Knife Attack and Defence Myths (Videos)

Found these two videos over at the senshido forum.

Warning: These videos contain graphic images showing real knife attacks for educational purposes only.

and this one,

Overall, I like the message the producer of the videos is trying to make. There is a LOT of garbage out there regarding knife and edged weapons defence. I am not so sure about one or two of his points but overall, I found the videos to be very interesting and thought provoking.

What are your thoughts?

Functional Strength Training for Combat Sports

This post is an updated, revised and expanded post that was written by Adam @ Low Tech Combat and was originally published at the fantastic strength site, Straight to the Bar titled “The Right Attributes for the Right Fighters” in 2008. Enjoy.

Functional strength training is getting more and more popular. And that is a good thing. In large part, the rapidly spreading Crossfit protocols have popularized functional, compound movements and high intensity workouts into more of the mainstream. In the realm of Low Tech Combat, combat sport athletes are especially interested in functional strength in the search for that competitive edge in their sport. But has the popularity of CrossFit over-emphasized 'generalness'?

Is a Good General Movement Enough?

Lifts like deadlifts, cleans and over head presses are great, but are these movements specific enough for the specific movements and attributes needed of a combat sport athlete? A strength training program which includes lifts such as clean and jerks, some basic gymnastics exercises and similar movements is good. It is very good. But is an all round functional ‘general’ routine enough for that competitive edge? It gets more complicated when we ask what type of combat sport a particular fighter participates in.

Worried Parents Paranoid about their Children

Parents seem to be overly worried about their children based on unfounded fears. Based on a recent survey, it seems parents are more concerned about very unlikely events which may kill or injure their children and are neglecting or choosing to ignore the biggest actual dangers to their children's lives and safety.

This survey is just another case of people’s concerns for particular threats not matching what attacks are the most likely in reality. Christie Barnes is a mother of four and conducted this survey for her work, “The Paranoid Parents Guide”.

Based on her surveys, parents are worried most about the following. And this is in order:

Can Healthy Eating Cure Cancer?

 
I found this video recently which I thought was interesting. It goes into the topic of how healthy eating can not just delay or prevent disease, but how it has cured disease as well. I find the topic interesting. A long life is not just related to defending ourselves against a human attacker intent on causing us harm. It is also related to living a healthy lifestyle.

After all, why spend all that time learning how to defend ourselves if we are just happy to let ourselves go and die of a fully preventable heart attack instead? I am not sure if we can cure cancer but I think the concept deserves some thought and has merit.

Props to Foodmatters.tv for the heads up.

Thoughts?

Senshido's Shredder

For those who have been around the martial arts and self defence community for some time, you have probably heard of The Shredder. I have so far, been unable to get to a Senshido seminar to experience The Shredder for myself as yet. It is on my ‘to do’ list for sure.

Richard Dimitri from Senshido sounds like he knows what he is talking about. People who are very good at what they do, speak very highly of him. The Shredder is what Richard seems to be most famous for developing. There are other self defence, self protection or Reality Based Self Defence (RBSD) instructors or whatever else you want to call it, who teach similar tactics as the shredder. All have their merits as they follow similar guidelines. I have read about them and have received some similar training I feel whilst practicing at Sydney Self Protection with Nick briefly.

I have been interested in learning more about the shredder so that when I am finally able to find some free time to be able to go to a Senshido seminar, I can spend less time trying to understand and conceptualize it and more time practicing applying it.

I recently found an excellent write up and explanation of the shredder as the latest post came through my RSS reader from the Senshido blog. I thought I would share that here and highlight some of what I feel are the key points.

NEWS: Knife Attack in the UK

Silver Street, Burwell. Close to the scene of the Attack

NEWS: Knife Attack in Burwell, UK

At 930pm on the evening of Sunday, 8 August 2010, a 26 year old man was attacked with a knife in an alleyway running off Silver Street in Burwell.

The attacker was wearing a white zip up hooded top, was black, about 6 foot 5 inches tall and of a stocky build. The attacker walked up to the victim and asked him for a light. The attacker then proceeded to hit the victim in the face with a probable knife. The victim received slight injuries and was able to quickly run off.

Detective senior Constable Gayle of Cambridgeshire Police said “This was an unprovoked attack and has left the victim very shaken.” Anyone with information should call police on 0345 456 456 4.

Analysis and Lessons Learnt

The Environment

The street is the most likely place for muggings and robberies to occur. This is especially the case with quiet areas that lead off from busier areas. This is the case here as the victim was walking down an alleyway which runs off the main street of Silver Street. This is a high risk area for these types off attacks. An aware person would not have walked down that alleyway or