I chatted with Niko Han last week, and he reminded me one of the main principles of BJJ:
Priority#1 is to defend submissions.
Priority#2 is to escape bad positions.
Priority#3 is to maintain positions.
Priority#4 is to improve position in order to get a submission. You can go for priority#4, as long as priority#1-3 are always in-check
Why are these so important? Let me elaborate more:
1.) Attempting to escape bad position without defending submission will lead you to a submission. In fact, such reactions are used by BJJ practicioners as a setup for a submission.
2.) Further down you are on the hierarchy of positions (See: http://bjjvoice.blogspot.com/2009/01/hierarchy-of-positions.html), the more you have to defend as your opponent have more options to attack, so you'll need to escape bad position in order to minimise their offensive options.
3.) If you can't maintain position, you'll get swept back to bad positions, thus unable to attempt any offensive to your opponent.
4.) Again - the higher you are on the hierarchy of positions, the lesser options your opponent have for escape, and the more options you have to submit your opponent. Note that maintaining position has higher priority compared to submission, as submission attempts often provide room for escapes / reversals. Therefore, unless you're so sure that the submission is sunk deep, abort the submission and defend your position.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Big Congrats!
First of all, the long overdue entry:
BIG Congrats to Taji for winning second place on the team championship on the Police Force Judo Competition, armbarring 3 opponents along the way.
BIG Congrats to Taji for winning second place on the team championship on the Police Force Judo Competition, armbarring 3 opponents along the way.
And for that, he got his long overdue 3 stripes. :) Congratulations to Taji.
But others are not left out.
Congrats to Louisa Rahardjo, Agung Wicaksono, and Madia Gunawan. Louisa is awarded 2 stripes, while Agung, and Madia is awarded 3 stripes on their white belts. Congratulations!
Madia and Louisa
The last but not the least, the good ol' traditional belting ceremony!
The last but not the least, the good ol' traditional belting ceremony!
Rest Assured all graded members are belted equally, not only Taji
To all: A BIG CONGRATULATIONS!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Rules of Engagement on the Street
Rules of engagement on the street
We all learn martial arts for many reasons, but for many, it began as a method of self-defense, to protect themselves as well as their loved one, and I believe that during the course of our martial arts journey, there we encounter a number of unfortunate circumstances where we use what we have learnt, which is more commonly known as “street applications” or “self defense”.
While the street is perceived as a place with “no rules”, you must keep in mind that that is not the fact – there are rules of engagement you should follow to avoid trouble with the law, which in Indonesia carries a maximum sentence of 5 years (article 351 of KUHP). So, generally speaking, what do we need to do to avoid prosecutions on “street situations”?
1.) Establish effort to avoid confrontation and/or diffuse situation
One of my instructors said that people in the rights minds would not come into confrontation. Unfortunately, life is full of ups and downs, and we may be provoked into not being in the right state of mind, and these are the times where we tend to engage in these unnecessary confrontations.
Now, keeping our minds in the right state is a difficult task by itself, not to mention when provoked, but unfortunately provocation does not validate a violent reaction under the law, as it does not constitute effort to diffuse the situation, and the true challenge of all is to stay calm and diffuse the situation even when provoked. More often than not, the confrontation ends at this stage unless both sides have no intention to diffuse the situation.
2.) Do not pose verbal threat
Now, comes a stage where it cannot be diffused, and you may spontaneously pose a verbal threat. From practical point of view, a verbal threat will only worsens the situation and provoke your opponent. From a legal standpoint, blurting a verbal threat, although unintentional, will weaken your position in the court of law, as it shows that you are no longer trying to diffuse the situation but ready to inflict damage to your opponent.
3.) Respond in accordance with “generally accepted” perceived threat
Now, this may be rather complicated. The more you know about self defense, the more you know about the angles which you are threatened, at more ranges of distance. On the other hand, the generally accepted notion is that skilled martial artist practice restrain (which is partly true) toward all threats, as if martial artists are all the kung-fu masters from the comic books, able to detect killer instincts from a mile away. Therefore, keep this notion of perceived threat to the general public’s perception to avoid problem with the law.
4.) Avoid Women at all costs
Related to no.3, women are perceived to pose close to zero threat, especially in eastern cultures. Take for example – a female friend of mine, about 165 cm and 55-ish kg, provoked by a bajaj (pedicab) driver, engaged into a confrontation and gave a front kick straight at his solar plexus and threw him back. Nobody had problems with that. However, it will be a totally different case if I counter a bitch-slap with a simple wristlock. So, avoid them, swallow their bickering, and don’t get provoked. You WILL get into trouble if you do. Some women from my experience in fact provokes such situation, risks getting a light bruise in order to have court and/or mob’s sympathy. In addition, always remember that you’ll always have a chance of encountering a pregnant woman, and the earlier stages (which you can barely see) tend to pose the higher risk for the mother.
5.) Do not enter into “hunter and prey” mindset
Once you’re engaged in confrontations, more often than not you will enter into “hunter and prey” mentality, where your mind is focused on hunting your opponent, whoever that may be. When this happens, people tend to switch their mindset from “to survive” to “maiming the opponent”. Once you enter into this state of mind, it will definitely weakens your position in defending your case, as you are prone to respond in excess of the perceived threat.
6.) Do not get into trouble with the security
Simple rule of thumb – security, no matter how stupid or provoking they are (often happen), are always favoured by the law at the first glance. Yes, they might be stupid, they might be provocative, they might be a bunch of meatheads looking for excuse to make their day, but just let them go. Even if you think you’re right and you’re only acting on self defense (think about Overeem brothers’ nightclub incident), you’ll have more than double the trouble just trying to prove they’re being wronged.
7.) When you’re in trouble, avoid disclosing your martial arts training
Coming back to number 3, general public believes that training allows you to have restrain, and you will definitely weaken your position if you know this. I’m not saying to lie, but we have zillions of styles out there, from mainstream “kung-fu” to a relatively unknown one like “Jo Son Do” in UFC 3. Hell, even boxing and wrestling are quite grey when defined as “martial arts”, and people need to be specific when asking.
At this point, you may realize that acting in accordance with the law while in conflict situation can be a very difficult situation to handle, therefore it is cheaper to pay your insurance and take insults as opposed to dealing with law. In addition, always remember that “self defense” means survival – getting out in one piece, not making sure the other person does not get out in one piece; and the more you dwell into a conflict, the lesser your chances are of getting out in one piece.
Finally, always remember that in Indonesia, mob rules. Check out this confession from Urijah Faber, who is one of the top MMA Bantamweights in the world. Even he can get into trouble with the Mob. :)
We all learn martial arts for many reasons, but for many, it began as a method of self-defense, to protect themselves as well as their loved one, and I believe that during the course of our martial arts journey, there we encounter a number of unfortunate circumstances where we use what we have learnt, which is more commonly known as “street applications” or “self defense”.
While the street is perceived as a place with “no rules”, you must keep in mind that that is not the fact – there are rules of engagement you should follow to avoid trouble with the law, which in Indonesia carries a maximum sentence of 5 years (article 351 of KUHP). So, generally speaking, what do we need to do to avoid prosecutions on “street situations”?
1.) Establish effort to avoid confrontation and/or diffuse situation
One of my instructors said that people in the rights minds would not come into confrontation. Unfortunately, life is full of ups and downs, and we may be provoked into not being in the right state of mind, and these are the times where we tend to engage in these unnecessary confrontations.
Now, keeping our minds in the right state is a difficult task by itself, not to mention when provoked, but unfortunately provocation does not validate a violent reaction under the law, as it does not constitute effort to diffuse the situation, and the true challenge of all is to stay calm and diffuse the situation even when provoked. More often than not, the confrontation ends at this stage unless both sides have no intention to diffuse the situation.
2.) Do not pose verbal threat
Now, comes a stage where it cannot be diffused, and you may spontaneously pose a verbal threat. From practical point of view, a verbal threat will only worsens the situation and provoke your opponent. From a legal standpoint, blurting a verbal threat, although unintentional, will weaken your position in the court of law, as it shows that you are no longer trying to diffuse the situation but ready to inflict damage to your opponent.
3.) Respond in accordance with “generally accepted” perceived threat
Now, this may be rather complicated. The more you know about self defense, the more you know about the angles which you are threatened, at more ranges of distance. On the other hand, the generally accepted notion is that skilled martial artist practice restrain (which is partly true) toward all threats, as if martial artists are all the kung-fu masters from the comic books, able to detect killer instincts from a mile away. Therefore, keep this notion of perceived threat to the general public’s perception to avoid problem with the law.
4.) Avoid Women at all costs
Related to no.3, women are perceived to pose close to zero threat, especially in eastern cultures. Take for example – a female friend of mine, about 165 cm and 55-ish kg, provoked by a bajaj (pedicab) driver, engaged into a confrontation and gave a front kick straight at his solar plexus and threw him back. Nobody had problems with that. However, it will be a totally different case if I counter a bitch-slap with a simple wristlock. So, avoid them, swallow their bickering, and don’t get provoked. You WILL get into trouble if you do. Some women from my experience in fact provokes such situation, risks getting a light bruise in order to have court and/or mob’s sympathy. In addition, always remember that you’ll always have a chance of encountering a pregnant woman, and the earlier stages (which you can barely see) tend to pose the higher risk for the mother.
5.) Do not enter into “hunter and prey” mindset
Once you’re engaged in confrontations, more often than not you will enter into “hunter and prey” mentality, where your mind is focused on hunting your opponent, whoever that may be. When this happens, people tend to switch their mindset from “to survive” to “maiming the opponent”. Once you enter into this state of mind, it will definitely weakens your position in defending your case, as you are prone to respond in excess of the perceived threat.
6.) Do not get into trouble with the security
Simple rule of thumb – security, no matter how stupid or provoking they are (often happen), are always favoured by the law at the first glance. Yes, they might be stupid, they might be provocative, they might be a bunch of meatheads looking for excuse to make their day, but just let them go. Even if you think you’re right and you’re only acting on self defense (think about Overeem brothers’ nightclub incident), you’ll have more than double the trouble just trying to prove they’re being wronged.
7.) When you’re in trouble, avoid disclosing your martial arts training
Coming back to number 3, general public believes that training allows you to have restrain, and you will definitely weaken your position if you know this. I’m not saying to lie, but we have zillions of styles out there, from mainstream “kung-fu” to a relatively unknown one like “Jo Son Do” in UFC 3. Hell, even boxing and wrestling are quite grey when defined as “martial arts”, and people need to be specific when asking.
At this point, you may realize that acting in accordance with the law while in conflict situation can be a very difficult situation to handle, therefore it is cheaper to pay your insurance and take insults as opposed to dealing with law. In addition, always remember that “self defense” means survival – getting out in one piece, not making sure the other person does not get out in one piece; and the more you dwell into a conflict, the lesser your chances are of getting out in one piece.
Finally, always remember that in Indonesia, mob rules. Check out this confession from Urijah Faber, who is one of the top MMA Bantamweights in the world. Even he can get into trouble with the Mob. :)
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