"THE SECRET"

hi guys. hope alls well.

in the street boxing thread, i think, was talking about bareknuckle stuff. my grandad ddi some in his youth round the 40's and 50's. when i started doing MA when i was a kid he was telling me to do boxing and "leave the pajamas at home" LOL. BUT he told me :-

"THE SECRET OF THE IRON FIST. taught to me by an old chineseman". as he said.

and he goes . its improvised weapons we would call it now BUT it makes sense. he's what he told me :-

"this secret is a big one BUT its very small" he started and i was like "?" when i was a kid.
"how can you do that?" i asked him.
he pulls out a battered swan match box. "the secret fits in he!".
he then tells me that the secret is made up of 4 things BUT when you add a 5th thing it works.
he opened the matchbox and in it was:-
* 2 AA size batteries
* 1 match stick
he went on to say "the 2 batteries fit perfectly into the match box. BUT there is a little space left and thats were the match goes to keep it tight inside the matchbox and it also tells you if it has worked. clsoe the match box (which was the 4th thing) and wrapp around it a tight, tight, tight fist (THE 5th thing). and when you hit someone with it its like your hand is made of iron. you know if its worked because when you punch them as hard as you can the batteries weight and the tight fist makes it harder. the batteries bend slightly on impact which breaks the match. thats how you know its workd!"

he carried that in his coat poket always and said was better then a gun because you could never be arrested for having it.

i dont know if indeed he was told this sectret from an old chineseman or if he made that up to make it sound ultra cool. but i'll say this. it works and the batteries and the match IN the box DO fit perfectly! i wish he was now alive now that im MASSIVE into all this now. i'd love to talk to him about the old days and what he did in the fights he had.

hope you enjoyed.

do you have any thoughts on this or any similar type of stories?

DT

Ah, the old fistload basically. I've never used one but it definitely should enhance the structural integrity of the fist. It just takes all the "spaceyness" (though there's not really any space with a proper fist) out of the fist. And it makes very much sense for bare knuckle as from what I understand it the way advocated by the old-timers was to aim for hitting with the entire flat area formed by the fist, rather than the knuckles. For your own sake of course. It obviously decreases the force delivered per square inch. But that formula works both ways. Fist and face. Over the fist; who cares about soft tissue damage to the face, when your real goal is to rattle the insides of the skull around to knock the guy out. The fistload definitely supports the fingers, straight through to the palm. It should be taking a whole lot of springiness (although that was a chop) out of the hand. I'd only support the three lower fingers though so you don't get the knuckle of the index finger sticking out. While I don't have a matchbox, the AA batteries I tested did fit the three lower fingers well, while leaving the index alone.

just goes to show really that it works and you can se how.

That's pretty cool thanks for sharing!!

and...a bank roll of quarters also works pretty good

no probs. im happy to share it with people who will know what it is.

a rol of pennys? i think thats also a good one. headloads is a good subject and i feel maybe overlooked recently. i remember it usewd to be a big thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuzIX8v2edY

this link lends to the whole improvised weapons theme.

what you gus think about improvised weapons. any favs and any stories?

From the discussions I've had with my teacher and others, and from what I've read, they really are only good for buying you the time that you need to do what you really need to do - run away, or knock em out the game.
You can't rely on pain compliance, and you can succeed in just pissing someone off more, by some half assed attempt, if you don't follow up.
Don't get me wrong, rocks, dirt, pennies, chair whatever, all good things to think about, but it's possibly not going to be enough without follow up - get the hell out of dodge, or 'take out the computer'.

Nice. I have a few of his other DVD's. Unarmed, knife, etc. Good stuff. Actually you can say there are two different kinds of weapons in this category.

Improvised weapons

and

Weapons of opportunity

Put a rock in a sock and you have an improvised weapon. Same goes for the batteries and matchbox fistload. You need to do a bit of work, but get a tool from it. Thic typically breaks with the law to some degree.

Weapons of opportunity are more relevant. Anything you can grab and apply is a weapon of opportunity. It it has natural qualities such as weight, harness, an edge or a point, and so on. Then it is ready for use. I agree with Maija on the use of the weapons. Most clutter laying around is only good for being thrown in the enemy's face as a distraction for doing something real and conclusive. Cups, bottles, spoons, CD's, books, food, etc. But sometimes you have things like a steaming hot cup of coffee, a brick the screwdriver, a steel pipe, and so on, which can stand on their own as weapons.

The keys and pen-knife from the clip seem like a waste of time. You would probably be able to do more damage in less time with your bare hands. We are tool using animals. We feel safer with an object in our hands. A lot of the time when people discuss improvised weapons, it seems like the feeling takes presedence. Without actual effectiveness getting it's rightful focus. In the end that is all that matters.