The Conflict Resolution Training Blog » Martial Arts

The Royal Marines should improve their unarmed combat training

Darren Good — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:51:04 +0000

This week I found this interesting article on our boys being trained by the US marines. There is a trend in the United States to seek out new the best martial arts systems and incorporate them into their armed forces training but in the UK we don’t really seem that bothered and this is saddening.

The article read:

"The first day we had two Royal Marines, but their numbers have at least doubled every day since.

Word about the MCMAP training quickly spread among the embarked troops aboard the ship. More than 20 Royal Marines from 45 Commando’s mortar troop showed up on the fourth day.”

The fact that there were only two marines on the first day tells me that the training they are giving our marines isn’t even mandatory, they just go along if they feel like it and that can’t be good. This sort of training has to be must for people on the battlefield.

The American military are very much in the mindset of “you are doing it” whereas in the UK we don’t seem to seek out the best instructors and get our boys fully trained up. We simply give them a gun and teach them how to use that.

Police Training needs to be better too

A few years ago I wrote to a police training unit in North Yorkshire explaining to them why they should integrate ground fighting into their training. Now five years later they have decided to add it to their training list but unfortunately it’s still very half-hearted. They have organised for a very good instructor to come in and give a seminar with their head instructors. At least this is a step forward, but we really should be talking about a six-week program at the very least but I realise it’s not realistic to take police of the streets.

The police should be training every day, for two hours a day, and be really committed to training unarmed combat to their bobbies. The police are on the coal face and this type of training could save their lives one day.

If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Why aren’t they out there searching for the best instructors and gathering them all into a room and developing the ultimate training package?

The two systems being used around the world are the SPEAR system and the Gracie system which is what we teach at GoodSense Conflict Resolution Training. However, if you mention these systems in the UK, often experience trainers don’t actually know what you are talking about. This scares me because people working in the conflict resolution and physical interventions world don’t know some of the martial arts moves they are still teaching are outdated and can be easily beaten. Which systems do you think they use in cage fighting? That’s right these systems!

The Royal Marines should get the training they deserve

Our boys are fighting for us and they are trained well with weapons but the Americans are trained better when it comes to unarmed combat. The truth is they are fighting together, so doesn’t it make sense that they train and fight together? I think so – what do you think?

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Shocking video examples of attacks on police officers

Chris Norton — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:50:35 +0000

Here on the blog, Darren talks a lot about conflict resolution training and also about people working in the public sector being attacked by violent aggressors. He often looks at how these people can avoid the nastier situations by using some simple techniques. To highlight these techniques here is a series of three video case studies which show how dangerous it really is on the front line for many people.

The first case study shows someone get pepper sprayed, punched and shot more than once in a horrifying attack. Each of the clips include the Gracie family’s recommended self defence approach which make these videos well worth watching.

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The perfect door supervisor team

Darren Good — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:13:45 +0000

I worked on the doors of clubs and pubs for several years, due to my background in martial arts. So I thought I would share my views on what combination of team members would make the perfect door supervision team.

In my opinion, your perfect team of door supervisors needs four different types of team members. Obviously the amount of team members depends on the size of the venue. You might have two different staff on two venues opposite each other.

The prefect door team would consist of the following:

One big and scary guy (usually unshaven, very tall or very wide or both) basically they are physically very tough usually from a background of Rugby or Power Lifting. Guys this size can tend to have a bit of a beer belly but they can walk the walk. They might not even say anything on the door they might just stand there and look menacing.
A good communicator – they talk the talk by building rapport with people, they could be ex-military. They stop problems before they start by spotting them and being proactive. They usually suggest two ways of progress, the easy way or the hard way. In my opinion they have to give choices because if you feel you have no option you will fight. This guy also needs to be cool under pressure as people might push them to see how far they can go with them looking for weaknesses. It’s all about controlling their emotional state which comes from practice. What I am saying is they are mentally tough. These guys can talk the talk and walk the walk.
A skilled guy – these guys are extremely fit and fast and they probably have a background in martial arts or boxing. They will deal with any problems quickly and scare others off by doing so. This guy could even be 10 stone as they don’t have to be that big, just great fighters. He is more of a walker than a talker.
The female team member – again she can talk the talk and walk the walk because she has a background in either martial arts or female rugby. A very good standard female Judo champion could easily take out an average weight drunken guy. The added advantage of having a female team member is they can take the testosterone out of a situation because she can get in the middle of things and work the male egos a bit. When the two male door staff are outgunned, she can get in the middle of the trouble as its very unlikely a male will hit her. Another advantage is that she can search women on the door and she can go into the girls toilets to look for trouble or drugs etc.

You would usually have a minimum of two guys working together but the best scenario is to have the four. The other two could be just around the corner, so they all work together as a team. If something is going wrong in one of the venues the security company can change the team accordingly.

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Escaping from the mount position – Gracie Jiu Jitsu

Darren Good — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:41:09 +0000

Here is a quick clip, I did with judo’s Tony Devine, on how to escape from the mount position using the most effective martial art system Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

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Good Sense Conflict Resolution level 3 wrist grab breakaway

Darren Good — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:31:35 +0000

Here is a quick video of me showing a couple of delegates how to do a level 3 wrist grab breakaway.

Technorati Tags: Wrist grab breakaway,Darren Good

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