Disarms: Are They Practical?

[Guro Harold]

- What do you see as the most practical disarms that can generally be executed successfully more times than not?

- When should disarms be attempted?

- What are the dangers of disarms?

- What do you do once you have performed the disarm? What are some good follow ups?

 

[Rich Parsons]

- What do you see as the most practical disarms that can generally be executed successfully more times than not?

Depends on the situation and weapon and your weapon available. I will think on this some more.

- When should disarms be attempted?

When it is available. It should not be a focus you have in your mind.

- What are the dangers of disarms?

You miss and you get hit. You get tied up. You get countered and disarmed yourself.

- What do you do once you have performed the disarm? What are some good follow ups?

Well, as one who worked as a Bouncer, once I disarmed them usually I did as little or nothing as possible. Hitting them with a weapon when they did nto have one makes me the aggressor.

As to to training or challenge match, or something else, I will consider and post on later.

 

[MJS]

- What do you see as the most practical disarms that can generally be executed successfully more times than not?

I'd say that they're all pretty much practical. If you're going stick against stick, I'd say its important to get control of the other weapon ASAP. If you're hitting the persons hand, that should buy you a bit more time to execute your disarm.

- When should disarms be attempted?

When the situation best presents itself.

- What are the dangers of disarms?

You could end up putting yourself in a worse position than you were already in.

- What do you do once you have performed the disarm? What are some good follow ups?

Depends. Doing a follow up strike or lock are some possibilities.

Mike

 

[evenflow1121]

Hey thats a nice avatar btw.

What do you see as the most practical disarms that can generally be executed successfully more times than not?

Depends on the situation, and what you have vs what the opponent has, but I would say its prob more common to run into a stick or a knife than a gun, though dont ever discount the possibility.

- When should disarms be attempted?

When you have to, I know it sounds like a broad answer, but when you know you have to disarm the person or you are going to be seriously hurt or killed.

- What are the dangers of disarms?

If you execute it wrong, you will probably be in trouble, if you hesistate, you will probably be in trouble

- What do you do once you have performed the disarm? What are some good follow ups?

Make sure the person is in a position where he can no longer harm me, not just with the weapon, but as to anything.

 

[stickarts]

I love practicing disarms and its part of our normal curriculum, however, some of the disarms are more practical than others.
Before forming an opinion either way, I recommend going and trying the disarms full speed when your partner is not hanging the stick in front of you and letting you do the disarm! :0)
for example, a number 1 is pretty tough to pull off because you have to try and grab the stick before the attacker pulls their stick away or moves to another technique. Even just dealing with the bounce from the sticks clashing together makes it difficult to grab the stick.
A #3 seems easier to pull off as you can snake your arm around the the stick and you have a better chance at trapping the stick.
All of the disarms teach you great things about footwork and using leverage to take a stick out of the hand.
I have found it much easier to strike the arm as the attack comes in.
If you haven't tried these full speed, try it! Its an exciting learning experience!
Again, this is just my experience. I would love to hear about others experience that have tried these full speed!

 

[MJS]

If you haven't tried these full speed, try it! Its an exciting learning experience!

Absolutely!! Its certainly a challenge to pull them off during such things as Tapi Tapi or the 6 count drill. It is important IMO to train this as things will be moving a bit quicker than, as you said, just having the person holding the stick out there for you. Doing some stick sparring with some padded sticks or light weight rattan also proves quite challenging to pull off a disarm.

Mike

 

[Danny T]

We do train disarms. Why? Because they are fun to do, and you learn what not to do when attempting disarms and more importantly how easy it is to counter them. Are they practical? For the most part, NO!! The most efficient disarm is cut the hand or arm off!

I believe one should never disarm for the sake of disarming. That the disarm happens due to proper positioning and striking. If you are going to disarm then never disarm if the weapon hand/arm hasn't been damaged or if the head is still working properly. In simple words cut off the hand and the weapon falls with it. That's disarming. Cut off the head, the body and weapon will fall with it. If you are disarming with a stick then again damage the hand or head. Strike the hand, break the fingers first or knock the person silly by a head shot and then with proper positioning as you strike them again a disarm may be accomplished. It is far easier to counter disarms than performing them. When we work disarms we never, I repeat, never grab the weapon. There are many disarms which when done properly work great against a non-edged weapon (stick) but will cause great damage to the disarmer if attempted against a bladed weapon or even a firearm. Sticks give far too much confidence to the disarmer. I know the argument about training for the higher percentage. That one may never face a bladed tool. So if you do and all your training has been to grab the weapon and control it what happens then? Ask Bram Frank about what a blade will do to your fingers and he wasn't attempting a disarm. The blade simply was pressed against his fingers and pulled by accident. If he had grabbed the blade he probably would have lost all four fingers and have only his thumb. In his case his fingers were able to be reattached.

Disarming is fun. But it is inherently dangerous. We have other options that are far more efficient.

Danny

 

[Flatlander]

Vs a baton, the snaking disarm has, for me, been the most consistently easy to execute. Vs. a knife, the only one I'd ever put any confidence in would be a gunting to the weapon holding hand. It's quick, and you can keep your range. I don't like getting too close to that blade.....

I believe one should never disarm for the sake of disarming. That the disarm happens due to proper positioning and striking.

Great point! Much better to deal with what's going on, rather than aggressively attempt a technique that it might not be the right time for.