The HaganaH Blog

This was a great group of Instructors…I had a Blast teaching this FIGHT CErtification, the group was focused and motivated.

On the first day of the Certification I ran the group through an intense  F.I.T.2 FIGHT  session before teaching any FIGHT materials…they did great. The drills in this session will be implemented in their FIGHT programs when returning to their schools. Then it was all FIGHT for the next 2 days here at the National HaganaH Headquarters!  With the group being technical and focused the smoked the first two days of training…Combatives and the 18 Street Scenarios were broken down to the littlest details, it was nice to see the group really sharpenning up their techniques.

Then, on saturday morning , as usual it was time for the Combat Fitness work-out of the Certification. This is where I get to see what an Instructor is made of…on the inside!!! A few struggled, but overall the pushed throught. I am proud to say that my 2 candidates attending this Certification, JB Glossinger and Luis Rosario, Smoked the workout.

Then for the next 2 days it was all knife defenses and gun disarms. This is where things got real technical…

Great Certification, Congrats to all that graduated.

this saturday here at the National HaganaH Headquarters I ran a knife on the throat drill. Students had to identify , under stress , the threat being either on the inside or on the outside with a knife. If the student would mistake the threat they would actually help the attacker execute them by guiding the attacker’s hand to slice their throat. While it took the students a few minutes to get into the mode of the drill one of the participants almost overlapped the technique into the gun threat under the chin scenario and reached for the knife as he would do to go into the gun disarm….Ooooch! Luckely he grabbed aluminum training knife and not a sharp blade!!!!

This brings out the point of sensitivity training versus target aquicition which relies on  seeing the weapon coming at you or being pointed at you…students have to experience the difference between the pressure of a barrel of a gun pressing on their throat and the pressure of a dull blade pressing on their throat so when confronted with this threat who doesn’t allow you to “see” the weapon , the student will be able to make the tactical decision of going into a knife defense or a gun disarm when it counts the most : Under Pressure!

Next time I run this drill it will have 3 options of attacks : 1) Knife on the throat on the inside 2) Knife on the throat on the outside 3) Gun Threat Under The Chin

FULL house of candidates here at the National Headquarters going through a two long days of intensive training taught by Master Instructors James Cooper and Mike Lee Kanarek.

This certification  is designed to educate and train the participants to teach and run a proper and safe Combat Fitness workout/class for their students/clients. This is a “Hands On” certification covering the first 3rd of the entire Combat Fitness curriculum…these candidates have been going through a LOT of drilling in the last day and a half, and the hardest part of the Certification is still ahead of them this afternoon!

” If it would only be about technique, the one who knows the most techniques
would always win ”

This saturday at the National Headquarters in Davie Florida during the FIGHT
class a topic came up. As we were navigating ourself through the multiple
attacker drill one of the students said to HaganaH Black Belt that was
teaching the class , Chris Kisslan, “what if he does that while I do that ?
”

Let me start by saying that out of all my Black Belts  Kisslan is probably
the most “Clean” about his FIGHT/HaganaH techniques among all my Black Belts
ever. While other Black Belts use aggression as one of their main attribute
while executing the FIGHT techniques in our curriculum Kisslan has been
consumed with being perfect in his techniques since day one of him walking
in my school, he is Very detailed and precise in his techniques.

My answer to the students consisted of two parts: 

With the first part making me think of an interaction both my partner Randy
Proto and myself had earlier this week with a Navy Seal Operator. In that
interaction the subject of the guys that always say in training ” Well, that
won’t work because I am going to this and this…” all of us agreed that the
only reason why those guys would think to do this or this is because they
were just presented with the technique and have the information of what is
about to happen. In real life that would not be the case…so in most cases
the “I would do this” syndrome is based on Knowing what is about to happen!

The second part consists of the concept of “Counters” , as soon as the
attacker counters your self-defense technique that would indicate that he is
educated and able to react to your initial self-defense technique. From this
point on, you are No longer in a self-defense scenario so to speak, you are
in a Fight! And now you will have to deploy, unpredictably a counter-attack
to his counter…and knowledge of techniques will no longer be the Only
factor in this stage of the engagement. The deeper and longer the engagement
takes…attributes will become the factor deciding who wins, or loses the
encounter between the defender and the attacker.

I always tell my student : a self-defense technique should take no longer
than 10 seconds from start to finish, including the post scenario securing.
It has to be explosive, viscous and decisive!!!  If it take more than 11
seconds its bad, and that self-defense technique switches to an all out
fight where many factors will determine the outcome. The more factors
involved the “Better”  defender has to be of a fighter. In other words the
longer it takes  the more attribute one must posses to be the last one
standing.

So, Yes you need to know the techniques but you need to develop attributes
as well for the times when the attacker will overcome your initial
self-defense technique!

It was a great class….