EDGED WEAPONS AND EDGY PEOPLE

  Saturday July 17^th at the dojo, we were treated to one of, if not the best seminar, I have attended. It was certainly the best edged weapon seminar of all time.

  Attending were the dojo black belts, honored guests and selected student invitees.
 

  During our regular training regime, it suddenly struck me that the thing that could get my guys permanently injured, or worse yet…. dead, we hardly train on. As Sen-I Jutsu is “situational street fighting,” the knife was of too little concern.
 

  So I worked with everyone for about six weeks on knife defense. Then reality struck me, duuuhh, that if you carried a knife, you wouldn’t need so much empty hand defense. Granted, it is necessary to pursue every option. Some are not going to carry a knife. Some are going to carry a gun. Some are going to be standing there without answer one, for six to nine inches of steel.
 

  With all that said, I needed to get the best guy I could find to do the knife to knife training. How lucky am I that Butch Hill is my senior student and senior friend. He agreed to come down and in doing so, gave us the best no frills basic knife to knife training, I have ever seen.
 

  This includes some pretty fair country knife specialist I trained under in the military. I am told that the instructor at Ft Knox who I took a seminar from says, “that even though the knife is still very necessary in hand to hand, there is a new approach.”   “Throws and hand to hand, are practiced in full field gear. One favorite technique is to do a hip throw, pull your Beretta, and shoot them in the head…..Sweet!!!!
 

  We were also fortunate to have Joe Laney, Nancy Anderson, Theresa Barnett and Will Iannazzo. They came to work and demonstrated who they were in the process. They are leaders and have Martial Arts in their heart. Butch urged Joe and I to participate on the teaching. Joe chose pinched nerve and all, to participate as a student the full four hours. I got off the floor and gave Butch the whole day without my presence or anything that would detract from him. Besides, he knows more and that is why I ask him to come down. His preparation, grasp of the material, energy, and passion, are well ensconced in his physical labor during his presentation. He is also funny. Humor is critical as no one is interesting enough for four hours based on information alone. He has a style and image that is apparent. He comes off as the grizzly, lovable, serial killer... He knows how to work it. My guys love him. Doesn’t everyone?
 

   One key element that Butch has been able to make it as realistic as possible without abandoning safety and responsible training methods.” He can teach this with great reality. For those of us who teach for the street, we know that the closer we can get to the real thing, the better prepared we will be. This is one of the attractions to cross training and fighting “MMA” style. It covers all aspects of street fighting (except knife, stick and gun) that you will face. There are still training restraints that must be followed to avoid injury. That keeps it from being real. This is why doing a lot of competition tournaments can and have been known to instill certain street fighting pitfalls and bad habits. You need to train for specifics to be the best at what you do.  But just street training in the dojo gets old and isolates you. You need to go to events and fight someone you don’t know and evaluate your progress. It is fun and friendly. You deserve to have some fun with it after all the hard nocks. But don’t get hung up on the outcome of that. It is not real. As Daryn Clarks new company asks “What is your fight?”. A great question. Are you a casual dojo trainer who doesn’t think much about competition or real fighting? Are you a point fighter who thinks he can defend himself in the street with point techniques? Are you a puncher who will be over whelmed with both punches and kicks? Are you a Jujitsu/grappler who is punched silly before you can grab, control, take down, or is pilled on when on the ground? I guess the question is, are you a one trick pony waiting for a two or three trick pony, to severely kick your unprepared behind.
 

   I want to go on record as saying that people should seek their own level of training. The right training for you is a thousand times better than no training at all even if it is one with limitations. The more variables of training the harder it gets, if it is taught right. Our dojo like many of yours, is a hard core dojo. We try to make it for everyone, but it is not. We’ve have tried especially hard with little success with the ones that cross over from another style or school. The ICA has run into the same situation as far as opening up our doors to other styles and even Isshin-ryu people, who don’t want to train in the fashion that we do. One grappling session is equal to an hour of point practice and kata. One kick boxing session, is equal to three point sessions. One full MMA practice is about one week of anything else except a street fight. These are just my assertions. I have no clinical evidence to substantiate this. Just a lot of experience in all the above. You say at your age, when was the last time you were in a street fight? In all honesty it has been awhile. I have had four close calls the last three months, but the people decided against it and the gym manager held me long enough for the guy to get out of his office.. So it will probably be soon. Am I bragging? I guess in a way. I feel ready and frosty if it happens. Do you??? Really??
 

   To bring this thing back in prospective, how protected would you be if you could do MMA with a knife too??  A martial artist with a knife in his hand, is second only to “trained” person with a gun. Did you know that if you let a person get within 21 feet of you with a knife, you won’t have time to draw your gun..? So practice what you will be doing…Train for reality!!!
 

YOU CAN’T HIDE WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW IN THE STREET.  SO TRAIN HARD AND OFTEN.