The room is silent. I stand with my eyes shut, trying to remain relaxed. The atmosphere might appear calm, but I know something is about to happen. I wait in complete darkness, in an almost forced meditative state, for what seems like ages. "G'me your money now!" A man slaps a choke on me and tries to drag me backwards, screaming demands and threats in my ear. This isn't sport. This isn't a performance. I am not going to get out of this one in style. As my breathing becomes more strained and my vision begins to blur I only have one thought: survival.
The British Free Fighting Academy runs its full time dojo and martial arts shop in Bromsgrove. The academy was founded by Andy Hopwood, a veteran of many different styles of martial arts both inside and outside the military. Andy admits that "for right or wrong reasons" he has often found himself in violent situations, where he has been forced to do what ever was necessary in order to survive. His BFFA is one of the very few British institutions that pressure tests genuine self-defence training.
I attended their annual weekend of intensive training on the 28th and 29th August 2004, looking forward to continuing my studies in self-protection. Andy kept a very informal class for these two days. Respect, discipline and tradition are all part of Andy's regular classes, but the message here was to keep things as relaxed and natural as possible. After all, we were all about to go from nine thirty in the morning to five o'clock in the afternoon putting ourselves under as much pressure as possible.
After reading what the law had to say about self-defence matters we got into the physical training. The warm-ups were mainly designed to be, for want of a better expression, sport-specific and dealt with reaction drills, grappling exercises as well as escapes from the ground. Such methods train the student's gross motor-skills and not only strengthen the body, but improve the mind to muscle connection.
On the first day we looked at strikes, namely the pre-emptive strike, upright grappling and groundwork.
The pre-emptive strike is a technique best delivered after putting a barrier up between yourself with your outstretched arms. It is an ideal line-up tool that has many different variations, but is known, although not always consciously, by the majority of people with street-fighting experience. Making an assertive statement like "back off!" as your barrier makes contact may be enough to dissuade a prospective attacker, however, if this doesn't work then you are ready and in position to deliver your strike. Andy Hopwood used five types of strikes ideal for this type of scenario: the elbow strike, the knee strike, the low front thrust kick (often seen in Wing Chun and Muay Thai), the clawed hand strike and the cupped hand slap. By attaching vocalisation before and when you strike you are giving your attacker more to think about and therefore giving yourself time to control the situation.
The seminar moved onto releases from standing chokes or strangles and upright grappling holds. Here the less assertive or aggressive approach to defence tends to give way to the passive "waffle", as Andy calls it. This form of disarming dialogue, like the assertive vocalisation, buys you time to get your bearings and get your immediate plan in order.
It is interesting to note that when put under pressure people tend to fight back in kind to their assailant. For example, once we are being grappled we tend to try to grapple back. This type of defence might serve you well if you are a far superior wrestler or stronger than your attacker. However, it should be noted that your prospective mugger, thug or rapist has most probably used this form of attack many times before with a lot of success and is therefore very comfortable and confident with this range. He will also have the element of surprise on his side and his choice of you as a victim has probably been decided by some obvious physical advantage he has seen. So, to fight fire with exactly the same type of fire is not always the best strategy. He expects you to freeze, then struggle a bit, then freeze again as he threatens you and finally to comply. He has a plan and the fact that he has hold of you proves that so far it's working. You need also need one – and fast.
Andy advocates first doing what is expected, such as going to the apparent compliance stage with the disarming "waffle", whilst getting your head together and finding your targets. Then, without warning, follow through with your physical counter attack, not stopping until you are free. To further clarify; if you are grabbed assume a passive position with your hands and voice, as your mind prepares the counter-attack. Remove the choke or clear your airway with the correct leverage or positioning and then wriggle and strike like mad until you have secured your escape. Certain straightforward locks were shown and finishing variations were demonstrated, but this must always be in the interests of securing your safety rather than an attempt to "win" the fight.
The last drills of the first day were on ground defence. This began with attacks from a standing opponent as you lay on the ground and as you kneeled on the ground. We were shown kicking defences and take-downs from these respective positions.
We then worked from simple positions on the ground, where an attacker might pin you. These included two mounted positions, a choke and a typical schoolboy arm pin, and the most obvious frontal rape position. Andy pointed out that this latter position may be the most harrowing from an emotional point of view, but it actually provided the defender with the most control out of the three. It is what Judoka and especially Brazilian Jiujutsuka have turned into a very powerful position known as "the guard."
Much of the standing grappling counters applied, although the danger was far more evident and Andy showed us all effective principles to escape, using gravity to our advantage on the attacker's upper body and applying leverage with our legs. Importance was placed, as always, on escape and, in especially in this case, limiting the time spent fighting on the ground. The defender's sole aim must be getting to his feet with as little damage to himself as possible.
All the drills were pressure-tested regularly. We began by simply not being compliant with techniques once the basic principle was grasped. Then, we moved onto dealing with added aggression from the attacker. Once we felt confident dealing with this, Andy introduced us to a drill that recreated the adrenal dump the body feels when dealing with an unexpected attack. We closed our eyes and, without warning, had the assault simulated on us. After doing this in informal pairings, half the class were made to close their eyes, whilst individuals were randomly selected for the simulated attacks. The stress factor was increased by being suddenly shoved into our attacker's arms or being put up against a wall. I even experienced a delayed virtual assault, where, upon opening my eyes, was faced with nothing and suddenly jumped by a student from behind a pillar.
The next day began with a revision of all the stand-up drills using the same pressure-testing methods before moving onto multiple attackers and defence against weapons.
"Your options will be made up for you on the day" were Andy's words of guidance when dealing with multiple attackers. Dealing with the advancing threat of two attackers, we were once again using our passive barrier, pre-emptive strike and exit route. There was no rule over which antagonist you should pick, but rather a case of hitting whichever one guarded your easiest path to escape.
A combination of the pre-emptive strike and applying leverage were the order of the day when dealing with one attacker grabbing you from behind and another attacking you from the front. After clearing your airway, if you are in a choke, your first course of action is to move your frontal attacker away first before dealing with your rear attacker. The rear man, once momentarily subdued, becomes a useful shield or obstacle when your front man comes back for more.
The weapon defence was divided up into two sections: edged and blunt instruments. The knife attacks had two sub-divisions: threats and fights. In both cases, the prospective knife-defender has to embrace an almost inevitable hazard, he will get cut. Self-defence is all about damage limitation, but this was never more evident than when dealing with an attacker armed with an edged weapon. Therefore, after accepting he will get cut the defender has less of a chance of freezing at the sight of his own wounds whilst fighting for his life. Threats follow a similar formula to all the unarmed work, save for one important factor: control of the weapon arm. Fights are a different matter. Without being able to initiate the action, you are left controlling the distance and simultaneous blocking and striking. We pressure-tested this in a sparring scenario and I had a great time trading forearm abuse with Andy's instructors!
When faced with an attack from a baseball bat, iron bar or other improvised clubs it is important to note that the backswing is when your assailant is at his most vulnerable. Forgive me for slipping into academia here, but I found this form of defence to be in-between reaction and action. You wait until your attacker initiates his attack, but rather than performing some sort of block, parry or evasive manoeuvre you move in with your attack, disabling his arms and following through with your own attack.
Our second day was brought to a close with further pressure-testing drills on all the attacks we had covered over the weekend. Not only did we do the random selection group drills, but also a test where one person was put on the spot whilst the rest of the class milled around, trying to distract him. Suddenly the attack would come from nowhere, it could be a single choke, two people attacking or an assault with a weapon. This helped replicate the common type of ambush that occurs in the midst of everyday distractions.
I ended the seminar with a great feeling of accomplishment. I intend to teach my martial arts students with a lot of inspiration drawn from my experiences at the BFFA seminar. Andy's instructors were open-minded and helpful individuals who were willing to go as far as you wanted when training with them. The drills looked messy, disorganised affairs. This is how they should be. Once you've broken out of the bubble of what you think aesthetic combat should look like, then you begin to appreciate the beauty of strategy under pressure. In almost complete contradiction you also realise more and more the ugliness of street violence, and how much you don't want to be a part of this kind of situation. "Give him your car keys," instructs Andy, once again putting common sense first, "it's insured and he's got a knife for God's sake!" In another discussion he explained that no matter how extreme or often you do these drills there is no guarantee that they will work for you in reality. They just expand your chances of survival. As the saying goes, some chance is better than none.
My BFFA experience prompted me to think of an analogy. One of my favourite Greek legends is the story of Pandora's Box. This tale is normally a told as a fable about the wrongs of curiosity, when Pandora lets death, disease, famine and all other mortal ills into a once perfect world after being tempted by their treacherous cries to be let out. However, I like to think of the final element that is released; that of "Hope." This sole warrior is let free to face the massive army of misery and destruction. Likewise reality contemporary martial arts, as taught by the likes of Andy Hopwood, are a reactionary force to the growing epidemic of rape, gratuitous violence and muggings that plague our society. They don't provide us with empty promises that by practicing them we will automatically be able to cancel out any would be attacker, as if they were part of some maths equation. They are not magic spells that will grant you immunity from violence. What they do is give us a guide to strengthen our will to survive and a very justifiable reason to have hope.
James Clubb
