Wim Demeere's Blog

Martial Arts and Self-Defense Blog by Wim Demeere | Techniques, Books, Podcasts

Why the untrained fighter kicks your highly trained butt.

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I just found this comment by Iain Abernethy via Facebook and it’s well worth reading. He covers one of the oldest but most persistent myths you find floating around in dojos and martial arts gyms. The one that says: “Your typical street thug is untrained and therefor he doesn’t fight very well.” The conclusion that follows out of this myth is that you, as a trained martial artist, can easily handle that brute strength, clumsy, untrained crap he throws at you. The result of that conclusion is all too often a mindset of “Dude, I’ve got it. I can handle myself. Look at my Kill Face!”

Sometimes they’re right and they actually can take care of themselves. More often than not, they’re absolutely wrong. Just because you are trained to handle certain things, it doesn’t mean you can automatically handle others no matter how similar they may be. And even more importantly, no matter how much you think you can. Right off the bat, we run into the classic problem I’ve mentioned here ad nauseam: the differences are just as important as the similarities.

I’ve written a lot about this in the past so I won’t rehash it today.  Suffice it to say I think it’s crucial to understand and apply this concept to make any true progress in whatever art you practice. I’m also going to take a slightly different approach than Iain (though I’m in total agreement with his words) and it’ll take a while for me to get to the final conclusion. So please hang in there until the end.

Similarities, differences, equally important....

I can do it! I can do it!

In a way, nothing fails like success. Take the example of the leg kick, one of my favorite techniques:

  • I’ve knocked people out with it.
  • I’ve made people cry after landing it.
  • I’ve used it to distract them so I could hit them in the face.
  • I’ve used it to scare stronger fighters into keeping away from me to avoid the pain they cause.

To me, this technique is real and reliable. I know so, deep down at gut-level, because I’ve experienced the results it yields over and over. I have faith in the technique that if I can land it (which is always a big “if” but let’s say I do), then the other guy will be in a significant amount of pain. 

So why am I not teaching it to my students as the most effective kick you can throw in a street fight? [Read more…]

Knife Fight in Beijing

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Dave sent me this video of a knife fight in Beijing. Take a look first:

 

Here’s what I see happening:

  • They’re having trouble trying to kill each other. There’s posturing, talking (to the other guy and also the girl who might be involved in the whole thing), pauses, etc. throughout the whole knife fight. More on this in a bit. [Read more…]

Martial Secrets Podcast with Jon Lupo

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I just listened to the Martial Secrets Podcast with Jon Lupo and really enjoyed it. Jon’s a friend of mine and a really great guy. He’s a humble and quiet man but don’t let that fool you into thinking less of him. He’s been a law enforcement officer for a long time and has walked the walk. He’s one of the people I’d be glad to have at my back if I were in a tight spot.

 

The podcast in and of itself is well worth it as a whole but there is something I wanted to point out.

Jon clearly explains several key issues on how to interact with a police officer when he stops you for whatever reason. His is one of the best explanations I’ve heard on this topic. Jon doesn’t pontificate, nor does he sugarcoat it. He just says it like it is. If you are a young man in your late teens or twenties, this advice is for you. If you’re living in a shithole and have run ins with the police regularly, it’s for you too.

In the last decade or so, I’ve noticed an increase in hostility against police officers but also how a very misinformed course of action has almost become the standard for people’s reactions towards LEOs. Now I know I’m generalizing but nowadays, so many people foam at the mouth when an officer pulls them over. They immediately feel violated and start yelling about how they “know their rights.” To which I reply “That’s great but do you know your duties and obligations too?”  Because those two come along with the rights you know so well (or as it turns out, not so well).

To the best of my knowledge, there is no Western society in which you have the right to curse at, insult, spit on or attack a police officer whenever you feel he’s not doing his job the way you want him to (if I’m wrong, please let me know where I can find that law in the books…) Yet according to my LEO students and friends, this is has become common place now.

Now before you start thinking of arguments in favor of or justifying such behaviour, the thing you need to keep in mind is this: [Read more…]

One step sparring drill: Frankenstein

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Here’s one of my favorite one-step sparring drills: Frankenstein.

The concept is very simple but for the younger generation (who probably haven’t seen these old flicks), please watch this clip from an old Frankenstein movie first.

As you can see, the Frankenstein monster attacks in a stiff and clumsy way. If the Wolfman would have used his speed and agility, he’d have cut him to shreds without getting hit at all. However, what the monster lacks in speed and skill, it makes up for in tenacity and endurance: it can take a LOT of damage. That’s the key to this drill. Here’s how it goes:

  • The attacker acts like Frankenstein: he keeps going after the defender, all the time. He never steps back to create room, he always steps towards the defender, regardless of where he is.
  • The attacker does only one technique at slow to moderate speed and then he waits for the defender to finish. This is mainly for safety reasons as we’re not using protective gear here. The faster you go, the more difficult it is to control your counters and you’ll end up hurting each other. It’s not a full-contact drill just yet (more on that later.)
  • The defender however can go as fast as he likes. The only thing he has to worry about is pulling his techniques so they don’t do damage. Again, this is not a full-contact drill at this stage. It’s all about timing, technique, footwork, etc. The heavy impacts come later.
  • One key point is that the defender has to step away as soon as he finishes his counterstrike. If he stays where he is, the monster can squash him. You have to imagine going up against a stronger opponent or a guy who’s so drugged up, he doesn’t feel a thing. Imagine you have to do damage and then move away before you take any because you know your best shot won’t end it right away.
  • The more variation in the attacks, the more the defender will learn. In the video, you’ll see me defend against some not so common attacks. We do that on purpose. The goal is to throw the defender off balance and try to surprise him with an unconventional angle of attack. This keeps him sharp and focused on the job at hand.
  • We usually don’t do that many throws or take downs as counters. Nor should you use too many joint locks either. If you do, it slows down the drill to the point of being less effective. The whole idea is to put the defender under a lot of pressure: he has to constantly strike and move out of the way before he gets hit again.
  • The attacker can pick any attack he likes and never does the same one twice in a row. The attacks should always be unrehearsed and unpredictable.

That’s how you do the drill. Here’s a video of me doing two rounds of this: [Read more…]

Training with Barry Eisler

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A little while ago, I spent a week teaching Barry Eisler private classes every morning at his place. I’ve trained him before throughout the years but this was the first time we had a full week to dig a bit deeper into certain techniques.  For those of you who don’t know him, here’s some information. I like his books (and especially the John Rain series) a lot and highly recommend them if you like action packed thrillers featuring skilled assassins.

 

Anyway, Barry has an extensive grappling background (wrestling and a black belt in Judo from the Kodokan) and he asked me to work from that but add some more nasty stuff into the mix, especially striking. Here’s one of the things we worked on, the circle drag:

 

A couple of points about this:

  • Like I said in the beginning, this is a very specific type of training. What we’re doing is exploring different possibilities. As in, “what would happen if you do the elbow snap on somebody with some training and the guy feels it coming?” A trained fighter has different reactions than somebody who hasn’t been in a fight since high school. So we spit-balled a bit and covered a lot of ground with this scenario here only one of the many possibilities.
  • One of the most instinctive ways to save your arm when it’s about to be locked out and then snapped, is to bend it quickly. In this specific situation, that gives me the underhook (at the elbow, not the shoulder) when I feel him retracting his arm. But before I go for it, I buy some time/space with a quick elbow to the chest or face. The face would be the better target but it might force you to loosen your grip on his arm, so I prefer to go for the chest (this is a personal choice, it’s not set in stone) because it’s closer by. If you don’t think the elbow to the chest hurts, I’ll gladly demonstrate in person. :-)
  • Once I get that underhook, I have to keep him controlled so he can’t counter as easily. Which is why I spin away while I use my other hand to slap/strike down (to do some additional damage  that slows him down) and grab his neck. Then I twist his arm a bit as I pull at his neck. This keeps him bent over and under pressure.
  • I immediately throw a lead knee to his face to keep him on the defensive. The rear knee is more powerful (and I’m not saying you can’t or shouldn’t use it) but speed is crucial here: if the guy is trained, you don’t want to give him even the smallest opening to counter you. In any case, once you throw the first knee, you can bring that leg back to launch the next strike so the point is moot.
  • Another instinctive reaction is to protect your face when somebody knees into it. As soon as I spot my opponent do this, I use the other knee (though you can use the same one too, it also works) to hit him with either a glancing blow or pass by his face altogether. Then I kick that leg back down while I yank his arm forward. This spins him and drops him in front of me.
  • Once there, you can pick: do an arm bar, control him, hit him, flip him over for more arm bars, stomp him, etc. The choice is yours.

Like I said, this is only one of the possibilities. There are many, many more. But we didn’t want to spend our training time filming everything so we only showed you one scenario. Don’t let that fool you into thinking there isn’t anything else.

 

Barry had access to some High Gear so we put that on to beat the crap out of each other throughout the week. For your viewing pleasure, we shot the same sequence again but with a little more impact. We’re both obviously still holding back. The High Gear isn’t meant for full force training, you can still get hurt that way. What it does is minimize the blows so you’re only hurting and not taking extensive damage. To give you an idea: after a dozen or so powerful elbows to the back of the head from Barry, it was time for me to either take a breather or drop to the floor unconscious.

Here’s what it looks like: [Read more…]

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