SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - Managing Unknown Contacts

Managing Unknown Contacts by Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas)   I’ve been on the road now teaching citizen self defense courses for about a year, and it’s been very educational for me. I’ve been able to improve my own course work based on student feedback and more importantly I’ve been able to prioritize the presentation of my material. As everyone probably knows at this point I’m a fanatic about contextually underscored training. We should always be examining the problem and focus our solutions accurately. ...

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SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - The ConditioningCorollary and Victim Selection

The Conditioning Corollary and Victim Selection by Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) Slowly but surely the gulf between various unarmed camps is steadily decreasing. Traditional martial artists, mixed martial artists, and so called "reality based self defense" trainers (I've come to dislike that word) are taking tentative, small steps towards each other. One of the major issues that abounds is the role of conditioning in combative outcome. I think we all agree that it's important, but the major disagreement seems to be on how important it...

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SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - Training Structure & the Criminal Assault Paradigm

Training Structure & the Criminal Assault Paradigm by Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) THE SELF DEFENSE PROBLEM   Today, self defense and protection training is more prolific and available than ever. It seems that on every street corner there’s a school that teaches self defense and in every magazine there’s a new ad every month for the ultimate protection system. With this market saturation how does the concerned citizen make an informed decision as to what school or instructor offers them the best and most appropriate product? One...

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SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - The Myth of Proportional Armament

The Myth of Proportional Armament by Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) Usually when one takes training or instruction what they are receiving is an instructor’s vision of a confrontation and the means to prevent or manage such. A lot can be gleaned about someone’s reference points to the realities of self defense, by examining the methods they espouse. This is important from the standpoint...

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SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - Battle Glad and Strife Eager

 Battle Glad and Strife Eager by Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) In the June 2002 issue of Soldier of Fortune magazine an article by Bill Bagwell titled "The Blade in War", was published. The piece is a historical overview of bladed combat over the ages. Bagwell begins with a look at how many casualties were inflicted in various battles over history in his treatise on the lethality of edged...

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SELF-DEFENSE: Southnarc (aka Craig Douglas) - A "Systems" Approach to Building a Profile

“SouthNarc” is the on-line pseudonym for Craig Douglas.  He worked in a multi-agency drug unit, in the southern United States, hence "SouthNarc." He has served in Law Enforcement since 1990 and has held line assignments in corrections, patrol, narcotics, and investigations. SouthNarc has over thirty+ years background in Phillipine, Indonesian, Brazillian and Japanese martial arts and is a veteran of the U.S. Army. He has been conducting training in the private sector in the U.S. and abroad for the past 5+ years. IMO, he is one of...

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MENTAL EDGE: Mental Training by Xen Nova

My friend Xen Nova is training to be a MMA fighter. He was asked: "When did you know you were ready to fight?" Below is his article-length reply lol.  Enjoy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is entirely based on your psychology and what you need to do to prepare yourself. You say you're former SpecOps, did you see any action? Have you been in very high stress situations before? Most people haven't so the jitters are very new to them. If you're familiar with it then you...

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Thoughts on "Techniques" vs "Fundamentals" and "Reading" by Joe Silvia

Techniques can only ever be the assemblage of principles. They are slaves to the fundamental principles. However, in this day and age instead of looking for the triangle point, the locking arm, power transfer, disrupting structure and posture, and reading your opponents intent and momentum, people force a technique on reality. The reality is READING....like a QB on a football line will give you the feedback and data you need to create a SPECIFIC solution to that SPECIFIC moment in time...

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MMA: 2 Concepts for Throwing/Sweeping - "Locking Arm" and "PowerTransfer" by Joe Silvia

Exceprt from Spladdle Forum's Epic Clinch Thread: UFC130 Frank Mir X Roy Nelson Mir's throw was a Whizzer with a leg reap. He did not actually have two overhooks, but an overhook with elbow control. Bear with me, as this little concept will deepen one's understanding of wrestling in specific, and grappling in general....whether standing or on the ground sweeping. Your arms when throwing or sweeping (when on the ground) share one of two...

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MMA: The Clinch - Fundamentals and Drills by Joe Silvia

Excerpt from Spladdle Forum's The Epic Clinch Thread: Introduction I have generalized the clinch into a Fibbing Clinch & a Grappling Clinch. Generally speaking you are either holding and hitting or working for a takedown/sub. BOTH begin with the base camp philosophy....posture, facing, spacing, breathing, head position, etc. Let's merge these. With ANY tie up, you can either grapple or fibb. What do both have in common? Tie ups. So in essence, there is one clinch (tie ups). Fundamentals Forehead position: Notice I don't say HEAD POSITION....if...

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MMA: Guide to the MMA Shoot by Joe Silvia

Introduction A proper "shoot" in MMA seems to be a rare creature. I think I saw one of them on the Sci-Fi Channel's paranormal shows. :) While I am just kidding, it does seem that the success of shooting has dropped considerably...and/or never was that high to begin with. A few of the reasons in my opinion, are that the shoot is being done by people new to wrestling and that wrestlers haven't modified the shoot for MMA. What we are seeing is people shooting that have recently learned the wrestling version or people shooting using the setups...

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MMA: Utilizing Triangle Points when Striking by Joe Silvia

While many of you are familiar with using the triangle point in the clinch and the ground, you also can use it in the stand-up. If you have an opponent who is walking you down, if you strike his body INTO his triangle points, your punches will have slightly less power, but will have an off-balancing quality to them since you are projecting power into his break in balance. The possible outcomes of hitting into his triangle point: Stops him...

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MMA: The Jab's Role in MMA by Joe Silvia

The jab is perhaps the most important tool in boxing and in MMA, however the set-ups, function and objectives with a jab are 180 degrees different. The distance that is just right for you depending on your height, limb length and style and not so good for "him" is called a measure. In boxing you use two limbs and two tools to attack, however in MMA you have four limbs and have eight tools to attack with so the measure is different. In the street...

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Added an Email Subscription Option for my Readers

Hello: *Bows deeply* I have been jammed with Real Life and had various computer issues, therefore, I've not posted in a timely fashion like I used to. For what it's worth, I'm getting back into the groove and hope you join me in my Sojourn in the Martial Arts, Self-Defense, and Life. On the Sidebar to the right, you should see a widget "Subscribe by email". I figured providing this option may be better time management for you. Clicking that...

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MMA: Some Stand-Up Fundamentals by Joe Silvia

My friend Joe Silvia is a MMA coach who wrote a series of articles. Joe is better known by his screenname of  "Ausgepicht" on a few Martial Arts forums. With his kind permission I will be putting his articles up on my site. Without further ado, here is the first of his articles:  Some Stand-up Fundamentals. I hope you find it useful in your training! MMA is a game of inches and mistakes and never more so in the stand-up range. Because...

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IN MEMORY OF: Joe Lewis (March 7, 1944 – August 31, 2012)

Source pic:  Kenpocomics.com Joe Lewis, a legend in the Martial Arts, passed away 8/31/12. From Wiki : In July 2011, he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Doctors told him that if he did nothing, he’d have six to eight weeks to live. On July 18, surgeons removed the tumor. “He had the best doctors, and they think they did a good job of getting it all out,” said Dennis Nackord, Lewis’ senior black belt. Lewis died one...

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