Dog Brothers Public Forum

Most of the people that I run into misinterpret Yellow and forget the relaxed bit. 

For myself, I don't generally bother with colors, anymore.  I am either engaging you or I'm not.  But I've been dealing with junk a long time so I don't recommend that attitude for inexperienced people.

I also highly suggest that most people do not rely on alertness.  My experience is that, sooner or later, we are all going to be surprised by something.  Experience helps ups deal with it, yes.  But I feel that everyone worried about self-protection of any sort should spend time developing a lot of *OH CRAP!* reactions so that even blind-drunk, flu-ridden or carrying 4 bags of groceries, people have options.

In my book if you are yellow but not relaxed, then you are orange.

Are you saying there are tourniquets built into that shirt and those pants?

Blackhawk has a line of clothing with just such built into it.  Warrior Wear ITS (Integrated Tourniquet System):

http://www.blackhawk.com/product/Warrior-Wear-Tactical-ITS-Shirt,1075,1447.htm

http://www.blackhawk.com/product/Warrior-Wear-Tactical-ITS-Pants,1076,1447.htm

Police/Sheriff's don't make the Law.

No.  But they get to interpret it.


Personally I never worried about getting sued.  I could articulate and justify every single thing I ever did.  And I did the things I thought needed doing without the slightest hesitation.

I did get sued one time (and only once) in the early 80s.  For a million dollars!  Man that was like badge of honor.  The case was thrown out at the first hearing.  Because when you bogusly claim you have been beaten to within an inch of your life at the time of arrest, then your booking photos should not show that you did not have a single scratch on you.

I did go major hands on a bandit once.  Under your theory I should have been quivering in my shoes from his lawsuit.  To him it was a badge of honor.  Two days after the event, when he was in a cell in the facility and saw me, he started bragging to the others in the cell about the the ass whooping he got, and asked me to verify it to the others. 

Another good one is the dumbbells thruster:

http://www.teamruthless.com/Dumbbell_Thrusters_NEW.wmv

I received a week back, along with those awesome Kamagong sticks.

I thought this was an excellent, excellent DVD. The material covered continues to be what I would consider real world, very practical, high odds of being effective material should one find oneself on the receiving end of a knife attack. The DLO training demonstrates the highly chaotic nature of combat. You may have your A game going, and still lose. But if you have certain elements going for you and in your favor, you have a much higher probability of turning the fight in your favor. Even "Nena", who watched the DVD with me, said at the end of it "that was a pretty damn good DVD."

Once again, in my humble opinion, Crafty and Gabe have produced material that should be in every pistolero's arsenal. It is simply not enough to be a gun guy. If you really want to be able to protect yourself, and more importantly your loved ones, you have simply got to start leaving the comfort zone and stepping into the combatives world. You don't have to go psycho over it, but you must include the combatives spectrum (empty hand, edged weapon, impact weapon) into your tool box.

Again, this is a very good DVD.

Not exactly on target but I have found a whole lot of fugitives using ruses and deception.

This old warrior celebrated birthday # 53 today by doing a kettlebells and Clubbells mix.  Total of 45 exercise sets.  This was day 166 in a row for me.  If this old geezer can do it, so can you young bucks.

Well I make no claims to be a warrior but I have a thought or two (being almost 53 myself in one more week):

1) Flexibility and range of motion:  This is the one area I have noticed the greatest diminishment of ability.  I simply cannot bend, torque and/or twist as I used to.  This has implications in training, as well as a fight, because it becomes much easier for you to get hurt or hurt yourself doing simple things that were incredibly easy just 20 years ago.  If you happen to wrench something during a serious fight, all the other attributes you may have could go out the window abd be of no consequence whatsoever (e.g. strength).

2) Body weight:  At least from what I see in me and a number of close friends, your body wants to add on pounds that are incredibly difficult (close to impossible?) to take off.  This often manifests itself as a spare tire or semblance thereof.  Increased weight could mean a general slowing down of your body's speed, as well as reduced endurance.  Not to mention additional stress on your knees should you be into any distance running as part of your training.

My first 'martial arts' post, not perfectly placed here, but a good story about a citizen's defense of self and family that led to the arrest of a fugitive. Perhaps his martial arts skill was wrestling(?) He is a law partner of John Hinderacker at Powerline: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2007/08/018281.php http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2007/08/018280.php

Radtke was listed in good condition at Regions Hospital in St. Paul on Saturday and, although he didn't want to talk about his ordeal, authorities had a message for him: Thanks.

Sgt. Andrew Ellickson said he was convinced that if Radtke's brave actions hadn't stopped the suspect, he would have caused more damage and injuries.

"He wouldn't have been stopped," Ellickson said.

Leland Klanderman agreed: "The guy was determined."

Radtke, an attorney for Faegre & Benson, and his wife, Jody, had just put their three sons to bed Friday.

They were headed downstairs to relax when the front door flew open, according to Jody's mother, Sandy Brandt.

The Radtkes were staring at a ragged-looking man with a rifle, she said.

Authorities said the man forced Keith and Jody Radtke toward the garage.

Quick decision

At this point, Washington County Sheriff Bill Hutton said, Radtke's world began to narrow into a "funnel."He had to make a decision," Hutton said.

When they got into the garage, Radtke saw an opportunity and pounced, knocking the rifle out of the suspect's hands.

Radtke put the suspect in a bear hug and yelled for his wife to go inside and call 911, Hutton said. She did.

Radtke didn't realize there also was a .45-caliber gun in the suspect's waistband, and the suspect was able to get a hold of it and shot Radtke in the lower back.

Radtke continued to struggle with the suspect and knocked the handgun across the garage floor. The suspect bit Radtke several times, and Radtke put him in a wrestling hold.

Nearby officers arrived at the scene, separated the men and used a Taser to subdue the suspect.

 

I wonder if a head butt at the moment of bear hug would have changed the dynamics.

Por Cecilio Andrade

Ser proactivo.

Esto quiere decir que ante cada estímulo del entorno tenemos la capacidad de definir la respuesta que queremos dar, esto es, no somos cautivos de las acciones que sobre nosotros se realizan, sino libres constructores de nuestras reacciones.

Los que ya me habéis sufrido en clase sabéis que me encanta los ejemplos relacionados con el coche y su entorno. Pues imaginaos la típica situación del capullo (uy!!!! Perdón) “tocador de claxon, vociferante con prisa para llegar a ninguna parte”, ¿os suena?

Podemos dejarnos llevar por sus acciones y sacarnos de en medio de prisa y atemorizados; podemos pararnos y con cara cándida bajarnos del coche preguntando ¿necesita ayuda, le ocurre algo?; podemos seguir con lo nuestro sin pensar en el individuo más allá de la posibilidad de colisionar al maniobrar; y por supuesto podemos bajarnos del coche con la misma cara cándida e inocente de antes para vaciar contra su capó el cargador de 100 cartuchos de nuestro H&K G36K, que como todo hijo de vecino llevamos bajo el asiento.

¿Uds. llevan uno también? ¿No? Vaya.

Lo importante es que la decisión sea la nuestra, ya que somos los responsables de esa acción.

Sin una meta no hay carrera.

No debemos dejarnos llevar por el capricho ni el azar, y mucho menos por las acciones de nuestro adversario. Hay que tener objetivos precisos, concretos y sobre todo accesibles a nuestras habilidades y capacidades, sobre los cuales marcar metas intermedias.

Cada vez que tomemos una decisión instintiva (recordemos que el instinto se puede educar y entrenar) debemos saber si ésta nos acerca o nos aleja de nuestra supervivencia.

Marquemos prioridades.

En una acción defensiva si queremos hacerlo todo a la vez acabaremos por no hacer nada salvo seguramente morir.

Hay que tener siempre claro que por muy rápido, fuerte y habilidoso que yo crea ser, siempre habrá alguien mejor, siempre es posible que me sorprendan, que tenga un mal día, que esté agotado y lento, Etc.

Lo primero es lo primero, salir del ataque, si no estoy no puedo recibir la agresión, si me muevo gano espacio y tiempo para poder seguir haciendo cosas.

Todo tiene un ritmo según el momento y la situación.

Yo soy (el) bueno, yo ganaré y tu perderás.

Si mi mente está concienciada de mi mediocridad en el tiro, de mi falta de fortaleza física, de mi falta de coordinación, de que el horóscopo del 10 minutos me pone que hoy no me saldrá nada bien, que un niño se ha reído de mi cuando lloraba al enterarme del fallo en los implantes de silicona de la Srta. Berrocal, en fin, si no estoy concienciado de mi victoria, perderé.

Y aquí no suele haber segundas vueltas.

Cuando la vida está en juego, soy el mejor, el único, el que ganará, de todas formas, si pierdo ... ... ... ... ...

Póngase en la cabeza del malo

Bien, antes de continuar, que quede claro que aquí no se trata de subirme con mis botas de montaña encima de su cráneo. Se trata de pensar como el lo haría. ¿Ok?

Hay que ponernos en su lugar y ver las cosas como él las vería. Parece fácil pero siempre resulta más difícil de lo que parece en principio, sobre todo para los buenos.

Jamás hay que pensar que todo el mundo hace las cosas como nosotros o como otro cualquiera. Cada individuo es un mundo, con sus limitaciones y habilidades, con sus costumbres y experiencias.

No debemos cerrarnos en banda.

Trabajar en equipo incluso estando solo.

Se pueden hacer muchas cosas solo, pero la realidad es que cuanto más difícil es una empresa más ayudas necesitamos.

No solo en el trabajo diario, si en la instrucción y entrenamiento no tenemos críticos constructivos, gente que ya haya pasado por donde estamos nosotros, gente que tenga más experiencias, lo más probable es que no solo no avancemos, si no que retrocedamos.

Recuerden como se aprende a vivir, un bebe siempre necesitará el equipo formado por su familia para aprender a andar, a comer, a ver el mundo, a usar el baño, dormir, jugar, etc.

No existe eso del lobo solitario, lo acaban matando los ciervos a cornadas.

Manténganse Uds. y su equipo apunto y listos.

Existe la historia de un leñador tan inmerso en su trabajo de talar árboles que olvidó que dedicar unos minutos a afilar su hacha. Algo que le haría ahorrar muchas horas de esfuerzo.

Afilen su cerebro, documéntense y contrasten informaciones.

Afilen su cuerpo, haga un poco de ejercicio, por lo menos que bajar del coche no se convierta en una prueba olímpica.

Afilen sus habilidades, vayan al campo de tiro, al tatami, para tener un mínimo de conocimiento de las técnicas.

Afilen sus armas, límpielas, manténgalas, repongan lo necesario, sustituyan cartuchos, cambien de funda si es necesario, de cinturón, etc

Mi hermano Gabe lo describió perfectamente:

“Mantén tus armas cargadas,
tus cuchillos afilados,
tus ojos abiertos,
y tu corazón de guerrero encendido.”


Cuídense compañeros.

Peregirne:

Good point about knowing your rights! 

The problem is that I have never seen a simple statement of what the police can and cannot do.  What are the criteria that must be met before they can they search me?  My car?  My home? 

What should I do if the officer is NOT meeting these criteria so as to protect my rights? And not get hurt/killed?

CWS, can you/would you help us out here?

TIA,
CD

Being a law school grad, you know better than anybody else that this is a complicated subject.  Each situation has to be looked at closely because a single variable might change what is otherwise illegal, to one that is legal.  And vice versa.

For example, suppose the police have a search warrant for your house to look for a Stinger missile.  Well then they are entitled to look in any locations in your house that might contain a Stinger missile.  If during the search the police take the cover off your toilet tank and find a handgun taped to the side of the inside of the tank, they will probably not be allowed to use that as evidence against you in a criminal proceeding because the place they looked (your toilet tank) was not a place that a reasonable person could expect to find something as large as a Stinger missile.

Or suppose the police have an arrest warrant for somebody, and they hit the house that is the person's residence (I will expand upon this in a moment).  Note that this is not a search warrant, but an arrest warrant.  Upon entry the police have the right to control the occupants in the house while they search the house for the wanted person.  The police may choose to do this by having all occupants sit on the living room couch and other chairs.  But for officier safety they probably have the right to search the immediate area of the couch and chairs, and anything within lunging distance, for weapons.  If they find drugs or illegal guns under the couch cushions, those items could probably be used in a criminal prosecution.  However, these same items, if found in a kitchen drawer could probably not be used because it was not reasonable to 1) expect the wanted person to be in a kitchen drawer (although the cabinet underneath would be fair game), and 2) the kitchen drawer was likely not within lunging distance of the living room couch.

Now let's modify the scenario a little.  Suppose the police pursuant to an arrest warrant come to a house which is not the wanted person's residence.  Suppose they get a tip that a fugitive from NYC is at Crafty Dog's house right now.  Well Crafty Dog's house is not the wanted person's residence (of course once again a small variable change, like say the wanted person has been staying at Crafty's house for a week already and the wanted person had completely abandoned his prior residence in NYC, etc., might change the legalities).  If the police search Crafty's house (under my original scenario and without a search warrant for person), and find a massive drug and illegal weapons cache, they will probably not be able to use the evidence to prosecute Crafty (unless Crafty or another adult in the house with power to authorize, like the wife) gave permission to search.  Another minor variable change...the status of "residence."  If the wanted person is now essentially living at Crafty's house (sleeps there, has not left the house in a week, eats all his meals there, is using the phone there at hours consistent with living at a place, in other words a list if variables starts adding up, then that same search might well be considered legal because Crafty's house may well be considered the wanted person's residence.

Finally, search and seizure law changes.  When I first started my job in 1980 the limitations on vehicle searches were more stringent than they are now.  At that time during a vehicle stop the police, for officer safety, could only search those areas within lunging distance of the driver and passengers (depending upon their status..like small children), for weapons.  Nowadays more of the car is fair game.

So it is a complicated subject and not easy to write an absolute list about.  What may be a lawful Terry frisk in one situation, may be completely unlawful by the same officer in the same exact spot 5 minutes later with another person.

If Random House wants to give me a $500,000 advance on a book, I will start the book tomorrow. 

In DC, there are many blocks in which a group of guys which for all practical purposes are a gang, control the block (especially drug dealing). They may have informal labels like the "5NO Crew." (meaning they are on 5th Street between N Street and O Street. They are not Crips or Bloods (hell they have sent those folks home in body bags), so they don't have this formal gang name that is part of a larger network, but for all intents and purposes, they are a gang. I wonder how DC MPD counts those stats, because if they are counting them as non-gang crimes then they are not giving them the "credit" they really should be.

Baltimore was much like that in the mid-late 1990s when I worked there.

To best achieve explosive strength and power via weight training, you will most need to do explosive exercises.  Such as Olympic weightlifting movements, which can be done with a barbell, or dumbbells, or kettlebells.  Even Olympic lifting has several basic "categories" to it.  Some exercises work on explosive power with an emphasis on anaerobic stamina.  Others work on explosive strength but because they are so taxing physically you will likely not be able to do enough reps of them to really get huffing and puffing. 

For example, if you start each movement from the ground, such as power cleans, squat cleans, snatches, clean and presses, etc., you will find yourself huffing and puffing pretty quickly.  If you are not using too much weight, to where you can only do 3 reps max before your strength fades, you will usually find yourself huffing and puffing long before your actual strength disappears.  For example doing power cleans, from the ground up each rep, with 95 pounds.  That is not so much weight that your strength will give out before your lungs do.  At least that is the case for me.  I feel like I could do them almost forever, if I did not need more air.

Doing movements from the hang is more of a strength movement.  You don't have momentum helping you out as you do with movements from the ground up.  From the hang (e.g. hang cleans, hang snatches) are movements you really need to muscle up more than anything else.  At least with me it is usually the case that my strength fades long before my lungs do when doing work from the hang.

Another good exercise for explosive power are dumbbell (or barbell) thrusters.  Vary the weight.  Lower weight means you can do more reps and get more of an anaerobic benefit.  Heavier weights will develop more explosive strength.  Again think of the difference between doing thrusters with 95 pounds, and doing them with 155 lbs.  They tend to benefit different areas, both vital, of your overall conditioning.

JMHO.....

PANKRATION (August 24)

Hosts Jason Chambers and Bill Duff plunge into the cradle of civilization, Athens , Greece , to explore what some thing is the world’s original mixed martial art. Literally translated as “all powers,” Pankration is the ancient Greek art of hand-to-hand combat. Nearly four thousand years old and made famous by Spartans and ancient Olympians, Pankration has recently been revitalized as a modern sport. One that Jason and Bill will experience firsthand.

From back alley gyms to the oldest standing fortress in all of Greece, our hosts immerse themselves in the origins of wrestling, boxing, grappling and kickboxing and come to understand why Pankration has inspired art and literature and martial arts for centuries. At the end of their journey, one of them will face the ultimate test: a legal Pankration match with a World, European, and six-time national champion Pankration fighter - a true Human Weapon. Greece

I think this is Aris Makris from Canada.  Dino from the Warrior's Forge has brought him in several times to do seminars that were very well received.

The interesting aspect of what I am posting is about who the person who got his a$$ most kicked was.  Who would you put your money on in a street fight?  A stone cold thug who has been fighting for real all his life, or a martial arts enthusiast?:

Iverson, Bodyguard Told to Pay $260,000
1 of 2 Plaintiffs Wins in Brawl Suit


By Keith L. Alexander
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 10, 2007; B01

For someone being sued for $20 million, Allen Iverson didn't spend very much time in court: an hour or so, just long enough to tell the jury that he didn't see his security detail get into a brawl with two men at a downtown Washington club.

Yesterday, after six days of trial and about 13 hours of deliberations, a jury said the NBA star must be held accountable, ordering that Iverson and his bodyguard pay $260,000 in damages to one of the Maryland men roughed up in the fracas.

Iverson was not at the federal courthouse in Washington when the verdict was delivered, and neither was the bodyguard, Jason Kane. But jurors did give them one break: They decided against making the Denver Nuggets guard and his beefy 6-foot-3 security escort pay a fortune in punitive damages.

The $260,000 was awarded to Marlin Godfrey, 37, who said he suffered an injured rotator cuff, temporary loss of hearing and broken blood vessels in his head in the brawl early on July 20, 2005. The defendants were ordered to pay $10,000 for Godfrey's medical expenses and the rest to compensate him for pain and suffering.

The jury rejected claims by a second plaintiff, David A. Kittrell, also 37, who said he suffered bruises and emotional distress. Godfrey and Kittrell testified that they were beaten by Kane and another man, Terrence Williams, because they didn't leave the VIP section at Eyebar when Iverson's entourage arrived and told them to clear out.

"For me, it was never about the money," Godfrey, a Lanham-based martial arts school owner and instructor, said after the verdict. "It was holding them accountable for their actions."

The suit accused Iverson, 32, of failing to supervise his security team. The jury found that Williams, who described himself as an Iverson acquaintance, was not employed by the basketball star. But the panel held Iverson and Kane responsible for the trouble.

Stephanie D. Moran, one of Godfrey's attorneys, said the verdict "sent a clear message that Allen Iverson was accountable and he could not turn his head or say he didn't know."

The fighting occurred during Iverson's annual celebrity charity softball weekend. Iverson, a former Georgetown Hoya, will be in Washington this weekend for the event, which opens with a party Friday at the Love nightclub in Northeast.

Police investigated the fight at Eyebar, in the 1700 block of I Street NW, but no charges were filed in the case.

Attorneys for Iverson and Kane said they will appeal.

"We are tremendously displeased in the verdict," said Alan C. Milstein, who with co-counsel Billy Martin represented Iverson and Kane.

During the trial, Milstein and Martin argued that the lawsuit was about nothing but money, and in his testimony, Iverson said the plaintiffs "want to become rich overnight." Iverson testified that he was at Eyebar for about 20 minutes and did not see the five-minute fight erupt.

Kane, 35, testified that he shoved one of the club's security officers when he arrived at the nightspot but denied hitting Godfrey. Attorneys for Godfrey and Kittrell alleged that Kane struck Godfrey with wine glasses.
The jury returned its verdict in two stages. After awarding Godfrey the $260,000, the panel heard arguments about punitive damages. The plaintiffs' attorneys told the jury that Iverson's annual income was listed at $23 million. "What happened here has to be rectified," said Gregory Lattimer, an attorney for Godfrey.

The defense urged that no more money be awarded, saying that Iverson showed no malice and that Kane's security career was almost certainly in peril.

In interviews after the verdict, some jurors said the decision came down to the credibility of the witnesses.

"This whole case was based on witnesses, listening to Kane's friends versus Godfrey's friends," said jury foreman Dave Peterson. "Whose friends are you going to believe?"

Juror Althea Hill said the panel believed that Iverson was liable for the fight because he hired Kane. "When you hire someone to do work for you, you should check out all aspects and know everything there is to know about your employee," she said.

The jury said Williams, who witnesses agreed was at the center of the fight, was only attending a party at Eyebar and was not working for Iverson, as the plaintiffs' attorneys had contended.

Iverson could be returning to the courthouse soon for another court fight. Pending is a lawsuit involving a June 2004 incident at Zanzibar on the Waterfront, another D.C. nightclub. In that case, Gregory Broady, an information technology specialist from Maryland, is suing Iverson and Zanzibar, alleging that someone in Iverson's security team struck him in the head. Broady is seeking $750,000 in damages.

Milstein said that Iverson "doesn't even remember being there" the night of the Zanzibar fight and that Zanzibar's security was responsible for Broady's injuries. Zanzibar attorney Andrew B. Greenspan declined to comment on the case. A pretrial hearing is set for Friday.
Staff writer Jenna Johnson contributed to this report.

A scene from B13.

Aloha, C-Poi Dog

I just saw it yesterday via NetFlex.  The Parkour was great.

I can't believe some of those guys won't have serious health problems with knees and ankles later in life....

I am nowhere near as talented as all your guys (and gal  ) are.  But I have naturally drifted towards FMA and Indonesian arts because much of what I saw resonated with me.  I like the emphasis on foot mobility that these arts seem to have.  I like the weapons-based aspects.  He who pontificates that nobody has ever been beat to death by sticks has never been cracked with an ASP upside the head.  I like the overall concept of what I only know as "kilap hands."  I like the traps that can be brought to bear on your opponent through shrewd use and placement of your body and limbs.  I see nothing not to like about Kali.

Dino from Team Ruthless had a Parkour guy from DC in a few days ago.  The guy showed them some techniques and had them do some stuff to.  Everybody, including Ashley (and that is very hard to do), was sore the next day.

I expect there will be some seminars there in the future.

There's another french movie, with english subtitles, featuring a group of parkour practitioners who have to get the money together to save a young kid's life by getting him a heart transplant. i can't remember the name, but i think it has the guy who did the casino royale stunts in it. very cool stuff and a neat movie set in Paris.
'par cour' means 'by/using the heart ' in french. i think this is where the name comes from (?). as i understand it, many of the practitioners are from poorer, urban areas where there is high unemployment and it started as an underground youth movement. this movie starts with the group meeting before dawn to climb an appartment building to watch the sunrise from the roof, making their escape as the police show up...

My girlfriend, who speaks fluent French, told me this:

"I do not think that is correct.  Heart is not spelled that way.  (Not
that I know how it IS spelled, but I know it ain't like that.)  "Par
cour" to me would mean "by running" or "by race" or something like that."

My research indicates heart is couer and run is cour.  However Wikipedia presents this as the origin:

The term parkour IPA: [/paʁ.'kuʁ/] was defined by David Belle and his friend, but not practitioner Hubert Koundé in 1998. It derives from parcours du combattant, the obstacle course method proposed by Georges Hébert and a classic of French military training. Koundé took the word parcours, replaced the "c" with a "k" to suggest aggressiveness, and removed the silent "s" as it opposed parkour's philosophy about efficiency.[8][9][10]

Re: sparring/fighting with bladed weapons
« Reply #29 on: Today at 12:23:28 PM »                                                                                                Some of those same points could be argued about stick fighting as in knife fighting, as many times the stick often represents a long knife or machette.

I have heard this said many times, however, in the modern world, expandable batons are more and more in vogue.  Stick fighting/training can be directly applicable to this combat use of an impact weapon that has no edged weapon capability.  In fact with a baton, some strikes (e.g. thrusts) may not be viable because the baton might collapse.  I once had an ASP baton collapse on me when I used it during practice in my office to do a thrust into a couch cushion.

A very important key however is Maija's original point which was to not get cut.  This is probably the most important point in any knife training session. Keith

Which is exactly why the first two rules of AMOK! have to do with YOU not being the one getting cut. 

Given my druthers I am going to try and establish a long range bubble with an opponent.  Another reason I like going for quick hand cuts if I can get them in, is because it allows you to somewhat gauge your opponents body mechanics.  Does he have good arm and hand speed?  By moving, it allows you to some degree to gauge his footwork/speed on feet.  A couple of fakes are also potentially good in getting a quick read on your opponent.  Where is he holding his blade?  Is he leaving a part of his body unprotected?  If his blade is particularly high and he does not seem to have good body mechanics, can you maybe get some kicks on the low line in?  Is he really leaving his arm extended out there? 

I think once you can start getting a feel for these overall dynamics, it helps you choose a wiser course of action.

Last updated May 25, 2007 11:27 a.m. PT
Minn. boy stabs father, police say

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A 10-year-old boy who may have been trying to protect his mother during a domestic dispute Friday allegedly stabbed and killed his father with a kitchen knife.

Officers were called to an apartment complex by a neighbor and found the body, police spokesman Tom Walsh said.
According to witnesses, the boy was in the apartment with two siblings and tried to defend his mother from his father, who was drunk and threatening his family with a pipe.

Walsh declined to confirm that or provide other details and said police were trying to determine the motive.
The father and son weren't immediately identified, and the boy was released to the custody of relatives.

The down side to the hard contact trainers is exactly that also.  The risk of injury to a training partner.  Unless the sparrer just does not care whether he breaks a rib or two, he can only thrust but so hard when the opportunity presents itself.  In order to back off on the possibility of causing such injury, the person in position to land a real hard strike will often back off the intensity of his attack so as to minimize that occurrence.  This often translates into a reduction of body mechanics (e.g. the depth of the closing of the body, the slowing down of arm and hand speed, and the non-full extension of the knife wielding arm).  The opponent does not realize just how truly well he would have gotten nailed.  And the attacker does not get to fully explore the vitality of his attack.

For this reason there is a lot to be said about the NOK hard contact trainers.  You can nail somebody with 100% intensity and it is unlikely to injure your partner or to break.  It also allows you to train at a seminar for several full days running without the debilitating effects that constant strikes and dings that a hard contact trainer may result in.  You still need a hard contact trainer for disarms in order to obtain the necessary leverages and pressures that hard trainer material will generate.

Live blade training certainly has its place.  For the obvious reasons, safety must be that which the training revolves around, which of course results in application limitations.  At The Warriors Forge we like live blade exposure for several reasons.  1) so we get used to the look of facing real steel with a view towards getting some level of being innured to the apprehension of facing real steel.  2) so we can better realize that "hey this stuff works against the real thing also."  In fact, IMHO, one often does better against a live blade than against a trainer.  The brain has an amazing ability to focus sharp as a razor blade when the blade is real.  The brain does not allow itself to get filled up with extraneous, non-useful bullsh!t when it's the real deal facing it.  I have seen much better performance of the check hand against real blades than against trainers.

There is no reason to necessarily go "beserk" with live blade training.  Just getting each other used to the dynamics of incoming real blade is a benefit in and of itself.  If the attacker comes in using controlled (in the sense of not trying to run you through) #1, # 2, # 3, # 4, # 5, # 8, # 9 attacks, the defender can execute check hand parries.  I have seen an excellent elevation of check hand placement and hand speed when using real steel by even the most average person.  The attacker can build up to forward pressure while delivering these strikes, thus necessitating, in some cases, movement and in some cases (e.g the up against the wall, limited ability to move scenario) the ability to stand firm and execute your defenses.  Admittedly these live blade sceanrios are not completely representative of the real world.  The attacker always has to be ready to halt an attack in mid-air, which means controlled, non-100% deliveries, but it is a way to introduce live blade training into the mix in a way that I think benefits all students, yet does so in a manner that provides for good safety considerations.  I have run some disarm moments with the live blade, but generally prefer to keep the sheath on (a flying blade is inherently dangerous).  Even these controlled session with a live blade are not risk free.  On one occasion I came to find out that I had a slash in my gym shorts literally right where the head of my Johnson would habve been (had I been a black man  ).

Back to hard trainer training.  One thing that can be done to protect the upper torso during hard contact blade training, and this is frequently easy for LEOs to do, is to wear your body armor.  This will diminish the power of thrusts thus allowing for some harder contact with less concern of damage to each other.  Plus it has the added benefit of enhancing your conditioning by default.  At The Warriors Forge Dino takes every opportunity to insert that into the mix.  Training sessions will often start with everybody having to do 20 burpees, and then the sparring sessions begin.  45 seconds, 5 seconds to switch partners and then it's on again.  Three evolutions of that usually convince folks that knife sparring is some pretty anaerobically intense activity.  But then again you Dog Brothers know that way better than anybody else. 

3 rules of AMOK!

- Don't cut yourself.
- Don't let the other guy cut you
- You do all the cutting

I think the one hit training concept has been taken to an extreme.  How many times have we read about guys who were seriously stabbed, who said afterwards they did not even know they had been stabbed?  "It felt like a punch."  While a deep stab may eventually catch up with you, it may not immediately do so.  In my own life, during a sudden knife attack when I was a teenager, I twisted in place and took a knife deep into the shoulder that was initially headed for my chest.  I managed to run about 1/2 mile to get away from the attacker and his gang buddies.  To train such that at the first thrusting contact that one immediately sits down may be counter-productive.  Like telling a guy you are training in firerarms (using Airsoft or sims) that the moment he gets hit he is out of the fight/dead.  I think we would all agree that what we want are guys who, despite taking a hit, drive the fuck on and finish the job against their opponent.  Perhaps, if you are standing outside a hospital emergency room when you take a thrust to the chest, immediately disengaging and running into the ER for help MIGHT be the right thing to do, rather than to continue to fight it out outside.  But out on the street we gotta keep fighting until we prevail because if we don't prevail we are likely to die.

If thrusts are not necessarily immediately incapacitating, then certainly slashes should not be considered so.  While I am no wizard at such, I think much to much is made of the theory that if you slash somebody in the arm, their arm muscles will no longer be able to function.  Thatmay be the case if the slash is in the sweet spot and deep enough.  But what happens if, for example, your opponent is wearing a leather jacket in the winter with maybe a sweater on underneath?  You cannot be sure your slash was sufficiently deep.  Your opponent may not be out of the fight at all.  Cut? Yes.  Out of the fight?  Not necessarily.  Remember, on the street many of us are only really packing folders, sometimes with a maximum blade length of 3" so that we are not in violation of the law and get our asses locked up and thrown in jail.  I see far too many people train knife sparring with 6" trainers, when the chances they will really have anything more than a 3" folder available to them on the street is quite remote.  In AMOK! training, accessing under pressure has a premium placed on it for just this sort of reason.

I do think it is important for guys to spend some time trying to go in and stab an opponent to death.  It is a way for you to test whether you can pull it off or not.  A reality check so to speak.  If your check hand is well developed you may actually be able to fend off any serious damage to you while you do in fact inflict some serious damage on your opponent.  One of the drills I have run people through when I did some coordination of training at The Warriors Forge in Manassas was what I call the "20 second drill."  You are in a knife duel with an adversary, and his buddies are 20 seconds away and closing fast to jump in on his side.  You don't have the luxury of sparring and dancing ad infinitum.  You have to try and make something happen in which you prevail during the exhange, because if you do not once his buddies get there you will be in a world of shit.  You need to know what you can do and what you can get away with (if anything).  During a sparring session once I personally was able to pin a guy's hand to his side/grab his wrist long enough to nail him a few times before his brain registered what had happened and was able to bring his blade into play.  The primal scream coupled with the sudden attack on my part seemed to work at that moment in time and space.  Suppose I had done that and backed out as quickly as I had come in?  I might have come out way better than my opponent in such an exchange that might have started the diminishment process significantly in my favor.

Crafty has done a seminar here, the first we hope of many more to come:

http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=3264829&version=1&locale=EN-US


Dino, Ashley and Erin ran a live workout in Herndon, Va. this morning on Fox 5 in DC. They did a very short workout routine, consisting of kettlebell swings and dumbbell thrusters with one of the anchors.  Sadly the news folks did not last very long.