martial – Evolutionary Self-Protection

Using Force: A Look at UK Law for Self-Protection Practitioners

Sunday, 21.08.2016 - 12:17 GMT+0000

The use of force is one of the main focuses in most self-protection training as well as in the martial arts. However, its justification and subsequent application to real violence is also singularly the least well-addressed area of understanding. In short, if practitioners train without an understanding of the law then while their training in … More Using Force: A Look at UK Law for Self-Protection Practitioners

7 Essential Books for Beginners

Monday, 01.08.2016 - 10:58 GMT+0000

Whether you’re just starting out learning about self-protection or you’re already a seasoned cognoscenti in the field, a little reading never goes amiss. Particularly if you’ve done a decent amount of training in a martial art – perhaps you’re a black belt looking for new avenues of knowledge to devour – but you haven’t received … More 7 Essential Books for Beginners

Training Notes – 29.05.2015

Sunday, 31.05.2015 - 13:48 GMT+0000

“Ground and pound” – that was the focus of this session. The rather unpleasant position you see the floored gentleman in was what we took some time to focus on: you’re on the ground and somebody decides to take that as an opportunity to do some serious damage to you by enlisting the help of … More Training Notes – 29.05.2015

New on Facebook: Staffordshire Self-Protection and Martial Arts Group!

Wednesday, 27.05.2015 - 17:44 GMT+0000

A place for the self-protectionists, martial artists, etc of Staffordshire to come together on Facebook: Staffordshire Self-Protection and Martial Arts Group. facebook.com/groups/staffordshireSPandMAgroup I thought it’d be a good idea to have a group for local martial artists, self-protectionists and people just generally interested in such things. Quite often the groups on Facebook for such things are … More New on Facebook: Staffordshire Self-Protection and Martial Arts Group!

Training Notes – 15.05.2015

Wednesday, 27.05.2015 - 17:14 GMT+0000

Our last session was a fun, functional, fierce and focussed look at two related subjects: the high guard and dealing with multiple attackers. After the usual exercises, including some of the work on shifting our stances to understand the relationship between centre of mass, stance and stability that we did at the beginning of last week’s session, … More Training Notes – 15.05.2015

Training Notes – 08.05.2015

Sunday, 10.05.2015 - 19:23 GMT+0000

This week’s session was the stuff of legend. We began with just walking around. Whenever a participant met another, they gave them a friendly shove to test their ability to relax and maintain posture and balance. Then we continued, but with our knees bent at about a 135° angle, with our backs maintaining good posture. … More Training Notes – 08.05.2015

Training Notes – 01.05.2015

Sunday, 03.05.2015 - 09:52 GMT+0000

This week was a great opportunity to focus in on some core skills that are central to our approach: striking and biomechanical manipulation from the closed high guard (think Pensador type thing) and striking from disadvantaged positions. Striking from the Closed High Guard: From a closed high guard, we looked at sending out hook punches, hammer … More Training Notes – 01.05.2015

Training Notes – 17.04.2015

Saturday, 18.04.2015 - 16:23 GMT+0000

This week, we did something we don’t do enough. Many weeks, we’ll focus on learning skills and concepts, and on honing those skills in situations that simulate real violence. When it comes to fitness, however, we usually take the approach of learning useful exercises and methods of training our bodies to withstand the rigours of physical … More Training Notes – 17.04.2015

Training notes – 10.04.2015

Monday, 13.04.2015 - 12:57 GMT+0000

After the usual loosening off and joint rotation, we got to a gentle start this week with a focus on ground mobility. We looked at getting to the ground quickly and safely in the form of forward and backward fall absorption (falling without getting hurt on a hard surface), then looked at extending that skill … More Training notes – 10.04.2015

Training Notes – 03.04.2015

Wednesday, 08.04.2015 - 15:19 GMT+0000

Anti-grappling! This session was a lot of fun – we explored some ideas to help us deal with common methods involving grappling and develop some useful skills with that in mind. We started, after the usual loosening off, with some breathwork under stress. This took the form of simple exercises done with good breathing, followed … More Training Notes – 03.04.2015