Saturday, July 25, 2015

Convergent Evolution

Hey everybody, I just got back from the 2015 USMAA National Training Camp.
I wanted to review the camp and jot down some ideas before I forgot them.  So I figured why not kill two birds with one stone and and blog it out.

So with out further adieu 2015 USMAA in review



Convergent Evolution


Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different lineages. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function, but that were not present in the last common ancestor of those groups.
The first time I heard the term, it was the title of a seminar co-taught by Tony Blauer and Rory Miller.
Two different guys that came up through different training systems and life experiences but developed a similar form to provide a specific necessary function.

I like to make the analogy of a sculptor.  If you use the chisel of successful application to remove everything that does not work what is left regardless of it's original source material is going to look pretty similar.  Clearly there will be some variation do to different application and plain personal preference, but you will find similar forms to provide a specific necessary functions.

https://www.facebook.com/yizongbagua/videos/1616549231935623/?pnref=story

The video from the above link,  to me, looks like a Judo class working on ashi waza (leg techniques) or sweeps.  It also looks like old man Judo not relying on size or strength.

The video is actually Bagua.

Similar form to provide a specific necessary function.

I saw a lot of this idea at camp.  Omar Ahmad's counter ambush training fits the function of what counter ambush needs to accomplish. 

Counter assault has to allow you to stay alive long enough for your training to work.

An operant conditioned response that will kick in before that adrenalin dump.  At the speed of nerve.  It will give you one technique with all your speed, power and precision before your fight or flight response kicks in and robs you of your fine and complex motor skill.  An operant conditioned response will mess up a threats plan, especially if it causes him damage.  It will force the threat to reset his ooda loop and have his fight or flight response kicks in.  It doesn’t guarantee victory but it sure helps level out the playing field.

Because Omar's approach achieves the function of counter ambush it has a similar form to what I do.
Clearly there is some variation do to different application and plain personal preference.




I also saw the concept of Convergent Evolution in Tim Kuth's Muay Thai class.
To the best of my knowledge Tim and Dillon have never met each other before.
However, Tim's intro to Muay Thai and Dillon's day one Kyokushin Karate class were all but the same. 

(Except maybe that Tim didn't punch me in the ribs like Dillon does as pictured above)

  • Footwork
  • Power generation
  • Fundamental Strikes
    • Jab - Cross - Hook
    • Teep / Mae geri
    • Te Tat / Mawashi geri

If you use the chisel of successful application to remove everything that does not work what is left regardless of it's original source material is going to look pretty similar.  That look / form has to serve a practical function.

At the Violence Dynamics Seminar we often discuss how humans learn best through play, and that play wires information to parts of the brain that will be active during combat stress.

At training camp it was fun to play (pun fully intended) with these ideas with a Neuroscientist and a Professor Emeritus of Pharmaceutical Sciences.  Ahmad Sensei and Makoid Sensei respectively.

It was such a relief to not be the smartest guy in the room for a change (that was sarcasm).

Makoid Sensei's class focused on principal based training and using play to teach the principle.
A game he used for play is called Bulldog.




In Bulldog, all students are on hands and knees (down starting position in wrestling).  One student is designated as the Bulldog and placed in the middle of the room.  The other students are lined up on one side of the room.  The objective is to get from one side of the mat to the other.  If the Bulldog catches you and puts you on your back you are out.

Mutant Bulldog is basically the same except if the Bulldog puts you on your back you become a Bulldog too.  So there starts to be two opposing factions.  Students trying to cross the mat and students trying to stop them.  The twist if any of the Bulldogs (including the original Bulldog) get put on their back they switch to runners.

Fun game.
Principles covered:
Base - the hands and knees position is a 4 legged table.  Remove one of the legs and the table falls

Strategy - (especially in the mutant version) If all the runners attack the Bulldog, they can flip him / her and win the game in one round.

Team work  / Push Pull - if you do team up against the Bulldog you have to work together.  If you pull against each other in opposite directions or push into each other you will never turn the Bulldog over.  If you coordinate and one pulls and one pushes you become very strong.

Escape and Evade - You can win by evading the Bulldog.  How many martial art schools / self defense classes pay lip service to running away?  Here is a fun game that rewards students for escaping.

Predator mindset - If you watch the students playing the Bulldog you can see them make target glances, pick out one runner they think they can take / turn over (fits their victim profile), and make a dash straight at that runner when the game starts.

Situational awareness - The runners know who the Bulldog is or Bulldogs are.  When the Bulldog makes that dash at the victim they chose the other runners go where the Bulldog isn't.  If the runner is the chosen victim they have to fight their way to the safety of the other side.  Which leads to....

Conflict Strategy - It is better to avoid than run.  It is better to run than de-esculate.  It is better to de-esculate than fight (not that applicable in this game unless you can somehow talk the Bulldog into attacking someone else).  It is better to fight than die.

On this blog I have written, that more so than any physical skill, I believe the two most important traits for personal protection are awareness and adaptability.

Just like escape, it is easy to just pay lip service to these concepts.

I have some world training awareness exercises that I will post here for "Katamedo Self Defense September", so stay tuned for that.


Katamedo students, prepare to be recruited by ODIN


As for adaptability, how do you train for it?
Again on this blog I have written about Officers who were taught an arm bar take down at the academy, in isolation, and never used against resistance.

Then this Officer tries to use that arm bar take down in the field against a resistive subject that doesn't want to be arrested.  The technique is not working, but the Officer continues to try to force it while he / she is taking damage.

I have argued that instead of memorizing techniques Officers should be taught the principles of how to lock an arm and take someone down.

This is what is for
This is what it feels like when it is working
This is what it feels like when it is not
If this ever feels like that (if it ever feels like work) switch to this.
For Law Enforcement, it might be transitioning to a weapon.

Practice that transition and articulating (Circumstances and Officer / Threat Factors) why you chose that force option.

Katamedo Jujitsu has developed a  method to train and test adaptability.

Progressions

Everyone has a plan.  Very rarely does that plan survive first contact with the enemy.  However, the enemy's resistance to your plan hands you something else. A gift.




Progression are training tools designed to help you recognise (awareness) and take advantage of (adaptability) of the gifts the enemy hands you.  As opposed to the above mentioned scenario of forcing a technique that clearly is not working.

Progressions also inculcate a process of breaking a freeze.

Let's take a look at a throw progression as an example.

Uchi Mata (Inner thigh reap)




If they hop around your leg to avoid Uchi Mata:
You might be surprised and have to start over again. (your ooda loop is re-set which causes a freeze)
You could keep trying Uchi Mata.

Or, if you know the principles of what makes Uchi Mata work and what it takes to stop Uchi Mata, in this case hoping out, you could take advantage because the opponent's resistance has left him / her vulnerable to O-Goshi.




Progressions follow 
This is what is for
This is what it feels like when it is working
This is what it feels like when it is not
If this ever feels like that (if it ever feels like work) switch to this.

Progressions allow you to stay on offense through their resistance or surprise (break a freeze) and take advantage when the circumstances prevent them from resisting any further.  You catch them because you are constantly resetting their OODA loop and causing them to freeze (if only very briefly).  You just need to get one step ahead of them.

Progressions also fit into another conversation I had with the Neuroscientist and the Professor Emeritus of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Principal based teaching.

Not only explaining how / why a thing works, but then using technique as a delivery method for the principle.

Understand the principle, learn the technique, find the principle through the technique so you can forget the technique.

Only the principle remains.  Takemusu Aiki - spontaneous technique

For a hip progression to work you have to understand what makes a hip throw work.  What I have described as trebuchet throws on this blog.  The progression is then just an exercise of being able to make that principle work under a variety of different situations.




There are 9 hip throws in the 40 throws of the Judo Gokyo.  But really only one principle.  The different techniques are just applying the same principle under different circumstances.

The title of the blog is Convergent Evolution

Several times I have repeated ... If you use the chisel of successful application to remove everything that does not work what is left regardless of it's original source material is going to look pretty similar.  That look / form has to serve a practical function.

Clearly there will be some variation do to different application and plain personal preference.

Along those lines of variation do to different application, what I saw at the USMAA national training camp could best be described using a 4 circle Venn Diagram.



The 4 circles being:

  • Traditional Martial Arts
  • Competition Martial Arts
  • Personal Protection 
  • Professional Use Of Force (Law Enforcement, Corrections, Military applications)

At the core, something all the classes had in common was that "what is left".  The different classes just applied the "what is left" to different circumstances.

Rudenick Sensei's class was Traditional Martial Arts.  It focused on Tsuri Komi Goshi (lifting pulling hip).  He showed two variations of the throw , one text book Kodokan Judo.

 - Technique as a delivery method for the principle - 
Understand the principle, learn the technique, find the principle through the technique so you can forget the technique.

The the other although still text book Kodokan Judo, more applicable to competition.

Sensei Bleeker showed me how the second variation worked against bigger stronger opponents.

Sensei Bleeker's class focused of Competition Judo.  Specifically grip breaks.  Sensei Bleeker is also an Officer in the Military and a Corrections Officer.  So although his class on grips breaks was geared to sport competition, after the grip was broke Sensei Bleeker always positioned himself at the opponents dead angle and took his own grip that work regardless of clothing (gi, no gi, no clothes). 


I could clearly see the influence of professional use of force on his sport competition Judo.  As I was practicing the grip breaks. 

(special thanks to one of Sensei Bleeker' students Trent Williamson for helping me with the grip breaks).


Why work so hard on sport grip breaks that I seek out help from Trent? Because that sport skill is also directly beneficial to personal protection.



My class had a personal protection vibe. Surviving the initial attack, getting somewhere relatively safe (your offense is viable, they have to reposition to use their offense). Off balancing and throwing from those relatively safe positions



Grab, Move, Unbalance, Fit in, Throw



That is at the core. My class was the personal protection application of those core principles.









Sensei Jimerfield taught many hours on the other mat. His circle of the Venn Diagram was also personal protection, but when I got to work with him I took advantage of his career in Law Enforcement and worked on professional use of force.

Lots of very cool personal carry training. I regularly carry a gun. I rarely carry cuffs off duty. If a situation can be solved with non lethal force, but still requires containing the threat until authorities arrive what am I going to do?

Now I have a solution.

What?  
What is it you might ask?
Randy King says - Kasey stop giving away stuff for free...
So you want to find out, come to the next camp or O3CT training course.

Also the edged weapons defense was very good. I don't say that often. The world is full of ridiculous get killed or jailed edged weapons training. So to see good stuff that uses that "what is left" core applied to defense against a blade makes me very happy.

Ahmad Sensei taught an MMA class. We worked a cool no arm (or more accurately replace with your arm) triangle choke. Which I now reefer to using a term I blatantly stole, I now call this choke the cry-angle ( you are welcome ). We also worked on knee bar progressions, and ankle lock progression.

And, just like I say in class on a regular basis, this is not a Brazilian school. We do not start on out backs.





So the major focus of the class was how to take someone down (Grab, Move, Unbalance, Fit in, Throw)
who is not bound by grappling rules. See also they can punch and kick you.

Again the core is the same. Although this was a sport MMA class, the skill of crossing striking range with out getting your head taken off to shoot a double is also easily applicable to personal protection, and professional use of force.

One of the great advantages of the Venn Diagram is the opportunity so see the core, the "what is left" from a different perspective.

With out this perspective you may have blinders on and not even know it.


Before training camp Omar and I were having a discussion about a Jujitsu Coach in Brazil that was murdered attempting to thwart an armed robbery.



Kasey - Did you read the sad story out of Brazil?
BJJ Coach decided he was going to take a gun away from a robber on a bus
didn't end well.

Omar - No control of the firearm limb. Stupid move. Also from the RNC position, he wasn't in imminent danger. Hubris.

Kasey - Agreed, so things martial artists need to hear, imho.
Any confrontation that becomes physical has the potential to go lethal.  So if it isn't worth killing or dying for don't engage.

What is worth dying for...?

Omar - Yes. also, BJJ doesn't regularly train goshinjitsu (Self Defense Techniques)

Kasey - Yup, skills in one area no matter how great don't necesarily transfer to other areas

Omar - Bingo!


An example can be seen on this video

Silva Knife Defense Video


Wim Demeere said nearly the same thing - 

Here's hoping this is a joke, but with all due respect to Anderson Silva as a MMA athlete, what he shows here as a knife defense technique is not only unrealistic, it is downright suicidal. The octagon is not the street, and vice versa. What works in one context doesn't automatically work in another. The corollary to that is that you can be an incredible MMA fighter and completely misjudge self-defense situations and the techniques needed there. However, the opposite also applies: you might be hell on wheels in the street, but that doesn't mean you will do well in the octagon.
Expertise in one area does not automatically give you expertise in another (similar) field of study. When what you teach means the difference between life and death for your students, that is something you might want to keep in mind...

If you never see things from any other perspective you lose the chisel of successful application. Then what you have is just best guess based on experience in a very different yet related field.

And as Wim eludes to, if what you are teaching could mean the difference between life and death for your students, do you want to bet it all on an untested best guess?

Using that chisel of successful application takes time and your body changes as you learn ...which leads me back to old man Judo.



Another part of camp is the testing board.  Everyone that tested this year did very well, I was impressed.  Those of you that have known me for awhile, know I don't give praise lightly (and I'm not all that nice of a person).  So if I write in my blog I was impressed, that is saying something.

Trent, who I mentioned earlier tested for his Shodan, and Alex Bleeker was his partner (so he also took the test although he doesn't have the time in grade yet).

Fantastic test!  For both guys.  In fact, even though Alex wasn't testing his counter ambush into Ura Nage (belly to back suplex for you WWE fans) was one of my favorite memories from camp.

Again, very good test.  Really the only critique from the senior board members (7th Dan and up) was that both guys are clearly strong, athletic studly young men.  Where they could improve is learning to not rely on athleticism, but rather use that mass and power to explode when necessary.
(Something Bleeker Sensei excels at.)

Because I am a comic nerd I immediately thought of Bane's line from Batman Rises


Good news is Trent passed his test, and Alex should be eligible to test next year.  Plus Alex will have a year of Division 1 wrestling experience under his belt by then too, as he earned a scholarship at North Dakota.

Better news is they are both young men and have the rest of their life to learn to fight like old men.
The hard part, will be to see the need / benefit of it.

It took me getting broken to start looking at smarter ways of doing things


The difference between a brown belt and a black belt is a black belt is just a brown belt that can demonstrate control.

The picture above happened in a "friendly" in house randori session where a brown belt (see definition above) defended against Uchi Mata with a frog leg or grape vine.  Illegal in competition and in "friendly" randori.  Even with my Aikido background it took getting broken to realise that strength and power are just crutches (pun fully intended as I was on them and out of work for 3 months).  It took being broken to realise there has to be a smarter safer way to get things done.  There will always be someone stronger, faster, more athletic, or meaner - willing to ignore the rules.

I hope Trent and Alex won't need to get busted up to learn this.
They shouldn't need to, as they have teachers experienced in passing on these lessons.

Omar had to learn this as well.  Omar was young, strong, and athletic (played football and swam in college).  His Sensei - Mike Makoid made him spend a significant amount of time gripping with only his pinkies.

Hard to use your strength and power with just your pinkies.  So Omar got good without strength.  Then when Makoid Sensei let him off the leash adding his strength and power to the skill he had developed was like a super power.

I was wondering what would break first, your spirit or your body

I feel the ability to explode with strength and power on top of skill and finesse when needed is why David Bleeker is a National Champion.

That is one of the coolest applications of old man Judo.

I'm excited to see Alex and Trent when the graph of young and athletic crosses experienced and well trained.  The will be dangerous men.

Another great national training camp.  More so than even the quality of training I enjoy the family feeling of camp.  It is easy for me to become jaded and cynical.  Show me a cop that isn't and I'll show you a rookie cop.  So it is nice to be surrounded by sincerely good and decent folks.  I look foreword to it every year.

Next July I hope anyone that reads this blog will find a way to make it to camp.

Train hard, Train smart, Be safe.

Surround yourself with the best people that will tolerate you

Thursday, July 2, 2015

USMAA National Training Camp - What I want you to know before you go





The best training camp in the country is back again in 2015, and is being Sponsored by Katamedo Jujitsu and St Louis Tae Kwon Do Academy

As always there will have lots of training available such as Law Enforcement Training, Aikido, Judo, TKD, Karate, Jujitsu, MMA, and appearances and classes from a laundry list of champions and Senseis from around the country.

Please book your rooms now. The venue is fabulous, new and clean. We will have mats, training equipment and great sponsors. We hope to see you all there! Please share this webpage http://stltkd.com/usmaa.htm and the event flyer with your instructors and students!
Camp Details
This is a great opportunity to train with martial artists from various backgrounds and styles. There will be three full days (Thursday, July 9th through Saturday, July 11th) of unmatched martial arts training. All martial artists are welcome at any level, and Black Belt testing by a board of examiners will be available as well. Do not miss this exceptional experience!

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to attend the USMAA training camp events in the past you will be pleasantly surprised! There are no egos allowed, everyone comes to train and to make new friends in the martial arts community. The classes are very informal, you can come and go as you please, and you can switch between the martial arts and law enforcement classes throughout the training camp. 

Please email us atstlouistkd@prodigy.net if you have any questions.

Full 3 Day Camp: $150 per person
1 Day Camp: $75 per day per person

Please complete the Registration Form and Waiver for each participant (with a check payable to Gary Jameson) and send your total payment to:
Gary Jameson
2901 S. Brentwood Blvd
Brentwood, MO 63144
314-961-4235


Schedule (tentative schedule, subject to change)
Thursday, July 9
8 - Tae Kwon Do (Kurt Valdez)
9 - Kinetic Dragon (Frank Soto)
10 - Aikido (Kasey Keckeisen)
11 - Empty Hand Techniques (Cosmo Zimik)
12 - Lunch
1:30 - Judo (Michael Makoid)
2:30 - Kempo Jujitsu (Todd Labrie)
3:30 - Karate (Ron Treem)
4:30 - Muay Thai (Tim Kuth)

Friday, July 10
8 - Kenpo (Greg Lawton)
9 - Judo (Gary Rudenick)
10 - Empty Hand Techniques (Cosmo Zimik)
11 - Jiu Jitsu (Omar Ahmad)
12 - Lunch
1:30 - Sei Shin Kai Aikido (Michael Abels)
2:30 - Jeet Kune Do (Richard Bustillo)
3:30 - Jeet Kune Do (Richard Bustillo)
4:30 - Testing (Board)

Saturday, July 11
8 - Krav Maga (Gary Jameson)
9 - Aikido (Kasey Keckeisen)
10 - Escrima (Richard Bustillo)
11 - Escrima (Richard Bustillo)
12 - Lunch
1:30 - Violence Dynamics (Randy King)
2:30 - MMA (Omar Ahmad)
3:30 - Kinetic Dragon (Frank Soto)
4:30 - Karate (Loren Copp)
Event Location
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel & Conference Center St. Louis
16625 Swingley Ridge Road
Chesterfield, MO 63017
1-636-532-5000

The town of Chesterfield is only 20 minutes from Lambert St. Louis International Airport. Catch a taxi to the host hotel, or you can rent a car (the event hotel offers free parking). There are other options for hotels in the area, many are within a mile of the host hotel. A few restaurants are within walking distance, and many others are accessible with just a 5 minute taxi ride.
Law Enforcement Training
The cost for Law Enforcement Training is the same as the martial arts training camp and is open to all adult participants. This hands-on seminar will be taught by Steven Jimerfield (Alaska State Trooper, Ret). One-On-One Control Tactics is a Defensive Tactics System developed by Mr. Jimerfield. The theory behind this is that movement defeats strength. Mr. Jimerfield has been in the Law Enforcement field for the past 30+ years. Twenty-two of those years spent as an Alaska State Trooper with the last seven years as an instructor at the Public Safety Training Academy. Central topics include; Six points of movement to defeat an opponents strength, Reverse Palm techniques and take downs that smoothly move a control subject to the ground, Thigh Lock, Cuffing techniques and standing subjects up, Turning over uncooperative subjects. 

As you can see I am listed on the schedule to teach Aikido.  I thought to myself cool, I can fully embrace the martial arts nerd side of myself and enjoy a weekend of training just for the fun of martial arts in and of themselves.

I even came up with a cool lesson plan working the relation between empty hand motions and Kenjutsu (something I enjoy but haven't played with for awhile).

I stared working the logistics asking Omar Ahmad if there were enough bokken for everybody or should I bring some down.



His response (and clearly I'm paraphrasing) went something like...
"That is adorable dumb dumb, but we already have like five weapons sessions.  I want you to focus on violence dynamics and real world violence.  Especially because Randy wrecked his leg doing parkour"

Then I put on my big boy pants and started figuring out what I wanted to teach that fits - violence dynamics and real world violence. (Which I also really enjoy teaching).

There will be people at the training camp from differing styles, but everybody will have a martial arts background.

So instead of teaching these folks something new, I figured I would focus on practical application of their existing skill sets. 

I have two, 1 hour sessions.  I should figure on 10 minute breaks so more likely two 50 minute sessions.

I started working on what I think would be most important / most useful for attendees of the training camp.

I also figured, that if I don't want to spend the majority of my mat time talking I will need to get some basic information out before the training camp even begins.

Thus.....
USMAA National Training Camp - What I want you to know before you go

Discussion

Everyone here has martial arts training
It is easy to use your skills to pick on others.  Think of the bad guys in every Karate Kid movie.
It is easy to use your skills in social violence situations.  Think of every school yard fight or bar room brawl you have ever encountered.

This is where most people’s understanding of violence ends.  If you ask most grown men when was their last fight, if they have ever been in a fight, they will usually answer somewhere between 3rd -8th grade in the school yard.

Although social violence between young men is the most prevalent, and what most people think of as fighting, it is also the silliest and easiest to avoid.

Skill in one area does not necessarily translate to skill in another area.
There are countless stories of martial arts experts who are immensely skilled in their art or sport who get involved in a situation that could be avoided.  They take sport skills  / social violence into an asocial violence situation and get maimed or murdered.

How many have practiced responses to criminal attack?
How many have studied how criminals attack? (The Logic of Violence)

That is like being a skilled surgeon that has never studied disease

Today we will be working on surviving an asocial ambush (assault)

(From Rory Miller)
Ambush -
You’ve been attacked.  This is about the 1st contact of an assault.  The critical ¼ second.  
When a threat attacks you, he has a plan and is counting on surprise.  He is expecting you to freeze, allowing him to succeed.  An operant conditioned response will kick in before that adrenalin dumb.  At the speed of nerve.  It will give you one technique with all your speed, power and precision before your fight or flight response kicks in and robs you of your fine and complex motor skill.  An operant conditioned response will mess up a threats plan, especially if it causes him damage.  It will force the threat to reset his ooda loop and have his fight or flight response kicks in.  It doesn’t guarantee victory but it sure helps level out the playing field.


Everyone here has martial arts training.  Counter assault allows you to stay alive long enough for that martial arts training to work.



Boom, then we will go into the physical stuff.
However, having read the above, I figured I could use this blog to get further academic information out that will help make the physical stuff next week make more sense.

OODA
Conflict Strategy
Violence Dynamics
Social Violence
Asocial Violence
Logic of Violence


OODA


  • Observe
  • Orient
  • Decide
  • Act

Conflict Strategy:

It is better to avoid than run.
Better to run than to de-escalate.
Better to de-escalate than fight.

Better to fight than die.

Avoidance
Bad things happen in predictable places.
If you avoid the places you can avoid a huge percentage of the violence in the world

Bars – Parties – Anywhere people get their minds altered
Private places
Anywhere that young men gather
Where territories are in dispute
Anywhere with limited mobility or escape routes

If you have to be (or choose to be) at a place where there is a predictably higher risk of violence, you need to operate at a higher level of awareness.



Violence Dynamics:
I define violence dynamics as understanding that violence falls across a broad spectrum.  Knowledge in one area of the spectrum does not necessarily directly transfer to other areas.
For example a combat hardened special forces operator has clearly experienced violence in the deep end of the pool.  However, that does not make him an expert on surviving spousal abuse.

Inversely a woman who has survived spousal abuse, got herself and her children out of a bad situation and has moved on to a better life doesn't know how to clear a house full of enemy combatants.

Both have successfully dealt with close quarter interpersonal violence, but if you try what has been successful for one in the circumstances of the other neither would survive.

Violence dynamics is understanding the violence you are facing and having workable strategies for different types of violence.

Most importantly knowing the difference between social and asocial violence and being able to make that distinction instantly


Social Violence 



In Maslow's hierarchy of needs social violence falls under belonging and esteem.
Humans are the apex predator on the planet.  Not because we have fangs, or claws.  Not because we are strong or fast.  We use tools and work in groups.  Being part of a group is vital to our survival.  


Social violence is used to assure membership in a group (belonging) and to establish your place in that group (esteem).

Social violence includes ritualized jockeying for territory or status, acts to prove group solidarity, and violence to enforce the rules of the group.


Most all animals have ritualized combat between males of the same species to establish dominance.

It makes sense.  If the males of a pack kill themselves fighting each other for dominance in the pack (choice of mates) they can't make babies.  Also the pack becomes more vulnerable to different packs and predators from other species.

So some form of ritualized combat, specifically intended not to kill or maim the opponent is necessary to establish dominance within the pack.

Rams smash into each other head to head, Bears wrestle.




Human dominance game (monkey dance) will follow a few distinct steps you have all seen before:
  • Hard, aggressive stare
  • Verbal challenge – “What are you Looking at”
  • An approach, with signs of adrenalization  - gross motor actions arms swinging, chest bobbing skin flushing
  • Squaring off and contact chest bump – push / shove
  • Big Looping over hand punch (almost always right handed haymaker)
Thousands of generations of men have been conditioned to play this game.  It is very easy to get sucked into and very hard to walk away from.
 This is the majority of violence most men will see.  It is also the most unnecessary and the easiest to avoid. 

Social violence in nature is the violence used within a species.
This violence is very different from violence used against other species.
The dominance games of bears pushing and mouthing is very different from how they hunt prey. 
Humans are social creatures and have subconscious rules for social violence.  
We are also hunters and capable of killing prey.  
We are fairly unique in that we can use the tools and tactics that we developed to hunt prey to kill other humans.
Which leads us to...

Asocial Violence:
Asocial violence does not see the victim as a person but rather a resource (a different species to be hunted).  
By the time you face a predator attack you must understand that the predator has decided what ever you have (or the attack itself) is more important than you are.
Who you are carries no more emotional weight than the wrapper a taco came in.



A predator will use tactics he has developed to get what he wants from you in the safest surest manor.  This is in no way a “fair fight”.  

The predator will take every advantage using speed, surprise and ferocity to prevent you from responding in any way that could be effective in stopping him. 



In Maslow's hierarchy of needs asocial violence falls under survival, security, and self actualization.

Base survival level. (Survival right now)
Examples of this type of violence is a drowning victim hurting the rescuer, or someone trying to fight
off an attack by a wild animal.

Panic / Primal
Drunk, Drugged, Deranged, Disturbed individuals may also respond like they are being attacked by
wild animals.
In those types of instances they may not be able to surrender or recognize that the victim has
surrendered.


Security (Survival tomorrow)
Resource Predator.

A resource predator wants something you have and will use violence to take it from you
A resource predator situation can be resolved by giving up what you have 
Car , Purse Wallet 
Are they worth dying for?

Self Actualization 
Process Predator

For the process predator, the act of violence is the reason itself.  The Crime is the goal
Resource Predators have self identified with their crime.  They are no longer some one who has committed rape, but a rapist.  Not someone who has killed, but a murderer



Process predation requires time and privacy to “enjoy” the process / act of violence

They will attempt to isolate victim 
  • Home Invasion (comes to you)
  • Secondary Crime scene (takes you someplace somewhere else)

What is worth killing / dying for?
Your life
Not being maimed
Not being raped 

Do whatever is necessary to end the situation
Never let yourself be dragged to a secondary location or be alone with them.   Nothing good can come out of this. It would likely escalate into rape, torture, murder.

Violence Dynamics
Just as social violence require a crowd (can't earn status in a group if a group doesn't see you gain status), predatory violence require seclusion (no witnesses) .



Understanding those distinct characteristics will dictate how you must deal with violence.

Logic of Violence:
Most martial artists have memorized RESPONSES to violent situations

Logic of Violence is an exercise is to understand VIOLENT SITUATIONS
How and Why criminals operate

It may be hard for you to understand the bad guy or criminal.  
You are good people.  It is easy for me to be cynical and jaded.  However, one the reasons I come back to training camp is to be around truly decent folks.  
It can be hard for decent folks to understand criminal acts.
However, that understanding is necessary to effectively protect yourself from them.

So let’s use your good guy brain to help you understand the bad guy.

Imagine someone you love is dying.
There is an experimental drug that can save her.
This drug has not passed FDA testing and is illegal.

However if you can come up with $400 cash you can get one treatment.

The person you love needs one treatment every day or they will die

If you get caught you can't get her a treatment and she will die
If you get hurt you can't get her a treatment and she will die.

What would you do to save her life?

I have 3 little girls at home, if any of them needed this treatment, and I could get $400 a scalp I'd kill everyone in this room.

But as I mentioned I can be cynical 



Lets say you would rob for the treatment.  Who would you rob?
You need $400 today, can't get caught, can't get hurt.  So you would need victims that are likely to carry enough cash that you don't have to roll too many of them to get $400.  You will also need victims that are unlikely of being able to hurt you.

How would you rob them?
You will use tactics to get what he wants from you in the safest surest manor.  
This is in no way a “fair fight”.  
Walk up, bow, assume a fighting stance and tell them to lay on the ground?

Like the first 20 seconds of this clip?


Or something a little more like this?


You will take every advantage using speed, surprise and ferocity to prevent them from responding in any way that could be effective in stopping you. 


This is much different than how you fight in the Dojo.

There is a logic to the violence that criminals use.  Now that we have a better understanding of that logic we can better prepare for criminal violence.

Predatory tactics are not "evil".  They are a tool
Speed, surprise and ferocity are the same elements SWAT teams(and Batman) use 

They are used because they work.
If they work for the predator they can also work for you.

OK that is a lot to read, let's bring it back to the training I'll provide at camp next week.

It is better to avoid than run.
If you have to be (or choose to be) at a place where there is a predictably higher risk of violence, you need to operate at a higher level of awareness.

Better to run than to de-escalate.
It is easy to just pay this lip service.

Yes, yes you should run if you can.  Now that we have that out of the way let me show you how to break a man's neck.

We will be practicing how to escape at training camp.

Better to de-escalate than fight.
We will cover how to talk your way out of social violence


Better to fight than die.
Physical skills will focus on counter ambush 

The critical ¼ second.  
When a threat attacks you, he has a plan and is counting on surprise.  He is expecting you to freeze, allowing him to succeed.  An operant conditioned response will kick in before that adrenalin dumb.  At the speed of nerve.  It will give you one technique with all your speed, power and precision before your fight or flight response kicks in and robs you of your fine and complex motor skill.  An operant conditioned response will mess up a threats plan, especially if it causes him damage.  It will force the threat to reset his ooda loop and have his fight or flight response kicks in.  It doesn’t guarantee victory but it sure helps level out the playing field.


Everyone here has martial arts training.  Counter assault allows you to stay alive long enough for that martial arts training to work.

Train hard, Train smart, Be safe.

I hope to see you in St. Louis next week