recreate, the elements present in a real attack. (not everyone has a Cato…)

Training in low light conditions is one of the best ways to mimic many of the dynamic and challenging aspects of responding to an unanticipated or unscripted attack.

Most real attacks contain an element of surprise.  Very few perpetrators make their intentions fully known.  No attack, outside those of testosterone and booze fuelled acts of bravado, start with two people squaring off with each other.

Knowing this, we need to develop methods of training to respond to these ‘advantage-to-attacker’ scenarios. 

Dealing with spontaneous attacks:

Frankly, if someone manages to take you completely by surprise and undetected, there’s not much anyone can do, other than fighting back after the attack lands, assuming you’re in a condition to do so.

In most situations, and if you work on awareness as part of your training, there will be some hint that an attack is coming.  Unlike the blindfolded training discussed in my last article, you will most detect some of the cues, such as a flash of movement. 

The challenge, then, is how best to respond to these cues.  In ‘standard’ training as I’ll call it, your attacker is standing fact to face with you.  When he/she attacks, you often know what attack is coming in advance.  Even if you don’t, you may have enough time to identify exactly what type of attack is coming at you.

In a spontaneous attack, however, you don’t have these luxuries.  Your goal should be just to recognize that an attack is coming your way.  The loftier goal should be to be aware enough that you’ve extricated yourself from potentially dangerous situations before they ever got that far, but this isn’t always realistic.

Knowing that very few criminals are looking for a fair fight should impact our training.  Responding to a flash of movement is problematic in a well-lit dojo or training hall.  This is where low-light training can prove invaluable. 

Slowly reducing the light gives you an opportunity to gradually respond to less than ideal situations.  The darker it gets, the more you have to utilize and develop “universal” techniques.  It is much easier to come up with a response to an attack you’ve identified in advance than it is to respond to blurry or hard to see movements.

Low-light training allows you to gradually acclimatize, and inoculate yourself, to some of the conditions you may face in a real violent encounter.  While it is unlikely that you will be completely blinded, it is more than likely that your sight will be somewhat compromised.  Remember too, that getting hit in the nose will cause your eyes to tear up uncontrollably, reducing your ability to see. 

Low-light training has many of the same benefits of blindfold training, without the complete loss of one of your senses.  You must combine ‘feel’ with visual cues.  You will find, just as with blind folded training, that movement and balance must be mastered to be successful.

Universal Techniques:

There’s no such thing of course, but low-light training will illustrate the need for developing strategies, and techniques, that will give you the greatest chance for weathering the initial attack.

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ll know the value I put into what I call ‘crashing’ in on your attacker, while protecting your most valuable asset, your head.  Protecting your knockout button on your chin/jaw and those all-important eyes are extremely important. 

This applies mostly to striking attacks, but this same movement pattern can be very effective against most grabs as well.  Practicing crashing into your opponent in lit conditions first is a good idea too, to gauge distance and timing (and so you don’t hurt them when the lights go down).

For low-light training, I recommend your opponent wear headgear as the likelihood of you making contact is quite high when crashing in.

Experiment in low-light training and you’ll realize the need for this ‘universal’ technique or concept.  It’s easy to misread or misjudge an incoming attack when the light is very low.  Get tagged a few times and you’ll realize the need to cover up while getting into a position to better respond/defend/attack.  If you do get hit, don’t let that stop you from responding.  One of the biggest predictors of success is your willingness to fight back, regardless of the quality of your technique.  Once you’ve survived or successfully countered the initial attack, move into your response.

If you have access to strobe lights, add them to low-light training as well.  The rapid flashing distorts your ability to track motion and judge distance and timing.  Similar to blind folded and low-light training, you’ll have to rely on all your senses to respond.  Again, when you can’t judge speed and distance, you’ll need the “universal” technique to avoid being clobbered.

If you can, add in loud noises as well.  A recording of a jack hammer or even loud music will do the trick.  This added distraction further hinders your ability to make sense of things easily, just as the stress of a real attack can do.

When you train in low-light conditions, you’ll discover that this type of combat will provide you will valuable tools to prepare yourself for real violence.  It’s a form of stress inoculation as well, which is always good.  Low-light training will trigger the ‘been there, done that’ center of your brain, allowing for a faster and more effective response to a real attack.

You will not likely ever be attacked in ‘ideal’ conditions, so make sure that not all your training is done in one.

Give low-light training a try.  Let me know your results.

Train safely and with an open mind.  Good luck.

Blindfold Training - Taking Training to the Next Level

Training blindfolded is always an interesting experience.  And it’s quite telling.  If you want to know where you’re smooth and where you’re sloppy, throw on a blindfold and train.

You’ll find out which techniques are truly ingrained and which ones you need to work on. 

To simplify, there are 3 broad levels when assessing your skill level:

  

Level I 

These are the techniques you know really well.  Even blindfolded, you execute them smoothly with little or no hesitation.  There’s a reason for the saying “I know it so well I could do it blindfolded”.  You are smooth, quick and near instinctual.

Level II 

These are the techniques you know quite well but haven’t quite burned into your ‘auto-response’ center.  These are the ones where you hesitate before applying.  Your mind's eye takes a bit of time to ‘see’ your attacker before responding.  This stage is often also marked by bigger or sloppier movements.  A strike may land off target slightly, a lock might miss the joint by a little bit, or the person you’re throwing may get dragged over and unceremoniously dumped onto the ground instead of right at your feet.

Level III 

These are the ones that are really messy.  You pause, try to figure out what attack you’re receiving, where you attacker is and what to do.  Often people freeze a bit, miss techniques or get all caught up or trip over themselves or their opponent.

Obviously, we should all strive for level I or better. 

Working backwards, you may be able to do the techniques from level III quite well when you can see.  Your response, however, is controlled mainly by your one sense, sight.  These are the techniques you need to examine to identify the feel, balance etc. 

Level II techniques are interesting.  Your brain has accepted them and knows them quite well, but you haven’t given all the non-sight based elements enough study.  It’s time to examine those elements more deeply, in practice and also through mental rehersal.  Low light training can be a valuable method for bridging the gap between being pretty good and truly ingraining the techniques.  If you have access to lights that can dim, even better.  As you progress, you can turn down the lights more and more.

Level I – keep doing what you’re doing.  Keep improving till your response is truly instinctual and instant.

Wrap-up:

Training blindfolded can be very challenging, for you and for your training partner.  Some attacks are easier to respond to, such as a grab, headlock or bear hug. Obviously, it is more difficult to defend against strikes, especially if there’s no pre-emptive grab.  It can be done, but it takes a high level of skill and a long time. 

For training purposes, start with techniques such as grabs, chokes, headlocks and bearhugs and progress to ‘grab and hit’ attacks.  This is where you start to feel where your opponent is, detect when they shift their balance, feel the tensing of their muscles etc.

So how can you train to deal with the ‘non grab and hit’ attacks?

This is where the low light training can be especially valuable.  In fact, the proper use of low light training can drastically increase your chances of surviving real world unanticipated attacks.

In my next post, I'll explain why this is so and how to go about doing it.

Train well.