General Combative Preparedness

Reg Wong has mentioned this concept to me a few times of "General Combative Preparedness" and I thought I'd bring it to the forum and see if I could get the Wong to post a bit about it...

Reggie?

It really isn't that much of a specific concept richie bao

Its more about creating confidence.

I beleive more in making someone capable to fight then to just teach them how to fight. This means the ability to handle chaos and stress. The person has to realize although they are not superman, they usually are capable of taking much more, such as a rugby player does not mind getting tackled because they know it wouldn't kill them after being tackled a few times while your average guy thinks the tackle will just destroy him because he have never endured the stress to realize they are capable against that. When you fight for real alot of the situation are not ideal at all because people will try to take advantage on you, so the training for that has to mimick it.

What I have done with students are:

1. During normal sparring, i will suddenly have a third party join in. This usually will catch them off guard at first but gradually they will start to develop a subconsious awareness towards these things.

2. If one guy were to perform a drill where he has to use a cover and crash technique against ballistic punches, i will have him perform loads of push ups or do clean and press to almost failure. Then force them to always have their hands up. Again this is not for technique building but for stress handling. So the next time if he has to do his cover and crash without the "pre-fatigue" he would have much more confident because he know he have done worst.

3. Creating anchors from daily life. Often times at home we may bump our shins, crack our heads against cupboards and alot of little but often painful small incidents, whenever you have that, try to throw a strike to the air with intent or immediatley perform a "beta-8" sequence in the air. In time, you will develop an anchor that whenever you recive pain, you will only think "hit back" instead of saying "Oh shit."

These are just a few examples.

I think its a wicked concept, focusses on attributes over techniques

Reg Wong's "G.C.P. drills" a series of articles? Come on Reg it'll look good on your c.v. laaaaar!

My sword teacher trained us to immediately cut when we got hit, as a reaction to the physical sensation of pain. He also trained striking when you felt especially pressured or were back pedaling. He also trained keeping a defense whenever you were in range, even after you got a good hit on your opponent or felt you were 'done'.
He would also do the 2 on 1 thing and hit you from behind whilst you were playing with someone else.
He also kept a folding knife by the bed, and would get up out of bed every morning, pick up and open the blade, and throw it at a target as soon as he woke up - first thing he did as he opened his eyes. Said it did wonders for his focus and concentration.

I like anchors. Anchoring aggression to pain is good. Also, you've probably seen how people go into brainlock when they become confused. In a fight something unexpected happens, and there's that moment of O --> O --> D --> A ...well it's only a split second but in the meantime the other guy(s) is happily pummeling away. Come to think of it Rory Miller mentioned this in his book. Creating a stimulus-response relationship for certain things so it's just O --> A. Anyway, point is, linking the sensation of doubt or confusion to immediately striking to the head might be wise too. I.e. whenever you fuck something up in training, immediately go for closest target. Don't even realize you've screwed up. Just go right off the first tingle of confusion.

i really love this stuff. and i'm glad to hear others instituting it and validating it.
i've done stuff with my guys with 'side-pressures', but i've sort of hodge podge
been trying to use reverse psychology when i get psych-down moaning with my guys.

i keep getting miffed when i hear one of them say, "i'm not going to be punching
as hard today because i've got chest congestion" etc...the list is potentially endless.
i've been trying to 'reverse' this with brain washing.
eg/// "you should be thinking, you're going to pay a penalty for starting something
with me when i feel this shitty" and "man are you fooked that you're starting something
with me when i'm injured"

or if falling--using it as an insentive to really blast and focus/lock on...etc. i've been
looking at it as 'counter-intuitive' brainwashing. i've been making the last five 'reps' of
anything they ever do on the pads be the most explosive no matter how pathetic it's going
as it approaches this point--telling them the last thing is what they take away with them.
i've sort of started a new thing with myself that is helpful. my school has loads of tall lads
who don't understand personal boundaries and often attempt to heavy hand one in social
situations. i used mild fence like hand placement to constantly 'watch my boarders'. i keep
the smiles going so it simply appears to be a mild mocking--sort of, "that's great mate, keep
your hands to yourself" jocularity. it's actually really satisfying and lends toward appropriately
staying switched on.

i really like the mentioned bit about bumping your knee, etc...at home and using the moment to
explore an aggressive response that is associated with being struck--rather than a freeze. i'll have
to explore that. i've considered slapping my students lightly while they do pad work but i'm
slightly worried if i'll like it too much

personally i think to be generally prepared you have to work on a few things :-

1 = GENERAL FITNESS - train regular and varied. use body weight exercises, stretches, resistance bands, weights for explosive work and get stamina above average. i feel that you could be great with techniques but your not fit OR fitter then the average person your doomed to fail.

2 = TECHNIQUES - my CORE belief in combat is to be straight to the point and being efficant. anything that isnt pretty much direct can cost you dearly when the cards are down on the table. i find that if you have a good under standing of styles such as boxing, muay thai and definately some form of grappling you are better prepared. i strongly belive that keeping your techs simple and to the point can help massively. for example in boxing if you had say 4 good 3-4 hit combos that your really good at and can call on at anytime iot almost becomes second nature. ANYTHING flashy or over complicated should be dumped.

3 = UNDERSTANDING THE BODY - some times i think that thi is over looked. i think understanding how your body naturally reacts in times of stress and suprise will give you those very precious seconds you need to react. when your suprised you cover up, crouch and protect your weak points NATURALLY. also when stressed or "frightened" its understanding the body and its use of adrenaline that will also help.

4 = THE BROKEN "ON" SWITCH - thisis something that i teach people is that you have to be aware of were you are, whats and who is in that space. making this second nature will ALSO speed up your reaction to any form of assault. listen to your feelings. if you feel that a place or person isnt right and your at a disadvantage get out. give yourself options.

hope you liked this.

DT

DT,

nice point///

"3 = UNDERSTANDING THE BODY - some times i think that thi is over looked. i think understanding how your body naturally reacts in times of stress and suprise will give you those very precious seconds you need to react. when your suprised you cover up, crouch and protect your weak points NATURALLY. also when stressed or "frightened" its understanding the body and its use of adrenaline that will also help. "

i like your set up--nice routine. i have my own small brick walled off area too. i call it 'the lab'. behind
me is a collosal hunk of metal--generator or airconditioner...or spaceship [who knows]. either way,
loads of privacy.

-Russ

routine? from the above post or on the youtube channel?

either way thanks for the compliment

DT

darktim99 wrote:

3 = UNDERSTANDING THE BODY - some times i think that thi is over looked. i think understanding how your body naturally reacts in times of stress and suprise will give you those very precious seconds you need to react. when your suprised you cover up, crouch and protect your weak points NATURALLY. also when stressed or "frightened" its understanding the body and its use of adrenaline that will also help.
DT

We consider this to be very important and we refer to it as B.A.R. "Bodies Anatomical Response" or "Bodies Automatic Response" It is taken into consideration in everything we do.

Roadkill said///

"We consider this to be very important and we refer to it as B.A.R. "Bodies Anatomical Response" or "Bodies Automatic Response" It is taken into consideration in everything we do."

cool focus

Tim [a.k.a. DT] said///

"routine? from the above post or on the youtube channel? "

i was referring to the youtube clip--but all the above would apply either way

thnaks roadkill AND russell.

glad you like were im coming from on all that.

and thanks for that russ. i like to train hard.the vids on my tube account are increasing power in my shots. but work on tech and speed too. you wont believe how fast your punch power grows with one those wall bags and just going hardcore with it.