#19 – OCTOBER, 2016 – Page 2

My Story – Susan Chalmers

I started training in krav maga in 2011 on a beginners eight week introductory block, with my sister. I initially just thought it would be something just to work on my fitness. I didn’t actually know what krav maga was at the time. Needless to say, I was a bit shell-shocked to see big burly guys rumbling around the floor, looking like they were knocking lumps out of each other!

My sister unfortunately wasn’t able to finish the block, but I carried on, as I was strangely enjoying the classes and intrigued as to what more I would be learning, as it was something different each week!

A few months had passed and it was time for the national grading, which I was encouraged to try for, by my instructors, but I was quite apprehensive, as I had never done anything like this before. I also thought that if I started grading, it might start to get too strict and serious, taking away the fun element of the classes, so I didn’t go for my first grading when I could’ve done. But I have to admit, afterwards when students were coming into class with their new certificates and patches proudly stitched on their trousers and hearing all about it, I couldn’t help feel a bit disappointed with myself for not trying. So six months later, when it was grading time again, I decided to give it a go and just see what happens.

Unfortunately, a couple of months before this, I had a fall and broke my arm (not krav related). But not wanting to miss my opportunity to attempt my first ever grading and have to wait yet another six months, I continued to train and just managing to do whatever I could and watch the rest of the class train, when I couldn’t manage .

My cast was removed barely two weeks before the grading. Although I was excited, I was also even more nervous, in case I damaged it again. But after nearly five hours of, what I thought at the time, was the most physically difficult thing I had ever done, and a scary bit of having my arm pulled a bit too hard, I was very relieved that it was fine and even more ecstatic that I had passed my first ever grading for Practitioner 1 level!

After that, it was full steam ahead… I loved it! But I put myself under so much pressure for my next P2 level grading, I was almost sick. More so because I really didn’t want to let my instructors down. They put so much time and effort into their students training, I didn’t want to fail for them. I also had a new grading partner, which was a bit daunting. But I started travelling through to the next city to get another nights training where she lived, and vice versa, so we could train more together.

After a good test with each other, we both passed our P2 level and carried on training together like this. We also managed to pass our P3 and P4 level together too.

Sadly she had to move away after that and then coming up to my P5 level, I didn’t know who would be my grading partner, until on the day! But by this point I wasn’t too bothered about this. I had been training for over two years and had attended various seminars and events all over Scotland. This also gave me the opportunity to meet and train with a lot more new students.

There weren’t so many higher level students left at this point (especially girls) for me to train with and for the first time I had to grade with a male student, who I didn’t really know too well.

But we worked well together and thankfully, both passed. After achieving my P5 level grading, I remember thinking back when I started grading, that if I managed to reach my P5 level, I would be extremely happy with that achievement, of the whole first section of Practitioner levels and I would stop there. Thinking that moving onto the next section of Graduate levels was only for the real tough physical guys! But my ever inspiring and supportive instructors encouraged me to at least try get my G1 level, after coming so far…

I was given the opportunity to practice my next G1 level in a mock grading. But it was very short notice for it and I didn’t feel quite ready for it, as my goal for the next national grading was still a couple of months away. But I believe that every training session is also a learning experience and learn from that mock grading, I did! If I had been officially tested for this level, I would’ve failed by only 1%. But regardless of it only being a mock test, needless to say, I was very gutted! But as a training experience, I received valuable feedback on what I did well and what I needed to improve on for the national grading.

So when it officially came around, I really felt ready for it, even though again I put myself under so much pressure not to fail! Also the grading system had changed for Graduate levels and you had to test, not only for the level you were trying to achieve, but also every other previous level below, that you had already passed… which you could fail on if they weren’t as good as when you originally tested for them.

So after a very very long day and nearly ten hours of physical and psychological testing, I was quite emotional when being told I had passed my official G1 level and by an extra 14% pass mark, compared to the mock grading mark. It’d seemed all the extra hard work and training had paid off!

Another new change to the Graduate system, was that there was a time bar of one year in between the gradings, rather than the previous six months. During this time in 2014, the opportunity had arisen for me to attend the Kids Instructors Course in Dublin, along with some of my instructors. I had always worked with different kids groups through work over the years and was eager to learn to teach kids self defence classes, knowing the benefits, especially for a more vulnerable age group, to learn how to protect themselves better.

I really enjoyed this course, even though I felt a bit nervous as every other participant, apart from one other student, was already a fully qualified adult instructor. But I passed my course and two years on, I’m really happy to be still teaching the same kids who joined us right at the start of their very first class!

Later on in the year of 2015, a big opportunity had come my way to attend the full General Instructors Course, to teach adults. Something I had always been asked to do and always quite fancied, but realized that teaching adults would be a completely different mindset and big game changer in my krav maga journey. But this was the chance I had to see if I could first of all, actually survive the physical and mental side of the rumored extremely grueling course.

The course was indeed very intense, with two blocks of nine solid long days of hard training, them another block of five. But, half way through the course,, there was quite a dramatic change in our board of committee in Scotland and the course was put on hold for quite some time and all of us on the course were starting to think it would never get finished. After a long stagnant few months, things were back on track and the course continued, which also incorporated our next level grading too. So eventually, in Spring 2016, the course finally ended and feeling so relieved and over the moon, I had passed both my course and G3 level grading!

Since then I’ve been very lucky and appreciative of my own supportive instructors, who have encouraged and allowed me to teach in their classes as soon as I was qualified. Jumping straight into teaching has been a scary, but great boost of confidence, standing in front of a class of students, who were, not too long beforehand, my own training partners. And the support and respect I’ve had from them has been amazing and has helped to spur me on and inspire me more, to be as best an instructor I can be for them. I realize I’m always learning and there’s still so much more for me to learn and keep training for my next grading levels.

I am also extremely happy that there is yet another new chapter developing for me, in my continuous krav maga journey… I have now taken on the roll of the Head of Krav Maga Global Women’s Division for Scotland! This is a relatively new position and can open so many more training opportunities for women, and to join us, in what is usually a male dominant environment.

Krav Maga has developed my life in more ways than I ever thought possible, from starting back in 2011, thinking I just needed a wee fitness class…..!

KIDA

THE SELF DEFENSE CONTINUUM: DISENGAGE THE ATTACK pt 5 – Teja Van Wicklen

Your first target choice is the most important.

Your first attack either creates an opening for your second and third attacks or notifies your attacker that you need to be immediately neutralized. Once he knows you plan to fight, your element of surprise evaporates along with any time to strategize. Depending on his level of determination your assailant will do whatever is necessary to make sure his plan goes smoothly including, but not limited to, knock you out, tie you up, lock you up or kill you. Put yourself in his shoes. You’ve invested time and effort into this project, if you’re injured in the process or too much attention is drawn, you lose. If your assailant is fully invested in you, he may put everything he has into the completion of this venture. Wouldn’t you.

Sometimes your first choice is the most important one. Sometimes it is the only one.

(Caveat: Almost everything changes if your assailant has a gun and intends to use it. You will need to know how to read signals and to trust your knowledge and instincts. Does he appear to know how to use the gun? Is he desperate enough to shoot you? Might he shoot you be accident because of his level of anxiety? You will have to choose whether to give him what he wants, attack him, or run. More on this in other installments, or check www.ConflictResearchGroupIntl.com, wwwNoNonsenseSelfDefense.com and www.CorneredCat.com for detailed gun-related articles.)

If you create an opening with your first attack, you will have taken an important step towards the overall strategy of bombarding him so he can’t recover. This is how you damage either him or his plan and create an opening in time and distance large enough for your escape.

The first attack is where a mental shift must occur if it has not already. How you accomplish this daunting mental shift has been covered in earlier installments of this article and, if you remember, involves trusting your own decisions and perceptions, giving yourself permission to do whatever it takes to survive, even if it goes against everything you have been told about damaging another person. The ability to shift from what is essentially a social mindset to an asocial one is a psychological mystery of sorts. Some people do it easily and others can’t do it at all. Knowing where you fall is also an important part of this puzzle.

There is only so long you can defend against a determined attacker. The law says you may not aggress on someone unless you are in imminent danger. Once you have established that you are indeed in imminent danger, you must cease to be the rabbit in the trap and become the wolf feeding her cubs. This is to say you must become the attacker. In becoming the dangerous one in the relationship for this crucial moment, you remove some of his options (remember that the predator has more options than the prey). You want him defending, not attacking. The conversation must become a monologue in which he never has a chance to speak.

Subsequent attacks will also need to be fast and furious so he has no time to breathe, but they don’t have to be quite as perfectly chosen. Ultimately, you want to use everything you have together in a merciless barrage of targeted and brutal assaults that give him no chance to recover. This is how you survive a dangerous encounter with a violent criminal. Incapacitate him and leave. You have a wild animal inside you. We are educating that animal so she can be both wild and wise.

Part 6

What are the best primary empty-handed attacks?

The Hammerfist
I’m going to recommend the Hammerfist. But, just to confuse you, let’s talk about punching, after all it’s a classic, and it’s similar to the hammerfist in some ways. Most women never punch, though boys seem to miraculously know how to hold their fists and deliver these things. In the movies we see a lot of this but the fact is, without spending a lot of time on it, punching takes practice, so if you don’t do it regularly, don’t plan to use it to protect yourself.

As the center of personality the face tends to be the primary target when men face off against one another. But the face is attached to this incredibly mobile thing called the neck, which makes it more difficult to hit than the movies might have you think. When punching someone in the face you run the risk of catching his skull which will make little impression on a determined attacker and will certainly keep you from using that hand again for a while. In face, you are more likely to break the tiny bones in your hand and wrist even if you hit his face, than you are to keep him from hurting you.

As an alternate option to the punch I present to you, the Hammerfist, which is exactly what it sounds like. Hold your hand the way you would hold a hammer. Now lose the hammer. That softer part of the hand is a better weapon than the highly breakable knuckles. Imagine punching a brick wall vs. pounding on it.

Another cool thing about the Hammerfist is how multi-directional it is. Punching is harder from odd positions. By odd, I mean from the ground or in a car. It’s very difficult to generate power with a punch when you’re lying on your back or trying to hit someone who’s reaching in your car window. Remember we’re talking about protecting yourself against someone who fights dirty. So you may not be facing the person, in fact you probably won’t be. He’s more likely to be behind you or at an angle, places where punching is difficult to impossible. For instance, you can pound down on someone’s neck or collarbone but you can’t punch in that direction unless you’re much taller. You can Hammerfist out to the side or down on an angle. Try it.

You can also turn many things into weapons by allowing them to protrude from the pinky side of your hammerfist. Now you can practice one technique with many applications.

Generating power with a hammerfist can take some practice. If you have any hard or sharp object in your hand, you don’t need as much power, but the section on weapons is coming up next. If you want to generate enough power to strike someone in the neck, groin or base of the skull, it would be wise to try it out, and see how strong you feel doing it. Get to a heavy bag, or something you can hit from different angles and work it out.

The good news is that practicing a hammerfist on a heavy bag is a great way to build strength without weights. Making contact with a heavy bag causes muscles to contract much like lifting weights.

(If you haven’t done this sort of thing before, don’t start out by hitting with all your might. Take it slow and respect your body. After a number of repetitions or a few 1 or 2 minute cycles, check back in with yourself the next day.)

Hammerfist Targets:
You can use a Hammerfist anywhere really but the best targets are both tough for your opponent or attacker to see coming and vulnerable to the attack.

Recommended Hammerfist Targets:
Front or side of the throat
Side of the face including the jawline (where ear, jaw and neck meet)
Base of the skull (where the neck and head meet) – This is an excellent target if you are thrown over someone’s shoulder. Be careful in practice, it is easy to knock someone out this way or to damage their neck badly.

Other Targets:
Groin (the groin is a great target except that, as we will discuss further, it is well-defended and therefore often easy to spot and defend as a first move.)

Hammerfist Targets with a Weapon
All of the above targets are applicable. Following are targets that are only sufficiently vulnerable to a very powerful attack or an attack with a hard or sharp weapon:
The kidneys can be hit with a hard or pointy object, but you must be very precise with anything but a pointy or sharp weapon. The kidneys can be found at the back floating ribs especially on a rising angle. A ‘hit’ to the kidneys tends to make it very hard to breathe, which should allow for a follow-up attack. You might think of using this target if someone throws you over their shoulder.
The back of the knee is where a bunch of ligaments attach. A cut to the back of the knee can disable the leg.
The achilles tendons is the thick tendon that attaches the calf muscle to the heel of the foot. If cut, it may make it difficult for him to chase you.

Hammerfist Tips:

When practicing, focus more on the speed of retracting the hammerfist rather than the impact on the bag or focus pad. In other words, focus on the pulling back rather than throwing the hammerfist. This will make you faster and speed can be the same or better than strength in a fight. Also, when you focus on the attack you often pause briefly with your arm extended which can allow someone to grab you. This tip is somewhat counterintuitive, but in practice it is both more efficient and more effective.

Tips on generating power almost always involve softening your knees (it is very difficult be strong with your legs locked), coiling your hips (which takes understanding and practice) and exploding in your chosen direction. If you have played baseball or softball or even tennis, you understand the swinging of a bat or racquet at just the right time and with all your power.

These are concepts it is virtually impossible to explain. Even pictures don’t really help. They must be demonstrated. Video and live instruction are the way to go.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Conflict Management for Kids – Jose Tadeo

Our job as parents is to prepare our kids to deal with the real world when we are not around. And a big part of that is conflict management.

As adults, what is it that legally defines our actions as self-defense? Each city has its own laws, but the gold standard has been that we didn’t have the option to walk away, and our only recourse against bodily injury or death was for us to use violence too.

Why can’t we use this model for our kids too? I have. Furthermore, I have emphasized to my son that articulation is a key component in this. He must be able to explain that he didn’t have the option to just walk away.

This model actually prepares him for the real world. Telling kids to “just tell the teacher” is useless. Tell the teacher, after the fact, that he was pummeled? And what about the zero-tolerance policies that many schools have implemented, in which the bullied kid is twice the victim. First he gets beat up. Then the school suspends or expels him for getting beat up. Or what about the parents that take their kids to a martial arts school, but still don’t teach their kids that violence has legal consequences?

Let me share some personal information and experiences.

My son is autistic and as a result has a speech delay that has drawn some bullies. His mother and I have opposing philosophies when it comes to dealing with bullies. She drilled into him that he was not supposed to fight in school. And if anyone bothered him, the only thing he was allowed to do was “tell the teacher”. My son did as his mother instructed when a bully was hitting him, and as a result, my son was limping for a week.

I told my son, “I don’t care if your mother gets mad. I don’t care if your teacher gets mad. If someone is hitting you, you need to defend yourself and hit back. Otherwise, you are going to be injured again. And don’t worry about getting into trouble, I will be in your corner.” And I taught my son a few moves he could use in a fight.

Sure enough, next time a bully hit my son, my son hit back. The school attempted to punish my son, but I made an appointment to speak with the school principal. I told the principal: “You are not out there in the yard to protect my son, the teacher is not out there to protect my son. I have told my son to walk away from verbal taunts and insults. But when it comes to physical violence, it is important that he defend himself and prevent injury. Now you want to punish my son? That is not acceptable. What you need to do is keep that bully away from my son, for the bully’s own protection.”

In other words, bullying is not something your children should fight alone. Parents need to be informed and involved. Parents are the only real advocates that kids have.

I have read too many news stories of some kid committing suicide due to bullying. And my questions have always been: “Where are the parents? Why didn’t they stop this?”

Kids can be cruel. Kids taunt and insult each other all the time. Kids make fun of each other. Parents have the power to inoculate their kids so that taunts and insults don’t make our kids bleed to death from superficial wounds.

How?

By showing our kids that we, as parents, love them and that our love and acceptance of them overrides the opinions of the brats and punks our kids meet in school.
By teaching kids that opinions and insults by other people are powerless unless we give them power. In other words, teach our kids that some opinions have no value and are of no consequence. Best thing to do? Walk away.

I know that a lot of people will think I am a horrible parent for doing this, but I actually had my son watch the first 20 minutes of Full Metal Jacket in which Gunnery Sergeant Hartman verbally decimates the privates. I asked my son, “Do you see them crying or getting physically hurt because of the insults?” Of course not. They are just words.

Words can’t hurt you if you don’t allow them too. But physical violence can leave permanent damage. So you better be able to defend yourself. And you better have a good reason to defend yourself. Because defending yourself is only half the battle. If you don’t want to get into trouble in school, and if you don’t want to end up in prison as an adult, you better be able to articulate that you had no choice but to defend yourself. And I also told my son that every fight has the potential to lead to death. I told him about a news story in which two 5th grade girls got into a fight, and one of them died due to the head injuries she sustained. (here is a link to that story http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/11-year-old-girl-joanna-ramos-dies-fight-grader-boy-article-1.1028760)

Then there are parents that will just pull kids out of a school and transfer them from school to school or home school them. That is running away from the problem. How is that kid going to deal with conflict in the workplace when he/ she grows up? It is the awkward kids that get targeted. Rather than shielding such kids and hiding them, parents need to teach them how to socialize. Yes, I said it, teaching kids to be social is a self-defense life skill.

In Spanish there is a phrase that says: “El valiente vive hasta que el cobarde quiere.” I won’t attempt an exact translation, but for the purposes of this article, I will loosely translate it as: A bully lives only so long as the coward allows it.

People treat us the way we condition them to treat us. We set the boundaries. That is why thugs will do an interview and test a person’s boundaries before they strike. Teaching kids to deal with bullies, set boundaries, and be cognizant that violence has serious consequences are things we cannot afford to fail to teach our children.

Biomechanics of Power – Jari Peuhkurinen

”The degree of clarity with which you define something determines its usefulness to you” -Blauer Maxim

This article is part of a larger project of mine where I’m going to make laws of physics more understandable for martial arts and self-defense. My interest does not lie in the calculations or measurements of conventional physics, but in the practical part of physics; how can understanding basic physics make your action, training and teaching better?

My laboratory for these biomechanical basics is training and teaching concept called Improvement in Action. It´s not a martial art nor is it a system, but a structure of concepts and principles how to improve your training and teaching of self-defense.

When I started this project a few years back, I was looking for the right field of study what to follow, so that I can make sense of the laws that affect us all regardless of the art or a system of training that you follow. Finding the right field of science was not easy. Physics and laws of mechanics provide the basis for these concepts, but they do not tell us how to apply those in training. Biomechanics is a field of study what includes the human (bio) element into the picture, but biomechanics are a lot about measuring the performance. The only measurement in self-defense that we truly need is the effect of our action in the opponent, how can we measure that so that every time I perform a technique, the result is the same? Effect of action is not something we can measure in self-defense, we can only presume what the effects could be and train so that the technique we perform gives us the best possible probabilities of maximum effect.

Also biomechanics do not include the psychological part of the action in to the equation. As we all know, psychological part plays a huge part in our performance under stress and also in training. However, there is another field that includes the psychological part also, it’s called kinesiology. Kinesiology addresses biomechanical, and psychological mechanisms of movement. There is very little or no information on kinesiology and martial arts available. So you can see there is a lot of fields that need to be studied to make the information of basics physic laws applicable to self-defense training.

In this article I will address the proper terms that should be used when we talk about power – effect in the training and teaching.

Basic biomechanical terms

Power (P)is the rate of doing work. It is the amount of energy consumed per unit time. Power does not have direction and it is a vector quantity. and it is measured in watts (w). So power, when used normally in training context does not have the right properties to describe the energy in the movement. Of course we are interested in energy consumption, but since power dos not have a direction, it is not the proper term to use when talking about the energy that we deliver to our opponent during altercation via technique. Still just as a term, power is most commonly used, so there is nothing wrong with as long as you understand and can explain the real meaning of power.

Force (F) causes an object with mass to change its velocity. The original form of Newton’s second law states that the net force acting upon an object is equal to the rate at which its momentum changes with time. Equation for force is F=ma (mass x acceleration) and it is measured in Newtons. This sounds more what could be used in training. So basically if we want to develop more force we can train on two things; increasing the mass or increasing the acceleration of that mass. In my opinion concentrating on acceleration in technique is too precise, if we compare it to developing over all speed in our technique. But we do use concept of force when we create force against the ground to cause motion. Motion enables production of momentum.

Momentum (p) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object, quantified in kilogram-meters per second.So momentum is measured in kilograms-meters per second. Mass and velocity of that mass; that´s something we can use in training. In my opinion, momentum is the proper term that should be used when talking about “power” in techniques. Momentum has direction and it has the element we can develop; velocity. We produce momentum with the movement of our body mass and the velocity of that mass.

Speed (v) is a scalar quantity that refers to “how fast an object is moving.” Speed can be thought of as the rate at which an object covers distance. A fast-moving object has a high speed and covers a relatively large distance in a short amount of time. Contrast this to a slow-moving object that has a low speed; it covers a relatively small amount of distance in the same amount of time.

Velocity (v) is a vector quantity that refers to “the rate at which an object changes its position.” Imagine a person moving rapidly – one step forward and one step back – always returning to the original starting position. While this might result in a frenzy of activity, it would result in a zero velocity. Because the person always returns to the original position, the motion would never result in a change in position. Since velocity is defined as the rate at which the position changes, this motion results in zero velocity. If a person in motion wishes to maximize their velocity, then that person must make every effort to maximize the amount that they are displaced from their original position. Every step must go into moving that person further from where he or she started. For certain, the person should never change directions and begin to return to the starting position.

So simply but, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity, the rate of change of its position.

While velocity is the magnitude of speed in the movement, Impulse is force over the time interval for which it acts on the target. You need to separate these two; velocity of the movement and the time which the force of that movement acts on the opponent.
This is very simple and useful concept to understand. If you have a force of 100 units and that force acts on the target period of 10 seconds. The target receives 10 units of force per second. However, if that 100 units of force acts for only 2 seconds (which is extremely long time for example for a strike) it delivers 50 units per second to the target. What you would prefer is the force of 100 units to act 10 seconds on the target, deliver the force of 100 every second. So basically you want the impulse to contain as much force as possible, for the longest time possible.

There a several ways we can use this concept:

We can shorten the time of our movements impulse as in striking. This means recoiling the movement. According to Newton´s III law every force has an equal counter force in opposite direction. So in reality when we strike our opponent, his counter force acts on us in opposite direction and collision transfers our momentum to the opponent. The sum of the momentums stays the same after a collision.
We make the acting time longer and utilize movement as a pushing movement. Still we want to have as much force as possible as long time as possible in the impulse. We don’t recoil the movement but keep applying the pressure forward.
Proper timing enables to increase the impulse by hitting the target while it has opposite direction to our movement. This two-way movement can be used with proper timing or by making it happen by pulling opponent or keeping target in place.
In defense we can utilize impulse by moving with the force so it affects us longer time and this way reducing the force acting on us. Basically the movement acts as shock-absorber so impulse time grows and movement loses its momentum.

Energy/Power Potential

Power potentialis a term that I use to clarify importance of proper body biomechanics in training. Power potential is always present, no matter what the position of our body is, or the situation we are in. It is simply the capacity what we have (not yet produced), in that moment to produce momentum or muscle force and direct it to our opponent. Think of it as stored energy we have in our body, cause of our body´s positioning, ready to be delivered. We should train to maintain proper structure of our body in relation to our opponent’s body, so that in every situation we have the maximum power potential in our use.

Do not confuse this with the physics term potential energy, which is energy that accumulates in our body when we have the possibility to drop our body weight.

We don’t always have the distance required to produce a lot of momentum. As you remember, momentum is a product of mass and its velocity. What happens when we do not have the distance to produce a lot of velocity, but we have the possibility to produce movement? I have separated three different situations:

There is no distance between your tool and the target, you are already in contact and the starting velocity is zero. You cannot produce momentum, but you can produce muscleforce. So this is the situation where you use what you have in your muscles. For an example, a pushing movement with your hands to create distance between your bodies.
There is short distance between the tool and the target. For example, in clinching position, you don’t have the room for maximum momentum, so it requires force; acceleration of the mass. Think about Bruce Lee´s 10-inch punch.
You have the distance to produce momentum and you always try to maximize your body movement.

All these three positions need to be practiced. Be well versed in different distances so you can maintain the maximum power potential in all situations.

Balance is crucial if we want to produce and direct momentum. There can be no effective movement with direction if there is no balance. There can be no controlled movement without balance. So if there is not balanced structure, there is no power potential.

Definition for power potential could be something like this: balanced position, from where we have potential to use our muscle force to produce controlled, explosive linear or angular movement and direct it as needed.

Delivery Potential

(Power) Delivery Potential is another term of mine and it describes the variety in quantity of power potential. We always aim to have to have the maximum potential in our use in any particular position and situation, but we also need to understand that there is always loss of force during the movement. We should train to be better at delivering the whole potential and lose less in the delivery. So if we have power potential of 100 units, the maximum what we can have, there will always be less than that 100 units delivered to the opponent. There are several components that effect on the delivery:

Distance is an element in the equation of our technique and its effect. To put it simply. If you are too far away from the target you need to reach. That affects your structure and balance and it has direct effect on your delivery. If the distance is too short, you don´t have distance to build maximum momentum. Proper delivery movement has to choose based on distance.

Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces. If there is no friction, the power potential will have little or no effect on the target since most of the power potential will be lost from the ground to opposite direction. This is the reason why hockey players grab the opponent when they hit during a fight. This clarifies the importance of proper structure also. Friction force will work for us, when we deliver momentum.

Structure is composed of bones, joints, articular cartilage, ligaments, tendons, muscles and that kind of tissue that keeps internal organs at their place. This is our engine and vehicle that produces and delivers the energy to our opponent during altercation. Structure needs to be without a weak links, for us to optimize its energy production and delivery. Most common examples of poor structure you can see when people hit something and their joints give in and bend during impulse. That is force leaking from the delivery. Remember that according to Newton’s 3rd law every force has an equal and opposite force acting on the objects. That bent wrist during impulse is the Newton’s law in action. Contact with the opponent produces the opposite force acting on our structure.

Pressure (p) is multi versed term in martial arts and can be used to describe for example the psychological pressure you need to create for your opponent. In here it is a physics term that measures the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Pressure is measured in Pascals. Again to put it simply, we want to deliver and focus our power potential into small area to gain more pressure to the target and create more penetration. Think if could focus the power of our low roundhouse kick to a surface in size of a pin? It would have more penetrating power than a boot tip. The idea of pressure is the same as in impulse. Think about a bullet shot towards you, if you could divide the pressure bullet creates to your whole body area, you would hardly feel it, but because the momentum of that bullet is concentrated to a small area, it has a huge penetrating capacity.

But again there are situations where we want the momentum to effect on larger surface, for example to create more stopping movement.

Angle in which the momentum is deliver to the target is also of consequence. As mentioned in the pressure is force applied perpendicular to the surface. So we look for 90-degree angle of delivering the momentum. Anything other than that and part of the force is redirected from the target and has no effect.

Effect Potential

Effect Potential is the last part of the movement. Maximum effect potential is ideal result that we look for in any movement we make. It is the proper delivery and directing of power potential that enables the maximum effect. From physical point of view, following two components create the maximum effect in our opponent, if the power potential and delivery are in order:

Tool and Target are important factors of effect. You need to deliver momentum with proper tool and choose the right target for that tool. To put it plainly, do not hit opponent’s kneecap with your fist. Even when you have the momentum and delivery potential, the effect will most likely be not in its maximum. However, if you change the tool, for example to tip of a boot, the effect will probably be closer to maximum what we could hope for.

These two components of effect potential could have been included in the earlier sections too, since all of the other components that result in the overall effect our movement has, is dependent on the opponent’s psychology and physiology. Basically there are only six desired effects we can hope to achieve with our action:

Pain in order to make opponent give up and comply
Make him out of balance to better our position
Cause unconsciousness (striking)
Disrupt the flow of blood to the brain (strangle)
Disrupt the flow of air to the lungs. (choking)
Stop the heart from beating.

If you really think the whole concept on potential (power-delivery-effect) you can understand why the laws of physics, mechanics, biomechanics and kinesiology are not completely straight forward when talking about self-defense and martial arts and they need to be applied. Of course if we only want to measure how much force or momentum we have in our straight punch, we can use the biomechanical basics to better our movement that way, but for actual self-defense situation it holds almost no meaning, since the effect is only thing that matter, and that cannot be measured effectively.

What we can learn from these concepts is how to make our action and our training better. What to look for in the training.

Honesty; It’s such a lonely word – Terry Trahan

In pursuing our lifestyle or hobby of self protection, it is very easy to fall prey to the fantasies and untruths that pervade this industry. What I hope to do is point out somethings that can keep us on an even keel in our training, and avoid some of the hassles that can occur when unreality takes over.

Train to handle what happens most, and you’ll be able to handle most of what happens. ~ Marc MacYoung

Marc introduced me to this saying when he first started training me, and ever since then, I have used it as a guide to how realistic I keep my outlook and training.

Before Marc, I had a lifestyle where what happened most were shootings, stabbings, multiple attackers, and they happened fairly often, so naturally, my training was more brutal and aimed at ending these kinds of conflicts quickly.

Then I became a bouncer and security escort. My most common attacks and, most importantly, responsibilities changed. Now it wasn’t a matter of being counteroffensive, it was about spotting trouble sooner and heading it off. If that wasn’t possible, my job now meant that I had to be more lowkey and subtle in my responses. Gunfire, explosives and fire are not subtle.

Finally, after I left that life altogether, and I became a ‘civilian’, my landscape changed again, and I had to worry mostly about regular crime occurring, and not blowback from my actions. Yes, I still had to be wary of revenge from the past, but not as an active motivator.

It took me a long time to reach this level of honesty with myself, and to alter the way I train, and what I teach, but the handy little saying Marc taught me has been a helpful meme to keep me on track.

Two is one, and one is none…

How often have you heard this saying, whether military, RBSD, or EDC collectors, it is bandied about with abandon. And on the surface, it is a good thing to keep in mind. I myself still carry multiples of certain items. But I do not do it blindly. I look at my risk factors, my environment, and my proclivities, and make a decision based on that. Over the years, and through my lifestyle changes, I have severely cut down on the amount stuff I carry, and mostly now, it is focused on medical and emergency stuff.

We need to be able to look at what our needs are and carry what we deem appropriate for the mission, day, or season. Don’t let anyone make you feel unprepared for not carrying a jeep full of tactical gear when you run to the corner store, your life is yours to live, and you should take all factors into consideration, not just the oddball chance of a terrorist attack occurring down at the Stop and Rob.

Case in point. I know a lot of people who are into firearms. Most of them recommend carrying semi-autos, and several magazines. I’m all for that, for them. For me however, that doesn’t fit my assessment. If I carry, it is a simple snub nosed revolver and a couple Speed Strips. I don’t see me being involved in an active shooter event, or terrorist/gang attack. And if I am, my goal is to get me and mine to safety, not engage the enemy and hunt them down. I am being honest with myself, my background, equipment, and needs. If I receive newer, different information, that conflicts with my present, I will reassess my position. But I won’t change just because everyone else says different.

All fights go to the ground; or a knife always beats a gun at 21 feet

Once again, these are great rules of thumb, and we should pay attention to them. But remember, they are guidelines, not hard and fast rules.

Anybody that ignores striking because they are told groundwork is all you need, needs to do a reassessment quickly. Both are events that may happen, and both need to be trained, within the fight continuum. No, not all fights go to the ground. I say this after years of fighting and watching them. But you know what, enough do go to the ground that you need to be familiar with it. And most serious instructors will tell their students this.

The same goes for weapons. As much as I am a ‘knife guy’, I need to know all ranges and categories of weapons; guns, knives, impact, flexibles, etc. To just concentrate on one does me and my students a disservice, and leaves us vulnerable.

In closing, all I am encouraging is honesty in your thought process and approach to training. Even if your conclusions are different from mine, or everyone elses, it is your life and your fight. You have to live with it, not anyone else, and the only person you should please is yourself in this arena. So, examine your conclusions in the light of reality, and do it often. The world is everchanging, as are we, and we need to keep up, or become irrelevant or dead.