darrianation

I’ll start with mine to give you an example of what I am looking for.

In order:

1. The gun (rifle, pistol, and shotgun) - handling, tactics, shooting.
2. Physical strength and conditioning.
3. Knife work- the drawstroke under assault and simple tactics are most important to me.
4. HTH- Striking first then grappling (mostly striking since none of my training partners like to wrestle).

The majority of my training is really concentrated on the first two because my time availability is limited.

Gun training-

1. Dry fire- (at home) practicing the drawstroke from concealment, principles of marksmanship, malfunction clearance procedures, quick reloads (empty mag of course), transitioning from rifle to pistol, etc.
2. Solo airsoft drills- dynamic drills and footwork with the arisoft in the garage…everything that is done on the range in live fire exercise is done with the airsoft at home. This also includes combatives.
3. Range- then I take it to the range verifying what I’ve done at home with dry fire and solo airsoft drills is working at the range.
4. Finely, I get together with someone usually one or more of my training partners and put it all together in force on force drills using the airsoft to simulate real world fights. This also includes combatives.

Since almost all gunfights are ambush situations where one is either initiating an ambush or responding to it (hopefully by preempting it) after the gun handling skills I prioritize”

1. Gun handling.
2. Reactionary gunfighting.
3. Combatives.
4. Then proactive gunfighting.

Skills:

Gun handling:

1. The drawstroke.
2. The retention drawstroke.
3. Non-diagnostic malfunction clearance.
4. Speed reload.
5. Tactical reload.
6. Transitioning from rifle to pistol.

Reactionary skills:

1. The sight and drawstroke progression.
2. Get off the X footwork from a non-ready/startle position and from varying distances and orientations to the threat.
3. Angles of movement appropriate to the distance I am from the threat.
4. Running and gunning- combat accuracy making centerline hits with dynamic movement.

* I often employ multiple opponent situations in both airsoft and live fire exercises and I shoot in low light as often as I can.

Combatives:

1. Anaerobic conditioning.
2. Striking (straight forward and drive by attacks) on my spar pro that leads to the gun draw.
3. Disarms with training partners (and follow-ups procedures).

Proactive skills:

1. Precision shooting (Marksmanship).
2. Long range shooting, first without the use of optics then with optics.
3. Shooting from different positions- prone, sitting, kneeling, etc.
4. Moving from barricade to barricade.

What are you priorities and if you would can you give us a brief description of how you train?

__________________
In hills, as well as in villages and cities, hazards and predators find those who walk backwards.- Ezekiel Sanchez

darrianation

C'mon, nobody wants to write down their prioties for training?

Here is the rest of my list:

Combatives training:

Every time I do Airsoft drills in my garage which is 2-3 days a week I do 3-5 repetitions of attacking the spar pro. I imagine a scenario in my head for visualization purposes usually I’ll be on my cell phone or in conversation with someone and imagine the attack comes unexpected from the flank, oblique, or front and I default to a flinch- shield/cover and explode into my offensive which consist of something like a spearing elbow or chin-jab or other, followed by a rapid succession of repeating cycling strikes, open hand palm strikes, elbows, perhaps knees, eye gouges, and headbutts with a strong powerful shove off to a gun draw and a quick burst of 3-5 rounds. Other times I imagine him wolfing me up and I preemptive strike and the rest goes as above.

When I get together with my training partners we will often (but not always) add some form of combative elements to our shooting/Airsoft FonF a lot of knife work (defenses and disarms that is) and gun disarms go into this.

HTH training:

My HTH curriculum primarily consists of the jab cross combo with open hands and closed fists, elbow, knees, and headbutts. For preemptive striking I like the right cross, chin-jab, and the brachial stun (EOH blow or forearm to the side of the neck).

Training HTH:

1. Light shadow boxing for 5-10 minutes to get warmed up - quick but loose with boxing punches (jab, cross, hook, and uppercut) and knees and elbows.
2. Stretch especially the shoulders and wrists.
3. Power punching- this is as hard as I can (one at time). First the cross (I tape my wrist/hands with two rolls of wrap very tightly). I will hit as hard as I can until I notice a drop off in power or a body part begins to hurt like my shoulder or wrist then I’ll move on to the elbow and finally head butts (I only do 3-5 headbutts in this fashion though).

• I imagine a scenario in my head while I am hitting the heavy bag and I am visualizing the effect my punches/strikes are having on my opponent.

4. 3-5 rounds (30-60 seconds) of high intensity striking on the bag (sometimes to sheer exhaustion i.e. failure) hitting the bag as hard and as fast as I can. Take a breather, repeat.

• Again- I imagine a scenario in my head while I am hitting the heavy bag and I am visualizing the effect of my punches/strikes are having on my opponent.

5. Cool down stretch.

I do this at least twice a week and that’s pretty much it for my HTH training. This is mostly for conditioning purposes (and some maintenance too) because I have already put in over 20 years of martial arts and martial sports training.

Strength and conditioning:

Anaerobic-

I consider the HTH work and my airsoft drills (many of the live fire drills too) as part of this, i.e. “anaerobic” exercise.

Strength-

I cycle:

1. Right now I am in the weight lifting phase 3 cycles 16 weeks in total length. (1-prepatory a balance between S&C & balance. 2- build up. 3- pure Strength development).
2. Then I do 12 weeks of fast circuits using only body weight- this is a group of exercises that include push-ups (or burpees), crunches, squat-jumps, pull-ups, and dips done in repeated fashion without rest.- this is also anaerobic. These suck.
3. Concentrate heavier on my technical work and aerobic exercise. Or I’ll do kettle balls.

Aerobic-

Aerobic exercise- 1 hour 5 days a week (though, I usually only end up doing 2 or 3 days a week) on the elliptical trainer keeping my HR between 135 and 155 (my aerobic threshold) - this is better on my knees than running. Or I bike ride when the weather is good. Also, I am an avid hiker, backpacker, and climber (non-technical climber) so in the better weather I do a lot of that too.

Remember, I still have kids and all their sports, activities, and school functions and a wife too of course, plus I still have to provide for my family so my workouts rarely last more then an hour and much of the time only 20 minutes or so (except for weights and aerobics). I don’t do a lot of the stuff I use to do when I was younger now that I am in my forties but I still like to push the limits every now and then…mostly I just train smarter.

__________________
In hills, as well as in villages and cities, hazards and predators find those who walk backwards.- Ezekiel Sanchez

Mike Brewer

Darian,
I swear, I am not trying to be esoteric here. This is just really what I'm spending my time on lately. It may not fit the model, but it's the god's honest truth.

#1: Improvised weapons -
I've been spending a great deal of time on what I can use in a pinch to defend myself. I have been spending a lot more time traveling on airplanes, and as we're all aware, that can restrict a fella's carrying options. I have always believed that it's the man that's dangerous, and that the weapon is only an extension of that, so I've been working on ways to use whatever I can find at hand to, diplomatically phrased, resolve potential conflicts.

#2: Group strategies -
Again, attacks by more than one person are more of a concern than single person attacks. It works the other way, too. I have more reason for concern if I am in a group of people than if I'm alone. I can, after all, break and run if I'm by myself, but I can't leave my wife or my buddy hanging. So I have ben focusing on not only working against groups, but making sure my own "team" knows how to work with each other.

#3: Firearms -
Duh. Operations and tactics, along with good old fashioned marksmanship. Basics never ever go out of fashion.

#4: Intellectual Pursuits -
Here's where things fall apart in terms of the conventional "Urban Combatives" idea. I have been spending every bit as much time studying my local laws, getting to be better informed about things like the social make-up of neighborhoods in my area, and even things like basic behavioral psychology and sociology. Ironically, this has even made me want to study other things, purely for the intellectual value, such as logic, mathematics, philosophy, and even poetry. What I've discovered is that the more active I keep my intellectual training, the more aware I am of other things. For example, becoming aware of the netric structure (or lack of it) in a Walt Whitman poem will sometimes make me more aware of the rhythms of background conversations going on around me. I know, I know - sounds ridiculous and completely unrelated to combat. I don't care. I have been able to recall more detail about my surroundings, I've been able to process more information, and I've been able to predict things with greater accuracy after shifting some of my focus to intellectual pursuits than before. Not one to argue with results, I've made it more important. Translated to combative terms, I'm paying more attention to my surroundings, working on how to stand out less, and in general, trying to set up my life so that there are neither causes nor opportunities for enemies or opponents to attack me in the first place.

#5: Conditioning -
In the form of running, exercise, weights, etc. This is always important, and it's something I can always improve, especially after having a seriously rough year. In the course of 2007, I re-aggravated a bad back/hip injury, tore a rotator cuff, and managed to catch West Nile and Meningitis. Recovering from this means getting back all the conditioning that's inevitably lost from sitting in a hospital bed. It also means training around my injuries in a smarter way than I am historically known for. It means laying off and making sure I get the right kind of rest instead of just mashing the throttle all the way to the floor until something gives.

#6: Everything else.
To me, the great bulk of my more conventional martial arts-type training has taken a back seat. I still do it, of course, but it is not the same kind of priority to me that the rest of this stuff is. Now, all of this could change next week, but for right now, this is where it stands.

darrianation

Excellent!

I have read just about every book on criminal, behavioral, NLP, EMDR, PTSD, evolutionary and combat psychology I could get my hands on.

For a long time I was very interested in the Civil war and I must of read 15 books on the subject and toured all the historical CW battle-fields. Lately I have been on WWII. I’ve read at least 7 or 8 books on the subject in the last two years one of my favorites is “Flyboys”. Those guys were fierce warriors and I am in awe of there bravery, ferocity, and shear determination as fighters. Not many could do today what they did.

Currently, I am into studying the old gunfighters from the old west to Col. Askins, including Fairbarin, Sykes. Those guys were “gunfighters” and knew what real gunfighting is all about, not like what you see being taught today which pales in comparison.

The law as it pertains to self-defense should be studied by all who train to defend themselves, no doubt of its importance. I like to research actual cases to see how the law is being interpreted and applied.

My HTH takes a back seat too. The way I look at it, it is subordinate to my weapons (firearms) and tactics though, HTH still plays and important roll in an overall fighting program. Personally, my HTH consist of boxing “old-style” where they allowed knees and elbows, and combative strikes like the chin-jab, EOH, fairbairn, Sykes, et al type of strikes, nothing fancy just good old fashion hitting…easy to maintain with very little practice.

I guess I'm very retro these days.

__________________
In hills, as well as in villages and cities, hazards and predators find those who walk backwards.- Ezekiel Sanchez

DickHardman

i currently train muay thai/boxing and jiu jitsu(bjj)/judo. i train primarily for self defense. even though these arent combatives or arts like that, the gym i train at was perhaps one of the best ones i could find in the area so i joined because i knew i would get quality training, as well as "bang for my buck" since the place has many professional fighters and well respected coaches from different disciplines that i could train at under one roof at a reasonable price, and its close to my house so getting there isnt a problem. the arts i chose to train in also were carefully selected and studied by me because inmop, they provided much that i desired for self defense purposes.

muay thai / boxing - parrying & counter attack skills, hard strikes with all parts of the body, footwork, faster movement overall, faster reflexes, body conditioning, building cardio vascular strength, blocking/destructions, footsweeps during punch exchanges to offbalance opponents and land desired shots, learning to close the gap, learning to smother and stuff flurries and using them to close the gap, hardening bones on heavy bags, fluid movement.

jiu jitsu/judo - learning to manipulate peoples clothing against them, learning to strangle people from every angle and position using their collars, learning to pick people up and drop them on their neck/skull, developing grip strength from using the gi and using it to prevent people from escaping your hold on them or their clothing, joint locks, escapes from bad positions, developing balance, learning to defeat aggressive and strong attackers with superior leverage, movement, position, posture, and technique, learning techniques that use the opponents belt(something that is commonly worn by people in real life) to your advantage, hard body conditioning and the development of the back and neck muscles for protection from falling and getting slammed.

knives - i always carry a good reliable pocket knife for self defense. even though i dont train in an art like kali, i can still use a sharp pocket knife as an extension of my arms/hands, which are developing the ability to move faster and faster with each time i train. and the parrying, counter attacking skills and strategies of muay thai and boxing work just fine with a knife. shadow boxing with a knife in my hand makes it very easy for me to see how western boxing and may thai were derived from blade arts

common sense/street smarts - being alert and aware of surroundings as much as possible, paying attention to your instincts and the vibes some people can give off, staying away from shady places and bad parts of town as much as possible, just using your brain and watching your back looking both ways before you cross the street, making sure there arent dark figures lurking around the atm you are about to go use at night etc........ only you can take care of yourself.

weight lifting - building up my skeletal muscles and making my bones denser, and my body as strong as possible. this will only aid me in helping prevent injuries during training and possible SD situations, and builds my physical strength. trying to add as much muscle on my body to protect it as much ass possible. ive actually taken a few slams during training on my trapz, which protected my head and neck.

i plan on getting a gun in the future and begin training with guns.

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jubaji

Yeah, being stoned all the time and associating with drug dealers probably helps a lot with that, huh?

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Michael Wright

My focus at present is pretty much all on Boxing, because my amateur season starts soon.

In terms of Self-Protection, it’s always there on some level in my training, but it will be very different to what you guys focus on. It is illegal in the UK to own a handgun, carry a knife, or utilize a weapon of any description really. I do keep my self-protection skills sharp with and without weapons, largely because I teach some groups who need this training. In terms of my own personal priorities though, its not especially relevant to my life as it stands now.

I live in a good area, surrounded mostly by young families, and I work in an office full of professional people. Outside of that pretty much all my time is spent Boxing. With the exception of a minor incident about 18 months ago, I haven’t had a fight in years, its just not the way I live my life anymore.

I used to carry a knife until it dawned on me that my lifestyle choices rendered it totally unnecessary, not to mention paranoid, insecure, oh yeah and illegal. I used to really be into collecting knives, sticks, airsoft guns all that stuff, but it was just childish and ultimately futile, I was just playing with toys that I wasn’t ever going to use. I’d rather spend my time and my money trying to be in good shape and enjoying some hard training.

I do appreciate that violence is unpredictable, but I have trained for over 16 years and have a sufficient level of faith in my empty hand skills to relax and not lose sleep over it. If someone decided to bring a fight to my door tomorrow then I’m in shape, I’ve been there before, and I know what to do. And hey, if the story of my life is going to play out such that I meet my grisly demise at the hands of five guys with baseball bats, then I guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. I’m not going to waste my life worrying about it.

I’d better go as there is a group of guys at the door. Hey, I think they want me to join their baseball team......

fire cobra

I study and train in the traditional arts of Muay Thai and Pentjak Silat,
the Modern Muay Thai gives me the hardcore roughness i like from training,
the traditional version of Muay gives me the artistic expression i like,
and the Silat gives me the awareness of enviroment,multiple opponents,internal "mind" training(meditation,breathing etc) and weapon training i like as well as playing to my creativity and helping with the what ifs of life.

Im also running 5 x per week for 30 mins,weight training 3 x per week and brushing up on nutrition.

Shoot

1. Fitness, 2. Entertainment, 3. Self Defense ( a far third). My main priority by far is being strong and cardiovascularly fit. I say "entertainment" is second in that I really use martial arts as a fun way to do cardio. I'd rather hit heavy bags, jump rope, do focus mits, and spar (including grappling) then jog on a treadmill (a lot of the time, but not all the time). The self defense applications are nice "side effect" for me, but then again, I'm really of the mindset that being fit aware of your surroundings goes the farthest in self defense, so I feel pretty secure in just being a strapping dude even without training under the heavy weight intergalactic mixed martial arts champion of planet earth. So, maintaining 6% bodyfat, having my best VO2 max, and being in the 99th percentile as far as strength goes is my most important goal. Martial arts is PART of my training program, it's not THE training program. Oh, and boxing (specifically two punches--the jab and cross) is my dominant art in my MMA "arsenal"--followed by wrestling--which in my case resembles in many ways rugby or football. I guess you can say I like my martial arts simple.

Mike Brewer

Shoot, you are a welcome and refreshing forum member.

fire cobra

Great post Shoot.

FitnessRubber

agreed. it's refreshing to see.

Tant01

Good on you.

(Me too) I can't compare myself to the elite athletes and pros here but it's safe to say I'm fit enough to inflict some trauma should the need arise.

I like to shoot and cut but I doubt if I'll ever use those skills to defend anything, so it's hand to hand to hand. (Gravity and terrain implied)

__________________

"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

KirkhamsEbooks.

What is a Spar Pro?

Rick

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