Grappling in a Criminal Attack

I recently heard a prominent member of the firearms community comment publicly that “we don’t see grappling happen on the street”.  I can only conclude from this that said person is either woefully dumb or willfully ignorant.

Trying to be positive on this, perhaps they are just looking at violence and criminal activity through a narrow lens of firearms, and the only thing of consequence is gun related. While this is understandable, it does not make it okay. Telling the public that grappling does not happen and they don’t need to worry about it will get good people hurt or even killed.

Just to show how foolish this attitude is, here is a video that just came past my feed, and just occurred in NYC. Take a look and tell me what you see.

No guns involved but there is still violence and it most assuredly is a grappling situation. It is even called that by the reporter. Not only is it from NYC where being able to carry a weapon as a private citizen is near impossible, I will be willing to bet that the company she is working at has a specific non-weapons policy. She has few options, and the job itself forces her to be at close range to customers, so it is no surprise to those who have a truly open minded approach to what actually occurs in the real world that when the bad guy wants to take what he wants, and goes to physically impose his threats on her, it becomes an entanglement, and more so a ground fight because those who don’t grapple are far more likely to go to the ground when they don’t want to.

The only thing that saved this woman from death or grave injury was that the criminal did not push it that far. He easily could have.

I would really like the internet expert have a face to face meeting with this woman so he could tell her why her scenario did not actually happen…….

https://nypost.com/2022/05/02/nyc-thief-wrestles-cell-phone-store-employee-video/?fbclid=IwAR39d1OXOIAgF60DR7NjFnd7bTL3NFxIak4XWkamBpHL1miHfqEQ6JKSAaI

Close Contact Handgun OKC, 10/22-23/2022

Close Contact Handgun, OKC 10/22-23/2022

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/close-contact-handgun-tickets-329280375467?fbclid=IwAR1ID0ylBAh_E_BXWNDt3WrqUVqOMQa-QUN-dSb2s54yDUudzTgqC9j1WXM

I will be teaching my Close Contact Handgun coursework in Oklahoma City at the CCWSafe range on October 22-23,2022. I am pumped to be able to bring this class to OK because I think it is the most useful on a daily basis coursework I teach.

This is the fundamental base where we try to ensure that we don’t end up in an entanglement, and we can use our handgun to maximum effect. There is some very minor physical contact in the class, but it is extremely limited, making the course suitable for anyone who is looking to get their feet wet in the close range self-defense envelope. This is a great introduction to the 0-5 yds gunfighting envelope for those who have been hesitant to do so from lack of physical conditioning or little experience in H2H fighting , and has the thumbs up for Craig Douglas of Shivworks (since we shamelessly are teaching a great deal of his material in the course). We have had some great feedback results when we taught this course before, including people who have taken ECQC. We are looking forward to doing it again.

Upcoming Product Review

I am excited to be working with Elite Sports and Born Tough to try out their products. The designs are really nice, pricing is fair, and I am really looking forward to training in their gear to see how it stansk up.

I will come up with a review post once the product testing is done
Keep an eye out for these updates.



Check them out here:

BJJ Rash Guards

BJJ Gi’s

BJJ Shorts

Hold Fast

I think TV and movies gives us a false impression of what success or winning looks like. We always imagine those things to be like the end of Rocky 2 with us holding up the championship belt.

The truth is that sometimes winning is small. Sometimes the victory is in taking one step forward when everything screams at you to pull the covers over your head and hide, or just standing upright when the hurricane is doing its best to blow you over, or even just getting out of bed itself. Stepping on the mat when you feel like doing anything but, or lifting that weight that feels too much today, or showing kindness to a stranger when you feel the world not being kind to you. All of these are definitive wins.

Don’t lose heart and Hold fast.

Seminar: NPE Counter Robbery June 10-12, 2022 Meadhall Range, OK

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/npe-counter-robbery-tickets-235673123657

There are two kind of handguns that we can use for self-defense – Going to Trouble guns, and Getting Out of Trouble guns. While we would all prefer to carry full size duty guns with multiple spare magazines (Going to Trouble guns) as our EDC set up, the fact is that most of us cannot 100% of the time. Because of various restrictions – whether legal, social, or environmental, we often have to defend ourselves with gear that may not be the best when we are shooting fancy drills on the square range (i.e. Getting Out of Trouble guns). Instead of bemoaning that truth, we need to spend the time working on being able to run our actual carry to the best of our ability. That is what this course is all about.

In this class, we will look at how to effectively shoot and manage the smaller handguns that are typical of a non-permissive environment – i.e. snub revolvers and small autos like the G43 or LCP. We will learn to maximize our performance in shooting as well as accessing and drawing these guns. We will also integrate the shooting with understanding how to recognize and deal with impending violent criminal assault, and how to use OC spray and physical responses alongside our firearms. Most importantly, we will put these practices into actual use the exact same way we will have to use them in the real world; NOT the artificial constraints of a flat range.

Students should be ready to work hard, but everyone can go at the most appropriate pace they need. This is not a class for “operators”. This is a course for everyday folks who want to defend themselves and their loved ones from realistic threats, and your physical condition or experience level does not matter.

Students will need their carry gun, as many spare ammo carrier/loader set ups as they can manage, a quality holster (no SERPAs or FOBUS rigs allowed), 300 rounds of ammo, one blue gun and holster for the blue gun, notebook and pen, and an open mind. Also, this will be an opportunity to try different carry positions such as pocket or ankle. There will also be time and opportunity to try out other small guns that the student may not have the chance to run before.

Friday – Intro to pre-assault cues, pre-fight threat containment and MUC, OC use, and live fire safety briefing

Sat – 1st block: live fire, familiarity with drawstroke from various carry positions, tricks with small guns

2nd block: MUC and reactive or proactive physical response

3rd block: OC usage drilling and integration with verbals and movement, congruency with physical responses

4th block: live fire

Sunday – 1st block: live fire

2nd block: defending against the entanglement

3rd block: moving in crowds with a gun in hand (blue gun)

4th block: final drill/test

Austin TX Seminar 8/19-21/22

I will be teaching my foundational coursework in Austin, TX for the first time on August

I really like what I have experienced of Austin so far, and I am excited to spend some time there. This will be my only time in Texas for 2022 so come on and jump in!

Some of the things covered are:

Surviving/defending/escaping from the bottom
Getting back to your feet / staying upright
Defending against strikes on the ground or clinch
Denying the attacker weapon access – understanding technique, positional hierarchy, and timing
Proper role of “dirty tactics”
Multiple opponents
Essential training principles, methods, and drills
Underlying concepts and mindset for the clinch in a self-defense context
Dealing with the sucker punch/ambush
Fundamentals of the clinch
Controlling the entanglement
Disengaging and making distance for escape, weapons access or orientation reset
Performance coaching and troubleshooting
Structuring and balancing your training for a real world lifestyle

Sign up here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/immedia…s-265325735417

To sign up with a 50% deposit, just use the code “DEPOSIT” at checkout

Entangled Weapons Fight – Again

There are a lot of takeaways from this video that we can talk about, but I want to focus on two in particular. I am going to discuss these two because they get overlooked by the majority of people in the training community, and when these issues do get talked about, it tends to be intellectually vapid or ignorant. So we are going to take a moment to dive a bit deeper and hope that some people listen.

The first thing I would like to draw your attention to is the fact that this fight goes to the ground. And how it goes there is the important point. Neither the attacker nor the defender tried to go to the ground. Moreover, they were on a flat, even, and level surface, with little to no obstructions in the way, and yet, the attacker went to the ground by slipping. Think about that – on a flat surface, when he was doing what he wanted (to willfully attack another human being with a sword), and was moving forward in a straight line, he still slipped and fell. HE WENT TO THE GROUND THROUGH NO INTENTION OF HIS OWN.

All the internet experts who decry going to the ground seem to overlook this scenario, and they certainly overlook how often it happens. I have yet to meet someone who at some point in their life has not stumbled and fell. And that was almost always during normal events and probably moving forward. How much more likely is it to happen when you are suddenly taken by surprise and have to fight for your life and start moving backwards? It happens quite often, as any viewing of real world videos will tell you (unless you have intentional blinders on).

The other part that I would like any reader to think about is what happened after the attacker fell down. The defender was able to gain enough control of the weapon to stop the attacker from doing what he wanted, unlike when both were on their feet and unattached. The fight became an entangled weapons fight on the ground, and that is what allowed the good guy to stay alive. If they had stayed upright, there is a fairly good chance the good guy would have taken a lot more damage from that swinging sword. Being on the ground is what made him able to win that fight.

But Cecil! According to many experts, these things never happen so this video must be fake! And yet it isn’t. It is real. And it is another in a longggggg line of entangled weapon fights that happen to private citizens on a regular basis.

What is interesting to me is that many of the people who insist that weapon grappling never happens for non-police also will either teach or talk about the need for disarming or gun retention skills. Yes, let that sink in. Apparently some of the people who teach this as an important component for defensive firearms use don’t realize that disarms or retention are….wait for it…….entangled weapons fighting.

I have literally hundreds and hundreds of documented instances of this happening, and I will be posting them regularly now, as well as going back to writing about the historical instances of these scenarios. Hold on tight, it is going to be a bumpy ride.

Austin TX seminar – August 19-21, 2022

I am very excited to announce that I will be teaching my fundamental coursework in Austin, TX on August 19-21. It will be my only coursework in Texas this year and it will be a blast.

Contrary to popular belief, many empty hand fights and those involving weapons, end up entangled, either standing or on the ground. No amount of pontificating or self-proclaimed “expert” posturing will change this simple fact. If you ignore this reality, you may very well find yourself in a situation you cannot handle with disastrous consequences. This course is designed to give the layman a realistic and functional set of concepts, techniques, methodologies, training drills and experiences that will prepare them for a worst case grappling scenario. All techniques and concepts are high percentile applications which span a wide spectrum of confrontations. Training consists of presentation, drilling and Force-On-Force evolutions providing attendees with immediate feedback regarding the efficacy of the skills learned. The goal of this course is not to create a “ground fighter” or grappler. The objective is to provide attendees who have limited training time and resources with solid ground survival and escape fundamentals geared toward the increasingly violent weapon based environments they may live, work and/or travel within. And all techniques/concepts are from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, and Boxing and are combat proven over the past 80 years by thousands and thousands of practitioners, including the U.S. Army.

These methods are for everyone regardless of physical condition – young, old, male, female, athlete or not – You DO NOT have to be a professional fighter to perform at a functional level. This will be a class about physical training, but it is NOT boot camp. Participants may go at the pace that is comfortable for them, while trying to push the envelope of their own individual performance.Requirements: loose, comfortable but durable clothes, mouthpiece, cup, notebook, and an open mind. Boxing or MMA gloves are strongly encouraged, but are not mandatory. Blue Guns and matched holsters, and training knives are a good idea, but there will be loaners available.

Surviving/defending/escaping from the bottomGetting back to your feet / staying uprightDefending against strikes on the ground or clinchDenying the attacker weapon access – understanding technique, positional hierarchy, and timingProper role of “dirty tactics”Multiple opponentsEssential training principles, methods, and drillsUnderlying concepts and mindset for the clinch in a self-defense contextDealing with the sucker punch/ambushFundamentals of the clinchControlling the entanglementDisengaging and making distance for escape, weapons access or orientation resetPerformance coaching and troubleshootingStructuring and balancing your training for a real world lifestyle”

All delivered in a professional, ego free manner.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/immediate-action-combatives-seminar-austin-tx-tickets-265325735417

2022 Seminar scehdule (so far)

 January

  14-16

IAC

Meadhall Range, OKC

register:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/immediate-action-combatives-real-world-application-in-a-weapon-based-env-tickets-167916238991?ref=eios&fbclid=IwAR1rncBeFsNEmGc4lzt6vS5jgI1qwRFyzxqLgs5YJRXJQrf7whTjX_SsJNY

February

24-30

IAJJ/IAP

Fairfax, VA

register:    https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cecil-burch-immediate-action-combatives-tickets-172156995207

12-13

John Murphy – Concealed Carry: Advanced Skills and Tactics

(IAC hosting)

Phoenix, AZ

Register:  https://www.fpftraining.com/fpf-calendar/concealed-carry-street-encounter-skills-and-tactics-phoenix

March

 11-12

Close Contact Handgun

Casa Grande, AZ

Register:   https://independencetraining.square.site/product/close-contact-handgun/10?cs=true&cst=custom

25-27

Rangemaster Tactical Conference

Dallas, TX

April

 1-3

IAC

Royal Range, Nashville

Register:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/immediate-action-combatives-course-nashville-tn-tickets-169686076623

May

 June

 10-12

Counter Assault in an NPE (Bolke, Burch, Haggard)

Meadhall Range, OKC

Register:   

July

TBD

IAJJ/IAP

Tulsa, OK

Contact:  aarond1atcox.net

August

September

11-12

Entangled Handgun

Indiana

Contact:  TBA

TBD

IAC

PNW

Contact:    TBA

 October

1-3

NPE Counter Robbery w/ Darryl Bolke, Chuck Haggard, Cecil Burch

LaCrosse, Wisconsin

Contact:  robin@resiliencedev.com

 November

4-5

Entangled Handgun

Phoenix, AZ

Contact:  https://www.independencetraining.com/contact-us/

TBD

Craig Douglas (IAC hosting)

TBD

Casa Grande, AZ

Register:  

December

LEg Locks for self-preservation

Leg locks in a self-defense context

In the past Leg locks tended to be looked down upon in the BJJ community. Historically, there are three reasons this was so.

  1. They were seen as cheap because they generally only were used when nothing else better could be done. When someone could not pass guard, or stay on top, or finish from the top, leg locks were the answer. It was a mark of someone who was not that good at jujitsu.
  2. They cause a lot of needless injury in training. Leg locks are mostly applied against the knees and ankles, which are much weaker in construction than other body parts, and there is a much narrower window of the start of the submission to the point of injury. With a kimura for example, unless there is some underlying physical condition, most people can take a lot of movement and articulation before things tear and break. With the knee especially, only a very tiny range of movement can blow out the ACL and leave someone needing surgery and long recovery.
  3. Until recently, they were more of an “add on” to jujitsu, and therefore there was a lack of congruence with those attacks versus the typical BJJ offense. In other words, with most proven attacks like a straight armbar or a rear naked choke, it came out of positional dominance. With leg locks, they more generally were sudden moves that either worked spectacularly, or failed miserable because they were not positional based. That has changed over the last few years, mostly through the work of the “Danaher Death Squad” and the Renzo Gracie gyms, but it was true for most of the past.

These issues with leg locks do matter for self-defense as well. Obviously the injury part is important. None of us can afford to be on crutches for six months because we needed ligament reconstruction after a session of drilling leg attacks. And that idea of them not being integrated into the conceptual matrix of “position before submission” is key because while if it fails in competition or training, it is just an ego crush, but for self-defense it could be your life.

But along with those concerns, there are two other problems that need to be taken into account with leg locks when we are dealing with the self-preservation idea.

The most pressing is that to do almost any reliable leg lock you need to use both your arms to control and attack the legs. But when you do so, that leaves your opponent’s arms to be completely free to do whatever he wants to include defending and countering your leg attack, as well as striking, or the crucial part that he can deploy and use a weapon.  We don’t see leg locks in MMA to the extent that we do in grappling only matches because just adding the striking component makes it more complex and difficult. Just imagine how much worse it could be if the person getting locked could pull a gun, knife, etc.

The other problem is sort of a corollary to the above paragraph. While leg locks can be extremely painful and can sap the will to fight from someone (as someone who has been injured by leg locks, I can tell you there was not much I wanted to do afterwards but hold my knee and try not to scream), you are relying on a lot of pain to end the fight rather than damage. Yes, having your knee blown out can end the fight, but since you are already on the ground, and it does not affect the arms, if the other person can overcome the pain they are still capable of fighting at a high level. That is not so true with arm attacks since turning a two armed fighter into a single arm one can be a good way to diminish their capacity to continue, and it is obviously not true at all with chokes and unconsciousness. And some leg attacks don’t even cause injury but are pure pain compliance, such as calf crushers.

One place where leg locks can work even in a streetfight/self-preservation scenario is when we stop looking at it as a technique to finish, but rather as we look at all other submissions in BJJ – as a positional control first, and only after that as a finish in and of itself. For example, my friend Craig Douglas of Shivworks has shown video from his flagship ECQC coursework where students have used the set up of a leg lock to control the other person and instead of finishing with the leg attack, the student instead deployed a weapon. Think of the ashi-garami control that John Danaher shows as integral to his system of leg attacks. This is where the idea of leg attacks have been mated with the BJJ principle of dominant positional control before the submission and it makes the use of leg attacks a bit more functional outside of grappling mats.

Neither of these two issues should completely preclude the use of leg locks, but they need to be understood and addressed. Understand when they should be used, and when they should not. I would also not make it a priority for people under purple belt level. I think the normal focus on positional dominance and limb control, as well as high percentage fight finishers like chokes should be the main focus until the student is at least with a few stripes on his blue belt.

All aspects of BJJ should be trained to some level, but that does not mean that each aspect is equal in efficacy.

Jiu Jitsu | pugilism | edged weapons | contact pistol