Wrestler reacts to Wrestling Self Defence

I wanted to find something to watch with you that I wouldn't be on such a downer about. and so I picked a basic wrestling self defence move from Craig Douglas of Shivworks, AKA Southnarc.
It's not perfect but I like it all the same!
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[@Jamoni1]

Please be Shivworks, please be Shivworks.... YES! I've been to 4 of Craig's classes and he's the best instructor I've ever trained with. I'm headed to the Combatives Summit in a couple of weeks, and he'll be presenting there.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

He's clearly a very knowledgeable and skilled guy.

[@ruiseartalcorn]

Thanks for this. Personally, whilst it was very basic, this is the stuff that I'm interested in. Simple basic stuff, that can then be drilled 1000s of times is, in my opinion, the way to go for "self defense".

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Definitely check out his other videos then.

[@ruiseartalcorn]

@@EnglishMartialArts I will indeed. Cheers.

[@insidethevelvetglove3919]

I always pin the arm, I even go one step further and grab the wrist and elbow of the pinned arm. It has the advantage of stopping the the opponent from countering by dropping the hips or even a kimura attempt a la Sakuraba, the other thing is that I take them down to the pinned side and they can't base out or break the fall.

[@whim6287]

Dang you for pointing out that vocal tick. I love his stuff, and I won't unhear it.😂 FIGHT TEAM

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Sorry!

[@bankuei]

I really appreciate reaction videos to stuff that is solid or good; I think there's more to learn from seeing the good than the bad, since the latter is all too easy to find. I hope you find more videos like this.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

I agree, and it was kinda fun, and I never felt even a little bit mean.

[@paulrouleau1972]

Been aware of Southnarc long before I knew his real name and have found his methods useful and practical. He takes more of a combatives approach with an emphasis on preventing weapon draws while facilitating your own. I carry an old clinch pick knife that he designed quite often. FIGHT TEAM!!!

[@EnglishMartialArts]

My friend did quite a lot of handgun stuff with him. It was fascinating to see the detail that had gone into the system.

[@anthonywestbrook2155]

This ties in nicely with what I see from Ice Mike from Hard2Hurt. Just about every time he has people spar, and one gets a weapon that they can choose to pull out, the only reaction that works is to instantly go for control of the wrist. This seems like a good skill for me to practice, for when I've got someone's weapon hand.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Yep, there's little else that comes close to working. And even that is fraught with danger.

[@MrOpenSeseme]

I love Southnarc's weapon work, nice to see him moving into grappling a bit.

[@7woundsfist]

Shivworks makes good stabbies. I like that their "work " knives have training variants.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Yes, that's a nice touch.

[@kevionrogers2605]

Shivworks is a niche skillset for those who occupation is likely to involve cqc & cqb. Thus, while its high quality its not relevant for most hobbyist martial artists. Yes, I've trained with him, it is quality & he has a background in both American Folkstyle & Greco-Roman. Arm Drag & Russian Tie & two on one wrestling based police wrestling has been taught since the 1940s in the USA. There is a book entitled Police Wrestling by Arthur Hobart Farrar published in 1942. When I learned defensive tactics it still had a heavy wrestling base with added content from Aikido, Aikijujutsu such as Koga Method & Steve Merrit Method. Then more knife focused Kuntao Silat, Inosanto Kali, Sayoc, & Systema. This was mostly in Atlanta Georgia.

[@BallisticArmbars]

I will be looking into shivworks, Thanks!

[@user-nv3fy6bd4p]

this is so good, thank you ser!

[@EnglishMartialArts]

My pleasure!

[@dragonballjiujitsu]

Solid stuff from a solid dude.

[@dapro5002]

I’m so happy you’ve seen Shivworks’ stuff! I truly think they’re some of the best guys around for self defence, if not the best. Loved this vid!

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Yeah, been aware of them for some time. I agree their stuff is usually very good.

[@BlueMageWithSoulEdge]

Fight Team! What I try to express to my sisters is the differences between wrestling and self defense, the latter is about getting out of situations the first one tries to avoid. You don't need to know everything; just enough to get out of a problem. I think it was cool. Self defense is watched by three different types of people: the lazy that don't want to commit but what to cover the basics, the woman that wants to be prepared but don't have the time or built experience, and the young. For these people, you have to keep it simple; you have to keep it short and easy. If you can't teach it in the den during a party or gathering in front of a group of ten year olds, then it's too long or too complex. When you say it was "political", I get the image of a guy that's slightly off camera yelling the opposite of what is being taught. The dude yells "I say, I say does the 'arm drag' solves the problem of the exit clinch, or only prolongs it. My program focus on the 'hip toss'. 'Get away; keep away' is my program methond..." The only problem is that he didn't cover the part of the arm-drag where you hit the attacker with a steel chair. Shameful.

[@matthewsteen9789]

It would be interesting to get your view of wider UK self defence law and use of force

[@nicholasneyhart396]

Simple, yes. It is still perfectly adequate wrestling. I use this exact side bearhug setup for single legs and a sliding leg trip.

[@zachleprieur2871]

So many new videos too keep up with. Its a great way to teach beginners and even good refresher for anyone. The weapon thing is weird cause its same here, no guns ect. Tho a video would be interesting on it with UK laws

[@EnglishMartialArts]

I would apologise for all the videos, but I'm not actually sorry at all!

[@colemanstarr5404]

That grip looks to me like the Gable grip, named for Olympic gold medalist Dan Gable. It's pretty strong

[@yuriysemenikhin302]

I like those drills, because they are good for setting up one of the three take-downs I would use 🙂

[@EnglishMartialArts]

A nice tight arm drag is a lovely move.

[@yuriysemenikhin302]

@@EnglishMartialArts Especially if you are setting up KoteGaeshi 😉

[@strongishguy683]

I'm interested in hearing your perspective about the use of weapons in self protection/self defense. It is my opinion, as an American, that the vast majority of laws/regulations/rules regarding the use of violence are developed by people woefully unfamiliar with the concept.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

That I probably wouldn't disagree with.

[@johnstuartkeller5244]

Seems a good focus on fundamentals, so much so that I wonder if this is a regular class or a seminar situation. Either way, one thing that stands out is his taking the trouble to rephrase a description, as different people will comprehend different wordings better than others. FIGHT TEAM!

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Yes, he communicates very well. M'kay.

[@stuartgilbert8619]

Based on my previous question… Have you considered doing a series of videos based on grappling for the smaller person vs a bigger one? That might include the best techniques / throws etc. I’m sure that there are throws techniques which suit the larger person and ( possibly vice versa. My apologies if you’ve already done something like this and I’ve missed it.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

I haven't. I haven't forgotten it as an idea, it's just so much harder to film when it needs multiple people!

[@Binidj]

I do wish you hadn't pointed out the "okay" because yes, it did get on my nerves. 😄 Matt Easton has a similar "m'kay" tick which makes me wince just a little every time I hear it.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Sorry!

[@lsporter88]

Pretty good actually. You have to master the basics if you're ever going to be brilliant. Great video.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Exactly. A nice solid simple technique.

[@wyattmiller800]

Hi! I was just wondering as I watched this video, do you have any exposure to Olympic freestyle or American Collegiate wrestling? I saw you have some videos about BJJ, and you said that Catch had a better understanding of arm drags than BJJ does. Do you think that would still apply to those other wrestling sports?

[@EnglishMartialArts]

I trained under Wade Schalles if that counts?

[@wyattmiller800]

Okay, cool! Maybe you could do a video comparing catch to collegiate wrestling! @@EnglishMartialArts

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

Good vid but at first I thought you said "$hit works" 😂 I thought it was a horrible name for a self defense group. That's what I get for listening while cooking 😅

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Lol!

[@mrchow8593]

You have to admit, the man is no Master Wong.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

No thank goodness!

[@Sfourtytwo]

I would rather care for a counter demonstration where you see the three different kinds of drag from that position tbh :)

[@EnglishMartialArts]

As I said the words I realised it was a video waiting to be made.

[@craigcarroll1790]

Where is this guy training out of.? In the states here but if it were convenient to travel it would be nice to go to one of his seminars/workshop

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Not sure, but if you Google shivworks you should find him pretty easily.

[@jonathangidlof7412]

Arm drags looks so easy in demonstrations but are so hard to pull off in sparring or competitons, for me atleast

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Yes, they aren't as easy as they look. Buy if you get the timing right they are beautiful.

[@stuartgilbert8619]

I was interested in what you had to say about the British Combat Association. Having followed it from its early days, ( but not so much now), I thought that it was initially set up by Geoff Thompson and Peter Consterdine to eliminate the politics that they claimed were prevalent in Martial arts at the time, and which prevented exponents from one style learning from others. Interesting that you say that it might have developed into something that it tried to free itself from initially. Why do you think that has happened? Also I’m curious…you claim that the skill set for self protection is a limited one, that just needs to be drilled. As someone more interested in that side than the “martial arts”, what do you consider that skill set to be? And does it change in any way for smaller guys and women? ( as by all accounts you are a pretty big fella…and what works for you, won’t necessarily work for me…and I’m not). Lastly, did you have any experience with the Self Defence Federation? It was the reality group set up by Dave Turton just after the BCA came into being. If so, what were your opinions of him, and his organisation?

[@EnglishMartialArts]

I was a member of the BCA for many years, and never found the organisation to he political. I only mentioned them because of the focus on self protection they always seemed to have (probably thanks to Geoff). Just the self protection industry itself. There's definitely an issue with effectiveness based on size. The bigger you are the easier most stuff is. And I don't think there is a specific set of skills, more a set of principles and a deliberately limited number of techniques so as to avoid the OODA loop. As to Dave Turton I don't know him well though we've met once or twice. He definitely comes from a legit background, but does seem to hand out high dan grades like confetti...

[@stuartgilbert8619]

@@EnglishMartialArts aaah right. My misunderstanding. I thought that you’d said that the BCA was political. Sorry, I misinterpreted what you said. OODA loop? I’ve not heard of that. Or maybe I have, but just titled differently. I know that when it boiled down to it Geoff’s advice on self protection could be summed up as, “ learn to hit someone f***ing hard”. Also they kept things simple, because fine motor skills were the first to disappear in a stressful situation. Do you recommend any principles / techniques from that limited arsenal for smaller guys / women ( I have two daughters, who’s welfare I am always concerned about) other than learn to run very fast or be a quick talker? Thank you for your very prompt reply. Much appreciated. Love your channel and content. Keep up the good work.

[@stuartgilbert8619]

@@EnglishMartialArts and as for Dave Turton I think that he spent some of his formative years at the Snake Pit in Wigan, which I’m sure influenced some of his approach to self protection, as well as his extensive Ju Jitsu background.

[@nighttimeaudio]

Basic and simple so the laymen can understand. Lots to knitpick, but then it would be to much to follow for non-grapplers . Overall a good video.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Thanks!

[@lewisb85]

I also disagree with releasing the arm I've done it to people in no gi and I've basically given them the turtle position when they hit the mat. Surely keeping the one arm in you keep control?

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Yes, but his justification is sound. Letting go solves that issue he descrobe. But so does moving further so the trapped arm passes the point where an underhook is no longer possible.

[@lewisb85]

I've seen his videos before, a lot of what he teaches is similar to what tim kennedy teaches with sheepdog response. I will say that Tim believes that self defence teaching should be like first aid by that he means by keeping it simple the average person on the street will be able to remember it. It's when you get the "what if" brigade commenting that overcomplicates things.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

I think that's probably the best approach for people who are unable, or unwilling, to learn any decent systems in depth.

[@BeepBoop2221]

There's something about calling yourself a "sheepdog" that makes something inside me contract.

[@Jamoni1]

The way Craig explains it is that on a real life situation your decision making will be impaired, so it's better to train for non- diagnostic problem solving. IE, removing the D from the OODA loop.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

@@Jamoni1 yep, I agree wholeheartedly. Creating a system where you have to make decisions under extreme pressure is always going to be a mistake.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

@BeepBoop2221 yeah, I get that.

[@LuxisAlukard]

If you never trained wrestling, but you manage to memorize this technique and you are attacked by 60+ pounds 6 inches bigger opponent, and you manage to pull this off perfectly - would it work against bigger, taller guy?

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Good question. I thinkbyoubneed to make sure you're using your weight on the arm rather than just your strength, but yes, it should work against a bigger stronger opponent.

[@LuxisAlukard]

@@EnglishMartialArts Thanks for the reply!

[@erdngtn9942]

Oh yes, body mics on a grappling demonstration couple. Sign of true pros, just ask Craig Jones, aka the second best sound engineer who also may be second best grappler in the world. I'd gargle those marbles. Just me?

[@EnglishMartialArts]

At least they were using microphones.

[@THEARTOFGRAPPLING]

Martin, that guy does not know the basics of wrestling from what I just watched. None of what he taught made sense and was technically sloppy. I actually thought you would have gone all out to explain why it's such a bad idea to try and attempt to swim your arm out to take the body lock without the arm. He demonstrated it horrible, so of course his opponant can take his arm out and grab him. You can do the armdrag facing your opponant and not take their back if done properly. You've now made me want to do a response video. 😂😂

[@g8trg8tr30]

I’ll throw in my .0002 cents. Grappling is important, anyone who’s watched fighting in any capacity will agree. Just look at boxing/kickboxing, even they clinch, even they grapple. You get the point. Grappling is inevitable. Here’s where I disagree not on the PRACTICALITY of grappling but rather on the training METHODOLOGY that most grapplers and especially “pure grapplers” employ. And I’ve grappled before, and have started to question not the effectiveness but rather the lack of training up things that can really matter, in my own humble opinion. So to illustrate, sure we all know that once you get to mount you can punch. But. Have you ever tried to do it? I have no doubt that you personally have. What about other grapplers though? You think they have tried it? Because I’ll tell you what, from my experience punching from mount is: 1. Tiring as hell. 2. More strategic than most would consider as far as effectively clearing hands for shots while maintaining enough pressure to pin which often involves restricting hip mobility generally involved in punch force generation. 3. Punch force generation itself. For mount specifically I really think the best way to land true fight ending shots is to post with one arm off to the side and drive with the other. basically…why are the grapplers so adamant on never ever training strikes into these “effective striking” positions? It’s extremely unintuitive to generate force while on the ground and is a SKILL that must be TRAINED and CONDITIONING is required to get the most use out of it. Again not to beat a dead horse but have these guys tried punching someone or punching a grappling dummy from back mount? I hope you understand what I’m trying to say. This is exactly the situation grapplers were in before: “why ignore 50% of the body?” So why ignore “50%” of the grappling game which is ending the fight with heavy strikes? Wouldn’t it be better for grapplers to be able to clear the path and land heavy so they can bounce back to their feet asap? Maybe it’s not always the smartest idea to commit all your limbs for a submission when getting good position and raining practiced heavy strikes would do the same thing but faster?

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Some good points!

[@ijustwannaleaveacommentony6511]

thank you paul? what was that about

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Quite an infamous self defence instructional that came out years ago on VHS. Every time he hit his bike he said "thank you Paul". Literally dozens of times...

[@BeepBoop2221]

Shivworks knife stuff is good.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Yes, is he still doing the reverse edge stuff?

[@BeepBoop2221]

@EnglishMartialArts I couldn't tell you its been a while

[@dapro5002]

@@EnglishMartialArts he still does! Also, his knife defense and offence is wrestling based. Really well made stuff!

[@stoneslash]

This is a really basic look at a fundamental movement in a valuable training form. It appears to be being taught at a fairly basic level. All of that is great. there is no reason to teach at a higher level until this basic level is being done well against resistance. On that note, Dropping the weight is quite important for taller people very often. for shorter folks they often find they are being pulled up by their opponent in clench, therefore their opponent is basically weighted when clenching and the idea is less deliberate to them.

[@fredazcarate4818]

🧐🤔💯👌🤔👊👍

[@robertvondarth1730]

This is the first time I’ve heard a grappler assert that one only needs to learn a basic set of skills and drill them a lot. (JKD principals - simple, direct, non classical, less and less not more and more) I’ve never found a grappling school that teaches this way. Hence, I’ve not bothered learning grappling. Ok?

[@kanucks9]

Become a kid again, and do wrestling in school? Haha, but really, grappling is very important. And basic wrestling doesn't have that many moves/positions. Clinches: Over/under, collar tie, bear hug, front headlock. Attacks: Arm drag, duck under, snap down, turn throw, shoot (single or double), ankle pick, and some kind of lift or trip from the back. There's loads of variation within these things, but if you understand how to keep your weight low, your elbows in, and one or two attacks to punish an opponents' mistakes, you'll be able to out wrestle the general population. You're right if course, that if you go to a BJJ school, they'll teach a couple techniques each day/week, with the goal that after a year or so you'll know most of the common moves in every position - it's not exactly an efficient way to learn.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

I'm talking from a self defence perspective there. I 100% think that if you're willing to throw years of training into striking and grappling then you'll be much better able to defend yourself. But mostly grappling is about beating other grapplers. So more skill and experience is better. Against a random barely skilled thug a simple set of moves drilled well should suffice. Plus most people don't want to go through the pain of learning to grapple.

[@robertvondarth1730]

@@EnglishMartialArts Yes. As Matt Easton would say - context! Who are you, who are you fighting, for what purpose. People typically don’t have the time or money to invest years in surface learning a ton of different things. So the idea is to “master” a set of high probability techniques, high return on efforts People want better options than run away, or use a gun. A person that learns footwork, distance and timing reflexively, with some low risk high reward techniques is far better off than not. Even fencing or HEMA can make a difference. As a 30 year JKD practitioner (and empiricist) I’m finding that regular HEMA practice is quite helpful in the aforementioned. For example, I practice eye jabs, a lot… Yet I don’t assume they are all I need, not at all whatsoever I don’t ascribe to “just eyejab, man” But the CAN be be quite devastating, very incapacitating, IF… you can pull it off. It would be proper to say- A hard, deep, fast eye jab has a very high probability of ending a fight instantly. Blindness, Severe pain, and absolute panic. BUT good luck with that, as it is no excuse to not train all the things, because theory doesn’t always match reality.

[@erdngtn9942]

So the only "self defense" videos worth reacting to is ANYTHING from either B-team, the El Segundo podcast, and maybe, big maybe, the simple man podcast. All you need is second best grappler Craig Jones, a splash of Nicky Ryan, Gordon's little brother haha, and a hard dickling down from the legend Nick "Nicky Rod" Rodriguez. Anything else is like a salad before dinner. Its ok but not gonna satisfy hunger nor get your fellow hard in dem jeans bruz.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Got a bit of a crush on Mexican Ground Karate?

[@exploatores]

I might be missing something. but what is the end goal. It might as a former military. but so far it looks like a lot of movement to end up giving the attacker a hug from behind. So how do we get to the point where the attacker ether are unwilling or unable to continue fight. Due to pain or damages.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

We don't really have any context, and as it was clearly a longer seminar I guess we can only judge the technique on whether it would do what it say it will.

[@OneMindAnyWeapon]

Funnily you said ok couple of times after you said he did.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Ha! That doesn't surprise me.

[@OneMindAnyWeapon]

@EnglishMartialArts my verbal tick during teaching is.. make sense? Normally after I've told the group its my verbal tick..

[@Funtimes874]

The dude just gonna punch you in the face when you try that stupid arm drag pendulum move lol.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

Really? You see armdrags all the time in MMA.

[@g8trg8tr30]

He can but at that range while being tied up like that the punch is going to have virtually zero effect. Nobody’s ringing someone’s bell while their opponent’s head is dug into the shoulder like that. Check out Eboxing academy, he teaches this same position for boxers to stay safe and begin to work angles for inside fighting. I actually encourage you to try it out because you’ll find yourself naturally creating quite a bit of space before punching. Thus a good grappler is likely ahead of you who thinks you can punch from right there, and when it fails you’ll have to come up with a new maneuver on the spot….and in fight terms you’re way too late to stop the arm drag back take.

[@dontwalkdontrun]

Read the room. This is cop-jitsu to teach other cops, not how to defend themselves, but how to rough people up. They don't want to take the bjj classes and learn the basics, so they get these bad training seminars, from other cops, and learn just enough to be dangerous when interacting physically with normal members of the public.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

If you say so.

[@bubbagump2341]

I would personally advise against a rear bodylock with the opponent's arms free for self defense purposes! Better to work your way into a rear choke of some sort honestly.

[@EnglishMartialArts]

I get your point, bytvwithout any context for before or after this move any speculation is pointless.

[@bubbagump2341]

@@EnglishMartialArts Context?! Channeling Matt Easton now? lol

[@EnglishMartialArts]

@bubbagump2341 even Matt is right sometimes 😀 Seriously though he's absolutely correct to always come back to that. We should always ask what our frame of reference is before trying to judge something.

[@bubbagump2341]

@@EnglishMartialArts Sometimes! Sometimes! lol And my frame of reference is that I've been in enough violent encounters to know that bodylocking someone with their arms free isn't a real good idea!

[@badart3204]

@@bubbagump2341were you on front of them or behind them? This puts you behind them which is a massive difference between the two

[@ijustwannaleaveacommentony6511]

nearly fifteen minutes to talk about someone's below par arm drag? yawn

[@EnglishMartialArts]

And yet here you are boosting the algorithm. Thanks!

[@a7699aaa]

Boring