2007 January | Lethal Street Self Defense

Easy Takedowns

Self Defense Street Fight No Responses »

Jan 222007

Ryan Wolfenbarger asked:

Let’s cover some easy takedowns. Since most opponents on the street aren’t judo experts, they won’t be expecting a basic outside sweep. These moves are fast and make use of surprise. This is nothing fancy. No intricate off balancing techniques.

All of these techniques become much more effective when applied directly after a set up technique. For example a double leg takedown would be much easier if you were to first blast him in the face with a head ****.

For added effect, make sure he lands on his head. We will show you how to do this in a later article.

Easy takedown #1 (Basic outside sweep)

This is a really simple move with one HUGE important detail. This is the sweep you might see kids do while wrestling on the playground. It is the basic trip. This sweep takes your opponent backward.
1. Secure a grip on your opponent’s upper body with your arms. Many grips will work including just grabbing his jacket at the collar or sleeves. One way is to grab his lead (left) wrist with your right hand and put your left hand on his right (rear) shoulder or collar.

2. We are always going to sweep his lead leg. In this case his lead leg is his left. So drive your weight forward and to the right. As you do this, slightly bend forward at the waist. Your head is going to go outside your opponent’s head and his shoulder (A human head weighs a lot when doing a move like this. Be sure to drive your head forward and down. It makes the difference.)

3. Now sweep his left leg with your left leg. Kick it out from under him with the back of your leg. Since his weight is on his other leg you can really pop this leg out from under him.

IMPORTANT NOTE: YOU MUST DRIVE FORWARD! Commit fully. Lean past him even. The main problem with how some schools teach the move is that they never tell the student to lean or drive forward. The student is never able to get the move. As soon as he lifts his leg for the sweep he leans back and his opponent sweeps him first.

There are more technical ways to do an outside sweep and more intricate off balancing techniques. This will get you started in your side sweep training. This one is great for sparring. Great when your opponent leans back. You can also try this one any time you face an opponent with a side stance. Shuffle in before he can throw his sidekick and throw your sweep.

Easy takedown #2 (basic kick sweep/shin blast sweep)

The basic position starts with you facing your opponent. Your right hand crosses over to grab his right shoulder or behind his neck. Almost any grip on his upper body with your right hand is fine. Drive forward and penetrate to the outside of his right side with your left leg. Drive past him. Then blast his right shin with your right shin. You are stepping forward and blasting through. What really contacts is the very bottom part of your shin to his shin/foot. You are going to kick his foot out from under him while at the same time jerking forward and down with your right hand. This will off balance him and sometimes put him flat on his face. Great when you have him leaning forward from another move.
Since his arms will shoot out to catch his balance he is now wide open for an arm wrench.

Easy takedown #3 (finger twist)

Grab his fingers and bend them in the wrong direction. Jerk them downward so that he hits the pavement. This move is great because it’s so simple.

Note: Finger twisting is limited because it uses pain compliance to force an opponent to move. Pain compliance is useful against certain opponents and worthless against others. Also this move will only be useful to you when he exposes his fingers so they can be grabbed.

Always be careful when training finger takedowns with a partner.

Kravmagathailand.com‘>Krav Maga Israeli Masters Seminar DVD

Defend Yourself - Using Everyday Items As Self-Defense Weapons

Self Defense Street Fight No Responses »

Jan 182007

Jeffrey Miller asked:

Do you want to be able to defend yourself against a real world, brutal attacker who’s coming at you with all he’s got? Do you recognize that, unlike a sport karate contest, your assailant will probably be bigger, stronger, and maybe even better armed than you?

In this article, I want to look at some of the everyday items you might have on-hand, or find just laying around, that you can use in your own self defense. If you’re serious about learning the critical lessons that will save your life and limb where it matters most – on the street – then you must be able to see anything and everything as a potential weapon and aid.

Here is a list of 5 common items that you can press into use as self defense weapons in an attack situation.

1) Pen – One of the best “hidden” weapons to carry – especially in today’s world of “false-security” – is a sturdy, ball-point pen. Techniques using a pen include stabbing, poking, snagging, pinching, and even crushing pressure across the smaller bones and joints of your assailants fingers. It’s important to train with cheaper, plastic pens as well. This will teach you how to adapt your grip and still apply many of the same techniques listed above.

2) Keys – You know, if I had a buck for every time someone told me about the “best way to hold keys” that some karate guy showed them, I could have bought that Lamborgini that I really want! Let me just say that, it’s hard enough to get your keys in the right place between your fingers as these so-called self defense masters claim – and that’s when you’re calm and safe. Trying to do the same thing when some nutball is coming at you or wrestling you to the ground is…well…stupid!

The best way to hold your keys is the same way you normally do when you’re going to start your car or open your front door. This is both strong and “natural.” In this position, you can gouge, stab, and slash at your attacker’s eyes, face, and exposed skin.

3) Belt – Many potential weapons that you can use to defend yourself are often so obvious that they are virtually invisible. Unless you train yourself to look at things differently, AND you program yourself to look for them, you won’t be able to use them, even when they’re “on you!”

This is true of the above items, and it’s also true of belts, neckties, and even luggage and purse straps. These flexible weapons are made even more effective when they have a weight – like a beavy buckel – on the end. Parrying, snaring, whipping, and other such techniques allow you to turn the tables on an unsuspecting attacker who chose the wrong victim – YOU – as his target!

4) Credit card – Small, thin items like credit and debit cards, drink coasters, and the like can be pressed into use as cutting, slashing weapons. They can also, with sufficient training and practice, be thrown at your assailant’s face as distracting weapons – just like the Ninja’s shuriken, ‘throwing star.’

5) Mechanics drop light – It’s important if you to master the ability to defend yourself, that you see everything and anything as a potential aid in your defense. And, while you might not be a mechanic, and therefor not have access to this specific item, there are other, similar, everyday items that you do.

Remember, one of the skills that separate a true master or self defense expert, from everybody else, is his or her ability to recognize weapons and aids that create a distinct advantage over the attacker. But, more than the ability to recognize these items, you must take the time to learn how to use them effectively, and against the right targets.

self defense

Martial Arts Training - The Benefits of Training on Your Own

Krav Maga No Responses »

Jan 092007

Jeffrey Miller asked:

While the benefits of having a good, knowledgeable, and skilled martial arts teacher cannot be ignored, there are a lot of benefits that you can derive from training on your own. However, I still feel that it needs to be said that, contrary to popular belief… solo training is NOT for everyone.

I’ll be talking about the pitfalls of solo training in another segment but, for now, suffice it to say that you must be a very goal-oriented, motivated, and self-accountable person for this Path to mastery to work for you. That doesn’t mean that you must be that way now, or have been in the past. What it does mean is that…

…if you don’t learn and develop these traits and characteristics, then being a master of Ninjutsu, or anything else in life – is going to remain a dream more than a reality.

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the benefits of training on your own. Regardless of whether you choose to engage in solo training out of preference or out of necessity, training on your own allows you to:

1) Train around your own schedule

Any martial arts dojo, just like anything else where you must go to an expert or professional, operates on a schedule. Even if the dojo is open for day and evening classes, the classes are usually divided by rank, age and skill levels.

This means that you have to either already be able to

a. Meet the established schedule requirements b. Re-prioritize your life to make things work, or… c.Be able to afford higher private classes which would fit your own scheduleTraining on your own helps to elevate all of these situations because you are in control of your own schedule. You set aside time for your training when it suits you best. So, if you need to be doing your rolls and striking practice at 1am, after you get home from work, or the family has gone to bed, then so be it.

2) Focus on your own unique needs and interests

Just as with a set schedule, the dojo also has a curriculum, lesson plan, and agenda for getting you through stages leading from one rank to the next – and from there to and through the black belt stages.

Solo training allows you to determine what’s important to you. And, as long as you’re not fixated on rank and can stay focused on gaining proficiency with your chosen skills instead of hopping around from subject to subject, then you can literally tailor your training to what’s important to you.

3) Train and progress at your own pace

Often, when a student gets involved in a training program, there is a spoken or unspoken expectation about how long it should take to go from one level to the next. Even if you find a dojo where this does not exist, often we can be our own worst enemy by setting up certain types of expectations about what we should be able to do.

Training by yourself, while not having the same one-on-one feedback that the student with regular time with a teacher has, gives you a sense of freedom in being able to progress naturally, at your own pace.

You don’t have to worry about testing dates and deadlines, what everyone else is doing and where you are relative to your peers, etc.

4) Save money

Let’s face it – martial arts training can be, and is, very expensive! And, regardless of where you live in the world, it is rarely if ever free.

I once priced how much it would cost me if I lived and trained in Japan. As an example, if I wanted to do the art of kyu-do, archery, the cost is staggering to most Westerners.

After I purchased my clothing, even an inexpensive bow, and a few arrows…

…it would cost me at least $400 dollars!

And, I would still need to pay the teacher for the class!

5) Avoid dojo and organizational politics

Any time human beings get together, there is always the possibility of alliances, friendships, and even tension from preferential “likes” and “dislikes” towards other students or groups. And, even if you’re in a very accepting and open group, there is still the possibility of having to position yourself and tolerate negative speech, competitiveness, and even the condemning of other martial arts styles, etc.

Training on your own frees you especially from the feelings you might experience after watching certain people getting ahead in rank or position within the organization, simply because of who they know or what they have to offer the teacher.

Solo training frees you to…just focus on your training and progress.

As you can see, there are more than enough reasons for training on your own. And these are just the obvious ones. I’m sure that you can add others to the list; especially if you’ve done this type of study – whether martial arts or not – in the past.

krav maga