What I did this week:
I won't go into too much detail about each of them, but a few are worth mentioning.
First, how to sucker punch. This comes from Tony Blauer who I've mentioned here before, and it assumes that the bad guy has initiated contact and has signaled his intentions somehow. You know or strongly suspect that violence is coming, or that you can only avoid violence by letting the attacker take whatever he wants (your property, your body, etc). First step is to get challenged, which is a way to turn fear around by focusing on what you can do as opposed to what can happen to you. Second step is to adopt a non-violent posture. Deliberately use submissive body language both as a way of trying to deflect his bad intentions (if you can avoid violence altogether, that would be easiest), but also to conceal any signal that you're willing to fight for yourself. Third, when he doesn't back off, it's time to disrupt his flow. It's not easy for a human to harm another human and an attacker often needs to get worked up to do it. That's why he's talking and hasn't started attacking yet. The simplest way to interrupt his build-up is to ask a question, especially if it's a little off-kilter. For example, if you hold up your watch and ask, "You want my doberman too?" The instinctive reaction to a question is to answer it, and if you throw a curve ball by using the wrong word, they'll have to take a second to figure out what you said before they can answer it. Tony calls it cognitive dissonance. It distracts them for a moment which is your window to strike. The first rule for a sucker punch is to use your is closest weapon against his closest target. Any of you who have had any martial arts or boxing training will do it wrong. The idea is that you lead with your hand, followed by shoulder, then hips. This is backwards from what everyone does, and it does sacrifice some power, but not that much, and what it lacks in extra force it makes up for with the fact that it lands where you want it. You can see a good demonstration of the concept in this video of Kimbo Slice getting taught. Daze him and then you can finish however you like.
A couple of important points to make before I move on. This knowledge doesn't do anything for you. You need to practice non-violent postures, you need to practice using deflection questions, and you need to practice various methods of striking. Most importantly you need to practice acting out the scenarios. Speaking of which, anyone interested in this? I'm no expert, but I am a student and will gladly work some drills with anyone interested.
I'll speak more about personal training in a later article. There is no point in focusing on it right now when there are a few weeks to go before roll-out. The nutrition coaching thing I'll talk about in a separate article too.
On the facility side of things, the YBM boys finished clearing the hillside of brambles and put down some bark ground cover. They also hauled away the trash that was left over from our original move in here. They did a good job no? If you've got yard work to do, these boys can get it done. One (the entrepreneur of the bunch) has already approached me about doing some sort of maintenance contract. With that area cleared, I went searching for a shed to have delivered. The idea is to be able to put things we're not using for the weekly program in there so as to free up more floor space inside. I've been browsing Raintree Nursery's catalog of fruit bushes and trees. I'm thinking some blueberries to form a hedge along the top, maybe a couple of flowering apricot trees, and kinnikinnick for ground cover.
That retaining wall on the south side of the lot which faces the gym is on my target list too. I contacted Fab-5 to see if they've got any artists who might be interested in painting a mural there. I offered food as an enticement. It worked. They'll be here Saturday to look at the space and talk it out with me. I feel like this is going too easy, like something is going to rear it's ugly head soon and shoot this idea down. Which is why I want to move as quickly as I can before anyone can stop me. If you know why this can't work, please keep quiet until it's finished. If you have any great ideas about what's going on here, let me know.
By Morgan on Sunday, May, 25, 2014