Last blog started as an after action review then turned into some thought processing I needed to do. So this installment, as promised will review Randy King's class and Cabot Welchlin's firearms class.
Ok, so 3 weeks back now on Saturday May 21st Querencia Fitness hosted a stop of the Randy King Live Tour.
The class consisted primarily of counter ambush training.
When I use the acronym ODIN the OD is for Operational Disciplines.
Operational Disciplines are what I consider mandatory training / skills for anyone to be able to use their physical attributes, athletic skills, martial arts training for practical application against an intent and aggressive threat.
I place Counter Ambush at the top of the list of Operational Disciplines skills.
Everyone needs ingrained responses to negative stimuli that will allow them to survive long enough to be able to use whatever skills and attributes they may have.
For example a Division 1 Wrestler is very skilled and very fit. If he is ambushed from behind in a way that overwhelms him or renders him unconscious none of his skills or physical attributes are worth a shit.
Inversely if that same Wrestler has trained to reflex something that protects him against most things, that buys him that 1/4 second to over come a surprise assault, then he can bring all of his skills and attributes to bear before adrenalization kicks in.
Very important. So important there are very few instructors of this subject matter I would compliment, or suggest to others.
Randy King is one of those few.
One of the primary reasons I appreciate Randy's class is that there is nothing in it that hasn't been proven through practical experience / actual application, or rigorous pressure testing.
Randy has a lot of life experience working security in Edmonton. One of my favorite stories of his starts..."The first time I was stabbed in the face by a fork..."
Randy has been ambushed and survived. Lived to tell about it, and learned from it. Sought out training from subject matter experts and refined his counter ambush response.
Not only that but he knows it well enough to teach it, and teach it well to others.
Also Randy has a whole stable of stronger, fitter, people to play with at KPC Self Defense. He actively encourages them to kick his ass. Anytime they do they are rewarded. They get "props". What ever hole in the system that allowed them to whoop Randy is refined or replaced, then tested again.
I have wrote several times - 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.
Randy is consistently removing anything that does not work.
There is other counter ambush training I have experienced where after the initial response to negative stimulus is delivered the exercise stops. You reset and work stimulus response again...and then stop.
Then what?
Just do what you know how to do.
OK...
However, the threat is capable of human level problem solving too.
What ever you did to hold the threat off, no matter how good, no matter how bio-mechanically sound, it can't hold forever.
The threat isn't going stop until you render him / her incapable of continued violence.
No one that is so determined to damage you, that they set you up and sneak attack you is just going to stop because you happened to survive their initial attack. Because you impressed him / her with your ability to not get killed for a few seconds
Boom smack to the base of the skull - cover -counter assault -
"Whoa, that was a solid response to my attack, nice job bragh. I only got in one hit instead of like seven or eight. That usually takes most folks clean out! Did we just become best friends? You maybe wanna go get some big gulps? You wanna go to the garage and do Karate?"
There has to be follow through
There has to be takeouts. (Render incapable of continued violence / made safe)
Paraphrased from "Drills:Training for Sudden Violence By Rory Miller A Chiron Manual"
...you should train yourself that when attacked, you go on the attack and you do not stop until you are safe. Takeouts are the training method.
Partner A attacks in any way from any angle with any weapon. If he is behind you, you’ll probably get hit. Deal with it. The intensity and speed of the attacks should be dependent on the skill and experience of the students. Partner B, the one doing the drill, takes partner A out.
What this means is that as efficiently as possible, fully on the attack (no defense, feinting or sparring timing) B swarms over A in a flurry. Whatever B trains is on the table- strikes, locks, takedowns… As efficiently as possible (which means in as few moves as possible) B makes A ‘safe’. Whether this means down, pushed away or incapacitated is dependent on the circumstances. Do not think ‘winning.’ Refer to the concept of fighting to the goal. Getting away works.
As Loren Christensen said, “There are only so many beats in a fight. I want each of those beats filled with my stuff.” Once someone triggers your defensive offense, he should never get another action. You should be throwing so much action at him that he freezes.
“There are only so many beats in a fight. I want each of those beats filled with my stuff.”
Another of the reasons I like Randy's approach is that after the students develop a workable response, that response becomes ingrained through reps of various takeouts.
Negative stimulus - response - follow through, get to the dead angle - make safe.
Make Safe included:
Escape
Disable - Striking - Dirty Dozen
Control
"In self defense escape is greater than striking and striking is greater than control
Unless you have a duty to act then we flip that."
- Randy King
"Check out my sick gains" - Randy King
Also, I find that although I come from a Wrestling, Japanese arts background, and Randy comes from a Striking, Filipino arts and Krav Maga background what we do, and how we approach it is very similar.
Again, 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.
As I type this that sounds arrogant in my ears. {Cocky Voice} - I like what Randy does because it is almost as good as what I do.
That is not at all what I mean. Because what Randy does is similar, because the Venn diagram has a huge space in the middle, it is the stuff on the edges that is very interesting to me.
Examples:
The next day I ran my CQB class. If your counter ambush is different because they have a weapon, then you really don't understand the basic tenants of counter ambush training.
Because Randy has a Striking, Filipino arts and Krav Maga background I asked him to bullshit check what I was doing with weapons.
There was a lot of - yup, that is basically what I also do, but maybe consider this...
If you also grab here they can't slip their arm though. That way it protects you against a blunt weapon and a long edged weapon like a machete.
Or
Just like hand cuffs work on the wrist this grip works on an elbow.
So the slight differences are interesting to me, and make my stuff better. Covers blind spots I might have.
In order to recognize / expose potential blind spots you have to find people you respect with different perspectives and train with them. You will find, when refined down "the good stuff" is going to look familiar. So pay special attention to the different and unfamiliar. There is where your potential for growth lies.
I also really enjoyed the Target Focus Striking (Dirty Dozen) and how Randy taught it.
It improved my ability to teach striking and fit nicely into an idea Dillon and I have been working on that we call "Hits for Jits"
"You get a throat pop, and you get a throat pop, EVERYONE gets a throat pop! I'm the Oprah of throat pops" - Randy King
The cool part of that is that it is a two way street. I'm excited to work "Jits for Hits" turning most of the dirty dozen into the building blocks of chokes and neck cranks when I get to play with Randy and his crew in Canada next month.
Speaking of...
Shameless self promotion plug
Click this LINK to sign up for:
Violence Dynamics: Next Generation
Kasey Keckeisen, Dillon Beyer, Myron Cossitt, and Randy King
For the first time ever violence dynamics is coming to Canada!
Come and be a part of this historic event! We will be doing a 4 day seminar shared between 4 instructors for one low price!
Subjects covered:
Counter Ambush
Power Gerneration
Ground Skills
Social and Asocial Voilence
Rory Miller's: Conflict Communications
Knife Defense from Ambush
and much more!!!
When: July 28, 29, 30, and 31 2016 9-5pm
Host: KPC Self Defense
Where: KPC Self Defense 10826 124st bsmt
Contact: r.king@kpcombat.ca
EARLY BIRD PRICE ENDS JULY 1st
I'm very excited for the opportunity to teach in Canada.
Let me end by saying that I don't give compliments lightly. When all is said and done all I have is my word and my integrity.
If I throw polite words at just anybody I happen to know, then my words hold no weight.
My recommendation means nothing.
If you like (fill in the blank) Judo, Aikido, Karate, what ever, and do it just for the fun of it, it really doesn't matter.
However, when you are talking about personal protection, or professional use of force then the stakes are much higher. Lives depend on it.
There is an old saying on the tactical operations side of law enforcement. If your wife and children were in mortal danger, who would you want kicking the door? That is your team. That is the minimum standard you hold yourself accountable to. You want to be that guy for your crew. That is the metric you judge others by.
For personal protection instruction I ask - If not me, who would I send someone I care about to learn to protect themselves.
Randy King is one of very few I would recommend with out hesitation.
The class he put on at Querencia Fitness was excellent, and reaffirmed my assessment.
[Side note - thank you to the folks at Querencia Fitness for hosting the event and providing all the pictures I blatantly stole from their Facebook page for this blog post]
This post grew longer (don't get cute with that) than I anticipated.
So, yet another cliff hanger.
Tune in next week for the after action review of Cabot Welchlin's gun fighting class.
Until then, and in the spirit of cross promotion, check out Randy's Pod cast.
Click HERE
Randy discusses Cabot's class in depth on the podcast titled "Catch Up"
Train Hard, Train Smart, Be Safe
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