Dog Brothers Public Forum

Re-run alert for 2013 TV show about weapons fighting club.  Full contact weapons fighting with slow motion coverage.  See chain, chair and stick fights, even keyboard fights.

Hidden in America: Underground Fight Clubs Saturday, June 05 at 12pm (Pacific time)

Destination America channel (771 for HD on Comcast for Sunnyvale, CA)

Update on Pacific show times :  7 pm, 10 pm and 1 am

There are many methods to "game" the gear ranging from taping the stick to stickie soccer goalie gloves.  I think it's fair to make up for the loss of grip due to the use of gloves which in turn are added to reduce hand damage from striking the abrasive screens of fencing masks.    I'm not into gaming the gear to gain some sort of tech advantage, though I did add some heavier straps to my fencing masks to avoid the constant adjustment that plagues stock fencing masks.  A side effect of that is that fencing mask does not wiggle as much on impact and offers less impact absorption than a stock mask.

As you hint, it's better to increase grip strength, but a lot of the grip problems are due to grip timing rather than inadequate grip strength.  I've met a lot of men with impressive grip strength that lose their sticks on light impact.  

I'm pretty sure you want to increase impulse grip strength, but I'm waiting to be corrected by some of the lifelong stick swingers.  For my office worker hands, the best increase in *my* functional stick grip strength is an increase thumb pinch grip strength.  This inadequacy in my hands may have more to do with loss of hand strength from nerve clamping due to repetitive typing motions and office posture than anything else.  Weight-lifting helps develop the other four fingers unless you find the large diameter barbells that help to include include the thumb.  

Impulse strength is increased by striking something hard.  Hold grip strength is developed with hand grippers (Captains of Crush).   A variety of grippers help, but surprisingly, I find that clicking rhythms with the lighter gauge grippers helped more for sticks than the slow crushing  motions with the heavier gauge grippers.  There was a time I swung pipes, but that led to inflamed wrist and tendons.  So, I stick to swinging aluminum training swords and iron wood (kammagong) sticks.

Ghastly pic, Kostas.  Would you be able to provide the model of the trainer that caused this injury?   Also, what are the circumstances that led to this face injury?

Here's a close-up of Bob Burgee's "Fighter" model with the clear car door edge :


And some zoomed-out pix:


http://dogbrothers.com/wp-content/gallery/gathering-june-2005/DBJune2005_5348.jpg

http://dogbrothers.com/wp-content/gallery/gathering-june-2006/DBGatheringJune2006_DSC_0657_Web.jpg

NOTE :  that was the last Gathering (June 2005) in which I wore an elbow or knee pad.  Many told me that I would get my knee cracked and be crippled like the guy in the 1st Dog Brother Gathering video, so I put a pad on the right-lead elbow and knee.

Crafty wrote "I noticed that Bitch had some plastic around the edge of her aluminum kukri; I heard someone say it is of the sort that is put on the edge of a car door so that it does not ding the paint of a neighboring car should it bump into it upon opening.  This seems a promising idea."

This is the same car door protector I used for my other blades, and I've used them for over a decade with roughly 20 knife rounds / month.  They're available at Kragan/O-Reilly auto shops, and I prefer the clear color.  They are just wide enough to fit around the beveled edge of most of Burgee's blades, but not all.  The 4 corners and the protrusion around the bend of the blades's tip of these plastic guards must also be beveled and sanded, but removing too much material weakens the guard where it's most needed.  I used those in a long thin box as they allowed for a single piece to cover the entire blade.

The disadvantage of the car door protector is the additional weight and the appearance of a "plastic" blade, but I compensated by using mirror-polished aluminum (after more than ten years, they don't have a mirror shine but still look better and scarier).  I just gave away the industrial belt grinder,  but I'm happy to describe the process.  Bob Burgee stopped mirror-polishing his blades long ago, I recall.

The car door protectors increase the area of the blade's tip, but primarily, they prevent burrs on the tip of the blade.   This was a bigger problem for my crew as we fought on a concrete surfaces, and dropped knives during the rounds, then picked them up during the fight.  A burr on the tip punctured and ripped skin , even through t-shirts.   Burrs created during the round from striking another blade, the  mask or falling on the concrete are not removed and are  a problem.  The additional weight increases the risk breaking fingers, which was a problem for us as we fought all knife fights with thin gloves, work or gardening.

At past Gatherings, I brought two aluminum blades:  one for myself, one for my opponent.  The primary reason was that i didn't want to be stuck or cut with one of those diamond-shaped kung Fu blades with the nastiest burrs, even on the tip.  The secondary reason is that I didn't want my opponent to use a plastic blade.  Since this event is largely propagated with pictures (video clips are great, but they seem to have inadequate circulation until very recently), I don't think it's a good idea to showcase the world's premiere weapons fighting event with plastic implements of destruction.

Wow, that was a gusher !

The usual aluminum trainers cut from 1/4" aluminum sheets quickly pick up burrs from striking the fencing mask or from a point drop on concrete.  I'd recommend checking each knife for burrs and sanding accordingly.  Bob Burgee recommended clear car door edge protectors for covering the edges of the blade, and I've used the for years in various knife sparring.  A polish beyond the brushed aluminum does a good job of increasing the fear factor.  

While the video footage will be referenced for decades to come, it's an example of playing on the edge.  A lower risk/lower fun choice would be to provide fighters with a choice of a set of long or short aluminium training blades with appropriate tips and edges.

Weapons Fighting show announcement for April 17:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.386166071405103&type=1

"Onkel Amerika" a Norwegian reality TV series with an episode of the two Grammy-winning musician hosts Fingern and Dansken fighting some Americans known as the Gentlemen's Fighting Club. Other series topics include :
- Skin hanging
- Shark fishing
- Norse mythology
- Gold mining
- Steer wrestling
- Played a concert
- Stunt school
- Underground exploring in NYC
- Ghost hunters - investigation a haunted place in Seattle
- Bigfoot researchers
- Magic show

On-line viewing is region-limited. Sorry. http://www.tv3play.no/play/266439/?autostart=true

Let me know when it's available for sale.  I'm a rabid customer.

Dr. Michael Addis adds a touch of welcome controversy.  A show of smiley people exchanging buddy remarks brings out the yawn in all of us. 

I'd like to see some people picketing outside of a Gathering.

Crafty, would you be willing to sell a higher resolution file split to several data DVDs or one data BluRay for a higher price?  DVDs and their lower data rates are showing their age, and I'd prefer to have something that will look better on my larger TV.

Looking forward to this.  The Comcast PPV quality for SD broadcasts is abysmal, so I'm looking to watch this is full glory on DVD.

Great piece and well-deserved exposure for the Gathering.  The video quality was also very good - much better than for typical web video.

Bump for tonight's broadcast

ESPN E60  (seen as E:60)
A collection of segments dealing with contact sports
9:30 pm (Pacific Time)
Friday July 22
725 es2hd for Comcast

Look for the HD channel.  This is a show is a new compilation of underground and amateur fighting, including a Florida backyard bare knuckle ring, a weapons fighting group from the San Francisco Bay Area and others

(yes, this is a rerun of the segment ESPN did on my fighting group in 2008)

Bump for last showing of full length stick fights on June 24
Set your DVR.

Stick Fights Dog Bros': Cruel Combat
Date - Friday, June 24, 2011
Time - 10pm ET/7pm PT
MPAA Rating - TV-14
Genre - Mixed Martial Arts
Dog Brothers Martial Arts (DBMA) presents its legendary Stick Fighting Battles for the 1st time ever on Pay Per View!

Bumping the thread.  This show is on different dates on different services.  Record while you can. 

Crafty Dog, any word if this PPV show will be available on DVD, perhaps from the DBMA store?

Set your DVRs !

Stick Fights: Dog Bros' Cruel Combat
June 15, 16, 21, 22
DirectTV PPV Channel 120

Dog Brothers Martial Arts (DBMA) presents its legendary Stick Fighting Battles for the 1st time ever on Pay Per View! Using its unique, “system of many styles”, DBMA combines Filipino & Indonesian Martial Arts and Dog Brother’s Grappling & Stick-Grappling, with some of the more traditional martial arts including Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, and Akido. Watch these Extraordinary & Explosive “never before broadcast” bouts that take MMA to the highest level of Combat!

https://www.directv.com:443/entertainment/program/details/SH013170800000?omnitureReferrer=GS

Rooney wrote "Stretch out, then warm-up, and then pick up something heavy!"

I like the criticism of nouveau exercises, but some of what is developed today is founded on the same results as the Big 3 heavy lifting exercises.   It is true that large squat racks in gyms are used for just about anything other than squats.

Still, the reason static stretching is out is because it is a waste of time, aside from producing a short-lived feeling of euphoria coupled with a temporary reduction in strength.  Stretching need not be done at all provided your regimen includes some activity using a range of motion.

As for one-legged and split squats, I disagree.  The muscle tension in stabilizers is higher, because, well, they're doing more work in a one-legged position than in a two legged position.  The split and single-legged squats work the feet in ways that a standard squat can't.  The feet are needed for athletics, and unless your entire athletic ambitions center on lifting the most amount of weight in the gym, a specialty, there is no reason to ignore the feet.

  why are not more folks severely maimed or flat-out killed given the extremely light gear that you guys wear?

After watching the Gathering clips in the DBMA Gathering Footage video tape, I also wondered why every (eventually) got up and no one died.  The first test of taking a hit to a fencing helmet still had me wondering.  After a reasonable number of stick fights, both in practice and at the Gathering, I'll take a shot at explaining the mystery.

The number of concussion-worthy swings are relatively low coupled with the few opportunities to land one.  There are also more targets than the head, and your opponent's stick and arms get in the way too often.   The head is a fairly small target to strike at a distance, and the most common #1 angle also intersects an opponent's weapon-less but typically raised arm.  Most of the time in a stick fight is in the range at which the sticks do not intersect at all.  Some time is spent in the range in which the sticks but not the hands intersect.  Less time is spent in the range (largo mano) in which a stick may strike a hand, which is also full stick intersection.  Nearly zero time is spent in the range in which a strike will touch an opponent's head, and this typically is accomplished with a timed lunging strike.  Instead, opponents close and hug (because it's safer) and typically fall to the ground and roll around without causing much damage until fight buzzer is over, well, because it's hard to do anything else. 

A comparison to the number and quality of punches delivered to a heavy bag vs. a moving opponent in a boxing match is fairly accurate.  Finally, there is the gentleman's agreement that an obviously one-sided stick fight will not end with a finishing stick blow to a disabled opponent's head.  Crafty Dog wisely refers to this in his pre-Gathering speech, and I believe that the fighters reliably pay heed to the warning.  The phrase I like and use at my training club is "1. Do not cripple your friend, and 2. Do not bring him to tears."

Hey, they were on sale.  All of the local Goodwills/Salvation Armys stopped selling their chairs to me after they were left with a bunch of de-chaired tables.   The OSH chairs fell apart in the first 15 seconds, so  I recommend the $14.99 IKEA Terge, which is offered in lighter stain and a handsome darker stain.  Yuppie/Bobo chair fights cost about $30 round.

On a most serious note, be very careful when fighting with chairs and ask those on the sidelines to watch when the chairs smash into wooden spikes capable of killing anyone.

Bump.  We should bump this thread everytime the show re-airs.

Crafty Dog,

I am an eager customer for a quality DVD of the PPV show.  The typical Comcast streaming quality is very low, below DVD quality.  This is the case for UFC and other pay-per-view events and makes for a disappointing showing of UFC for a party.

There appear to be fewer reruns of the show, though you can record this on your DVR.  Catch it while you can.

For Pacific Standard time :

November 7 8:00 AM   873   Replay   Stick Fights: Dog Bros' Cruel Combat
3:30 PM   872   Replay   Stick Fights: Dog Bros' Cruel Combat
November 11 11:00 AM   873   Replay   Stick Fights: Dog Bros' Cruel Combat
November 13 11:00 AM   871   Replay   Stick Fights: Dog Bros' Cruel Comb