The See Saw

[meguro]

I just spent two days taking a Kuntao/Silat seminar by Maul Mornie. Great seminar btw, you owe it yourself to try (http://www.facebook.com/SilatSuffianWorldwide) just once. Anyway, I bring up the seminar because it bears on this discussion.

Maul stressed that simplicity is desired, take the man down by a strike to the jawline (or liver, or floating ribs) ASAP, plan A. Plan B, is for when the fit has hit the shan. The seminar focused on plan B. He covered topics such as getting up from the ground (in case you've been thrown, slipped, or are getting boot stomped), knife fighting, vital point striking, locks (joint destructions not submissions) and takedowns. It was an exhaustive, and exhausting seminar. The take-home lesson, however is knowing the small but key details make the complex, simple and dangerous. For example, when throwing or tripping, don't just throw the opponent to the ground, throw him so that he lands on rocks, edges, even your knee or elbow. Don't just sweep, collapse the ankle with a kick or step on the opponent's foot so that as he falls, the ankle snaps. Strength is not a requirement. Positioning, timing, technique and knowledge of body mechanics are essential.

[GJEC]

Oct 15, 2012 11:03:28 GMT -5 curlbroscience said:

Going back to the original discussion, we learn how to react against an attacker in a certain way. Conditioning our response. When we are attacked, how will we react?

I can't speak for others, but when I started on a door I had 9 years of good karate training under my belt, including fighting for England and GB. By all the laws of "You get what you train for" - usually promoted by people who want you to train in THEIR system - I should have been dead in the water. High hands to guard against kicks, no protection against face punches, no grappling skills, etc

But the reality was, it took me about 30 seconds of violence to change my methods. (Get in quickly, bang them, firm hold using head control, drag out - keeping them moving - kneeing them if they struggled) None of those skills were formally taught, I just watched how the other doormen did it then used the fitness and aggression I had built in Knockdown.

So my contention is that "You only get what you train for" is not strictly true. There is a carry over and just like a talented brawler might pick up knockdown skills fairly easily, the same happens in reverse. (Mind you, I was 85kgs with a pretty short fuse. That helped)

It has been suggested to me in the past that I only got away with this as in the early 80's people were less vicious and more prepared to fight one on one without their mates jumping in. Not true. This was the tail end of the skinhead and football violence era so most lads who went out had a good grasp of 'street' combat including putting the boot in. It's also been suggested that today's knife culture would counter those 'old-fashioned' tactics. Maybe so, we just had glasses and bottles to worry about ...



Gary

[curlbroscience]

Thanks for the replies Gary and Meguro