Many people train Jiu-Jitsu simply for fun or exercise, but I am just as concerned with the self-defense aspect, so Lori O'Connell's recent book "When the Fight Goes to the Ground" interested me. Sport training is limited by rules, and many of the things you might deal with in a ground fight on the street are not usually covered in the average Jiu-Jitsu class. Those are the kind of things focused on in the book, and it answered some of the specific questions I've had about integrating my Karate and Jiu-Jitsu training into comprehensive self-defense on the ground.The book was easy for me to read and understand, although less experienced practitioners may have more difficulty with it. Many of the techniques are already well-known to me, so it wasn't too hard for me to follow, but the accompanying DVD could be helpful for those who are not as familiar. There may be people who are turned off by some of the things advocated, such as nipple-biting or eye-gouging, but I know street fighting is not elegant, and sometimes you might have to fight "dirty", especially if you are out-sized.
Most self-defense instructors emphasize the importance of keeping things simple, because the more difficult something is, the less likely you will be able to remember it during a stress situation. This book followed that theory, and I appreciated the practicality of the advice that was offered. It was laid out in an orderly manner, and there was repetition of the core strategies, one of which was to get off the ground ASAP.
Lori O'Connell-Sensei is a woman who is about the same size as me, and who has a traditional martial arts background like I do, so it's not surprising that I found her book interesting and useful. However, I believe many of the things covered in it could be helpful to anyone concerned with ground defense, no matter who they are, or what they train.
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2 comments:
Having briefly gone through Lori's book, I liked how it progresses logically.
As a law enforcement defensive tactics instructor. An important aspect of our training is the concept of fighting from a dominate position, which is primarily from the feet. Fighting from one's feet allows access to all of the tools on our belt, allows for greater mobility and helps one to have a broader perspective, i.e. maintain a wider field of vision.
It's difficult to explain this concept to Jiu-Jitsu practitioners, and sometimes even more difficult for them to understand. I can tell that Lori gets it. She understands the importance and validity of this concept.
Thanks for the review! It's nice to know that women like me will be able to use it to answer some of the tough questions that come up in terms of narrowing the size/strength advantage gap.
Conan, thank you for your thoughts as a law enforcement professional. I had hoped that people in the field would see it as a useful resource for dealing with ground situations. :)
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