Archives for November 2010

Ever since I started reading martial arts and self-defense books, I saw one piece of advice come back over and over: don’t always train in the dojo or gym, go train on a different surface and in a different environment. Being somewhat inquisitive of nature (OK, I just want to know everything.) I did just that many times and one of my favorite challenges was experimenting with how to train on a slippery surface.

You don’t always fight on a perfectly dry and solid surface. In real life, you fight wherever you are when the bad guy decides to take a swing at you. That could be:

• On a wet, tiled floor like the one in my garage.
• In a bar where the floor is full of spilled drinks and other fluids (you probably don’t want to know which ones…)
• On wet grass.
• On snow or ice. If you’re really unlucky (or Swedish… Hi Paul, hi Mark!), on both at the same time.
• In the sand on the beach.
• In mud.
• Wearing shoes with crappy soles that make you slide all over the place but you have to wear them because they match your new suit and if you don’t, your wife/GF/significant other will be on your case about “that time you wore those awful shoes” forever…

With some imagination, I’m sure you can find even more more situations where you’re on a slippery surface and there’s nothing you can do about it. If you have to defend yourself right then and there, here are some questions you first have to answer in training:

• Which techniques can I do without slipping and falling?
• How are these performed differently from when you do them on a normal surface. (Hint: there will be differences…)
• Which techniques are still possible but with some specific technical adaptations?
• Which are out of the question?

You’ll probably answer these quesitons differently than I do and that’s perfectly fine. We’re different people with different skills, preferences, etc. The key issue is that you do ask these questions and find the answers that work for you, before you need them in the street.

Here’s how I do it:

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