darrianation

You ask some tough (but relevant and discerning) questions…you make me think (it hurts my head), I like that. I have never been all that confident in my prowess when it comes to the written word, so I hope I am making sense with my explanations.

Anyway, as I stated before, risk reduction and avoidance is a key component to any self-protection program, in fact, avoidance is the highest level of self-defense.

In my observations, schools which are owned and operated by folks who have had extensive real world experience are different than schools in which have instructors that have none or limited experience I think it is because of several factors some in which I have already identified. The difference here being one has been in multiple life or death situations and has sustained longer periods of time in close association with a higher level of violence. While the other has not…he has only had isolated incidents of say a few fist fights, a single life or death encounter, or has only been involved in sporadic low level violence for a short duration, etc.

What I think we find in the real world is that only a small portion of what we learn in training is actually suitable or robust enough for the reality event. I think the reality event is the crucible for the core set of mindset, tactics, and techniques that strips the stylized methods away. Now, within that “core” set I believe there is still some room to personalize our tool box.

If that method is not continually tested both in training and the real world (by those folks who choose careers that give them that experience) it becomes rigid and begins to form a situation where folks are like a monkey who simply is taught to push the buttons but don’t know what the buttons or the patterns do.

Testing:

But does every student need to go out into the real world to test their skills?

No, in training we can set up simulations that elicit and calibrate the attributes needed to force adaptation of our skills. For the maximum effect you need to be able to scenario your skills in unscripted, spontaneous, non-ritualized force on force drills that are done in high fidelity simulation against capable and competent opponents that are fully resisting in a way that it provides incentives and unveils deficiencies within the chosen measures or in other words forces the maxima in your skill list to the top. After a short time these drills strip away the minima in you skills list.

One over simplistic explanation of this is to put a Brazilian jujitsu practitioner in a room with three bad guys with baseball bats and see how his BJJ fairs against them. Or take an average CCW holder and have him walk through a building (gym) with his CCW concealed in its normal carry position and have the bad guys jump out from around corners, from behind a door, or from behind furniture with the intent to throw him to the ground and choke him out or stab him repeatedly (with a trainer of course), etc, and see how he fairs getting to his gun in a fucked up tangle, and if he can, can he remain in control of it, or does he shoot himself as he is wrestling to maintain control from the grappler that has him pinned to the floor.

These drills however employ padded assailant suites, as well as training/safety weaponry i.e. sims, airsoft, training knives, etc. The key component to all this is a trained and experienced padded assailant or a capable competent fully resisting opponent.

In many drills you see in martial arts the participant knows the attack and knows before hand what his response will be i.e. one/two step drills, flow drills, cooperative partner drills, or any staged drill, etc. In fact, if he has seen his fellow students do it ahead of himself he only has to act because he has seen it and done it in his head a 100 times before his turn. The participant can expect when, how, by who, and what the attack will be (expectancy). He may mess up his timing or make a mistake where he can account for this on his next turn (gaming-like playing a video game…after being killed you go back to the last saved spot and this time you know where the bad guy is hiding).

The student does not have to asses the situation (or recognize variables), adapt to changing conditions, make decisions, which are all part of the reality event. In fact, in our reality event the participant will have to asses each new situation (variable) as it comes; he may have to adjust several times in a single encounter. We find that many of these drills are fragile and often blow up because the training did not pay enough attention to all the variables and attribute components that exist in the real world.

A well deigned drill should have a measure of focused anticipation to increase stress and modify behavior. The participant needs be given only limited information to reduce expectancy and gaming. The participant should begin the drill from disadvantaged position and the drill should have a high level of intensity using such things as surprise and sudden onset fighting (etc) with the fewest concessions to restricting the chaos and variables as possible.

There is a saying that states: “Make the experience real enough and intense enough and there is no need for repetition”.


Working parts:

1. Unscripted drilling in a non-ritualized combat environment.
2. Theater of action- unscripted real world events. All the factors, ambiance, nuances, sights, sounds, smells, feelings, chaos, variability, and multiple possibilities, etc, are left in play.
3. High intensity force on force against capable and competent opponents who are fully resisting each other in such a way that it provides the maxima, repeatability and unmasks any hidden deficiencies in an intense Darwinian environment.
4. Take the simple and most used things and keeps applying them to increasingly more complex environments. Don’t change the simple things.
5. Training in an emotionally charged state. Eliciting and calibrating internal states. Training, drilling, striking, shooting, and moving with full commitment to the emotional state and bad intent.

Does an instructor need to have RWE to perform these drills? No, but it certainly helps to recognize the hidden subtleties in the differences between the variances and the inconsistencies between what happens in drill presentation and the real world.

__________________
The law of tyranny:

1. Any power that can be abused will be abused
2. Abuse always expands to fill the limits of resistance to it.
3. If people don't resist the abuses of others, they will have no one to resist the abuses of themselves, and tyranny will prevail.


Welcome to the Socialist States of Amerika . Coming soon Jan 20th 2009!

darrianation

Another example of testing:

We can take a look at the early UFCs. It pretty much was a style versus style competition with no weight classes and few rules for safety. We saw TKD vs. boxing, Muay Thai vs. Judo, kenpo vs. ninjitsu, etc, etc. Certainly there were limitations of strikes such as no eye gouging or biting (and that was about it) but folks who fought used a very different version from that which they studied in their respective art forms (with a few exceptions such as the BJJ guys). This was partly to do the rules but also because the driving pressures dictated their current skill-sets be modified.

Overtime, the maxima rose to the top, those were things that were filtered through the crucible of the driving pressures of the event. Those things (strategies and techniques) that won fights saw wide spread acceptance and those things that were irrelevant went to the wayside. We saw the beginnings of a more generic formula being formed. We also saw such things as the pure strikers begin to learn to grapple and the pure grapplers who began learning to strike.

Again, after some time elapsed we began to see something else emerge…no longer were there grapplers who were cross training in other grappling arts and in Muay Thai or boxing, or boxers who cross trained in Greco-Roman wrestling and BJJ but there became a mutated hybrid that seamlessly integrated these multiple platforms into a single platform that was optimized for the event. We call these the mixed martial arts.

How does this equate to reality self-defense? Well, this is something else the guys with real RWE bring to the training gym…a highly potent mutant breed of skills that have been optimized through the crucible of the anything goes and anything can happen reality event.

__________________
The law of tyranny:

1. Any power that can be abused will be abused
2. Abuse always expands to fill the limits of resistance to it.
3. If people don't resist the abuses of others, they will have no one to resist the abuses of themselves, and tyranny will prevail.


Welcome to the Socialist States of Amerika . Coming soon Jan 20th 2009!

treelizard

Yeah, I guess that's the only thing I'm having trouble with, is that I am having trouble understanding how real life experience is more relevant than well-researched information. I can see how it would be useful for an instructor to say they are teaching from RLE, and a student may have more confidence in said instructor, but I'd be just as inclined to trust someone who adapts their techniques based on research they've done than based on personal experience...

For example, I took karate for seven years and then was in a bad place in a fight which ended up on the ground, so I suppose I can say from experience that a stand-up only system (especially a mediocre stand up system) may not be best for the street. But do I really need street experience to say that? Wouldn't it be just as relevant for someone who never had experienced that to say so? Someone could read this and say, "Oh shit, I read this chick took karate for seven years and still got hurt badly because she had no ground skills" and tell all their friends, and it would be just as relevant, wouldn't it? Likewise, I don't feel like I need to try to use BJJ on some street thugs with bats to realize I need to do my best to stay off the ground.

Another story. I took a WSD seminar with four instructors. Only two (that I know of) had real world experience. They added interesting snippets of information, but no more relevant than those from the instructors without RWE. Hmmm.

I am lucky that I have several people right now that I can go to and say, "hey let me try an escape from mount that I read about", or "hey i'm gonna try that drill but this time don't let me have it, really do everything you can for it not to work" or "hey, let me wrestle you, but i get a permanent red marker" etc. and I feel like I've learned more from that than having a teacher with RWE say something to me that I may not even completely understand. I'm a kinesthetic learner, so that may have something to do with it, but I guess I'm not gonna be *fully* convinced something will or won't work unless I try it against resistance, no matter what anyone says...

Lastly, the people I know who have had RLE are usually cops or military, so their experience is already radically different in anything I will ever have to deal with. They have different skills, a different mindset, different weapons, different options, and usually a hell of a lot more backup than I will in an assault situation.

I apologize if I'm repeating myself!!

__________________
http://www.dirttime.org

http://morewomeninmma.blogspot.com

darrianation

This is another toughy and definitely out of my area of expertise. That said, size does matter, it is an unfortunate fact. Sense in my perverted part of the woods we believe in stacking the odds in our favor then we need to take a practical look at what that entails.

The obvious is strength and conditioning. This is the foundation in which all combative movement relies. Hinging form there are our unarmed fighting skills which is the bridge for accessing our weapons i.e. gun, knife, OC, etc.

From there we need to look at a matrix that includes all the necessary items that can be applied to a wide array of problems while excluding the unneeded items.

First, let’s take a quick look at mindset.

We have seen plenty of examples where a smaller, weaker, less skilled, and disproportional armed subject has prevailed through surprise, tenacity, and aggressive tactics. Sometimes, the fact that you are willing to put up an all-out aggressive fight with emotional content is enough to sway a successful outcome in your favor. Controlled aggression is the ideal, but sometimes reckless abandon is required. This will create chaos on which you can capitalize. By the time he has figured out what’s happening, it’s already happened.

What I am saying is skill or size is not always the determining factor in combat. It is the willingness to engage your opponent like a rabid wolverine on steroids where everything goes including the offsides and picking up the kitchen knife. These are the intangibles that are often only talked about in passing, rarely trained (although they can be trained and improved) and cannot be assessed through predefined performance in staged tests or competition.

Tactics are the same for everyone regardless of gender or size. If you trust in the tactics and are willing to go all out (and train that way) many of the other problems won’t be such a problem.

If you are talking about drills that place you on the same plane as the bigger stronger guy in training….you will either lose or win depending on how the drill is set up but neither have much to say about what happens in combat. Remember knees, elbows, biting, headbuts, and gouging will cause more damage than your right cross (unless you have a Mike Tyson right cross), grappling with such a size disparity is difficult to overcome unless you train to stay on your feet i.e. sprawling and the modified BJJ standup, etc, or you train for accessing weapons while on the ground tangled up with an opponent.

If we are not actively perusing those things that will increase our advantages in a fight for our lives then unfortunately going up against a bigger, stronger opponent with nothing but your strength and size is not being practical. I hate to say it (you may not like it) but if this is a problem then you may need to look at other methods to improve your odds.

I would not try to fight a guy who is that much larger/stronger than myself without knowing I have some advantages. I would definitely not engage him unarmed unless I did not have a choice. My unarmed skill sets are there to keep me in the fight long enough for me to get to my weapons. I know there are folks out there that cringe when they hear that but there aren’t any magic pills that will remedy the situation. Regardless of your skill level some former college linebacker who bench presses 450lbs will in all likelihood overcome your unarmed skill sets. Unfortunately, and I hate to say it, but that’s reality.

__________________
The law of tyranny:

1. Any power that can be abused will be abused
2. Abuse always expands to fill the limits of resistance to it.
3. If people don't resist the abuses of others, they will have no one to resist the abuses of themselves, and tyranny will prevail.


Welcome to the Socialist States of Amerika . Coming soon Jan 20th 2009!

darrianation

I think we have reached the point where we have come to an empass on this issue.

I am feeling I am getting to the point where I have crossed over into the realm of proselytizing. I hope I am not sounding too preachy (I can unintentionally and without realizing it get that way). I don’t think anyone should have to do anything they don’t want to do in their training or be forced to do something that is contrary to some deep rooted believe. I am just trying to state what I believe and why I believe it.

You mentioned in a earlier post about cross training options. Sense finding a good teacher based in reality that covers all the ranges of combat is hard if not impossible to come by, I think you hit the nail right on the head when you stated that. Most folks I know supplement their training in this fashion. Maybe training in a MMA while spending time on the shooting range while practicing their drawstroke and doing dry fire exercises in the comforts of their own home while using mental imagery maybe the best that they can hope for…and I think that goes a long way.

__________________
The law of tyranny:

1. Any power that can be abused will be abused
2. Abuse always expands to fill the limits of resistance to it.
3. If people don't resist the abuses of others, they will have no one to resist the abuses of themselves, and tyranny will prevail.


Welcome to the Socialist States of Amerika . Coming soon Jan 20th 2009!

treelizard

Weapons are a great equalizer.

__________________
http://www.dirttime.org

http://morewomeninmma.blogspot.com

treelizard

One more point to make, though, which I see as a major factor in WSD. Average BGs PICk their victims. They don't WANT any kind of fight at all. They are looking for easy targets, or "white bread" (as I've overheard people discussing/describing.) In my experience even minimal resistance can sometimes be enough. Sometimes even increased confidence portrayed through body language is enough.

__________________
http://www.dirttime.org

http://morewomeninmma.blogspot.com

Tant01

I used to tell folks "YOU'RE F()CKING LOST DUDE! YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE! YOU BETTER JUST TURN YOUR ASS AROUND AND GIT BACK TO WHEREVER THE HELL YOU CAME FROM!"


IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY BUT HOW YOU SAY IT!

"I'm not from here" is a lie... Throws them off sometimes!

__________________

"In all countries where personal freedom is valued, however much each individual may rely on legal redress, the right of each to carry arms - and these the best and the sharpest - for his own protection in case of extremity, is a right of nature indelible and irrepressible, and the more it is sought to be repressed the more it will recur."

James Paterson

Tant01

Now you're talking! Intent helps too.

__________________

"In all countries where personal freedom is valued, however much each individual may rely on legal redress, the right of each to carry arms - and these the best and the sharpest - for his own protection in case of extremity, is a right of nature indelible and irrepressible, and the more it is sought to be repressed the more it will recur."

James Paterson

darrianation

A study was done that looked at several (can't remeber how many?) women who were successful at escaping or thwarting rape. In the study they identified three consistent factors (although there were others) 1. Scream…make noise get peoples attention. 2. Run! 3. Fight back. Using all three worked better than just using one. They also found that women who fight back are no more likely to get hurt more often or any worse than women who don’t.

__________________
The law of tyranny:

1. Any power that can be abused will be abused
2. Abuse always expands to fill the limits of resistance to it.
3. If people don't resist the abuses of others, they will have no one to resist the abuses of themselves, and tyranny will prevail.


Welcome to the Socialist States of Amerika . Coming soon Jan 20th 2009!

treelizard

I've heard that too, and also that the earlier you fight back the more likely your chances of survival art.

I read an article a while back that said that most women who successfully defend themselves have to use only two or three techniques. Has anyone heard that?

I'm trying to get my hands on some real case studies. When I asked for success stories from Impact/Model Mugging, all they sent me was this retarded three-page list of times women had, like, given people dirty looks and called the cops but said they were alive because of their Impact training.

__________________
http://www.dirttime.org

http://morewomeninmma.blogspot.com