Wing Chun Lesson 4:  Basic leg exercise / Moving forward

Here are the categories of attackers in which there are always a few who can tolerate pain to some degree.

• Attackers who have large fat or muscle bulk.
• Attackers who are intoxicated on alcohol.
• Attackers who are under the influence of drugs.
• Attackers who are out of control with rage.
• Attackers who are mentally deranged.
• Attackers who feel pain but like it.

People with extreme bulk

People carrying excessive fat or muscle bulk are often tolerant of certain pain techniques simply because their mass prevents proper application, or it literally pads the pain receptors.

Whether you’re applying a wrist-lock or raking your fingers across an assailant’s eyeballs, his brain receives “ouch” signals by a type of pain receptor called nociceptors.

Some parts of the human body have many of these, while other parts have only a few. The eye, for example, has more than the chest, wrist or back.

Case in point, a person suffering a heart attack complains of a dull ache in the chest while a person whose pointy finger is suddenly wrenched in a direction it isn’t supposed to go, screams and utters every blue word in the Book of Swearing.

Anytime you deliver force over a relatively large area, for example, a kick to the assailant’s back, fewer pain receptors are activated than when you apply that same force to a smaller area, such as a heel kick to his gums.

Some people under the influence of alcohol and drugs experience a dulling of the consciousness, and some people in a state of extreme rage or mental illness experience an over-riding of the consciousness.

This means that there are some in both groups who might not feel broad-surface pain but will feel acute pain signals.

Remember the axiom: Where the head goes the body follows. With that fighting concept in mind, practice techniques that:

• push the big attacker’s chin up and back.
• push the back of his head forward and down.
• take advantage of any weight shift to force the big person down in whatever direction he’s leaning.

These concepts are also applicable when dealing with normal sized people who are impervious to pain.

What is important when dealing with people impervious to pain is the same thing that is important when dealing with any hostile person: When something isn’t working for you, you need to switch tactics.

Logical? Not always. Perhaps you’ve heard the stories of panicked people in a burning building pushing against a locked door over and over until it’s too late to take another avenue of escape. The same thing can happen when an adrenaline surge takes over your rational thinking.

You hit a violent person, say, in the chest. When that doesn’t get the desired effect, you keep hitting him there, over and over.

Of course, you might eventually wear the guy down, but since he isn’t feeling the blows, the window of opportunity is wide open for him to attack you in some fashion.

People intoxicated, high, enraged and mentally ill

There is a wide-range of responses to pain within this general category. Some feel a little and others feel nothing.

There are many reasons why a person will grimace and smile as you give him your best shot. He might be smiling simply because he is drunk or high and doesn’t feel it, he might have had a violent past and is conditioned to pain, or it could be some sort of sexual issue with him. It might even be a blend of all these things.

Train to keep attacking

It’s important to train in such a fashion that you don’t become unnerved when someone doesn’t react to your best joint lock, palm-heel strike, or roundhouse kick. Here is why.

Say you apply a joint lock on a nasty drunk, the same technique that made your classmate dance funny-like on his tiptoes. Not only does the intoxicated man not react, he looks puzzled, as if he isn’t sure what you’re doing and what you want from him.

You look puzzled, too, as you wonder why the technique isn’t eliciting the usual yelp and chest slap. Then, because you allowed half a dozen seconds to pass during your confusion, the drunk smashes you in your puzzled face.

When a radio talk show host doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, it’s known as “dead air,” and considered a bad thing. When you pause or hesitate in a physical confrontation while the threat is still, well, a threat, that too can be a bad thing.

To prevent this, you must train physically as well as mentally to keep on the offense until the seemingly invulnerable person is under control.

Say you kick the man in the thigh twice, neither blow drawing so much as a grimace. Although you see his lack of reaction, don’t pause to wonder what went wrong.

Instead, immediately hit targets where there are more pain receptors, targets that shock the brain, or targets where an injury greatly reduces the recipient’s ability to attack.


Pepper Spray

Regardless of what the ads claim, pepper spray doesn’t always work on the street, and never is this truer than when the threat is violent with rage, mental illness, or high on booze or drugs.

Pepper spray is only a tool. Don’t count on it as the end-all defense, especially against pain-resistant people.

Consider the Groin

When a student gets whacked in the groin in class, he drops into fetal position and begins channeling Nancy Kerrigan: “Whyyyy? Whyyyy?” But in the street, striking an aggressor in the groin gets mixed results.

Sometimes he curls to the sidewalk in agony and sometimes he doesn’t give the hit a passing thought. The problem is that there is no way to tell by looking at someone as to how he will react to a groin hit.

The groin is a good target; just don’t stop to watch for a reaction. It’s better to flow into a second, third, or however many techniques it takes to stop the threat.

1. Kenpo Art of Punching (Straight Punch)


a) Stand in position as illustarted, with both fists clenched, and at the side of your waist. Make sure
that your palm sides are facing upward.

b) Throw a straight right punch.
Remember, as you throw your right punch,
twist your right arm half-way so your palm is facing downward, (as shown in the picture).

c) Bring your right arm back to the same position,
then throw your left arm in the same way as before,
ensuring that you twist your arm to change the direction of your palm.

Practice this method of punching left and right until your fists become strong.


2. Punching With Side Fist

a) Stand sideways as shown in the picture. Raise your left forearm to just below your chin.

Your right hand should be clenched into a fist and held against your waist.

b) Strike the board with the side of your left fist, and then bring your arm back rapidly to the initial position.

c) Repeat exercise for ten strikes with each arm.

When was Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu started..?

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was introduced to America by a quiet, but personable Brazilian named Royce Gracie. He shocked the martial arts world by winning the first Ultimate Fighting Championship in an apparently effortless manner.

What the rest of the world didn’t know at the time was that the Gracie family had been developing this art for the past 75 years in the city of Rio de Janiero, in Brazil. What’s become known as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) proved to be a commanding element in mixed-martial arts tournaments in the 1990’s.

The public safety sector picked up on its success and now agencies such as the FBI, DEA, and LAPD, in addition to various elite groups of the military including the Army Rangers, Delta Force and Marines have included the techniques of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in their training programs.

The thing that makes it great for law enforcement is that it’s easy to learn, and you don’t have to be super athletic and it is effective. Most of the criminals have plenty of time to workout and get strong, a lot more time than you or me with a family and trying to make a honest living would have.


Benefits for Law Enforcement Personnel

The reality-based techniques and the emphasis on controlling the offender makes Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu perfect for law enforcement officers. The techniques put you into a position where your opponent cannot strike you, but you could, if you chose to.

This gives officers and public safety workers an option to increase the intensity of force. The techniques also allow a smaller officer to wear out a larger and more aggressive person. The techniques do not rely on pressure points for pain compliance.

The bulk of the techniques center on joint locks and carotid restraints. This means that the officer does not have to be stronger than the opponent, they only have to be stronger than the suspect’s weakest point – usually his elbow, shoulder, ankle or neck.

Many martial arts instructors tell their students to "never go to the ground" with an opponent because of the dangers. However, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners aim for the exact outcome – to always take the fight to the ground. On the ground everything slows down and the opponent cannot generate much force behind his strikes.

Here are some Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques you should know:


1. The Clinch

The most dangerous distance in any fight is kicking and punching range. Unfortunately, most of the interaction is done within punching range. The BJJ practitioner wants to either be all the way outside of hitting range or all the way inside of hitting range.

Most often, the BJJ practitioner will close the distance between himself and the opponent to the clinch, which controls the opponent and limits his punching and kicking ability. Often an attacker is surprised when you close with him instead of backing up which is what most people do when attacked.

To safely close the distance into the clinch, you must get your head against the opponent’s chest which puts you inside of his punching range, effectively neutralizing his punches.

Get your hands up to your forehead with your forearms protecting your face. Your fists are tightly locked against your forehead and your elbows are leading forward, protecting your face against a punch.

Move into your opponent by leading with a leg check or a disturbing kick to his leg. As you close the distance, sweep your hands out like you are swimming, to block both of his biceps on each arm. Trap his arms by hooking your hands over his triceps and using your forearms to control his arms.

You have your forehead tight against his chest while hooking over the back of his triceps. By pulling in on his arms and pushing with your head against his chest, you exert equal tension, which limits his punching movement.

Now, complete the clinch by reaching around his back with one arm and moving to that side. Trap his other arm tightly under your armpit and protect your face by burying it in the biceps of his trapped arm.

Pinching your thighs on his leg closest to you limits his ability to turn and knee you to the groin.

You now have control of the opponent with one arm around his waist. With your other arm, trap his arm under your armpit and hold the back of his elbow and use it as a shield to protect your face.

Finally, you control his leg closest to you to limit his movement and to protect against a knee to the groin.




2. The Rear Takedown

Often, the next move from the clinch is the rear takedown, but this takedown can also be effective when used during a standard search with the subject against a wall or vehicle.

If the suspect begins to resist, clasp him around the waist from behind much like you did in the clinch with your head down to avoid any elbow targeted at your face.

Move your foot out to block his far foot (for example your right foot steps out to the right to block behind his right heel).

Sit down to drag the suspect to the ground, tripping him over your outstretched leg. He can’t catch his balance because you are blocking his foot from stepping back.

Roll on top of him for the mount.




3. The Kimura

Used as either a weapon-retention technique or an arm-lock when you have the opponent in your guard. This move is not named by the Gracies, but many BJJ circles call it the "Kimura" after a Japanese judo champion.

Steps

Grab the wrist of the hand reaching for your neck or your hips.

Sit up and reach all the way over his shoulder of the arm that you have trapped. You will have to scoot your hips back away from him to have enough room to reach over his shoulder.

Reach in between his arm and his ribs to grasp the wrist of your arm that has seized the suspect. This grip is sometimes called a "Figure 4".

Using the leverage of your feet on the ground and the Figure 4 grip you have on his arm, drive his head forward toward the ground as you scoot out to the same side which has the armlock.

Control the opponent by holding his arm tight to your chest so that it is bent in a shape like an ‘L’. One of your legs will be under the suspect. Place your other leg over him and cross your ankles to keep him from escaping.




You can find more BJJ techniques by clicking here

The devious nature of our species, has inherent in it, competition, violence, and killing. Men of ancient past would fight one another for dominance, food, mating rights, and survival.

The beginning of a structured or scientific approach to fighting occurred with the first primitive man picking up a stick with which to strike an enemy or prey.

Conflict and warfare form important events in human history. Arguably, many ancient rituals, sports and ceremonies are reenactments of battles in one form or another.

The Olympic Games held by the ancient Greeks were regarded as a religious festival, during which war was suspended.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, written in about the eighteenth century B.C. in Mesopotamia- one of the earliest centers of civilization - shows that most weapons of war had been invented by then, the major exception being explosives, which were to be invented by the Chinese almost 2800 years later.

Gilgamesh, a hero of Uruk in Babylonia, fought with axe, sword, bow and arrow, and spear. The people of his generation used battering rams against enemy cities, and rode to battle in chariots.

The concept of a martial art or science of combat no doubt developed along with civilization.

Organized warfare required trained and disciplined soldiers, and generals and instructors to command and train them.

The earliest accepted evidence of a martial art exists in two small Babylonian works of art dating back to between 2000 and 3000 B.C., each showing two men in postures of combat.




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