Practical TKD Self Defence Tips

Discussion in 'Tae Kwon Do' started by Thomas, Feb 20, 2004.

  1. ap Oweyn

    ap Oweyn Ret. Supporter

    Sorta. :)

    It was continuous but not simultaneous. Now that would've been like being surrounded in a fight. As was, it was largely an awareness and reaction-type exercise.

    You hear a number. If nobody in your field of vision moves, then someone is about to smack you in the back of your head. And you'd better have the reactions to do something about it.


    Stuart
     
  2. mattsylvester

    mattsylvester One proud daddy!

    Nope :) Seriously, I buy clothes (including work clothes) that I can fight in. I have split the odd pair in the changing room :)

     
  3. sean

    sean THOR!

    lmao :)
     
  4. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Here's a neat tip one of our students brought in (he's a martial arts instructor in the US Marines now):

    Practice taking the takedowns and joint locks into handcuffing situations. Practice using handcuffs on the guy or practice using the "zipper strips" to tie them up. Zipper strips are cheap, light, and legal to carry. By doing this, at the finish of a lock, you can immobilize them without having to knock them out, break a joint, or expose yourself to as much danger extracting from a lock or hold.
     
  5. rtkd

    rtkd Z-boyz

    a few posts earlier there was talk of the "gauntlet", its very similiar to what we train with. we also do variable to this by having the whole class lined up the length of the gym in 2 line facing each other about 4 mtrs apart. The instructor chooses a student and he goes to the front of the class and turns around( facing the other way from the class).
    the instructor then goes and give numbers to various students (silently so the student at the front cannot hear). once hes done, the choosen student at the front of class will turn around and walk through the middle of the 2 lines at a normal pace.
    the instructor wiil then proceed to call out the various no. one at a time and whoevers no. is called out will trys to attack the student walking through the middle. they can come from behind,infront and from the side with all different attacks. the attacked student will counter and defend him or herself. and keep walking till they get to the end of the gym.
    another self defence technique all m.a.'s should train is defending themselves from the sitting down positon. ( imagine a train seat etc.) our gym has movable benches so its easy for us to pull them out and train with them. u dont want to be seated while an attacker is standing over u so it helps u train in striking and standing up fast (balance)
     
  6. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Nice post... we also do some techniques from a sitting position...
     
  7. saku39fan

    saku39fan New Member

    A simple student's self-defense question....

    hello, i'm new to this site, but i read through all these posts, and man, i wished i had at least one of these great ideas during a week. I reached 1st brown in WTF/Olympic based TKD. My master showed us the "beauty" of groundfighting and a demo of black belts disarming a knife attack a la Hapkido. This was the only reason I stayed. Around the time I got brown belt, the master's daughter was the head instructor when he was busy, tired, gone, etc. She made us do forms every class she was involved, and only forms with the occasional days of bagwork. The self-defense techniques got less and down to no time in class. (Some 1st degree black belts were getting rusty) I eventually left for reasons that stereotype TKDs "weaknesses".

    Sorry....but getting back to topic, I was wondering what could a guy like me who loves submissions but with a really bad habit of high (and currently sloppy) roundkicks do? I mean i love the idea of bobbing, slipping and weaving, but laziness to train and fear of getting of popped cleanly in the face makes me automatically try to shoot in or at most clinch. But you guys mentioned MULTIPLE attackers and Weapons. I don't know about my school, but I was wondering what moves are taught in you TKD schools to deal with clinch-range fights. I mean, I know fights and arguments shouldn't lead up to this close of a position, but when I see schoolfights pre-emptively I usually see the "macho/bravado/gangsta" right-shoulder-to-right-shoulder intimidation shoving daring and cursing into throwing the first hit. (This happened to a Muay Thai dude I heard about, where he hesitated because the other guy intimidated his pride with a big mouth, and he got decked) I GUESS MY POINT IS, WHY DOES A CLASS HAVE TO BE SEPARATED FROM A SELF-DEFENSE SEMINAR WHERE AND WHEN THE "ATTACKER" IS ALLOWED TO CURSE (like a drunk) TO SIMULATE THE STREETS. IT WOULD HAVE SAVED MY FAMILY TIME AND MONEY IF MY OLD SCHOOL DIDN'T SEPARATE THESE CLASSES. I mean I took it for self-defense, hoping for some "special" techniques, but didn't have the gall to use them IF needed. I mean I'm a wuss, but still, did the school have to charge extra for "extra" self-defense? I read through the post, but I more then likely skimmed some and skipped others, but hopefully I'm not too off topic and didn't annoy or offend anybody if this question is redundant.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 15, 2005
  8. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    What a great post!

    You are absolutely right in that WTF TKD training does not have to be done separately from sled defence style stuff. The skills and techniques can be modified and practiced for both worlds. Unfortunately, mnany schools only focus on one area.

    Getting skills with dealing with weapons and multiple attackers are very real concerns (as well as the awarenss and prememptive striking). If your school is unwilling (or unqualified) to teach this stuff, you need to take action.

    Here's my advice
    1 - ask at your school for more self defence stuff (copy some of the ideas from this thread and ask)...

    2 - Get out and do some cross training and seminars to work on the skills you realize are lacking in your arsenal
     
  9. NaughtyKnight

    NaughtyKnight Has yellow fever!

    Firstly I would like to thank Thomas for such a great thread and information.

    I used to be dead scared of being punched in the face, and after a year of being taught to just block. When my opponent threw a punch i used to batter it away. This is no easy feat when your facing someone who is alot stronger or bigger that you.

    After a whileI realised that the best way to defend a punch, or a kick, was to move the heck outa the way. I know that it sounds simple and a stupid thing to say but I know that most traditional martial arts (a huge sweeping generalisation i know) advocate the use of blocks in a self defence situation.

    I find the best way to train to dodge an incoming punch, is to use a pole to simulate the blow. Just grap a pole and swing it front of you as fast as you can. Look how fast the pole moves. Now get your sparing partner to hold the pole and starting slowly swing it in a downward arch towards your head. Slap it with the hand that your moving in the direction of and get out of the way. Gradually speed up the swing, and make sure that your partner is actually aiming at you. There is no point practising to dodge a blow that isnt aimed at you.

    After around 10 mins get your partner to throw a punch. You will laugh at how rediculously slow the punch looks and you will find yourself reacting before the punch is even anywhere close to you.

    The same can be done to simulate a roundhouse kick to your ribs. Just use an upward arc from the whatever side.

    I have been in a few situations where i have had to defend myself. Im serious, even with the adrenalin flow, the punch is nothing compared to a pole slicing through the air. If you train long enough you will automatically slap the punch out of the air.

    Make sure after the movement is made that your teach your students to follow with a devestating counterattack. My fav is the side kick into the back of the kneecap.

    Hope that I given some good advice.
     
  10. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Try out some of your open hand drills (punch-parry) with one person using a stick. The concepts are the same but the distances and angle of attack changes!
     
  11. NaughtyKnight

    NaughtyKnight Has yellow fever!

    Check out Sang H. Kim's dvds on www.turtlepress.com. There is a few great ones about both teaching TKD for selfdefence, and also how to use your existing training for self defence.
     
  12. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Another suggestion that came up was a variation of the circle attack drill... except you can call the attackers in at random, add multiple attackers, and also throw in (training weapons) to use.

    Something we focus on for multiple atackers is looking for the "escape"... like the door/exit.
     
  13. Liamtkd

    Liamtkd New Member

    Sticky hands

    Has anybody tried practicing the sticky-hands drill with knives (or practice knives)...
    i've done a lot of work with the drill, using striaght punches, hook punchs, elbows and knees, working up to blindfolded drills etc, but not tried with knives yet, something i ill move onto now i thought of it!

    FYI, the drill to which i refer (im sure its got loads of names, we just call it 'the drill') basically works like this:

    two people face each other, both with the same leg back in a fighting stance,
    one throws a straight punch in with their (for now) right hand,
    the defender blocks in with a left palm,
    they then go underneath their 1st block with their right hand and make a hook block, grabbing the wrist,
    next they, still holding the wrist, rake down the opponets out-stretched arm with their left outer forearm (or just push the opponents arm away with same blocking tool), and let go of the arm with the right hook block.
    finally, they throw a right striaght punch into the opponent, the roles reverse and we start again.

    this can be used with TONNES of attacking techniques, but i've just used the striaght punch to explain (sorry if it makes no sense). Ive also been quite specific with the attacking/blocking tools, but this is just to help people who anr't familiar with the drill to have a bit of a go.

    What you really want to try and go for with this drill is a nice smooth set of movements,
    1,2,3,4 (inward, hook, push, punch)
    1,2,3,4 (inward, hook, push, punch)
    etc, without any gap or pause in between any of the techniques.
    The reason one of the names given to this drill is 'sticky hands' is because you should never leave contact with the opponents arm/hand. This leaves you free to concentrate on what the other arm/legs are doing.

    if this makes no sense, please tell me and ill see about sticking some photos online.
     
  14. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    Good stuff so far, any other ideas?
     

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