Liver Punch

Shoot it. Twice.

We often work on something half-way between weapon sparring and LARPing. One such recent example would be where we had 4 guys; one was armed with two training knives, one was armed with a training knife and training eskrima stick, one guy with two training eskrima sticks, and one guy with a training spear. We're all stuck in a room and practice murdering each other. While these sorts of things may not be the best specific skill builders, they're great for timing, speed, agility, endurance, mental toughness, and a general practice of being a "back-stabbing dirty old man" We've also done similar things on a hillside at dusk. It's beyond insanity.

You know, if they had grappling with guns, you wouldn't have any silver medals. You know, even if you lost... Anyhow, congrads!

I think everyone needs a whole collection of these things for their home, I've put together some other ones and they're proving to be a pretty decent analytical/training tool.

Do you thing went through the same thing in Feudal Japan? You know, naysayers who claimed that a tanto or wakizashi weren't big enough to kill anyone, and that you really needed a Katana to dispose of someone.

I pm'd this to some of the guys I know on here, and as per TallGeese's request, I'll post them on here too. This was spawned by my other thread on home defense statistics, and is fairly amusing. This is an 8-bitish moving pictogram that I originally used to give my fiance' an idea of how one of the drills we were working on might go. The idea was to show it working, then me making a mistake, and that prompts her becoming active in the scenario. In this one, "G" is me, "B" is her, and "P" is Perpetrators. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67AoDFqGd0I I've spent a lot of time, off and on, in various home defense and shooting forums. You "learn" a few from the people there. 1) Only a .45 fired from a 1911 handgun can kill a man. Anything smaller only makes bad guys angry, and anything bigger will kill everyone in a 9 mile radius due to over-penetration. 2) You home will be invaded on a near daily basis. 3)Everyone has body armor on at all times. 4)The likelihood of being overrun by zombies, ninjas, and Terminators is 100% For the fun of it, I put together this moving pictogram based on that information. G is me, B is her, Z is zombies, N is ninjas, P is police, and T is a Terminator. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_avTl6VfSn4 These were done by making evolving frames in mspaint, and then putting them together in windows movie maker. Both come free with windows, and the whole process took less than an hour. I figured that I'd just as well add music while I had the option.

I think that what this means is pretty much the logical conclusion I've come to... The most likely time someone attempts to bust into my house is when John J. Meth Addict knocks on my door looking for money to buy more Thunderbird wine, and takes offense when I tell him that his mother prefers the company of swines. I could avoid insulting him, sure, but... Anyhow, I agree with you on the light thing, lots of attachments do lots of things, but only lights allow you to actually see things. I'd think that this (and a little self-control) would help out the "shooting your wife on accident" thing tremendously. Perhaps a nunchuck light for the traditional guys needs to be in the works? Last night we worked our first drill. Some of our walls have brick on the other side, while others don't, so working our the safest angles to shoot was step number one. Communication was step number two. I think we'll work on that again tonight. Edit: And yes - that's exactly the sort of information I'm looking for. Thanks TG.

I believe you'd be completely legal there. Even with the old "assault rifle ban", you'd still be legal with a bayonet or flashlight. Now that I'm thinking clearly, since this isn't something semi-automatic, you'd be legal under the old "ban" with with just about anything . You could have a flashlight and a bayonet. I've been gathering more data from police and the like, and so far, they seem to be of the opinion that if "bad people" are to enter your home while you're sleeping, it's quite unlikely that there are more than 2-3 of them. They also noted that the likelihood of all of them being armed doesn't seem to be overwhelmingly high, and that as expected, they're opportunistic and will most likely flee at the first sign of definitive trouble. This is the sort of thing that's useful for everyone - be it a group of bayoneted shot-gunners, or your traditional martial artist defending his home with a short sword. Personally, I find all of this to be an extension of martial arts - even though it's oddly not included in almost any of them. Your classic story of ancient Asian citizens taking up/creating a martial art to defend themselves against bandits, rouge military soldiers, and invading hoards of foreigners seems as though it would lend itself well to home defense and basic military strategy. If your home were made from straw and/or sticks it's probably a moot point however. I think often overlooked areas of self defense are first aid, cyber security, and home security. If the samurai were still in power today, would they know how to stitch a man up, set up a computer firewall, and install better door locking mechanisms? I think so.

I believe you'd be completely legal there. Even with the old "assault rifle ban", you'd still be legal with a bayonet or flashlight.

The base shotgun, or one similar, could be had for less than $100. I refinished my own metal, which could cost you anywhere between $15 and $75. A professional refinish on the metal would be somewhere around $125 and $250. I did the wood myself, although you'd want a real buttstock on the thing (maybe shorter than factory) Refinishing wood is pretty easy, so doing it yourself would be less than $25. Shortening the barrel to a still legal length costs about an hour and a hacksaw. You'd probably want to put some sort of sight bead back on the thing, which would add another $5. That all adds up to about 8 hours of work with some friends, and as little as $150 or so.

After our last shooting excursion, I'm thinking about making a switch in my primary shotgun. That cut down shotgun, even with a pistol grip, way outperformed my 870. If it only had a buttstock and 2 barrels, I think I'd prefer it. So, I'm currently shopping for a side-by-side. I'd be stuck with 2 shots, but that equals 2 dead bad guys, and I can make those two shots super quick. Next time I'm down, I think I'm going to build a few walls and some ballistics gel to test out assorted weapons. We're going to have a science day.

Yeah, anything involving the human body as it relates to sports or injury is a good idea. I might not that among the most successful lifelong martial art instructors and school owners I've known they all had "day jobs." These included: Plumber, Barber, Chiropractor, Property Manager, Carpenter, and a Police officer or two.

I would agree to a point, particularly on everything but home defense. Not looking at statistics at all is the norm, and it's pretty much accepted as fact that if your home is invaded, it will be by nine machine-gun wielding, fully armored ninja-commandos that can only be stopped with a hand held cannon. I'll gladly buy a small cannon and some depleted-uranium sabots for it, but I'm not sure that I'd be preparing for something realistic. We're in an apartment now, which has its high and low points. It's about as secure as I can make it, but the idea that the people who break in need money and I own nice things is currently just a fact of reality. Those pesky glass windows are awfully breakable too. I wanted to just brick over them, but management told me that wasn't allowed. Even minimizing the likelihood your home is broken into is a practice in statistics: following certain practices makes it less likely to be broken into. As for neighbors, all of mine are idiots. There's the 35 year old guy who attempts to do a burnout every time he leaves the parking lot, the people that only speak Spanish, the people that only speak Arabic, and the Dungeon and Dragons nerd (Not that there's anything wrong with that) with a ponytail who seems to be afraid of everything. We had a meeting to set up a neighborhood watch committee, and the only attendees were me, a 90 year old woman, and a representative from the police department who basically recommended that we all carry a rape horn. Despite being a fairly nice community, I constantly run off drunk and/or homeless people who are knocking on my door asking for god knows what at 2 AM. I've tried being nice to these people, but nice doesn't seem to be a language that they understand. The drunks on the other side of me seem to be well versed in the art of mutual spousal abuse. It's not a huge stretch to see any of these situations ending with someone angry in my home. So, we're back to the start - I've done all I can, but bad things can still happen. They put 2 airbags in my car, despite already putting in seat belts, good brakes, excellent handling, and great tires. I'm essentially playing around with the best kind of airbags for my home, and toying with where I want them to be. While certainly not foolproof, statistics are the best predictor of what's going to happen. Given enough data, one ought to be able to estimate the likelihood that they'll be completely wrong, and make an educated guess based on all of that.

I don't have any kids, but whenever that happens, they'll be brain washed from day one to enjoy this sort of thing. As for the soon-to-be wife, I just talk about murder, rape, home invasions, and then describe how much more fun slinking around the home in the dark for preparation will be. In the event that all of those things fail, you just pay a friend to break in some night... I'm not sure it's ethical, but it's effective.

So, no ninjas, commandos, terminators, or zombies? We can't let the serfs find out about this. Edit: This morning I've been mapping out my "home defense plan" on paper. We don't exactly live in a mansion, and it's quite the logistical quagmire. There's the possibility of one person being home, two people being home, a hundred combinations of the two of us being in different spots, several combinations of us being in the same spot, and 5 possible entry points. On top of it all, there's weapon placement, wall thickness and materials, a very thorough examination of ballistics and penetration, consideration of shot placement, etc. Then there's weapon ranges - not just of firearms, but of assorted bladed and bludgeoning weapons. Once that's all sorted out, we'll get to run dry fire exercises, middle of the night drills, and a whole host of other exciting things. Paranoia quite simply provides the most affordable form of entertainment on Earth.

This is probably best fit to the LEOs here, but anyone with insight, please feel free to chime in. I'm looking at making a switch for my personal home defense weapon. Instead of basing it on what works best in a warzone, I've decided to take another look at things through a realistic perspective. The conclusion that I've come to is that I'm not sure what I'm using is best suited to the situation that I'd likely run into. In short, I'm down to attempting to look at real-world situations. As I look at the statistics for home invasions, robberies, and break-ins for all the offenders entering our facility, it would seem that almost all of them are performed either alone or with two people. This is in stark contrast to the 10-man commando team that a lot of people believe/would have you believe will enter your home unwanted. I've not managed to find a good set of statistics regarding this, so for those of you who've had experience with this sort of thing, what, if anything seems to be the most common situation?

Also, I think this discussion probably highlights the existence personal preference. I'm large, and nullifying people works pretty well for me. If you look a random cross section of the top 10 absolute-class grapplers in the world, there's a good chance that most of them won't function the same.

I'd second that. I believe Bridgeport University also offers a martial arts major that they recommend pairing with their Human Security program as a major or minor. Going to actual college in a city with a gym that you really enjoy is hard to beat. If it were my kid, I'd advise them to pursue a 2 year degree at the very least (and degrees beyond that if they're capable) during which time they can study martial arts to whatever end they desire. If they want to own a school, they can major in business, if they wanted to round-out their martial arts abilities they can train with the wrestling team in their school, take a fencing class, etc. There's a million options out there, but I think the first rule of dream-chasing should involve a legitimate plan b.

Unless they botch it True, but the same can be said of anything. What if they botch their overhooks? What if they're not strong enough to hold the guy's arms? There's always a what if. If they truly take their work seriously. If they truly treat it as serious as it is. They'll practice the skills necessary to survive. If they don't, they were probably a statistic waiting to happen anyway. I get chills every time I read about a LEO drawing their weapon and firing their entire clip at a suspect; only to find they missed with every shot. That's someone who wasn't prepared for the worst. That's the same person who's gonna botch an ankle grab sweep. If they botch the overhooks, they just try again. Buck and overhook requires a lot less training than does just about any sweep. The idea is that it's much more simplistic that "go learn a martial art."

Unless they botch it, at which point their being squashed. My concern with technique is people's unwillingness to learn it and then practice it forever. Your method is a winner - it's pretty much been proven a million times, but 99.5% of the population still doesn't know it. I think "grab and squeeze" is much more teachable, and in the short term has less room for error.

Right, that's the idea - to use their lack of ability against them. In that scenario, the guy outweighed me by more than 60 lbs. His ability to lay on top of people with wrestling is phenomenal, his cardio wasn't. I had three rounds to work against him, and he was going to be out of energy/oxygen by the third. I felt as though the math was in my favor, and lying there with my eyes shut and relaxed was a good gamble against him struggling frantically to hit me. This is because it's not a smart technique, respectfully. I don't really see how this situation would be remedied using more advanced techniques. You could work toward a kimura for the sweep, but if someone lands on top of you then, they're in no better shape. It's the same with using butterfly sweeps or anything else. I like it to prevent people from establishing a base and stacking me. Getting to your feet from inside the guard to apply hip pressure is a heck of a lot harder when your legs are tied up. I completely agree. In a perfect world, every armed service member, police officer, fire fighter, EMT, and security guard would be well versed in a series of martial arts. This would keep them off their back, and if they ended up there, they'd quickly and perfectly sweep the person into dominant position. Unfortunately, on their back is a place where people end up a lot more than they'd like to. Every sweep, escape, and transition has risk involved. So, grapevines or not, preventing someone from hurting you while not injuring them is a really, really good idea. If I had a partner in the immediate vicinity after ending up on my back , I'd much prefer a nice, safe stalemate over a fight.

Groupies man...they do nothing but make you soft. I'm not sure how well my body is going to function after 10 days of heavy medication and no activity. I think it's probably best to work out as hard as possible, for as long as possible, ignoring any warning signs our bodies put forth about failure, damage, and breakage.

Are bagpipes scary? I refuse to get caught up language disputes without having a whole crew of people who have dedicated their life to translating it. Afterall, if KERI means kick, then many young people in America would interpret that to mean that Keri = shoe.

For the purposes of MMA, particularly when I'm helping someone else get ready for a fight, I'm a huge fan of stalling off my back. There's nothing more frustrating to a wrestler who looks for a takedown followed by strikes from on top when you grapevine his legs from your back, get really deep overhooks, and render him useless. I've actually employed this strategy against a bigger wrestler in a live MMA fight in an attempt to wear him out early in the fight without sustaining much damage. We're going to set the context of this "technique" in a combative/real life situation rather than the rule set of competition. In MMA it forces you to finish rounds strong to win them or to finish the fight outright. In BJJ, your opponent is likely to be happy with what you've done to yourself and ride the position to victory. In the case of self defense, and particularly law enforcement, I think that it's perhaps got a place. Perhaps in a situation like shown in the "ground fighting conflict" thread, offensive Jiu Jitsu isn't preferable? Assuming the person on top has the ability to effectively land strikes, creating space opens up the person on bottom to taking a few shots. If you have no backup, or there are multiple attackers, this is a gamble worth taking. However, if help is in the immediate vicinity, if it's a one-on-one confrontation, and no weapons are present, tying the person up and holding them down isn't the worst idea on Earth. It's also a fairly simple technique to learn, and would be difficult to misconstrue as "excessive force."

The good news is that The Forbidden Kingdom came on after that god awful Fast and Furious movie. The staph seems to be about 95% healed, leaving behind what looks like really nasty road-rash. I shouldn't be contagious at this point, so as long as we keep ourselves and our equipment clean once we're done...I think it's safe. I'm bringing the stagecoach gun down, although I'm not sure I'm going to use "00" in it, I'll probably put a few rounds of bird shot through it and call it an official wall-hanger.