Wim Demeere's Blog

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

How to train Joint Locks and Limb Destructions on the Heavy Bag

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Here’s this month’s video: How to train Joint Locks and Limb Destructions on the Heavy Bag. I made this video a few weeks ago but only now got to finish the editing part. Anyway, take a look first and then I’ll give you some more details.

I took a couple random techniques, not specifically from a particular art. But you can find similar joint locks and limb destructions in ju-jitsu, silat, arnis, kali and many other martial arts. Before you go out to train this stuff, here’s some additional information:

  • They’re just examples. Don’t get hung up on the details of how I do the joint locks and limb destructions or which ones I’m showing (there are tons more). That’s not important because I have my own preferences and they might or might not be the same as yours.  So if you prefer to do these techniques differently, by all means, go for it. The purpose of this video is not to teach these techniques but to show you a way to practice them full-power and full-speed, which you can never do with a training partner (unless you’re a really, really naughty person…) [Read more…]

5th and washington street fight

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Here’s the infamous “5th and washington street fight” that’s been making the rounds on the Internet. Props to Clint for pointing it out.  Take a look first and then I’ll discuss it a bit:

https://youtu.be/gea-o7IRsi4

As you can see, Mr. 5th-W makes all sorts of mistakes. Let’s line them up:

  1. He gives his back and walks away from the boxer to take his shirt off. He could have been sucker-punched right there.
  2. He does the typical chest-out-chin-forward-hands-low huffing and puffing of inexperienced fighters. The boxer has nothing but available targets; he could have picked his shots at random and they’d all have landed.
  3. He gets stuck in a predictable pattern in his footwork: step forward-step back, step forward-step back. Makes it super easy for the boxer to get his timing right to throw the jab-cross combination.
  4. When the boxer puts up his guard, he’s so stuck in his play of intimidation that he walks right into that jab. It’s not like he couldn’t see the boxer was getting ready to strike; his fists were clearly up and in a fighting stance.

For those who might think a chorus of “Hail the conquering hero” is in order, I’m going to have to disappoint you. The boxer does a lot of things right but he makes a few horrible mistakes too. First, let’s look at the good stuff:

  1. He stays calm under pressure. When Mr. 5th-W gets in his face, he keeps his cool.
  2. He waits for a good opportunity before he makes a move.
  3. Instead of puffing his chest like Mr. 5th-W, he takes a de-escalation stance and waits for his moment.
  4. He sets up his opponent well. He lets Mr. 5th-W step forward a few times and seems to spot the forward-backward footwork pattern. Then he tests the distance twice with a lead hand push, which tells him how to throw his jab. You saw the results; it worked just fine.
  5. His timing is perfect. The jab lands just as Mr. 5th-W steps forward.

 

But unfortunately, he also messes up big time and turns a self-defense situation into assault. Here’s what went wrong: [Read more…]

Dan Inosanto and the Tueller drill

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I heard of this a long time ago but never saw the actual video. So I’m glad to finally see Dan Inosanto wielding a knife on police officers to illustrate the lessons from the Tueller drill. Props to TDA Training for the find.

A lot has been said about the Tueller drill already so I won’t rehash it all here. Just some thoughts:

  • If you’d like some more background, here’s an interview with Sergeant Dennis Tueller on his drill back then and his thoughts on it now:

  • I like what he said about movement, looking for cover, obstacles, etc. These are all concepts you consistently find in traditional martial arts that have kept their original knowledge. Nil novi sub sole, I guess.
  • When you look at Dan Inosanto in the clip, notice how he sticks his hand in his pocket to take out the knife. That should be your cue to act. Every time a hand goes out of sight or you can’t see what’s in it, you should expect it to either hold or go for a weapon.
  • A key issue many people seem to miss is that the Tueller Drill points out the importance of controlling the distance when you’re close and not only when you want to stay at 21 feet or more. Either you have to be far enough to react with a fight-stopping response (i.e. shoot the guy) or you have to be close enough to stop him from getting his knife out. It’s this being close part that people tend to overlook. There’s more to it than meets the eye but it can work very well. More on that another time.
  • Notice how smoothly Mr. Inosanto goes from rushing the LEO to recognizing the target as it opens up and slashing the officer’s exposed throat cleanly. Doing that as you’re sprinting forward at full speed is not as easy as he makes it look.
Dan Inosanto Tueller Drill
Dan Inosanto shows a police officer what a knife can do in under two seconds…

A lot of bullshit has been said about knives in general and the Tueller drill in particular. I usually don’t comment all that much because this is a topic that brings the keyboard warriors out of the woodwork. But it was cool to finally see this video with Dan Inosanto after having heard of it for so long.

How to refill a heavy bag without having to empty it first

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One of the most annoying things about training on a heavy bag is that you eventually have to refill it. Invariably (especially with the less expensive models) the filler ends up bunched together and it makes the bottom part of the bag rock-hard while the top becomes empty. When that happens, your joints take a beating when you strike the bottom part as there isn’t enough “give” in it anymore. Striking the top part is just as bad as it has too much give there and doesn’t absorb the impacts enough. So you risk hyper-extending your knees and elbows when you punch and kick high. The only option you have left then is to empty out the heavy bag and refill it.

Talk about a boring and mind-numbing job…

This is something I encountered a lot when I was doing research for my heavy bag book. Almost everybody I interviewed said they always postponed refilling the bag because they hated it so much. It felt like a total waste of time to them. Which I completely understand. However, you have to do it because, as I mentioned before, you risk serious injuries if you don’t.

That’s why I started looking into ways to get the bag in good working order without having to empty it out completely first. I’ll explain a couple things you can do here below but first a caveat: they aren’t perfect. Eventually, you’ll still have to empty out the bag and refill it manually. But with these tricks, you won’t have to do it nearly so often. You’ll also get some extra training in too, so there are no downsides here.

Here’s how you go about it: [Read more…]

Sanshou Footwork Drill

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This is a Sanshou footwork drill I like to do in class. It’s not terribly complicated but it’s effective in teaching certain things. Here goes:

  • You do pyramid striking up to five techniques. That means you hit 1, then step away. Then you throw two techniques, start over. And so on until you do a 5-count combo.
  • Every time you finish striking, you try to use sideways footwork, working both the left and right side. This simulates anticipating a countering opponent and getting away from the line of fire.
  • Once you’re comfortable with that, the partner walks forward each time you finish up. He can just walk, spring forward ,extend his arms, strike lightly, it’s all good. This makes the drill a little bit harder because now you have to wait  for his movement to time your side step and its direction.
  • Next round, go for a throw/takedown as he steps in (preferably, he punches at the same time.) Try to not go straight forward for the entry but use the sidestepping or angle off slightly. Anything but a head-on collision.

Here’s me, getting my sanshou groove on in the drill:

I did some editing to only show the parts where I’m working or the video would have been too long. But usually, you take turns being the attacker after you finish the 5-count. The round is 3 minutes long.

Some more pointers:

[Read more…]

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