Urban Combatives training day

So another great days training today with the lads. New additions today being Cathal and Paddy. The lads who have been training with me are the lads who work some close protection details with me, so the new additions are great as we open the classes up.

Today we drilled our main artillery working through the different strikes, cultivating impact, aggression and forward pressure. Once that was down we looked at an introduction to the sharp edge programme, designed by our lead man Lee Morrison and dedicated to the edged weapon.

As we only had one hour to dedicate to the module, we looked at;

Soft skills:

What is an edged weapon - by design and by improvisation
Current knife statistics from the Irish government
Video footage of live knife assaults as a learning tool
Photos of knife victims and wounds as a learning tool

Hard skills:

A knifers MO
Common knife concealment
trapping the draw (working off a rear deployment)
Breaking the structure and blasting the low line/followed by palms and elbows
Progression to trapping the draw

That's as much as we could get through in one hour and still not giving it proper justice but Lee always says, with your class, get them used to the concepts of the edged weapon programme from the beginning, knives are so common these days, to miss the opportunity to cover it is a mistake.

To finish the class we did some combative conditioning. Sprints, to press ups to burpee jumps reeling into knees and elbows to fatigue. A good days training had by all. Next week we'll add to the edged weapon module by dealing with the blade now in play.

Just give me a shout if you want to tag along, and stay tuned for www.combatives.ie

Tóg aire :)

UC training group

Great class today with the lads covering the ballistic stiking module from the UC syllabus. We're going to open things up a bit to anyone else who wants to train in UC. The lads training with me at the moment are a tough bunch who work with me on security detail, some close protection stuff we do from time to time, having said that anyone is welcome to tag along, you'll be made very welcome. There is always room for beginners.

Next week we're going to have a look at some of the 'Sharp Edge' stuff dealing with knife concealment and deployment. We'll also look at fending the knife to crash and counter drills.

Should be fun. Bring a gum shield ;)

Urban Combatives

There's nothing like knowing you've put in a good days training. I'm sat here now at 21.50pm, sore as hell, bruised and a wee head ache. I am surprised? Of course not. I was at a UC seminar. I haven't seen Lee for a while nor have I trained with him for about 12 months, so I was relishing the chance to catch up with him and Rob and put in some 'flight time'.

Lee's an interesting guy. I said that the first time I ever met him, interesting but enigmatic at the same time. He's a really great laugh and commands presence, but underneath that there's the other Lee, there's a darker side that has cultivated itself naturally over years of turbulent violent surroundings. These surroundings would have twisted the psyche of many a good man, the interesting thing about Lee is how he uses this experience to help others, he trains people now to avoid what he had to face as a young man in life and as an occupational self protection operative and security operative. Lee number two persona, to use a Jungian concept, is under lock and key until it's needed, and from time to time during one of his sessions you get to a peek at the attributes that make Lee famous for what he does. Lee's aggressive, incredibly fast and powerful, with a low centre gravity, wide frame and attitude to beat the band, he is your typical fighting machine.


Bear all that in mind now as I give my thoughts on the seminar and the fact that I'm his assistant for the day. Assistant is probably the wrong word, maybe the word victim is more accurate.

The seminar covered all the aspects of weapons. Edged weapons, blunt ballistic weapons, concealment, deployment, and the use of CS gas. Bolted onto those subjects were the concepts of flanking, preemption, body language cues, continuous counter offensive assault and take downs. It was a lot to fit into one 5 hour seminar, but as usually we covered a vast amount of the topics and finished up with a quick look at the possibility of live firearm hold ups, which was interesting to say the least.

Lee was in great form as he rounded up his summer finishing off a string of European seminars with this Irish one. He is only back from France and before that he was in Finland the Czech Republic and was a visitor to Kelly McCann's Crucible in the US. It's been a busy year as UC continues to expand as more and more people realise its usefulness way above any of the already better known "self defence systems" out there.



Being Lee's assistant for the day is always fun. You get to feel first hand the raw power on the end of the shots, you get to feel the blunt thud of the steel training knife as we drilled the counter knife stuff, if the blunt weapon causes so much pain, imagine the real thing! And that's why we train with an element of realism. You get to feel what forward pressure is actually about and why it's a vital cog in the wheel of self protection training.

The most interesting component of Lee's seminars however is the mindset module. Lee talks a lot about the need for a combative mindset. There is no point in learning any self protection concepts if you're not paying heed to your own mental approach. Mental approach is everything. One lesson he delivered this time round about mind set was about some of the nonsense being marketed which helped you "survive" an assault.

"Survival is a cop out" Lee says.
" If you get jumped upon by a nasty bunch of thugs, similar to those animals responsible for the death of two Polish men here in Dublin a few years back, and they give you a pasting the result being, you're brain damaged so much so that your paralysed from the neck down, or you're cut so severely that you are disfigured for life but you survive - that's a cop out"

"you have to train to win. You MUST prevail" Anything below that is not what our training is about.

Now that is the epitome of UC. For Taekwon-Do people, that is indomitable spirit. There's so much to be learned by people in the field of Combatives. Lee will be back again soon and we're already looking forward to it.

It's coming up to that time again, a time when some of the students get ready to test for 1st degree black belt. It's a great time in Taekwon-Do life when this time comes around and years of training finally have an end in sight.

End? That is the puzzle. Is it the end or is it only the beginning? Well that depends what you intend to do with your black belt and your training afterwards.

The black belt signifies a time in your training when all your preparations get recognised and you only begin on your journey. It also symbolises all that time that you have spent with your club and instructor training, sweating and learning. A black belt is one way a mutual bond. Well to some anyway. To others it is a status symbol, a trophy and a misunderstood level.

Other than my own thoughts on what black belt means, I think General Choi's opinion of what he wanted Taekwon-Do black belts to be is most important, so here is what he wrote about it. It can be found on page 727 of the condensed encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do.

First Degree - Expert or Novice?

One of the greatest misconceptions within the martial arts is the notion that all black belts holders are experts. It is understandable that those unacquainted with the martial arts might make this equation. However, students should certainly recognise that this is not always the case. Too often, novice black belt holders advertise themselves as experts and eventually even convince themselves.

The first the degree black belt holder has usually learned enough technique to defend him or herself against a single opponent. He or she can be confirmed fledgling who has acquired enough feathers to leave the nest and fend for him or her self. The first degree is a starting point. The student as merely built a foundation. The job of building the house lies ahead.

The novice black belt holder will now really begin to learn technique. Now that he or she has mastered the alphabet, he or she can begin to read. Years of hard work and study await him or her before he can even begin to consider him or herself an instructor and expert.

A perceptive student will, at this stage, suddenly realise how very little they know.

The black belt holder also enters a new era of responsibility. Though a beginner, they have entered a strong honourable fraternity of the black belt holders of the entire world; and his or her actions inside AND outside the training hall will be carefully scrutinised.

Their conduct will reflect on all black belt holders and he or she must constantly strive to set an example for all grade holders.

Some will certainly advance into the expert stages. However, far too many will believe the misconception and will remain in novice, mentally and technically.

General Choi Hong Hi 1918 - 2002

Founder of Taekwon-Do