Hi Guys,
Last Friday I took a modern military combatives course from Geoff "Tank" Todd of New Zealand in the traditions of Nelson, Applegate and Harry Baldock. It was excellent.
In another thread I stated that medieval combatives were superior. I like the footwork and the knife defence better from the medieval stuff. Nothing trumps BJJ for groundwork IMHO.
Anyway,
I did learn some interesting things about the way close combat blows are thrown that may be of interest to those reading.
This of course doesn't mean that this is the way they were done historically, just that this was the way a hardcore gentleman, trained by a bunch of VERY hardcore gentlemen chooses to strike.
The first was with the edge of hand blow. I had always tried to strike with the sharpest part of my hand when throwing axehands and have figured that the pain involved in hitting hard targets was simply part and parcel of throwing full power disabling strikes.
It turns out that I was throwing the blow ever so slightly "off". The hand should be pronated a few degrees in striking so that you strike with the meaty part of the hand just to the palm side of the edge of the hand rather than right on the bone. The skin here is harder and tougher than that on the extreme edge of the hand making the blow safer for the hand without compromisiong power.
The second revelation was in the position of the front foot relative to the attacker when throwing a horizontal axe hand. There is a tendency, especially if you are a rapier fencer to want to hit the opponent with the toe heading towards their centreline. The is fine but reduces the power you can derive from the hips and also doesn't then line you up for a chin jab, and doesn't help you to "get away" from one of his hands.
So, when throwing a right handed horizontal axehand, you want your foot off the opponents centreline to your right. This way, as you pivot to hit him with the horizontal blow, your left hand is lined up for a tremendous chin jab. We didn't cover this in the class but it is easy to see how the hip throw/chin jab combo is much easier when the same side foot lies beyond the point of contact. You can simply step straight through with the left foot and hook the leg.
The other big advantage here is that you are covered from a right hand counter when you chin jab if your left arm runs along his centreline as it will if you throw the initial blow as I suggested.
If you are studying Medieval Combatives then I strongly recommend taking a lesson or two in Modern Military combatives. Even if you aren't it is a good thing to do.
Cheers,
Stu.
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