Archive for the ‘Close Combat’ Category
Going into Combat? Skip the Garlic!
OK, just to set the record straight, I don’t have anything against Italians, Italian cooking, or even a hefty plate of pasta. In fact, I love everything about garlic from the aroma to the taste of roasted garlic smeared over a chunk of bread and brie. But if you’re heading into military combat or other high intense situations, or you’re on the waiting list for surgery, you may want to hold off on even the best dietary supplements that contain garlic.
I’ll explain more in just a minute, but first let’s talk about the benefits of garlic (one of the first herbs documented for use in medicinal purposes) and why people take it as a dietary supplement to begin with.
Military Traumatic Brain Injury: Can Nutritional Support Stop It Before it Happens?
When you decided to enter the military, you prepared, right? You started running to build cardiovascular health, you started paying attention to what you ate, you started taking dietary supplements to build lean muscle and strengthen your immune system, and you started studying so you could pass the required exams. All of this is good and definitely stacked things in your favor to get into the military.
But the end of military bootcamp is just the beginning of becoming a soldier.
When you’re a soldier you are given many opportunities. You are also exposed to many environmental and occupational threats that the normal population will never face. For this reason you need to take your nutritional health more seriously than the “average” population. You also need to fortify all systems of your body, including your brain, to meet the demands of combat.
Stress Can Become a Perfect Storm
Stress makes us stronger both physically, mentally, and spiritually so not all stress is bad. However stress not dealt with properly or metabolized over time becomes chronic. Consider stress like a perfect storm of events that can hit all at once and break the strongest of wills.
Physiologically, stress wreaks havoc on the body. The same thing happens to your body when you are stressed at work or family issue as it does when you are in an emergent fight or flight situation. However, when in an emergency usually you are able to physically exert yourself to help relieve the stress hormones that are rushing into your bloodstream that some say is equivalent to 5–6 Red Bulls! In a nutshell, Adrenaline and Cortisol are some of the stress hormones that affect our response to a stressful situation, but can also affect our health long term if not dealt with properly. When at a home office or cubical during work, it is difficult to exert yourself physically in order to reduce these stress hormones. Don’t get me wrong, there are good things that come out of stress hormones like getting pumped up for a presentation or competition or the rush of adrenaline before a fitness test. These hormones help you perform better. But after several years of not actively adding in recovery periods, you will break physically or emotionally or both.
Social Chaos Live Event!
On Thursday, February 24th, The Social Chaos Survival Guide website is offering a free “Escape & Evasion” Online Broadcast. 2 Attendees will win a free S.C.R.A.M. Bag.
Only 200 slots are available, so register as soon as possible — http://www.socialchaossurvivalguide.com
On this eye-opening LIVE broadcast you’ll discover…
=> Real world tactics to survive civil unrest (such as natural disaster conflicts, demonstrations gone bad, race riots, etc.)
=> How to defeat looters and violent opportunists with nothing to fear during times of lawlessness!
Hockey Fight Self Defense Technique
Photo from theguardian.pe.ca.
If you’ve ever watched an ice hockey game, then you will have noticed that when a hockey fight breaks out, it’s an all out close quarters combat brawl. In fact, fighting is even more difficult due to the fact that the players have several layers of clothing and padding on them, thus making it hard to inflict any real damage on their opponents. Furthermore, you’re trying to launch an attack at a time when you’re balancing on two blades, both of which are on a very slippery surface.
Obviously guys who play ice hockey have had to master some nasty fighting techniques. They also need to deal out as much punishment as possible before the referee steps in to restore law and order. The good thing is we can learn a lot from the fighting experience of these players. To help you on your way, here’s a great self defense technique which is just as effective on the streets as what it is in a hockey fight.
Grip Strength: The Hidden Key to Increase Power
Probably the one area that directly increases your performance in a variety of functional fitness areas is grip strength. Yet the problem is most people go about it using less than effective methods. Instead of me telling you about the variety of ineffective methods for increasing grip strength I’m going to propose a very simple, straight forward program guaranteed to dramatically increase your grip strength with little chance of injury to your hand muscles or joints.
I got this program from my good friend Paul Wade, author of Convict Conditioning. Paul shared with me this simple yet amazingly effective approach to grip strength he was taught in prison. This is a surefire method we citizens can use on the outside. All you need is a pull-up bar or (for the more tactically inclined) a suspended 2“x4” that you can hang from.
Simply hang from the bar or 2“x4” with a shoulder width grip. Start counting with your goal being to count to 200. Counting to 200 equates to approximately 2 minutes. For most people simply getting to 200 will be a huge step. This workout consists of just one set and should be done no more than twice a week. I find it is a great finisher for any lower body workout.
Weapons Defense: Defeating the “Club Shove”
When trying to defend yourself, a self defense weapon can really make a difference. However, what will happen if you’re the one without a self defense weapon? What’s going to happen if your opponent has a tire iron, bat, or a club and he holds his weapon with both hands, pushing you away like he were a riot cop?
At the very best you might be able to take a few inconsequential blows, but the weapon your opponent holds acts like a car bumper, pushing you away without hurting him. Additionally, it forms a barrier that you are unable to fight through and that’s why he’s using it. In a situation like this, you might end up taking a brutal blow to the face if you’re not careful.
Learning Self Defense From a DVD
In the past couple days Vonnie has had 2 people call asking if they’d really be able to benefit from our DVD programs.
It’s not an unusual question.
But these two gentlemen had a slightly different concern than most…
…They were 72– and 76-years-old, respectfully.
And each was worried they simply didn’t have the physical skills or ability to execute what they’d see on the DVDs.
Free Webinar Invitation: Mixed Martial Arts vs. “Street Fighting”
Mixed martial arts “cage matches” (like UFC and Pride) are hottest and fastest growing sports phenomenon in the world now!
2 men locked in an octagon cage — “no holds barred” — kicks, throws, chokeouts…anything goes!
Originally created to pit one martial arts style against another, it quickly became a “proving ground” for everyone from wrestlers and boxers…to barroom brawlers!
But let me ask you this question…
Who would win in a REAL “street fight”:
An MMA athlete…or a vicious gang member?!
Surprise Your Attacker with this Self Defense Trick
One common self defense trick that many experts teach is adopting a “ready stance” that looks passive but still enables you to protect your upper body when someone approaches and starts threatening you. For instance, while your hands are raised and open as if you’re saying “I don’t want a fight,” your body should be positioned so you can defend yourself if necessary.
This is good advice. Unfortunately, your brain and body need to be speaking the same language. Almost no trainee I see is able to do this, even during relaxed self-defense training scenarios, and it’s even more difficult when the adrenalin is flowing in a real-world self-defense situation. Here’s what I mean.
Sneaky Weapon Retention When Fighting in Built Up Areas
You often have very little room to maneuver when you’re fighting in built up areas like urban or suburban environments. Battlefields, defending against a home-invasion robbery and facing off against a violent urban attacker all place you at greater risk because your maneuvering space can be so restricted.
When you’re fighting in built up areas, gaining access to a weapon is one of the most important survival principles. Urban areas should always provide plenty of improvised weapons, including nearby sticks, metal bars, bricks and other objects. Soldiers will probably already have their weapons with them while fighting. In built up areas, however, the confined spaces you’re fighting in make it extremely easy to drop or even lose your weapon.
Grappling Moves — Defeating The Mixed Martial Arts Double Leg Takedown
You’ve seen it countless times in the mixed martial arts sporting events: two fighters square off and one of them shoots in for a double-leg takedown, scooping the other fighter’s legs out from under him. This grappling technique is a favorite of mixed martial arts competitors because it sets their opponent up for a hard hit to the mat and is usually followed by a flurry of fight ending punches. In the ring, the two fighters are trained for this. They expect it and they know how to deal with it. On the street, in a real self defense encounter, this grappling move will switch to hitting the pavement hard and the resulting ground-and-pound, without the benefit of a referee to call “time out”, can leave you broken and bloody… or dead.
How to Disarm a Handgun: Timing Your First Move
Ok, you’ve practiced how to disarm a handgun a few thousand times and you’ve reached the level of expertise where you can rip anything short of a howitzer out of your training partner’s hands.
But a handgun disarm technique requires much more than just nimble fingers and a willing partner. For your disarm to truly be ready for a “gun in your face” encounter, your timing must be dead on.
Unfortunately, while handgun disarm techniques are a dime a dozen in close combat DVD’s these days, one crucial element is often ignored…
…and it’s perhaps the most important step in your disarm technique.
I’m talking about proper TIMING of your disarm of the handgun!
Self Defense Against a Baseball Bat!
Martial arts techniques for stick fighting self defense against a club, baseball bat, tire iron or other impact weapon often use unrealistic street fight situations.
Chalk this one up to inexperience when it comes to how real street fights happen when weapons are involved.
An attacker armed with a club is perhaps even more deadly than someone armed with an edged weapon.
They have a longer reach…can do just as much damage (scratch that…MORE damage) in a shorter time period…and can put a LOT of power behind their strikes.
So what’s wrong with the common stick fighting or club defense techniques?
Lots!
For example…
Self Defense Groin Kick Secrets
The self defense groin kick is without a doubt a valuable technique in close quarters combat! (Any guy who’s ever racked himself on the crossbar of his bicycle knows that!)
But there’s a bunch of mistakes that many martial artists make when executing a groin kick for self defense…
…mistakes that can actually end up hurting YOU as a result if you don’t do pay close attention to these aspects of your technique.
Unleash Bone Crunching POWER in Your Kicks!
Are your kicks powerful? Oh sure, you may be able to smack the hell out of a heavy bag with a well placed front snap kick or your favorite roundhouse.
But I’m talking real organ-churning POWER!
Unfortunately a lot of kicks work far better in TRAINING than they do in a real life street attack scenario.
This is because real “power training” that takes place in many martial arts schools is done with repeated motion against a striking pad.
The “Clinch” and Defending Against Multiple Attackers
When you’re facing a situation where you have to use self defense against multiple attackers, getting locked up in the “clinch” with one of your attackers is a bad, bad place to be.
The clinch is where you and another person are head-to-head with your arms locked onto each others’ upper body, fighting for position and an opening to quickly defeat the other.
The problem versus multiple attackers is that while you struggle for position, you’re an easy target for your attacker’s buddies who are quickly coming to his rescue!
How to Read a Knife Attack
There is no “bluffing” in a knife fight!
When the knife comes out, you have to assume that it’s “go” time.
But how your attacker HOLDS his knife can give you insight into his mind…and how to plan your attack!
First, understand that this is NOT a “be all — end all” assumption of how an edged weapon attack goes down. There’s no such thing as a scientific response to any attack and especially so when it comes to defending against a knife.
Hockey Fight Close Combat Technique
Every fight in a hockey game is a close quarters combat scenario.
In fact, it’s made even more difficult to do any real damage to the other opponent due to layers and layers of padding and you’re trying to launch an attack on two thin blades of metal on a slippery surface.
Given these conditions, these guys have had to learn some pretty nasty (and EFFECTIVE!) techniques to get their licks in before they’re broken up by the refs.
Bar Room Fighting
After a good hour long shower to scrub off the gunk and camo from our two week stay in the field at Ft. Drum, my buddy Mike and I had set out to the local watering hole to relax with a cold one.
Now Mike was one of those all-around “good old boys” from Texas and had a strong sense of right and wrong and standing up for people was in his blood.
Admirable, yes…but was seriously put to the test that night and some hard lessons were learned.
