One of the squadrons my husband was on had a spider as the sqn. badge so they kept a red kneed tarantula in the sqn. bar. it was actually quite friendly but when it had a hangover it would shoot the hairs from it's body at you, if you got them in the eye it would have been very nasty.
How to toughen up?
- Thread starter Faith
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One of the squadrons my husband was on had a spider as the sqn. badge so they kept a red kneed tarantula in the sqn. bar. it was actually quite friendly but when it had a hangover it would shoot the hairs from it's body at you, if you got them in the eye it would have been very nasty.
skribs
Grandmaster
In any art I've trained, in any art I've talked to, the general response is that the guy who can't treat a sparring session like a sparring session and instead treats every sparring session like a fight, they're typically the guy nobody wants to spar with.
And no, I wasn't thinking of TMAs. I was thinking of boxing, wrestling, and BJJ.
They're the ones that get the chief instructor to play with them. Invariably the instructor schools them by easily controlling them with just a modicum of pain, well actually quite a lot of pain.
_Simon_
Senior Master
Just reading through some old MA mags, and came across an article of a system that purposely uses the flinch, called the S.P.E.A.R. System. Talks about how when under stress/attack, the effects of adrenaline deteriorate your fine and complex skills, and attempting to access those before you've had a chance to gain control of yourself emotionally, psychologically and physically is largely futile. So it works to build off your natural reactions. Interesting anyway!
drop bear
Sr. Grandmaster
Just reading through some old MA mags, and came across an article of a system that purposely uses the flinch, called the S.P.E.A.R. System. Talks about how when under stress/attack, the effects of adrenaline deteriorate your fine and complex skills, and attempting to access those before you've had a chance to gain control of yourself emotionally, psychologically and physically is largely futile. So it works to build off your natural reactions. Interesting anyway!
Yeah. But RBSD guy kind of make a lot of stuff up.
It would be as bad as saying for example crossfit movements are the core to self defense.
_Simon_
Senior Master
Yeah fair enough, there alot of funky theories out there in the RBSD world
. Thought it could have some sort of possible value, seems an interesting concept to take advantage of the natural flinch and train it propel you into attack
drop bear
Sr. Grandmaster
Yeah fair enough, there alot of funky theories out there in the RBSD world
Ok. The issue is something works or it doesn't.
I get this sort of logic when people say how to defend a double leg using wing chun principles.
And it doesn't work like that. There are optimum methods you can use that create the best results. And that is because the dynamic has been tested to death.
Flinching super powers, using natural body movements, using scientific principles, using methods that the great warrior women of the Amazon's and all the other marketing ploys t hat get used to sell a product are not what we should be looking at when we are being critical of a method.
And while I am on a Jordan boroughs kick. This would be a good example.
When someone can dominate ben askren in wrestling like that. They have a method that works.
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The whole "natural movements" concept just gets over-used. It's sound for the first response to being surprised, where training simply can't be as thorough - we can't really train for "surprise" at the gym/dojo all that effectively. That's what Cato is for.
Anyway, the idea should be to develop some responses that start from common flinches, so you're building a path to those dependable moves that just work.
dvcochran
Grandmaster
Just curious, how old are the books?Just reading through some old MA mags, and came across an article of a system that purposely uses the flinch, called the S.P.E.A.R. System. Talks about how when under stress/attack, the effects of adrenaline deteriorate your fine and complex skills, and attempting to access those before you've had a chance to gain control of yourself emotionally, psychologically and physically is largely futile. So it works to build off your natural reactions. Interesting anyway!
_Simon_
Senior Master
Haha, this mag is 14 years old now
. Was a regular MA magazine in Aus that was published monthly I think, but recently have been liquidated and no longer publish them. A shame!
Eye to eye contact of your partner does amazing things. You don't need to look at your target you know where it is .... keeping eye to eye contact keeps your head up (hopefully your shoulders back) which in itself shows self confidence. Also always go slower than your partner (lower or higher belt), just tell them you want to focus on technique. A good partner will adjust. I have a few partners I say before each rei "DO NOT HURT ME" ... my husband is one of them 
