Combination 16 off of what attack?

Posted on April 25, 2008 by matt

There’s a thread going on over at martialtalk addressing the point raised (in various places) that the combinations don’t necessarily need to be trained off of only a step through right hand front punch. Many of us already address the problem in a variety of ways, but the point was raised that perhaps there are ‘ideal’ attacks that the combinations are designed to address. In this youtube video, Joe Rebelo applies his experience and some critical thinking to combination 16:

“Kenpo Joe” Rebelo,Massachusetts Co-Vice President of the Karazenpo Goshinjutsu Black Belt Society,Demonstrates the combination/defensive Manuver #16. Karazenpo Goshinjutsu is the parent art for New England Based Kenpo/kempo styles as well as Shaolin Kempo. KGS was founded by Victor “Sonny” Gascon. For more info, go to www.karazenpogoshinjutsu.com
NOTE:I inadvertedly state that Adriano Emperado is from Karazenpo, when in fact he is one of the founders of the Kajukenbo system.Please accept my apologies for the “verbal faux pas”.

So, first, is this the correct approach, and second, did he draw the correct conclusion? There are a lot of variations on 16 out there. Does your version apply here, or do you have a different answer? I’m saving my opinion for later as not to bias any comments.

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I could beat this intruder with my eyes closed.

Posted on April 24, 2008 by matt

Legally blind man teaches alleged intruder a lesson – Yahoo! News

Stories like this give me the warm fuzzies. I think that it brings up several important points. First – visually impaired folks would do well to learn a contact / grappling based self defense system. Second – a knife can be a great equalizer apparently. Third – this is where the spirit portion comes in. The fellow here pretended it was Christmas and he was Santa. He just didn’t give a darn what he might get, but he sure gave. I’m glad it worked out okay.

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Book Review – The Clinch by Mark Hatmaker

Posted on April 24, 2008 by matt

I recently picked up The Clinch, the fifth book in Mark Hatmaker’s No Holds Barred Fighting series. I’ve long been a fan of tie-ups, and have been working the clinch range with a particular student, so I picked up this book to look for some ideas and some pointers. 

Mark Hatmaker’s books are inexpensive, and usually dense with information. He comes to mixed reviews with folks either loving or hating him at both Bullshido and Amazon. I’ve purchased several of his books, and find them a bargain. 

As far as this book goes, if you are new to the idea of using the clinch as a range, this book will have a wealth of information for you, including types of clinch, conditioning drills, how to insert and defend strikes, and even basics like circling and pummeling. If you’ve wrestled or done judo, much of this will be a rehash. 

If you actually intend to use this book for NHB or self-defense, you can pretty much skim the collar and elbow section, as it doesn’t suit environments that involve striking. This seems an unfortunate little twist in a book directed at the NHB market. It seems strange that on one hand he says that the collar and elbow is more suited to straight grappling since it’s neutral and leaves too much room for striking, and then shows how to insert strikes in that clinch. 

I liked the rest of the book, but thought that some of the throws were a bit ‘low percentage’. The number of photos and combinations presented gave a large amount of material to try just for experimental purposes.  So, if you feel like you have limited options in the clinch, and would like an inexpensive resource to mine for ideas, consider The Clinch. 

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