Black Belt Blog

Free Sparring Can Kill You

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:24:21 GMT

I saw a news story in German media the other day that reminded me why free sparring - especially full contact - can lead to a serious disadvantage in a real survival situation.

The story involved a man that was confronted by 3 teenagers in the subway. They were asking for money and being a bit belligerent about it.

The man, becoming irritated got mad and punched one of the boys in the face. He preceded to get into his fighting stance expecting the kids to back down. Only they didn’t.

The boys went off on him. They didn’t have a plan and were not trained in combat skills. They simply went on instinct and after a couple of hits, the man was on the ground. This is were the teenagers, now in full rage, kicked him until he stopped moving.

The man later died due to blunt trauma.

The lesson here is that if you expect your opponent to fight fair you’re already at a dis-advantage.

The problem with free sparring is that you have to fight fair. If you don’t you or your partner won’t be around the next day to train again. I sometimes get asked by people if Dynamic Self-Defense engages in full contact free sparring.

They are often disappointed when I tell them that we don’t.

Sometimes they insist that it is the only way to really learn how to fight. I simply respond by asking them how hard they can get kicked in the groin. That’s how hard we’ll go!

Self defense is as much about targeting and positioning as it is about just hitting hard. The problem is that if you don’t train to shut down your attacker you’ll revert to fighting fair when faced with a situation like the man in our story.

At Dynamic Self Defense we have adapted the same training methods used by Police and elite military units. These methods allow participants to train the various components of self defense (positioning, targeting and power/penetration) without placing them in unnecessary danger.

We’d like to invite you to contact us to schedule a time to observe an adult or children's class at our New Albany school for yourself. We know you’ll like what you see!

Why Dynamic Self Defense Is No Good For Tournaments

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 17:29:00 GMT

There are probably thousands of martial artists that are more graceful and fluid than I am. There are better kickers, faster punchers and better grapplers.

But none of this matters when it comes to self-defense…

When you come home to find three thugs inside your home cleaning out your possessions (as happened to my neighbors in The New Albany Country Club recently), how good you look performing your Kata is irrelevant.

At that point all that matters is that you survive the encounter.

Self defense isn’t just about fighting (it has a lot to do with awareness and preparation). But when it comes down to an only resort, it’s about reacting reflexively. And this takes more than just reading a book or watching a video.

Should you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to fight to survive, thinking about your next move isn’t something you want to rely on.

Just last night after a strenuous Dynamic Self Defense class in New Albany my wife called me to ask me to pick something up from the store. My mind had a hard time even comprehending what she was asking because I was too exhausted to think clearly about new instructions.

The funny thing is that just moments before I was simply reacting to random ground defense drills with guys aggressively trying to pin me. In this mode I was actually relaxed and found holes to exploit for self-defense. But the only reason I could do that – even after an hour long workout - was because I’ve done it a thousand times before.

And that’s the real secret to being good at anything… practice. If you practice looking good, performing fluid Kata’s or for winning tournaments, that’s what will come out when you are forced to fight for your life. Unfortunately that probably won’t cut it in terms of making sure you survive.

At Dynamic Self-Defense we train for one thing and one thing only… surviving a violent encounter. If you want to win a competition or just show off your athletic ability, we’re the wrong school for you. If on the other hand, you want to gain the confidence that you can indeed handle any typical modern violent encounter – regardless of your age or present state of fitness – give us a call to schedule a time to observe a class for yourself.

When in doubt....Improvise!

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:57:04 GMT

I often get asked why I allow students to question the steps used to get out of certain holds rather than just excepting the instruction and moving on. The people asking this question typically have been in various other Martial Art schools and are taught not to question the Instructor as it is a sign of dis-respect. I simply state that not all people are built the same way and one maneuver may work for one and not the other. Therefore working out other options will better the possibility of survival and over all outcome of a situation. Most important though is to remember that there is always more than one way to get out of a hold and when it comes down to it, you want your reactions to be quick and swift without having to think about a long drawn out step by step method.

At Dynamic Self Defense, improvising is a key part of our training process as you progress through the ranks. This is not to say we ourselves do not have a set curriculum, but this is used as a foundation and not a means of "the only way" things should be done. We urge students to ask questions, get involved with training discussions, and work out optional tactics above the curriculum requirement. Stop by or call today and see for yourself why Dynamic Self Defense IS the most modern and effective style of Self Defense on the market today!

Can You Really Learn Self Defense From A DVD?

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:35:55 GMT

I was watching a few videos on YouTube the other day from people training in the style of Karate I used to train (Guju Ryu). One video in particular got me thinking that… you really can’t learn self defense from a video.

I’m not here to discredit other styles nor do I desire to critique every video I see. Some of what I learned in the past has a practical application and there are other styles I have great respect for. But honestly most of what I learned before Dynamic Self-Defense did not become practical until well into my DSD training.

When you watch a video, especially when it comes to traditional styles, you will often note that the defense to a technique thrown by an opponent can often become overly complex. In one video I watched two military guys demoing a Karate technique to block and counter a front jab. It was essentially a block and trap with a counter punch.

While the entire sequence looked impressive especially in near full speed it would be impractical in real life – especially in a combat scenario. The reason is simple…

It’s easy to block and counter when you know what the other guy is going to throw.

If you’ve ever watched an MMA match or one of the many "this martial art vs. that martial art” video’s you’ll notice that all the technical trapping and counter techniques fly right out the window. What you are left with resembles basic boxing and maybe basic grappling depending on what you are watching.

This is where it’s essential to understand the phases and purpose of training. When you train technique you need to work with a partner that’s clued in to the program. Otherwise someone is going to get hurt. In this mode your training partner gives you the opportunity to block, trap, counter, takedown or whatever you are working on. They don’t go too hard and they don’t mix it up.

This is where most traditional martial art training stays - basically in the theoretical state. Because you know what’s going to be thrown it’s easy to get complacent or fancy – working increasingly complex traps and counters. The problem is that this movie scripting doesn't even begin to work in the real world where the other guy has a brain and won’t play along with your plan.

When faced with a violent encounter you need to count on the fact that you will be at best half as good as on your average training day. You will instantly be under a level of stress that will push your limit. You will be in survival mode. In this state you will depend on your reflexes and the techniques you use will be the ones you trained 1000 times before. The closer your training is to simulate this environment the greater the odds that you will effective. This is where a DVD falls short. It provides you with no training environment and no expert feedback.

In Dynamic Self-Defense we don’t train complicated traditional techniques. What we train is as close to real life as it gets while still keeping a safe environment. In this controlled environment students first learn new techniques methodically but as skills and reflexes increase they learn to improvise based on the principles they have learned and the skills/reflexes they have developed. This type of training allows students to develop practical defense skills in a way that traditional martial arts simply cannot.

Schedule to preview a class at our New Albany, OH studio to see if our martial art is a fit for you. We are only 10 minutes away from Westerville, Gahanna, North East Columbus and Johnstown Ohio.

Avoiding Injury In Self Defense Training

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Martial Arts is not a "no impact” activity. But that doesn’t mean that needs to be an activity riddled with injury and pain.

Most adult students realize that getting older means that things don’t work quite as well as they once did. We don’t heal as quickly after injury and we tend to get injured more easily.

At Dynamic Self-Defense our goal isn’t to injure students, it’s to prepare you to injure an attacker. With that in mind here are a few tips to help you prevent training injuries:

Strength Training: Research shows that moderate strength training can help prevent injury by building muscle mass and strengthening joints. When it comes to martial arts, we recommend working those parts of the body most commonly injured in training, shoulders, knees and lower back.
Go Easy On Joint Manipulation, Falls and Take-downs: Rapid shock to joints can extend injury beyond just the range of motion. For this reason remember to go easy when manipulation joins or practicing take-downs as these exercises can easily create undesired injuries.
Know Your Limits and Speak Up: Our training is supposed to make you stronger. Working an injury can prevent you from making progress. Be sure to let your instructor and training partners know of any injuries or issues so they can work with you and at a pace where you can improve.

For more on aging, weight gain and strength see: Why We Gain Weight As We Age