Caution: The contents of this article are for education purposes only. The principles described are extremely dangerous and are for military close combat training and operations only. Their application applies solely to the military.
What would you recommend from your close combat for a fighter with a short reach to combat those lanky type fighters.
First of all get out of the take on mentality and look at employing dirty tricks or improvised weapons to attack the attackers limbs and then major vitals.
If under attack and you cant evade off of the confrontation line and counter attack you should shut your attacker down by securing and finishing him toe to toe to negate his reach and power.
Remember to employ over kill and ravage multiple exposed vitals on the front foot not going back or from stationary.
You can fight multiple angles to make yourself a hard target if required to constantly keep your attacker in an off centre position where he must turn to engage you giving you reaction time and safety.
How would you attack the eyes if you did not want to cause serious injury?
I employ the bent fork hand formation that can be found in my manual phase one close combat.
This bent finger formation reduces the risk of finger dislocations for you.
Straight finger thrusts to the eyes pose a higher risk of injuries to the digits.
The bent fork formation when used as a flicking type attack tends to impair the vision temporarily over causing permanent injury.
That is not saying that permanent injury will not result from such an eye attack.
Over all it is generally safer for all concerned, more discreet and has commonality with European combative hand formations.
What dates is the next annual course in New Zealand for overseas visitors.
March 27th until April 1st and you can find details at www.closecombatschool.com
There will be vacancies for 100 exponents in phases one through three and they will be filled quickly as with every year.
I have been caught out in training when attacking from a side guard with a leg stamp by occasional hand strikes to the head.
I live in Melbourne Australia and do not have a Todd Group instructor here at present.
Do you have a replacement instructor planned for Melbourne in the near future?
You need to practise your leg stamp from a side guard in phases checking your position at each phase of employment.
Start with the set up lead foot only step crouch and lead arm cocking distraction.
Then perform the trailing leg deep and wide diagonally forward sliding cross over manoeuvre that must include the back hand positioned on the back thigh for stability and the front arm in the cover guard position.
This is your coiled position ready for the final explosive leg stamp action.
Your chin must be tucked inside your shoulder and against your chest, this will reduce jaw breaks and knockouts and will ensure if you receive head contact the chances are it will be with the rounded top of your forehead.
This cranial bone is shaped to deflect blows and the cranial bone is the toughest of bone in the human body.
Many a boxer's break has been caused by contact with the old melon.
The final kicking action is where you are most likely making your execution error.
You need to check that when you raise your leg stamping leg to execute the leg stamp that you employ not only a firewood breaking type diagonally downward and forward leg stamp but also simultaneously crouch back over your rear stability leg which will ensure you are out of hand strike range.
The whole manoeuvre should resemble a baseball home base slide in manoeuvre and a stamping action to break the base mans forward knee joint.
If you have a phase one manual follow the phases of employment step by step from it.
In regards to Melbourne the instructor I had there has joined the police and has moved away.
I have had some inquiries from former service persons from Victoria that have indicated they want to travel to NZ to complete exponent and instructor training and testing phases with view to setting up a Todd Group depot in Victoria.
I will advise every one of any new depots via Fight Times.
We do get a lot of coms from your area re there only being martial arts based styles and hybrids of the same and no European military close combat instruction or qualified master instructors.
The problem we have is that we are operating at capacity with our duties and all our instructing team are fully committed.
We simply need to train and test more instructors but its getting individuals that are combat smart and are tough enough to pass the testing phases.
I have heard that you have conditioned your hands for fighting can you tell me if you used the potion used by Chinese kung fu.
No my hand toughener was made for me by a former military pharmacist who has now retired.
He did however give me the recipe for it some years back.
It is chemical based and not herbal based.
The kung fu potion you refer to is completely different and I have given friends of mine that use the Chinese kung fu product some of the chemical based product and they said the military hand toughener worked quicker and better.
It does take several weeks for the toughening to be complete and the skin to return to its normal look.
I have not used it in many years and the skin is still tough but durable where I applied it like leather.
If you had a thrown weapon directed at you would you try and catch it or guard against it.
I would evade it and keep my arms down to avoid making my physical size any bigger than necessary.
As soon as I had caused the object to miss I would either attack or escape, whatever was the desired option.
Never raise your guard against a missile type weapon prior to or during evasion or make yourself any bigger than you need to.
The only time you would raise your guard against such an attack is when you can not make the missile miss and need to cover your major vitals by raising your guard and covering your head with your arms, muscles out and arteries in as well as crouching to protect from your head to your hips and tucking your chin inside your shoulder against your chest.
Hi I would like to ask if you can assist with a problem I have brought about by age injury and being overweight.
I have difficulty in getting up from the ground in training because of my old stiff joints.
It is made worse when I am on the ground and being punched and kicked while trying to get back up safely.
I recommend you can defend yourself on your side or back by kicking at your opponent's legs if required.
To get back to your feet you need to turn on your side and keep facing your opponent with your upper leg acting as a prop and your lower leg acting as means of attack or counter attack.
When it is safe to do so slice your lower leg in relation to the ground under your propping leg in a scissors movement.
Next use the palm of your hand of the arm closest to the ground to push yourself up to a kneeling position on the knee of the lower leg.
You can employ counter kicks with your forward bent leg if required and simply from this kneeling on one knee position rise back up to standing.
I have visited the Todd Group on many occasions and I thought I would like to explain what makes the close combat there very special and different.
Firstly it is the facility itself being of over 75 years as a training facility, I have not been to any other or heard of any other close combat facility that has that kind of history.
Secondly it is Tank's lineage that no other instructor can lay claim to.
NZ is very fortunate in having someone of his calibre and such a visionary who saw the importance of being trained by the military close combat greats.
He when no one else was interested or had the drive and commitment to do so travelled at great personal sacrifice and trained and qualified.
He has since trained some great instructors and they come from all parts of the world and professions.
He is a military special operations chief instructor of over a decade, testament to his being the best of the best and his assistants are very highly skilled.
You meet people there that are Olympians, the military elite of elite, world-class fighters of many codes and more black belts learn their self defence there than anyone would ever realise.
The great thing about it is that it's a very irregular type-training place just like the military elite forces type CQB.
You don't have formal training uniforms and there's no class structure and rank means very little, certainly no I'm better than you badges or patches.
You are either the instructor or the exponent and there is no overt attire that separates the rank and file just like on specialist military courses.
You certainly don't need cotton dockers and embroided polo shirts or screen printed rank on flashy tracksuits.
The exponents often are former or still serving military personnel and they are at home in that environment and it attracts the professional combatant.
The PC come liability regulations that have affected many practises have not been allowed to change anything at the Todd Group and everything is earned the hard way.
The Todd System is just that, a complete system that provides all the skills required to achieve the end result and that are all-common too each other and fit together.
Most CQC training I have seen is like single techniques from different arts for different tasks and lacks being complete and often is opposing in structure and application.
The Todd Systems have been very carefully developed and formulated from European military origins so they provide a completed and proven means that is very similar in principle and practices.
Not everyone has what it takes to succeed at the Todd Group and I have seen many with much experience and with big reputations fall victim to committed beginners or drop out once they were exposed to real close combat training and especially under testing.
Yes there are risks involved and there are no protector's referees or judges but the training must prepare you for combat where you can only rely on yourself and there are no rules.
I believe this is one of the attractions that bring the top class exponent's operators and instructors to the Todd Group time and time again.
They simply want the best training possible and the instructor who has been trained and qualified by the worlds best.
On one course assisting Tank there were military chief instructors from several countries including super powers elite forces chief instructors and many more exponents from military units around the world. The senior members at the Todd Group include veterans from World War Two, Korea, Vietnam and most theatres of war since.
You simply don't find such experts at other private courses.
They want to train and test themselves to the limits and be in the company of others of the same mentality.
Finally it's a long trip for many to New Zealand but as there is no substitute for the best when it come to your close combat and self defence skills everyone aggress that's where they want to be.
I remember reading previously your thoughts on non-slip grips for knives but can't find the information again when I need it.
Could you enlighten me again and does the same principles apply to baton's.
While there are many materials and patterns and designs used in hand grips if you are looking for the best and most secure the following is good advice.
This was one of the questions I put to Col Applegate when I visited him for training in the 80s.
I was in the process of designing a special operations dagger myself and was looking at the Fairbairn Sykes type handgrip pattern.
Col Applegate informed me that this was not the best option today and then gave me an Applegate Fairbairn dagger and some spare hand grips with the broken lines running lengthwise rather than around in the threaded manner of the Fairbairn Sykes.
He said in extremes the threaded pattern was prone to turning in your hand in situations where there was impact with a hard material and when there was blood, sweat, water or mud or any lubricants involved.
He said with the broken vertical lines in the handgrip there was far less chance of turning or slipping.
He said some knurling patterns were superior to threaded patterns depending on the machined material.
He showed me his long straight riot stick and how the two grip positions positioned evenly in from each end of the riot stick also had vertical lines to prevent turning.
I guess many of the designs today we see in batons and combat knives do not do the same research as the late Col Applegate.
I also like canvas based micada as a material for the hand grips of daggers or knurling on nylon or alloy batons and vertical line grips that are approx ten or fifteen mm apart for long riot sticks.
I did the same experiments as Col Applegate had and found the same results.
Hope this helps with your project.
Interested in Close Combat Training? Todd Group Depots are located throughout New Zealand and at various overseas locations.
For more information on Todd System of Close Combat see the following books, dvds and cds:
- Close Combat Books
The Do's and Don'ts of Close Combat – Tactical C&R – Control and Restraint – No Nonsense Self Defence – Military Close Combat Systems Phase One – Combative Masters Of The 20th Century - Close Combat DVDs
Self Defence of the Elite – 80 Years of Combative Excellence – Primary Option Control & Restraint – Military Unarmed Combat – Phase 1 - Close Combat CDs
Technique To Command – Combative Code of Conduct
