Is your Martial art going to get you killed?

A dramatic title for this article don’t you think? But wait allow me time to expand on this statement to explain where I am coming from. 

I truly believe that every Martial art has something to offer when it comes to combat. Some arts have more to offer than others, but each will have a component that will be relevant in a given situation when it comes to self- defence.

All striking arts are relevant in some shape or form. Arguable in Self -defence hand strikes carry more weigh than kicks simple because in self defence the range is usual up close and personal.

This range also carries weigh for elbows, knees and headbutts.

Any closer will require knowledge of gouging pressure points, seizing windpipes or testicles along with biting before it morphs into grappling.

Against an opponent that rushes in at you and you see them coming then a timely front or side thrust kick to the body may be the best response.

Alternatively, a side or stomping kick to the knee can be a finisher.

When you create space by shoving a would-be attacker backwards out of your personal space then a follow up Thai round kick to the leg can be devastating.

We all know grappling range is essential and the effectiveness of its many trips, sweeps and throws and the ground techniques of locking or choking.

But on the street, these shouldn’t be your first options especially against multiple opponents or weapons.

My base art of Combat jujutsu practises all ranges, but my preferred range is hands over all other aspects of the art.

So, would that make a boxer the most proficient exponent on the street?

Not if he is ambushed from behind with a knife to his throat and taken to the floor.

But back to hands. Does every self- defence situation require you to knock somebody out?

Answer no it doesn’t. So, we need other stuff as well.

We may have to control or restrain an individual standing or on the floor or release yourself from a minor hold or grab without stomping the would- be antagonist into a bloody spot on the pavement.

So, what does this all say for Martial arts?

Well firstly in my opinion it says there is no one art that has all the answers no matter how an Instructor will try to convince you otherwise.

Secondly when it comes to self defence training it must be scenario based and not just generic.

The old motto of …You will react how you train still stands true.

If you train for a combat sport whether it is BJJ, MMA or Judo etc. You will react the way you train. It doesn’t matter if you are a world champion at any of those arts you will not be ready to encounter a knife or a bat or a sucker punch unless you are already a streetwise person or you have trained specifically for that type of scenario.

From the above 3 combat sports on the street against a mugging or ambush attack I feel judo would fair best because of its up close and personal nature of gripping and tripping.

Don’t get me wrong it won’t have all the answers but it would probably stand up better.

Remember self defence is not about two people facing off and exchanging blows or fighting for grips or takedowns.

 That is a mutually agreed fight. That is not the same thing.

Rolling around on the ground trying to execute that favourite arm or leg lock could get you killed if there is more than one individual involved. You would also do well to remember what starts out as one person often ends up with ‘Randoms’ just joining in for the hell of it.

This is where a lot of instructors go wrong in what they term as self defence most of the time they are demonstrating techniques for a one on one fight.

 Any sort of fighting is a crime until proved otherwise and not something outside the realms of the contest area you should be indulging in.

Also remember some of the cultures of the instructors advocating these methods are different to us.

What you might get away with in another part of the world doesn’t translate to the UK.

That is also a good point for those of you who travel to other countries. Many have a massive knife or gun culture, they won’t be interested in a fist fight.

Forget all the macho posturing and bullshit. Fighting will eventually give you prison time.

Now you will have all the time in the world to hone those fighting skills as there will be plenty of takers. Plus, they won’t be fighting you by the Queensbury rules.

Please do not fall into the trap that if you can sit on your ass and win multiple gold medals that you are bullet prove. That tactic is only relevant in the arena it was designed for outside of that it doesn’t carry much weight.

Sitting on your ass in the street as your go to technique will get you killed.

Now if you where attacked whilst sat on your ass (eg.  Beach, grass). That could be a different matter. Its horses for courses.

A street predator will not attack you by any rule book. He isn’t interested in fair play or rules in any shape or form. They just want to take whatever it is they want as viciously and as quickly as possible.

Most of the time people won’t know what hit them.

A street predator is not going to send you a calling card and they certainly aren’t going to bow, or fist bump you before they smash you up.

These guys are sociopaths. They have no morals or conscience. They don’t give a fuck about your belt grade, medals or titles. You are just a commodity.

They are planning to attack you when you least expect it. When you are at your most vulnerable. They aren’t planning on sparring with you.

If you have some big reputation and they know it, then they will be coming after you mob handed or tooled up. All great equalisers against our would- be Ninja Turtle.

Remember we will react the way we are trained. Always.

Techniques that you rely on in the sporting arena have a terrible habit of not working outside of it because the circumstances are all different.

Unless you train those techniques for the scenarios you will encounter on the streets they will not necessarily work for you.  You may well be shocked and surprised.

Raw aggression and savage intimidation can have the best’s arsehole twitching.

Remember on the street if you fuck up its not a medal you have lost it could well be your liberty or your life.

It is no coincidence that our military and police training is based around scenarios they will encounter in the real world. They found this out a long time ago to their cost.

Wouldn’t it then make sense for us as a Martial artist to do the same?

If you train for an MMA fight or a BJJ grappling match you will follow a tried and tested formula. Makes perfect sense.

If you train for street self- defence, then you should be training a tried and tested formula also.

As British Martial arts legend Peter Consterdine is fond of saying Self- defence techniques are more than Karate in jeans!

Combat sports and self- defence techniques to not always cross over happily.

Self Defence skills are more to do with awareness, tactical positioning, understanding the modes of attack, body language, street speak, the OODA loop etc more than physical techniques.

But when physical technique is used which might be only 5% of the time you will have to be 100% on the money.

Also, you will only have to use about 5% of the arsenal of techniques as a Martial Artist you have collected.

The Martial arts magpie is not going to do fuck all if it takes him an age to access whatever technique it is he wants to use.

That is why you must train for the scenario unfolding in front of you.

Train for your given arena and be smart enough to realise outside of that arena there are no guarantees.

Your fancy £200.00p Gi or your black belt with the stripes on aren’t going to cut it if you are living in a fantasy world or you have an ego the size of a small continent.

‘Pride comes before a fall.’

Be careful that the techniques you are learning don’t get you killed.

Quote; A smart man knows his limitations.

Clint Eastwood. Magnum Force.1973.

24 Year on the front Line Taking jujutsu to the streets.

24 Year on the front Line

Taking jujutsu to the streets.

Putting aside my time spent in the military, I’ve spend 24 years on the front line of security in Bristol, including nine years as a full-time doorman in various pubs and clubs and then 15 years as an NHS Security Officer in a city centre hospital working in accident and emergency.

 I am also now a criminal magistrate and expert use of force representative at the hospital.  Been on the bench for 4 years now and appeals panel at crown court.

In my time on the frontline I have seen and dealt with much violence.

I have faced knives, knuckle dusters, extendable batons, broken glasses, bottles and worst of all a needle with HIV infected blood that I had to disarm as it was being used as a weapon.

 I’ve been awarded at police HQ bravery commendations for some of the situations I have had to defend the public from.

 I’ve seen the best and the very worst of people and experienced and witnessed violence that would be seen by most only in movies.

How did I survive?

Well firstly I believe in God and feel his protection.  I also trained with the best, including old school Karate master Roy Lewis and the awesome Kevin O’Hagan a man I describe as the king of unarmed combat training.

Kevin taught me not only highly effective techniques that have used to disarm knives and deal with danger and violent offenders but the need to condition your body and mind

 I learnt very quickly that conditioning played a big part in my success in combat and unless you are conditioned, you’re a car without fuel, you may look good, but you aren’t going nowhere.

 I loved the way each session trained body and mind as well as technique. Unless it hurts in training it will hurt in real life and there’s no referee in the real world. 

I remember one incident when a guy came out a night club and in fairness to say he was an idiot this did not take me long to work out.

 He wheelspun his car up the road and I showed my displeasure as I was guarding the door of the club I was working.

 He stopped the car and got out. As he done this he put a knuckle duster on and came towards me, his desire was to take my head off. However, a good combat jujutsu hip wheel throw put him on his ass, I disarmed the duster and gave him some sage words of advice. Job done. 

The techniques I have learnt of Kevin have saved me from severe injury and that means I have been able to give the good people of Bristol the best of care as they go about their lives.

Training hard with focus pads, sparring. Weights and running, are the fuel needed.  Without any doubt combat Ju jitsu, taught by Kevin is the answer, I know I’ve been there and done it more times than I care to remember.

I got to Blue Belt and been on and off for years but it’s not over after a long time on the shop floor I will again return to Kevin’s class to continue my combat training to the end, why would I go anywhere else the proof is there and I only settle for the best.

  In my view Kevin O’Hagan is the best unarmed combat instructor in the world.

Mike Hockett JP

Magistrate

Bristol Magistrates Court

Security UHB

Health & Safety Officer

Chairman

Unison Central Health

 Mike Hockett, Geoff Thompson and Kevin O'Hagan.

‘The Older I get the better I was.’

Napoleon once said. ‘After the age of thirty a man’s spirit is not made for war.’

I read this quote recently in the excellent book ‘The Dog rounds’ written by Elliott Worsell.

The man quoting the above statement in the book was ex WBC lightweight champion boxer Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini.  

Ray held the title from 1982 to 1984.He was one of the toughest and bravest boxers I have ever seen.

If you don’t know about this man, then I urge you read the book and watch his fights on You tube.

The subject of the book is about boxers who have killed in the ring. It is hard hitting and poignant subject matter.

Mancini had experienced this himself when he defended his title against South Korean challenger Duk Koo Kim on the 13^th November 1982.

The 21-year-old Mancini scored a tko in the 14^th round of a brutal fight.

Kim shortly after slipped into a coma died from a subdural hematoma.

It was a tragic incident that supposedly sparked the change to 12 round fights from the longer 15.

Mancini was never the same fighter again.

Now at 57 years old he explained what in his opinion the quote by Napoleon meant.

He says that after 30 years of age your values change, your ideology changes, everything changes.

Slowly little by little the fire in your belly that burnt bright for combat begins to diminish as other things in your life become more important.

This happens little by little and we don’t always want to acknowledge this fact.

For men like Mancini who faced his darkest fear you can understand were he is coming from.

Many soldiers that have faced the real horrors of war will feel the same. The same could be said for law enforcement officers.

But what about the statement in relation to all you Martial artists out there. Is it true?

My personal thoughts on the statement and what Napoleon and Mancini are saying is that if you have experienced real combat and been tested hard there will be a point where you know it is time to call it a day.

There will be a time when the body aches constantly. Where you no longer relish or wish to endure pain.

A time when training and preparation get tougher and tougher.

A time when you no longer get that buzz.

I am talking about fighting at the highest levels. Putting your ass ,your reputation and even your life on the line.

Not many people go there. Those that do view life differently.

Special individuals fight on into their later years, but they are few and far between.  What is their motivation.  Money? Kudos?

Many others carry on fighting easy opponents or ‘sandbagging’ their ways through competition against lesser opponents kidding themselves they can still cut it with the big boys. Not true.

At the other end of the spectrum you get deluded guys wandering off to la la land doing this ‘no touch’ knockout bullshit and brain washing others to join in the fucking debacle. They are a disgrace to the Martial arts world.

I grew up admiring a whole host of seemingly invincible fighters. Most are now sdaly dead or grew old and retired.

Think of the fighters you revered in their Heydays.

Eg. Ali, Tyson, Duran, Hearns of boxing. Liddel, Couture, Ortiz , Jackson, Silva of MMA.

Could you ever see a time when they would be beaten, humbled or exposed?

What about Lenny McLean or Roy Shaw?

Both legendary fighters but sadly no longer here. No matter who you are the reality is you are born to die.

 Eventually these fighters stepped down and a new breed of younger, hungrier one’s emerged.

We all at one time were the ‘New Boys’, the ‘Trailblazers’, the ‘latest news’.

Time waits for no man and it is our toughest opponent and ultimately are final nemesis.

This realisation is a bitter pill to swallow for all fighters who in their prime could piss napalm and crap thunder.

Also, if you are training hard and I mean balls to the wall tough you would never envisage a time were the sofa and the television (not love island though) looks a more tempting proposition than going to the gym or dojo.

Now those who have really been there and done a bit can eventually square it away because you have nothing left to prove.

The ego has been crushed on the edge of a mat somewhere many years ago and you know what it is like to win and you will also know what it is like to lose.

You will also know unfortunately what it is like to have your ass handed to you by a better fighter, no matter what the arena may be.

When you are young and full of testosterone you won’t even think about this. When you are the young buck ready and willing to prove yourself that sort of shit doesn’t enter the equation.

As young men and we have all been there. We think we are invincible and that we are the ‘dogs’. We have the swagger, the mouth and more front than Blackpool.

This is all only natural. Only later in life if you are clued up will you realise most of the time you were a prick and probably led a charmed life and somehow avoided some ‘real deal’ 

crossing your path that would have ripped you a new arsehole. Praise to the ignorance of youth.

The Dog thinks he is king until he walks into the jungle and hears the roar of the Tiger.

If you were a real player back in the day as you get older you get smarter. You keep your head down. You go out of your way to avoid conflict or confrontation.

As my old jujutsu instructor Micky Upham was fond of saying. ‘You have got to keep it real.’

For me personally I enjoy my life and my family way too much to let some Neanderthal make me lose my liberty. I have more important things to do in my life than to be fighting. (Like working out how to get Netflix’s up on the television).

Age should alter you and change your thought process. Don’t get me wrong I still love the Martial arts but I have other areas of my life now that interest me just as much if not more.

I personally no longer obsess about fighting and combat.

I truly have been there and done it when it comes to Martial arts, fighting etc. My book When we were Warriors, covers my journey in detail.

But as the saying goes ‘Every new beginning is some beginnings end.’

The mantle moves on. The throne of power shifts. How you view things depends on where you are in your journey.

A big lesson I have learned from Martial arts is most people can’t fight sleep.

They are mostly all front and bluff and when it comes to the physical they is a lot of huffing and puffing, swinging and fucking falling over.

I have trained with individuals that have the punching and kicking power of a nuclear missile.  Others that could choke you senseless in a blink of an eye and make you wet you pants. Yet there are others that could bend, twist and snap you like a dried noodle without breaking sweat. These and their like are beautiful ,violent poetry in motion. They are stone wall killers if need be.

Until you mix with these people you will never know just how fucking good they are because this is all they do day in and day out. So, they have fucking unbelievable skills.

What I am trying to say is if ‘Mr Billy Big bollocks’ with a limited belief system on how tough he is cuts one of these individuals up in his car he better pray they don’t get out and he better prey that he is not such a dim wanker that he gets out.

The bottom line is you really don’t want to cross their paths it will only mean pain and suffering for you.

In any pursuit in life there is a hierarchy of skill levels.

There is average, decent, good, very good, excellent, awesome, out of this fucking world.

Think of the England football team in the recent World cup. Their players and performances although way beyond what most of us expected were mostly good, occasionally very good. What about Belgium. Croatia, France? Unfortunately, they were another level.

If you only ever swim in the sea of average or good you will never ever have a clue what excellent or above looks like.

After all there was a time were we thought the earth was flat.

As Bruce lee said. ‘Your truth is not my truth’.

If you do decide to swim into the deeper unknown territory it is fucking terrifying because your mind has just seen and encountered something you didn’t even know existed. But you will learn a valuable lesson believe me.

There have been many times where I have swum with the big sharks and I found out quickly the colour of adrenalin is brown!

When you do this, it is a great leveller and it lets you know where you are on the mountain. Sometimes you realise you haven’t even got out of base camp1.  

As you move up the mountain you will encounter less people as the air gets thinner. Only the very best reach the top.

I have just returned from a holiday aboard and the hotel swimming pool area is a major source of male machismo for me. I could sit for hours and study people.

There are many deluded people wandering around thinking they are planting the flag on the top of Everest but in reality, there are still in their local park walking over an anthill.

You have the young bucks strutting around with their gym chiselled physics, showing off their ‘guns’ and tattoos inwardly steering at any middle aged out of shape male. Safe or maybe not safe in the knowledge that their muscles are their suit of armour. Naive in the fact that pumping iron = they can fight.

You then have the forty plus adolescences prowling about with his beer belly. Arms splayed as if they are carrying to rolls of carpet under them. The tough 1000-yard stare. Walking like they has shit themselves and not quite finished. Their best days well behind them but still living in a deluded fantasy world.

I often question what do these guys all build their confidence and swagger on. Are they truly undercover ‘killers’ or have they been watching to many Jason Stratham films?

Either they belief system is built on 1000’s of hours of training and fighting or it is seriously flawed, and they are really paper tigers never having faced a real fighter before?

You see I have spent a life time of training every conceivable way to give another human being if warranted it more pain than they could even imagine. I have trained with the best in the world. I have tasted victory and defeat. I have trained blood, sweat and tears to acquire the skills I possess and every day I still strive to be better. I know my strengths and weaknesses. I also know my limitations’. I know how I cope in the heat of ‘battle’.

Yet I still don’t stroll around like ‘Bruce Lee I am fucking hard super ninja turtle. ’But every day somewhere I see these guys. Aggressive and arrogant bullies. Their over inflated egos give them false confidence built on what?

Mike Tyson once famously said. ‘Everybody has a game plan until they get hit in the face.’

Most of these idiots would fold like a pack of cards if you belted them and go crawling home to find their mummy.

I often would like to ask one of these individuals. ‘What do you do for a living 8 hour a day? Because for as many years as I care to remember myself and fellow professional martial artists train, spar, fight, study, watch, talk, live and breathe ‘breaking people in half’ for 8 hours a day. What did you say you did?’

As I mentioned there are people out there whose daily job is to train potentially how to break, maim and kill another human being and they are fucking unbelievably good at it. Their confidence is built on 1000’s of hours of hitting, bending, slamming, twisting and breaking bodies. They are fucking wrecking machines. Yet these individuals can walk past you on the street and you will never know.

They won’t be wearing a rash guard or Muay Thai shorts in the street. They won’t be snarling, posturing or dragging their knuckles, but fuck with them and you will lose.

I remember once Geoff Thompson saying. When you encounter these arseholes and you let them walk away from you then you have allowed them (rather sportingly I might add) to live another day.

I thank God that I have developed that restrain otherwise I probably would have been in one of her majesty’s hotel long ago.

I hate rude, arrogant bullies. They are the scum of the earth, period.

Every time I hit a bag I always imagine one of their smirking faces on it. It keeps me highly motivated!

Martial arts along with teaching me how to defend myself it taught me to be humble and keep my ego in check. Martial arts don’t make you invincible. There may be a time when you feel you are but that doesn’t last very long, so get over yourself. ‘Every dog has his day.’

If you train in a ‘real combat art’ you will have a distinct advantage over ‘Joe Public’ but only if you are also clued up streetwise and not bound by any rules or limitations about what you should or could do to save your life.

As self defence guru Rory Miller states.

‘Capability is a physical skill. You learnt and train a strike, throw or choke. Capacity is the ability to do it. Whatever it takes. Do you know where your capacity lies?’

As we grow older as Martial artists some of our memories of our past glories can be viewed through Rose tinted glasses. Our stories become like the fisherman’s tale. Better and better with each telling.

The older I get the better I was.

My advice is to be a realist. Be humble. Don’t be a dick. God knows there are enough of them out there already. There must be an assembly line running them off by the fucking hundreds somewhere.  Arseholes R us I believe it’s called.

Realise you are not invincible and except your skills will erode. Avoid conflict and violence wherever possible but if it comes knocking on your door and wants to come into your life if you truly know yourself and know your enemy then fucking snuff it out as quickly as possible by whatever means and then go back to your beer. ‘Walk softly and carry a big stick.’

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” 
Sun Tzu, The Art of War

THERE IS NOTHING NEW WITHOUT THE OLD

Between the ages of 16 and 22 years old I was fortunate in my Martial Arts journey to spend a great deal of time training under the direct tutelage of Japanese Sensei.

I learnt many lessons from these Masters. Some of these lessons were immediately apparent, others took years to suddenly make sense.

Here I am going to discuss one particularly valuable lesson I learnt as I progressed to my black belt and beyond.

I hope it will help and clarify some prominent issues for those on their own journeys.

The Japanese have a term in Martial Arts named SHU-HA-RI.

This term isn’t just exclusive to Martial Arts but generally how they learn any traditional art.

SHU- Means to PRESERVE

HA- Means to BREAK

RI- Means to SEPARATE

Let’s look at these 3 points individually.

In Martial arts terms SHU (preserve) means when you first learn a technique you practice it exactly how your Instructor showed you. You don’t deviate from it in anyway.

The way it is initially shown might not be the only way, but it is a starting point that you adhere to until a time were another piece of the puzzle will be revealed to you.

As a ‘Gung Ho’ young man full of testosterone and a burning desire to prove myself I used to get frustrated when I was told to perform a technique repeatedly.

I wanted more. I was eager to run before I could walk. I didn’t want to wait.

I see now that physically I may have got the technique down well but mentally I wasn’t ready to move on.

Training back in those days under Japanese Sensei was 2- hour classes of repetitive training of maybe tops 3 or 4 techniques. That was it. Fuck telling them ‘I’ve got that, what’s next?’

No, you kept your mouth shut and kept on drilling unless you wanted a broken arm or leg.

SHU is the foundation of your art. It is the deep roots of the tree going way under the soil.

The tree and its various decorative branches is only as strong as its roots.

Many of us as Westerner’s cannot grasp these principles. We live in a society now that can’t wait for anything and need instant gratification.

I now firmly believe in the saying. ‘All good things come to those who wait.’

Ask any high ranking black belt of their art that trained under Japanese supervision how many front kicks, wristlocks, hip throws, sword cuts they have done over and over.

The widely touted theory, highlighted in a 1993 psychology paper and popularised by Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, says that anyone can master a skill with 10,000 hours of practice.

Scientists, however, remain sceptical. They also say you can add intelligence, age, personality or maybe something else into the mix.

But let’s say it takes you 10,000 hours to learn a Martial Art.

How long would you need to train a day? Well to put it in perspective if you trained 90  minutes a day (which is the usual length of a training session) it would rough take 20 years to be on the ‘tipping point’ of greatness.

Train 8 hours a day that time will drop.

The question is how good to you want to get?

Also, what is the quality of the training you are doing?

We have the old example of the guy who says he trained for 3 hours in the gym today.

Reality says he trained an hour, scratched his balls and looked in the mirror for another hour and the final hour was taking up chatting to his mate and eyeing up the woman.

When you see an athletic at their peak winning gold, a football team winning the world cup a tennis player winning Wimbledon or a fighter winning a world title then you are beginning to understand what it takes to master your chosen art.

Dabbling isn’t going to cut it. A once a week 90-minute class isn’t even going to get you to average.

Japanese Sensei didn’t want average. They demanded greatest. Most students didn’t cut it. Many fell by the wayside when the going got tough.

Now don’t get me wrong after 40 years of training I am still looking for greatness, but the difference is I am still on the mats trying.

The lesson to be learnt here is a good instructor at the top of his game and his intentions honourable and not for self-gain will know when it is time for you to grade, move on or learn something new. Not you.

HA-Breaking.

This means at this level the student can now start to take apart technique and examine the material. Now with solid roots in place they are ready to play around with things and determine the principles and reasoning behind them.

Their technique now is not just a bunch of ‘tricks’ they are delving deeper into their origin, inner core and meaning.

You may have learnt a technique in a certain manner up to this point, but it doesn’t mean that is the only way to do it. Also, you will begin to understand why that technique has been taught that way up to now and why you are going to see it in a different light.

Again, many don’t stay around for this level and have given up with a half assed idea of what that Martial Art is all about.

My base art of Japanese Combat Jujutsu originates from the Katana (sword). How many people out there training or teaching jujutsu know this let alone be-able to show the links between sword and unarmed?

I know this because this is what my Japanese Sensei showed me at HA level. Why? Because I stuck around and came through the SHU level.

Ri means to separate.

At this point in your training you are now expected to take those core principles and techniques and add your own expressions to them. To have the knowledge and ability to come up with new or different interpretations.

You should have gone through the rough, scrappy training phase and now developed a smoothness and flow to your technique. You will have been through your ‘proving stage’ and you will be now working towards a higher level of mastery.

This really outlines your journey from white to black belt.

Higher mastery goes with you through further Dan grades and how far you wish to go in your chosen art.

I recall as a young man hell bent on achieving my black belt and Japanese Sensei telling me that you will have only then learnt the basics. Once you have reached your goal of black belt that is when you really start learning.

Now I know they were right.

In this rapidly evolving world of Martial arts we must always be working to move forward after all we are only as good as the last time we stepped on the mats, but we must never forget the lessons learned from those who went before us. Those lessons are surprisingly still relevant today.

But as Winston Churchill once said, ‘Wise men stumble upon the truth and get up and walk away.’