Post by Eli on Oct 9, 2004 2:15:25 GMT -5
This is an email from Jason Stanley at www.karatetips.com , just read it and tell me if the title fits.
Hi Mike!
I want to tell you a funny story - I'd actually forgotten about this but since this week's focus has all been about wrist locks, it reminded me of a time where I had to use a wrist lock in an awkward situation - and I thought you might enjoy it.
3 years ago, before I moved to the US some friends and I threw a huge party at our house. It was a New Year's Eve Eve party - yes 2 nights before New Year!
Anyway there were about 80 - 100 people at our home and later into the night things started getting a little out
of hand (Australians tend to be like that!).
A friend of a friend (let's call him Mr.B) for some completely unknown reason thought it would be a great idea to pour a can of beer on my head. He held the can high in his left hand and with his right hand he grabbed my shirt - bad move!
As he tipped the can and beer started to pour out, I
instantly had hold of his right (grabbing) hand with my left hand by curling my fingers underneath and placing my thumb on the back of his.
I asked him to stop, but he kept pouring, which of course left me with a couple of options...
1) Strike him - which would have been inappropriate in this situation!
2) Apply some pressure to the wrist of the hand that grabbed me and control him to the floor.
I chose the latter option, peeling his hand away to the
outside line of his body and bending his wrist back towards his elbow.
I only applied a little pressure to unbalance him and put
him in an uncomfortable position to give him an opportunity to stop and avoid embarrassment - but instead of stopping he vigorously shook the can on me.
Of course this led to me applying the lock much harder. As his elbow rose up toward the line of his shoulder we reached the point of no return!
In a split second he hit the floor and I was in control of
his arm - and yes, he was embarrassed.
But get this! This is the killer.
As if that wasn't enough... He then runs out of the room and grabs another can of beer, shakes it up, opens it and tries the same thing again!
Didn't Mr.B understand my reaction to the first time he did that!
Obviously not!
Slow learner!
So this time we repeated the process, but I was a little
tired of his attitude so I improvised.
This time as I applied pressure to his wrist to unbalance
him, I also stepped in towards him and with my right arm made a ridge hand type strike (commonly called a "clothes line" or "coat hanger") across his chest/throat and swept with my right leg to aid with the takedown.
The result?
Mr. B leveled out at about mid-thigh height and slammed to the floor.
Now I'm not telling you this for any other reason than it's a good example of a situation where striking, gouging or kicking in the groin would have resulted in a nasty finish - not to mention the legal consequences if he ended up unconscious or injured.
But in this situation I remained in control without striking and "my friend" remained uninjured - minus a bruised ego.
By learning and using locking/pressuring techniques it is
possible to control a situation without resorting to
striking. And that's something that you have to weigh up in a split second when it happens.
You have to take into consideration things like how badly you're threatened, how much damage you could possibly do, witnesses to your incident and legal consequences.
Sometimes there is a fine line between danger and
annoyance, and making the right choice is critical!
Anyway, have a great weekend!
I'll be chatting with you next week.
Warmest regards,
Jason
Hi Mike!
I want to tell you a funny story - I'd actually forgotten about this but since this week's focus has all been about wrist locks, it reminded me of a time where I had to use a wrist lock in an awkward situation - and I thought you might enjoy it.
3 years ago, before I moved to the US some friends and I threw a huge party at our house. It was a New Year's Eve Eve party - yes 2 nights before New Year!
Anyway there were about 80 - 100 people at our home and later into the night things started getting a little out
of hand (Australians tend to be like that!).
A friend of a friend (let's call him Mr.B) for some completely unknown reason thought it would be a great idea to pour a can of beer on my head. He held the can high in his left hand and with his right hand he grabbed my shirt - bad move!
As he tipped the can and beer started to pour out, I
instantly had hold of his right (grabbing) hand with my left hand by curling my fingers underneath and placing my thumb on the back of his.
I asked him to stop, but he kept pouring, which of course left me with a couple of options...
1) Strike him - which would have been inappropriate in this situation!
2) Apply some pressure to the wrist of the hand that grabbed me and control him to the floor.
I chose the latter option, peeling his hand away to the
outside line of his body and bending his wrist back towards his elbow.
I only applied a little pressure to unbalance him and put
him in an uncomfortable position to give him an opportunity to stop and avoid embarrassment - but instead of stopping he vigorously shook the can on me.
Of course this led to me applying the lock much harder. As his elbow rose up toward the line of his shoulder we reached the point of no return!
In a split second he hit the floor and I was in control of
his arm - and yes, he was embarrassed.
But get this! This is the killer.
As if that wasn't enough... He then runs out of the room and grabs another can of beer, shakes it up, opens it and tries the same thing again!
Didn't Mr.B understand my reaction to the first time he did that!
Obviously not!
Slow learner!
So this time we repeated the process, but I was a little
tired of his attitude so I improvised.
This time as I applied pressure to his wrist to unbalance
him, I also stepped in towards him and with my right arm made a ridge hand type strike (commonly called a "clothes line" or "coat hanger") across his chest/throat and swept with my right leg to aid with the takedown.
The result?
Mr. B leveled out at about mid-thigh height and slammed to the floor.
Now I'm not telling you this for any other reason than it's a good example of a situation where striking, gouging or kicking in the groin would have resulted in a nasty finish - not to mention the legal consequences if he ended up unconscious or injured.
But in this situation I remained in control without striking and "my friend" remained uninjured - minus a bruised ego.
By learning and using locking/pressuring techniques it is
possible to control a situation without resorting to
striking. And that's something that you have to weigh up in a split second when it happens.
You have to take into consideration things like how badly you're threatened, how much damage you could possibly do, witnesses to your incident and legal consequences.
Sometimes there is a fine line between danger and
annoyance, and making the right choice is critical!
Anyway, have a great weekend!
I'll be chatting with you next week.
Warmest regards,
Jason
I regret that you have but one life I can take for my country - warlock