# Hi from Sherman Self Defense! ^_~



## Sherman

Hi! I am new here. My name is Sherman. I started  out in Aikido when I was 18 or so. Got my black belt after about 10  years. Then I learned Shorinji Kempo (Japanese Shaolin branch) until I  was 2nd Kyu. At the same time, I picked up a bit of Wah San and Pak Mei  Kung Fu. These days, I train more with my friend who was a street  fighter as I discovered that most of the martial arts I know doesn't  work against him. Recently, I have started my own Youtube channel on  Self Defense based on what I have learned: 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBmbdxq9eG0vYMHTjSSoaUcLL0y87-yj5. 

Here is a sample episode:





Anyway, nice to be here and I hope to get feedback from you guys on  what works and what doesn't. ^_^


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## donnaTKD

welcome to martial talk 

by the way nice vid sir 

there's a thread called "applied centre line theory" (i think)  would be well worth you digging out and watching cos it looks like the stuff that's in your vid


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## Sherman

Thanks for your welcome, compliment, and suggestion donnaTKD! ^_^ I actually found this forum via the "applied centre line theory" thread while I was googling "centerline" when I wasn't sure what the term was for my video. ^_^;;; Anyway, nice to know you and please do check out my other video clips too! More on the way! ^_^


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## donald1

Sherman said:


> Hi! I am new here. My name is Sherman. I started  out in Aikido when I was 18 or so. Got my black belt after about 10  years. Then I learned Shorinji Kempo (Japanese Shaolin branch) until I  was 2nd Kyu. At the same time, I picked up a bit of Wah San and Pak Mei  Kung Fu. These days, I train more with my friend who was a street  fighter as I discovered that most of the martial arts I know doesn't  work against him



Hi,  nice to meet you welcome to martial talk 

Interesting video

n my opinion it can and cannot,  there's some techniques that don't work on people as effective as others.  But it also depends how you use the technique.  I know when I practice techniques they get better through practice and the better I get the more effective they are.  I know a good example in kobudo,  with practicing nunchaku vs bo staff; i thought it would be very difficult to block a bo staff with nunchaku (its still not my preferred weapon but now I can easily block bo staff with nunchaku because I practiced and learned what's effective 

That may not be the case but this is my opinion though 
Best of luck


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## Sherman

Thanks for your welcome and opinion, donald1! Here's another Youtube video that someone from the Bullshido forum recommended me to watch, which might be useful in determining whether training is effective or not notwithstanding the effectiveness of the technique itself:


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## mook jong man

Is this a joke?

Please don't try and pak sau the elbow , that is just stupid.
Parry the wrist , that is the point where you will have the most leverage.
Trying to parry the elbow is like closing the gate after the horse has already bolted , parrying at the elbow lets the punch build up to much power and momentum , its a wonder you haven't been hit already.

If you are going to borrow Wing Chun concepts at least learn to do the damn things properly , and using the centerline effectively means a lot more than just aiming your strikes at it.


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## Tames D

Welcome to MT Sherman.


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## Tames D

mook jong man said:


> Is this a joke?
> 
> Please don't try and pak sau the elbow , that is just stupid.
> Parry the wrist , that is the point where you will have the most leverage.
> Trying to parry the elbow is like closing the gate after the horse has already bolted , parrying at the elbow lets the punch build up to much power and momentum , its a wonder you haven't been hit already.
> 
> If you are going to borrow Wing Chun concepts at least learn to do the damn things properly , and using the centerline effectively means a lot more than just aiming your strikes at it.



I had the same thoughts when watching the video. But you could at least welcome the guy to our god damn site before driving him away, lol.


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## mook jong man

Tames D said:


> I had the same thoughts when watching the video. But you could at least welcome the guy to our god damn site before driving him away, lol.



Yeah you are right , where are my manners?

Welcome to the site Sherman , and say hello to Mr Peabody for me.


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## K-man

Welcome to MT and thank you for sharing your video. :wavey:


To be honest the best part was the defence against the knife. I'm sorry but I am with *Mook* here. The rest is flawed but a welcome thread is not to place to analyse it. On the other hand, I really liked the second video you posted on aliveness. It contains advice that a lot of instructors should take on board.
:asian:


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## donald1

mook jong man said:


> is like closing the gate after the horse has already bolted



What does that mean?


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## Chris Parker

Sherman said:


> Hi! I am new here. My name is Sherman. I started  out in Aikido when I was 18 or so. Got my black belt after about 10  years. Then I learned Shorinji Kempo (Japanese Shaolin branch) until I  was 2nd Kyu. At the same time, I picked up a bit of Wah San and Pak Mei  Kung Fu. These days, I train more with my friend who was a street  fighter as I discovered that most of the martial arts I know doesn't  work against him. Recently, I have started my own Youtube channel on  Self Defense based on what I have learned:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBmbdxq9eG0vYMHTjSSoaUcLL0y87-yj5.
> 
> Here is a sample episode:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, nice to be here and I hope to get feedback from you guys on  what works and what doesn't. ^_^



Hi Sherman,

Welcome to the forum!

As has been mentioned, this isn't really the place for a video critique, however I will say that there are a range of aspects I'd want to bring up&#8230; if you re-post it in another section (such as the "Members in Motion" section).



Sherman said:


> Thanks for your welcome and opinion, donald1! Here's another Youtube video that someone from the Bullshido forum recommended me to watch, which might be useful in determining whether training is effective or not notwithstanding the effectiveness of the technique itself:



Ha, bring this one over as well&#8230; I haven't pulled Matt Thornton and his "aliveness" concept apart for a while&#8230; 



mook jong man said:


> Is this a joke?
> 
> Please don't try and pak sau the elbow , that is just stupid.
> Parry the wrist , that is the point where you will have the most leverage.
> Trying to parry the elbow is like closing the gate after the horse has already bolted , parrying at the elbow lets the punch build up to much power and momentum , its a wonder you haven't been hit already.



To be frank, MJM, I completely disagree with this on a number of levels. Parrying the elbow is preferable to the wrist, as it's a much higher return action&#8230; but it needs to be coupled with a few other things.


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## mook jong man

Chris Parker said:


> Hi Sherman,
> 
> Welcome to the forum!
> 
> As has been mentioned, this isn't really the place for a video critique, however I will say that there are a range of aspects I'd want to bring up&#8230; if you re-post it in another section (such as the "Members in Motion" section).
> 
> 
> 
> Ha, bring this one over as well&#8230; I haven't pulled Matt Thornton and his "aliveness" concept apart for a while&#8230;
> 
> 
> 
> To be frank, MJM, I completely disagree with this on a number of levels. Parrying the elbow is preferable to the wrist, as it's a much higher return action&#8230; but it needs to be coupled with a few other things.



It might cut off the opportunity for them to convert into an elbow strike , it may have more of an effect on their balance because the contact point is closer to the body and cutting out an extra lever.

But bloody hell Chris you'd want to be damn quick and very precise to pull off what he is doing , he has no margin for error.
If he misses that parry on the elbow , he is getting drilled straight through the head.

If I were to do what he is doing , and that is a very big if , I would also step out at angle to get off the path of the punch and have my other hand up to shield or guard.
There is no secondary defence with what he is doing , he has no back up if he misses that parry.


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## mook jong man

donald1 said:


> What does that mean?



It means the punch is already well on it's way to the target before you have decided to do something about it.

Let's put it this way , you have a missile launcher and fire a missile at me.
I have a missile launcher as well that fires an intercepting missile.

Do I wait until your missile is almost upon me before I launch my intercepting missile or do I launch mine as soon as I see that yours has been launched?


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## Chris Parker

mook jong man said:


> It might cut off the opportunity for them to convert into an elbow strike , it may have more of an effect on their balance because the contact point is closer to the body and cutting out an extra lever.
> 
> But bloody hell Chris you'd want to be damn quick and very precise to pull off what he is doing , he has no margin for error.
> If he misses that parry on the elbow , he is getting drilled straight through the head.
> 
> If I were to do what he is doing , and that is a very big if , I would also step out at angle to get off the path of the punch and have my other hand up to shield or guard.
> There is no secondary defence with what he is doing , he has no back up if he misses that parry.



As I said, I'd do it differently&#8230; but the idea of parrying the elbow is solid, and more reliable. It's moving slower than the wrist, it's easier to hit, and offers more control than trying to use the wrist for leverage (which is limited by the fact that the elbow can bend).


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## mook jong man

Chris Parker said:


> As I said, I'd do it differently&#8230; but the idea of parrying the elbow is solid, and more reliable. It's moving slower than the wrist, it's easier to hit, and offers more control than trying to use the wrist for leverage (which is limited by the fact that the elbow can bend).



Well I suppose it depends on what you are trying to do , in Wing Chun we are only trying to shift that punch a fraction so that we can fit our own punch through.

The elbow might be moving slower , but it also takes more effort to try and move , as an experiment  you can get a big strapping young lad to hold his arm out rigid and then you try and push his arm sideways from the elbow and then later from the wrist , and see which one requires less effort.


But at the end of the day , you have your way which works for you and we have our way that works for us.


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## Chris Parker

Except that method of "testing" is a false reading&#8230; an arm in motion is very different to one being held out rigid&#8230; and I'm not Wing Chun&#8230;


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## Dirty Dog

Welcome to MT. Clearly, you'll get some responses if you post your videos in one of the discussion fora...


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## Buka

Welcome aboard, Sherman!


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## jks9199

mook jong man said:


> It means the punch is already well on it's way to the target before you have decided to do something about it.
> 
> Let's put it this way , you have a missile launcher and fire a missile at me.
> I have a missile launcher as well that fires an intercepting missile.
> 
> Do I wait until your missile is almost upon me before I launch my intercepting missile or do I launch mine as soon as I see that yours has been launched?





Chris Parker said:


> As I said, I'd do it differently but the idea of parrying the elbow is solid, and more reliable. It's moving slower than the wrist, it's easier to hit, and offers more control than trying to use the wrist for leverage (which is limited by the fact that the elbow can bend).



Of course, it might also be that you're using different tactics and principles...


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## Transk53

Welcome along Sherman. Nice vid BTW. Will be perusing you're youtube channel


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## Sherman

Wow! So many posts! 0_0;;; Thanks for the warm (and maybe some not so warm) welcome, guys! ^_^ Glad that my introduction managed to provoke some good discussion here! A point to note is that since this is a self defense video series, it is meant to be easy to do and as Chris says, "the idea of parrying the elbow is solid, and more reliable. It's moving  slower than the wrist, it's easier to hit, and offers more control than  trying to use the wrist for leverage." It is also not Wing Chun and my recommended entry in the middle range is the simple "Elbow Up" technique, which also protects your head. Wrist deflections are fine in the long range. Here's my latest video to demonstrate:






Please remember to subscribe if you like! ^_^


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## jezr74

Welcome Sherman.


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## Chris Parker

Sherman said:


> Wow! So many posts! 0_0;;; Thanks for the warm (and maybe some not so warm) welcome, guys! ^_^ Glad that my introduction managed to provoke some good discussion here! A point to note is that since this is a self defense video series, it is meant to be easy to do and as Chris says, "the idea of parrying the elbow is solid, and more reliable. It's moving  slower than the wrist, it's easier to hit, and offers more control than  trying to use the wrist for leverage." It is also not Wing Chun and my recommended entry in the middle range is the simple "Elbow Up" technique, which also protects your head. Wrist deflections are fine in the long range. Here's my latest video to demonstrate:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Please remember to subscribe if you like! ^_^



Hi again, Sherman,

As noted, this forum is really all about welcoming new members, and giving you an opportunity to introduce yourself&#8230; if you're looking for some more feedback and discussion of your videos, I'd suggest posting them in either the Self Defence or Members in Motion forums&#8230; but do be prepared for some comments that might not be what you're looking to hear. I'll refrain from commenting on this clip until it's posted in one of the other forums.


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## Bill Mattocks

Welcome, Sherman!

For those who objected to the deflection of the attacker's elbow, I don't see the problem.  I do that all the time; the main difference is that I evade while deflecting.  In fact, it's one of our basic exercises (ouchi, ouchi).

Not my video, but you get the idea from it.






Evade, deflect, strike.  You have to go above the elbow to turn the opponent's body away and place them where you want for your shots.


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## mook jong man

Bill Mattocks said:


> Welcome, Sherman!
> 
> For those who objected to the deflection of the attacker's elbow, I don't see the problem.  I do that all the time; the main difference is that I evade while deflecting.  In fact, it's one of our basic exercises (ouchi, ouchi).
> 
> Not my video, but you get the idea from it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Evade, deflect, strike.  You have to go above the elbow to turn the opponent's body away and place them where you want for your shots.



That's the thing Bill , you have a secondary defence with the evasion in case you miss the elbow .
Sherman is still in the path of the strike , so has no margin for error.


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## Bill Mattocks

mook jong man said:


> That's the thing Bill , you have a secondary defence with the evasion in case you miss the elbow .
> Sherman is still in the path of the strike , so has no margin for error.



I'll give you that.  I don't care to wait until a punch is nearly upon me to take action.  Job one is to neutralize the immediate threat, either by not being where it is aimed, or getting it aimed somewhere else, or both.  But I do like to turn the opponent's body by stepping out at an angle, deflecting the incoming blow high enough on their arm so that their entire body has to turn away from me, and then unleashing my counter attack on their exposed ribs, neck, face, etc.  As you said, if I entirely blow the intercept, at least I'm out of the way of the punch.


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## K-man

Bill Mattocks said:


> Welcome, Sherman!
> 
> For those who objected to the deflection of the attacker's elbow, I don't see the problem.  I do that all the time; the main difference is that I evade while deflecting.  In fact, it's one of our basic exercises (ouchi, ouchi).
> 
> Evade, deflect, strike.  You have to go above the elbow to turn the opponent's body away and place them where you want for your shots.


I have no problem with deflecting the elbow but if you do it like is shown in the video I reckon you'll be hit 9 out of 10 times from a committed strike. We have a saying ... two hands for beginners, and that applies at least up to 9th dan. 

If there had been a parry with the other hand first, then you would be protected from the strike and able to carry the elbow. Whether you move off the line or take your attacker off the line depends on your training. Personally, I would parry with the left and take the elbow with my right. That then opens him for a head shot, or ribs, with your left.



mook jong man said:


> That's the thing Bill , you have a secondary defence with the evasion in case you miss the elbow .
> Sherman is still in the path of the strike , so has no margin for error.


Exactly. Although a parry as the primary defence will do the same thing and take your attacker's centre at the same time.



Bill Mattocks said:


> I'll give you that.  I don't care to wait until a punch is nearly upon me to take action.  Job one is to neutralize the immediate threat, either by not being where it is aimed, or getting it aimed somewhere else, or both.  But I do like to turn the opponent's body by stepping out at an angle, deflecting the incoming blow high enough on their arm so that their entire body has to turn away from me, and then unleashing my counter attack on their exposed ribs, neck, face, etc.  As you said, if I entirely blow the intercept, at least I'm out of the way of the punch.


The problem is to take the elbow with one hand as shown in this video you have to be watching the striking arm and not the body. Your instinctive protection is taken out of the equation and you are reacting, not being proactive. 
:asian:


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## mook jong man

Another option , which is used in Wing Chun is to wait for them to come to you , and instead of using a lateral deflection you hook your wrist over the top of his wrist and let your forearm drop ( a bit like a gate on a hinge) and redirect his strike down and  to the side.

There is a lot more surface area of your arm to use so it doesn't have to be as precise as a lateral parry so it is a bit safer , you are using two different force vectors at once to effect his balance( simultaneously down and laterally) the theory of using simultaneous multiple force vectors to defeat the opponent is used in the Wing Chun 2nd empty hand form called Chum Kiu.

If the attacker is really charging in and committing his body mass  ,  his head and upper body can be pulled straight down into a strike to side of his neck with your other hand
Ideal for use against any type of lunging straight punches coming down the center.


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## Bill Mattocks

K-man said:


> I have no problem with deflecting the elbow but if you do it like is shown in the video I reckon you'll be hit 9 out of 10 times from a committed strike. We have a saying ... two hands for beginners, and that applies at least up to 9th dan.
> 
> If there had been a parry with the other hand first, then you would be protected from the strike and able to carry the elbow. Whether you move off the line or take your attacker off the line depends on your training. Personally, I would parry with the left and take the elbow with my right. That then opens him for a head shot, or ribs, with your left.
> 
> Exactly. Although a parry as the primary defence will do the same thing and take your attacker's centre at the same time.
> 
> 
> The problem is to take the elbow with one hand as shown in this video you have to be watching the striking arm and not the body. Your instinctive protection is taken out of the equation and you are reacting, not being proactive.
> :asian:



Just for the record, we also routinely practice this with an additional pass-off using the free hand prior (or after, depending on the technique) to engaging the blocking motion shown in the video.  It depends on the circumstances; but we do practice both.


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## Sherman

Just to clarify, move out of the line of attack first before entering the short distance of attack. In a street fight, this might not be possible if the opponent is moving in fast with his full body weight . If so, move the opponent's elbow to redirect his line of attack when he gets to the middle distance. An opponent cannot punch you once you have control of his elbow because you can change his line of attack easily. If you are still worried about the punch, protect your head with the Elbow Up technique using your other hand while simultaneously launching a followup attack if you miss your opponent's elbow with your first hand. It is also more than likely that your opponent has entered the short range by then so you can target his shoulder. Of course, this is dependent on the situation. For self defense purposes, I have kept it simple.


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## K-man

Sherman said:


> Just to clarify, move out of the line of attack first before entering the short distance of attack. In a street fight, this might not be possible if the opponent is moving in fast with his full body weight . If so, move the opponent's elbow to redirect his line of attack when he gets to the middle distance. An opponent cannot punch you once you have control of his elbow because you can change his line of attack easily. If you are still worried about the punch, protect your head with the Elbow Up technique using your other hand while simultaneously launching a followup attack if you miss your opponent's elbow with your first hand. It is also more than likely that your opponent has entered the short range by then so you can target his shoulder. Of course, this is dependent on the situation. For self defense purposes, I have kept it simple.


Sorry, not showing the most important part of the defence 'to keep it simple' doesn't wash. Taking control of the elbow is good technique but generally it requires two hands. What you have shown will earn a smack in the mouth from an experienced person.


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## Transk53

Sherman said:
			
		

> Just to clarify, move out of the line of attack first before entering the short distance of attack. In a street fight, this might not be possible if the opponent is moving in fast with his full body weight



You are right about that one for sure. It is possible to be quite defensive, but usually the opponent is either drunk, stoned or high, or a combo of all three. I've restrained idiots so juiced, that elbow would have done nothing. If they (as in FPP) were skilled, then yeah I can see it with good reach. No offence Sherman, just my own personal perspective


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## Sherman

None taken, Transk53.  Did you mean the Elbow to the face would have done nothing? Should probably have mentioned that Elbow should target the eyes and nose.

As for controlling the opponent's elbow, it can be done with one hand if the purpose is to shift the opponent's line of attack away from you, thus controlling both of the opponent's hands from striking you. Will probably show this in another video since this has been brought up a couple of times now.


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## Sherman

Okay, here's the video showing elbow control but with weapons:


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## Argus

mook jong man said:


> It might cut off the opportunity for them to convert into an elbow strike , it may have more of an effect on their balance because the contact point is closer to the body and cutting out an extra lever.
> 
> But bloody hell Chris you'd want to be damn quick and very precise to pull off what he is doing , he has no margin for error.
> If he misses that parry on the elbow , he is getting drilled straight through the head.
> 
> If I were to do what he is doing , and that is a very big if , I would also step out at angle to get off the path of the punch and have my other hand up to shield or guard.
> There is no secondary defence with what he is doing , he has no back up if he misses that parry.



Mook, it is easier to miss if you're chasing the wrist than if you're going for the elbow. I'm not sure about slapping the elbow -- you have a point there. But pressing it is absolutely legitimate and widely used in our art. Taking an opponent's elbow is an excellent way to shut him down. More over, if you simply apply pressure to the wrist, it is easy to change through as we are so aware of in our chisao practice.

In any case, I don't think you should be chasing your opponents hand. You should simply cover the line, with your own line, directed at your opponent. That way you're bound to intercept, and your action is a threat to him regardless. Sticking to the principles of chasing the opponent's core, and not his hands, is the way to leave the most margin for error.


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## Chris Parker

Sherman said:


> Okay, here's the video showing elbow control but with weapons:



Hmm&#8230; Sherman, I've suggested this before&#8230; but I'm going to again recommend that you put these in a new thread, preferably in either the "Self Defence" or "Members in Motion" forums&#8230; this area is really for welcoming new members&#8230; as a result, I wouldn't necessarily feel completely right about pointing out that each video has been fairly flawed, there are major issues in your personal skill level presently, and that the weapon defence here would have you killed pretty quickly. If you repost them in another area, I'll jump in and explain exactly why.


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## mook jong man

Argus said:


> Mook, it is easier to miss if you're chasing the wrist than if you're going for the elbow. I'm not sure about slapping the elbow -- you have a point there. But pressing it is absolutely legitimate and widely used in our art. Taking an opponent's elbow is an excellent way to shut him down. More over, if you simply apply pressure to the wrist, it is easy to change through as we are so aware of in our chisao practice.
> 
> In any case, I don't think you should be chasing your opponents hand. You should simply cover the line, with your own line, directed at your opponent. That way you're bound to intercept, and your action is a threat to him regardless. Sticking to the principles of chasing the opponent's core, and not his hands, is the way to leave the most margin for error.



I have never missed parrying the wrist ( hey that rhymes).
Even if you have slightly misjudged it , you can still use the inside of the forearm.

It is not easy for him change if you parry the wrist because he has already been hit with the other hand , it is all done in the one beat , not parry then punch with the other hand.
Its parry and punch at the same time.

It is not chasing the hand , his hand is coming straight down my guard all I have to do is wait for it to come and nudge it out of the way slightly.

I am not averse to controlling the elbow , if said elbow is on the centerline , then I will use Pak Sau to press and trap it against their body.

Hypothetical question for the elbow parry crowd , what if there is a very big disparity in the height of the combatants?
The dude has much longer arms than you , he moves in fast from close range , so you can't get out the way.

The further you have to stretch your arm out to parry his elbow in order for his fist not to reach you means you are losing the structure in your arm and force in your parry because your elbow is not properly behind it anymore.

But by parrying the wrist I can maintain proper biomechanics and have my elbow behind my parry so I have maximum force and a nice clear path of energy from my elbow and out through my palm , exactly as it is done in the form.


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## Transk53

Sherman said:


> None taken, Transk53.  Did you mean the Elbow to the face would have done nothing? Should probably have mentioned that Elbow should target the eyes and nose.
> 
> As for controlling the opponent's elbow, it can be done with one hand if the purpose is to shift the opponent's line of attack away from you, thus controlling both of the opponent's hands from striking you. Will probably show this in another video since this has been brought up a couple of times now.



No I think I meant the grab. I'll have to watch it again and recollect.


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## Argus

mook jong man said:


> I have never missed parrying the wrist ( hey that rhymes).
> Even if you have slightly misjudged it , you can still use the inside of the forearm.
> 
> It is not easy for him change if you parry the wrist because he has already been hit with the other hand , it is all done in the one beat , not parry then punch with the other hand.
> Its parry and punch at the same time.
> 
> It is not chasing the hand , his hand is coming straight down my guard all I have to do is wait for it to come and nudge it out of the way slightly.



As long as one of your hands is chasing center, that's good. But, your opponent has another hand as well. That's why I believe it's always preferable to chase center with both hands whenever possible, so that either is a direct threat.

Maybe we're arguing apples and oranges though. It sounds like you're describing pak-sau from a point of contact, where his hand is already in contact with your guard. That is the best way to use pak-sau, and in that case, you can feel where he is definitively thanks to the contact you've made. I was refering more to the use of pak-sau in an out-of-contact context, as demonstrated in the video. It is not uncommon for me, at least, to find myself hitting thin air with another fist in my face upon trying to enter on someone with pak-da, for example. A fighter will often just pull his forward hand back and hit you with the other. That's what's dangerous about chasing the wrist while out of contact, I believe.

Incidentally, the same is true of intercepting round attacks on the inside. A lot of people try to intercept them at the wrist, but I feel that's far too risky. It's safer if your priorities go: step in, hit him, cover the line. You'll usually catch him around the elbow this way, but still with plenty of structure to avoid being hit yourself. And the important thing, of course, is that you're hitting him and disrupting his attack that way. Chasing the wrist, you have to turn further away from your opponent, and are more committed towards chasing his attack. Not only can you miss if he changes the line of his attack, but if you fail to connect, you're in a bad position for his follow up as you have more distance to turn.



mook jong man said:


> I am not averse to controlling the elbow , if said elbow is on the centerline , then I will use Pak Sau to press and trap it against their body.
> 
> Hypothetical question for the elbow parry crowd , what if there is a very big disparity in the height of the combatants?
> The dude has much longer arms than you , he moves in fast from close range , so you can't get out the way.
> 
> The further you have to stretch your arm out to parry his elbow in order for his fist not to reach you means you are losing the structure in your arm and force in your parry because your elbow is not properly behind it anymore.
> 
> But by parrying the wrist I can maintain proper biomechanics and have my elbow behind my parry so I have maximum force and a nice clear path of energy from my elbow and out through my palm , exactly as it is done in the form.



Tok-sau. Get up underneath him 
But, generally speaking, if his arms are fully extending to reach you, then his elbow will be somewhere around the half-way point. That allows you to intercept the elbow with a bent arm. At the same time, you should be moving in on him to counter, which further shortens the distance.
Usually you want to intercept before he's fully extending his fist to you, but we are talking about pressing the elbow, and generally, the best opportunity to do that is when your opponent's arm is fully extended and he has a weak structure anyway.
But I'm with you here. If you're over extending your arm to reach his elbow, you're putting yourself in danger.

I honestly don't think much about where I'm intercepting. I just close the line, threaten the opponent, and respond to pressure. And if an elbow presents itself, press it.


----------



## mook jong man

Argus said:


> As long as one of your hands is chasing center, that's good. But, your opponent has another hand as well. That's why I believe it's always preferable to chase center with both hands whenever possible, so that either is a direct threat.
> 
> Maybe we're arguing apples and oranges though. It sounds like you're describing pak-sau from a point of contact, where his hand is already in contact with your guard. That is the best way to use pak-sau, and in that case, you can feel where he is definitively thanks to the contact you've made. I was refering more to the use of pak-sau in an out-of-contact context, as demonstrated in the video. It is not uncommon for me, at least, to find myself hitting thin air with another fist in my face upon trying to enter on someone with pak-da, for example. A fighter will often just pull his forward hand back and hit you with the other. That's what's dangerous about chasing the wrist while out of contact, I believe.
> 
> Incidentally, the same is true of intercepting round attacks on the inside. A lot of people try to intercept them at the wrist, but I feel that's far too risky. It's safer if your priorities go: step in, hit him, cover the line. You'll usually catch him around the elbow this way, but still with plenty of structure to avoid being hit yourself. And the important thing, of course, is that you're hitting him and disrupting his attack that way. Chasing the wrist, you have to turn further away from your opponent, and are more committed towards chasing his attack. Not only can you miss if he changes the line of his attack, but if you fail to connect, you're in a bad position for his follow up as you have more distance to turn.
> 
> 
> 
> Tok-sau. Get up underneath him
> But, generally speaking, if his arms are fully extending to reach you, then his elbow will be somewhere around the half-way point. That allows you to intercept the elbow with a bent arm. At the same time, you should be moving in on him to counter, which further shortens the distance.
> Usually you want to intercept before he's fully extending his fist to you, but we are talking about pressing the elbow, and generally, the best opportunity to do that is when your opponent's arm is fully extended and he has a weak structure anyway.
> But I'm with you here. If you're over extending your arm to reach his elbow, you're putting yourself in danger.
> 
> I honestly don't think much about where I'm intercepting. I just close the line, threaten the opponent, and respond to pressure. And if an elbow presents itself, press it.



Rather than turn this Sherman guys thread into more of a Wing Chun thread than it already is , I think I'll take it over to the Wing Chun section and find out what the other lineages do.


----------



## Argus

That's probably a good idea


----------



## drop bear

Sherman said:


> Okay, here's the video showing elbow control but with weapons:



Why are you using your elbow to secure his arm when you could be using your chest and therefore your whole body?


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## Sherman

Of course you can do that. Although I was controlling my opponent's elbow with my own elbow, it was with the weight of my whole body behind it (hence the need to mirror the opponent with my body just like in Aikido). However, it is the principles that are important and not the technique. In a real life self defense situation, everything constantly changes. The key takeaway principle point here is knowing what the treats you need to really focus on. Knowing the elbow changes the direction of the strike will help you do that. Also know what your opponent's shoulder controls and what your position exposes. This will allow you to be flexible and constantly know how to adapt according to the situation.  And as I kept mentioning in my previous videos, run first if you have the chance. If you face a skilled weapons fighter, he will be trained to counter your disarming move. My videos are meant for a person with no martial arts background to be able to pull off in a self defense situation with only those key principle points in mind. It is not in the same mindset as a martial artist. It is in the mindset of a person who wants to escape but has no other choice but to defend him or her self.


----------



## Transk53

Sherman said:


> Of course you can do that. Although I was controlling my opponent's elbow with my own elbow, it was with the weight of my whole body behind it (hence the need to mirror the opponent with my body just like in Aikido). However, it is the principles that are important and not the technique. In a real life self defense situation, everything constantly changes. The key takeaway principle point here is knowing what the treats you need to really focus on. Knowing the elbow changes the direction of the strike will help you do that. Also know what your opponent's shoulder controls and what your position exposes. This will allow you to be flexible and constantly know how to adapt according to the situation.  And as I kept mentioning in my previous videos, run first if you have the chance. If you face a skilled weapons fighter, he will be trained to counter your disarming move. My videos are meant for a person with no martial arts background to be able to pull off in a self defense situation with only those key principle points in mind. It is not in the same mindset as a martial artist. It is in the mindset of a person who wants to escape but has no other choice but to defend him or her self.



It does make sense that the average 9-5 Joe would want to leg it, but that would depend on them being able to disengage from the hostile situation. I would imagine that would be be a fair few that would freeze. Personally I would be picking the nearest furniture and throwing it at the maniac. I just do not think that the philosophy fits someone who is going to leg it after any potential engagement.


----------



## Sherman

Yup, picking the nearest furniture and throwing it works. Going to rethink and cover that in future video clips as I feel that the series is a bit too martial arts in style now, which wasn't my intention. However, there were certain key principles that I thought was necessary and covered except for posture and stances (again very martial arts like but I still think is important), which I haven't touched on yet.

If someone were to break into your house, the best place to head to defend yourself is the kitchen where you can find lots of things to throw at your opponent. Then comes the knives.  Would love to film something like that so will get there eventually.


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## Dirty Dog

Sherman said:


> Yup, picking the nearest furniture and throwing it works. Going to rethink and cover that in future video clips as I feel that the series is a bit too martial arts in style now, which wasn't my intention. However, there were certain key principles that I thought was necessary and covered except for posture and stances (again very martial arts like but I still think is important), which I haven't touched on yet.
> 
> If someone were to break into your house, the best place to head to defend yourself is the kitchen where you can find lots of things to throw at your opponent. Then comes the knives.  Would love to film something like that so will get there eventually.



That's silly. The best place to defend myself is my right hip...


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## donald1

Ca





Sherman said:


> Yup, picking the nearest furniture and throwing it works. Going to rethink and cover that in future video clips as I feel that the series is a bit too martial arts in style now, which wasn't my intention. However, there were certain key principles that I thought was necessary and covered except for posture and stances (again very martial arts like but I still think is important), which I haven't touched on yet.
> 
> If someone were to break into your house, the best place to head to defend yourself is the kitchen where you can find lots of things to throw at your opponent. Then comes the knives.  Would love to film something like that so will get there eventually.



Depends on who's house your in...  In my house i'd go straight to my room i got a full grown great dane and he can bite and a pudao that just happened to be located next to the bed


----------



## drop bear

Sherman said:


> Of course you can do that. Although I was controlling my opponent's elbow with my own elbow, it was with the weight of my whole body behind it (hence the need to mirror the opponent with my body just like in Aikido). However, it is the principles that are important and not the technique. In a real life self defense situation, everything constantly changes. The key takeaway principle point here is knowing what the treats you need to really focus on. Knowing the elbow changes the direction of the strike will help you do that. Also know what your opponent's shoulder controls and what your position exposes. This will allow you to be flexible and constantly know how to adapt according to the situation.  And as I kept mentioning in my previous videos, run first if you have the chance. If you face a skilled weapons fighter, he will be trained to counter your disarming move. My videos are meant for a person with no martial arts background to be able to pull off in a self defense situation with only those key principle points in mind. It is not in the same mindset as a martial artist. It is in the mindset of a person who wants to escape but has no other choice but to defend him or her self.



It just looks like you need to put your wrist at an unnatural angle and face a greater danger of it slipping out. And I am not sure what advantage that creates.

Admittedly I am looking at this like a martial artist and just weighing up the percentages.


----------



## Chris Parker

drop bear said:


> It just looks like you need to put your wrist at an unnatural angle and face a greater danger of it slipping out. And I am not sure what advantage that creates.
> 
> Admittedly I am looking at this like a martial artist and just weighing up the percentages.



And, admittedly, I'm only coming at this as a martial artist whose systems include a lot of sword and knife defence, and yeah, what's on that video is really deeply flawed, in the way that drop bear mentions as well as many more. For the record.


----------



## Sherman

Chris Parker said:


> And, admittedly, I'm only coming at this as a martial artist whose systems include a lot of sword and knife defence, and yeah, what's on that video is really deeply flawed, in the way that drop bear mentions as well as many more. For the record.



The defense against knives comes directly from my friend who is a street fighter and has successfully fought off opponents with knives before. It is not what I have learned from my martial arts experience for the record. Once again, I would emphasize that the technique is not as important as the principle of controlling the elbow (and the clawing of  the opponent's wrist which my friend put to use during his time on the streets).

The one against a sword has not been fully tested though although we did try with a wooden sword in a practice situation and not in a real life street fight.


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## donald1

You seem like a good person,  you seem really interested in what you're talking about in the videos but I only have two things to say though 
I know that drop bear and Chris know what they are talking about so im going to have to agree 
Best of luck


----------



## Chris Parker

Sherman said:


> The defense against knives comes directly from my friend who is a street fighter and has successfully fought off opponents with knives before. It is not what I have learned from my martial arts experience for the record.



So it's something you've never really been taught, never really trained, from someone else who is a "street fighter", rather than any martial systems themselves&#8230; is that right? Look, there are some okay ideas, but the way you're doing it is highly dubious, dangerous, and liable to get you killed. It might just be your performance (although there are aspects besides that), but the reality is, even if it is just your performance of it, then you shouldn't be trying to promote it as a safe/effective response&#8230; mainly as the way you're doing it is neither safe, nor effective.



Sherman said:


> Once again, I would emphasize that the technique is not as important as the principle of controlling the elbow (and the clawing of  the opponent's wrist which my friend put to use during his time on the streets).



Principles are the essence, yeah&#8230; but they need to be backed up/applied with proper effective mechanics&#8230; that's not being seen here.



Sherman said:


> The one against a sword has not been fully tested though although we did try with a wooden sword in a practice situation and not in a real life street fight.



The sheer lack of swordsmanship ability in the video makes me wonder just how you could test your technique, bluntly.


----------



## Buka

Tough crowd.


----------



## Sherman

Chris Parker said:


> So it's something you've never really been taught, never really trained, from someone else who is a "street fighter", rather than any martial systems themselves&#8230; is that right?



I have been trained by my friend who was there during filming to make sure that it was done right and it would work in a street fight. I actually wanted to do a gun disarming segment too since he has  a license to own one but he never disarmed anyone with a gun in a street fight before so that footage was taken out. We figured that we could keep the wooden sword footage since it was literally just a wooden sword and we used the same principles for disarming of a knife. Anyway, I am not interested in arguing about whether it is effective or not because it is taught to me by my friend who has actually used them in a real fight. He told me to tell you guys that whoever wants to challenge him is welcomed to do so as he loves to fight. LOL We actually recorded a segment of him addressing you guys but I decided not to upload it as it would be too martial arts serious and that's the last thing I want my Youtube channel to be. >_<;;; I personally believe that there might be more effective ways to do this but I have only learned all of them from some martial arts teacher who has done them in theory only. My friend has done them in real life so they are what I will be using until I can learn something better from someone else who has got practical experience and lived to tell the tale. 

In the meantime, to anyone who is reading this, although my video series is meant for anyone without martial arts training, it must be remembered that the self defense mindset is different from the martial arts mindset so please run and not fight if you can (Remember the distance video. Anything in the middle range and long range will allow you to back up and run). Hmm...perhaps I have been posting in the wrong forum after all. ^_^;;;


----------



## K-man

Sherman said:


> I have been trained by my friend who was there during filming to make sure that it was done right and it would work in a street fight. I actually wanted to do a gun disarming segment too since he has  a license to own one but he never disarmed anyone with a gun in a street fight before so that footage was taken out. We figured that we could keep the wooden sword footage since it was literally just a wooden sword and we used the same principles for disarming of a knife. Anyway, I am not interested in arguing about whether it is effective or not because it is taught to me by my friend who has actually used them in a real fight. He told me to tell you guys that whoever wants to challenge him is welcomed to do so as he loves to fight. LOL We actually recorded a segment of him addressing you guys but I decided not to upload it as it would be too martial arts serious and that's the last thing I want my Youtube channel to be. >_<;;; I personally believe that there might be more effective ways to do this but I have only learned all of them from some martial arts teacher who has done them in theory only. My friend has done them in real life so they are what I will be using until I can learn something better from someone else who has got practical experience and lived to tell the tale.
> 
> In the meantime, to anyone who is reading this, although my video series is meant for anyone without martial arts training, it must be remembered that the self defense mindset is different from the martial arts mindset so please run and not fight if you can (Remember the distance video. Anything in the middle range and long range will allow you to back up and run). Hmm...perhaps I have been posting in the wrong forum after all. ^_^;;;


I think it admirable that you are learning to defend yourself but the question is, does your friend have the required skill set to be instructing and do you have sufficient skill to recognise what will work and what will not? To make a video and post it for critique is a brave move. As you have seen, it will provoke a lot of criticism and advice. But to make a video to post to instruct others is a different ball game. You are then putting yourself up as an expert, qualified to instruct, and in all honesty that is just not the case.
:asian:


----------



## Sherman

K-man said:


> I think it admirable that you are learning to defend yourself but the question is, does your friend have the required skill set to be instructing and do you have sufficient skill to recognise what will work and what will not? To make a video and post it for critique is a brave move. As you have seen, it will provoke a lot of criticism and advice. But to make a video to post to instruct others is a different ball game. You are then putting yourself up as an expert, qualified to instruct, and in all honesty that is just not the case.
> :asian:



My friend thinks I am a better person to teach and I am confident enough with his ability to fight on the streets having seen him fight before. What I am doing is merely being a conduit for passing on his experience. And so far, nobody has convinced me that anything in my videos would not work. I have gone through all criticisms with my friend and is also frankly why I posted my videos here. I also wanted to know how some of what I am demonstrating might not work - hey, I am going to be using these myself after all if the situation ever crops up. LOL My friend has demonstrated in every case that it works even after all the counter points brought up. 

Once again, what I am showing is not for the trained martial artist. It is very different when you defend yourself with a conditioned body. Speaking of which, there is a lot of martial arts stuff for me to unlearn and number one is the mindset, which I try to convey in my video series  - try not to get in a fight, smile often, act like you don't know anything until the last minute, have a light heart (of not thinking too much) and light feet! LOL :asian:


----------



## K-man

Sherman said:


> My friend thinks I am a better person to teach and I am confident enough with his ability to fight on the streets having seen him fight before. What I am doing is merely being a conduit for passing on his experience. And so far, nobody has convinced me that anything in my videos would not work. I have gone through all criticisms with my friend and is also frankly why I posted my videos here. I also wanted to know how some of what I am demonstrating might not work - hey, I am going to be using these myself after all if the situation ever crops up. LOL My friend has demonstrated in every case that it works even after all the counter points brought up.
> 
> Once again, what I am showing is not for the trained martial artist. It is very different when you defend yourself with a conditioned body. Speaking of which, there is a lot of martial arts stuff for me to unlearn and number one is the mindset, which I try to convey in my video series  - try not to get in a fight, smile often, act like you don't know anything until the last minute, have a light heart (of not thinking too much) and light feet! LOL :asian:


Good thoughts but let's go back to your first video where you show to push the elbow away. That works in slow motion but is likely to fail at full speed as in a real fight. I teach Karate and Krav and I have a black belt in Aikido, plus some training in Systema. There is no way I would teach anyone to attempt what you are demonstrating, let alone suggest that an untrained person could succeed. What you are demonstrating by controlling the elbow is absolutely true, how you achieved it is totally wrong. As others have said, your first action should have been with the other hand to deflect the fist with the follow up to the elbow. That is building on an instinctive response as distinct from your defence which requires you to watch the strike, something that ends up with you getting hit unless you move off the line as you did. It is part of entering in Aikido, it is basic to all defence in Karate and it taught slightly differently but basically the same in Krav and Systema. Why? Because there are certain principles that apply across all systems. The fact that it is not part of your demonstration, to me, is a huge failing. As I said, it's great to do what you are doing but don't put it up on the net as expert advice. It is totally flawed.
:asian:


----------



## drop bear

Sherman said:


> I have been trained by my friend who was there during filming to make sure that it was done right and it would work in a street fight. I actually wanted to do a gun disarming segment too since he has  a license to own one but he never disarmed anyone with a gun in a street fight before so that footage was taken out. We figured that we could keep the wooden sword footage since it was literally just a wooden sword and we used the same principles for disarming of a knife. Anyway, I am not interested in arguing about whether it is effective or not because it is taught to me by my friend who has actually used them in a real fight. He told me to tell you guys that whoever wants to challenge him is welcomed to do so as he loves to fight. LOL We actually recorded a segment of him addressing you guys but I decided not to upload it as it would be too martial arts serious and that's the last thing I want my Youtube channel to be. >_<;;; I personally believe that there might be more effective ways to do this but I have only learned all of them from some martial arts teacher who has done them in theory only. My friend has done them in real life so they are what I will be using until I can learn something better from someone else who has got practical experience and lived to tell the tale.
> 
> In the meantime, to anyone who is reading this, although my video series is meant for anyone without martial arts training, it must be remembered that the self defense mindset is different from the martial arts mindset so please run and not fight if you can (Remember the distance video. Anything in the middle range and long range will allow you to back up and run). Hmm...perhaps I have been posting in the wrong forum after all. ^_^;;;




Don't use a real gun.

Really.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=am-Qdx6vky0

You know we should develop a competition so that a mix of martial artists could get together an actually fight. That way those who do want to show off their prowess could actually challenge people rather than just calling people out over the internet. Maybe we could put it in a cage or something.

My instructor loves to fight as well. He just doesn't think it is very mature to just pick on random noobs on the street.


----------



## Transk53

dropbear said:
			
		

> You know we should develop a competition so that a mix of martial artists could get together an actually fight. That way those who do want to show off their prowess could actually challenge people rather than just calling people out over the internet. Maybe we could put it in a cage or something.
> 
> My instructor loves to fight as well. He just doesn't think it is very mature to just pick on random noobs on the street.



I was shocked at reading that. That idea would have potential, despite being a hell of a task to arrange that. Oh well guess some people their your cool on an internet forum big time.

@Sherman, I genuinely intrigued by you're use of "Street Fighter" To me, and this is just a personal observation, do you and you're friend have any intentions of applying what you have on the streets? There is some inference there to some nasty behaviour. I could be very wrong here, but perhaps not. If my inkling is right, then this whole issue just ain't cool man!


----------



## Sherman

K-man said:


> What you are demonstrating by controlling the elbow is absolutely true, how you achieved it is totally wrong. As others have said, your first action should have been with the other hand to deflect the fist with the follow up to the elbow. That is building on an instinctive response as distinct from your defence which requires you to watch the strike, something that ends up with you getting hit unless you move off the line as you did.



I think you just clarified my point for me - UNLESS YOU MOVE OFF THE LINE AS YOU DID. With all due respect, deflecting at the fist first does not always work in a street fight no matter how many martial arts try to teach you that. How do I know? I told my friend what you guys said repeatedly (one of the reasons why I posted in a martial arts forum is to see if I can get constructive criticisms) until he got annoyed (that's why he thinks I am better at teaching) and asked me to try controlling his fingers/wrists/fists/forearms/etc and so I got "beaten up" by him. Pain is the best teacher apparently. LOL In a street fight, your opponent will use all means to attack you and deflecting his wrist is just inviting him to close the gap and elbow your face as he is advancing with his entire bodyweight behind him. Think big guy crowding in on you with a flurry of attacks in a street fight - this is where most traditional martial arts training is flawed. Train with Aliveness and you will know this:






Please don't get me wrong though. If you are a trained martial artist, you can probably deflect the fist and control the elbow next (this is almost impossible with my friend's correct body structure and attacks from the centerline with his elbows tugged in - deflecting his fist is like deflecting his entire body weight and is only possible if you are a trained martial artist that can move in with the weight of your entire body as well)  but since what I am rightfully showing is self defense, if there is one thing you want to remember is to move out of the line of attack first. A person who is not trained in martial arts will most likely freeze. This is even more so if your mind is focused on deflecting the fist. So, what I am teaching is simply that we have to control the elbows (both yours and your opponent's) and even if you have no martial arts experience and you remember this one bit of information while someone is already pummeling you, it might just save your life. I must repeat that if you are in the middle and long distance (as in my distance management video), move out of the line of attack and run if you can:






I do appreciate your constructive criticisms but I do not appreciate you telling me not to put up my video. Never did I once say it is expert advice or the only way to do it. It is merely something I am teaching from my friend's practical experience. I won't dream of making this video series if he weren't supervising me and I am just basing it on my martial arts training (and yes, I do have an internationally recognized black belt if that even matters).

Anyway, no hard feelings. Thank you for your input which encouraged me to write the above although my friend told me not to bother teaching anyone who does not want to learn -> This is part of the reason he doesn't teach and I feel that it is such a waste because he is such a good fighter. :asian:

@Tranks53, my friend was a street fighter before and was brought up as a traditional martial artist since he could walk because he came from a family who learned that. He loves martial arts and wants to preserve the tradition but acknowledges that most techniques do not work in a street fight. When he was a kid, he was dragged into gang fights and had to face stuff like cars with 5 gangsters in them suddenly stopping and coming out to attack him with weapons. He once traveled to China to train in Shaolin and other martial arts. He even managed to defeat the monks there(friendly fight of course since he has full respect for tradition and he will not challenge masters directly). These days, he doesn't really street fight anymore but he still challenges exponents from other martial arts - Thai Kickboxing, Taekwando, Baqua, Aikido, (western boxing), etc. This year, he got attacked by a mugger with a knife who hid behind a car. Unfortunately for the thief, my friend disarmed him and smashed his head into a car window, taking him out immediately. At the police station, my friend had to deal with the car owner more than the thief. He was asked whether he wanted to press charges against the thief but he didn't because the poor guy was already beaten up enough and should have learned his lesson. Perhaps this incident encouraged him to ask me to teach self defense based on his experience.

Anyway, I think I am about done teaching what I have learned for free (maybe just one more to round it up at 5 episodes) and will probably move on to more short action fantasy film stuff, which is more where my interest lies. Thanks for all the feedback, guys! I genuinely appreciate all the constructive criticisms. ^_^


----------



## terryl965

welcome and enjoy


----------



## Transk53

Sherman said:
			
		

> @Tranks53, my friend was a street fighter before and was brought up as a traditional martial artist since he could walk because he came from a family who learned that. He loves martial arts and wants to preserve the tradition but acknowledges that most techniques do not work in a street fight. When he was a kid, he was dragged into gang fights and had to face stuff like cars with 5 gangsters in them suddenly stopping and coming out to attack him with weapons. He once traveled to China to train in Shaolin and other martial arts. He even managed to defeat the monks there(friendly fight of course since he has full respect for tradition and he will not challenge masters directly). These days, he doesn't really street fight anymore but he still challenges exponents from other martial arts - Thai Kickboxing, Taekwando, Baqua, Aikido, (western boxing), etc. This year, he got attacked by a mugger with a knife who hid behind a car. Unfortunately for the thief, my friend disarmed him and smashed his head into a car window, taking him out immediately. At the police station, my friend had to deal with the car owner more than the thief. He was asked whether he wanted to press charges against the thief but he didn't because the poor guy was already beaten up enough and should have learned his lesson. Perhaps this incident encouraged him to ask me to teach self defense based on his experience.



Mr Parker is probably best served dissecting this. I can't argue against the resultant action with the mugger. I will not disrespect you're friend or yourself as martial artists. What I will say is with you're friends background, the inference is clear. I think the term "Street Fighter" does not fit. Why, there is know such thing. There are only gang members and runners, and back street brawlers. The rest are just idiots who have watched too much Jackie Chan.


----------



## Sherman

Thanks for the welcome!  I just discovered the self defense sub-forum and am posting there now: http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/90...ackbelts-***-warning-explicit-content-11.html

Perhaps the videos I've made are too martial arts oriented so if I do make future ones, it will be more self defense oriented and practical. The mindset is completely different. It is a matter of survival. There are just too many variables in a real fight. The correct mindset for self defense is to run and act (cry, plead for your life, pretend to be dying, scream, etc.) if you can't run. Acting and distraction will save your life. Throw your shoes if you have to. It will cause your opponent to blink and give you enough time to run. When you run, don't run straight without thinking unless you are super fast runner. Run towards objects that you can use to throw or protect yourself with. Run circles around a car if you have to. Run towards a chair to protect yourself against knives. Take the chair and run around a table or head towards a doorway where only one attacker can reach you at a time and fend him off with the chair. Run to  a place with CCTV cameras and people. Not many gangsters want to get caught on camera. Attackers who just lost their temper might calm down while chasing you. Shout for help. Some people might help you or at least call the police. Only if all else fails, use self defense to fight. Always use objects that you can find, use terrain to help you - push your opponent into a drain if you have to, use your teeth to bite, nails to claw off skin and eyes, palm to strike his ears, Elbow Up to his face (see episode 1 of my video series) - keep attacking the same spot multiple times if you are afraid you will miss. Pay attention to your opponent's elbows and knees. Your opponent can a super skilled martial artist with a super strong punch but if you know how to move around (watch the distance management video above), he's not going to be able to land that punch or if he does, it would not be at its full intensity. Run and start throwing sharp items at him and even Bruce Lee has to think twice about attacking you. Break off a car mirror and use it to protect yourself against your opponent. If he is dumb enough to punch it, let the glass cut him. That's the creative mindset you need to have in a self defense situation. Jump around like a monkey and see if a black belt martial artist can even catch you to execute his move. Run and suddenly turn around and pepper spray him in the face. That's the self defense mindset no matter how skilled you think you are because you never know when your opponent's friend are preparing to kick your head, stab you or shoot you when you execute your move - don't forget that the adrenaline rush gives you a narrow field of focus. Throw your ego out the window in a street fight (and by street fight, I mean fighting in real life city situations without rules where your only priority is survival).

Martial arts is great to improve your self confidence but in a real life situation, there are too many variables no matter how good you think you are. Also, bad people are unlikely to attack you one-on-one. If they are stupid enough to do so, they are probably not very skilled themselves. Their friends are waiting to whack you in the head. So never engage your opponent in a self defense situation unless you really have no other choice. Most of the time, you have some other choice.


----------



## K-man

Sherman said:


> Thanks for the welcome!  I just discovered the self defense sub-forum and am posting there now: http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/90...ackbelts-***-warning-explicit-content-11.html
> 
> Perhaps the videos I've made are too martial arts oriented so if I do make future ones, it will be more self defense oriented and practical. The mindset is completely different. It is a matter of survival. There are just too many variables in a real fight. The correct mindset for self defense is to run and act (cry, plead for your life, pretend to be dying, scream, etc.) if you can't run. Acting and distraction will save your life. Throw your shoes if you have to. It will cause your opponent to blink and give you enough time to run. When you run, don't run straight without thinking unless you are super fast runner. Run towards objects that you can use to throw or protect yourself with. Run circles around a car if you have to. Run towards a chair to protect yourself against knives. Take the chair and run around a table or head towards a doorway where only one attacker can reach you at a time and fend him off with the chair. Run to  a place with CCTV cameras and people. Not many gangsters want to get caught on camera. Attackers who just lost their temper might calm down while chasing you. Shout for help. Some people might help you or at least call the police. Only if all else fails, use self defense to fight. Always use objects that you can find, use terrain to help you - push your opponent into a drain if you have to, use your teeth to bite, nails to claw off skin and eyes, palm to strike his ears, Elbow Up to his face (see episode 1 of my video series) - keep attacking the same spot multiple times if you are afraid you will miss. Pay attention to your opponent's elbows and knees. Your opponent can a super skilled martial artist with a super strong punch but if you know how to move around (watch the distance management video above), he's not going to be able to land that punch or if he does, it would not be at its full intensity. Run and start throwing sharp items at him and even Bruce Lee has to think twice about attacking you. Break off a car mirror and use it to protect yourself against your opponent. If he is dumb enough to punch it, let the glass cut him. That's the creative mindset you need to have in a self defense situation. Jump around like a monkey and see if a black belt martial artist can even catch you to execute his move. Run and suddenly turn around and pepper spray him in the face. That's the self defense mindset no matter how skilled you think you are because you never know when your opponent's friend are preparing to kick your head, stab you or shoot you when you execute your move - don't forget that the adrenaline rush gives you a narrow field of focus. Throw your ego out the window in a street fight (and by street fight, I mean fighting in real life city situations without rules where your only priority is survival).
> 
> Martial arts is great to improve your self confidence but in a real life situation, there are too many variables no matter how good you think you are. Also, bad people are unlikely to attack you one-on-one. If they are stupid enough to do so, they are probably not very skilled themselves. Their friends are waiting to whack you in the head. So never engage your opponent in a self defense situation unless you really have no other choice. Most of the time, you have some other choice.


 Yep! Right. :hmm:

Have you considered sticking to your day job?


----------



## Sherman

K-man said:


> Yep! Right. :hmm:
> 
> Have you considered sticking to your day job?


 
Thank you for your concern. I'm a game developer and I am sticking to it. Check out the Alpha Kimori PC JRPG on Steam: Alpha Kimori? 1 on Steam

As mentioned before, what I am doing on Youtube is for free (there are no ads on it even) and passing on the self defense knowledge from my friend who is very experienced. Hopefully, it will help someone. :asian:


----------



## Chris Parker

Sherman said:


> As mentioned before, *what I am doing* on Youtube is for free (there are no ads on it even) and *passing on the self defense knowledge from my friend* who is very experienced. Hopefully, it will help someone. :asian:



The bolded is the biggest issue I'm seeing immediately&#8230; I've run out of time to go through it all tonight, but will come back to this thread to cover in detail&#8230; but this is a big indication of the problems&#8230;


----------



## donnaTKD

so put simply what you're saying Sherman is that YOU actually have NO EXPERIENCE AT ALL of any form of self defence apart from your ma ????? 

that right there is enough for you to quit self defence before something goes really wrong and you get the blame for it cos someone saw your videos and acted as YOU'VE told them to.

forget the fact that your so called friend is advising you --- IT'S YOU THAT IS TELLING PEOPLE WHAT TO DO !!!!! and therein lies the biggest problem that you've got.  if it was you speaking from experience then it might be plausable but it's not you are describing what someone else did whilst you werre not there -- holy s%^t -- the fact that you've not actually experienced anything remotely violent leads me to suspect that you're just jumping on the sd band wagon of deeply flawed sd classes. 

why is your friend not doing the videos instead of you ????? i mean if he's got the experience then shouldn't he be telling us all what to do ????? including yourself ????? over the two threads you've demonstrated a complete lack of anything sd orientated and would cause the person needing the sd techniques to be undone bigtime.  

sorry but you need to go away and learn sd from someone that actually knows how to perform it properly.  in case your questioning me i've got a full door staff certificate -- this alone tells me that you do not know your stuff -- and a background deeply entrenched in muay thai.

suggest that you go away and think again..........


----------



## Sherman

donnaTKD said:


> why is your friend not doing the videos instead of you ????? i mean if he's got the experience then shouldn't he be telling us all what to do ????? including yourself ????? over the two threads you've demonstrated a complete lack of anything sd orientated and would cause the person needing the sd techniques to be undone bigtime.



Because he is not into filming himself for privacy purposes and given the responses I am receiving here, it is clearly the right choice that he has made. However, he is telling me what to do behind the scenes in my video series and supervising. If you guys haven't already realized, I am the "actor" and most knowledge passed on is based on my friend's experience although coming from a martial arts background myself, I am qualified to convey it unlike a true actor.

I will make this general statement (but not addressing anyone in particular) to those who think what I am showing is wrong. Isn't this the same kind of behavior when you go into a self defense or martial arts school and they you that everything else someone else is teaching is wrong? The truth is that there are many variables to account for in reality. Nothing ever goes as planned. Obviously, I am not going to memorize a particular self defense technique and think that it will work in all real life situations. This is not ring fighting or where there are any rules. In self defense, different techniques and principles apply depending on the situation. 

Self defense starts in the mind. I have had my fair share of dangerous self defense situations to deal with in real life and have dealt with most of them without escalating the problem into a physical fight mostly because of my Aikido training. Most were resolved with proper discussion and only a few escalated into physical contact.

 Right now, it would seem that the vocal group here thinks that they are right and is expressing it in a very snarky manner although I have been nothing but polite and open to discussion. It seems like herd mentality. I have seen this happen in real life in the martial arts and self defense classes I have attended. Usually, I will let it pass but this time, it seems like the perfect self defense scenario that starts in the mind. If you let others bully you and make you think that you don't belong because you are different, then you have already lost the self defense mindset. To those who ostracize others, you should be ashamed of yourselves. For the silent majority who have been supporting me, thank you very much and if there is just one thing that is worth remembering in self defense is that it really starts in the mind. Stay positive and don't be afraid if others bully you:


----------



## drop bear

OK so you are going to re invent martial arts based on you mate who has been in a fight. But your mate cant prove he fights and does not fight anybody any good. And is so super secret that nobody ever sees him.

 You don't fight and don't compete and don't even do live or resisted training. So nothing really shows that your stuff will work ever. Except a all comers challenge from your mate who I assume is half the world away. And so far has not challenged anybody.

So you have jumped on the YouTube to present your system to people who do fight,do compete and have come from systemscthat have more practical history than a bunch of street fights.

And when they try to tell you that most of that really won't work. You are getting all defensive. Because you are not charging us for this?

At this point you are surprised you are receiving snark?

Let's leave you with some ashida Kim. Who also dances to the beat of his own drum.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wZsndq9sGpA


----------



## K-man

Sherman said:


> Because he is not into filming himself for privacy purposes and given the responses I am receiving here, it is clearly the right choice that he has made. However, he is telling me what to do behind the scenes in my video series and supervising. If you guys haven't already realized, I am the "actor" and most knowledge passed on is based on my friend's experience although coming from a martial arts background myself, I am qualified to convey it unlike a true actor.
> 
> I will make this general statement (but not addressing anyone in particular) to those who think what I am showing is wrong. Isn't this the same kind of behavior when you go into a self defense or martial arts school and they you that everything else someone else is teaching is wrong? The truth is that there are many variables to account for in reality. Nothing ever goes as planned. Obviously, I am not going to memorize a particular self defense technique and think that it will work in all real life situations. This is not ring fighting or where there are any rules. In self defense, different techniques and principles apply depending on the situation.
> 
> Self defense starts in the mind. I have had my fair share of dangerous self defense situations to deal with in real life and have dealt with most of them without escalating the problem into a physical fight mostly because of my Aikido training. Most were resolved with proper discussion and only a few escalated into physical contact.
> 
> Right now, it would seem that the vocal group here thinks that they are right and is expressing it in a very snarky manner although I have been nothing but polite and open to discussion. It seems like herd mentality. I have seen this happen in real life in the martial arts and self defense classes I have attended. Usually, I will let it pass but this time, it seems like the perfect self defense scenario that starts in the mind. If you let others bully you and make you think that you don't belong because you are different, then you have already lost the self defense mindset. To those who ostracize others, you should be ashamed of yourselves. For the silent majority who have been supporting me, thank you very much and if there is just one thing that is worth remembering in self defense is that it really starts in the mind. Stay positive and don't be afraid if others bully you:


OK. We will try a different tack. You are being told by a lot of people with lots of knowledge that what you have demonstrated is wrong. It is wrong in principle, nothing to do with bullying. I would love to see you post good SD videos for us to watch. But when you post material as advice on what to do if you are in a fight, it needs to be sound advice. It needs to fit principles that apply right across the spectrum. Now your mate made a wise decision not to perform in front of the camera because if he had done we would be telling him that he was wrong instead of you. That is assuming that you actually did what he suggested you did. 

Let's address your accusation that if you go to different schools you will get different advice. That is sure to happen because there are many different styles and they will address a particular attack in the way their system teaches. That is not to suggest that they will say another system is wrong, just that a particular scenario is handled differently.  But across the board there are principles that all systems have in common and that is where your defence falls down. The way you have demonstrated might work against a half hearted attack from someone who isn't really trying to hit you but I'll guarantee if you tried it against any one of my guys you would be hit. Simple.

Now you claim to have an Aikido background. Really? I mean the first technique taught in Aikido is ikkyo. It teaches how to receive an attack and it uses two hands. In karate we use two hands and in Krav I teach it with two hands. All of a sudden you spring up with a new system that is so advanced that you can place your hand on the elbow of someone throwing a full speed punch at your face. Not only that but you told us that you had made a mistake saying it was a defence that experienced martial artists would use but it is really designed for those with no knowledge. Well believe me when I say, an inexperienced person using the defence you demonstrated would be like a deer in the headlights, and will end up the same way.
:asian:


----------



## Transk53

Sherman said:
			
		

> If you let others bully you and make you think that you don't belong because you are different, then you have already lost the self defense mindset.



Not really. Bullies rely on trying to intimidate you for sure, but you don't lose the self defense mindset. That manifests itself in "fight or flight" None of the peeps on here are trying to ostracize you, and being an adult living with autism I know what that can feel like, but you have opened yourself up to dissection. Since I joined this site, I have seen "linage" used quite extensively. I already asked you about you're friends background (I may have missed it somewhere) and what he has studied. I personally find that quite disturbing. Still, if I started eulogizing about TKD for example, and then proceeded to talk about the different kicks and strikes, too right I should be questioned. I have minimal physical exposure to TKD, and quite rightly should get ripped down by even a White belt. I don't practice TKD. Same difference here Sherman


----------



## donnaTKD

you've totally missed the point.

what you're advocating in what you say and what you've shown is downright wrong plain simple and would leave the person trying your methods in serious s%^t.

i come from a 20plus year background in muay thai and and know what i'm doing and talking about and if i was to use your advice then and it all went a bit pete tong i'd be suing you for wrongful guidance.

personally i think that you're ma skills are either not there or you've done one or two classes and think by doing that you're some kind of expert.  anyone with any sense will tell you that 

the natural raction to receiving a punch is to cover your face (try boxing / muay thai / mma etc)

NOT 

by going for the elbow which quite frankly is hit and miss and that depends on whether you've sussed the angle that it's coming from before you hit the floor.  you lead with two hands, you defend with two hands cos you've got a far greater chance of still being in one piece at the end of it.

your advice will lead more people to be hospitalised.

i think that the people actually following your advice are going to end up in a really bad way.

oh and before you start crying off we've been there, we compete on a regular basis, we've seen the damage that can be done and yet even with all this knowledge on tap you still advocate doing things your way -- that i don't understand.....


----------



## donnaTKD

if you studied the different MA's then you'll see one common theme running through them all and that is self protection --- doesn't matter which MA you pick - there's leg blocks, arm blocks, deflections, parries, step outs, step ins.......

there's none of this in your advice - there's nothing remotely useful in anything that you've put thst would lead to a successful outcome for the person using those skills.

sorry but i think you need to go back to the drawing board take down your video posts and start with some real self defence stuff cos like i said i honestly don't believe you've got an MA background.

go away and think again.


----------



## Transk53

Shudder to think if it does indeed go all Pete Tong, he would be wading through cheese. For me personally, this thread has led to a lot of insight from you peeps. I am thankful for that at least


----------



## donnaTKD

i'm waiting for Mr Parker to come in and rip all this apart and correct where he feels necessary 

he's not been wrong yet and he sure as hell knows his stuff 

sherman you'd be a lot better off asking Mr Parker for his thoughts on how to improve things either that or get out of the self defence industry.........


----------



## donnaTKD

Transk53 said:


> Shudder to think if it does indeed go all Pete Tong, he would be wading through cheese. For me personally, this thread has led to a lot of insight from you peeps. I am thankful for that at least



no worreez  - i think that those of us that have contributed in this thread and showing / proving sherman to be incorrect in what he's doing will be happy with your statement 

it just gets me big time when somebody doing something so flawed is putting it out there as gospel truth when it's far from that


----------



## Hong Kong Pooey

Sherman said:


> Okay, here's the video showing elbow control but with weapons:



Welcome to MT!

Not sure what the point of this vid is though? I've played squash before and no-one ever attacked me with a sword.

Mind you it's been a few years so maybe the rules have changed since then.


----------



## Hong Kong Pooey

drop bear said:


> OK so you are going to re invent martial arts based on you mate who has been in a fight. But your mate cant prove he fights and does not fight anybody any good. And is so super secret that nobody ever sees him.
> 
> You don't fight and don't compete and don't even do live or resisted training. So nothing really shows that your stuff will work ever. Except a all comers challenge from your mate who I assume is half the world away. And so far has not challenged anybody.
> 
> So you have jumped on the YouTube to present your system to people who do fight,do compete and have come from systemscthat have more practical history than a bunch of street fights.
> 
> And when they try to tell you that most of that really won't work. You are getting all defensive. Because you are not charging us for this?
> 
> At this point you are surprised you are receiving snark?
> 
> Let's leave you with some ashida Kim. Who also dances to the beat of his own drum.
> 
> http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wZsndq9sGpA



Holy cr@p I thought he'd killed his mate!

I could actually see him all through that video though, does that mean I've got super powers?


----------



## K-man

Hong Kong Pooey said:


> Welcome to MT!
> 
> Not sure what the point of this vid is though? I've played squash before and no-one ever attacked me with a sword.
> 
> Mind you it's been a few years so maybe the rules have changed since then.


OMG! I had missed this one. Just don't get me started!


----------



## Chris Parker

donnaTKD said:


> i'm waiting for Mr Parker to come in and rip all this apart and correct where he feels necessary
> 
> he's not been wrong yet and he sure as hell knows his stuff
> 
> sherman you'd be a lot better off asking Mr Parker for his thoughts on how to improve things either that or get out of the self defence industry.........



Right. Uh&#8230; this isn't going to be short&#8230; I might suggest getting a light snack, and recommending people stay hydrated if you're going to try tackling this in a single sitting&#8230; 

The main reason I decided to come back to this thread and go through everything, even though I stated that this isn't really the place for it, is Sherman's comment of:



Sherman said:


> And so far, nobody has convinced me that anything in my videos would not work. I have gone through all criticisms with my friend and is also frankly why I posted my videos here. I also wanted to know how some of what I am demonstrating might not work - hey, I am going to be using these myself after all if the situation ever crops up. LOL My friend has demonstrated in every case that it works even after all the counter points brought up.



I'll come back to the post where that comment is made as we go.



Sherman said:


> Hi! I am new here. My name is Sherman. I started  out in Aikido when I was 18 or so. Got my black belt after about 10  years. Then I learned Shorinji Kempo (Japanese Shaolin branch) until I  was 2nd Kyu. At the same time, I picked up a bit of Wah San and Pak Mei  Kung Fu. These days, I train more with my friend who was a street  fighter as I discovered that most of the martial arts I know doesn't  work against him. Recently, I have started my own Youtube channel on  Self Defense based on what I have learned:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBmbdxq9eG0vYMHTjSSoaUcLL0y87-yj5.
> 
> Here is a sample episode:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyway, nice to be here and I hope to get feedback from you guys on  what works and what doesn't. ^_^



Before we get too far into this, I'm going to highlight the last part of your very first post here&#8230; "I hope to get feedback from you guys on what works and what doesn't"&#8230; okay. Sherman, please bear in mind that that's what I am (and have been) doing here. That said, I'm not going to go particularly easy here&#8230; so I hope you can take what I say with the understanding that I'm going to be using an absolute fine-toothed comb, pulling this entire thing apart in as much detail as I can. Some comments are going to be about what you're presenting&#8230; others are going to feel more like personal criticisms of you as a person. Believe me that there is no attack intended here&#8230; there will be very good reasons that I will discuss your personal presentation&#8230; and hopefully I'll be able to make that clear. 

Right, let's look at the video. 

First things first. You've been refuting the idea that this is your material, saying that it comes from your friend instead, and that what your showing isn't supposed to be taken as "the way", and that you are not offering these videos as expert advice, particularly not for martial artists, instead, it's just meant to be ideas for non-martial artists. I'll deal with the second part in a bit&#8230; but the idea that the ownership of the presentation isn't really down to you should be shut down straight away. The title on the video is "How to move out of the line of Attack in Sherman Self Defense (SSD) episode 2". It's presented, not as "Sherman's Friends' Self Defence", but as "Sherman Self Defence". Any criticism, therefore, is going to be levelled towards yourself.

Right. The first 13 seconds are you going through a motion of a compression block (wrapping your arm around the side of your head), dropping low, then coming up and forward, leading with the elbow. As a drill, provided the context is made clear for the application, all good. However, you are spending an inordinate amount of time in the air, you would be off-balance (airborne) at the point of impact, making this a very flawed demonstration lacking any real effect or power, your weight is centred in your upper chest, you're focusing on pushing with the elbow, to the point that it weakens your entire structure, and you're bouncing up and down. If this was applied the way it's demonstrated here against anyone even someone stable, you'd bounce straight off them. The drive needs to come from your rear leg, with your weight centring through your hips (in Japanese arts, your hara, or tanden&#8230; tan dien in Chinese). That would allow you to actually remain standing, at the least.

Your introduction. Look, I know it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there, up on camera, and not everyone are born showmen, but your delivery lacks any strength or confidence. I'm realising that English may not be your first language, with the strong clipped accent you have, so I'm not talking about that&#8230; I'm talking about the half smile constantly playing about the edges of your mouth, the questioning in your voice, the indecisive body language, and so on. You also continue to describe it as "Sherman Self Defence"&#8230; so it really is you putting it up as advice/suggestions, whether it's from your friend or not.

20 seconds - 1:20 is your description of "Centre Line"&#8230; you demonstrate two punches here, one outside and one held in&#8230; and, honestly, neither of them are good. Your body structure is contorted, there's a real lack of congruence with your arm and everything else (on both), there's no penetration, and no sense of impact. Your head is artificially held back, pulling your chin in (not down), which is an indication of a few things I won't bring up here&#8230; but none of them particularly good. Your delivery is more confident&#8230; I get the feeling that you're not using a script here, but were for the intro&#8230; that suits you better. It's more serious in tone, and is more believable that you might grasp the nature of what you're talking about. However, your description is a bit lacking&#8230; "What is the centre line? (Runs hands down the middle of body in a line) Centre line&#8230; of our body". Okay&#8230; but no explanation of why it's important at all. You try to demonstrate that a hook/cross is "outside our centreline, so it does not use our bodyweight&#8230; but if it's in the middle, and I punch, then I use my body weight". Uh&#8230; no. Believe me, that hook can have just as much body weight behind it as your straight punch&#8230; in fact, it can have a lot more power, as it travels further, picking up momentum energy as it goes. The idea that punching from the centreline is preferred is really far from universal&#8230; and is what I would consider a specialist martial arts method, not really a general self defence one. You're almost never going to come up against an attacker giving that sort of attack other than a kick, unless you're being attacked by a Wing Chun student.

You demonstrate another weak compression block/cover with forward movement (all of which looks like you're really unsure of how to do it, with hesitation in your movement, a noticeable pause before you act, poor body positioning, and having almost your entire body open to other strikes), before moving on to talk about moving off the centreline (which is the line down the middle of your body, according to your brief description&#8230; how you're meant to move your body outside of your body is something I'm a little unsure of&#8230, then moving in with your centreline again to attack. Well, there's a fair bit of confusion here&#8230; firstly, the line you're talking about moving off from isn't the centreline (especially not as you've described it), it's what's referred to as the primal line&#8230; the instinctive directional orientation that you're hardwired to respond with, either forwards or backwards&#8230; next, if you're actually dealing with the more common forms of attack, you'll be dealing with a hook/haymaker&#8230; and the direction you've just moved in is walking straight into a punch. Lastly (well, not lastly&#8230; but I'm trying to keep this relatively short, while being thorough&#8230; hmm), the movement you make to enter afterwards has your cover on the exact wrong side of your body&#8230; all it would do there is open your body up and protect a side that's not able to be attacked. If you're using it as a spiking elbow strike, it's incredibly weak, your weight is too high, you're off balance as you land (after the moment of impact), and your angling would have your elbow miss past the back of an opponent's head. 

1:20-1:32 "Let's continue on with the centreline concept by extending it to the elbow and the shoulder. The elbow controls the direction of the force, and the shoulder controls the strength of the force." Slick wavy hand movements aside, let's just look at what you're saying here. No, the shoulder doesn't control the strength of the impact/strike&#8230; you've been talking about body weight&#8230; which means the strength comes from shifting your weight forwards&#8230; which comes from the legs and hips. The elbow is only a small part of the directional control as well&#8230; it can only move within the parameters that the shoulder allows&#8230; so the shoulder is really in control of the direction. In other words, biomechanically, your comment is both flawed and contradictory to the rest of your comments so far.

The next thing you do is to bring in a partner to demonstrate the deflection at the elbow&#8230; now, as I've said, I'm with you on controlling the elbow there&#8230; but the way it's done here, it wouldn't work. The first issue is that the punches are nowhere near you&#8230; the first one is a foot short, the rest are closer, but still out of range, and targeted nowhere near your face/chin&#8230; in fact, they're already trailing off to the left before you deflect them, and they're largely aiming at the upper chest&#8230; with no real target available. Your execution is also rather flawed, as there is basically no lateral or linear evasion, the deflection is rather weak, and comes across as a minor slap&#8230; nothing that would really give the opponent pause, let alone provide an opening for a counter. Your body movement is jerky, with your shoulders hunched (again, an indication of a real lack of confidence, either in the technique, or your ability), there's no sense of the hips being involved at all, with your weight centred high, and so on. Your demonstration of an inside deflection (talking about the shoulder controlling the strength again), which is really a shoulder jam, looks like it kinda scared you&#8230; as well it should&#8230; you would have been hit then, mainly as your partner was still tracking to the left, and only stopped when he realised that you'd gone the other direction. A panicked technique that comes across as fear. Your last demo was probably the best, as it had a lateral evasion coupled with the deflection, but it still suffered from many of the previous issues.

Hmm, I get what you're going for with the extended fist/wipe to a new scene&#8230; but it's a really bad punch, mechanically it's got no real structure or support, so it robs the movement of any real effect.

From there, you bring "everything together"&#8230; and here's where the problems all really show themselves. First off, the attack you deal with is a guy slowly extending an arm in a very unrealistic, out of range, powerless, unstructured "punch"&#8230; which represents nothing like what would be encountered in a modern street environment. You move to the outside, then come in with your compression block/cover position&#8230; and talk about it being an elbow strike. No, it isn't&#8230; you're too far away, and can't reach any target whatsoever, let alone there being much of a viable target for you. You then remind us of your idea of how the elbow works (changing direction), and push down on your partners elbow with yours, which just drives them down a little bit. Against an actual punch, it's already been recoiled as you were stepping in, so that's not really going to be there any more for you to try such an action&#8230; but even if it were, the direction you're taking it is where it's strongest, and is easiest for the opponent to resist. It's braced by the lats, the pecs, and most of the back, all supporting the tricep and shoulder. Furthermore, even if you did manage to push it down, all you're doing is bringing their other arm back into play, giving them an open target (your head), and essentially offering a free shot at your face. You finish by taking your left hand, putting it over their shoulder, pushing down, and using your right elbow to apply a strike&#8230; all of which took out any distance needed to generate some genuine force or impact, twisted your body, took too long, has your tricep (a weak muscle when unsupported) attempting to overpower the entire upper body and back muscles, and is really going to result, in a best case scenario, in a glancing blow that's just going to annoy the other guy. This entire sequence starts out with no relevance to self defence, and gets worse from there. Note how when you do it "in a faster motion", you can't reach your targets, and your twisting your back so much you almost stumble at the end. It really is a terrible technique.

Finally, you answer a question from a viewer&#8230; on how to defend against a knife. You say you have two steps&#8230; and give all three of them (hmm&#8230. First, be aware&#8230; look around&#8230; are there open places? Look, awareness is key to self defence across the board, but when we're dealing with knife defence, that's not the awareness you should be focusing on&#8230; as that time it takes to look around is the time it'll take for your attacker to stab you. Probably a few times. Second, make sure you have a good pair of shoes on. Right&#8230; I see where you're going&#8230; but the problem is that you can't simply tell an attacker "hang on, I have better shoes for this, can you wait a bit? I'll be right back, promise!" (yes, I get the use of humour, but at the same time, it's not a particularly helpful bit of advice). Third&#8230; run! Hmm. Escape is definitely the best option, but to simply say "run!", and leave it at that, is just going to get people killed or seriously injured. Do you know about the Tueller Drill? Do you know how far you have to be from a knifeman before you're starting to get "safe" enough to actually simply run away? Do you know how to get that distance between yourself and a guy with a knife? To be completely frank, the direction and method you chose to "run away" in would have you caught and stabbed very quickly and very easily. You started too close, wasted time turning before running, slowed yourself to go over an obstacle rather than around it, and you slowed to pick an obvious hiding spot, rather than continue to get the distance that would actually help you.

The advice of "run" is simple enough&#8230; but there are a hell of a lot of nuances that have to go along with that&#8230; otherwise it's like offering the advice of "brake" when asked what to do in a car emergency&#8230; it's simply not always the best option&#8230; and there are a range of other factors that need to be considered. 



Sherman said:


> Thanks for your welcome and opinion, donald1! Here's another Youtube video that someone from the Bullshido forum recommended me to watch, which might be useful in determining whether training is effective or not notwithstanding the effectiveness of the technique itself:



Okay, Matt Thornton&#8230; Look, a lot of what Matt says is largely true&#8230; but the way he delivers it is also fairly ignorant of other training and testing methods. Bluntly, he doesn't get a lot of what he's criticising. Additionally, it's not the only way to tell if something is effective or not&#8230; and the idea of "effective not withstanding the effectiveness of the technique itself" makes little to no sense&#8230; the whole point is to find out what is considered "functionally effective"&#8230; the techniques have to be effective in isolation first&#8230; if they're not, there's no point testing their effectiveness in that form of application. Of course, Matts "Aliveness" concept ignores a lot of the contextual application of self defence&#8230; and honestly isn't that applicable to self defence training itself in a number of aspects (at it's heart, yes, but at it's heart it's not missing from anything Matt seems to think it is).



Sherman said:


> Wow! So many posts! 0_0;;; Thanks for the warm (and maybe some not so warm) welcome, guys! ^_^ Glad that my introduction managed to provoke some good discussion here! A point to note is that since this is a self defense video series, it is meant to be easy to do and as Chris says, "the idea of parrying the elbow is solid, and more reliable. It's moving  slower than the wrist, it's easier to hit, and offers more control than  trying to use the wrist for leverage." It is also not Wing Chun and my recommended entry in the middle range is the simple "Elbow Up" technique, which also protects your head. Wrist deflections are fine in the long range. Here's my latest video to demonstrate:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Please remember to subscribe if you like! ^_^



Your "elbow up" technique, what I've been referring to as a compression block, or cover, isn't a terrible idea in and of itself&#8230; but you overuse it, and perform it in a rather flawed way. Systems such as Crazy Monkey Boxing have used it as a basis for a few decades now, for the record.

Okay, onto this video.

You've got a slick intro now&#8230; a banner again displaying the name as "Sherman Self Defence"&#8230; very much your own creation, your own name, your own system&#8230; so all the onus is going to fall to you. Beneath that is some sepia toned footage of you sparring or running some drills&#8230; and honestly, it's pretty terrible. You constantly have your back arched, your head pulled back (a fear-influenced body language), and so on, but we won't dwell too much on that. You seem to have chosen to do this one in a gym&#8230; but the echo makes your voice hard to hear&#8230; especially when you cover up later in the video, and are essentially talking into your arms.

The theme here is on distance management, and you begin by identifying three ranges&#8230; well, kinda. You name three ranges, but don't really identify what they are in anything other than a vague manner (long, middle, short), and suggesting some tactical movements from each (long, you can run away, and the attacker can't attack&#8230; is that actually an attacking range then? Why do you need to run if the opponent can't attack?&#8230; Middle, and you have the opportunity to back up, or go in and attack&#8230; okay&#8230; but does that mean that you're now in range of an attack? What form? A kicker can attack from further away than a grappler, for instance&#8230; have you taken the different unarmed ranges into account?&#8230; Short, and you have no choice but to commit to a powerful offence&#8230; while a pre-emptive strike can be a good move tactically, I would hardly say that the range dictates you have to&#8230; how do you know that there's an attack imminent first? Or are you just hitting everyone in that range, just in case?)

The biggest problem here is that the ranges are ill-defined&#8230; sure, breaking it into three dominant ranges is good&#8230; common, even (I'm teaching our version of this exact concept as we speak, actually)&#8230; but the thing is that each different context will have it's own way of defining the distances&#8230; so you do need to be clear on what you mean. When you do show what you mean by the different ranges, there's almost no variation between the "long" and the "middle" (having your partner come forth with an extended zombie arm as a punch wasn't the greatest look either&#8230; it's pretty clear he's no puncher)&#8230; in fact, it looks like the difference is that you're already hit in "middle" range, and missed by a couple of inches in long&#8230; which, the way that your partner was doing things, meant that you're hit there as well, so you know. The example of looking around, turning, and running, like with the knife defence advice you gave, was just bad. You were nowhere near far enough away for that to have worked&#8230; you were caught and beat. And, honestly, your demonstration of "short range" was just confusing&#8230; you didn't seem like you knew where you were wanting to be, or what you could do once you were there, so opted for lacklustre and fairly useless elbows again.

You then do some demos of changing the distance&#8230; and, again, your structure is terrible, your attacker is throwing punches that are missing you by a foot, your deflections are little more than slaps with no effect, your entering lacks confidence and commitment&#8230; it really was just quite bad performance coupled with some fairly questionable technique (those elbows really wouldn't have done much).

At 2:30 you start to offer some tips&#8230; a defence against a "strangle hold". Leaving off for the minute that a straight front two-handed choke is incredibly rare, let's look at what you suggest&#8230; drop your chin (okay, but it needs to be coupled with a range of other things in order to be really useful), lower your hips (good), and push up beneath the elbow to lift one of the attackers arms up and off your throat. Hmm&#8230; no. If someone is genuinely attacking you with this choke, it's likely to be an overly emotional attack&#8230; they will most commonly be over the top of you, and pushing down, with their arms bent (in order to angle the hands in). That raises the shoulders, and means that again, you're using the weaker muscles (triceps) against the larger, stronger muscles of your attacker, directly in opposition to the force being applied. There's a reason that no system I'm aware of teaches that&#8230; they teach to go 90 degrees to the structure&#8230; your technique would have you struggling, then passing out as you failed to remove their hand, and didn't do anything to lessen the choke. But let's say that, for whatever reason, you do get their arm up and off your throat&#8230; your next action was to catch the wrist, and bend their elbow, turning them to the side. Again, so much no on that technique&#8230; it offered no threat to the opponent, so you've just annoyed them, it pushed them out of your control range, and it's a very poor option as you have almost no contact, and therefore control over what happens next.

The end of the video is a range of shots of you getting out of a number of grabbing attacks (the first one against a tackle would have you on your back in half a second, bluntly, there was no counter to the incoming force, just a poorly applied and off target elbow, the second against a bear hug, where you tried using those weak triceps [again] against strong muscle groups of the attacker, then turned to practically miss with another elbow), followed by kicking evasions&#8230; nothing really there to speak of.



Sherman said:


> Just to clarify, move out of the line of attack first before entering the short distance of attack. In a street fight, this might not be possible if the opponent is moving in fast with his full body weight . If so, move the opponent's elbow to redirect his line of attack when he gets to the middle distance. An opponent cannot punch you once you have control of his elbow because you can change his line of attack easily. If you are still worried about the punch, protect your head with the Elbow Up technique using your other hand while simultaneously launching a followup attack if you miss your opponent's elbow with your first hand. It is also more than likely that your opponent has entered the short range by then so you can target his shoulder. Of course, this is dependent on the situation. For self defense purposes, I have kept it simple.



And just&#8230; no.

Firstly, some information. Most fights start at what is sometimes called "interview distance"&#8230; it's about a foot or so away, maybe a little more depending on social contexts&#8230; so you're already in your "short" range&#8230; they're not moving from middle, they're starting in short before it gets physical. Thinking that it's going to be a big swing from distance is to be ignorant of the realities of how violence actually happens&#8230; it might move out to there, but in the vast majority of cases, it'll start (and finish&#8230; a typical fight is about 3-10 seconds) in the "short" range. You simply won't get the time to affect the elbow the way you're thinking, unless you've done some actual distance management (not what you showed in the last video) before hand&#8230; which would require quite a few other things to be considered first. Next, the idea of "if you're worried, use this&#8230; if they do this, you do that&#8230;" is, bluntly, unrealistic as well. You're trying to intellectualise the idea of social and asocial violence&#8230; it just doesn't work that way. In addition, you're ignoring the basic psychology of the people you think you're targeting your videos at&#8230; moving in is highly confronting (which is why you keep showing a fear response whenever you do it&#8230; it is scary, and takes a lot of training/experience to do consistently)&#8230; so giving these ideas to people who don't train in martial arts (your stated audience) is pretty useless. You might as well give someone who doesn't want to drive a car lessons in formula 1 racing&#8230; it's completely ignoring who you're dealing with. So, no, you haven't kept it simple&#8230; or realistic&#8230; you've presented something that they wouldn't do, and presented it badly.

But "target the shoulder"? Where exactly on the shoulder would you target? And with what? And what do you think the effect would be?



Sherman said:


> None taken, Transk53.  Did you mean the Elbow to the face would have done nothing? Should probably have mentioned that Elbow should target the eyes and nose.
> 
> As for controlling the opponent's elbow, it can be done with one hand if the purpose is to shift the opponent's line of attack away from you, thus controlling both of the opponent's hands from striking you. Will probably show this in another video since this has been brought up a couple of times now.



Yeah.. the elbow would have done nothing. And even less if targeting the eyes (or nose, the way you were doing it).

As far as controlling the elbow, that's good and solid&#8230; but again, the way you show it (in the next video) is highly flawed to the point of being fatal. If you want to see how controlling the elbow should be done (even one handed), check out some of the FMA systems&#8230; and people like Michael Janich.



Sherman said:


> Okay, here's the video showing elbow control but with weapons:



More intro logos&#8230; a very cheesy staged combat with actions that would look bad and unrealistic in an early 80's Jackie Chan movie&#8230; and we're upping the ownership of the whole thing by adding "Starring Sherman Chin"&#8230; yeah, I keep coming back to that, it'll be important later on.

Okay, this time we're in a squash court&#8230; another bad choice for audio, as there's a lot of echo, and it makes it hard for the camera's microphone to know what to focus on, particularly if it's a multidirectional mic. This means that it tries to pick up everything around, all the background noise, all the echo, so the vocals get lost in the mix. But let's see what we have here.

"Okay! Today we're going to learn how to defend ourselves against a long sword, and the short knife". Okay, right off the bat, with my background, this is throwing up some red flags&#8230; I know these topics pretty well, and know the major issues with both&#8230; but, more importantly, why would a video series that's supposed to be about self defence, particularly for those who don't train in a martial art, be wanting to include sword defence? Is it coming back into vogue again? Is armour going to be worn on the streets as well? No matter&#8230; it seems we're starting with sword defence.

And, of course, the attacker has no clue of sword. The grip is awful (a hammer grip, too tight, no movement, robbing him of range, reach, power, speed, and versatility), he's far too close, and just how slow could he possibly strike down (there's no way I'm calling that hatchet job a "cut")?!? You, Sherman, move to the side (well before the attack was committed&#8230; if you moved that early against me, I'd just change direction and cut you anyway&#8230; ask my guys&#8230, and we get a close up of you catching down on top of both wrists. If you'd stopped there, it might have been okay&#8230; you're a little stuck for what to do next, but at least it's somewhat controlling&#8230; but no, instead, you decide to bring your elbow behind their forearm&#8230; and, in so doing, actually lose your grip with your left hand (you move into the exact position we take someone's hand to remove their grip in te hodoki)&#8230; which was controlling their right hand. The dominant hand in swordsmanship. Bad, bad idea. You pressure into a point on the inner wrist (which would have little to no effect in a fight, for the record, simply due to the effects of adrenaline&#8230; works okay in a safe training environment, but useless the way you're presenting it here), and catch the tsuka (handle) to pull the sword up, cutting between the opponent's legs&#8230; except that wouldn't have really cut, you bring the sword out of range, have no strength in your grip, and wouldn't be able to effect much at all. All in all, it was too close, lacking in power and strength on both sides, and relied on things that wouldn't work at all. The same thing against a thrust was no better&#8230; nor were the "fast" ones (that really wasn't fast, fluid, or anything that would have worked&#8230; on either side).

The first knife defence&#8230; your partner is just waving the knife around in front, and you move to the left&#8230; your suggestion is to catch the wrist and the elbow&#8230; which isn't bad&#8230; but you catch the wrist with your left hand, and the elbow with your right, which only serves to entangle you, and rob both arms of any real controlling strength or position. To make matters worse, you immediately give-up the elbow control (so you didn't really need to have it there) in order to push his arm down, then apply a wrist lock&#8230; which you fail to do correctly, as there's no locking of the opponent's arm or body, not much structural compromise, and you release with them still holding the knife! Seriously, if the rest was decent, the fact that you left them holding the knife ruins the lot!

Against a low thrust, you suggest bringing both hands down on top of the forearm&#8230; which could have your hand ending up with a knife through the palm&#8230; and, at the very least, doesn't hold them in position, allowing them to pull the weapon back, and continue to thrust repeatedly. From there, you move to the side, and attempt the same as before. You do show a more rapid, multiple thrust attack (well&#8230; not really an attack, as it's little more than lifting the arm in succession, they weren't thrusts, and lacked the real impetus of them) so you can show that this will work against that&#8230; except you change what you do, this time moving to the side, and catching rather than pushing down. You apply a different lock this time, but have very little control over the knife, and completely fail to take into account the natural response the knifeman will give&#8230; in other words, what you're showing simply wouldn't work unless the attacker stopped, and let you apply it. Additionally, it's a rather complex motion, requiring a bit of fine-motor skill&#8230; not something I'd ever rely on. And for self defence, I'm really, really, really not fond of the way you keep stabbing your now disarmed and controlled (at least, theoretically) opponent&#8230; that's pretty much jail time, you know. 



Sherman said:


> Of course you can do that. Although I was controlling my opponent's elbow with my own elbow, it was with the weight of my whole body behind it (hence the need to mirror the opponent with my body just like in Aikido). However, it is the principles that are important and not the technique. In a real life self defense situation, everything constantly changes. The key takeaway principle point here is knowing what the treats you need to really focus on. Knowing the elbow changes the direction of the strike will help you do that. Also know what your opponent's shoulder controls and what your position exposes. This will allow you to be flexible and constantly know how to adapt according to the situation.  And as I kept mentioning in my previous videos, run first if you have the chance. If you face a skilled weapons fighter, he will be trained to counter your disarming move. My videos are meant for a person with no martial arts background to be able to pull off in a self defense situation with only those key principle points in mind. It is not in the same mindset as a martial artist. It is in the mindset of a person who wants to escape but has no other choice but to defend him or her self.



Yeah&#8230; lots of misunderstanding in this&#8230; for one thing, a "skilled weapons fighter" that you might face probably won't be trained to counter a disarm&#8230; it just won't have come up&#8230; in fact, they'll likely never been "trained" in anything&#8230; 



Sherman said:


> Yup, picking the nearest furniture and throwing it works. Going to rethink and cover that in future video clips as I feel that the series is a bit too martial arts in style now, which wasn't my intention. However, there were certain key principles that I thought was necessary and covered except for posture and stances (again very martial arts like but I still think is important), which I haven't touched on yet.
> 
> If someone were to break into your house, the best place to head to defend yourself is the kitchen where you can find lots of things to throw at your opponent. Then comes the knives.  Would love to film something like that so will get there eventually.



No, picking up the furniture doesn't often "work"&#8230; as you're not likely to have the distance required for such things.



Sherman said:


> The defense against knives comes directly from my friend who is a street fighter and has successfully fought off opponents with knives before. It is not what I have learned from my martial arts experience for the record. Once again, I would emphasize that the technique is not as important as the principle of controlling the elbow (and the clawing of  the opponent's wrist which my friend put to use during his time on the streets).
> 
> The one against a sword has not been fully tested though although we did try with a wooden sword in a practice situation and not in a real life street fight.



Your friend is either possibly the luckiest person ever to face a blade, or lying. If that's an example of what he showed you, either you're presenting it rather incorrectly, or it was pure luck that it was pulled off. Do not rely on it, and do not present it as effective.



Sherman said:


> I have been trained by my friend who was there during filming to make sure that it was done right and it would work in a street fight. I actually wanted to do a gun disarming segment too since he has  a license to own one but he never disarmed anyone with a gun in a street fight before so that footage was taken out. We figured that we could keep the wooden sword footage since it was literally just a wooden sword and we used the same principles for disarming of a knife. Anyway, I am not interested in arguing about whether it is effective or not because it is taught to me by my friend who has actually used them in a real fight. He told me to tell you guys that whoever wants to challenge him is welcomed to do so as he loves to fight. LOL We actually recorded a segment of him addressing you guys but I decided not to upload it as it would be too martial arts serious and that's the last thing I want my Youtube channel to be. >_<;;; I personally believe that there might be more effective ways to do this but I have only learned all of them from some martial arts teacher who has done them in theory only. My friend has done them in real life so they are what I will be using until I can learn something better from someone else who has got practical experience and lived to tell the tale.
> 
> In the meantime, to anyone who is reading this, although my video series is meant for anyone without martial arts training, it must be remembered that the self defense mindset is different from the martial arts mindset so please run and not fight if you can (Remember the distance video. Anything in the middle range and long range will allow you to back up and run). Hmm...perhaps I have been posting in the wrong forum after all. ^_^;;;



No, the principles of sword defence are not necessarily commensurate with the principles of knife defence, so keeping sword in as "it was just a wooden sword" denies any real reason at all. 

And I'm going to ask here&#8230; are you saying that everything you're showing is based on what this friend is showing you? Not the years of other martial arts you claim to have?

Oh, but for the record, we're pretty aware of the differences between mindsets&#8230; quite probably a fair bit more than you are, honestly.



Sherman said:


> My friend thinks I am a better person to teach and I am confident enough with his ability to fight on the streets having seen him fight before. What I am doing is merely being a conduit for passing on his experience. And so far, nobody has convinced me that anything in my videos would not work. I have gone through all criticisms with my friend and is also frankly why I posted my videos here. I also wanted to know how some of what I am demonstrating might not work - hey, I am going to be using these myself after all if the situation ever crops up. LOL My friend has demonstrated in every case that it works even after all the counter points brought up.
> 
> Once again, what I am showing is not for the trained martial artist. It is very different when you defend yourself with a conditioned body. Speaking of which, there is a lot of martial arts stuff for me to unlearn and number one is the mindset, which I try to convey in my video series  - try not to get in a fight, smile often, act like you don't know anything until the last minute, have a light heart (of not thinking too much) and light feet! LOL :asian:



So this is actually not "Sherman Self Defence", it's "Sherman's Friends' Self Defence, But He Doesn't Want To Be On Camera, So I'm Doing It"&#8230; yeah?

And don't use them. If he's happy with the way you're doing them, learn from someone who knows what they're doing. If what you're doing is the same as him, learn from someone who knows what they're doing. Getting into fights is very different from being in a position to teach self defence, and from everything so far, neither you nor your friend are anywhere near that.



Sherman said:


> I think you just clarified my point for me - UNLESS YOU MOVE OFF THE LINE AS YOU DID. With all due respect, deflecting at the fist first does not always work in a street fight no matter how many martial arts try to teach you that. How do I know? I told my friend what you guys said repeatedly (one of the reasons why I posted in a martial arts forum is to see if I can get constructive criticisms) until he got annoyed (that's why he thinks I am better at teaching) and asked me to try controlling his fingers/wrists/fists/forearms/etc and so I got "beaten up" by him. Pain is the best teacher apparently. LOL In a street fight, your opponent will use all means to attack you and deflecting his wrist is just inviting him to close the gap and elbow your face as he is advancing with his entire bodyweight behind him. Think big guy crowding in on you with a flurry of attacks in a street fight - this is where most traditional martial arts training is flawed. Train with Aliveness and you will know this:



To be blunt, I have seen no indication of anything close to Matt Thornton's Aliveness in anything you've shown&#8230; in fact, I've seen a lot of indications of it's lack.

Oh, and your friend answering our critiques doesn't really mean anything to us&#8230; presently, he's a completely unknown, anonymous nobody with no credibility, history, or anything. For all we know, he doesn't even exist...



Sherman said:


> Please don't get me wrong though. If you are a trained martial artist, you can probably deflect the fist and control the elbow next (this is almost impossible with my friend's correct body structure and attacks from the centerline with his elbows tugged in - deflecting his fist is like deflecting his entire body weight and is only possible if you are a trained martial artist that can move in with the weight of your entire body as well)  but since what I am rightfully showing is self defense, if there is one thing you want to remember is to move out of the line of attack first. A person who is not trained in martial arts will most likely freeze. This is even more so if your mind is focused on deflecting the fist. So, what I am teaching is simply that we have to control the elbows (both yours and your opponent's) and even if you have no martial arts experience and you remember this one bit of information while someone is already pummeling you, it might just save your life. I must repeat that if you are in the middle and long distance (as in my distance management video), move out of the line of attack and run if you can:



Yeah&#8230; that's all also completely wrong, you know&#8230; 

To begin with, having your friend come in with "correct body structure" (haven't seen anything close to that in these videos&#8230; how are you recognising it?), with a "centreline attack, elbows tucked in", and you not being able to do some of these things against that, really doesn't mean anything in the context of what you're claiming to be showing&#8230; the type of stylised attack you're describing isn't seen in "self defence" situations&#8230; and all that talk about "you could probably do it if you're a trained martial artist" is fairly bunkum as well. Your idea of what your audience (non-trained persons) should, or even would do, is a bit out&#8230; yes, freezing is a possibility, not so much if they're focused on deflecting an incoming fist though, but what they won't do is move off-line&#8230; not without a fair bit of training first&#8230; and even then, not as a first response, no matter what you think is best. You really need to know your audience first&#8230; 

Oh, and I think you're overselling it when you say that "it might just save your life"&#8230; 



Sherman said:


> I do appreciate your constructive criticisms but I do not appreciate you telling me not to put up my video. Never did I once say it is expert advice or the only way to do it. It is merely something I am teaching from my friend's practical experience. I won't dream of making this video series if he weren't supervising me and I am just basing it on my martial arts training (and yes, I do have an internationally recognized black belt if that even matters).
> 
> Anyway, no hard feelings. Thank you for your input which encouraged me to write the above although my friend told me not to bother teaching anyone who does not want to learn -> This is part of the reason he doesn't teach and I feel that it is such a waste because he is such a good fighter. :asian:



You're presenting it as "Sherman Self Defence". That automatically implies some form of expertise&#8230; at least to the point where you think that you have some value to offer. I mean, you didn't call it "Sherman's Possibly Maybe This Could Kinda Work If You're Lucky Hopefully Fighting Thingies". As a result, yeah, you're saying it's expert advice&#8230; even if you don't mean to. I would also add that nowhere, other than here, have you mentioned that you are teaching someone else's experiences and ideas&#8230; it's all presented as coming from you, your experience, your understanding, your expertise. Hell, your "What Is Sherman Self Defence (SSD)?" video mentions a "Grandmaster Chris Chung (Chan? If it's Chan, then the only one I can come across is a Wing Chun student of Ip Man&#8230; but you don't claim any Wing Chun&#8230; )", but no mention of him being a street fighter, that it's his methods, or anything else&#8230; it's really all about you, what you've learnt&#8230; 

So, either you're being disingenuous in the way you're presenting it there, or you're making someone up to shift the ownership of the criticism to someone else.

Oh, and I gotta say&#8230; "I've read about SSD online.."? Really? 






Hmm&#8230; 



Sherman said:


> @Tranks53, my friend was a street fighter before and was brought up as a traditional martial artist since he could walk because he came from a family who learned that. He loves martial arts and wants to preserve the tradition but acknowledges that most techniques do not work in a street fight. When he was a kid, he was dragged into gang fights and had to face stuff like cars with 5 gangsters in them suddenly stopping and coming out to attack him with weapons. He once traveled to China to train in Shaolin and other martial arts. He even managed to defeat the monks there(friendly fight of course since he has full respect for tradition and he will not challenge masters directly). These days, he doesn't really street fight anymore but he still challenges exponents from other martial arts - Thai Kickboxing, Taekwando, Baqua, Aikido, (western boxing), etc. This year, he got attacked by a mugger with a knife who hid behind a car. Unfortunately for the thief, my friend disarmed him and smashed his head into a car window, taking him out immediately. At the police station, my friend had to deal with the car owner more than the thief. He was asked whether he wanted to press charges against the thief but he didn't because the poor guy was already beaten up enough and should have learned his lesson. Perhaps this incident encouraged him to ask me to teach self defense based on his experience.
> 
> Anyway, I think I am about done teaching what I have learned for free (maybe just one more to round it up at 5 episodes) and will probably move on to more short action fantasy film stuff, which is more where my interest lies. Thanks for all the feedback, guys! I genuinely appreciate all the constructive criticisms. ^_^



Yeah&#8230; I have no idea what you mean by "he came from a family who learned that"&#8230; learned what? Specifically? And honestly, this entire story sounds to be, at least partially, fabricated&#8230; he beat all the Shaolin Monks, but not the masters, because he has respect for them? Huh? Full respect for tradition? What does that mean? The entire thing smacks of vagary&#8230; and personally, I don't believe a word of it.

Yeah&#8230; move on to the fantasy stuff&#8230; much more your thing.



Sherman said:


> Thanks for the welcome!  I just discovered the self defense sub-forum and am posting there now: http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/90...ackbelts-***-warning-explicit-content-11.html
> 
> Perhaps the videos I've made are too martial arts oriented so if I do make future ones, it will be more self defense oriented and practical. The mindset is completely different. It is a matter of survival. There are just too many variables in a real fight. The correct mindset for self defense is to run and act (cry, plead for your life, pretend to be dying, scream, etc.) if you can't run. Acting and distraction will save your life. Throw your shoes if you have to. It will cause your opponent to blink and give you enough time to run. When you run, don't run straight without thinking unless you are super fast runner. Run towards objects that you can use to throw or protect yourself with. Run circles around a car if you have to. Run towards a chair to protect yourself against knives. Take the chair and run around a table or head towards a doorway where only one attacker can reach you at a time and fend him off with the chair. Run to  a place with CCTV cameras and people. Not many gangsters want to get caught on camera. Attackers who just lost their temper might calm down while chasing you. Shout for help. Some people might help you or at least call the police. Only if all else fails, use self defense to fight. Always use objects that you can find, use terrain to help you - push your opponent into a drain if you have to, use your teeth to bite, nails to claw off skin and eyes, palm to strike his ears, Elbow Up to his face (see episode 1 of my video series) - keep attacking the same spot multiple times if you are afraid you will miss. Pay attention to your opponent's elbows and knees. Your opponent can a super skilled martial artist with a super strong punch but if you know how to move around (watch the distance management video above), he's not going to be able to land that punch or if he does, it would not be at its full intensity. Run and start throwing sharp items at him and even Bruce Lee has to think twice about attacking you. Break off a car mirror and use it to protect yourself against your opponent. If he is dumb enough to punch it, let the glass cut him. That's the creative mindset you need to have in a self defense situation. Jump around like a monkey and see if a black belt martial artist can even catch you to execute his move. Run and suddenly turn around and pepper spray him in the face. That's the self defense mindset no matter how skilled you think you are because you never know when your opponent's friend are preparing to kick your head, stab you or shoot you when you execute your move - don't forget that the adrenaline rush gives you a narrow field of focus. Throw your ego out the window in a street fight (and by street fight, I mean fighting in real life city situations without rules where your only priority is survival).
> 
> Martial arts is great to improve your self confidence but in a real life situation, there are too many variables no matter how good you think you are. Also, bad people are unlikely to attack you one-on-one. If they are stupid enough to do so, they are probably not very skilled themselves. Their friends are waiting to whack you in the head. So never engage your opponent in a self defense situation unless you really have no other choice. Most of the time, you have some other choice.



Just discovered the self defence forum&#8230; hmm&#8230; 

This entire middle paragraph should be stricken from your understanding&#8230; it's almost entirely wrong. It's as if you've come across a small part of a single tactic, and decided that that's the way it all is&#8230; it's not. And the last part, on martial arts, is just as bad.



Sherman said:


> Thank you for your concern. I'm a game developer and I am sticking to it. Check out the Alpha Kimori PC JRPG on Steam: Alpha Kimori? 1 on Steam
> 
> As mentioned before, what I am doing on Youtube is for free (there are no ads on it even) and passing on the self defense knowledge from my friend who is very experienced. Hopefully, it will help someone. :asian:



I highly doubt it would help anyone. I'd personally remove them, not just stop making them.



Sherman said:


> Because he is not into filming himself for privacy purposes and given the responses I am receiving here, it is clearly the right choice that he has made. However, he is telling me what to do behind the scenes in my video series and supervising. If you guys haven't already realized, I am the "actor" and most knowledge passed on is based on my friend's experience although coming from a martial arts background myself, I am qualified to convey it unlike a true actor.



Fun fact. I am trained as an actor. Done a number of small productions. It's kinda one of my other outlets.

You're not the actor here. If anything, you'd be classed as the spokesperson, the public face&#8230; but it's your name on everything. It's your product, whether you like it or not. And any criticism comes down on you, your poor performance, your lack of understanding, your bad body structure and biomechanics&#8230; it's all on you. It really doesn't matter if your friend is feeding you the moves, this is you on camera, with your name on everything. This is you.



Sherman said:


> I will make this general statement (but not addressing anyone in particular) to those who think what I am showing is wrong. Isn't this the same kind of behavior when you go into a self defense or martial arts school and they you that everything else someone else is teaching is wrong? The truth is that there are many variables to account for in reality. Nothing ever goes as planned. Obviously, I am not going to memorize a particular self defense technique and think that it will work in all real life situations. This is not ring fighting or where there are any rules. In self defense, different techniques and principles apply depending on the situation.



No, it's not the same in the slightest. 

I'll give you an example. I have trained in five different sword systems, all Japanese&#8230; I have experience with another three&#8230; and a good, working knowledge of perhaps a dozen or two more. All of them, broadly, use the same configuration weapon&#8230; and none of them do things the same way. They have different concepts of grip, posture, cutting mechanics, tactical ideals, contexts, applications, and more. And none of them will say that another is doing it wrong&#8230; just differently. But, by the same token, none of them advise to do things that go against the realities of their usage&#8230; none would suggest that holding the sharp bit so you could hit someone on the head with the handle is a good idea&#8230; none would suggest that throwing the sword up in the air so you can punch someone before catching it again is smart&#8230; that's what we're seeing (the equivalent of) in your videos.

So no, it's not the same thing. At all.

The rest of that paragraph just shows a complete lack of understanding of martial arts, training, and self defence, bluntly.



Sherman said:


> Self defense starts in the mind. I have had my fair share of dangerous self defense situations to deal with in real life and have dealt with most of them without escalating the problem into a physical fight mostly because of my Aikido training. Most were resolved with proper discussion and only a few escalated into physical contact.



What in your Aikido training allowed that? Did you learn verbal and physical de-escalation tactics and techniques? Body language? Tonality?

And was that inherent in Aikido?



Sherman said:


> Right now, it would seem that the vocal group here thinks that they are right and is expressing it in a very snarky manner although I have been nothing but polite and open to discussion. It seems like herd mentality. I have seen this happen in real life in the martial arts and self defense classes I have attended. Usually, I will let it pass but this time, it seems like the perfect self defense scenario that starts in the mind. If you let others bully you and make you think that you don't belong because you are different, then you have already lost the self defense mindset. To those who ostracize others, you should be ashamed of yourselves. For the silent majority who have been supporting me, thank you very much and if there is just one thing that is worth remembering in self defense is that it really starts in the mind. Stay positive and don't be afraid if others bully you:



Yeah&#8230; you've missed what's been said. There's been no bullying&#8230; there has been frank, and blunt, criticism of some material that is frankly begging to be criticised.



Sherman said:


>




Lovely story. Completely irrelevant.


----------



## Hong Kong Pooey

Chris Parker said:


> Right. Uh&#8230; this isn't going to be short&#8230; I might suggest getting a light snack, and recommending people stay hydrated if you're going to try tackling this in a single sitting&#8230;



Well no one can say you didn't warn us


----------



## Transk53

Chris Parker said:


> Right. Uh&#8230; this isn't going to be short&#8230; I might suggest getting a light snack, and recommending people stay hydrated if you're going to try tackling this in a single sitting&#8230;
> 
> The main reason I decided to come back to this thread and go through everything, even though I stated that this isn't really the place for it, is Sherman's comment of:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll come back to the post where that comment is made as we go.
> 
> 
> 
> Before we get too far into this, I'm going to highlight the last part of your very first post here&#8230; "I hope to get feedback from you guys on what works and what doesn't"&#8230; okay. Sherman, please bear in mind that that's what I am (and have been) doing here. That said, I'm not going to go particularly easy here&#8230; so I hope you can take what I say with the understanding that I'm going to be using an absolute fine-toothed comb, pulling this entire thing apart in as much detail as I can. Some comments are going to be about what you're presenting&#8230; others are going to feel more like personal criticisms of you as a person. Believe me that there is no attack intended here&#8230; there will be very good reasons that I will discuss your personal presentation&#8230; and hopefully I'll be able to make that clear.
> 
> Right, let's look at the video.
> 
> First things first. You've been refuting the idea that this is your material, saying that it comes from your friend instead, and that what your showing isn't supposed to be taken as "the way", and that you are not offering these videos as expert advice, particularly not for martial artists, instead, it's just meant to be ideas for non-martial artists. I'll deal with the second part in a bit&#8230; but the idea that the ownership of the presentation isn't really down to you should be shut down straight away. The title on the video is "How to move out of the line of Attack in Sherman Self Defense (SSD) episode 2". It's presented, not as "Sherman's Friends' Self Defence", but as "Sherman Self Defence". Any criticism, therefore, is going to be levelled towards yourself.
> 
> Right. The first 13 seconds are you going through a motion of a compression block (wrapping your arm around the side of your head), dropping low, then coming up and forward, leading with the elbow. As a drill, provided the context is made clear for the application, all good. However, you are spending an inordinate amount of time in the air, you would be off-balance (airborne) at the point of impact, making this a very flawed demonstration lacking any real effect or power, your weight is centred in your upper chest, you're focusing on pushing with the elbow, to the point that it weakens your entire structure, and you're bouncing up and down. If this was applied the way it's demonstrated here against anyone even someone stable, you'd bounce straight off them. The drive needs to come from your rear leg, with your weight centring through your hips (in Japanese arts, your hara, or tanden&#8230; tan dien in Chinese). That would allow you to actually remain standing, at the least.
> 
> Your introduction. Look, I know it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there, up on camera, and not everyone are born showmen, but your delivery lacks any strength or confidence. I'm realising that English may not be your first language, with the strong clipped accent you have, so I'm not talking about that&#8230; I'm talking about the half smile constantly playing about the edges of your mouth, the questioning in your voice, the indecisive body language, and so on. You also continue to describe it as "Sherman Self Defence"&#8230; so it really is you putting it up as advice/suggestions, whether it's from your friend or not.
> 
> 20 seconds - 1:20 is your description of "Centre Line"&#8230; you demonstrate two punches here, one outside and one held in&#8230; and, honestly, neither of them are good. Your body structure is contorted, there's a real lack of congruence with your arm and everything else (on both), there's no penetration, and no sense of impact. Your head is artificially held back, pulling your chin in (not down), which is an indication of a few things I won't bring up here&#8230; but none of them particularly good. Your delivery is more confident&#8230; I get the feeling that you're not using a script here, but were for the intro&#8230; that suits you better. It's more serious in tone, and is more believable that you might grasp the nature of what you're talking about. However, your description is a bit lacking&#8230; "What is the centre line? (Runs hands down the middle of body in a line) Centre line&#8230; of our body". Okay&#8230; but no explanation of why it's important at all. You try to demonstrate that a hook/cross is "outside our centreline, so it does not use our bodyweight&#8230; but if it's in the middle, and I punch, then I use my body weight". Uh&#8230; no. Believe me, that hook can have just as much body weight behind it as your straight punch&#8230; in fact, it can have a lot more power, as it travels further, picking up momentum energy as it goes. The idea that punching from the centreline is preferred is really far from universal&#8230; and is what I would consider a specialist martial arts method, not really a general self defence one. You're almost never going to come up against an attacker giving that sort of attack other than a kick, unless you're being attacked by a Wing Chun student.
> 
> You demonstrate another weak compression block/cover with forward movement (all of which looks like you're really unsure of how to do it, with hesitation in your movement, a noticeable pause before you act, poor body positioning, and having almost your entire body open to other strikes), before moving on to talk about moving off the centreline (which is the line down the middle of your body, according to your brief description&#8230; how you're meant to move your body outside of your body is something I'm a little unsure of&#8230, then moving in with your centreline again to attack. Well, there's a fair bit of confusion here&#8230; firstly, the line you're talking about moving off from isn't the centreline (especially not as you've described it), it's what's referred to as the primal line&#8230; the instinctive directional orientation that you're hardwired to respond with, either forwards or backwards&#8230; next, if you're actually dealing with the more common forms of attack, you'll be dealing with a hook/haymaker&#8230; and the direction you've just moved in is walking straight into a punch. Lastly (well, not lastly&#8230; but I'm trying to keep this relatively short, while being thorough&#8230; hmm), the movement you make to enter afterwards has your cover on the exact wrong side of your body&#8230; all it would do there is open your body up and protect a side that's not able to be attacked. If you're using it as a spiking elbow strike, it's incredibly weak, your weight is too high, you're off balance as you land (after the moment of impact), and your angling would have your elbow miss past the back of an opponent's head.
> 
> 1:20-1:32 "Let's continue on with the centreline concept by extending it to the elbow and the shoulder. The elbow controls the direction of the force, and the shoulder controls the strength of the force." Slick wavy hand movements aside, let's just look at what you're saying here. No, the shoulder doesn't control the strength of the impact/strike&#8230; you've been talking about body weight&#8230; which means the strength comes from shifting your weight forwards&#8230; which comes from the legs and hips. The elbow is only a small part of the directional control as well&#8230; it can only move within the parameters that the shoulder allows&#8230; so the shoulder is really in control of the direction. In other words, biomechanically, your comment is both flawed and contradictory to the rest of your comments so far.
> 
> The next thing you do is to bring in a partner to demonstrate the deflection at the elbow&#8230; now, as I've said, I'm with you on controlling the elbow there&#8230; but the way it's done here, it wouldn't work. The first issue is that the punches are nowhere near you&#8230; the first one is a foot short, the rest are closer, but still out of range, and targeted nowhere near your face/chin&#8230; in fact, they're already trailing off to the left before you deflect them, and they're largely aiming at the upper chest&#8230; with no real target available. Your execution is also rather flawed, as there is basically no lateral or linear evasion, the deflection is rather weak, and comes across as a minor slap&#8230; nothing that would really give the opponent pause, let alone provide an opening for a counter. Your body movement is jerky, with your shoulders hunched (again, an indication of a real lack of confidence, either in the technique, or your ability), there's no sense of the hips being involved at all, with your weight centred high, and so on. Your demonstration of an inside deflection (talking about the shoulder controlling the strength again), which is really a shoulder jam, looks like it kinda scared you&#8230; as well it should&#8230; you would have been hit then, mainly as your partner was still tracking to the left, and only stopped when he realised that you'd gone the other direction. A panicked technique that comes across as fear. Your last demo was probably the best, as it had a lateral evasion coupled with the deflection, but it still suffered from many of the previous issues.
> 
> Hmm, I get what you're going for with the extended fist/wipe to a new scene&#8230; but it's a really bad punch, mechanically it's got no real structure or support, so it robs the movement of any real effect.
> 
> From there, you bring "everything together"&#8230; and here's where the problems all really show themselves. First off, the attack you deal with is a guy slowly extending an arm in a very unrealistic, out of range, powerless, unstructured "punch"&#8230; which represents nothing like what would be encountered in a modern street environment. You move to the outside, then come in with your compression block/cover position&#8230; and talk about it being an elbow strike. No, it isn't&#8230; you're too far away, and can't reach any target whatsoever, let alone there being much of a viable target for you. You then remind us of your idea of how the elbow works (changing direction), and push down on your partners elbow with yours, which just drives them down a little bit. Against an actual punch, it's already been recoiled as you were stepping in, so that's not really going to be there any more for you to try such an action&#8230; but even if it were, the direction you're taking it is where it's strongest, and is easiest for the opponent to resist. It's braced by the lats, the pecs, and most of the back, all supporting the tricep and shoulder. Furthermore, even if you did manage to push it down, all you're doing is bringing their other arm back into play, giving them an open target (your head), and essentially offering a free shot at your face. You finish by taking your left hand, putting it over their shoulder, pushing down, and using your right elbow to apply a strike&#8230; all of which took out any distance needed to generate some genuine force or impact, twisted your body, took too long, has your tricep (a weak muscle when unsupported) attempting to overpower the entire upper body and back muscles, and is really going to result, in a best case scenario, in a glancing blow that's just going to annoy the other guy. This entire sequence starts out with no relevance to self defence, and gets worse from there. Note how when you do it "in a faster motion", you can't reach your targets, and your twisting your back so much you almost stumble at the end. It really is a terrible technique.
> 
> Finally, you answer a question from a viewer&#8230; on how to defend against a knife. You say you have two steps&#8230; and give all three of them (hmm&#8230. First, be aware&#8230; look around&#8230; are there open places? Look, awareness is key to self defence across the board, but when we're dealing with knife defence, that's not the awareness you should be focusing on&#8230; as that time it takes to look around is the time it'll take for your attacker to stab you. Probably a few times. Second, make sure you have a good pair of shoes on. Right&#8230; I see where you're going&#8230; but the problem is that you can't simply tell an attacker "hang on, I have better shoes for this, can you wait a bit? I'll be right back, promise!" (yes, I get the use of humour, but at the same time, it's not a particularly helpful bit of advice). Third&#8230; run! Hmm. Escape is definitely the best option, but to simply say "run!", and leave it at that, is just going to get people killed or seriously injured. Do you know about the Tueller Drill? Do you know how far you have to be from a knifeman before you're starting to get "safe" enough to actually simply run away? Do you know how to get that distance between yourself and a guy with a knife? To be completely frank, the direction and method you chose to "run away" in would have you caught and stabbed very quickly and very easily. You started too close, wasted time turning before running, slowed yourself to go over an obstacle rather than around it, and you slowed to pick an obvious hiding spot, rather than continue to get the distance that would actually help you.
> 
> The advice of "run" is simple enough&#8230; but there are a hell of a lot of nuances that have to go along with that&#8230; otherwise it's like offering the advice of "brake" when asked what to do in a car emergency&#8230; it's simply not always the best option&#8230; and there are a range of other factors that need to be considered.
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, Matt Thornton&#8230; Look, a lot of what Matt says is largely true&#8230; but the way he delivers it is also fairly ignorant of other training and testing methods. Bluntly, he doesn't get a lot of what he's criticising. Additionally, it's not the only way to tell if something is effective or not&#8230; and the idea of "effective not withstanding the effectiveness of the technique itself" makes little to no sense&#8230; the whole point is to find out what is considered "functionally effective"&#8230; the techniques have to be effective in isolation first&#8230; if they're not, there's no point testing their effectiveness in that form of application. Of course, Matts "Aliveness" concept ignores a lot of the contextual application of self defence&#8230; and honestly isn't that applicable to self defence training itself in a number of aspects (at it's heart, yes, but at it's heart it's not missing from anything Matt seems to think it is).
> 
> 
> 
> Your "elbow up" technique, what I've been referring to as a compression block, or cover, isn't a terrible idea in and of itself&#8230; but you overuse it, and perform it in a rather flawed way. Systems such as Crazy Monkey Boxing have used it as a basis for a few decades now, for the record.
> 
> Okay, onto this video.
> 
> You've got a slick intro now&#8230; a banner again displaying the name as "Sherman Self Defence"&#8230; very much your own creation, your own name, your own system&#8230; so all the onus is going to fall to you. Beneath that is some sepia toned footage of you sparring or running some drills&#8230; and honestly, it's pretty terrible. You constantly have your back arched, your head pulled back (a fear-influenced body language), and so on, but we won't dwell too much on that. You seem to have chosen to do this one in a gym&#8230; but the echo makes your voice hard to hear&#8230; especially when you cover up later in the video, and are essentially talking into your arms.
> 
> The theme here is on distance management, and you begin by identifying three ranges&#8230; well, kinda. You name three ranges, but don't really identify what they are in anything other than a vague manner (long, middle, short), and suggesting some tactical movements from each (long, you can run away, and the attacker can't attack&#8230; is that actually an attacking range then? Why do you need to run if the opponent can't attack?&#8230; Middle, and you have the opportunity to back up, or go in and attack&#8230; okay&#8230; but does that mean that you're now in range of an attack? What form? A kicker can attack from further away than a grappler, for instance&#8230; have you taken the different unarmed ranges into account?&#8230; Short, and you have no choice but to commit to a powerful offence&#8230; while a pre-emptive strike can be a good move tactically, I would hardly say that the range dictates you have to&#8230; how do you know that there's an attack imminent first? Or are you just hitting everyone in that range, just in case?)
> 
> The biggest problem here is that the ranges are ill-defined&#8230; sure, breaking it into three dominant ranges is good&#8230; common, even (I'm teaching our version of this exact concept as we speak, actually)&#8230; but the thing is that each different context will have it's own way of defining the distances&#8230; so you do need to be clear on what you mean. When you do show what you mean by the different ranges, there's almost no variation between the "long" and the "middle" (having your partner come forth with an extended zombie arm as a punch wasn't the greatest look either&#8230; it's pretty clear he's no puncher)&#8230; in fact, it looks like the difference is that you're already hit in "middle" range, and missed by a couple of inches in long&#8230; which, the way that your partner was doing things, meant that you're hit there as well, so you know. The example of looking around, turning, and running, like with the knife defence advice you gave, was just bad. You were nowhere near far enough away for that to have worked&#8230; you were caught and beat. And, honestly, your demonstration of "short range" was just confusing&#8230; you didn't seem like you knew where you were wanting to be, or what you could do once you were there, so opted for lacklustre and fairly useless elbows again.
> 
> You then do some demos of changing the distance&#8230; and, again, your structure is terrible, your attacker is throwing punches that are missing you by a foot, your deflections are little more than slaps with no effect, your entering lacks confidence and commitment&#8230; it really was just quite bad performance coupled with some fairly questionable technique (those elbows really wouldn't have done much).
> 
> At 2:30 you start to offer some tips&#8230; a defence against a "strangle hold". Leaving off for the minute that a straight front two-handed choke is incredibly rare, let's look at what you suggest&#8230; drop your chin (okay, but it needs to be coupled with a range of other things in order to be really useful), lower your hips (good), and push up beneath the elbow to lift one of the attackers arms up and off your throat. Hmm&#8230; no. If someone is genuinely attacking you with this choke, it's likely to be an overly emotional attack&#8230; they will most commonly be over the top of you, and pushing down, with their arms bent (in order to angle the hands in). That raises the shoulders, and means that again, you're using the weaker muscles (triceps) against the larger, stronger muscles of your attacker, directly in opposition to the force being applied. There's a reason that no system I'm aware of teaches that&#8230; they teach to go 90 degrees to the structure&#8230; your technique would have you struggling, then passing out as you failed to remove their hand, and didn't do anything to lessen the choke. But let's say that, for whatever reason, you do get their arm up and off your throat&#8230; your next action was to catch the wrist, and bend their elbow, turning them to the side. Again, so much no on that technique&#8230; it offered no threat to the opponent, so you've just annoyed them, it pushed them out of your control range, and it's a very poor option as you have almost no contact, and therefore control over what happens next.
> 
> The end of the video is a range of shots of you getting out of a number of grabbing attacks (the first one against a tackle would have you on your back in half a second, bluntly, there was no counter to the incoming force, just a poorly applied and off target elbow, the second against a bear hug, where you tried using those weak triceps [again] against strong muscle groups of the attacker, then turned to practically miss with another elbow), followed by kicking evasions&#8230; nothing really there to speak of.
> 
> 
> 
> And just&#8230; no.
> 
> Firstly, some information. Most fights start at what is sometimes called "interview distance"&#8230; it's about a foot or so away, maybe a little more depending on social contexts&#8230; so you're already in your "short" range&#8230; they're not moving from middle, they're starting in short before it gets physical. Thinking that it's going to be a big swing from distance is to be ignorant of the realities of how violence actually happens&#8230; it might move out to there, but in the vast majority of cases, it'll start (and finish&#8230; a typical fight is about 3-10 seconds) in the "short" range. You simply won't get the time to affect the elbow the way you're thinking, unless you've done some actual distance management (not what you showed in the last video) before hand&#8230; which would require quite a few other things to be considered first. Next, the idea of "if you're worried, use this&#8230; if they do this, you do that&#8230;" is, bluntly, unrealistic as well. You're trying to intellectualise the idea of social and asocial violence&#8230; it just doesn't work that way. In addition, you're ignoring the basic psychology of the people you think you're targeting your videos at&#8230; moving in is highly confronting (which is why you keep showing a fear response whenever you do it&#8230; it is scary, and takes a lot of training/experience to do consistently)&#8230; so giving these ideas to people who don't train in martial arts (your stated audience) is pretty useless. You might as well give someone who doesn't want to drive a car lessons in formula 1 racing&#8230; it's completely ignoring who you're dealing with. So, no, you haven't kept it simple&#8230; or realistic&#8230; you've presented something that they wouldn't do, and presented it badly.
> 
> But "target the shoulder"? Where exactly on the shoulder would you target? And with what? And what do you think the effect would be?
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah.. the elbow would have done nothing. And even less if targeting the eyes (or nose, the way you were doing it).
> 
> As far as controlling the elbow, that's good and solid&#8230; but again, the way you show it (in the next video) is highly flawed to the point of being fatal. If you want to see how controlling the elbow should be done (even one handed), check out some of the FMA systems&#8230; and people like Michael Janich.
> 
> 
> 
> More intro logos&#8230; a very cheesy staged combat with actions that would look bad and unrealistic in an early 80's Jackie Chan movie&#8230; and we're upping the ownership of the whole thing by adding "Starring Sherman Chin"&#8230; yeah, I keep coming back to that, it'll be important later on.
> 
> Okay, this time we're in a squash court&#8230; another bad choice for audio, as there's a lot of echo, and it makes it hard for the camera's microphone to know what to focus on, particularly if it's a multidirectional mic. This means that it tries to pick up everything around, all the background noise, all the echo, so the vocals get lost in the mix. But let's see what we have here.
> 
> "Okay! Today we're going to learn how to defend ourselves against a long sword, and the short knife". Okay, right off the bat, with my background, this is throwing up some red flags&#8230; I know these topics pretty well, and know the major issues with both&#8230; but, more importantly, why would a video series that's supposed to be about self defence, particularly for those who don't train in a martial art, be wanting to include sword defence? Is it coming back into vogue again? Is armour going to be worn on the streets as well? No matter&#8230; it seems we're starting with sword defence.
> 
> And, of course, the attacker has no clue of sword. The grip is awful (a hammer grip, too tight, no movement, robbing him of range, reach, power, speed, and versatility), he's far too close, and just how slow could he possibly strike down (there's no way I'm calling that hatchet job a "cut")?!? You, Sherman, move to the side (well before the attack was committed&#8230; if you moved that early against me, I'd just change direction and cut you anyway&#8230; ask my guys&#8230, and we get a close up of you catching down on top of both wrists. If you'd stopped there, it might have been okay&#8230; you're a little stuck for what to do next, but at least it's somewhat controlling&#8230; but no, instead, you decide to bring your elbow behind their forearm&#8230; and, in so doing, actually lose your grip with your left hand (you move into the exact position we take someone's hand to remove their grip in te hodoki)&#8230; which was controlling their right hand. The dominant hand in swordsmanship. Bad, bad idea. You pressure into a point on the inner wrist (which would have little to no effect in a fight, for the record, simply due to the effects of adrenaline&#8230; works okay in a safe training environment, but useless the way you're presenting it here), and catch the tsuka (handle) to pull the sword up, cutting between the opponent's legs&#8230; except that wouldn't have really cut, you bring the sword out of range, have no strength in your grip, and wouldn't be able to effect much at all. All in all, it was too close, lacking in power and strength on both sides, and relied on things that wouldn't work at all. The same thing against a thrust was no better&#8230; nor were the "fast" ones (that really wasn't fast, fluid, or anything that would have worked&#8230; on either side).
> 
> The first knife defence&#8230; your partner is just waving the knife around in front, and you move to the left&#8230; your suggestion is to catch the wrist and the elbow&#8230; which isn't bad&#8230; but you catch the wrist with your left hand, and the elbow with your right, which only serves to entangle you, and rob both arms of any real controlling strength or position. To make matters worse, you immediately give-up the elbow control (so you didn't really need to have it there) in order to push his arm down, then apply a wrist lock&#8230; which you fail to do correctly, as there's no locking of the opponent's arm or body, not much structural compromise, and you release with them still holding the knife! Seriously, if the rest was decent, the fact that you left them holding the knife ruins the lot!
> 
> Against a low thrust, you suggest bringing both hands down on top of the forearm&#8230; which could have your hand ending up with a knife through the palm&#8230; and, at the very least, doesn't hold them in position, allowing them to pull the weapon back, and continue to thrust repeatedly. From there, you move to the side, and attempt the same as before. You do show a more rapid, multiple thrust attack (well&#8230; not really an attack, as it's little more than lifting the arm in succession, they weren't thrusts, and lacked the real impetus of them) so you can show that this will work against that&#8230; except you change what you do, this time moving to the side, and catching rather than pushing down. You apply a different lock this time, but have very little control over the knife, and completely fail to take into account the natural response the knifeman will give&#8230; in other words, what you're showing simply wouldn't work unless the attacker stopped, and let you apply it. Additionally, it's a rather complex motion, requiring a bit of fine-motor skill&#8230; not something I'd ever rely on. And for self defence, I'm really, really, really not fond of the way you keep stabbing your now disarmed and controlled (at least, theoretically) opponent&#8230; that's pretty much jail time, you know.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah&#8230; lots of misunderstanding in this&#8230; for one thing, a "skilled weapons fighter" that you might face probably won't be trained to counter a disarm&#8230; it just won't have come up&#8230; in fact, they'll likely never been "trained" in anything&#8230;
> 
> 
> 
> No, picking up the furniture doesn't often "work"&#8230; as you're not likely to have the distance required for such things.
> 
> 
> 
> Your friend is either possibly the luckiest person ever to face a blade, or lying. If that's an example of what he showed you, either you're presenting it rather incorrectly, or it was pure luck that it was pulled off. Do not rely on it, and do not present it as effective.
> 
> 
> 
> No, the principles of sword defence are not necessarily commensurate with the principles of knife defence, so keeping sword in as "it was just a wooden sword" denies any real reason at all.
> 
> And I'm going to ask here&#8230; are you saying that everything you're showing is based on what this friend is showing you? Not the years of other martial arts you claim to have?
> 
> Oh, but for the record, we're pretty aware of the differences between mindsets&#8230; quite probably a fair bit more than you are, honestly.
> 
> 
> 
> So this is actually not "Sherman Self Defence", it's "Sherman's Friends' Self Defence, But He Doesn't Want To Be On Camera, So I'm Doing It"&#8230; yeah?
> 
> And don't use them. If he's happy with the way you're doing them, learn from someone who knows what they're doing. If what you're doing is the same as him, learn from someone who knows what they're doing. Getting into fights is very different from being in a position to teach self defence, and from everything so far, neither you nor your friend are anywhere near that.
> 
> 
> 
> To be blunt, I have seen no indication of anything close to Matt Thornton's Aliveness in anything you've shown&#8230; in fact, I've seen a lot of indications of it's lack.
> 
> Oh, and your friend answering our critiques doesn't really mean anything to us&#8230; presently, he's a completely unknown, anonymous nobody with no credibility, history, or anything. For all we know, he doesn't even exist...
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah&#8230; that's all also completely wrong, you know&#8230;
> 
> To begin with, having your friend come in with "correct body structure" (haven't seen anything close to that in these videos&#8230; how are you recognising it?), with a "centreline attack, elbows tucked in", and you not being able to do some of these things against that, really doesn't mean anything in the context of what you're claiming to be showing&#8230; the type of stylised attack you're describing isn't seen in "self defence" situations&#8230; and all that talk about "you could probably do it if you're a trained martial artist" is fairly bunkum as well. Your idea of what your audience (non-trained persons) should, or even would do, is a bit out&#8230; yes, freezing is a possibility, not so much if they're focused on deflecting an incoming fist though, but what they won't do is move off-line&#8230; not without a fair bit of training first&#8230; and even then, not as a first response, no matter what you think is best. You really need to know your audience first&#8230;
> 
> Oh, and I think you're overselling it when you say that "it might just save your life"&#8230;
> 
> 
> 
> You're presenting it as "Sherman Self Defence". That automatically implies some form of expertise&#8230; at least to the point where you think that you have some value to offer. I mean, you didn't call it "Sherman's Possibly Maybe This Could Kinda Work If You're Lucky Hopefully Fighting Thingies". As a result, yeah, you're saying it's expert advice&#8230; even if you don't mean to. I would also add that nowhere, other than here, have you mentioned that you are teaching someone else's experiences and ideas&#8230; it's all presented as coming from you, your experience, your understanding, your expertise. Hell, your "What Is Sherman Self Defence (SSD)?" video mentions a "Grandmaster Chris Chung (Chan? If it's Chan, then the only one I can come across is a Wing Chun student of Ip Man&#8230; but you don't claim any Wing Chun&#8230; )", but no mention of him being a street fighter, that it's his methods, or anything else&#8230; it's really all about you, what you've learnt&#8230;
> 
> So, either you're being disingenuous in the way you're presenting it there, or you're making someone up to shift the ownership of the criticism to someone else.
> 
> Oh, and I gotta say&#8230; "I've read about SSD online.."? Really?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm&#8230;
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah&#8230; I have no idea what you mean by "he came from a family who learned that"&#8230; learned what? Specifically? And honestly, this entire story sounds to be, at least partially, fabricated&#8230; he beat all the Shaolin Monks, but not the masters, because he has respect for them? Huh? Full respect for tradition? What does that mean? The entire thing smacks of vagary&#8230; and personally, I don't believe a word of it.
> 
> Yeah&#8230; move on to the fantasy stuff&#8230; much more your thing.
> 
> 
> 
> Just discovered the self defence forum&#8230; hmm&#8230;
> 
> This entire middle paragraph should be stricken from your understanding&#8230; it's almost entirely wrong. It's as if you've come across a small part of a single tactic, and decided that that's the way it all is&#8230; it's not. And the last part, on martial arts, is just as bad.
> 
> 
> 
> I highly doubt it would help anyone. I'd personally remove them, not just stop making them.
> 
> 
> 
> Fun fact. I am trained as an actor. Done a number of small productions. It's kinda one of my other outlets.
> 
> You're not the actor here. If anything, you'd be classed as the spokesperson, the public face&#8230; but it's your name on everything. It's your product, whether you like it or not. And any criticism comes down on you, your poor performance, your lack of understanding, your bad body structure and biomechanics&#8230; it's all on you. It really doesn't matter if your friend is feeding you the moves, this is you on camera, with your name on everything. This is you.
> 
> 
> 
> No, it's not the same in the slightest.
> 
> I'll give you an example. I have trained in five different sword systems, all Japanese&#8230; I have experience with another three&#8230; and a good, working knowledge of perhaps a dozen or two more. All of them, broadly, use the same configuration weapon&#8230; and none of them do things the same way. They have different concepts of grip, posture, cutting mechanics, tactical ideals, contexts, applications, and more. And none of them will say that another is doing it wrong&#8230; just differently. But, by the same token, none of them advise to do things that go against the realities of their usage&#8230; none would suggest that holding the sharp bit so you could hit someone on the head with the handle is a good idea&#8230; none would suggest that throwing the sword up in the air so you can punch someone before catching it again is smart&#8230; that's what we're seeing (the equivalent of) in your videos.
> 
> So no, it's not the same thing. At all.
> 
> The rest of that paragraph just shows a complete lack of understanding of martial arts, training, and self defence, bluntly.
> 
> 
> 
> What in your Aikido training allowed that? Did you learn verbal and physical de-escalation tactics and techniques? Body language? Tonality?
> 
> And was that inherent in Aikido?
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah&#8230; you've missed what's been said. There's been no bullying&#8230; there has been frank, and blunt, criticism of some material that is frankly begging to be criticised.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lovely story. Completely irrelevant.



Wow, that is wisdom there.


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## donnaTKD

Transk53 said:


> Wow, that is wisdom there.




that is the reason that i asked mr parker to comment in full with his views on this matter 

thankyou so much for your input chris


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## donald1

Transk53 said:


> Wow, that is wisdom there.



Yes,  you don't get that kind of advice every day


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## drop bear

Transk53 said:


> Wow, that is wisdom there.




Requoted the whole thing?


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## elder999

drop bear said:


> Requoted the whole thing?



Well, yeah-so that -_ahem_-*somebody* can read it again.....:lfao:


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## Transk53

drop bear said:


> Requoted the whole thing?



Yeah I know. This happened because I was only going to cut and paste a portion of it. Was really tired. Anyway edited it now!
Well would do if the edit button was there lol


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## Tez3

My comment is short because Chris as always carried the day. What the heck is a 'street fighter'? Always makes me smile when someone says they are a street fighter as if it gives them any credibility. You fight streets or you're from Street? ( a town in England) Does brawling in the road mean you can teach self defence? Perhaps it means you are a traveller, they fight a lot, usually stand up and they actually have rules believe it or not. Why oh why 'street fighter'. :idunno:


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## Transk53

Tez3 said:


> My comment is short because Chris as always carried the day. What the heck is a 'street fighter'? Always makes me smile when someone says they are a street fighter as if it gives them any credibility. You fight streets or you're from Street? ( a town in England) Does brawling in the road mean you can teach self defence? Perhaps it means you are a traveller, they fight a lot, usually stand up and they actually have rules believe it or not. Why oh why 'street fighter'. :idunno:



I will will tell what you what it is, it is a classic arcade game  Most of the travellers that I have met, regard themselves as boxers. At least that is what the kids and some adults have said. But yeah there is no such thing as a street fighter. Maybe in Shermans language, that is the closest translation. Saw some fistie cuffs at work between a couple of them. When one went down, there was no bad sportsmanship he just let him get up and lamped him again


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## donnaTKD

the travellers that live near me fight to boxing rules and the boxers code 

if a guy goes down then they back off and give him time to get up again (if he's gunna get up that is )

i don't know thinking that sherman been playing too much street fighter or street fighter 2 on his ps3  i could say that i'm a street fighter - cos no one knows what one is instead i say that i kickbox which is nearer the mark.

other thing --- i applaud and respect chris for the way in which he's handled this situation without getting too anoyed and "losing his rag", even though he's prolly seething inside


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## Tez3

The only people that fight in the street are brawling drunken idiots, bullies and complete numpties who go round saying 'I'm ard me, I'm a cage fighter' all best avoided. Muggers and those actually intent on doing you harm don't 'fight' on the street, they want to be hitting you as hard as possible then out usually with your wallet, phone, watch whatever. train for those not these mythical street fighters, don't take training from these mythical street fighter either. Read Geoff Thompson books and others of his ilk then find a good SD instructor and practice, practice, practice until it's instinctive.


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## Chris Parker

Tez3 said:


> My comment is short because Chris as always carried the day. What the heck is a 'street fighter'? Always makes me smile when someone says they are a street fighter as if it gives them any credibility. You fight streets or you're from Street? ( a town in England) Does brawling in the road mean you can teach self defence? Perhaps it means you are a traveller, they fight a lot, usually stand up and they actually have rules believe it or not. Why oh why 'street fighter'. :idunno:



Tez!!! 

Right, got that out of the way Yeah, I'm with you "Street fighter" really doesn't mean anything at all especially combined with the somewhat contradictory stories we've been given but I've seen the concept of "street fighter" be used so often as justification of someone's credibility, even though it's got nothing at all to do with what's being queried, that I kinda blank out when I see that just sigh and move on.


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## donald1

Honestly I don't think I know the difference between a regular fight and "street fight" both no rules go (at least i think).  Perhaps it's a preferred way over saying street fighter instead of fighter.  

/when I hear street fighting i always think of a person punching a street,  take that 5th street! 23rd avenue your next... 
Apologies if anyone takes offense but that's just what I think when I hear street fight


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## Tez3

donald1 said:


> Honestly I don't think I know the difference between a regular fight and "street fight" both no rules go (at least i think).  Perhaps it's a preferred way over saying street fighter instead of fighter.
> 
> /when I hear street fighting i always think of a person punching a street,  take that 5th street! 23rd avenue your next...
> Apologies if anyone takes offense but that's just what I think when I hear street fight



Ere mate, watch yourself, I'm ard I am, I'm an avenue fighter!  Love it!


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## mook jong man

Tez3 said:


> Ere mate, watch yourself, I'm ard I am, I'm an avenue fighter!  Love it!



Then I imagine the French must be Cul De Sac fighters.


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## Steve

I fancy myself a boulevard fighter.  Uptown, to be more specific.

I'll be honest, guys.  I'm usually turned off by the wall of text, but Chris nails it this time, and the tone is spot on.  

Sherman, you seem like a very nice young man.  Think about how you'd feel if someone took your videos as expert advice and it got them hurt (or worse.)  I suspect you'd feel pretty bad.  Listen to Chris and the others.  Train more.  Have fun with it.  

Frankly, it looks to me like you could make some VERY interesting and funny, MA related videos strictly for entertainment purposes.  You have a knack for it, and you're very creative.  I would omit any "instruction" and just focus on the fun.  Write some skits and have a go at it.  I'd watch them.


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## donnaTKD

Tez3 said:


> Ere mate, watch yourself, I'm ard I am, I'm an avenue fighter!  Love it!



i fight for my crescent and that trumps your avenue cos it's a "gated" community


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## Sherman

Chris Parker said:


> Before we get too far into this, I'm going to highlight the last part of your very first post here "I hope to get feedback from you guys on what works and what doesn't" okay. Sherman, please bear in mind that that's what I am (and have been) doing here. That said, I'm not going to go particularly easy here so I hope you can take what I say with the understanding that I'm going to be using an absolute fine-toothed comb, pulling this entire thing apart in as much detail as I can. Some comments are going to be about what you're presenting others are going to feel more like personal criticisms of you as a person. Believe me that there is no attack intended here there will be very good reasons that I will discuss your personal presentation and hopefully I'll be able to make that clear.


 e

Thanks, Chris. Although I don't completely agree with all your points (will read them in detail later), I think most of them were real constructive criticism that you came up with and not the initial bullying tone taken - it was not you who asked me to get out of here at least. :asian:


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## Transk53

donnaTKD said:


> the travellers that live near me fight to boxing rules and the boxers code
> 
> if a guy goes down then they back off and give him time to get up again (if he's gunna get up that is )
> 
> i don't know thinking that sherman been playing too much street fighter or street fighter 2 on his ps3  i could say that i'm a street fighter - cos no one knows what one is instead i say that i kickbox which is nearer the mark.
> 
> other thing --- i applaud and respect chris for the way in which he's handled this situation without getting too anoyed and "losing his rag", even though he's prolly seething inside



Remember though, they get up until completely out cold. genuinely that is directed elsewhere.


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## Transk53

Sherman does seem to comprehend that being on the streets is the tangible aspect. What he does not understand is that some of us are subjected to violence at a young age, we absorb ourselves in a different reality, but it is still parallel. He proclaims that his mate is a Street Fighter in the context of MA or what ever else. No, there is street, but that does not mean Hollywood or whatever YouTube vid tries to be substantiated. No, street is just awareness, absorb the streets, know what is what and what is not. Any MA practitioner whom gets a bit cocky, has probably tried it and failed. Sherman neglected to think that perhaps a drain pipe may have been in play, or the humble ash tray that could kill. I am deeply disturbed about his motives. No, street just means that you take in your surrounding, you rely on your instincts, you hark back to your skill set, your brain accelerates, and you become chilled. Now you are in tune. It is that simple. You see everything then. In a heart beat yes or no.


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## OnlyAnEgg

Welcome to Martialtalk!


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## K-man

OnlyAnEgg said:


> Welcome to Martialtalk!


It's been some welcome! Baptism by fire more like it.


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## OnlyAnEgg

You will be better for that


----------



## Tames D

K-man said:


> It's been some welcome! Baptism by fire more like it.



The MartialTalk way.


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## elder999

Tez3 said:


> Ere mate, watch yourself, I'm ard I am, I'm an avenue fighter! Love it!



I'm country hard- a dirt road fighter...:lfao:

No, no- a _lane_ fighter!! :lfao: :lfao:

 A mountain pass fighter??


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## donnaTKD

Transk53 said:


> Sherman does seem to comprehend that being on the streets is the tangible aspect. What he does not understand is that some of us are subjected to violence at a young age, we absorb ourselves in a different reality, but it is still parallel. He proclaims that his mate is a Street Fighter in the context of MA or what ever else. No, there is street, but that does not mean Hollywood or whatever `YouTube vid tries to be substantiated. No, street is just awareness, absorb the streets, know what is what and what is not. Any MA practitioner whom gets a bit cocky, has probably tried it and failed. Sherman neglected to think that perhaps a drain pipe may have been in play, or the humble ash tray that could kill. I am deeply disturbed about his motives. No, street just means that you take in your surrounding, you rely on your instincts, you hark back to your skill set, your brain accelerates, and you become chilled. Now you are in tune. It is that simple. You see everything then. In a heart beat yes or no.



i agree with what you've said about being from and of the street - it's all about your primeval sense of awareness, like you said you absorb everything and look upon things that wouldn't ordinarily be there with a touch of curiosity as well as tightening your muscles cos whatever it is in not right and doesn't belong.

shermans views don't take any of this instinct into account - there are many things that are available to anyone who ends up in a street scrap - i've seen trash cans being used, bricks, glass bottles, ashtrays now that smoking has been banished outside  there's all sorts of stuff with which to defend yourself and sherman completely misses the point.

when i moved here i took days just looking around seeing where things were and what could/might be used in a scrap --- this place although quiet is where everyone that has done really really bad things came to cos it's out of the way and no cop ever bothers with it 

sherman fails to tell us that we all need to do our homework - work out what's where, work out where the likely escape routes are and aren't and then you begin to become attuned to the street cos until you have a full understanding of how the street works chances are it'll work against you.  if you take time to analyse your street you'll see the little things, next doors cat has a favourite way of crossing the street, the kids from down the road playing on their bikes, where cars are parked, the gardens with trees to privde privacy for the owners, the way the phone cables are laid out, where the street lighting is and how much light they shed onto the ground and where --- these things although they might seem a bit OTT all help in understanding the street.  you can never have too much detail this is when you learn to chill out and relax cos you are now part of the fixtures and fittings of your street. 

ME - EDUCATED ON THE STREET AND GRADUATED FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF LIFE   unlike sherman - using the stuff he's posted i'd probably have been dead many years ago............


----------



## Transk53

donnaTKD said:


> i agree with what you've said about being from and of the street - it's all about your primeval sense of awareness, like you said you absorb everything and look upon things that wouldn't ordinarily be there with a touch of curiosity as well as tightening your muscles cos whatever it is in not right and doesn't belong.
> 
> shermans views don't take any of this instinct into account - there are many things that are available to anyone who ends up in a street scrap - i've seen trash cans being used, bricks, glass bottles, ashtrays now that smoking has been banished outside  there's all sorts of stuff with which to defend yourself and sherman completely misses the point.
> 
> when i moved here i took days just looking around seeing where things were and what could/might be used in a scrap --- this place although quiet is where everyone that has done really really bad things came to cos it's out of the way and no cop ever bothers with it
> 
> sherman fails to tell us that we all need to do our homework - work out what's where, work out where the likely escape routes are and aren't and then you begin to become attuned to the street cos until you have a full understanding of how the street works chances are it'll work against you.  if you take time to analyse your street you'll see the little things, next doors cat has a favourite way of crossing the street, the kids from down the road playing on their bikes, where cars are parked, the gardens with trees to privde privacy for the owners, the way the phone cables are laid out, where the street lighting is and how much light they shed onto the ground and where --- these things although they might seem a bit OTT all help in understanding the street.  you can never have too much detail this is when you learn to chill out and relax cos you are now part of the fixtures and fittings of your street.
> 
> ME - EDUCATED ON THE STREET AND GRADUATED FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF LIFE   unlike sherman - using the stuff he's posted i'd probably have been dead many years ago............



Yes, +1 if I could. That is on the button Donna. Sherman is a charlatan of sorts. I am not qualified to question his MA, but he has no business talking about the streets. For example, part of my early years was adjacent to HMP Chelmsford, and a traveller family next door. Sherman is the actor!!!!!!


----------



## Buka

Sherman is a young man, seems like a nice young man, too. He's doing the same thing we are all doing, Martial Arts. I think we all do the best we can with whatever we have to work with. 

It was a nice thing, probably a brave thing, to post his video and let everyone have at it. But he did ask for feedback. Not much of a chance that he won't get any here!

Keep on training, Sherman. Keep on rocking, bro.


----------



## Transk53

Buka said:


> Sherman is a young man, seems like a nice young man, too. He's doing the same thing we are all doing, Martial Arts. I think we all do the best we can with whatever we have to work with.
> 
> It was a nice thing, probably a brave thing, to post his video and let everyone have at it. But he did ask for feedback. Not much of a chance that he won't get any here!
> 
> Keep on training, Sherman. Keep on rocking, bro.



Yeah cool


----------



## Tony Dismukes

Buka said:


> Sherman is a young man, seems like a nice young man, too. He's doing the same thing we are all doing, Martial Arts. I think we all do the best we can with whatever we have to work with.
> 
> It was a nice thing, probably a brave thing, to post his video and let everyone have at it. But he did ask for feedback. Not much of a chance that he won't get any here!
> 
> Keep on training, Sherman. Keep on rocking, bro.



Yeah, when I was a young man with less skill and experience than Sherman has now, I was enthusiastically trying to share what I thought I knew about martial arts with my friends who knew even less. The difference is that I didn't have YouTube in those days to broadcast my well-intentioned goofiness to the world. There but for the grace of technological progress go I ...


----------



## pgsmith

elder999 said:


> I'm country hard- a dirt road fighter...:lfao:
> 
> No, no- a _lane_ fighter!! :lfao: :lfao:
> 
> A mountain pass fighter??



  Ha! I'm more of a goat trail fighter myself!


----------



## Hong Kong Pooey

elder999 said:


> I'm country hard- a dirt road fighter...:lfao:
> 
> No, no- a _lane_ fighter!! :lfao: :lfao:
> 
> A mountain pass fighter??



You're a little bit country?

I'm a little bit rock n roll


----------

