Can be listened/downloaded from the above website or downloaded from itunes

“Welcome to the latest iainabernethy.com podcast! In this podcast I give my thoughts on Gichin Funakoshi’s “Six Rules” (of which there are five!). These rules form part of Funakoshi’s book ‘Karate-Do: My Way of Life’ and about which he states, “The strict observance of these rules is absolutely essential for anyone who desires to understand the nature of karate.” This podcast is obviously not attempting to be a definitive explanation or exploration of these rules, but merely my own take on them.

Funakoshi expands and briefly explains all these rules so the podcast also looks at those explanations. Funakoshi’s explanations of his rules raise many points of discussion and are every bit as important to explore as the rules themselves.

Overall, I think these rules are very useful for today’s karateka (and martial artists generally). However, I do find some parts of Funakoshi’s rules “uncomfortable” particularly with regards to his presentation of karate as a “faith”. In the podcast I explain my concerns about this part of Funakoshi’s thinking and why I disagree. The rules also lead me to touch on the subjects of humility, mental attitude, kata, combative principles, the relationship between ‘jutsu’ and ‘do’ and more.

The “six” rules are as follows:

1. You must be deadly serious in training.
2. Train with heart and soul without worrying about theory.
3. Although Funakoshi talks of “six rules”, number 3 is missing from the text.
4. Avoid self-conceit and dogmatism.
5. Try to see yourself as you truly are and try to adopt what is worthy of merit in the works of others.
6. Abide by the rules of ethics in your daily life, whether in public or private.

This podcast was entirely unscripted and comes in at just over 45 minutes long. It is my hope that openly and freely sharing my thoughts in this way will prove useful to listeners as they explore the meanings and ramifications of these rules from themselves.

The podcast also has news on the new international group I’m involved with that hopes to provide a home and solid network for practically minded martial artists like us.

I hope you enjoy the podcast and I’ll be back with more very soon!”

The Essence of Karate is a slim little book and I’ve been reading a chapter and then having a think about what it’s important messages were. I read a chapter last night and Funakoshi was quite explicit at the end in setting out what he wanted martial artists to take on board.

I thought each chapter would provide good inspiration for blog posts so I decided to start reading again from the first chapter. The initial chapters set out how Karate originated so I was a little disappointed there didn’t seem to be an explicit idea to take away from the chapter.

In Chapter 1 Funakoshi writes about how Bodhidharma traveled from India to China and taught the priests of a Shaolin monastery. It seems that he was frustrated at his lack of progress which he felt was due to their poor physical strength. He came to realise that strength of mind and body was important to enable their studies.

I’m sure getting fitter is one of the things new students to Karate have in their minds as one of the benefits they’ll receive from their studies but perhaps it’s only later you start to realise that it extends further than just being able to do reps of punches and kicks. And for me it’s the development of mental strength, that wasn’t something I was looking for when I walked into the dojo, that is something I value greatly.

I’m not a priest but in my own way I’m looking for enlightenment. I want to be as good a person as I can be and my karate studies have given me strength of mind and body that help me every day to live my life. And perhaps Chapter 1 is giving me another lesson. Karate doesn’t yield all it’s benefits at a first hasty glance, it rewards it’s students who embrace it’s many facets.

Without an understanding of the information and techniques included within kata, karate is a very limited art. How many karate clubs include close range striking, grappling, throwing, joint locks, chokes & strangles and ground fighting in their practice? The answer is all of them! But very few realise it as they leave such methods hidden away within the katas

Continue reading here:
http://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/article/bunkai-karates-forgotten-95

I contrast that with the availability we all seem to enjoy now of a wide range of different martial arts clubs and instructors often within walking distance. But we also have a rich feast of information from other martial artists to enhance our knowledge. I can listen to podcasts by Iain Abernethy and Kris Wilder, follow the tweets of Pete Watson (@pistolpetewato), Rakesh Patel (@KataCombat) & Steve Hodgkinson (@HealthandCombat), to name just a few and read blogs like needtostretch & ZZ Ninja to see how other martial artists are approaching their studies. And of course I have my pick of videos on YouTube of katas being performed and having their bunkai demonstrated.

The challenge I have at the moment is working out what to do with all this information. To find ways to incorporate it with my karate training and improve as student of martial arts. To take the time to work through new ideas and principles.

And also a question will some of the highly skilled martial artists we follow now in time become regarded as masters in their own right?

I’ll need to put together a combination and padwork routine for the grading and I want to use this as an opportunity to practise some kata applications.

I have a copy of Iain Abernethy’s Bunkai Jutsu so want to finish that to start to understand some of the concepts around practical karate.

I’d like to look at the applications of the Pinan/Heian katas so I’ll practise the shotokan versions of Shodan & Nidan.

I also want to continue my ongoing fight to get my mawashi and yoko geris to a respectable height and work on my movement in sparring to evade strikes and get into good striking positions.

I also started looking at some different resources on the web and looking at what was happening karate wise on social media like Twitter. I found some footage of Shigeru Kimura which fired me up to really find out what the Shukokai style was all about. I also came across Iain Abernethy and his emphasis on studying kata in a more practical and integrated way

I attended a great pair of seminars Iain taught and it really made sense and he showed there was a structured way to get more out of kata, something I’d been looking to do but had been struggling to really know how to. I’ve been reflecting on all of this over Christmas and New Year and planned what I want to study more in 2012, I’m looking forward to using this blog to share where that takes me and hopefully get some comments that might help me along the way.

As someone who teaches courses on Kata applications, and as a writer of books and articles on the subject of bunkai, I’m often asked what is “the correct application” for various kata movements. The fact is that there is no single correct application for any movement! Master Itsou – who had a huge influence on the way that kata is now practised – once wrote, “There are many movements in karate. When you train you must try to understand the aim of the movement and its application. You have to take into account all possible meanings and applications of the move. Each move can have many applications.” I feel that it is very important that the individual discovers their own unique understanding and expression of kata applications. You should actively study the katas – as opposed to just practising them – and endeavour to come up with effective applications of your own. There are no right or wrong applications, only those that work and those that don’t! In this article, I’d like to cover some brief guidelines for kata-bunkai that should help you to extract effective applications from the katas for yourself.

Continue reading article here:
http://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/article/what-are-true-applications-kata

A knifehand strike is a strike using the part of the hand opposite the thumb (from the little finger to the wrist), familiar to many people as a karate chop, (in Japanese, shutō-uchi). This refers to strikes performed with the side of the knuckle of the small finger down the forearm to the elbow. Suitable targets for the knife hand strike include the mastoid muscles of the neck, the jugular, the throat, the collar bones, the 3rd vertebra (key stone of the spinal column), the upper arm, the wrist (knife hand block), the elbow (outside knife hand block), and the knee cap (leg throw).

Japanese martial arts

In many Japanese and Chinese martial arts systems, the knifehand is used to block as well as to strike. In Tae kwon Do a knifehand strike (sonkal taerigi) is executed by striking with the muscle at the side of the hand located between the base of the small finger and the wrist (abductor digiti minimumi). It is used as both an offensive and defensive technique and can be executed as a high, low, middle, side, inward, outward, rising or circular strike.

Fictional depictions

The popularity of martial arts in mid to late 20th century gave rise to an exaggerated version of a knifehand strike widely used in American and British cinema, television, and animated cartoons. In common depictions, a character will deliver a single, precise-looking but relatively weak strike to the side of an opponent’s neck, which instantly renders them unconscious but otherwise unharmed (in some versions, the blow is instantly fatal). This is frequently done from behind to an unaware adversary, often an enemy guard. The move became a staple of the spy genre through the 60s and 70s.

As audiences became more aware of how implausible this move seemed, it gradually migrated to the realm of comedy. In these depictions, it is either used unexpectedly and found to work in absurd situations, or a character attempts to imitate what they saw in film, only to find it has no effect.

The following video shows Iain Abernethy demonstrating a practical drill for the use of Shuto-Uke (“knife hand block”) and Nukite (spear hand) that is infinitely more applicable than the ‘judo chop’ of the movies.

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Shuto and Nukite Training Drill (video)

This video was taken at a seminar I taught in Essex in October 2011. We were looking at techniques and drills from Kushanku / Kanku-Dai kata. This is one drill that can be used to practise the applications for Shuto-Uke (“knife hand block”) and Nukite (spear hand). The idea is to get the key variations drilled in a small amount of training time. I hope you enjoy working the drill!

In some quarters it is now common to divide the martial arts into the two camps of MMA and TMA (traditional martial arts), with each seen as being opposed to the other. The more “fundamentalist” MMA practitioners see traditional martial arts as archaic and ineffective systems, with the more “militant” traditional martial artists seeing MMA as lacking in discipline and depth. Personally, I think both of these conflicting viewpoints are wrong.

Continue reading here:
http://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/article/what-tma-can-learn-mma

Contents: The Gurkhas: Masters of the Kukri – Cross Training and its Relevance for Sport – Functional Training With Kettlebells For Karate’s Hojo Undo – Structure and Function of a Knife: Knife as Weapon Series – Gavin Mullholland Interview – Speed in Training – Kyusho – Ben Hockman Interview on Training in Urban Krav Maga – It’s Hard to Fight When You Can’t See – How Many Martial Artists Does it Take to Screw in a Light bulb? – Martial Arts Scepticism: How Factual is Martial Arts TV – Fighting Dirty: Karate/TKD’s/TSD’s Most Commonly used Technique – Dead or Alive – The Martial Arts Unanswered Question – The Roundhouse Kick: Karate’s best Kick or a Threat to your Survival? – Karate’s History

Contributors: Michael Rosenbaum – Andrew Adams – Chris Denwood – Rev. Art Chenevey – Michael Rosenbaum – John Titchen – Nikolai Faerne Skarby – Lawrence Kane – Eric Parsons – Jamie Clubb – Charlie Wildish – Kris Mansfield – Ron Briens – Martin O’Malley – Iain Abernethy

Iain Abernethy is a great guy, and an incredibly effective teacher of practical karate!

1. Why certain techniques always come in threes, and;
2. What the direction changes in Kata mean.

Is Bunkai really necessary?  If one studies Karate simply to get into shape or perform Kata in tournaments, Bunkai may seem like a waste of time.  What counts is looking good (as defined by the rules of the competition), particularly to the judges and the crowd.

Continue reading article here:
http://seinenkai.com/art-bunkai.html

“Prior to the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chinese martial arts had one goal, pure and simple: winning confrontations through intimidation, the use of weapons, or the use of one’s fists…Chinese martial arts were considered to be a physical skill, a manual skill; they were not linked to any esoteric philosophy, nor were they viewed as a from of character development, religious practice, or spiritual development”.

- “Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals: A Historical Survey”, Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo

Philosophy and martial arts have been associated with each other since… well, not really as long as we would like to think. As much as we want to believe that all the great warriors of old were virtuous and wise sages, it seems highly unlikely. Systems of truly efficient combat are developed by, or derived from, the methods of those who are truly proficient at violence. It is as simple and straightforward as that. The martial artists who have made the biggest tremors in the martial arts community are those who have tested and applied their skills in real life violence or, at least, those who have trained under others who have this level of experience. The true roots of martial arts are found in fighters, be they soldiers, pugilists, street brawlers or people involved in security, who passed their knowledge onto others. The philosophy came later and the esoteric and “character building” stuff came much later.

For the rest of the article see here…..

Kūsankū also called Kankū-dai, is an open hand karate kata that is studied by many practitioners of Okinawan, Japanese and Korean karate. In many karate styles, there are two versions of the kata: Kūsankū-shō and Kūsankū-dai. The name Kūsankū or Kōsōkun is used in Okinawan systems of karate, and refers to a person by the name of Kūsankū, a Chinese diplomat from Fukien who is believed to have traveled to Okinawa to teach his system of fighting.  In Japanese systems of karate, the kata has been known as Kankū (translated as gazing heavenward, viewing the sky, or contemplating the sky) ever since it was renamed in the 1930s by Funakoshi Gichin.

Kūsankū is a cornerstone of many styles of karate. It is characterized by the use of flowing techniques that resemble those found in White Crane Kung Fu; it also has a wide variety of open-handed techniques. In Matsubayashi-ryu karate, the kata is known for its flying kick and its “cheating” stance, which robs the opponent of opportunities to attack by extending one leg along the ground and squatting as low as possible on the other (ura-gamae). One possible bunkai for this technique allows the practitioner to escape a bear-hug from behind by twisting and dropping out of their grasp. The hand techniques that accompany the stance block the head, while allowing for a strike to the groin, knee, or foot. Because of the complexity of its techniques, Kūsankū is the highest ranking and most complex kata in Matsubayashi-ryū, and is said to take more than ten years to master.

In Shotokan karate, Kankū-dai consists of 65 movements executed in about 90 seconds, and symbolizes attack and defense against eight adversaries. It is a major form of the kata; its equivalent minor form is called Kankū-shō. Kankū-dai was one of Gichin Funakoshi’s favorite kata and is a representative kata of the Shōtōkan system. The embusen (path of movement) of Kankū-shō is similar to that of Kankū-dai, but it begins differently. It is a compulsory Shōtōkan kata and of high technical merit. As a result of Anko Itosu’s efforts, the Heian kata contain sequences taken from Kankū-dai.

The following article (article & video embedded below) breaks down and demonstrates using video footage one particular section of the Kata, showing possible applications.  Kanku-Dai Bunkai: Strikes into Neck Crank (video)

Kushanku / Kanku-Dai Bunkai: Strikes into Neck Crank (video)

This short video was filmed at a class in July 2011. It looks at an application for the sequences immediately following the first “spear hand” strike in Kushanku (Kanku-Dai).

The sequence begins by controlling the enemy’s arm and pushing it across. It is important to keep the enemy’s arm high (i.e. the karateka’s arm position should be similar to the kata) in order to open up one side and to prevent the enemy launching an effective strike with the other hand by making it difficult for them to turn inward. At the same time an open-hand strike is delivered to the enemy’s kidneys (or base of skull in the Shotokan version).

A kick is then delivered to the shin. While the kick is often higher in the kata, it is important to remember that in application low kicks are more effective. The kata then instructs us to strike the base of the enemy’s skull with the forearm and then pop the arm forward to add impact to a rising strike the face.

The chin and top of the head is then gripped as the body drives upward to aid the finishing neck crack. It should go without saying that this is a very dangerous technique and the neck should not be actually cranked in practise (notice how I let go). It’s also important to remember that trying to attack the neck like this is unlikely to be justifiable in anything but the most extreme of circumstances and is presented here solely for information purposes.

“This video was filmed in July 2011 at Marc and Dianna MacYoung’s annual Animal List BBQ in Colorado, USA. It was an amazing four days spent in the company of many highly talented people. I taught for a couple of hours on the Saturday where I covered general kata principles. This clip shows a little of our discussion on “two-handed fighting”.

It’s vitally important to understand that the methods in kata are not designed for a back and forth exchange at distance (such as we may see in martial sports and consensual fights), but instead to navigate the chaos of close-range civilian conflict. Therefore, in kata we do not see passive “guards” or inactive hands. The range necessitates that both hands are active.

When we are looking at strikes in kata, the non-striking hand will generally be active doing one of two things:

1 – Clearing and controlling limbs such that the karateka is in a position of advantage and has an unobstructed path to the head and neck of the enemy.

2 – Locating the head of the enemy so that in the chaos of conflict accurate strikes can be delivered to induce unconsciousness.

The common notion that the hands are held in “guards” or “ready positions” in kata is not correct and spills over from people incorrectly viewing kata as a record of “karateka vs. karateka” duelling; as opposed to a record of the methods to be used for civilian self-protection.

When analysing striking motions in kata, it is important to determine the exact function of the non-striking hand i.e. how is it clearing limbs or locating the head? If you see the non-striking hand as being a passive “guard” or assuming an arbitrary “ready position” you will never be able to understand the practical application of the movement.

In this video I discuss the general idea of “two-handed fighting”, and the key roles the non-striking hand will play, using the examples of Shuto-Uke (“Knife-hand”) and the elbowing method found in kata such has Pinan / Heian Yodan, Kushanku / Kanku-Dai, Naihanchi / Tekki Shodan, etc.”

“Welcome to August’s podcast! In this podcast we discuss the issue of multiple enemies. Despite the fact that multiple enemies are a likely occurrence in self-protection situations, I think it would be fair to say that the majority of groups ignore this likelihood and concentrate solely on one-on-one methodologies and tactics. Unfortunately, one-on-one methodologies and tactics can work brilliantly when things are one-on-one, but can be totally inappropriate and fail dramatically when the numbers increase. The need for solid technique at all ranges remains constant, what changes is what techniques we choose to use and how we choose to use them.

In this podcast we look at multiple enemies from both a self-protection perspective and, towards the end of the podcast, from the perspective of karate kata. We also look at what tactics are most effective when facing multiple enemies, how to pre-emptively strike when facing a group, the basics of designing training drills for multiple enemies, some multiple enemy myths, and how kata can help prepare us for multiple enemies (and it’s not how many people think it does!).

It’s obviously a very big topic – one we are sure to return to – but I hope you find the podcast touches on the key issues and provides some food for thought.

One other thing mentioned in the podcast is that these podcasts will have been going for five years in October! I’m hoping to do something a little special for that one, but I’ve no idea what! If you have any suggestions, please let me know.”

Here’s a nice series of drills for use with the sequences in Kanku-dai, by Iain Abernethy, a generous teacher.

“We all have the potential to achieve anything we wish and to become anything we want to be,” the first sentence in the book says.  To fulfil this potential we need to develop our mental strength and overcome obstacles.   Iain defines mental strength as “the ability to overcome mental resistance and cause things to happen.”  Mental resistance is “any negative thought, feeling or belief that stands between you and your goals.”

This book outlines how you can acquire the mental strength required to break out of your comfort zone and achieve your dreams.  “Fear, self-doubt, lack of confidence, or simply being overawedby the tasks ahead can make many people shrink back from realising their true potential.”   This book explains how to develop a mind strong enough to push past all obstacles so that nothing comes between you and your goals.

There is a wonderful quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson in this book, “Shallow men believe in luck.  Strong men believe in cause and effect.”  This book helps one to become strong — if one takes responsibility to oneself and follow the process outlined in the book.

by Iain Abernethy

In this series of articles we are discussing how to make your sparring relevant to real situations. As we’ve discussed in previous articles, the sparring in many dojos has little in common with real situations. Karateka train for a variety of reasons, so it is to be expected that they will spar in a variety of ways in order to address a variety of goals. If being able to protect yourself is one of your reasons for training, then your sparring needs to specifically structured so that it has relevance to the street.

In previous articles we have covered six of the keys to realistic sparring. In this final part, we’ll be covering the final four keys to making your sparring relevant to the street.

Important Note: All sparring is potentially dangerous and must always be closely supervised by a suitably qualified and experienced person. If you don’t have such supervision, don’t try out the methods we’re going to discuss!

Don’t limit the techniques or ranges

Anything goes in a real situation and hence you need to ensure your street sparring isn’t limited. As a karateka, you need to ensure that you bring grappling into your sparring. There are a great many grappling techniques in kata and they should be brought into everyday training. The more wide-ranging you make your sparring, the more realistic it will be.

You also need to ensure that you include the techniques not allowed by the rules. In combat sports, there are two groups of techniques that will be banned. First, there are the techniques that are banned in the name of the purity of the sport, i.e. boxing is about punching so anything that can stifle the exchange of punches is prohibited. All combat sports have similar restrictions in order to maintain the purity of the sport and give the spectators what they want to see. Secondly, there are the techniques that are banned in the name of safety, i.e. low blows etc. All of these banned techniques can be used in a street situation.

A real fight has no rules, and hence you need to ensure you ignore the rule book when you structure your street sparring. It’s pretty easy to ignore the purity-based restrictions, but great care needs to be taken when ignoring the safety-based ones. In some instances you can substitute dangerous techniques for less dangerous alternatives. For example, if your partner secures a grip on the knot in your belt, it’s a safe assumption he could also have attacked your groin in the same fashion. Likewise, putting the thumb on your partner’s forehead above the eyebrows can be used as a substitute for eye gouges.

Substitutions like these ensure that you develop the skills to use and defend against such attacks. The flaw in this training is that if you’re not mindful of the intent of the substitution, you may find yourself using the substitution in the street at a time when you should be using the real technique! As I said in part one of this series, always be aware of the flaws of any drill. Because the alternative is to omit the techniques completely, I feel substitution is the best way forwards.

In addition to substitution, you can also reduce the intensity of certain techniques to ensure safety. For example, if you nip your partner with your teeth, they can be sure they would be missing flesh if the fight was for real. It is very important that your sparring is closely supervised by a suitably experienced and qualified person when bringing potentially dangerous techniques such as biting and gouging into your sparring. The person supervising the sparring will be able to advise you on substitution, omission and intensity.

By not limiting the techniques or ranges of your sparring you ensure that “blind spots” don’t develop and that your sparring has relevance to a real fight.

Emphasize simplicity and high-percentage techniques

It is vitally important in the street to keep things very simple. The simpler a technique is, the more likely it is to succeed. The more complex a technique is, the more likely it is to fail.

However, it doesn’t always work that way in a dojo or competitive bout between two martial artists. In that environment, using complex and sophisticated methods can catch your opponent off guard. The simple methods will be more easily recognized and countered so it can be advantageous to use methods that are “off radar.” In almost all combat sports, much of what was winning fights a few years ago is now obsolete because it is easily recognized and hence easily countered. Competitors need to enhance, disguise and evolve their techniques if they are to keep winning. Complex and indirect can work fine in the dojo or in sport. The complex and indirect won’t fare well in the street, however.

When sparring for the street, be sure to stick to the basics. Many martial artists inadvertently associate the term “advanced” with “better.” That is not how it works in the street. There is the basic stuff that works; and the advanced stuff that doesn’t work. There are no such things as “advanced self-protection” or “advanced street fighting.” When sparring for the street, keep everything simple and avoid any temptation to get clever.

It is also important to emphasise techniques that will have the greatest effect. A head shot will have a greater effect than a strike to the body. A strangle will finish the fight, but a joint lock may not (you can’t fight when you are unconscious, but you can fight with a broken joint). Methods such as body shots and joint locks still have a role to play, but priority should always be given to the techniques that will end the fight the quickest.

For street sparring, stick to techniques that are simple, have the best chance of working, and are likely to have the greatest effect.

Vary the numbers (real fights are not always one on one)

This is a big one! Dojo and competitive sparring is almost always one on one. Street situations aren’t like that. They can be one on one: they can also be loads of other things. It’s therefore very beneficial to mix up the numbers when sparring for the street.

Successfully fighting off two or more assailants isn’t anywhere near as easy as depicted in the martial arts movies. With enough commitment and ferocity it is possible successfully take on more than one person, but it is never advisable to do so.

The subject of multiple opponents is frequently overlooked in the martial arts world with most training focusing on the one on one scenario. Practising against multiple opponents will help prepare you for if the worst happens. Such training also brings home some really important lessons about how you should face street situations. Some martial artist attempt to justify the lack of training against multiple opponents by stating that successfully outfighting multiple opponents is impossible. It is true that outfighting committed multiple opponents is extremely difficult (not impossible); however, it should also be understood that you don’t need to outfight multiple opponents in order to protect yourself from them.

A few years ago I was teaching street-based sparring drills to a mixed ability group. As part of this session we were practicing two-on-one sparring. At one end of the room was a young, relatively inexperienced martial artist who was visibly nervous at the prospect of having to simultaneously face two opponents. At the other end was a group of extremely experienced martial artists. The members of this group had multiple black belts and were all skilled fighters. This group was actually excited at the prospect of getting to test their skills against two opponents.

When I signalled for the fights to begin, the experienced martial artists went off with all guns blazing … but invariably were quickly taken off their feet and beaten up by their colleagues. By contrast, the inexperienced martial artist did not want to test his skills. He wanted out of there! He ran all around the dojo and hardly had a punch land on him.

The moral of the story is that when faced with more than one person, don’t stay and fight them but instead run away the instant you can. As I said earlier, you don’t need to outfight multiple opponents in order to protect yourself from them. Sparring with multiple opponents really brings this lesson home and lets you practice your escape skills.

Sparring with multiple opponents also teaches you a lot about how you should face a single opponent in the street. What begins as a one-on-one situation in the street or bar can quickly escalate. Criminals frequently work in gangs; just because you can’t see them doesn’t guarantee they don’t have backup near by.

As an example of how the possibility of multiple opponents changes things, let’s briefly discuss ground fighting. In the dojo taking the opponent to the floor and trying to finish the fight on the ground with a triangle choke or other such technique can work great (Photo 1).

However, if you use the same methodology in the street, a second person could get involved and you would get stamped flat (Photo 2). Fights can go to the ground so it’s something you need to include in your training and sparring, but it’s never the smart choice in the street.

A friend of mine was once mugged at an ATM by what he initially thought was just one person. He’s a big guy and told the mugger to leave him alone (well, that’s not exactly what he said, but my mother would disapprove of me writing the real words!). At that point the mugger pointed across the road where his previously unseen colleague opened his jacket to reveal a huge knife. My friend wisely decided to hand over his cash. He could also have hit and run, but I feel he undeniably made the smart choice. However, what would have happened if he’d decided to fight? Or worse yet take the fight to the ground? I think we can safely say that the initial one on one exchange would not have stayed that way for long and my friend would have been stabbed.

In your street sparring be sure to play with the numbers: one on two, one on three, two on three etc. You’ll learn a lot about how to approach real situations.

Spar when exhausted

Real situations are very stressful. Your heart rate will go though the roof, you may feel nauseous, your muscle control will be greatly reduced, you will want to be anywhere else on earth, and you may feel frozen to the spot. Being mentally and physically able deal with these sensations is a key part of preparing for the street.

A good way to recreate these sensations is to fight a fresh opponent when you are exhausted. I don’t mean a little bit tired, I mean exhausted! Your heart rate will be high, you may feel nauseous, your muscle control will be greatly reduced, you will want to be somewhere else and you won’t feel like fighting. Not wholly unlike a street situation.

There are a great many ways to exhaust yourself. You can do some intense exercise before sparring, do a lot of pad work, or just spar with a number of fresh opponents back to back. However you go about it, sparring when exhausted should be part of your street sparring. You may not want to go to extremes every session, but you should do it frequently enough that you get used to functioning under stress. If you don’t get used to it, all the skills you posses will be rendered redundant by the intensity of the situation.

There are lots of different ways to spar and all have value. Most martial artists train for a wide range of reasons aside from self-protection. However, when training for the street, it is important that your training methods accurately reflect the nature of street situations. I hope the 10 keys we have discussed in this series will help you structure your sparring in a way that is as realistic as possible.

Back to Articles

This series of articles is adapted from Iain Abernethy’s contribution to Loren Christensen’s “Fighter’s Fact Book 2”. It is Iain’s view that all martial artists should read this book. Details on this highly informative book can be found below:

FIGHTER’S FACT BOOK 2

You will fight how you train. This is the theme of Fighter’s Fact Book 2: Street Fighting Essentials and when you’ve mastered the skills taught in the book, you will truly be ready to defend yourself in some of the most desperate situations imaginable.

Nearly a dozen veteran instructors of street oriented martial arts have come together with Loren Christensen to teach you how to defend yourself against multiple attackers, violent dogs, knives, close quarter attacks, and attackers impervious to pain. Then they show you how to make your street techniques fast and explosive, and how to prepare yourself mentally to use extreme force. The skills taught here are not for the faint hearted. These are hardcore techniques intended to save your life or the life of a loved one.

In addition to Loren Christensen’s no-nonsense instruction on justified use of extreme tactics, fighting wounded, attacking the eyes and neck, surviving a dog attack and using the mini-flashlight to ward off an attacker, you’ll get expert insight from:

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman: Army Special Forces, psychologist – on conditioning the mind

Iain Abernethy: England ‘s leading exponent of applied karate – on street sparring

Rory A. Miller: corrections officer, tactical team trainer – on in-fighting

Kris Wilder: multiple black belt holder & international competitor – on punching power

Lawrence Kane: martial artist and football stadium security supervisor – on shock blocks

Alain Burrese: hapkido expert, and former bouncer and bodyguard – on kicking skill

Wim Demeere: Belgian full-contact fighter and personal trainer – on street sanshou

Richard Dimitri: veteran fighter and popular trainer – on using The Shredder

Mark Mireles: LA cop, twice Medal of Valor recipient – on chokes and clinching

Tim Delgman : 9th-degree jujitsu black belt – on throws for the street

Dan Anderson: karate champion and arnis master – on fighting with single stick

” I was most pleased that my friends agreed to contribute to this book. I was pleased for my own selfish reason in that I would get to learn from them, as I have so often before. And I was pleased that their contribution, based on their experiences on the street, would make this book the highly informative one it is.” — Loren W. Christensen from the Introduction.

ISBN 978-1-880336-93-9 Published by TURTLE PRESS

by Iain Abernethy

In this series of articles we are discussing how to make your sparring relevant to real situations. The sparring in most dojos is based on the rules of modern competition and therefore has little in common with real situations. To be clear, I’m not for a second saying there is anything fundamentally wrong with competitive sparring. If you want to win tournaments, that’s how you need to spar. The problem occurs when people mistakenly believe that training for competition also develops the skills needed for the street. It doesn’t.

In part one we briefly discussed the nature of real situations and covered two of the keys to making your sparring relevant to the street. In this second part, we’ll be expand our discussion and cover four more of these keys.

Important Note: All sparring is potentially dangerous and must always be closely supervised by a suitably qualified and experienced person. If you don’t have such supervision, don’t try out the methods we’re going to discuss!

Start without warning

Some situations will start without any warning, i.e., if your awareness wasn’t what it should be or if you are the victim of a well-executed ambush. It can therefore be good training to also have your sparring start without warning.

Seeing as the sparring can start at anytime, all participants need to wear their protective equipment throughout the entire session. The students will then engage in normal training (fitness work, drilling techniques, hitting the pads, etc.). Whenever the leader of the training feels like it, they will shout out the command, “Fight!” At that instant all students should begin sparring with the person or people nearest to them.

The great thing about this type of sparring is that you are never sure what situation will develop or when. You may quickly respond to the command and attack a class mate, only for someone else to attack you from the rear. One second you thought you had the advantage, the next you’re frantically doing your best against two opponents. After a certain amount of time, the person leading the training will shout, “Stop!” and the students return to whatever they were doing previously.

It’s important that the person giving out the commands does their best to ensure that the sparring is unexpected. I’m partial to shouting “Fight!” during water breaks, in the middle of drills, straight after a previous bout of sparring, whilst they are performing push-ups, and immediately after I’ve told them the surprise sparring is over (my personal favourite!). The students quickly begin to expect the unexpected and start to fight well regardless of the situation and position they find themselves in.

If you are training as part of a small group, another way to have sparring start without warning is agree that anyone can attack anyone else at any point during the session (you may want to make some exceptions in the name of safety: i.e. agree that you can’t be attacked when handling weights, etc). The lack of the command to start makes the sparring all the more unexpected. It also ensures that all training done between the sparring is done with the correct attitude. If you start doing things in a half-hearted fashion, your partners may very well decide it’s a good time to attack you!

Surprise sparring is a great training method that can get you used to having to fight without warning. It is also a great way to give a training session that added edge.

Keep the combat up close and personal

Most exchanges between skilled martial artists take place at a greatly exaggerated distance when compared to what happens on the street. The vast majority of real fights start close, and they stay close. In the street there is rarely a gap to be closed and there is rarely any back and forth. This obviously has a significant effect on how we structure our sparring for the street.

As we’ve established, real situations will begin with dialogue or without warning. The distance at which words are exchanged is typically the same as punching distance (Photo 1). So in the case of dialogue, the distance has already been closed when the situation gets physical (people don’t try to intimidate you from 10 feet away!). If a situation begins without warning, then the distance has already been closed.

When two martial artists fight in the dojo or competitive environment, they typically begin the fight from outside kicking distance (Photo 2). This means that a key part of martial arts sparring is to effectively close that gap. These skills are essentially an irrelevance for the street. Compare the distances shown in photos 1 and 2 and you’ll see that in the street fights are much closer.

Another big difference between the street and a dojo exchange between two martial artists is that the there is no back and forth. In the street, people don’t back off, move around for a bit while looking for an opening, before closing the gap again. All of this means that when training for the street we need to exchange techniques at close range (the exception being when we flee, which we will look at later).

When you start your street sparring, you should be within arms length of your partner and you should stay at that distance. With practise you’ll get used to fighting at this distance. However, to begin with you may need to force the distance; here are two ways to do this.

•  One of the best ways is to limit the floor space. The students who aren’t sparring form a circle around those who are so that there simply isn’t the space to exaggerate the distance.

•  Another way was introduced to me by Shihan Chris Rowen. Chris simply used a karate belt to tie the students together! It’s a simple method but it works incredibly well. The students can’t exaggerate the distance and hence it forces them to spar at a realistic range. The only downside with this is that the students can’t practise escaping. That said, as a way to isolate close-range skills it’s superb.

When you keep your sparring close there are a few things you will learn. One of the key things is that blocking becomes almost impossible. There simply isn’t the time or room to react. This is a really useful learning experience as it brings home the importance of being pre-emptive and proactive in the street.

Another characteristic of close-range fighting is that it becomes very important to keep both hands active. Both hands should be either attacking the opponent or setting them up so they can be attacked i.e. setting datums, removing obstructions, etc. As a brief aside, it is for this reason why you don’t see hands held in ‘guard positions’ in kata, but you do see both hands constantly working.

Keeping the sparring close is a great way to learn about what is required for the street. So to make your sparring realistic it’s important to start close and stay close.

Don’t bring trained reponses into the mix

One of the most important things for martial artists to appreciate is that when training for the street trained responses are not a factor. As martial artists we get trained to respond in certain ways to specific stimuli, i.e. when the opponent does motion A; you are trained to respond with motion B. When two martial artists meet these trained responses are invariably exploited: martial artist 1 will move in such a way that it looks to martial artist 2 as if he is attacking with motion A. Martial artist 2 counters with motion B, just as martial artist 1 hoped he would. By responding with motion B, martial artist 2 makes himself vulnerable to motion C; which was martial artists 1′s true intention. He attacked with motion A to illicit a response which would set things up for motion C.

In a street fight, you can’t use trained responses in the same way; hence you need to do your best to eliminate such practises from your street sparring. Trained responses aren’t relevant in the street for two key reasons.

•  Your opponent is highly unlikely to be trained in the same martial discipline as you are and hence won’t react as predicted. But what if he is a martial artist, I hear you cry!

•  The street is so very different that even if your attacker is a trained martial artist he won’t fight like he does in the dojo or competitive environment. Street fights are far faster, emotional and chaotic than martial bouts.

Observe two world-standard martial artists fight and count the average number of techniques thrown in a 15-second period. You’ll notice that most of the time is spent moving around and playing for position. The overall rate of exchange is actually pretty low. Certainly they are likely to be some blindingly fast exchanges, but they are often very short in duration. The ones that last that little bit longer are the ones when a combatant becomes injured or disorientated and the other moves in for a win.

A street fight is consistently frantic. It starts fast, stays fast and finishes fast. There is no time for trained reposes. Indeed there is no time for responses of any sort.

In addition to being faster, a street fight is also more emotional. The intense nature of a street situation means that neither you nor your opponent will be best placed to process the information that exploiting trained responses demands. So in the unlikely event that you do meet another martial artist in a street situation, it still won’t be like a dojo or competitive situation.

A good illustration of this is the fight that broke out at the Tyson / Lewis press conference in the run up to their long awaited bout. There we had the two best heavyweight boxers at the time, but when it kicked off for real, the resulting exchange was nothing like a boxing match. It was a “street fight,” and was hence faster, more chaotic and more emotional.

Trained responses aren’t a part of a street fight and hence they shouldn’t be part of your street sparring. The difficulty of course is that you will be training with other martial artists so it initially takes some discipline not to engage in “game play.” The instant you do start trying to illicit trained responses, you’re no longer sparring realistically. In a real fight you need to keep things simple and direct. Practise keeping it simple and direct in your sparring.

Escape: Don’t stay and fight!

In part 1 of this series we established that a fight is what happens when self-protection goes bad. Real fights are thoroughly unpleasant affairs that can have severe medical, emotional and legal consequences. If you therefore get the opportunity to stop fighting and run you should take it without hesitation. Many a wannabe tough guy will frown on the idea of fleeing a fight, but the smart and experienced people who have “been there” will always advise flight over fight. The true warrior doesn’t risk his life and liberty over his ego. He always does the smart thing.

I recently had the opportunity to talk to a martial artist who a few days previously had been approached by two men armed with knives. He quickly assessed the situation and ran away. He told me that he was disappointed with himself because all he could think to do was run. He asked what techniques he could have applied in that situation. My advice was that he shouldn’t feel bad as he had dealt with the situation perfectly. His awareness was such that he had spotted the situation early enough to allow escape and he had the presence of mind to act in what was undoubtedly the right way.

Fight two armed men and at best you’re going to need some serious stitching back together. Because he had run away, he didn’t even get scratched! I’m certain that anyone who understands the street would advise nothing but running in that situation. Putting distance between yourself and a dangerous situation keeps you safe and ensures you’re able to spend your time on the fun things in life. So for your sparring to be street smart, you need to practise running away.

Fleeing a fight is not as straight forward as just turning tail and running. If there is a sufficient gap between you and any would be assailant, you can do just that (again, this emphasises the importance of awareness). If, however, the assailant is close enough to strike you, or the situation has degenerated into a fight, you need confusion and distance. If you don’t have confusion and distance when you begin running, you will be giving the opponent your back. Bad things can occur when if you do that!

If you have managed to incapacitate the opponent, even for a moment, then in that moment of confusion and disorientation you should flee. Because the opponent won’t be able to immediately react, you have the chance to generate sufficient distance to allow a successful escape. When a gap appears in the street, your self-protection training should have conditioned you to make it bigger. Much bigger! You should not be thinking of closing the gap and continuing the fight.

A great way to practise fleeing in training is to make part of your dojo a “safe zone.” Your aim is to reach this safe zone while your partner (or partners) prevent you from doing so. The full range of martial techniques are allowed, but if a gap is created (they rarely appear on their own) the aim is to extend it and make it to the safe zone.

Another good way to practise escaping is to have two people at either end of the dojo, while the person practising fleeing is in the middle. The person in the middle will run towards the first person and they start sparring (using both grappling and striking). As soon as the fighting begins, the person who started in the middle must break contact and create a gap. He then runs to the other end and repeats the process. This drill is a great way to develop the skills needed to create a gap, and engrain the habit of running when you have. It’s also one hell of a work out!

Running away is the smart and practical thing to do whenever possible. Hence, you need to ensure fleeing is included in your sparring.

That’s it for part two. Next month sees the final part of this series where we will cover the final four ways to ensure your sparring is relevant to the street. I hope you enjoyed this article and I’d like to thank you for taking the time to read it.

Please click HERE to be taken to Part 3.

Back to Articles

This series of articles is adapted from Iain Abernethy’s contribution to Loren Christensen’s “Fighter’s Fact Book 2”. It is Iain’s view that all martial artists should read this book. Details on this highly informative book can be found below:

FIGHTER’S FACT BOOK 2

You will fight how you train. This is the theme of Fighter’s Fact Book 2: Street Fighting Essentials and when you’ve mastered the skills taught in the book, you will truly be ready to defend yourself in some of the most desperate situations imaginable.

Nearly a dozen veteran instructors of street oriented martial arts have come together with Loren Christensen to teach you how to defend yourself against multiple attackers, violent dogs, knives, close quarter attacks, and attackers impervious to pain. Then they show you how to make your street techniques fast and explosive, and how to prepare yourself mentally to use extreme force. The skills taught here are not for the faint hearted. These are hardcore techniques intended to save your life or the life of a loved one.

In addition to Loren Christensen’s no-nonsense instruction on justified use of extreme tactics, fighting wounded, attacking the eyes and neck, surviving a dog attack and using the mini-flashlight to ward off an attacker, you’ll get expert insight from:

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman: Army Special Forces, psychologist – on conditioning the mind

Iain Abernethy: England ‘s leading exponent of applied karate – on street sparring

Rory A. Miller: corrections officer, tactical team trainer – on in-fighting

Kris Wilder: multiple black belt holder & international competitor – on punching power

Lawrence Kane: martial artist and football stadium security supervisor – on shock blocks

Alain Burrese: hapkido expert, and former bouncer and bodyguard – on kicking skill

Wim Demeere: Belgian full-contact fighter and personal trainer – on street sanshou

Richard Dimitri: veteran fighter and popular trainer – on using The Shredder

Mark Mireles: LA cop, twice Medal of Valor recipient – on chokes and clinching

Tim Delgman : 9th-degree jujitsu black belt – on throws for the street

Dan Anderson: karate champion and arnis master – on fighting with single stick

” I was most pleased that my friends agreed to contribute to this book. I was pleased for my own selfish reason in that I would get to learn from them, as I have so often before. And I was pleased that their contribution, based on their experiences on the street, would make this book the highly informative one it is.” — Loren W. Christensen from the Introduction.

ISBN 978-1-880336-93-9 Published by TURTLE PRESS

Almost all martial artists include sparring in their training. However, there are many different types of sparring and there is some debate as to what types are most realistic. Indeed, some question if sparring has any relevance to self-protection situations. To my mind, the amount of relevance that sparring has to the street is determined by how that sparring is structured.

In the majority of karate dojos sparring is based on the rules of modern competition. If your aim is to win tournaments, then obviously you need to base your sparring on the nature of competition. There is nothing wrong with competitive sparring in itself; the problem occurs when people believe that such sparring will also prepare them for the street. It doesn’t. There are many reasons why competitive sparring, and indeed other types of sparring, are not relevant to the street. We’ll cover these reasons as we progress through this series of articles.

In addition to sparring based on modern competition, an ever growing number of groups are embracing kata-based-sparring. The kata, when correctly understood, are all about close-range civilian combat. In the past I’ve written at length about the need to gain live experience of applying the methods of the kata. I coined the term “kata-based-sparring” for this type of training and I’m pleased to say that such sparring is growing in popularity. When correctly structured, kata-based-sparring is very relevant to real situations. However, in this series of articles we will not be discussing how to make sense of kata or how to practise applying their lessons in a live and non-compliant way.

Although everything we will be discussing in these articles has relevance to kata-based-sparring, the inclusion of a through discussion on kata-based-sparring, and how kata relates to real situations, would greatly broaden the scope of this discussion. We will therefore focus specifically on how to structure sparring so that it has genuine relevance to real situations.

From the onset it is vital that you understand that fighting is what happens when self-protection has gone bad (Photo 1). If you are truly serious about keeping yourself safe on the streets, it’s not fighting you should be focusing on, but awareness and avoidance.

The way I break down self-protection for my students is as follows: 95 percent of self-protection is awareness and avoidance skills coupled with a healthy attitude to personal safety. If you are unable to avoid a situation, you need to be able to control the dialogue and distance, strike pre-emptively, and use the opportunity to escape. This ability to control a situation before it becomes a fight makes up 4 percent of self-protection. The remaining 1 percent is the fighting skills that you fall back on when all else fails. In my experience, it is common for martial artists to overly fixate on fighting (the last 1 percent) and hence they are not effectively addressing the issue of self-protection.

The point I’m making here is that you can be one hell of a fighter and yet still be incapable of keeping yourself safe. If your awareness skills are poor, you’ll be taken out before you are even aware there is a threat. You simply won’t get the opportunity to use your fighting skills.

Consider that no matter how good a fighter you are, there will be people who are better. The way to keep yourself safe from more skilled fighters is very simple: don’t fight them! Avoid the situation entirely, and if you can’t, control distance through talking with your hands (keep them between your assailant and yourself), use dialogue and deception to facilitate a first strike and use the moment of confusion to flee. In this way it can be possible to protect yourself from people you may not be able to out fight. However, if all that fails then you have no option but to fight.

In this series of articles we are looking at training for that last 1 percent should all your other skills fail; it is therefore not appropriate to discuss in detail awareness and pre-emption. The reason I have mentioned them is that it is vitally important that the sparring methods we are going to examine are viewed from the correct perspective. Remember, fighting skills aren’t the key to self-protection: fighting is what happens when self-protection goes bad.

Having established where sparring and fighting fit into the grand scheme of things, the next thing we need to briefly cover is the nature of the environment we are training for. In these articles we are talking about the street and therefore the nature of the street will determine how we should spar to prepare for it. If we look at the sparring used in the various combat sports, it is immediately apparent that many differing methods of sparring exist. The types of sparring vary because what is needed to win varies. What is needed to win is determined by the rules, and hence people sometimes assume that because as there are no rules in the street, getting rid of the rules will make sparring like a street situation. However, it’s not that straight forward. Aside from the lack of rules, there are many other things that make a street situation what it is.

A detailed discussion on the nature of street situations is also beyond the scope of this look at sparring; however, here are a few key points that we need to consider:

•  The vast majority of street situations take place at close-range

•  Real fights often involve multiple assailants and weapons

•  Real fights are fast, frantic and chaotic

•  Real fights do not resemble a skilled exchange between two martial artists

•  In a real situation you need to keep things really simple

•  Deceptive or aggressive dialogue will frequently precede any physical exchange

•  The fight may begin without warning (awareness being the key to ensuring it doesn’t)

•  Real fights are terrifying and wholly unpleasant (assuming you’re not a psychopath!)

To make our sparring relevant to real situations, we need to ensure our sparring considers all the things listed above. When they are factored in, sparring can be quite a bit different from what is seen in most dojos. This does not mean other types of sparring have no value: far from it! As a martial artist, it’s very likely that you will train for a variety of reasons and have an interest in many aspects of martial training. It is therefore entirely possible that you’ll spar in more that one way: different types of sparring for different aspects of your training.

You may spar in one way for a straight fight with other martial artists, and another way for the street. Some argue that by sparring in more than one way you may inadvertently use the wrong method at the wrong time. I can follow this logic. However, it’s my view that the dojo and street environments are so radically different that it is unlikely you’ll mix up the various methods so long as you keep the various types of sparring totally separate and are 100% clear on what you are training for at any given time.

Having covered some of the key issues, it’s now time to look at the first way to make your sparring relevant to the street.

Important Note: All sparring is potentially dangerous and must always be closely supervised by a suitably qualified and experienced person. If you don’t have such supervision, don’t try out the methods we’re going to discuss!

Be aware of the flaws of any given sparring exercise

No matter how realistic sparring is, it is never real. We are always making compromises in the name of safety. If we didn’t, every training session would result in the majority of students going to the hospital! We need to introduce necessary flaws into training in order to ensure we can train safely. Without these flaws, training would be just as dangerous as the street; which kind of defeats the whole point of training. It won’t make our lives any safer; it will just expose us to many more life-threatening encounters!

If you do any of the following you’ve introduced a flaw into your sparring: train on mats, wear sparring gloves, wear body armour, use a gum shield, limit contact levels, omit techniques such as biting, eye gouges and groin attacks, allow you or your partner to end the fight by tapping out or submitting, etc. Changes such as these will make training safer and more productive, but they also move it further away from a real fight. The trick to ensuring this drift from reality is minimized is to be acutely aware of the flaws and their effects.

By way of example, let’s say you and a partner were about to engage in heavy contact sparring. In order to maximize safety, one precaution you may take is to wear boxing gloves. Before you start sparring, you should think about the flaws that donning the gloves has introduced (Photo 2):

•  Your fists are now much bigger than they would be in reality and hence your hit rate may increase

•  You can hide behind the gloves to protect yourself

•  You can’t grab or effectively set up a datum and neither can your partner

•  The blows have less of an effect than they would in reality

•  The nature of the gloves means that open-hand strikes cannot be delivered

•  Grappling techniques are severely limited

By being aware of the flaws introduced by any safety considerations, you ensure that the reality of the street stays at the forefront of your mind. Sparring is a means to an end; it is not the end in itself. Being aware of the flaws in sparring also helps keep that distinction clear.

It’s not just safety that introduces flaws. You may also purposefully introduce some limitations to enhance certain skills. As an example, when sparring you may wish to isolate striking from a clinch. You limit the sparring to striking from a clinch, and therefore throws and takedowns would not be allowed. It’s my observation that as soon as you limit what techniques are allowed – which can be a very useful training method – people forget about the methods that have been omitted and hence leave themselves vulnerable to them. So even if you’ve agreed not to permit throws when working on clinch striking, you should still ensure you don’t get into bad habits by being aware of the flaw you’ve introduced.

Start with aggressive dialogue; not formal etiquette

Competitive and dojo sparring often begins with a formal show of respect. Street fights don’t start that way. They are frequently preceded by deceptive or aggressive dialogue. To be adequately prepared for the street, you need to have exposure to such talk so that it does not faze you.

Deceptive dialogue occurs when the assailant closes the gap between you by asking for directions, the time, a light for a cigarette, etc. He may appear friendly and unthreatening until its time to become physical. Awareness, controlling distance and trusting your instincts are the key to dealing with this.

Aggressive dialogue is when the assailant will scream, shout and swear in an attempt to intimidate you (Photo 3). The aim of this aggressive behaviour is to get themselves pumped up enough to physically attack, and to hopefully overload you with fear so that you freeze and are unable to effectively deal with the situation. If you’re not used to such naked aggression, this method will probably work and render all physical skills you have redundant.

When sparring for the street, begin the fight with one person (or more) taking on the role of the bad guy. They should close the gap with either aggressive dialogue, or deceptive dialogue (that may switch to aggressive). It’s important to make the dialogue and associated body language realistic. Push, shove, splay your arms, shout and swear. Although it’s training, as the bad guy you should attempt to intimidate your partner in the same way a real assailant would.

The other person should attempt to control distance and talk the situation down. Sometimes the bad guy may decide to back away without the situation getting physical. On other occasions, either party can begin the sparring when they feel it is appropriate (Note: the good guy should always try to pre-empt and not “wait” for the bad guy to start the fight. More on this later in the series).

In this first article we’ve introduced some of the issues surrounding real situations and sparring. We’ve also covered two of the key ways to ensure your sparring has relevance to the street. In part 2 we’ll cover four more keys to making your sparring realistic. Thanks for taking the time to read this article.

Back to Articles

This series of articles is adapted from Iain Abernethy’s contribution to Loren Christensen’s “Fighter’s Fact Book 2”. It is Iain’s view that all martial artists should read this book. Details on this highly informative book can be found below:

FIGHTER’S FACT BOOK 2

You will fight how you train. This is the theme of Fighter’s Fact Book 2: Street Fighting Essentials and when you’ve mastered the skills taught in the book, you will truly be ready to defend yourself in some of the most desperate situations imaginable.

Nearly a dozen veteran instructors of street oriented martial arts have come together with Loren Christensen to teach you how to defend yourself against multiple attackers, violent dogs, knives, close quarter attacks, and attackers impervious to pain. Then they show you how to make your street techniques fast and explosive, and how to prepare yourself mentally to use extreme force. The skills taught here are not for the faint hearted. These are hardcore techniques intended to save your life or the life of a loved one.

In addition to Loren Christensen’s no-nonsense instruction on justified use of extreme tactics, fighting wounded, attacking the eyes and neck, surviving a dog attack and using the mini-flashlight to ward off an attacker, you’ll get expert insight from:

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman: Army Special Forces, psychologist – on conditioning the mind

Iain Abernethy: England ‘s leading exponent of applied karate – on street sparring

Rory A. Miller: corrections officer, tactical team trainer – on in-fighting

Kris Wilder: multiple black belt holder & international competitor – on punching power

Lawrence Kane: martial artist and football stadium security supervisor – on shock blocks

Alain Burrese: hapkido expert, and former bouncer and bodyguard – on kicking skill

Wim Demeere: Belgian full-contact fighter and personal trainer – on street sanshou

Richard Dimitri: veteran fighter and popular trainer – on using The Shredder

Mark Mireles: LA cop, twice Medal of Valor recipient – on chokes and clinching

Tim Delgman : 9th-degree jujitsu black belt – on throws for the street

Dan Anderson: karate champion and arnis master – on fighting with single stick

” I was most pleased that my friends agreed to contribute to this book. I was pleased for my own selfish reason in that I would get to learn from them, as I have so often before. And I was pleased that their contribution, based on their experiences on the street, would make this book the highly informative one it is.” — Loren W. Christensen from the Introduction.

ISBN 978-1-880336-93-9 Published by TURTLE PRESS