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Singlestick… Or is it? Stick sports in America, an investigation

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

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Here’s an article on the singlestick.

My lovely wife and I have been watching the Sherlock Holmes-inspired Elementary series, and he’s seen occasionally working his singlestick moves on a BOB dummy in his home.

HEMA MISFITS (I don't do longsword)

OldSchoolguard

The “Old Game” as described by Allanson-Winn

19th century martial arts have long been the poor relations of more popular historical martial arts branches, but in recent days it has gained more and more recognition. English martial arts are still the most studied from this time period, the numerous and simple sources, the spread of the English language worldwide and the popularity of Victorian culture have greatly contributed to their current status. Singlestick is one of them. This peculiar relative to saber fencing was very popular in Georgian England before being converted as a wooden training tool. This interest has lead many people to consider any mention of singlestick in books or newspapers as the British game. A famous instance is the one of Theodore Roosevelt, allegedly a famous American singlestick practitioner… but was he really practicing the old rustic game of singlestick?

Singlestick was practiced since at least the…

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What is Irish stick fighting?

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

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More on the fine art of cracking heads with sticks!

HEMA MISFITS (I don't do longsword)

You’ve probably heard of Irish stick before or at least if you clicked on this article you are no doubt curious about what it really is. The art called bataireacht or boiscín is a peculiar martial art not only because of its history but also because it has only recently begun to rise back from nearly total extinction. It is known around certain circles such as Historical European Martial Arts but even in Ireland you will find very few who know of its existence and even fewer who practice it.

This article is meant as a complete basic overview of the history and practice of Irish stick. It will be part of a book to be published on the subject of the history and techniques of this art.

The Irish Collection

Source: Sean Sexton Collection

1. Deep roots

like many old martial arts the origins of Irish stick are extremely hard if not impossible…

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Not your grandpa’s cane

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

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I do like James Bond-y gadgets and walking sticks!

HEMA MISFITS (I don't do longsword)

Everybody knows the classic cane sword, symbol of the sophisticated gentleman and dastardly villain alike.  In the 19th century, stricter weapon laws and the rise of the cane as a fashion item had makers rival in ingenuity to elaborate new weaponized canes. A while ago I presented an example of La Terrible Canne, but a recent auction unearthed many more rare examples. In this article I will present some of the most interesting finds.

tac___01___tintin_in_america_by_inonibird-d4hvfjd

La terrible canne in itself is a clever if terrifying weapon, which had two close parents: la diabolique (the diabolical) and la redoutable (the dreadful).  All of them function around the same principle; an adversary pulling on your cane to disarm you would also pull out a series of metal thorns or blades, cutting the opponent’s hand.

terribleterrible2

La terrible

laredoutable3

La redoutable

la_diaboliquela_diabolique2

La diabolique

Outside of the classic dagger in a cane, there were many other…

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Friday Fundamentals – Performance Standards

23 Friday Oct 2015

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The Tactical Professor keeps the fun in fundamentals!

tacticalprofessor

Without testing, there has been no training

Greg Hamilton

Shooting a pistol is an athletic activity. Like any athletic endeavor, we need to have some performance measurement standards. Measurement is the operative word here. We need to measure our downrange performance, i.e., how well we can hit the target, if we want to become better at shooting. There are numerous variables that can be called into play for measurement.

As an example of athletic measurement, the current US Army standard for my age cohort is a minimum of 27 sit-ups in one minute. More sit-ups means more points scored. The Army Physical Fitness Test has to be taken twice a year.

In weight training, we might simply measure how many repetitions of lifting a given amount of weight we can do until we can’t lift anymore. Over time, our objective is to be able to lift more weight and/or perform…

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Jits Class Notes – 10/20

22 Thursday Oct 2015

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Takedown class – warm ups included backfalls, sidefalls with technical standup with partner-assisted forward pressure, moving and sprawling on command ( I keep doing a front breakfall instead unless I override the urge. Weird.) Then we worked snatch doubles, snatch singles, shooting doubles and singles, turning the body via the lapels or other grips to still get the shot in case of a mismatched lead, snapdown and snatch doubles and singles, and a double with the rear leg hooked behind the opponent’s near leg to score a trip. There was a new fellow in class who trained with us who was doing the high-crotch instead of the double, so that was demonstrated as well. I missed grabbing people up in guillotines off a poor double leg on Thursday.

Ground class – Normal warmup followed by shrimping, rolls, sidefalls & stand, back rolls, and that accursed reverse shrimping that I never seem to get right.

Technique – reviewed last Tuesday’s material – mount with head control and grapevines. Americana, Ezekiel choke with the fist, and arm triangle were presented as finishes.

New techniques – sidemount position. Secure better position by lifting the chest for a moment and drawing the bottom man into your belly, then apply pressure again. The crossface applied by the bicep and shoulder should be a lot easier to apply and bottom is drawn more under the body and controlled.

1st technique – Americana again. Very similar to previous Americana from mount.

2nd technique – Choke. Remove arm from under head, reach around top of neck and grab bottom’s opposite armpit. Use far arm to post by placing palm on the floor so bottom can’t roll top man as easily. Slide legs out and away on an angle close to the head to trap the arm – you need that arm in the right position to secure the choke. Staple hips to the floor as that prevents rolling. Now, take posted hand and place on near side hip of bottom and begin inching around the body, taking head off the chest and placing it on the same side as the blocked hip. The choke comes on pretty suddenly. If you can get to a point to grab our own hands and squeeze, great, but my partner and I never made it that far before tapping.

3rd technique – arm triangle. Similar to the mount series. A forearm is across your throat, rudely preventing you from smothering the bottom man. Press down into it, then suddenly release pressure and jam the arm up and past your head, taking up space by pressing your head against that of the bottom man. A key point is that the bottom hand must be palm down for the choke to work. Both my partner and missed that and didn’t get our constrictor on until that was corrected. Bring your legs and body to the same side as the opponent’s trapped arm by:

a: jump with both feet together to the other side (feet together helps prevent half guard attempts).
b: Slide near leg across abdomen, then jump and bring both legs to th correct side.
c: Switch feet to reverse kesagetame position, posting the leg furthest from the body. Near leg’s shin slides across the belly of the bottom man and the far leg drives and jumps.

Immediately block the near side hip with the near knee to keep bottom man from inching toward top man, changing the angle of the choke and making it less effective. Far leg posts out at about head level. As before, gather the free hand’s elbow to the body, lower the head to the mat as the posted leg slides out. Again, the arm under the head should be palm down, opposite arm palm up. If not, you can’t properly take out the slack by bringing the elbow to the belly before sinking down and completing the choke.

No rolling tonight. Crap sleep and bad work schedule, so I chose to quit while I was ahead.

Parkour: The Art of Running Away

20 Tuesday Oct 2015

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I wish I’d played with parkour more when I was young enough to bounce instead of break when I fell!

ArtOfGrappling

Post by Jason

I missed judo practice today for the first time in a long time. Since I have nothing to say about practice I thought I’d share this:

Pugialism: The martial art of fighting with fists

Judo: The martial art of grappling

Parkour: The martial art of running away.

Lolz! Don’t get me wrong I wish I could do parkour, but c’mon martial art of running away?? That shit is funny.

Posted with BlogsyPosted with Blogsy

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The Electrical Secrets of Kenneth Strickfaden: or as Harry Goldman’s book calls him -“Dr Frankenstein’s Electrician”

19 Monday Oct 2015

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I’ve blogged a lot of firearms, grappling and self defense related topics of late and fear my love of crazy props has been underrepresented. This post from the Last Drive In should fix that in spades!

The Last Drive In

Kenneth Strickfaden-(1896–1984)

I saw—with shut eyes, but acute mental vision—I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.

— Mary Shelley

Colin Clive -Frankenstein 1930

When I think of Kenneth Strickfaden I visualize the mad scientist grabbing the master switch in his clandestine laboratory. Suddenly the machinery hums and glows, glass tubes boil with liquids, electrical currents charge through the coiled tubes and conductance. Lighting leaps across the sky and finds its way into the diving spot in the lab. The crackle, snapping hiss and sparks of ozone. The well…

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Jits Notes – 10/15 Skipped class. Work sucks.

16 Friday Oct 2015

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Dog sick, wife sick, work sucks, so I opted to stay home and work. I do feel some interesting sore spots from Uchi Mata – who knew hopping around on 1 foot with most of a 240 lb dude’s weight supported on your body could make for a good workout, eh?

I get trapped under side mount quite a bit. An Upa might help with that, and I usually try to roll into the top guy and try to get back to base. This is an interesting way to slip out by rolling in the opposite direction. Stephan Kesting comes through again.

Friday Fundamentals (Segment 4) Shooting with a flashlight

16 Friday Oct 2015

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Claude’s thoughts on shooting practice and performance are always worth studying.

tacticalprofessor

Several Negative Outcomes were brought to my attention this week. One was yet another incident of someone shooting their spouse, thinking it was a burglar. She died as a result of one shot to the chest.

The husband told police it was an accident. He told officers he woke up around 4:15 Saturday morning and heard noises in his house … He told investigators he grabbed his gun and when he saw a light on and someone standing in the distance, he took a shot. He said the person he ended up hitting once in the chest was his wife.

This sad situation bolsters my contention that when we pick up a pistol at home, we have to pick up a flashlight at the same time. That’s why I made flashlight shooting an integral part of The Tactical Professor’s Pistol Practice Program. To get some repetitions in…

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Jits Notes – 10/13/2015

14 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by Obsession Engine in Exercise, Fitness, Grappling, Jits Notes, Judo

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Tags

Exercise, Fitness, Jits Notes, Jiu Jitsu, Judo

Drank some Gatorade before class. Got heartburn. Damn, I’m old. On with the notes!

Takedown class – Started with Osoto Gari goodness. Arm movements, then arms, hips, feet & grapevine the leg, then step through takedown. Focus on maintaining upright head position and maintaining grips. Hit knee on belly then armbar after the takedown. the closer the knee is to the armpit the greater the control for the armbar, so hit the floating ribs then shift it up.

We then worked Uchi Mata off a failed Osoto – opponent shifts leg back to prevent the Osoto, so turn elbow skyward and crank gripped sleeve to the rear, looking in that direction. Raise leg and dump.

Worked drill where opponent shifts to prevent Uchi Mata and we hopped in circles. Kicking leg high and pulling in the direction of throw while looking that direction makes throw happen. Finish with knee on belly and transition to the arm bar.

I think I need more warm up time before the takedown class. I’m feeling muscles complain about being strained trying to take people down or twist to avoid same.

Grip fighting to finish.

Ground class – Standard warmup, then the cardio stuff. Apparently I’ve been doing shrimping wrong, too – I’ve been bringing both feet to my butt, not leaving one out flat and bringing the other up. Forward shrimping still looks like an epileptic white kid trying to break dance…

Drills – From mount, take control position and cross face with one arm. Opposite arm posts. Keep the shoulder of the arm that is posting at level or below that of opposite shoulder unless you’d like to be rolled. Grapevine legs or keep knees wide for base. Wide knees= more weight on opponent.

First, we resisted being rolled. The grapevine leg prevented a roll toward opposite the posted arm. The posted arm, of course, acts as an outrigger against a roll to that side. Our first attack from mount is for an Americana lock. Take the posted arm and palm strike the bottom man’s near arm to the mat. Take the crossfacing arm and hook it. Use the thumbs over grip and either cup or keep the arms straight -use the palm, not the fingers, to control the trapped arm. Snake the free arm under the bottom’s trapped arm. Palm up usually worms underneath more easily. Grab the wrist of the hand still clamping the trapped arm. again, thumbless grip and hook works best. Bring crossfacing arm out and around opponent’s head, place tricep in neck, shove offline. Crank both hands toward the ground and bring trapped limb toward feet to get the tap.

2nd move – Ezekiel choke off a missed Americana. Opponent thrusts arm out, negating Americana attempt. Place elbow of free arm forward of bottom’s escaped arm. Draw elbow down toward ribs, scooping bottom’s arm and trapping it. Use crossfacing hand to hook sleeve of free arm, then snake free arm into neck of bottom man. Make a fist. Do a pushup.

Its a sneaky-assed choke. I like it!

3rd move – arm triangle. Mount and crossface as above. Opponent frames and pushes forearm against top’s neck. Top presses down, then releases pressure and pushes arm to the side and traps it with head pressure. Crossfacing arm hooks opposite bicep with monkey grip.

3a: Place free arm on side of head while pressuring with head. Squeeze elbows together.

3b: Place free hand on opponent’s forehead if there’s not enough space to bring it to own forehead. Squeeze.

3c: Can’t secure choke from mount for some reason. Abandon mount – free arm turns palm up. Gable grip with crossfacing arm. Secure hold. Hop off mount. Same side leg as crossfacing arm presses up against bottom’s ribs. Leg of free side arm is straight and posted about even with ear. Crank elbow of free arm toward stomach – take up slack in choke. Head moves toward mat and posted leg slides out.

Rolls:

1st roll: Problems with guard pass. Also, triangled opponent but couldn’t finish – maybe swiveled to wrong side? He definitely postured up to get out, so maybe a little help from Stephan Kesting is in order. Tried a cross-collar choke and couldn’t get the tap, either. At least I was on the offensive for a change!

2nd roll: Mounted but had no finish. Tried to apply class lessons and got rolled. Had problems with the mount escape – probably didn’t block the leg with the elbow before top man advanced too high. I probably should try to buck, too…when the guy’s sitting high in base, its hard to hook that leg with my far leg. Walking the leg out like Emily does in the video might be worth a shot, too.

I jostled around until top dude made a mistake, so I locked down his arm, upa-ed and rolled him, coming back to guard.

Overall, felt good. Had to quit as face was bleeding from a nail rake and didn’t want to bleed all over other people.

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