the bum rush

[doubleouch]

What do you guys think about training for the bum rush tactic? It seems the most used tactic of street thugs and also the one tactic that takes out more trained martial artists (besides the suprise attack). A bum rush is a guy doing the 50 yard dash with arms and fists flying not caring what you are throwing in return.
If you look at the early UFC's they proved how martial artist's were unprepated for an opponent who rushes in past your comfortable fighting zones. Gracie used it, Shamrock used it, Pat Smith used it, and Tank Abbot made a living from it. In fact, Tank used it better than anyone. He was the most dangerous guy in UFC in the first 30 seconds of a fight bar none.
Why do we ignore this tactic in our training? Those of you who do train for it, I would love to know how you approach it.
Thanks in advance for the replies!

[J.K.]

If you are not trained for this type of situation and are concerned about defending yourself should the situation arise - then practice your defense with a partner. Senerio train. I find footwork to be very important in a charge situation. Your reaction to this type of attack will vary based on what the attackers posture and what he is leaving open.

[doubleouch]

I agree that you have to work against live resistance. I also agree with the importance of footwork. The problem is replicating the adrenaline rush of the attacker. Often an attacker pumped up with adrenaline and rage will walk right through a good counter attack not even noticing the blows that are raining down on his head. Also it is hard to safely replicate in the gym the scenario of someone attacking with blind rage and fury.

[J.K.]

True - pure rage/addrenaline will be hard to replacate in a training scenerio but not impossible. You can take it as far as you wavt .start by going through some scenerios with your partner and gradually add in the aggression/fury until you feel comfortable with this situation. Another thing to consider is working out with people who don't study MAs and sparr with them. That will give you a better feeling for the average street attacker. When you restrict yourself to sparring with people of the same style - it get's somewhat predictable. spar outside your style and observe how you apply your technique.

[Groin Grab]

Play Football. There's no better way to get used to dealing getting rushed by guys bigger than you. Even if your a little guy try to find a semi-pro team some place and just play on the line for a little while this will prepare you for this type of situation. Some people may say well that's not realistic for combat because of the pads and helmets and stuff. Let me tell you something. There's a psycological factor that comes into play when you're all geared up like that. Because of the shoulder pads, helmets and other protective equipment football players psycologically feel greater protection and thus hit each other much harder than if they were standing around in T-Shirts, Football is good for dealing with big guys rushing in on you, Hockey is good for learning how to deal with and prepare for getting hit hard by suprise attacks and cheap shots, Wrestlling is good for stoping take downs, go to wrestling practice and wrestle with the heavy weights for a few hours take downs only I believe if you cross train in these three sports you will be prepared for any empty handed madrush that could occure in the streets.

[JOHNNY]

DEFENSE AGAINST BUM RUSH

One Possible good defense against a Bum Rush, if executed properly ...is to FLIP ON YOUR BACK AND KICK TO THE GROIN...as they come flying over you...let me know how you do with this if you ever have to use it... Johnny ( no belts and no BS) SFU

[Svevin]

Jeet Tech?

I'm no expert, but wouldn't a jeet tech be perfect for this situation? if he's rushing at you, the harder the impach on his legs will be when you jeet tech. He'll obviously lose his balance then you can set him up for whatever you feel fits after that. Just keep your hands up incase he does manage to throw a punch while stumbling.

[J.K.]

Jeet Tech is more for stopping kicks (IMHO). Footwork is key for defending - you might be able to get a knee to the person's face, a trip, or even a takedown. The key is to use your footwork to get the advantagous angle of defense/attack.

[doubleouch]

I don't think that thinking of an answer on the level of technique is productive. There are too many variables involved to say one technique would work. I'm thinking more of training methods and fighting principles that might work. I think the idea of using footwork is a good one. It uses the principle of creating space. Anyone have any specifics about footwork that they would like to share?

[J.K.]

There are a whole slew of footwork drills. There is a good JKD book by Bruce that describes his footwork and the drills. I assume if you are already study MA's you would have covered most of them. Its pretty obvious how to evade a charge its just a matter of developing your reaction/muscle memory to deal with the situation. Like I said earlier gear up and have someone charge you, have your partner vary his attack stretegy. Use multiple partners to get a different feel.

[JKDMAN]

A simple box drill will develop the basic shuffle step or slide shuffle that one needs to side step a Bum Rush. We can also bowrrow from Aikido and use said attackers own energy/momentum against him but just elbow him in back after we side step. You may just perfer a hard push on his back. Either move would add to his momentum. If you were to leave one leg out to side after side stepping you would trip him. Now combine that with the push, elbow or just grab the arm that swung and pull to see end result -------> attacker on ground. Oh if you are back to a pool table, car, wall juke box, etc remove the trip and just pull, elbow or push him. the laws of inertia will take effect and you will answer the question of the immoveable object and an outside force. Quite fun ( for you anyway )

[chinesecowboy]

I imagine a good response(may not be the best) to a bum rush would be 1) to go with the flow. He's charging forward and you curl (prepare for an impact) and lean back towards the ground, bringing your opponent with you. The impact won't be as intense if done properly and one needs to be prepared to put him in an armbar or some kind of lock or submission. 2) A quick sidestep and bring him down the same way using his momentum against him. I think a grappler would respond better than a striker in this situation.

[Ryu (JKD?)]

Put on some headgear and gloves and just do it. Have someone come at you with full resistence and contact and see exactly how your body responds. That kind of training will teach you more in 2 seconds then a lifetime of "thinking" what to do. You have to experience it. Jeet teks, kicks to the groin, using weight against him, all that is good and fine, but can you pull it off when someone has boxing headgear on and gloves and is really hitting you with full resistence?

Learn to work in the clinch too. Learn to keep your base while you knee, headbutt, elbow, and uppercut. And also train to throw, grab, sweep, double leg, etc.
You'll feel more comfortable when that bum rush comes.

Ryu

[JKogas]

It's not wise to try and strike someone who is "bum rushing" you. If he's doing the bumrush like the typical idiot (with his arms stretched out), it should be a simple task to double underhook him.

Learn to sprawl and fight for underhooks against these types of attacks and you'll be a lot better off than trying to strike someone! AFTER you've stopped the attack and you've got dominant position is when you work to strike (with knees)

-John

[kyoki]

In regard to defending against the bum rush, do the following instinctivly, w/out thought:
1) read the body language. you only have .5 to 1.5 sec to figure it out. watch for a drop of the head, a lift of the shoulders, and a general downward motion of the torso.....the birth of the bum rush. outstreached hands, aimed shoulder high or lower, will immediatly follow.
2) make yourself lower than bumrushers armpits. if you can do this it will allow you to put yourself in a position to redirect his/her forward and down energy upward and back.. where you want them to be. practice this by doing the football based exersise, squat thrusts. it teaches you how to sprawl.
3) (a) launch yourself upward after securing their arms or shoulders then rapidly release your upward thrust. thus freeing their opposit forward/down momentum, sending them face first or neck first into your timly upcoming knee followed by a downward maui tai elbow strike that flows into a sprawl.
(b) squat thrust to defend into a guillotine choke with all youve got. [consider other methods if facing a signifigantly taller opponent]
(c) squat thrust to defend in to a furious flurry of strikes in this order: R uppercut L uppercut R uppercut L hook R hook Lhook R downward elbow L upward knee Bei Jong stance

As with many thing , there are many ways to skin a cat. This is just a couple of ways to respond to the infamous bumrush. The key is tineing and the ability to transfer thought into action.