Unbridled Martial Arts

Here you will find information that lets you know you have options.

You will see do-it-yourself/ thinking-out-of-the-box tools at your disposal that can serve as alternatives to other methods touted as “the only way” or “the best way.” There are numerous martial arts related products being hawked on the market today. Allow what is featured here to be supplemental information to your martial arts fitness & self-defense education.

This info may save you time in your training, save you money in your pocket, or may even help to save your life. Perhaps before now you hadn’t considered a varied approach, you were uninformed, or you were denied insight into the trade secrets of other professionals.

General Safety

• Create a safety plan.
• Listen to and act on your intuition. It’s better to be safe and risk a little embarrassment, than stay in an uncomfortable situation that may be unsafe.
• If you are in danger or being attacked and want to get help, yell “Call 911!” or give specific directions to onlookers; for example: “You! Get the police!” or “Walk me to the store on the corner, I’m being followed.”
• Have your keys ready when approaching your car or building.
• Vary your routine: drive or walk different routes every day. If you suspect that someone is following you, by foot or in a car, don’t go home (or they will know where you live). Go to a trusted neighbor or to a public place to call police, or go directly to the police station.
• Do not label keys with your name or any identification.
• Don’t talk about your social life or vacation plans where strangers can overhear you.
• Always carry enough change for a telephone call (and keep your cell phone battery charged).

In Your Home

• Have lights in all entrances.
• Have good locks on all doors and windows.
• Do not use your full name on your mailbox, answering machine or in the phone directory.
• Do not leave a schedule of your times away from home on your answering machine or on your door.
• If you live alone, do not let strangers know. Invent a roommate or big dog.
• Know which neighbors you can trust in an emergency.
• Check who is at the door before opening it, and do not open the door to an unexpected visitor.
• Don’t hide extra keys in easily accessible places. Criminals will find them.
• Ask for photo identification of all repair persons, etc. If you are still suspicious, call to verify employment.
• Never give personal information to telephone solicitors.
• Consider creating a “safe room” with a separate telephone line or cellular phone, and strong locks. If someone breaks in, you can retreat there (with children) and call for help.
• Do not let strangers into your home to use the phone. Offer to make the call for them.

On the Street

• Don’t hitchhike.
• Be very careful using outside ATMs at night or in unfamiliar surroundings.
• When walking, face the oncoming traffic. It will be harder for someone to pull you into a car and abduct you. You can also see cars coming in your lane.
• Tell someone where you’ll be and what time you’re supposed to return, or if you will be with someone you don’t know well.
• Don’t overload yourself with packages. If you must have your hands full, visualize how you would respond if approached, how you would get your hands free, etc.
• With the popularity of MP3 Players it would be unrealistic to tell people to not to wear headphones when outdoors. Therefore, know you must be extremely mindful of your surroundings when wearing headphones on the street. –When you voluntarily close off one of your senses, you must elevate all other senses to compensate. –Recognize when you reduce your hearing it puts you at a disadvantage and do so at your own risk.
• When reading in public, have 360 degrees of awareness and know how to tactically stand up if someone encroaches on your space.

Personal Safety Precautions

• If someone asks you for directions, and if you choose to reply, remain at least two arms lengths away.
• High heels and tight skirts are hard to run and fight in. Scarves, neckties and long necklaces are easy to grab. Modify your fashion style, or wear comfortable clothing when walking alone (change into dress clothes later), or think of how you would fight in your dress-up clothes (for example, kicking off your high heels or hiking up your skirt before starting to run or kick).
• Avoid being on the street alone if you are upset or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
• When dropping someone off at home, make sure they are safely inside before driving away. Have them do the same for you.

On Public Transportation

• Beware of overheard conversations. Don’t tell anyone on the bus or a subway where you are going.
• Stay awake and alert.
• Have exact change ready.
• Try to sit near the driver.
• If you sense someone is following you when you get off, walk toward a populated area. Don’t walk directly home.

In a Car

• Check the inside and around your car before entering to ensure that no one is hiding there.
• Check your surroundings before getting out of your car.
• Don’t pick up hitchhikers.
• Keep doors locked and window rolled up so that someone can’t reach in with their hand.
• If a group of suspicious peopled approaches you when you are stopped at a red light at a deserted intersection, run the light if your intuition tells you that the situation could get dangerous.
• Don’t let the gas indicator fall below ¼ of a tank.
• Plan your route and check a map before you start out.
• Park in well-lighted, heavily traveled areas if possible. Try not to park next to a van, as you can be pulled in through the sliding door.
• Don’t leave valuables in plain sight inside your car. –Give only the ignition key to a parking attendant.
• If you see an accident or stranded motorist, report it from the nearest telephone instead of stopping.
• Carry in your car: flashlight, flares, fix-a-flat, maps, comfortable warm clothing, first aid kit, empty gas can, white cloth to tie to antenna to signal distress, cellular phone.
• Learn basic auto maintenance.

Defense against Dogs

• When confronted by a threatening dog our impulse is often to turn and run. This is the worst response, since movement triggers the chase instinct in dogs.
• Stand very still and try to be calm. –Don’t scream at the dog and run. –Be aware of where the dog is. Look in its general direction, but don’t stare into its eyes. This is considered an aggressive challenge.
• Let the dog sniff you.
• In a low voice say, “No! Go home!” –Stay still until the dog leaves.
• Back away slowly until it’s out of sight.
• If a dog does attack, try to “feed” it your jacket, bike equipment, briefcase, backpack, purse, etc. -anything that you can get between you and the dog to distract it while you back slowly away towards safety.
• Invest in an “Ultrasonic Dog Repeller” and effectively stop a dog’s approach at up to 20 ft. in a humane way.
• If you need to go on the offensive, a dog’s weak point is its hips. Do your best to kick at that target to debilitate the dog’s attack. Also, its ribs have less strength when impacted from the side. Trying to hit the nose you’re liable to send your hand straight into its jaws, and if you do connect you’re liable to make the animal more ferocious.
• If you are knocked down or fall, curl into a ball and keep your hands over your ears, face, and neck. Try not to scream or roll around.

Portions of “Tips for Personal Safety” provided by Iowa State University Public Safety. Permission to reprint given by Lisa Goeres, Program Assistant for Iowa State University Public Safety Deptartment’s website.

• 1. Get healthy skin. Drinking water helps to moisturize your skin from the inside out. Water is essential to maintaining elasticity and suppleness and helps prevent dryness.
• 2. Lose weight. Increased water consumption can help you control weight by preventing you from confusing hunger with thirst. Water will also keep your body systems, including metabolism and digestion, working properly and give you the energy (and hydration) necessary for exercise.
• 3. Flush toxins. By helping to flush toxins, appropriate water intake lessens the burden on your kidneys and liver.
• 4. Reduce your risk of a heart attack. Researchers at Loma Linda University in California studied more than 20,000 healthy men and women and found that people who drink more than five glasses of water a day were less likely to die from a heart attack or heart disease than those who drank fewer than two glasses a day.
• 5. Cushion and lube your joints and muscles. Water makes up a large part of the fluid that lubricates and cushions your joints and muscles. Drinking water before, during, and after exercise can also help reduce muscle cramping and premature fatigue.
• 6. Water helps prevent constipation.
• 7. Stay hydrated, get energized, and be alert. On average, most adults lose about 10 cups (1 cup = 8 oz) of fluid a day through sweating, exhaling, urinating, and bowel movements. Even minor dehydration can cause impaired concentration, headaches, irritability, and fatigue.
• 8. Regulate your body temperature. Perspiration is your body’s natural mechanism to control body temperature. To sweat, you need plenty of water.
• 9. Reduce your risk of disease and infection. Water can help prevent kidney stones and reduce your chances of getting bladder, kidney, and urinary tract infections. One study found that women who drank more than five glasses of water a day had a risk of colon cancer that was 45 percent less than those who drank two or fewer glasses a day.
• 10. Get well. The traditional prescription to “drink plenty of fluids” when you’re sick still holds strong. Water can help control a fever, replace lost fluids, and thin out mucus.
• Sources: www.WebMD.com, www.mayoclinic.com, www.water.com

DO YOU REALLY NEED 8-10 GLASSES OF WATER A DAY?

The notion that reusing plastic water bottles causes them to break down into potentially toxic compounds is completely false!

Parents, do your children know the layout of Bellingham?

Do you consider it helpful to know where Hospitals, Police & Fire Departments are in relation to your whereabouts? In the realm of personal safety, having a general idea of how everything is laid out & interconnected can help you move about more efficiently and safely. For your kids, this also reduces the need to ask for directions.

I have become exceedingly disenchanted with industrious schools in the martial arts community that capitalize on fears about childhood safety. These schools attempt to snare parents through the guise of “free” workshops. The workshops essentially turn into self-serving marketing ploys to sign up the child for long-term taekwondo or karate classes, and they do not thoroughly address the variety of topics that need to be studied to meet today’s safety challenges for kids.

Regretfully, children’s self-defense workshops often present scare tactics that play on parent’s fears just to elicit their eventual enrollment.

You may see these “Free workshop” signs in storefront windows of business & restaurants. Of course few business owners will turn away a request to promote these workshops because they are as concerned about child safety as the rest of us.

As a martial artist, I will candidly admit the last line of defense is a physical response. Child safety requires more than a 1-hour workshop about how to ward off an assailant. In my ongoing philosophy that “an ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure” here are some helpful places that you can find good information on child safety at a reasonable cost:

* Yello-Dyno – Non-fearful, research-based, anti-victimization education for children. After one cycle of participation in the Yello Dyno curriculum 80.8% of the students tested demonstrated an increase in safety knowledge regarding the issues of bullies, abductors, violent kids, drug pushers, child abusers, sexual predators, and internet predators. Plus Yello Dyno is a child safety program that meets Federal and State mandates.

* DVDs & CDs such as these on child safety can be found at the Bellingham Public Library (210 Central Ave, Bellingham, WA 98225).

“KidSmartz: Abduction Prevention” DVD
“Give Your Kids a Fighting Chance!” DVD
“Protecting the Gift” Book or CD Audiobook

* “The Internet and Your Child” website -a comprehensive Internet safety and education program for adults. 

 

Every cellular phone operator sells prepaid plans where users don’t need a yearly contract. Many stores sell packaged prepaid phones. I have found prepaid phones with digital cameras & GPS technology just under $100.
For less than $50 you can buy a new, pre-paid cell phone without the digital camera or GPS feature. For those on an even tighter budget or who don’t care about owning new, there’s always the option of Ebay and local pawnshops.

• has agreed to be your ICE Partner.
• has a number that is easy to contact. A home number might be useless if your ICE partner works full time.
• has a list of people they should contact on your behalf: your employer, parents, childcare provider, etc.
• knows about your medical conditions and history. The information they provide to EMS works could affect your emergency treatment. -Keep them current on your known allergies, regular medications, and current medical condition.
• is your parent or guardian (if you are under 18). They may have to make decisions on your behalf.

  Note: ICE entries are more likely to be of use to hospital personnel than paramedics; the latter don’t generally have the time or the need to go searching for that type of information. ICE entries in cell phone address books should be used in addition to (not in place of) standard forms of identification.

An ICE number in your cell can aid
rescuers if you’re found unconscious.

I purchased this form of Grip Putty called “Exergrip” from Fred Meyer for $6.99. It has been beneficial in developing continued hand strength and endurance. Today there are many similar putty-type hand strengtheners available at sporting good departments. Putty such as this can be squeezed, stretched, and pulled in order to do several different strengthening exercises for the muscles in your fingers and hands. Not only is it a highly effective hand strengthener, it’s fun to use as it relieves stress and tension.

Grip Putty

Other hand exercisers like springs and balls work only the muscles that close the hand. Grip putty strengthens all the muscles in the fingers and hands to develop powerful, quick hands. When it comes to training knife defense, a strong grip is exactly what you want. Strong hands will improve your weapon retention and disarming skills. Therefore, consider this a crucial training aid in your ongoing efforts to ensure your own personal protection.

Grip Putty is also recommended by hand surgeons, therapists, and professional sports trainers for the prevention and rehabilitation of injuries.

1. The Finger Extension

Place putty in palm. Use other hand to stretch putty outward.

2. The Finger Press

Place putty ball between finger tips and thumb.

Pinch putty.

The Finger Curl

Place putty in palm.

Curl fingers in to palm and squeeze putty.

The Finger Scissor

Pinch putty in between two adjoining fingers.

Note: Similar hand strengthening for combatives can be achieved by squeezing a tennis ball. Begin with 50-100 repetitions each hand.

DYNA-FLEX
Perfect for warming up your wrist and forearm before Escrima practice!

Have you seen these at your local sporting goods store?
If you’ve passed the Dyna-Flex up in the past, stop next time and ask to give it a try. Feeling is believing, and once you get a feel for the burn this little piece of exercise equipment can put on the muscles in your forearm you’ll appreciate its effectiveness.

The unique Dyna-flex mechanism spins internally and has no motor. Once you get the gyroscopic action going, your grip workout will have it whirling at 9,000 revolutions per minute. Your wrists, grip, and arm will be taxed as you work against its motion and challenge yourself to keep hold. This item assists in building strength while improving coordination. The resistance can be controlled by the user increasing or decreasing the speed of the gyroscopic action.

Visit the Dyna-flex website for lots more information.

Years ago while exploring supplemental exercise routines for combat conditioning I discovered some advanced forms of Indian Clubs on the market. These devices are clubs weighted and used for strength training purposes. What I saw reminded me of the Chishi I used to workout with in my younger years of traditional Karate. The Chishi is a traditional Goju-Ryu training apparatus used for conditioning the forearms, shoulders, and grip. It consists of a wooden handle with a stone or concrete weight at one end making it look like an incomplete homemade dumbbell. “Traditional” can sometimes be synonymous with “crude” or “rudimentary” and, for me, the Chishi was no exception. I used to make my own Chishi and end result was functional yet rather unattractive and significantly dangerous because of the sharp concrete-molded block that was swung to and fro, often grazing my leg and foot.

Now I have discovered the least expensive means of making the most contemporary version of this type of strength conditioning apparatus. Allow me to share it with you.

I am going to describe this for people that live in my city so I will be giving the names of the specific stores I purchased these items from. I am sure others who are reading this can find the exact same materials are their local department & hardware stores.

The materials you will need will be a child’s plastic wiffleball “fat” bat. For those of you in Bellingham I purchased mine for $3.99 at Yeager’s. While I was there I found Athletic tape for $2.29. You’ll need a funnel. I found a 1-quart funnel from Car Quest for $1.97. Next, some adhesive caulk. I used “DAP Kwik Seal Tub & Tile Adhesive Caulk”. It bonds like a glue, seals like a caulk, and provides a durable, watertight seal. Finally, you’ll need sand. I found a 50 lb. bag called “Playsand” selling at Lowe’s for $3.24! My first Club used a quarter of the bag so naturally you and three other training partners can each make a club.

The steps are easy & the illustrations more than speak for themselves.

As you can see in the price breakdown below, my 1st club cost less than the shipping expense for the leading name brand Club on the market. With the $100 you save assembling your own club you can purchase such things as instructional videos that will teach you proper exercise techniques.

“The rediscovery and growing popularity of Indian clubs may well be the decade’s most interesting development concerning modern restorative and martial arts in American culture.” –Ed Thomas, Ed.D. Former Chairman of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion, Troy State University – Fort Benning, GA Campus. Presently Health and Physical Education consultant for the Iowa Department of Education in Des Moines, Iowa.

1. Widen the small hole at the bottom of the bat.

2. Fit the funnel into the hole and pour the sand until the bat is completely full.

3. Once the seal has completely dried, drape several strips of atheletic tape over the end and down the length of the handle.

4. Wrap the handle from bottom to top, and back down to the bottom again. As you will see the weight of one club perfectly weighs 10 lbs.

Enjoy your new weighted, strength training clubs! Seek out qualified instructors or training guides to assist you with their proper usage and sports-specific exercises.

There are inherent risks when working with any form of free weights. Unbridled Martial Arts is not responsible for any injuries incurred through usage of Indian Clubs.

INTERNET LINKS TO INFORMATION ABOUT INDIAN CLUBS & SIMILAR WEIGHT TRAINING EQUIPMENT

BodyBuilding.com article (Interestingly it says you can not make a your own Indian Clubs because they won’t be as safe as the popular brand name ones on the market.)
Russian Kettlebells
Indian Club Exercises & Info
More Indian Club Exercises
Indian Club Exercises on Video
Popular Brand Name Indian Clubs

–Instructional Videos for Indian Club Training:
www.indianclubs.com
Coach Scott Sonnon

SUMMER WAYS TO PRACTICE INDEPENDENTLY

Summer weather sometimes makes it hard to train indoors when you’d much rather be outdoors.
Here are some ideas about combining summertime activities with some Martial Arts practice. Not to mention, for the time being, UMA students only have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday to train together.

The way to accelerate your retention is to practice independently. Pick random points throughout the day to plug-in a 5-minute routine. Throw punches in front of the mirror after brushing your teeth. While waiting for the bus, practice simple boxing footwork (step-and-slide forward & back, left & right, and input ¼ turns). At times in the day when you need a break from the computer screen, slide away from your desk and practice round kicks over the top of your chair (permitting that you have space for this and possibly a private office so your co-workers don’t think you’re going crazy). It is screwing around, and doing little activities like these, that will energize your training, motivate your practice, and speed your recall & muscle-memory when in class.

Here are a few creative ideas to share:

Pool and Ocean fitness training

• Swimming underwater will build lung endurance for combat.
• While wading in the water, use the water as resistance for underwater kicks (front & side kicks work best).
• Kick at crashing waves on the beach and practice your timing.
• Stand in water at chest height and make a splash by throwing elbow strikes on top of the water.
• If you have a friend who likes swimming & likes wrestling, combine the activities. You can practice throws and clinch moves: pummeling & under hooking techniques. From a clinch position you can even practice triangle chokes by jumping up onto your partner and hooking your legs into position and keeping your body above water.
• If you have a sturdy platform, you can practice hip tossing a partner in the water. (If you have the option to do this, make sure it’s not slippery and if you are at a pool make sure that you aren’t violating any rules.)

Beachside play

• Practice judo breakfalls and shoulder rolls on the sand.
• Practice shrimping in the sand, or conduct a shrimping race with a friend.
• Practice boxing footwork in the sand. Once you’ve etched out a pattern, turn the other direction and retrace your steps.
• At susnet, face a flush rock surface and practice some actual “shadow” boxing.

Get outdoors

• Go for nature walks with your Escrima sticks.
• Practice different drills such as 6-count against a tree trunk, or abanico strikes against a hanging branch.
• Fill a clean sock with sand and attach it to a rope. You now have a great defensive training tool -a homemade “maize ball.” Throw the rope over a tree branch and set the “maize ball” at chin height. Set it in motion swaying back & forth and practice the art of slipping punches. You can also adjust the height and make it a kicking & punching target.

Summertime Babysitting

• Have any little ones you need to look after & keep occupied? On a hot day, give them a squirt gun and let `em have at you. You can practice lots of your boxing related maneuvers: footwork, slipping, bobbing, weaving, covering, etc…

Play fetch with your dog

• Have a dog that likes to play fetch? Every time you throw the ball or stick, see how many punches or kicks you can do before your pet gets back to you. Try to throw the same distance each time. Test yourself to increase your output each time. See who gets tired first: canine or human?

Sun tanning

• Well, there isn’t a lot to be practiced when lying down. However, this is an important time because it gives your body time to rest and recuperate. Wear sunblock. Browse martial arts magazines that have interesting articles on topics that interest you.
• Check out book titles from the UMA recommended reading list.
If you have an iPod, scope out martial arts related audio books that you can transfer to your iPod. A great resource for audio book shopping is this website: Audible.com. (Lowest price on audiobooks -many are 30% off normal price.) Or visit the local library and find them on CD.