The Door Supervisor

Part 9 - Training Notes

Introduction Freaky Fred is the most Health and Safety unconscious training aid I have ever made. It is also the best training partner I ever had. I can whack, kick and throw Freaky Fred with great gusto, to hell with his landing. But, if I hit the wrong area, I can bust my hand, just like a real fight. For that reason, I have to stay focused when I train with him. Freaky Fred also allows me to back-engineer techniques until they have all their Fine Motor Skill Applications, Courtesy and Safety Protocol removed. I will now explain these points in more detail.

The Conception Freaky Fred was conceived the day my local GP (Dr. 'M') invited me home to see his training aid. We became friendly after I started attending his surgery for a series of injuries caused in my street fights with the Turnip Heads at the bars I covered. The treatment was mostly draining fluid from my elbows and knees. Fast contact with the concrete always exacts a toll. The older you are, the more help you need to recover from these events. Some GP's believe that your body will reabsorb the fluid from Bursitis, but my old system rejects this fluid.

Anyway... during one of these sessions we got talking about dealing with Turnip Heads. It appears GP's have as much trouble with Turnip Heads as any Bouncer. GP's can be called upon to administer in a dangerous situation that also jeopardizes their own safety. So... somewhere between draining, chatting and head locking the GP around his surgery, he mentioned his training aid.

As soon as I saw his training aid I was hooked. Dr. 'M' had constructed it so that the limb movement corresponded to the human anatomy. He demonstrated how to pick it up from a sitting position, stand it against the wall and also use arm locks. There was no end to the ways it could be used. Within a day, Dr. 'M' had constructed the bare skeleton of his training aid and presented it to a very grateful me. I had my own plans to take this initial idea a stage further.

Freaky Fred - The Bare Bones

The bare model shows how heavy duty hinges were used on the back of the knees and at the elbow joints.

The centre of the body has a lead barbell weight attached to the heavy duty board.

Shelf brackets were used to form the feet.

Heavy duty electrical conduit was used where a more universal movement of the joint was required. This was accomplished by drilling a hole into the tops of the arms and then inserting the conduit. This was retained with two wood screws. It would be just as easy to use rope for this task.

The head was formed with the conduit. because the whole body will be hung from the head, this section is well secured.

The Side View

In order to allow more universal movement, the legs are attached to the body with conduit. Again, if the legs drop off through wear and tear, the next trial will be heavy duty rope.

Nearly Ready

Freaky Fred still needs a head....but he is starting to take shape. The internal packing remains a secret, it's too Health and Safety unconscious to mention. But, it works for me. I knew the Bruce Lee gloves would come in handy one day.

During my modification of the GP's gift, I made one leg longer than the other. This worked out better because Freaky Fred would stand in an open legged stance as opposed to a hanging man stance.

The Gallows

This piece of equipment has many uses. The tallest posts are 3 meters high and all the posts are 200mm square.

The cross beam is of the same material with a section of angle iron attached to stop it from warping.

The base of the cross beam has a heavy duty channel, as used in sliding doors. The channel has a single four wheel carrier fitted.

Freaky Fred (In the Checked Shirt) and Me

The wheel carrier has a short metal rod attached. At the end of this rod is a shackle. The shackle is secured to the shackle in Freaky Fred's head. One of the shackles can be exchanged for a T iron when the equipment is used for throwing drills, so that Freaky Fred lifts and shifts into orbit when thrown.

C & R Training

If you have a single student or training partner, that partner has to see a technique in action before they can imitate it. The learning curve is much faster if you demonstrate on the kit and then watch your partner on the kit.

Here the kit is being used to build up muscle memory for the application of a Straight Arm Bar and walking the subject to the door.

There will be occasions when a more vigorous and painful restraint are required. The kit can be used to build up muscle memory and move the subject along the beam.

Ground Work

It happens....Shit happens. When you drop a Reptile, the fight has simply moved to another plane....it is far from over.

Drop down fast to capitalize on your good fortune. Make sure your knee lands on something soft that squeals.

Bent wrists??? In training always use your palm heel attacks. Who knows?? Perhaps in a real fight you will remember to use them with good effect.

In this situation I have dropped the opponent, kneeing and kicking the groin on my way down, about to straddle the body with my legs on the outside.

I am attacking the opponent's face, trying to induce him to put his hands up in defense. When that happens, I will apply an arm lock.

If the opponent is unable to lift their arms, then the fight is over.

This position also represents one of the stages in dismounting an opponent without getting kneed. My left foot is on the ground and my right knee is on the opponent's chest as a distraction. At this stage your cover men are coming in to lift the opponent in a restraint.

Again, after throwing the opponent down, you want to land on something soft that squeals. While the opponent is disorientated and winded, you can apply an arm lock or restraint to conclude the interaction.

Courtesy Protocol, Mat Etiquette and Safety Procedures.

The Inside Hock In this situation, both protagonists have warned each other that they are ready to fight and ready to defend. Try and avoid this type of posturing in a street fight. Always drop 'em and run.

The attacker has punched out and the defender has anticipated the punch in order to execute a block. Not real...in the street, a punching arm never stays out long enough to either catch or block The attacking arm is usually part of a combination or simply pulled back too fast to counter.

Here the defender is too static. He should be ducking, bobbing or dodging the assault.

Note how the defender has closed in on his rear leg with it positioned between the attacker's legs. The foot is raised on the toes and the knee joint is in contact with the attackers.

In the final stages of the Inside Hock, the defender straightens his leading leg and drops his heel to the ground. This sharp action will lift the attacker's foot off the ground and splay the leg out to the attacker's left.

The defender's right forearm is pushing the attackers throat in order to induce the attacker to fall straight back.

This combination of the fighting posture, initial block and the fine motor skills involved in using this technique will not be available in a real fight. The principles are sound but the application is concerned for the safe throwing and recovery of the attacking partner.

So, how do you escape from this dichotomy of Combat Efficiency and Safety? The answer is not simple. What you have to do is,

Learn the throw in a safe environment as the illustrations show.
Remove all the protocol that makes the throw safe to use on a compliant partner.
Make the throw a knee jerk reaction by combining all the moves into a Gross Motor Skill Action that you can remember and use under stress.

The Inside Hock for Real

Once upon a time I asked a Col Blimp type what he thought of my fighting tactics. He tried to insult me by saying "I've never seen anything like it" People are usually horizontal in front of me when they are saying that.

Here is an example of the back-engineering you can apply to modern throws with their plethora of Courtesy Protocol and Safety Procedures. This type of throw is used only when your life is in danger, as the opponent will not be the same after this application.

Adrenalin will give you wings. Instead of running away, try leaping into the opponent.

The right hand is up to distract the opponent, he has not closed the distance as yet. He is still trying to pump up on adrenalin before he launches his attack. He needs time,.. time to think about making your face look like a busted sofa, time for the adrenalin to push him into Reptile Mode and time to close in.

Get there before he can. Your left arm covers his strong right arm, your right forearm connects with a lethal or a less than lethal target, depending on the situation. And, finally you leading leg lands between, behind or close to his.

Drive the opponent back with a combination of arm thrusts and hip thrusts.

If your heel has trapped one of the opponent's, they will fall hard on the back of their head.

Some of these illustrations are a bit fuzzy. That is because I have air brushed out the clothes line and pole. I'd love to cut it down but, my wife won't let me.

Training Sessions

For professional competence, the training requirement is twice weekly for one year. There are two main reasons for embarking on a protracted training programme.

First, the ability to fight in either armed or unarmed combat is not a skill that can be learned from either books, videos or in sterile practice against a compliant partner. A lengthy hands on training programme will not only develop your physical skills, it will also also prepare you psychologically for the trauma of senseless verbal aggression and violence.

Second, some individuals do not posses the ability to fight and find it impossible to be totally aggressive. The training programme will weed out those individuals who prove to be a liability in tight situations.

For these reasons, a well constructed and long term training programme must be employed in order to assess the fighting ability of individual DS. There is no point in learning technique from books, videos or sterile practice unless you can apply it to a living, retaliating opponent. Knowledge and instructional ability are the core elements in the instructor's repertoire who may or may not be able to fight in a real life situation. The core elements in the DS 's repertoire must be the ability to respond positively and fight in order to survive.

The length of the training programme also depends on the location of the venue. This may vary from a short but intensive programme to instill self confidence, to a longer programme for training future instructors.

Each training session should last for two hours. An all round training approach can be tailored to cater for the DS role.

Training Practice

Keep changing the training partners over. This will stop students from becoming too familiar with each other and thus developing a complacent attitude.

During a training session, have a Team Leader/Instructor detailed to control the group. The Team Leader's role is to formulate a specific training programme and stick to it. The team Leader must be capable of stopping dangerous practices and also motivating the students to maintain a high work rate.

Obstructive Practice

During practice sessions, it is possible to develop an obstructive mind set. This is where you start to anticipate the training partners movements and you apply counter moves. This will slow down your partners development. Allow your partner to practice a move until they are proficient at that technique. Remember that all techniques are usually set up with distracting punches or kicks. Your ability to anticipate your training partners moves will be properly tested during match fighting.

Balance

All forms of combat have one common denominator, that is, balance. You must strive to maintain your own equilibrium and try to unbalance your opponent, both mentally as well as physically. This will make all your techniques much stronger and the opponents much weaker. The simple act of stepping out of line from their line of attack will unbalance the opponent. If the opponent has grabbed at your upper body, step back and out to the side to pull them off balance into a defensive mode. If the opponent grabs at your wrist, the act of palm heeling their opposite shoulder will force them to over reach. This can lead you to using a throwing technique.

Bag Training

The punch bag is a passive training aid. Spend too much time on it and you will neglect your defence and ability to react positively to an attacker. Spend at least two minutes on each technique. Work fast to develop power, speed, recovery, accuracy and tactical movement. Get away from the mind set of doing 200 kicks or 200 punches.. Practice each technique for at least two minutes, even if you only manage 50 repetitions. You must try to incorporate the technique into a fighting framework. The aim is to make the technique part of a defense/attack and advance/retreat strategy rather than a sterile exercise in perfect technique.

Speed

Every individual varies in the degree of speed they can generate in either offensive or defensive techniques. This fact is based on the normal physiological differences.
Other factors can affect individual speed and reaction times. These include, mental alertness, physical well being and the quality of individual combat training.
In sport combat, reactions can be sharpened up with a warming up session before a contest. An opportunity for this procedure never presents itself at the door. In this situation, optimum reaction times and positive responses will be dependent on the quality of your training programme.
Not all fights will be lost because the opponent is much faster than you. Slow reactions can be compensated for in many ways. For example, attack first when it is obvious that you are going to be attacked.

Ground Fighting

Training programmes should be structured so that equal amounts of time are devoted to both standing and ground combat. There are two main reasons for this.
First, either you or your opponent may be punched, clubbed, swept or thrown to the ground. Second, there is always the chance that both you and your opponent will go to the ground together. If your experience in ground fighting is limited, then your survival will also be limited. The grounded opponent is not necessarily overpowered or passive. This position can be used to launch many different forms of crippling and lethal attacks that are banned in sport combat.
When you are fighting more than one person, your survival will be limited. Should you end up in the grounded position, your survival is extremely limited.

First, either you or your opponent may be punched, clubbed, swept or thrown to the ground.
Second, in some situations it may be more prudent to go down and attack the opponent's legs, knees, groin, testicles or bladder.
Third, there is always the chance that both you and your opponent will go to the ground together.
If your experience in ground fighting is limited, then your survival will also be limited. The grounded opponent is not necessarily overpowered or passive. This position can be used to launch many different forms of crippling and lethal attacks that are banned in sport combat.
When you are fighting more than one person, your survival will be limited. Should you end up in the grounded position, your survival is extremely limited. Offensive and defensive use of the group will be discussed in other c

Lethal Techniques

There will be occasions when you find yourself fighting for your life. For example, a multiple attack or weapon attack would demand a more lethal response from you than a simple ejection would require. In lethal situations, you have to get it right first time or die. Sport combat systems have excellent safety rules and safe contact techniques. Rigid adherence to the safety rules will produce DS with limited fighting ability. This is because the simplest and most lethal techniques in close combat remain unexplored and unrehearsed.
The only way lethal techniques can be incorporated into your training programme is to either use slow motion drills or direct the lethal strikes to well protected areas. Also, non-lethal pressure point attacks can be directed to various parts of the body. These pressure point attacks can be used for both self defence and for setting up lethal attacks.

Forget about using strangle, choke and submission holds when you are either; fighting more than one person, working at a crowded venue or working without a cover man. Before a person passes out from a strangle hold there will be a six second pause after the application of the hold. Two seconds is all it takes for a 'pissed off' bystander from an earlier incident to intervene and assault you. When you gain control of an individual, move to the exit with that individual as fast as possible.

Initiative

Initiative can be defined as making the first move. This behaviour will force the opposition to conform to your movements.
Taking the initiative away from the opposition places them in a more vulnerable position. Not only have you taken control of the situation physically, you have also taken a more dominant position at the mental level. All distractions are examples of initiative. Individual initiative can be fostered through the employment of a structured training programme. Such a programme must be based on the team employment. It can have built-in problem scenarios that simulate the expected venue problems.
Individual behaviour in these scenarios should become more innovative rather than indecisive or inappropriate. This training should produce individually motivated, self-reliant supervisors who are always thinking one move ahead.

Improvisation

Improvisation involves the adaptation of basic techniques, principles and readily available objects to achieve the objective. The principles of improvisation and initiative are closely related. Both demand a high degree of flexibility and originality from the thinking processes.
The mind set required for initiating action and improvising on the door or floor can be enhanced by using a combat/reality orientated training programme.

Impulsiveness

Once you are engaged in combat, there is no time to think about specific forms of attack or defence. Your behaviour must be impulsive and more instinctive. This can only be achieved through contact training with an active training partner.
In many sport combat systems, you will receive a grading by displaying standard responses to standard attacks. On the door, there are too many variables involved to use such a dogmatic mind set. Your response to an attack must break all the rules, the opponents in particular.
After you establish a basic competence in any technique, you must go on to develop variations of that basic technique. This will make your style much more unpredictable, impulsive and instinctive. If you try to learn too many fighting and striking techniques, you will freeze in a real fight. This is because you are spoiled for choice, whereas if you are skilled at a few, at least four techniques, you will immediately and instinctively apply/adapt them to your situation.
Do not waste valuable training time by practising in the sterile mode of bag work. Punch bags are useful for developing combination attacks, timing, distance, impact effect and power. Most important of all, punch bags will allow you to build your subconscious set of fighting moves.

Subconscious?? When you tie your shoe laces in the morning do you actually think about every intricate move your fingers make or do you just do it? If you are over six years of age you just do it without thinking. Fighting is the same, do it, don't waste time thinking about it. It is imperative that you go on to sparring sessions and real life scenario training. Here you can apply combat techniques on a living, moving opponent who is retaliating and exploiting all of your weaknesses. Your techniques will never be perfect, in this situation, but your impulse to act positively will be much keener. This form of training will also make your reactions much more instinctive. Always remember that the small group of tactics you use in these circumstances must be of minimum force. A force that subdues and controls the threat rather than punishing or seriously injuring the individual. If you train with this in mind you will react more positively in situations where force becomes necessary.

Visualization

The mental practice of visualization can be used to enhance your fighting skills.
This is a process where mental and physical feed back can accelerate your practical fighting ability.
If you can hold a mental image of a technique, your practical performance will improve.
When you can perform a technique properly, enhance your image of it through visualization.
Visualization can also be used as a form of combat inoculation. Consider a specific set of techniques required for an approaching employment. By visualizing these techniques, your fears and stress levels will be reduced.

The Major Gooseneck

Successful application of this technique will allow you to restrain the attacker without going to the ground first.

This item has been added because the Thumb Lock as described and illustrated in the book 'Get Tough' is difficult to follow.

Reach down and grab the attacker�s thumb with your palm facing out from your body.

The close up view of the initial hold.

With your free hand, strike the attacker�s elbow joint in order to lift it both up and out. At the same time, move your right foot in a clockwise semi circle so that you are standing parallel to the attacker.

The close up of the grip on the attacker�s thumb. The arm is moving forward into the final lock position

Fold up the attacker's elbow between your forearm and the side of your chest.

Maintain your grip on the captured thumb.

Apply sufficient pressure to the back of the attacker's wrist in order for them to comply.

Your right arm is free to either defend yourself, use your radio or open doors.

Ronnie Gamble, the author of this article, is a Control and Restraint Instructor. He also has a BSc. (Hons) in Social Psychology and Sociology. At present he is researching into group behavior at social events and also, planning a training programme for Door Supervisors and Stewards.

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E-mail me with your comments on this section, along with your permission to publish them.handtohand22@hotmail.com

E-mail me with your comments on this section.handtohand22@hotmail.com

A Personal Approach to Door Supervising

Part 9 - Training Notes