Absolute Self Defense and Fitness

Posts Tagged ‘harker heights self defense’

Watch the Limon fighters show their newly learned skills in Self Defense Grappling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Kids Self Defense Grappling And BJJ in Killeen Texas from jim mahan on Vimeo.

I want to welcome new fighters to our Self Defense and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team:

The Limon Family!

A quick welcome to our newest athletes… Please welcome:

LaSondra Jones – Boot Camp

Danielle Busque – Kickboxing and Boot Camp

Taken From The Associated Press

Fish oil pills may be able to spare some young people with signs of mental illness from a progression into fully developed schizophrenia, according to a preliminary study of 81 patients in Austria.

The study adds to evidence suggesting that severe mental illness may be prevented with intervention. The researchers are starting a larger study in eight cities, hoping to replicate the findings, which appear in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, released Monday.

A severe mental illness, schizophrenia affects adolescents and young adults. Some 2.4 million Americans have the disorder, which is treated with antipsychotic medication.

“Schizophrenia is among the most mysterious and costliest diseases in terms of human suffering, so anything that gives some hope to avoid this is great,” said lead author Dr. G. Paul Amminger, formerly in Vienna and now at the Orygen Youth Health Research Center at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Researchers have wondered if the disease could be stopped before it overpowers a person’s grip on reality. Studies have tried antipsychotics in select young people, but side effects pose ethical questions, and results have been mixed.

Researchers in the new study identified 81 people, ages 13 to 25, with warning signs of psychosis, including sleeping much more or less than usual, growing suspicious of others, believing someone is putting thoughts in their head or believing they have magical powers. Forty-one were randomly assigned to take four fish oil pills a day for three months. The other patients took dummy pills.

After a year of monitoring, 2 of the 41 patients in the fish oil group, or about 5%, had become psychotic, or completely out of touch with reality. In the placebo group, 11 of 40 became psychotic, about 28%.

No one knows what causes schizophrenia but one hypothesis is that people with the disease don’t process fatty acids correctly, leading to damaged brain cells. Omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil could help brain cells repair and stabilize, the researchers speculate.

Dr. Janet Wozniak of Harvard Medical School said the findings might reasonably cause psychiatrists to recommend fish oil to some patients because there are known benefits and little risk.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press

I want to welcome John Michael Gillaspy to our Self Defense and BJJ family. Say hello when you see him on the mat!

It’s SNOWING!!! Since I have the morning off, I was going through all the blogs that I follow on Fitness, Self Defense and such and found a great article on back pain and spinal alignment. Something I harp on during every workout.

So, here is the first paragraph, but you’ll have to read the full article here. Posture – Why Your Back Hurts.

From Craig Weller at Elevating Fitness.com

We’re all born with near-perfect postural alignment. Watch a toddler walk, stand, reach overhead and squat and you’ll see tremendous mobility and safe strong joints.

It’s pretty much downhill from there.

North American culture has us spending an inordinate amount of time in the sitting position. A great deal of time and effort goes into preventing us from expending, well, time and effort when it comes to moving around in our daily lives. Items on shelves are always within arms reach, if we have to move very far we hop on an escalator, an elevator or get in our cars; and a job that involves spending much time on one’s feet or lifting something heavier than twenty pounds is considered “strenuous.”

Sweet Potato, Bacon and Egg Salad

Ingredients
2/3 cup diced sweet potato
2 eggs
2 rashes of bacon, diced using meat only
1tbs oil
4tbs dill, finely chopped
2tbs mayonnaise
2tbs lemon juice

Instructions

Boil eggs in water for 4-6minutes. Peel and dice eggs.

Boil sweet potato for 4-5minutes or until cooked through.

Place a frying pan on medium-high heat, add olive oil and bacon and fry until browned and slightly crunchy.

In a small bowl, combine dill, mayonnaise and lemon juice.

Place eggs, sweet potato, bacon and mayonnaise sauce into a medium size serving bowl. Combine well.

Serve.

In this segment, I will teach you how to drill the fighting frame and the combat application that I taught last post. I will also post this as a pod cast that will be up on the site later today.

There are two basic drills that you can easily use to functionalize this particular skill set. They are:

Give and Take. To describe this easier, I’ll give each partner a name. Trainer and Trainee. To start the drill, stand in front of your partner and get what we call the “fighting measure”. This means to reach out with your arms and touch their shoulder. If you can’t, you are too far away. Once you have the fighting measure, assume a fighting stance. Here we go.

1. Trainer slowly steps forward and delivers a right jab to the trainee’s head and freezes. The trainee steps towards the trainer and assumes the fighting frame posture, striking the trainer with the frame. Once contact has been made, the trainee steps back and assume a new fighting stance. Okay. Now, the trainee becomes the trainer and the trainer becomes the trainee. Get it?
2. To continue the drill, the trainer slowly steps forward and delivers a right jab to the trainee’s head and freezes. The trainee steps towards the trainer and assumes the fighting frame posture, striking the trainer with the frame. Once contact has been made, the trainee steps back and assume a new fighting stance. Now, the trainee becomes the trainer and the trainer becomes the trainee.
3. Repeat this action until both partners are comfortable with the motions. Once you are good to go, you may slowly speed up the action until you are at combat speed!

Block and Strike. This drill is an adaptation of the Filipino combat arts training methodology “Abecedario”.  It is a progressive skill development tool that is very effective and has endless possibilities. The set up is just like before. Trainer and Trainee. To start the drill, stand in front of your partner and get what we call the “fighting measure”. This means to reach out with your arms and touch their shoulder. If you can’t, you are too far away. Once you have the fighting measure, assume a fighting stance. Here we go.

1. The trainer steps forward and punches to the trainee’s head. The trainee steps forward and executes the fighting frame. Once contact has been made with the trainer, the trainee will follow up the frame with a counter strike.
2. For the purposes of this segment. I will prescribe a specific response for ease of use. The trainee unclasps his/her left hand from the right wrist and wraps it over the trainers attacking limb. With the right hand, (already on the head/neck) open your fist and grab the back of the trainer’s head. Next, the trainee will pull down sharply on the trainer’s neck while at the same time delivering a right knee spike to the trainer’s stomach. Lastly, the trainee will push the trainer backwards; step back and assume the fighting stance. Okay. Now, the trainee becomes the trainer and the trainer becomes the trainee. Get it?
3. To continue the drill, the trainer slowly steps forward and delivers a right jab to the trainee’s head and freezes. The trainer steps forward and punches to the trainee’s head. The trainee steps forward and executes the fighting frame. Once contact has been made with the trainer, the trainee will follow up the frame with a counter strike.
4. The trainee unclasps his/her left hand from the right wrist and wraps it over the trainers attacking limb. With the right hand, (already on the head/neck) open your fist and grab the back of the trainer’s head. Next, the trainee will pull down sharply on the trainer’s neck while at the same time delivering a right knee spike to the trainer’s stomach. Lastly, the trainee will push the trainer backwards; step back and assume the fighting stance.

Repeat this action until both partners are comfortable with the motions. Once you are good to go, you may slowly speed up the action until you are at combat speed!

One more thing. Ensure that both partners take all safety precautions. Wear the proper protective equipment especially eye protection. Because we all know its fun and games until you put an eye out!

These two drills should get you started on the road to functional defense. If you have comments or suggestions, please email me or comment in the form below.

Until next time, let’s get training!

Hey! Just a quick update. Lynn and I are here in Hutto teaching a seminar on Self Defense Grappling.

There are folks from Austin, Houston and Florida here.

Today we ran through all the basic positions, escapes and walk the clock. Tommorow we are going to finish up the submission series and do some rolling.

Stay tuned for pics and video!

There are certain body positions that nullify a opponent’s attacks. Their strikes, kicks, locks and chokes are no longer effective due to the attack options presented by your defensive position. Yet from these positions, the superior fighter can launch effective strikes and finishes or can move to an even more advantageous position. There is no reasonable way without a position such as this to hit another person that doesn’t leave you vulnerable to an attack in return. These positions are the frame from which we attempt to organize our training.

Natural Stance - Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, this basic ready stance is often used to disguise tactics or intent. The entire body should be relaxed. Allow your arms to hang at the sides, bring both arms slightly to the front and clasp the left hand over the right wrist in the “monkey’s paw” grip. This is done by aligning all five of your fingers together and curving them the meet the curvature of your right wrist. Grip with all the fingers on one side of the other wrist. This will allow a unconscious release of the other arm. If you use a normal “grip”, you will subconsciously have to tell yourself to let go and complete another motion. This grip removes that step.  If used with a stick, stand with stick under left arm and left hand holding right forearm.

Fighting Stance – A general rule of stance is to keep both legs flexed for balance, and to be able to move rapidly. One heel is always lifted, usually the one with the least weight. This is a relatively general principle, which in particular facilitates turning. It may also help with explosive motions. The feet are 45 degrees to the major line of the body. There should be a feeling of being ready to take off like a sprinter. Hide the head behind the shoulder and the throat behind the chin. It is a good rule of thumb to keep the elbows low and close to the body and head. The guarding hand is used to block and check incoming attacks. When in an fighting position, hold the hand in accordance with your range to the opponent. If a weapon is being used, it is always in the lead hand.

Fighting Stance

Fighting Frame - In response to your opponent’s attack, you step slightly off the side of their body that the attack originated. You bring your arms up in the instinctive flinch response then link your wrists. Both arms are slightly bent at the elbow with your head tucked down and in-between and looking forward at the attacker.  Form your hands into fists and grasp your right wrist with the left hand in the “monkey’s paw”. You are attempting to blast your way past the attack (normally a jab or a haymaker style punch) by striking your opponent’s forearm / bicep area with your left forearm and your right forearm striking the opponent’s shoulder / neck area with emphasis on hitting the Brachial Plexus Origin nerve cluster.

Fighting Frame Position 1

This combative application of instinctively protection our face will hopefully do several things.

1. Protect our head and face from the incoming attack.
2. Deliver a debilitating blow to the attacking limb by striking the bicep brachial nerve which should stun the limb and hopefully effect a “impact driven grip release” of any weapon.
3. Place us into position for the Tactical phase of our Combative Application: The delivery of counter attack techniques.

This sample response simply shows a beginning option:

Fighting Frame Position 1

Left Knee Spike

Right Elbow Strike

Headtwist Takedown

Knee Drop

Hammerfist Finishing Technique

The fighting frame is a simple, yet effective strategic and tactical application tool. Practice, Practice, Practice until it is instinctive. Next post I’ll show you how to drill this with a willing partner.

Until then, Let’s Get Training!

jim