Self-defense/One-step sparring drills

[bushido_man96]

I wanted to start a thread on drills to break up the monotony of doing one-steps and self-defense techniques. This is to present differnent training ideas for self-defense, and new ideas on one-step training.

1. We used to call this drill "Joe Cool." You make two lines down the room, like you would set up to spar. You stagger everyone, and put one person down at the very end, the front. The person walks down the lane, and the first person he comes to steps out and just does any technique. The defender responds by doing a quick one-step combination. This is good for one-steps, or making up your own, or you could switch it up and make it to where the defender has to get them to the ground and tap out, or something self-defense related.

2. This works well with pre-arranged one-steps. As you perform the one-step, you have to say aloud the name of the target that the technique is hitting. This is great for kids, as it makes them work on their focus. I have also noticed that kids memorize and then just 'do' the techniques, so this makes them think about where they are going more.

Chime in with anything, and we can all steal ideas from each other!!

[ninjanurse]

Imagine you are standing on the roof of a building-at the edge. Five people attack one at a time and you defend with a one-step or self-defense technique without falling off the edge. You can also do this with your back against a wall.

[bushido_man96]

Imagine you are standing on the roof of a building-at the edge. Five people attack one at a time and you defend with a one-step or self-defense technique without falling off the edge. You can also do this with your back against a wall.

Cool. You could also use some tape on the floor as a barrier as well, eh? Cross it, and do 20 push-ups!!

I also like cathal's close quarters drill.

[lordtariel]

Here's a drill I've found works well in kobudo for the bo

I have the students pair up, one has a weapon, the other doesn't. The student with the weapon slowly does one of the strikes from the katas(carefully if they're using a bo and not one of the padded ones) From that finished strike position, they must strike them a second time, then a third... up to five times. The two students trade off untill they both have some familiarity with chaining attacks together.

After that, we start again, this time both students have weapons. One student attacks and the other blocks. From the point of the block, the two students discuss where all the openings are for a second attack. The attacker then chooses one of those openings to attack and the blocker has to figure out how to block it. Again, they do this for five strikes and switch.

We spar in martial arts all the time and can do it with reasonable safety. It's too dangerous to spar with real weapons and this gives the students new meaning and understanding to the pros and cons of the moves in the katas.

[Mike Flanagan]

Personally I'm not really a fan of one-step sparring all - other than to learn a few basic principles. This sort of formalised partner work is so artificial it does little to prepare people for self-defence IMO.

There are all sorts of other drill you could do instead. I do a lot of stuff around the sort of tegumi flow drills popularised by Patrick McCarthy and find this quite effective.

Mike

[ninjanurse]

In my experience step-sparring is not designed to teach self-defense directly. It is designed to teach speed, timing, and distance skills that then transfer into other aspects of instruction, i.e., self-defense techniques, sparring, etc.

[Mike Flanagan]

In my experience step-sparring is not designed to teach self-defense directly. It is designed to teach speed, timing, and distance skills that then transfer into other aspects of instruction, i.e., self-defense techniques, sparring, etc.

Speed, yes OK.

Timing, maybe - but only in terms of working on getting yourself moving as soon as you see the attacker move, but at that point you don't know what the actual attack is going to be.

Distance, I'm really not convinced at all. The attacker's distance is generally totally wrong. Usually the defender's distance for their initial counter-attack is wrong too. And as the attacker now stands there sterile and lifeless any further counter-strikes the defender throws at them will likely be incorrectly distanced too.

But my real bug-bear is that all those things (speed, timing & distance) can be equally well trained by other drills that don't teach the bad habits that one-step inevitably teaches.

Mike

[Sohan]

In my experience step-sparring is not designed to teach self-defense directly. It is designed to teach speed, timing, and distance skills that then transfer into other aspects of instruction, i.e., self-defense techniques, sparring, etc.

I agree completely. My experience as well.

With respect,

Sohan

[bushido_man96]

In my experience step-sparring is not designed to teach self-defense directly. It is designed to teach speed, timing, and distance skills that then transfer into other aspects of instruction, i.e., self-defense techniques, sparring, etc.

Speed, yes OK.

Timing, maybe - but only in terms of working on getting yourself moving as soon as you see the attacker move, but at that point you don't know what the actual attack is going to be.

Distance, I'm really not convinced at all. The attacker's distance is generally totally wrong. Usually the defender's distance for their initial counter-attack is wrong too. And as the attacker now stands there sterile and lifeless any further counter-strikes the defender throws at them will likely be incorrectly distanced too.

But my real bug-bear is that all those things (speed, timing & distance) can be equally well trained by other drills that don't teach the bad habits that one-step inevitably teaches.

Mike

Ok, you've made the point that you don't like one-steps. But, do you have some drills to offer that could be used for self-defense drills, since you like the effectiveness of them?

[bushido_man96]

In my experience step-sparring is not designed to teach self-defense directly. It is designed to teach speed, timing, and distance skills that then transfer into other aspects of instruction, i.e., self-defense techniques, sparring, etc.

I agree completely. My experience as well.

With respect,

Sohan

This has been my experience as well. It is a good building block for novice students to use to figure out how far away they can be from someone and still get good contact with a kick or punch. It also allows for full speed attacks to be dealt with in a controlled manner. You have to learn to walk before you can run, and to crawl before you walk. One-steps have helped me with that.