Stranger Danger: why Karate training is essential in today’s society

                So, my wife is a gamer.  By that I mean she plays a good amount of video games.  It helps her relax and its her “Special place” that she goes to so she can decompress. We live a fairly stressed out life and often we need ways to decompress and destress to counter these stresses. Our last year or so has been very stress filled and she often takes the brunt of it and has taken the brunt of it, so I don’t blame her for seeking a good place to go to and relax her mind a bit. Lately its been her “Switch” system, of which I know very little about other than how to put a game into the machine and the fact that my wife loves this weird looking little hand held computer.

                But I digress, when she asked me if she could get the system I did not hesitate, I told her for sure she could and we went and got her the system….the cost of which caught me as a bit high, but I would pay anything for her to decompress and relax so who cares. Then she needed games…and that is were this blog story actually starts!

                So, Maggie gets her switch and has not games, which to me is silly and does not help her in anyways decompress…so we went and looked at games and she researched the games for the afternoon and off to the store I went a few days later! And the store we picked to send me to was in a local mall, one I have been to probably (and more than likely) THOUSANDS of times in my adult life and probably more in my childhood. It’s a fairly safe mall, in my extended neighborhood and one in which I normally feel rather safe going to. I went to the store and met up with the sales rep my wife had spoken to on the phone, and purchased four video games (Admitting fully that one is a sniper game for me…of which I have managed to play for about 20 minutes and have zero hope of ever seeing again). And after paying nearly $200 for games I left the store with the games in a bag, wrapped up on my hand.

                And this is were it gets interesting!

                Normally I am very observant of my surroundings and I normally scan for danger, but this day for some reason I can not remember I just sort of phased out and walked to my car, which was parked rather close to the mall door. I walked through the food court and walked towards the movie theatre as I approached the mall exit doors and did not notice anything weird at all! I just sort of walked the length of a baseball diamond with out thinking much!

                Now as I approached the doors near the theatre to exit my spiddy senses began to go off and I noticed a taller young man, “Aboriginal in appearance” and about six foot and a bit tall, skinny with a grey or dark jacket on and running shoes with dark pants. I tend to see things in details like that….he was sort of behind me but to the side and he closed in on the door really fast and opened it for me saying something like “here you go” but it was very mumbled.  What happened next went so fast I can only say that it felt like it occurred instantly but also in slow motion! It still is like I watched it through a TV screen instead of living it, but I was their and remember everything I did.

                As I crossed into the “mid door” area between the inner doors and outside doors I immediately noted that their was a young lady, about the same height as the young man who was immediately behind me now, outside the doors and she had placed her back against the doors with her feet extended out to push hard on the doors. She was doing it very naturally not looking like she was holding the door shut for any illegal or violent reasons, she kind of looked like she was joking around. The door in front of me now was held shut and the door behind me was blocked by the young man, if nothing else had happened I would have laughed it off and thought it two friends goofing around with each other and me caught in the middle.

                However, the next thing I knew the young man had reached out and put his hand on my shoulder near my neck. What happened next probably took a second or two but time slowed way down for me. I looked back over my shoulder at the young man who grabbed my shoulder and part of me was looking for recognition like I would know who this person was, the other part of me knew what was happening and the fact that he was staring at the bag in my hand confirmed he wanted to rob me.

                Now I could lie and say I one inch punched him through the doors, or that I kicked him in the face with a Chuck Norris style crescent kick or something, but I did not! What I did do however was to threaten his life! The millisecond that I realized he was trying to rob me my brain sort of shut off, I was thinking about my daughter and my wife and how this kid was possibly going to harm me, or try and how I would not see my daughter again, then….as I automatically do….I got mad! Like beyond mad, I got HULK SMASH mad and I pivoted my body so I was facing him, I stepped back a tiny bit with my right foot and then moved at him with the full front of my body, puffed up like a small cat being barked at by a big dog, I made myself bigger instinctively but kept my body about half front so my “Soft” targets were protected.

                I stepped towards the aggressor and said, “I WILL END YOU”!  He looked very confused and shifted back a half step but kept his hand on my shoulder. I looked at him and he probably could see how livid I was and he hesitated….I had him!  He was now the victim and I was the aggressor. I then uttered the words “I AM GOING TO F*&^ING KILL YOU NOW….SAY GOOD BYE” ( I must admit that I clearly remember swearing and threatening him…but it may have been far more vulgar than has been presented here….my mom reads this blog and I don’t want her to be embarrassed), in a low growl so as to make my point but also not be over heard threatening him……. and he pivoted as I lifted my right hand up to swat his hand away from me.  Seriously I was going to bite his nose, I was going to rip him to shreds and I was going to make him cry!  However, he showed me that youth….can run like hell! He took off and ran back into the mall about three stores in the space of time it took me to take my next step!

            At that point I could feel my blood boiling, I wanted to lash out and I wanted blood…so, I turned in what seemed like a very slow motion, but was probably very quick…and saw that the girl….was still leaning on the door!  I booted that door as hard as I could and fully expected it to come off the hinges and fly, glass spraying all over the ground….that did not happen…but the door did fly open sending the young girl flying and sprawling out on the ground face down. She hopped up and with out saying a thing she ran into the mall through an adjacent door and let me walk out the now wide open door.

            I half saw them meet up in front of the theatre as I approached the curb to step off and then I saw them both rush out of the far end of the doors and run down the parking lot isle to my left as time began to normalize for me again. Clearly the female was very upset with the young man for letting me kick the door open and her not get the goods that I had. What they did not know was how close I was actually parked because they booked it down the isle and farther than I was parked by about six to eight cars.

            I found my way to my now unlocked car and sat in the car, managed to start it and lock the doors, backing up as they approached the car from the passenger’s side…and I drove home! They missed their chance to jump me and I was completely calm the whole time, livid….but calm. It was not till I was actually about half way home that I got a bit nervous and my stomach began to churn a bit as the adrenaline wore off.

            Now everyone is telling me after to call the police, to report it…but honestly two things ran through my head…what if I totally misread that (I did not) and they were not trying to rob me (they were)….could I get in trouble for suggesting to a young man who happens to be from a different demographic that I may choose to end his life and possibly may have suggested I may stuff his sexual organs into his mouth after killing him…..(Again, mom I am so sorry for the language I used)?  Or should I feel comfort in the fact that I was successful in thwarting the theft?  How does it serve us in our current atmosphere to just call the cops after the fact and tell them how bad this half hobbit of a man is? I am by no means bragging, if I were I would have to omit how I almost threw up in the car post adrenaline rush or how I did not really do any damage to the kid…and trust me I wanted to!

            My sister tells me that I should to make sure that the police can mark this as a “hot spot” for them to know that this kind of thing happens here….in reality….in my city…it happens everywhere as of late.  We have had a rash of store thefts and muggings that have occurred, and the police and politicians seem helpless or worthless (politicians that is) in doing anything about it.

            I think what saved me was first my training and second my pre set mentality or primal and ingrained nasty side. Growing up I had a bad tempter but thankfully I was three feet tall till I was in high school so I was like a Tasmanian devil that was declawed, all bark and only annoying bark. But I still reset to that default when under fire by aggressors. It’s a “Rip their face off” mentality that often saves me, but also gets me in trouble. I try and keep it under wraps, but in situations like this…it comes in somewhat handy.

            When the young man grabbed me I did not panic at all, I knew the odds of this old man vs a teen/young adult were affected by his youth and strength, but my thoughts immediately went to ripping his throat out or sticking a finger in his eye (personal favorite by the way). I was only sort of cognizant that my brain was saying “Don’t actually kill him, you could go to jail” as the primal nature of my anger grew I was sort of looking forwards to gouging an eye or biting off a finger. I wanted to hurt this kid for attacking me, choosing me to rob. Bad move…Cuz my primal being…is a wee bit nuts!

            My Karate training helped me a great deal, I got big, but in a way that protected my target areas. I immediately sized up this kid and saw weak points I could expose and use to down him. I was not scared if he hit me, I was “motivate” to counter as hard as I could and rip things apart as I went. If I did not have my Karate training I may still be nuts and aggressive, but I would be unguided and sloppy. When you know more and have trained more than your attackers you start to level the playing field. You feel more confident, which will have them stop and think about their attack, giving you time to adjust and defend yourself.  And it helps you see the situation unfold before it happens.  This time it worked out for me, but I would do a lot differently going forwards.

            First off, I would put the games in my pocket so I have two hands to fight with, secondly, I would not have booted the door open, I would have followed the young man back into the mall and flagged down security or called the cops and held him for them. I would have also gone back into a more populated area after, not to my car.  But all in all, it worked out for me.  But this will be a story for me to tell, not part of my self-defense teaching.

            Regardless, the point is that my training helped me stay “Calm” and work to turn the situation around. The confidence I had from being hit and hitting things and learning about violence and being calm in a horrible situation paid off. Now I am not saying that it will 100% of the time, I am only suggesting it evened out the playing field a little and as long as the justice system returns these idiots to the streets and doe not punish them, leading to them being emboldened a bit more, the training I am doing and the training I have done should continue to pay off. That is the nature of Budo Karate. You are mentally and physically ready for that real life situation.

Ippon Kumite, the king of Goshin Kumite training!

Everyone puts so much emphasis on Jiyu Kumite (Free sparring) and the more senior you get the less you seem to do Kihon centric training like Ippon Kumite (one step sparring).  First off I want to express that my use of Goshin Kumite means that it is training for Self Defense. Meaning not sport or Shiai kumite in which points are judged based on technical use. The use of Shiai Karate tends to limit the use of some Waza so that you can garner points. I also prefer using Goshin over Jissen (real combat) as the label seems to be more accepted and less confusing.

All that aside training for Goshin situations tends to fall to the wayside when students reach around brown belt, they want the flash and flair that free style or sport style Kumite brings, they forget that Karate is first and foremost a self-protection tool and the majority of your training should be based on training for defense.

As a matter of practice to many black belts put to much emphasis on the long, movement based kumite practices like free style and other long drills and one who can perform well in a tournament is seen as being exceptional.  However, the true nature of Karate is in being able to defend yourself. Being smart enough or educated in how to avoid trouble and having the ability to end a fight or attack quickly is the true beauty and the true standard by which one should be judged in a real martial art based training program.

Put simply ippon kumite is a descriptor of what the attacker is doing. They are attacking with one single attack and taking “one step” towards the defender. This does not mean that the defender is restricted from making multiple steps however, but to be realistic the defense must be instant and then have an immediate counter attack. The act of engaging in the Ippon Kumite dynamic creates as realistic a situation as is possible with out hurting each other.

Ippon kumite should include counter attacks from different angles, so shifting around is super important, and don’t limit your counters to block/reverse punch style counters. Try and be creative to a degree, but maintain being realistic so you are not throwing 30 techniques down range and hoping that you don’t look silly!  You will look silly if you do that….just a fact! However, you should include things like switch steps, shifting, pivoting, rotations and different kinds of blocking, different kinds of counters and focus on ending a fight/assault with a single counter!  The idea being that you may have to drop a guy and end a fight before being able to move onto defend yourself against a new attacker.

Using different and often under used defensive counters like Kumade and Washinken uchi (Bear paw attack and chicken head attacks) will help create a more reactive and reflexive style of kumite and train you in use of more dynamic and different forms of hand techniques. Use sweeps, hook kicks, crescent kicks and any kind of under used movements from Kata or that you can successfully use! Use of different movements and techniques will help foster a larger tool kit or arsenal that you can now use for defensive fighting that may catch your attacker off guard.

At the lower level of training you should be sticking to basic basic basic training, block and counter getting out of the way using rotation to be 45 degrees off line from the attack, but the higher you go in training the more you should play with your defense and your training should be focused on development of your Waza to be creative and reactive to the attacks, but what about the attacks…are the basic stepping punch and kicks good enough for training….at the lower levels they are!  But the higher up you go the different and more dynamic the stimuli must be, and by different and dynamic I mean more realistic.

HAPV or Habitual acts of violence are also very important to look into when learning or training in defensive tactics.  Was cataloged by Patrick McCarthy to represent what he saw as the most common attacks from an unarmed person.  The set of 36 attacks represents more common attacks that people will see when they are being accosted and its something that you can use in your training to work with defensive tactics. Some will be very common and seen in the class a great deal and some will be totally new and challenge you to make your training more dynamic and investigate reactions to different attacks. 

To start with the implementation of HAPV training into your curriculum you will want to start off with using basic Ippon Kumite and then add in different attacks, some I do not say you should use like #8 (biting),9(testicle squeeze) and 7(Head butt and spitting). However, you can use the rest of the HAPV with seniors and really build up a solid defensive arsenal and reflexive creativity. One of the more important aspects of this kind of training, as an instructor, is that you only introduce the attacks and one idea to counter or maybe a theme for countering like getting out of the way on an angle, but the student is then responsible to create the counter attacks themselves and be as creative as possible.

Give each student one or two attacks then a single counter idea, a theory to work with and then have them create as many reactive or reflexive counters as they can in ten minutes.  The only rules are they must be creative, different and realistic! By keeping it realistic I am very specific with the students, no flying moves, nothing they would not do or be able to do on the street and even if the student attacking is going half speed, they are only doing one move. If they pause…they failed that defense, if they block and pause, they failed that defense. Often failure is followed by push ups or something equally as unwanted by the student.

Start off doing this slowly and then move to being a lot faster. Let the student (or yourself) get comfortable with the idea of being creative and knowing the attack, then speed up but maintain the single attack method with the attacker doing the techniques faster and faster but still complying with the defense. As an advanced format you can then also have non-compliant attackers who will resist your defense. This is now moving towards realistic defensive training.

Knowing the body and how it works will help any student know if a particular counter is effective or not. I can not say how important ending a fight as quickly and effectively as possible is in defense of yourself. This means not only knowing the body but also training by hitting things so you know how it feels, how effective your strikes are against an attacker with out really hitting the person. I also don’t approve of foaming up and whacking each other because it gives you a false sense of what its like to hit someone, and you avoid being hurt when and if you hit a bony elbow or forehead. So, you should be studying the softer targets of the body and hitting harder things (Like a makiwara or heavy bag) to train yourself to know what impact of a strike is like.

People also ask me why not just jump to Jiyu Ippon kumite (Semi free) to create even more reality in the training. This is not a bad idea but moving around in a fighting position is not real. I have never seen any successful defense on the street start from a fighting stance. The most successful ones start from a normal stance and the counters are such that the attacker does not see them coming. The beauty of starting in a ready position is that the attacker does not know you know how to defend yourself.

So this presents you with a good way to look at training with ippon kumite and it’s a great way to start looking at defensive training. Practice a great deal and be real and be creative.

HABITUAL ACTS OF PHYSICAL VIOLENCE series

1.       Swinging punches

2.       Straight punches

3.       Downward strikes

4.       Upward strikes

5.       Swinging kicks

6.       Straight kicks & knee strikes

7.       Head-butt/spitting

8.       Biting

9.       Testicle squeeze

10.    Augmented foot/leg trips

11.    Single/double-hand hair pull from the front/rear

12.    Single/double-hand choke from the front/rear

13.    Front neck choke from rear

14.    Classical head-lock

15.    Front, bent-over, augmented choke (neck-hold)

16.    Half/full-nelson

17.    Rear over-arm bearhug (& side variation)

18.    Rear under-arm bearhug (& side variation)

19.    Front over-arm bearhug (& side variation)

20.    Front under-arm bearhug (& side variation)

21.    Front/rear tackle

22.    One-handed wrist grab (same & opposite sides-normal/reversed)

23.    Two-handed wrist grabs (normal/reversed)

24.    Both wrists seized from the front/rear

25.    Both arms seized from the front/rear

26.    Single/double shoulder grab from front/rear

27.    Arm-lock (behind the back)

28.    Front arm-bar (triceps tendon fulcrum up supported by wrist)

29.    Side arm-bar (triceps tendon fulcrum down supported by wrist)

30.    Single/double lapel grab

31.    Single/double-hand shove

32.    Garment pulled over the head

33.    Seized & impact

34.    Single/double leg/ankle grab from the front (side/rear)

35.    Ground straddle

36.    Attacked (kicked/struck) while down