New RBPP VIDEOS now you can see what I'm talking about

Boru.

Hi Guys,

Thought you might be intrested. I've updated the home page comments to reflect your collective input, so its been shortened and re written. I'd love your feedback. You can see it at http://www.self-defence-ireland.com

I've also uploaded some new articles I think you'll enjoy in the articles section, particularly one about the Dublin Riot that I'd like your opinions on.

Finally I've added some video footage so you guys can actually see what I teach and what we do. There are some clips in the Dublin Riot article, but also some in the video section, and its these I particularly want to mention. To me the highlight the two major highpoints of the art as opposed to other styles. You can see them at http://www.self-defence-ireland.com/articles.php at the bottom of the page.

The first clip is of two experienced and compentant martial artists. They're no Tito Oritz, but they good. They've both studied Krav Maga and a varitey of martial arts including kickboxing, karate and taekwondo.

In this clip the are asked to just "go at it". The drill is to show the adreniline effect of a fight. They are instucted to go all out for 30 seconds and then to retreat to try to write out something.

The interesting part is that you won't see one clean gyaka zuki punch, not one nice mai geri front kick or Van Damme stlye roundhouse. What you will see is a little closer to what happens on the street.


In the second clip, well I won't say yet what happens, but I expect at least some of you (Millionarie....) should recognize who's winning. Let me know your impressions.

All the best guys.

Iss hogai.

judomick

so what do you teach? the first clip was two guys who dont know how to fight, what would you teach them? nice site

Boru.

lol....the point is both are excellent fighters in their own styles and systems. In the confines of a ring or sparring match their fine. Faced with full on brutaltiy their fancy technqiues and brains drops into their pants and they end up swinging wildly as most martial artists and civilians will do when fighting for thier lives! They're scared, adreniline is pumping through their system and thats the result of years training the wrong way.

I take that and teach them how to recover, how to control themselves a little better, how to go with it and fight back. I put them in the type of street situation they are likely to face and condition them so that they are a little less scared, know a little more, and stand a better fighting chance.

Its also really really really good fun.

The sites gone through a bit of an overhall wiht the help of a few people here on boards.

Iss hogai

kenpo_dave

IMHO fights only degrade to the kind of fighting seen in the first clip when those involved have had really poor training. Boru do you think that theres no adrenaline rush in a ring fight, when theres a trained fighter in front of you that knows how to and will try to hurt you? Obviously its not the same as the adrenaline dump that occurs in "street fight" but any 'real' martial art' has alot of mental training to prepare for this, and it does work.

The following is a quote from the website.

"If you want to know how to deal with any situation, if you want to be able to relax and enjoy an evening out and not worry about the thugs outside the chip shop or off licence, if you want to learn how to defend yourself be it hand to hand combat, against knives, guns and more then you need Reality Based Personal Protection."

Personally I believe if you truely want to "relax and enjoy" being out with your friends then the old saying "Ignorance is bliss" applies. What if a person cant get the ideal seating, according to RBPP, in a bar, on the bus/Luas/Dart? Do they leave the bar, wait for the next bus/Luas/Dart until they can get into the ideal position?

Regards,

Dave

Boru.

I would agree with you Kenpo Dave absolutely. I've fought in the ring a good bit, and the first few times I was nervous as hell lost, had my ass handed to me. I was intimidated by big guys and dark belts. But the more I did it the more I got used to it. I became ring conditioned, same as any good martial artist, just as you say.

My instructors prepared me, built me up and drilled me. I got good at in ring fighting. So were the guys in the clip, particularly the taller one. Now they're not professional fighters, but they can both hold their own in standard sparring match.

The thing of it is - fighting in a ring is as you said different from fighting in the street. and just as in everything if you want to get better at it you need to condition yourself. We saw the same thing in the ealry days of UFC - take a talented stand up fighter and put him in against a ground grappler. The satnd up guys is a mess on the gorund and loses. The reason we have a new better bread of fighter is that they now cross train, the stand up guys knows the ground, the ground guys knows stand up.

Lets try the same with reality. A tournament fight is different to an uneve street surface with low lighting and resticitve clothing. Lets train in that - lets go at and lets see what works. The more you do it, the better conditioned you become to that enviroment.

Martial arts prepare you to fight other martial artists and they do it better than any other system in the world - this is especially true when it comes to weapons, like in the knife clip.

Take that knowldege form years of martial arts training and build on it. The only thing that will happen is you'll get better. Don't stop training, just mix things up every now and again. Instructiors are doing this more and more, and its producing a better breed of MA.

Iss hogai.

john kavanagh

Boru. wrote:

The first clip is of two experienced and compentant martial artists. They're no Tito Oritz, but they good.....the point is both are excellent fighters in their own styles and systems.

well 'good' and 'excellent'....at what? at 'fighting'? to my eye neither would seem to have any 'stand-up' or 'clinch' skill. although the clip is short its pretty clear they've little to no functional fighting ability besides being somewhat athletic and being willing to 'swing'. this is how guys usually look in their first couple of MMA classes, look at the amatuer mma league dvds or the amatuer fights on the 'ring of truth' dvds and you see something similar.

not having a go at the guys, they seem willing to spar realistically. however to put them forward as 'excellent fighters' - to me an excellent 'fighter' would be someone that can 'hang' or give a good spar to a decent MMA fighter, not look good doing against a static/non resisting opponent

Boru. wrote:

The interesting part is that you won't see one clean gyaka zuki punch, not one nice mai geri front kick or Van Damme stlye roundhouse. What you will see is a little closer to what happens on the street.

yes, this point was made pretty obvious in 1993 at the first UFC....and i'm sure was obvious for many many years before this to all the people who were training in functional combat athletics already before the rest of us caught on.

Boru. wrote:

In the confines of a ring or sparring match their fine.

confines of a ring? i think a good am/pro boxer /thai boxer/MMA fighter or anyone else who uses a training method that prepares them for dealing with full contact will react the 'right' way. because their training very closely resembles a 'fight'.

Boru. wrote:

Faced with full on brutaltiy their fancy technqiues and brains drops into their pants and they end up swinging wildly as most martial artists and civilians will do when fighting for thier lives! They're scared, adreniline is pumping through their system and thats the result of years training the wrong way.

agree 100%....people training with non-functional training methods will react exactly this way.


"Real Self Defence only takes days too learn!"

i agree with this. in fact i think 'real self defence' can be learnt in an hour or two. some advice on diet, a couple of common sense tips on street smarts/awareness etc. however to say you could teach someone to actually fight against a somebody intent on hurting them (really and not just staged 1-step attacks) is imho misleading to say the very least.


"If you want to know how to deal with any situation, if you want to be able to relax and enjoy an evening out and not worry about the thugs outside the chip shop or off licence, if you want to learn how to defend yourself be it hand to hand combat, against knives, guns and more then you need Reality Based Personal Protection."

yes the world is a scary scary place...:eek: they're all out there!!!!!

kenpo_dave

The thing is though, it has been going on for ages and does happen in Dojos. Whether people liek it or not, what Ed Parker was teaching was 'reality based' He wasnt just some guy in the safety of his dojo who came up with theoretical sd techniques. Parker actually taught Kenpo to the LAPD, who used it and helped refine. Understand though, I do hate the state that Ed Parkers Kenpo is currently in, with people like George Maughan and Larry Tatum with high ranks. As far as I know, Tatum is a very talented Kenpoist, though I like to refer to him as "The Ego formally known as Larry Tatum"
Anyway back to my point. The developer of the style that I do, Jon Bluming, had done 2 tours in Korea with the Royal Dutch Marines before he even started in Kodokan Judo and Kyokushin. Another guy of a high rank teaches CQC to the Royal Dutch Marines, the head instructor in Belgium is a former Para-Commando, a guy in France is high up in French Intelliegence and every year my instructor, and the school he trained in in Germany, go to Holland to train with the Marines. So, in light of all this, do you still believe that theres little or no 'reality' training going on in martial arts;)

OSU,

Dave.

Colm_OReilly

lol at the Riot Training!

NOW AT TWO KINGS - LIGHTSABER WORK
OKay, so you've stolen your way onto the Death Star, or the Trade Federation are holding a diplomatic envoy hostage, what do you do? Do you have what it takes to effectively deflect and return laser blasts from up to 20 storm troopers bent on KILLING YOU?

At TWO KINGS we train you to deal with the frantic, adrenaline filled nature of a rebel assault or an attack on the Jedi Temple. The best thing is, you get to learn this all in about half and hour (with two 15 minute breaks) and you also receive a Certificate of Training.

No, wait, we just play around with foam swords because it's fun.

Boru, your site appeals to the lowest common denominator and doesn't help anybody imo.

damo

Ah come on...take the riot clip: being in a real riot with real thugs firing bottles and bricks at you trying to smash your head in is a bit differant to having your mate loft sticks up to you at a nice height round the side of a barn.

dlofnep

The first clip just showed two guys who can't fight? I think if you learn something that's tested in a resistance enviroment, you're going to use it on the streets and be confident with what you know.. People will swing like that because whatever they have learned, they are not confident in using it.

Roper

Jesus, this is weird...

I just got off the phone to a very scared woman looking for a one day self defence class to help her get over her fear. We had a bit of a conversation about what she was looking for and it turns out she had her purse snatched a couple of weeks ago, but she wasn't interested in training, just wanted a day class. I won't give away any personal details of what she said, she was quite frank, but from memory, here's a little bit.

Me: So you're afraid you'll have your purse snatched again?
Her: Well yeah, or worse really. I'm nervous in public now.
Me: Well okay but we don't do one day we only train blah blah but I can do an intro class with you...etc.
Her: I kight do that. Let me tell you I was scared enough, then I went on the net and looked up self defence websites now I'm really scared...

Boru,
I really, really, do not like the style, content, or theme of your website. Your training might be sound, but you are preying on, and perpetuating paranoia. So you say that you and Jim Wagner "weren't surprised" when the Dublin riots broke out. Brilliant marketing. Opportunism at it's best.

Boru.

Roper I'm sorry to hear about that woman. I'm also sorry to see this reaction from people whose opinions I do respect. When I first launched the site I asked for the advice and help of those more experienced and those with a different view point, I recieved criticism and and some excellent advice.

I took that aboard. The first draft of the site was quite paranioa minded. It did prey on people's fear to an extent. That is not the image I personally want to convey, it is certainly by no means my life, nor would I wish it to be anyone else's.

I rewrote the opening page with the intent of providing a different message - one that does not appeal to paranioa or fear. I do not want the site to be as your woman friend so apply put it one that really scares people. I directly say as much on the front page.

I beleive sincerely in what I teach. Regardless of what you may or may not feel on the subject of self defence, I have seen it taught effectivly in a matter of hours. I know hte technqiues work. I know the common sense principals work.

As John Kavanagh mentions above self defence is very much based on common sense street smarts and awareness, and I try to draw atention to this in the opening statement on the website.

When I started this I wanted to share with others the enjoyment, freedom and piece of mind I got of this training.

With that in mind it is aviolent world out there. For god's sake pjwares just posted that someone pulled a knfe on him in Temple Bar. He didn't freeze, he ran and he ran away. He saved himself and it didn't take years of martial arts training to learn how to do that.

So rather than complaining about he state of things, about the fear and paranioa rampant in the self defence section do something to stop it. Do something to help. Help me make the site better, help make it resource not just for Reality Based Personal Protection but for everyone intrested in learning.

Write articels about your stlye, how your club helps make poeple aware .
Write about how you teach people not to be afraid.
Write about how your introductory calss how it makes people more confident.
Write about your concerns

I'll post it all on the webiste. Give me your contact details, let people know you are out there! Lets give people a new perspective. Lets show them that it isn't doom and gloom, let's show them what we can offer them!

This isn't just for Roper this is for all of you. I teach what I teach. I know it works, I know it helps.

What would make the site better?
What would make it seem less threatening less paraniod.

I printed the front page text out and gave it to all my work colleagues, friends and even total strangers. They liked it. They said it was upbeat, intresting and balanced.

So how do we make it better?

Iss hogai.

judomick

the most frightening thing about your site is the cost for one day courses:eek:

Millionaire

Great knife clip. Sharon is great! did alot of training together over th years.

and the other drill represents what a real brawl looks like. when someone is trying to take you head off like that, a Jab Jab, Right, is very very difficult to execute.

I have done drills like that...of course if you know what to do, you can overcome a full on haymaker attcker like that.

theres a big difference in a ring syle fight (be it boxing or kickboxing), and someone tryinig to remove your head with haymakers in the street. you have little time for good ring principles like timing, footwork, feints, well executed aimed punches. etc.

though to get good at drills and SD training. IMO it MUST be back up my many hours (years)working the punching, boxing, heavy bag, dirty boxing. and of course Sparring! So do some of this training, and spend the other 50% of your training, boxing, kickboxing, or best of all Thai.!

john kavanagh

Boru. wrote:

Write articels about your stlye, how your club helps make poeple aware

The problems with a "streetfighter" mindset

and a number of other articles here Street VS Sport

Roper

Boru. wrote:

Write articels about your stlye, how your club helps make poeple aware .
Write about how you teach people not to be afraid.
Write about how your introductory calss how it makes people more confident.
Write about your concerns

I probably won't do this Boru. I'm afraid time won't allow it. But I will address these questions now while I have 5 minutes.
1. My club doesn't make people aware. My Da can make people aware, anythime we walked out the dorr as kids he gave us a little speech about being aware and not getting beaten up or knocked down. He did it for free too.
2. I don't teach people not to be afraid. That would be silly, and beyond the remit of a MA coach. I'd leave that to a psychologist or counsellor.
3. My introductory class gives people an opportunity to see how we train and what we do. I'll answer any specific questions they have. It won't make them more confident, again, that would be plain silly, but if it brings them into our main classes and training in that friendly, safe, healthy environment makes them more confident... well then that's your answer...
4. We live in a very, very safe country. If you're going to be shot, or stabbed, it's most likely because you're a drug dealer. If you're not, there's very little chance you could have done anything about it. My concern is that people can pay an awful lot of money for something they don't need which to me is unethical. That's why I don't teach weekend courses. I've had offers, but I don't do it because I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I did. But if you honestly believe that what you're doing is beneficial and that the individual is getting bang for their buck, well then I guess that's your prerogative.

Boru, you seem like a decent skin, and I'm sure you're earnest in what you're doing, but I cannot agree with the fear approach you're taking.

Baggio...

My silence speaks volumes....

Baggio.

Quillo

If your business is selling SD courses then I guess you have to advertise them in a way that will bring in the punters. Highlighting the violent crime out there is obviously going to increase interest in your offering - much in the same way as, for example, Eircom sell their PhoneWatch alarms systems by highlighting the likelihood that you will be burgled.

I don't believe that this kind of highlighted advertising necessarily generates panic or paranoia....I think that the media do that quite well on an almost daily basis.

pcwares

i recognise the woman in the video (sharon)- she was giving some of the km session training. I was on one of the advanced course session as i missed a couple of the basic ones. There she gave a short bit of advice on knife and stick attacks - the difference in response to both attacks. It was great crack actually defending/attacking a stick attack (some of them were getting well into it - a few bangs kept me on my toes. as there was a boxer, a black belt karate fella there and a few others and they were exchanging ideas.

The karate fella and myself were wondering was palm or punch more effective on a 5 min break. Turned out it was palm - equally as hard a strike with imo more efficiency in placing (on a stationary target - when tiring a bit). His knuckles were in bits after hitting the heavy bad a few time and the boxer who was there told him to knock the whole thing on the head cause he would be murtulized on the street doing that karate strike. He tried to deprogram him for a few minutes but sur he naturally didnt have his hands up so found it pretty difficult to grasp the fact straightaway that he was totally open something km will deprogramme.




PcWares

Colm_OReilly

I was just thinking about the knife defence clip again, the unarmed guy was asked to attack the person with the knife. Why, if you are unarmed, and the other person has a knife, would you attack them!?

Also, in Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, Susan Jeffers talks about the subcommunication of people telling you "Take Care" as you walk out the door.

1) It communicates you don't know how to take care of yourself, and have to be reminded by someone else.
2) That the world is full of dangers, and you need to be vigilant.

Wouldn't it be so much better if people said "Hey, have fun and take some risks today!" so that you could grow and expand?

Peace and Love Y'All,
Colm

FiannaGym.com

I'm with Zen on this.

Peace

Cabelo

Colm_OReilly wrote:

lol at the Riot Training!

NOW AT TWO KINGS - LIGHTSABER WORK
OKay, so you've stolen your way onto the Death Star, or the Trade Federation are holding a diplomatic envoy hostage, what do you do? Do you have what it takes to effectively deflect and return laser blasts from up to 20 storm troopers bent on KILLING YOU?

At TWO KINGS we train you to deal with the frantic, adrenaline filled nature of a rebel assault or an attack on the Jedi Temple. The best thing is, you get to learn this all in about half and hour (with two 15 minute breaks) and you also receive a Certificate of Training.

No, wait, we just play around with foam swords because it's fun.

Boru, your site appeals to the lowest common denominator and doesn't help anybody imo.

I'm not sure if anyone's ever ruptured a testicle laughing at something... but sweet christ I think I'm the record.

pcwares

Colm_OReilly wrote:

I was just thinking about the knife defence clip again, the unarmed guy was asked to attack the person with the knife. Why, if you are unarmed, and the other person has a knife, would you attack them!?




scratching my head a bit at that one...can someone explain what is actually supposed to be happening scenario wise. Maybe its a km 'death move'.

Boru.

Hi all.

Just to quickly address a few things. John thnaks for the articles. I've read the first one you linked to its excellent. I'll read th others over hte next day or so. Would you prefer me to link the articles to your website or reproduce them on mine? Also I assume the contact info you provided is what you want listed. Do I have permission form the author to link to the articles?

Pcwares and Colm both had quesitons about the knife drill. Unfortunately the guy attacking didn't know Sharon had the knife. You'll notice at she has it slightly behind her leg. Poor Peter didn't realise what was happening unitl it was too late - similar to many knife attacks.

The actual scenario is simply designed to show how quickly a knife can be deployed and used against you. Its a difference between many of the static presentations often seen in some martial arts schools. It also shows how some martial artists dont know how to react when faced with a woman with a knfe

Iss hogai

john kavanagh

Boru. wrote:

Just to quickly address a few things. John thnaks for the articles. I've read the first one you linked to its excellent. I'll read th others over hte next day or so. Would you prefer me to link the articles to your website or reproduce them on mine? Also I assume the contact info you provided is what you want listed. Do I have permission form the author to link to the articles?

you can put up the links to the wesite they come from, www.straightblastgym.com

Boru. wrote:

Pcwares and Colm both had quesitons about the knife drill. Unfortunately the guy attacking didn't know Sharon had the knife. You'll notice at she has it slightly behind her leg. Poor Peter didn't realise what was happening unitl it was too late - similar to many knife attacks.

The actual scenario is simply designed to show how quickly a knife can be deployed and used against you.

still trying to figure out the point of the exercise i can think of 2 lessons to be learned

1. dont attack people - they might have a concealed weapon. well i would hope people could work that out for themselves and wouldn't go around attacking people!

2. if someone wants to stab you, they will.

i agree with this point. if someone is intent on stabbing you they'll never let you see it coming. they'll pick a time when you're not looking, approach with the knife concealed then bang its done. which is exactly why i wouldn't worry about it, what good does worry do you? be a nice person, stay in good circles and odds are you won't be the victim of a mindless knife attack.

if someone shows you the knife then they're using it as intimidation to get something, and they're welcome to my wallet - i never carry much cash anyway (good self defence practice!).