Analysis of How to Train for Reality

[Josann]

Thanks Van,
I'm having some issues with my hips at the present time, got the hospital in February ,also I don't think Jim is close to where I live. I do respect Jim's approach though, incorporating nerve strikes to his Uechi, I think he has a video out on it.I intent to get a few of the more interesting videos on aspects of MA soon, that will be one of them

Hey Ray, I've had hip replacement and it's not the end of the world. I had it done 6 years ago and was back in the dojo in 7 weeks and the replaced hip is now my "good one." I also work out with guys that have had replacements of hips as well as knees. IMO it's better to repair it and move on than to let that effect your lifestyle and ability to perform martial arts. Ended some activities, ju jitsu ukemi, running, for example. Made others more important and fun, biking,hiking, karate, weight training, and I'm sure I'll find others in my next 40 years on the planet.

Your training in TMA comes in handy when rehabbing and coming back from injuries. It's all about your attitude-another type of "mindset". Good luck with the comeback, I'm sure you'll have one.

[jorvik]

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Ray,

Hope all for the best when you in the hospital…will this be a hip replacement?

not this time Van I hope thanks for the kind words

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Hey Ray, I've had hip replacement and it's not the end of the world. I had it done 6 years ago and was back in the dojo in 7 weeks and the replaced hip is now my "good one." I also work out with guys that have had replacements of hips as well as knees. IMO it's better to repair it and move on than to let that effect your lifestyle and ability to perform martial arts. Ended some activities, ju jitsu ukemi, running, for example. Made others more important and fun, biking,hiking, karate, weight training, and I'm sure I'll find others in my next 40 years on the planet.

Your training in TMA comes in handy when rehabbing and coming back from injuries. It's all about your attitude-another type of "mindset". Good luck with the comeback, I'm sure you'll have one.

Jo
I've had two hip replacements on the one hip, the left one. The first one failed after a few years.it's metal on metal and that can cause problems so I am getting it looked at................my right hip has also got arthritis and I am just seeing how much I can do. It's really down to the club that I train in rather than the style. I've been to a few clubs and mentioned my hip and they still think that I'm going to join in with kicking exercises etc, or do other stuff that I can't do. I was hoping to blend some of the wing chun stuff that I've learned into Uechi, and have a different approach.
I've also widened my interests I go sailing, and took up archery.I'd still like to do MA, and I may settle for Escrima because it's the one that is most suitable for people with mobility issues

[jorvik]

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"The concept of a “fair fight” is a mean to express dominance. On an equal basis (or perceived equal basis) I beat you man to man” (or replace with your gender).

This concept is propagated by fictional media. The gunfighters meeting in the middle of the street. Most bad ass cowboys ambushed the guys they killed.

The need to dominate or be alpha generates the monkey dance.


Well I am assuming that there is a reason Fair fight is in punctuation marks, and percieved is in brackets.
The bad guys do not think in the same way that we do
, getting a drop on someone from behind, or sneakily using a weapon to them, makes them tougher than you in their eyes, and to them it's fair, also their motivation is quite different.
I dealt with one case involving two witnesses, an off duty policeman and his fiance. They had been in a quiet pub having a pleasant evening ,chatting and drinking two guys came in, both black, though that bares little relevance....the officer was drinking a cocktail and one of the guys said " that's a gay drink" the officer just shrugged his shoulders and remembers the guy turning away .the next thing that he remembered was waking up in a hospital bed. The only witness to the attack was his fiance, she saw this guy throw a really quick headbutt knocking the officer out instantly.it transpired that the black guy had only just got out of prison the day before ......and he was not happy when he found out his victim was an off duty policeman. the officer took it in his stride when I spoke to him and was quite open about it, he didn't have any feeling of inadaquacey for having been knocked out so quickly , he hadn't picked up any sign of the impending violence or even been able to stop it. I don't know any way that he might have stopped it, maybe he didn't pick up the signs because he was an officer and used to getting respect, but speaking to him he seemed like an ordinary decent sort, a good officer.

[Van Canna]

Being proficient in any martial art, helps, but it is usually marginal.

Then as the saying goes.... "the worst in the world, on the best day of their lives, can defeat the best in the world, on the worst day of their lives."

We never think of this...do we?

[Van Canna]

just ask combat pilots about the golden bb, or cops with "the one with your name on it" when its your time, your going, nothing you can do about it, when its not, it because God still thinks you have some good to do on this planet.

[Rick Wilson]

Ray: Yes my point was that the good guy may have a perception of the fair fight that comes from what they may have been raised on where, as you say, the bad guys do not have the same view point.

If their goal is to beat the crap out of someone the last thing they want is a fair fight – then they may not get to surprise the guy with a head butt and put him in the hospital.

Yes – your post is dead on.

[Rick Wilson]

The mind is a focus that has to be trained.

(Video clip link at the end of the post)

When you watch video clips of assaults you can see times where the aggressor is really not that talented as a fighter but the level of their malicious intent is so high and the impacts of the assault so ferocious that the other party folds into being the prey.

We have looked at training to take an impact so that the fact of being struck has less chance of putting you into that deep freeze.

We need to look at two other areas.

One I mentioned before the hijacking of your emotions or that startling intent. Again we have drill that delves into that area and it will come later on once I have some slips put together.

The other way to put a person out of their usual comfort zone and drop them in a freeze is to hurt them.

Cause them pain.

Have them focus on the pain and crumple.

Have them turn away from what they need to do because of the pain.

The survivor mindset is one where the person is determined to "make it” no matter what.

You have to set aside conventional thoughts and simple expect that if you can get through this then you will survive.

In WW II the cargo ships sunk in the English channel had survivors pulled out of the water. The surprising fact was it was the older men and not the younger stronger men.

When questioned the younger men felt there was no way another ship would come by in time and simply gave up the struggle.

The older men felt if they just struggle through a little longer a ship would come.

The ability to go through that struggle to go through the pain of the struggle can translate into an assault where perhaps you gain the upper hand and are applying a choke but the bad guy grabs your thumb and cranks. Do you let the pain and the possibility of a broken thumb stop you from surviving by choking out the bad guy?

Can you accept that pain and go through ti to do what you MUST to survive?

A good question.

Now I do want to distinguish feeling pain in training and not being stupid enough to ignore that sign of an injury from this concept. Although the example above of the choke and the thumb was from a training and my thumb was badly sprained for about a month but I did finish the choke.

We need to train our minds to function despite pain. A small piece of the warrior’s mind.

The drill is very simple. I think many have done a Sanchin stepping drill where a person places a fist against their abdomen and they have to step across the dojo as their partner presses on the fist providing pressure. When you get to the other side it is your partner’s turn.

This is done exactly like that but instead of a fist you will do things like place shoken fists into their upper chest or solar plexus and they must walk through that digging pain.

You can create your own but here is what we tend to use:

Shoken Fists digging into the chest

Thumbs digging under collar bone.

Thumbs digging into the side of your neck.

Dig the butt end of the sticks into the cavity above the clavicle (collar bone.) Leave some stick so the STICK and not the hand is digging in

Shoken fist digging into the centre of the sternum

Anything that they have to press through to walk that hurts is great – be creative and work on those pressure points.

BUT don’t be stupid and place anywhere that will break or go beyond the person’s ability.

We want pain but never injury.

When a person first begins their spirit is hot and they grunt and press through it with faces twisted but determined.

After time the intent cools but remains firm. The mind learns how to simply be indifferent to the pain and step calmly forward with no expression on the face.

It is simply something you have to do and the pain is immaterial to accomplishing that goal.

Perhaps not for everyone but it certainly forges the mind for one piece of the self protection puzzle.

This clip is from the IUPA 2005 Black Belt test and Laird had never done this drill before so it was just one of the surprises for him on the test.

Here is the clip:

http://wpd-rc.com/blog/walk-through-the-pain/

[Van Canna]

And on this subject matter, the last thing you want to do is to tell the police or the court that yours was a fair fight…

that will blow away your 'self defense' argument…because it implies you were a willing participant as opposed to having had no other choice but to fight unwillingly to protect yourself.

Rick's post is poignant because it highlights the common downfall of man: pride_

Think about it…you are a 'tough' high ranking black belt…right? Now someone pushes your buttons at a club, a party, anywhere you might have family or peers standing by.

Your ego, fear of humiliation, fear of loss of social status, fear of being thought of as karate wimp…your own deep insecurities…fear of emasculation in your mind and the mind of others who know you…fear of what you will feel like tomorrow when you get back on the dojo floor to teach karate…etc…

What else…

you won't withdraw you will exchange obscenities…the little man over your shoulder tells you what you should do, but you ignore him…how dare this POS give you sh*t…you have trained lifetime in a discipline…you want to flex your muscles…show him how tough you are, and not afraid of him/them…

So you give him/them a 'fair fight' in the eyes of the law?

Those two words don't exist.

[Van Canna]

Nice drill, Rick. Laird is a tough customer

[jorvik]

Rick
What I was trying to get across is the randomness of events. it's nice to think that we can prepare for any eventuality, but maybe we make the wrong preperations ... There is so much stuff that you can't prepare for , even if you do prepare ,and I believe that " Chance favours the prepared mind".........there is so much wild, out of the box stuff going on that it is scary.................I've looked at this stuff for 25 years, you won't get a book or a video but I'll share my thoughts

[Rick Wilson]

Hi Ray:

I agree with you completely. It is what you don’t or never expected that will take you out.

But as you said the better prepared we are the more chances we have to survive.

If something does take us by surprise and we never recover – we’ll that’s that.

But MAYBE just maybe the more prepared we are the sooner we can recover and survive.

So I do not disagree in any way with your posts.

But I also think everyone is posting here because we want to be prepared as we can be.

But if anyone says they are prepared for everything, well, that’s as accurate as “this always works.”

[Van Canna]

There is a grim reality we all need to wake up to, that reality is the fact that the world is horrible as it is and human nature is very cruel and spiteful.

Malcontents, nut-cases, there are always crazies out there. Always have been, always will be. The triggers are many…i.e., rage and vendetta towards individuals or society, is often associated with psychosis, bipolar disorders and delusions.

Than we have violent acts associated with depression due to loss, such as death or divorce, losing a job/financial security…being thrown out of a relationship…envy, greed and even sickness or disease that makes one want to lash out at the 'luckier ones' _

Some here may recall the terrible fate of Joshua Ford, son of Al ford a good friend and Uechi pioneer of the 60s_

He and his girl were befriended by a couple in a New York night club …then invited to their apartment for a 'night cap'…

They were then killed, dismembered and dumped into trash bins.

[Rick Wilson]

Oh and yes, Van Laird is TOUGH and one of the nicest guys you would ever meet.

[Van Canna]

Yes, indeed, Rick. Laird is a fine person in my book.

[Van Canna]

We all seem to read, day in and day out, of atrocities and weird occurrences...there is always something taking place that seems to be worse than yesterdays.

While being trained by my employer, as an investigator of catastrophic intertwined criminal and civil occurrences; we would discuss the dark shadows of man's minds.

In 1999, a book came out 'The Dark Side of man' by Michael Ghiglieri...
I recommend everyone here...buying that book and really studying it...that kind of knowledge is priceless.



One book I highly recommend