Facing Violence

I came across an outstanding self defense blog today, Chiron, which led me to the author’s website and to purchase two of his books: Meditations on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence and Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected. Rory’s blog and website have such great information on them that I wanted to share them here. (I don’t know the guy and have never communicated with him.) Anyway, check out his stuff. It looks great. I’ll post more on his books after I read them.

UPDATE: I’ve finished both books and they’re excellent.  Anyone who practices martial arts, especially if you’re at all interested in self defense, should read both books.  They cover the different types of attacks you might face, from an idiot in a bar to a real predator, rapist, etc., how to recognize which type you’re dealing with, how to avoid trouble or deescalate when you can’t, and what you should realistically expect.  They portray violence as it really is, and explain in detail why most martial arts and self defense training will fail in the face of a committed, brutal, and chaotic attack.  The books are also a fascinating study on human nature.  In terms of violence and social interactions, we’re not all that different from the animals we evolved from.  Fortunately, understanding these interactions that Rory breaks down so well, can seriously increase your odds of avoiding or coming out of a conflict in one piece.

I was very happy to see Rory explaining why matching specific defenses to specific attacks is generally a recipe for failure.  In a real violent assault you won’t know if your opponent is stepping forward with his left foot and throwing a straight right or stepping forward with his right foot and throwing a sloppy hook.  You’ll most likely be facing a barrage of chaos, and complex, fancy techniques will not work.  In “Facing Violence” he covers a few of his preferred default responses.  While I prefer those in our Fundamental Five, his responses, the techniques he demonstrates, and the principles that support them are solid.  I very highly recommend both of his books.

Wing Chun is a controversial style, and for good reason.  Many of the training methods are ineffective at best.  The prearranged solo forms, which are questionable as training methods in the first place, have illogical orders and stick to the superstition that having 108 moves each is somehow better than 50, 63, or 107.  Routinely, MMA practitioners deride Wing Chun as being a BS system.  This sentiment is understandable, but incorrect.

The concept of simultaneous attack and defense in Wing Chun is excellent, as is controlling the center, the solid structure of the techniques, and basic trapping.  The emphasis on attacking the eyes, throat, and groin is also great for self defense.  But in order to pull any of it off in reality, the training needs to be realistic.  And, some modifications will make Wing Chun safer to apply.  Even still, Wing Chun was not made for the ring.

The lop sao or pull is a great trap to use before kicking your opponent in the groin (following up further if necessary of course).  And the groin kick is very effective.  But you can’t use groin kicks in the ring.  The pak sao or smack is another great trap for self defense, especially when followed by a hack in the neck or finger in the eye, neither of which are allowed in MMA.  You can follow the lop sao or pak sao with punches or palms, but against boxing style structures the “pak sao, punch” or “lop sao, punch” combinations are far less effective.

There are exceptions.  Using a pak sao to create an opening for a punch or two, possibly causing your opponent to cover or retreat, will provide the opportunity for a double lop sao (two handed pull) into knees and elbows against a cover, or a kicking follow up against a retreat.  But due to the unrealistic training in most Wing Chun schools, practitioners are only used to dealing with other Wing Chun stylists…who very often ineffectively stand in one place attempting to block, block, block as a cooperative defense.

In MMA you might see someone opening with a jab-cross combo from boxing, followed by a kick from Thai boxing, followed by a clinch entry and takedown from wrestling, followed by ground techniques from Brazilian jiu jitsu.  They take what’s useful from each style and use various parts where they’re appropriate.  Wing Chun can be used similarly.  An MMA practitioner could use a pak sao trap to increase the likelihood of landing a jab, followed by a cross, then a double lop sao into a knee, etc.  The structure of the “tan sao” can be used to stop a takedown attempt.  The “huen sao” techniques is identical to the initial motion of pummeling or swimming in the clinch.  In self defense, the simultaneous biu sao and punch works very well against most hooks, as does trapping to eye jabs, groin kicks, and throat strikes.

Wing Chun isn’t just BS, and it does have a great deal to offer.  But in order for the strengths to come out, both WC and MMA practitioners need to open their minds and forget about previous prejudices!

I heavily recommend the use of “dirty tactics” for self defense. The eye strike is a particular favorite of mine, as is groin kicking and slapping, etc.  But dirty tactics are not enough! You absolutely must train against uncooperative opponents, and I equally recommend training in the MMA base.  Half of the technical section in my self defense ebook (on stand up fundamentals) covers techniques and training from boxing, Thai boxing, and stand up wrestling, and the first thing I train new students in is boxing.  Unfortunately though, there are still many people who believe all you need to defend yourself are dirty tactics.  For example, see the following video:

Not only is this garbage, but it’s also likely to get students badly hurt if they attempt this junk in self defense. At the 2:43 mark the instructor actually recommends pinching your attacker’s side or thigh to escape from his mount! How on earth are you going to do that when you’re getting punched unconscious?!? End even if you did pinch your attacker, as if that’s going to stop him! At 4:31 he recommends sticking your thumb in the attacker’s eye to escape from the side mount. Even a completely unskilled attacker would simply grab your hand and stop you. In order to escape from the mount, side mount, headlock, etc., you need to know the fundamental techniques of Brazilian jiu jitsu. Only with these techniques and the associated training can you avoid getting your face pounded in by someone who has mounted you. Without them, you really don’t have a chance.

Remember, dirty tactics are a great addition to other solid techniques, but they’re not a substitution. They will enable you to beat an attacker who is bigger and stronger than you, but only if you have the realistic training to support them.

Woman Being Attacked

I captured the images above several years ago, of a woman being attacked in front of my old house.  I had installed a security camera that was activated by motion, was going through the video footage to see who stole my newspaper one morning, and came across the horrific attack above.  A woman was walking on the sidewalk when a man in a truck stopped, ran out toward the woman, grabbed her in a bear hug and threw her onto my steps, then choked her while slamming her head into the concrete steps.  He then dragged her into his truck and drove away.  The entire time he was yelling and cursing at the woman.  I called the police as soon as I saw the footage and they came to my house to see it, but said there was nothing they could do since they couldn’t identify the truck or the individuals, and had no other reports.

It could have been a “domestic violence” situation.  Maybe the woman knew the man.  There was also a “brothel” about two blocks from my house, so it’s also possible this was an unhappy customer.  It could have been a woman who was attacked by a complete stranger.  I’ll never know, and it doesn’t much matter what the situation was.  The man was a psychopath and should be locked up or worse.

So why am I posting this now?

I’m working on a self defense e-book at the moment that I’ll eventually put on this site.  In the process of researching the demand for them I’ve looked at a few, seen plenty of advertisements for them, and also watched numerous internet videos on self defense.  The majority of what passes for self defense on the web, in e-books, and in real books for that matter is garbage. Let’s take a look at an image from the best ranking self defense e-book on the web, 7most.com:

Horribly Unrealistic Defense

I didn’t buy this book, but the image above depicts an extraordinarily unrealistic defense against a bear hug.  Compare the images above, where a man stands still holding a woman in a rear bear hug, with the images of the real attack I posted above.  In the fake attack, the attacker just stands there waiting to be foot stomped!  In the real attack, the attacker runs in and uses a bear hug to slam the woman onto concrete steps.  That’s the first problem.  The second problem is that foot stomping a serious attacker isn’t going to do anything but piss him off!  It’s DEFINITELY NOT going to give you the space to raise your arm out of the hold and elbow the attacker in the jaw!  Let’s take a look at one more image from the same site:

Another Stupid Defense

This is another horrific “defense” against a choke from the mount.  It will never work. All the man would have to do is lean back and the woman wouldn’t be able to reach his eyes.  He could also simply smack her hands off of him and punch her in the face, then go back to choking her.  If you want to learn to defend yourself on the ground, you need to take classes in Brazilian jiu jitsu, judo, or some other form of wrestling.

There’s no magic in self defense, and if you want to learn to defend yourself it’s going to take a real commitment of time, effective techniques, some hard training, and a sound strategy.  “Tips and tricks” are going to get you nowhere but hurt. So if you’re looking for self defense on the web and happen to come across this post, remember what a real attack will be like.  There will be dynamic motion.  No one is going to put you in a bear hug and just stand there waiting for you to counter.  No attacker that was serious enough to sit on top of you and choke you is going to stop when you attempt to put your thumbs in his eyes.  Other than awareness and prevention, if you’re looking for a quick self defense fix, forget about it.  Any book, video, or instructor who promises you otherwise is full of it!

I received the following video this morning from “Nodan”, who talks about himself in the third person:

I don’t have any problem whatsoever with a person practicing karate, breaking boards, etc., for fun. I did it myself years ago. But please don’t claim any of this stuff will work in self defense. Showing a gun defense from long rang where you dodge a single shot and respond by punching the attacker in the ribs is downright stupid. It will get you killed.

As Bruce Lee famously said, “boards don’t hit back”. Not only do they not hit back, but they don’t move! No attacker is going to stand and do nothing, allowing you to punch them dead in the face. The fact that this guy refers to himself in the third person, has the voice of an old woman, and talks about demons doesn’t help. It’s sad that most of the comments on the above video are positive. Come on people!

EDIT: Apparently this mystery man, “Nodan”, went on a DVD sending spree in 2005…sending DVD’s to martial arts schools with no return address or info on who he was. Here are two posts on the subject if you’d like to waste a little time.

Ok, this is WAY worse than any of the poor sombrada training:

Crazy stuff…

I’ve been meaning to re-design and update the entire Hertao site, add more video, blog posts, etc., but have been too busy lately. I was asked on the Bullshido forum if I could find a version of sumbrada that was done at an “acceptable level”, and will post the results of that unfortunate search here. First I want to be clear that with the following videos I’m not suggesting that any of these guys can’t fight or defend themselves with a stick…only that the way they’re training sumbrada is not realistic. On to the videos:



The block with the checking hand that you see in seconds 6 through 8 will not work in reality. The only reason it works in the above video is because the “attacker” is holding his stick still in mid air. If this were reality, the “defender” would have his hand smashed by the stick as it followed through. The stick WILL follow through in reality, as you can see here. Only a cooperative partner will stop his stick in mid air so you can put your hand on his hand.

The same “defense” is done again at the 15 second mark. It doesn’t take much imagination to see that if the attacker really swung hard and followed through, the “defender” would have a really messed up hand and arm. The rest of the video is more of the same. Here’s another:



It’s hard to say which of these videos is worse…but I’ll go with the second. These guys are playing stick patty cake. They’re tapping their sticks with ZERO intent, stopping them in mid swing, putting their hands in places where they’d get nailed in reality, etc. Seriously, this is stick patty cake. The guys move into Pekiti’s “thrust on tapping” drill and also into hubud. All of it is done as if the target is in the middle of the air. Another:



This one looks a lot better on the surface, and to many people not familiar with real stick fighting, it’s impressive. The guys are moving all over the place, and going relatively fast. However, the footwork is not done with a purpose. It doesn’t help with evading, entering, etc. The “checking hand” positions will not work in reality. The only reason they work in this drill is because the practitioners are stopping their sticks in mid swing.

I should add here, there’s nothing wrong with stopping your attack in mid-swing in order to do a drill like sumbrada. The problem is when that action stops you from realizing your technique will not work otherwise. When we trained sombrada we often stopped our sticks in mid-swing also. The difference is that our checking hand position was either out of the way of the follow through, or would have stopped the swing itself. For anyone who hasn’t seen our sumbrada video, here it is again:



Notice the details. When the checking hand is used (in the case of the inside swing or #1 for example), it checks/stops at the wrist, not on the hand. Checking on the hand will not stop the swing. It will follow through and nail your hand.



I think this was the best video I found, but still not very good. In general these guys have “better” hand positions, and sometimes they’re even almost realistic. Take a look at second 2:18. This obviously will not work, and that’s the checking hand position used against the #1 swing in the majority of the video. The idea/position at second 2:23 is far better than at 2:18, but I seriously question whether the structure of that check/grab would hold up under a full power swing. The swing goes directly against the weak part of the grip.

Some people may argue they know all of the above, and the poor checking hand positions are only used in training. But why? What’s the point of training positions that will not work, when it’s just as easy to train positions that will work?!?!?!?

So why are people training sombrada this way? I have no idea. But just because everyone is doing it doesn’t mean it works!

I’ve gotten numerous emails and comments on YouTube regarding our Sombrada video.  I’ve quickly added a new video to our website on the improper use of the checking hand, in hopes that it will clear things up.  If you’d like to discuss this, please do so in the comments below.

This post will stray a bit from martial arts:

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Croatia, where among other things we kayaked along the coast around Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is an incredible city, and if you ever get the chance to go in May or June, do so. We brought our folding kayaks, which I would also highly recommend to anyone who likes to get off the beaten path. Click here to read more »

Michael Blackgrave wrote a great post yesterday titled Martial Minions. Many Asian martial arts are supposed to be about a search for the truth, often referencing philosophical elements of Zen, etc., yet promote the exact opposite. It’s common to see everything from entirely ineffective techniques that are trained over and over again without thought, to identically clad robots who move exactly like their instructors, to teachers with cult like followers. Although the Filipino martial arts have slightly less pseudo religious dogma, they’re full of camouflage wearing wackos who idolize instructors that talk about chopping off heads rolling with eyes still open, and the like. Click here to read more »