fighting

0297 – AAR on ICE Training Extreme Close Quarters Tactics Course

April 26, 2012 by PaulCarlson Leave a Comment

Right now I am hanging out in the lobby of my hotel working on processing and recovering from day 1 of the ICE Training Extreme Close Quarters Tactics Course. Today was a good day. I made it through without major issues although a solid inventory of the day and my skill level leaves me wishing for another month to prepare and another crack at the course. At the same time, I know that my skill level has increased substantially in the past 24 hours. Baby steps…

0297 - AAR on ICE Training Extreme Close Quarters Tactics Course Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (744)

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Filed Under: Firearms Training, Podcast, Training, Tweet, Unarmed Combat Tagged With: bjj, close, cqb, extreme, fighting, jitsu, ju, quarters, rolling, techniques

0130 – FF Bar Fight Turns to Murder

March 18, 2011 by PaulCarlson Leave a Comment

0130 - FF Bar Fight Turns To Murder [ 14:07 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (266)

Bar Fight Turns To Murder

Totality of the circumstances

Fighting

Mutual combatants

Hands up

Looping left hand

Escalation of violence is not what we are after

Filed Under: FF, General Safety, Podcast, Unarmed Combat Tagged With: bar, combatants, fight, fighting, murder, mutual, violence

0123 – Carry What You Train With, or…

March 9, 2011 by PaulCarlson Leave a Comment

0123 - Carry What You Train With or... [ 10:51 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (286)

Each of us has our favorites in life. Favorite food, favorite car, favorite movie. The list goes on. What makes something our favorite is probably different from person to person but if we were to try and generalize about favorites we might assume that favorites are things that we have a positive history with, things that make us feel comfortable, things we can count on.

Favorites aren’t limited to the comforts of life. Let’s face it, we ALL have a favorite handgun! The question that I pose to you is, if you have a favorite why isn’t your sweetheart stuffed in your waist band right now?

I spend a good bit of time on the internet. While I am there, I am working for the most part. Promoting my company, researching trends in violence, searching for good topics for podcasts. Well last night while spending some time with friends on the GRRN forum a thread drifted (they all do don’t they) to the idea that people should carry the gun that they train with. Hmm. Novel idea. When I started thinking about it we probably train with our favorite gun the most.

Now there are some good reasons why you might not want to carry your favorite gun.

If your favorite is an ivory stock Colt SAA
If your favorite is an old design that is unsafe
If your favorite is a caliber that is inappropriate for self-defense

you might want to rethink carrying your favorite. But if your favorite would be a great choice for a training course, now we’re talking.

What I find interesting is that the people who show up at a course with a full size pistol often put that full size or even the compacts in the safe and then slip that sub compact in their pocket as their daily carry piece. To me this just doesn’t make sense.

I don’t have a problem with little guns. What I do have an issue with is carrying a gun that you don’t train with. as I see it we really have two choices and I’m ok with either.

Carry that favorite gun that you train with.
- change your wardrobe a bit
- get a new holster
- do what you need to do to get that favorite pistol on your body concealed
Train with the gun that you do carry.
- take your micro gun to the range and shoot it
- compete with your micro gun that you carry
- the next time you take a defensive handgun course shoot the small gun you carry

When we decide to carry a concealed weapon we are making a commitment to our safety. Don’t let your pistol be a security blanket. Train with your carry gun or carry the gun you train with. If you follow this rule, you will have a viable defensive weapon. You will have a trusty favorite!

Filed Under: CCW, Every Day Carry, Podcast Tagged With: carry, ccw, CHL, compact, concealed, course, CPL, defense, defensive, fighting, fundamentals, handgun, pistol, self, self-defense, sub, sub-compact, train

0114 – Tools of Unarmed Self-Defense: Your Knees

February 24, 2011 by PaulCarlson Leave a Comment

0114 - Tools of Unarmed Self-Defense: Your Knees [ 13:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (223)

The premier striking tool we posses as unarmed combatants is without a doubt our knees.

Advantages of the knee

Built of bone
Surrounded by powerful muscles
Can be deployed when we are tied up up top

Disadvantages of the knee

Range
Stability
Patella

Technique

Strike with the knee of the leg that is to the rear of our fighting stance
Lift the foot and drive the knee straight into your target
If the opportunity arises to strike upward
- Strike with the knee of the leg that is to the rear of our fighting stance
- Lift the foot and drive the knee up and forward into your target

Targets

With an attacker directly in front of us any part of the body from just above the height of our knee to just below our belt is a reasonable target
Targets of opportunity

Comments about hands, elbows and knees

My comments have often directed to situations where you and your attacker are both standing
These unarmed defensive skills are applicable in a wide variety of situations
- Attacker and Defender on ground
- Attacker on top
- Defender on top
- Attacker on ground Defender standing
- Attacker standing Defender on the ground
Our target of choice is the head but we must be ready and willing to strike any target of opportunity that presents itself.
There is not one strike that is better than any other strike in every situation
- We must consider the fact that we will need to work in combinations
- When the focus is up strike down
- When the focus is down strike up
- Same is true for left and right

Filed Under: Podcast, Unarmed Combat Tagged With: aggressive, awareness, combat, defense, encounter, fighting, hand, self, self-defense, threat, unarmed, violence, violent

0113 – Tools of Unarmed Self-Defense: Your Elbows

February 23, 2011 by PaulCarlson Leave a Comment

0113 - Tools of Unarmed Combat: Your Elbows [ 11:19 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (219)

Episodes 0111 and o112 laid some strong foundational information for the remainder the podcasts that will deal with the fundamentals of unarmed combat. Make sure you have given them a good listen before you continue on through the remainder of the unarmed combat podcasts.

Elbows

can be very powerful when delivered correctly
more rigid than blows delivered with the hand
require closer proximity to our attacker

Elbows (Forward Elbows)

Used for a close target that is generally forward of our position
Technique
- From guard, simply rotate hand to the centerline so that forearm is parallel to the ground
- Elbow leads in a forward circular motion, followed by shoulder, torso and finally forward weight shift with your lower body.
- Strike with any part of the forearm the closer to the tip of the elbow, the better!
Targets
- Opposite side of the head through the center of the near side of the head
- Fragile nature of the head
- Small mass vs. the large mass of our entire body striking through the elbow
- Other targets of opportunity

Reverse Elbow

Used for a close target that is generally to our rear
Technique
- From guard, simply rotate hand to the centerline so that forearm is parallel to the ground
- Elbow leads in a rearward circular motion, followed by shoulder, torso and finally rearward weight shift with your lower body.
- Strike with any part of the upper arm, the closer to the tip of the elbow the better!
Targets
- Opposite side of the head through the center of the near side of the head
- Fragile nature of the head
- Small mass vs. the large mass of our entire body striking through the elbow
- Other targets of opportunity

Filed Under: Podcast, Unarmed Combat Tagged With: combat, combatives, defense, dominate, elbows, encounter, fighting, fundamentals, self, self-defense, unarmed, violence, violent