Put Some Stopping Power in Your Kicks

Hi All,
In the martial arts we use our bodies for weapons.
Hands for striking and grabbing along with elbows, fingers, knees, etc.
One of the most powerful weapons are our legs and feet, the legs have the largest muscles on our body, so they can deliver a very powerful strike if you know when and how to deliver them on to your opponent. I see in cage match's and other such fights the front kick used for a jab and round house kick to legs kick boxing style, these will really put the hurt on you . If someone is rushing at you need to stop them in their tracks. Use the front or side kick for this , you just need to put some concentrated power behind them. Also they have to hit where it hurts, solar plexus, abdomen, ribs and have to be timed so they hit them as they are rushing toward you, this increases the amount of energy in your kick.
A good drill to develop this is to swing an 80 lb. heavy bag so it is swinging back and forth.
Set yourself up with your kicking leg back and do a front kick, kicking with the ball of your foot as it comes toward you try to kick through the bag and knock it back.
Do this drill with front kicks and side kicks.
If you have a training partner have him hold a kick bag and move toward you, how fast is up to you, it's going to be a rude stop!!
This will build your reaction time and power.
Have fun !!
Peace, Jerry

Open Hand Defense Against A Weapon

At one time or another you or I could come up against someone who has picked up a weapon of some sorts. Could be a stick, tire iron, baseball bat, bottle, chain, any number of things that could be swung at us. The big mistake some people make is to try and fight the weapon, you always want to fight the person not the weapon. You don't want to use your body to block something that is harder than your body is. Using the right movements you can neutralize the weapon your opponent is swinging at you. You do this by moving past the weapon and attacking the opponent.
Here's a technique to show you that.

Opponent has a stick or some other weapon in his right hand, he is swinging it at your head in a circular moition. As he approaches and starts to swing it , you step on a 45 degree angle with your left foot and squat down into a full horse, you are going under the weapon. This movement will put you by the side of his right leg , now right roundhouse punch to his groin ,this will cause him to bend over, you are still squating , grab his right ankle at the back with your left hand and stand up this will drop him on his back, hold on to his ankle, turn right back at him ,this will put you standing between his legs and right stomp on his groin.

This is a simple technique and works very well, so you see you don't have to block or worry about the weapon. You evade the weapon, attack and take him down hard !!

Have a nice 4th of July !!
As my generation likes say : AMERICA, LOVE IT or LEAVE IT !!
Peace, Jerry

Striking Nerves Instead of Pressure Points

Hi All,
As martial artists we have all at one time or another looked into using pressure points as fighting tools to give us an advantage. Truth is it is very hard to strike one or two of these points to cause pain or put someone down. These are not striking points you have to apply pressure to activate them, this takes time and in a fight that's something you might not have. So instead of trying to drop someone with pressure points, try striking the nerves that are located all over the human body. We all know that buzz you get when you bang your elbow on the "funny bone " behind the elbow that's a nerve. So you should target areas that you know cause pain, if it hurts you then it will hurt your opponent also. If you read some of the techniques I post you will probably figure out that the strikes are to vital areas. Since most are Kung Fu San Soo techniques they are designed to disrupt the central nervous system and put your opponent down fast. So think about what you are doing when you practice your techniques.

Try this technique:
Some one grabs you with both hands by the shirt, now since he has both hands occupied he is one that is defenseless. Reach over with your left hand and grab left wrist on top and use your left fore arm to bend both of his arms at the elbow (to bring him closer) , now right open hand palm to his left ear when you compress the air in someones ear the nerves inside will register PAIN,step slightly back with your right foot , turn to your left and right shin kick to the inside of
his right leg just above the knee(nerves there), bring your leg back and heel kick to the inside of his left leg just above the knee(nerves there) plus this will spread his legs wide, step down with your right foot turn back to face him and left shin kick into the groin lots of nerves there, now step down and thru him and push him down letting go of his arms.

Also I'm adding some chapters to my book, The Use of Lines, Angles, & Circles in Hand to hand Combat. There will be a section on Sticking Fighting and Knife Fighting , showing how you use the lines of movement in those two areas of fighting.

You can check out my original book here, http://stores.lulu.com/martialarts
And some other articles here, http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Jerry_Garcia





Have fun.
Peace , Jerry

Kicking Drill

Here's a simple kicking drill, that will improve your kicking and timing.

Using a heavy bag , you want to swing the bag so it is coming forward and backwards. Every time the bag comes toward you kick it, this simulates a person coming at you. Do this ten times for the side kick and front kick next step to the side and do roundhouse kicks. This doesn't sound like much but you will see how this improves the way you kick and your speed and timing delivering a kick will improve.
When someone is rushing in you can stop him cold with a good powerful kick to his body.
Or step to the side and kick his ribs, side of the knee, thigh etc.

Here's a technique to practice this.

Someone is rushing at you , when he gets inside your safe distance, close enough for you to kick right thru him, you do a right side kick to his abdomen ( between his belly button and groin) this will stop him for a few seconds , it may knock him down or just bend him over a little, if he bends over put your kicking foot down and kick him in the solar plexus with a straight front kick using the ball of your left foot, this will knock the air out of him, step down with your left foot ,turn to your left and grab the back of his head or hair and right down hammer to the back of his neck, turn back toward him and right knee up to his chest follow thru and knock him down.
I've used this one on the street and it really works well if the other person is a hot head and just rushs at you.
Have fun !!
Jerry

Fighting a Taller Opponent

Sooner or later we will all come up against someone who is taller or
bigger than us.
This shouldn't worry you too much.
All this means is that they have a longer reach with their arms and legs,
so you have to adjust to allow for it.
In Kung Fu San Soo we use what we call "your safe distance".
This is determined by the length of the opponents leg, plus a few inchs,
so you stay just out of kicking range.
With practice you can eyeball this distance and keep yourself at a safe
distance from anyone.
So it doesn't matter how tall the other person is.
The way to neutralize someones reach advantage over you is to stay out of
reach or get so close they can't use it against you.
Don't stay in their punching or kicking range or power zone.
What keeps you safe here is movement.
Personally I perfer to move to the side, go under their punches , move inside or
outside their kicks even get behind them.
What you do just depends on your style or training.
But i disagree with the take a few to give a few idea.
Hurts too much !!
As far as striking someone taller you punch or kick were you can reach ,to the body.
This in turn brings the higher targets down to you.
Kick them in the groin and when they bend over punch them in the face or chop them
on the back of the neck.
Buckle their legs and kick them in the solar plexus, get the idea?
Don't try to reach a target by stretching yourself out , this will get you knocked out!

So how do you fight some one taller than you ?
You stay moving, get close, jam them up, go to the side, get behind,
keep those punches and kicks going to vital areas.
Stay focused.
And practice using your skills in this way.
Peace , Jerry

Taking The "F" Word Out of Fighting

What's the F word in a fight?
FEAR.
This is what makes or breaks you in a confrontation.
If you've ever been in a real fight you know all to well that feeling of the adrenaline
flooding your body and making you feel like your shaking inside.
Then the doubts , can i really handle this situation?
If you really have to fight then you need to take the fear factor out. How do you do
this .
Just like soldiers, by training for it. Make your training a real as you can.
Have your training partner yell at you and make aggressive moves toward you,
have him pull a real knife and stand in front of you.
Even though you know he's not going to hurt you ,your brain still registers danger!
Use this drill with any weapon you'd like ,baseball bat ,stick ,bottle,chain etc.
Think about what technique or combination of techniques you would use for
for different attacks. Is the attacker coming at you with a weapon he is swinging or
is it a weapon he has to thrust at you ? What angle is it coming on ?
Then do as many techniques as you can for each and do them over and over,
soon they will blend in to a whole arsenal of moves.
Soon when you see a threat to you , instead of fear your brain will see a bunch
of targets in front of you.
Reality self defense is just like anything else, the more you practice the better you
will get at it.

Here is a drill I used when I was an instructor.
I would call out a couple of students and have them free sparr, I would instruct them to
take turns attacking each other, they could attack any way they wished and defend
anyway they wanted, after a couple of minutes i would start throwing weapons on the
ground by them, who ever picked up the weapon would attack the other with it.
This makes the other person being attacked to move spontaneously without having to
think about what he is going to do. He doesn't have enough time to think about it !
Next i would call in another person to enter the area and join in the attack.
Then things start to get interesting.
What this does is make the person being attacked go to survival instinct.
This sharpens reactions and makes a timid fighter become a flurry of fists and feet!

This drill really works give it a try. Make sure it stays in control as I've seen people
become so pumped up that they don't pull their punches and kicks and wind up
hurting their training partners.
I had my share of bumps and bruises from this drill !!

Have Fun !!
Jerry

Inter-changing Techniques

Hi All,
If you surf the net for fighting technique you will see a lot of different
moves for different situations.
There are moves for knife attacks,club attacks,grabs etc.

What some people don't realize is that you can use the same technique for
most ,if not all attacks .Depending on the angle that the attack comes at you on.
Say you are practicing a technique for someone trying to stab you ,using
a straight thrust at your midsection and you step back with your right foot
and turn your body so instead of facing him squarely your body is sideways.
With your body in this position ,the attacker's body and arm holding the
weapon go right past you allowing you to grab his wrist with your right hand
and striking him with a left back chop to his throat with your left.
Then keeping his arm straight you put it under your left arm (under your arm pit)
and sit down hard and break his arm.
Do you see that you could do this move on any strike that comes straight
and at your mind section , punch, stab, even kick.
Think about it and try practicing it.

I'm not saying you can us only one or two moves for everything.
But you can interchange a lot of what you already know for more than
one situation.

Peace, Jerry