Manchester 2010 Combatives Seminar: AAR

What a great get together.... good group of guys, good level of effort, good facility.
The program was presented by Si Squires, Greg Hall, Steve Callaghan, Slacky, Pete Wilson and myself. Many thanks to the team for their hard work..... I know the class really got a lot from it.


[The class]

More reviews and photos later

Some awesome stuff there yesterday - all outstanding people !

An honour to be involved.

Thanks guys !


Si

Another great seminar, really enjoyed being there and helping out. Lots of really good stuff, Dens talk on items we can carry legally and which we can use to defend ourselves with, for example a mag light pen etc top stuff. Si and Gregs presentations were also excellent and Peter for his awesome performance in the suit. It was a real pleasure to help out with some great instructors and train with some top guys.

I can only echo Den's comments on what a privilege it is to train with guys who put everything into the day. Good, solid training and information.

Hi guys,

Would like to thank Dennis for a great presentation.

Every time I ask him to present his material it is always great stuff presented so professionally with a really good and easily understandable progression. BRILLIANT !

Thanks too to Steve, Slacky,Si and Pete for his hard work in the suit.

Also it is a credit to a dedicated bunch of guys that give up there weekend to come and train with us.

A full review is on the way

Greg

The program consisted of my talk on concepts involved in Improvised and Expedient Weapons, then practical work on the techniques and the integration into the overall self-protection plan.


[Some of the items discussed]

During this phase Slacky showed some infight-access methods.


[Den demonstrates striking with a small flashlight]

Next Steve Callaghan took the class through an arduous session, involving padwork and physical exercises.
Next up was Si Squires who discussed current threats and the way we should be training to address them. He presented a variety of techniques and drills to give insights into what is needed for relevant street application today.
Greg Hall has an unmatched background in a variety of fighting methods, including numerous Western and Asian grappling systems. Even more importantly he understands how to apply this knowledge in a simplified way for effective self-protection. Greg's module was based on stand-up grappling, the counter-clinch. Again, really practical, relevant material, presented by a guy who has loads of real experience.
Finally Si prepped the class to go through a scenario, facing Pete Wilson in the suit. This is an ideal way to round out a day's training, and each and every participant perfoemed well, some brilliantly, and took away insights of real value.

More pics....


[Si teaching fine points on the Guillotene]


[Ellie working on a drill]


[Slacky during the weapons training]

Ok so this was my first seminar within the combatives arena (Thanks for the invite Greg) and by human nature my first reaction is to compare to other seminars attended? To be totally honest the course content, instruction delivery and overall feeling of the day was top notch!!

I was instantly struck by the profesionalism of both instructors and participants, no pretenders here, just good honest folks that wish to share and learn solid and useful information.

After a quick warm up, it was on with a presentation by Dennis. Having never met Dennis before but read/heard so much, my expectations were high, and I was not to be disappointed with a very informative presentation on improvised weapons followed by some practical pad work. Which was complemented by some additional techniques given by Slacky.

At this early stage it became very apparent what a wealth of information and talent the UK combatives scene has, I was chuffed to .... That I had decided to attend!

Next is was back to basics with a twist. Steve brought some pad work, incorporated into boxing style round drills which were an excellent means of changing the direction of the course and keeping interest levels high.

It was at the end of Steve's session where I began to worry! Nothing to do with the course, but my own personal fitness has been neglected of recent due to work and family commitments. I was beginning to blow!

Thankfully the pace slowed and Si was up next, and we were shown some great techniques including the guillotine and some very useful tips on groundwork (More of that latter) Si continued with an insightful piece on the threats faced by the ordinary man (Me) in todays society which really struck home. Following came some hard wall walking which was then followed by take downs on my lactic sloshing thighs. I thought that this was just some more phys, as part of the training but this was then tied into what Si was eluding to early with regards to threats. Very well done, and the point that had struck home early was reiterated.

Greg followed and his wealth of experience continued the theme of the day of excellent tuition and interest. After running through some clench/wrestle techniques we incorporated into some freeze drills. This then led to a tie in on the pads from intial strike, to going cyclic, finishing with Gregs teachings. Again really good to see it all fit on the day.....

So that was that tuition complete, the only thing left now was the scenario with Pete in the padded suit.
Now I have done scenario training before but never a full contact fight with a big bloke in a padded suit. As all virgin's do, apprehension and nerves began grow as we left the room and headed downstairs. My turn arrived, I found myself running the mantra "win the fight, win the fight" through my head.

At the top of the stairs Steve was waiting for me and we continued were we had left off earlier in the day. After a short time I was called in and I was officially finished, snot running down my face, breathing through my ass. Once again my fitness was letting me down, and the mantra had changed "Breath in, Breath out, win the fight"

We begin with me being pinned by Greg, now my given my current state and the fact that my groundwork is crap at best, my mind races what am I going to do? Then it comes, the little snippet that Si had given me earlier in the day! I give it my best shot and latter rather than sooner I am free. The scenario continues but I cant rememeber much else, other than lots of deep breathing leading to gross loss of motorneoruone skills and a reversion to basic strikes. Not there was any previous doubt but for me proof that the system and teachings work.

Apologies for the lengthy post, and I hope I havent banged on too much about my day, but I only thought it fair that the thought taken by the instruction should be reflected in the appreciation afterwards.

A big thank you to all who gave instruction, special thanks to Pete (The hug was welcome relief) and I am looking forward to the next time we all meet.

A very sore and grateful
Pete

Some great pics and a couple of nice reviews already.
Thanks to Nick Engelen who stayed for a private lesson on Monday and gave me a nice present of Belgium Chocolates !!

More pics....


[Greg during his presentation]


[The training team, Greg, Pete, Den, Si, Steve]

Just want to say thanks to Greg for organising the day and to Den, Si, Steve and Slacky for some great material. Only just recovered from the suit experience, all the guys that did the drill did really well, there were all impressive.

Quote of the day :

Always get a kubotan with a point on the end.
Then when they take it off you and shove it up your arse it goes up easier .

Class Den !

On the morning of 6 November 2010 my alarm went off at 6.00 AM to get prepared for my travel to the UK. The airport seemed very busy and I was a bit worried about what it would look like at the check in. Fortunately once in the check-in went very smooth. However at the security check was a long cue which made me decide it would be better to go through there first instead of having my usual coffee in the lounge. It went faster than I expected so went for a pizza and a coffee afterwards.

Finished with my nice meal I went to the gate to take my plane to Manchester This started my trip to the UK for a seminar by Dennis Martin, organised by Greg Hall from Manchester. The curriculum for the course was interesting and there were some great people for instruction coming. Once arriving on British soil I collected my luggage and went on my way. After some looking around and chatting to some nice people, I went to the Radisson hotel for a tea and a chat with a Thai waitress who I met on an earlier trip. After finishing the tea I had some beers as I had to wait till 14.00 before I could check in anyway. After a couple of drinks I went to the station to take a train to Manchester Piccadilly where after I took a taxi to my hotel. After checking in I soon went to sleep excited about the following day. Next morning I went for breakfast and had a chat with the waitress who was also a Polish student studying to become an English teacher in the UK. After making sure I had eaten and drunk everything I had paid for I left and started preparing my bag. The taxi dropped me off at the venue called the “Bodymatrix” and I started to look for the entrance... I heard bird noises and saw a car covered with bird-shit behind a gate. I definitely didn't had to be there so I looked further and found the entrance. I was quite early and after signing in the receptionist gave me a tea. Not long after that Greg and some other people started to come in. We had some nice talks about the course.

After everyone finished their tea we went up to the gym. There I saw many new faces as well as old friends. There was an air of excitement, not the least because there would be a full contact scenario with the padded suit. After a while Den, Simon Squires Steve C and Peter W came in... After some nice chats the seminar started. Den started with an introduction about what the course was about. He explained the difference between improvised weapons and opportunity weapons and stressed that training the necessary skills and developing the right mindset is key. Thereafter he explained the key elements that a weapon must have to be effective; Thereafter we looked at the law which prohibits most items where after we looked at items we can carry. After this introduction we were handed over to Steve C an instructor under Den for a warm-up. Everybody sweaty and breathing a bit heavily Den took us through various ways of striking with a weapon like a pen or small flashlight. This led us into various drills on the focus mitts.

After that Peter who is better known as Slackbladder did a great module wherein he showed us some material about accessing a weapon from a clinch position based on the work of SouthNarc who has looked deeply into Greco Roman wrestling.

Then we were handed over to Steve C again who took us through a fun but tiring cardio-exercise. As I hadn't been training a lot lately I let my partner go through it first. Based on boxing rounds which are usually 2 minute rounds with one minute in between in which they do sit ups the exercise consisted out of doing a set of ten press-ups, 10 squats and 10 star-jumps where after we had to do a round on the pad This was repeated 4 times, each time new techniques were added. When it was my turn I was already knackered after the first round, feeling my breakfast coming up I gestured to Ben I wanted to give up. Ben however convinced me to keep going and coached me through the rest of the exercise. After that we had a welcomed break.. By now the room was hot and the oxygen scarce so I went out for a bit. Then we were handed over to Si squires who took us through various grappling skills aimed at countering current threats. This was followed by a module by Greg Hall on Clinchwork for the street. This module was great as the clinch is what usually happens after the first exchange of blows.


[Ellie and Steve working on Si's guillotene defence]

Last but certainly not least we had the scenario drill... Everyone who was going to do it was send downstairs to the reception which was closed unfortunately as I was up for a tea.... Better not I guess as fighting on a full stomach can get quite messy. Steve C was the one who was going to guide us through the cardio, I tried to trick him into showing us some more bastards, thing is it was not funny when he just did them as if he was having a walk through the park. When it was my turn he had me run up some stairs do push ups, run down do squats run up some star-jumps etc... After doing this for a while I was sent in. I was told to lay down where after Greg grabbed me in a judo hold where I had to fight out from.


[Nick in action during the scenario]

Trying to remember the techniques in a stress situation is hard so I used brute strength and the necessary noises to get out. After that I had to close my eyes and Simon started to spin me around. Halfway through the sixth spin I was grabbed and taken to the floor again. I started hitting the padded man wherever I could hit him while thinking how do I get out of this. Den shouted to me: Get to your feet so I turned on my belly and got up as fast as I could. Worried to end up being strangled from behind I spun around as fast as I could to drive the padman backwards, hitting and kicking him wherever I could. By now enraged I volleyed his head like a football once, twice, at least three times before I heard the signal to end the drill. After receiving a short debrief I helped the padman to his feet and gave him a hug.


[Peter from the Gutterfighters versus the suit]

After this I felt how tired I was and went for a drink... I felt like puking... I enjoyed watching the others perform while regaining my breath.


[The group at the end of the session, ready for a scoff]

After the seminar most of us went for a Chinese meal in Manchester China town. The food was delicious, the tea was nice and the waitresses gorgeous. We had many nice conversations during the meal. After the meal everyone said goodbye and went home. I would stay for another day and Greg offered me a lift to my hotel. Greg’s car was parked some blocks away and as I was the only foreigner I was the one with a big heavy bag... halfway Greg realised he forgot his bag in the restaurant so we had to walk all the way back. After retrieving the bag we walked to the car again... Finally there it was a matter of time before I got dropped off at the hotel. I agreed a time with Greg for a private session for the next day and said goodnight to both him and his passenger. After dropping the bag off in my room I went for a beer in the bar

Next morning, after having breakfast which was served by a young Slovakian woman I moved back to the hotel to pack my stuff before checking out. I ordered a taxi to the gym for my session with Greg, I was very sore already and wondered how I could do it. Arriving at gym the receptionist told me that there was no electricity so I couldn't have a tea... Also it was freezing cold in there. After some time the electricity came back on I ordered some tea to warm up and making the waiting a bit more enjoyable while I had a chat with some of the staff.

When Greg arrived he took me straight up to the gym right away. He took me through a warm-up where after I he had me doing some shadowboxing. This revealed my guard needed some correction. After this Greg showed me the body mechanics for more impact for a palmstrike. After practicing this a bit he took me through restrictive punching drills to isolate the different mechanics involved. This led into situational control where I used the strike from various positions ranging from no guard to being attacked from behind. The session was top and Greg is a master of his art. I would recommend him to anyone who wants to learn more about self-protection. After paying and saying my goodbyes to Greg and his student I took a taxi and hurried back to the airport I got myself dropped off at the wrong terminal so walked to the right terminal as fast as I could. There everything went quite smooth, I had a good meal and went to the plane, glad I had made it unlike last time... However it seemed that in Brussels there was a storm so we were grounded for 1 hour and 40 minutes... I thought great last time I was 5 minutes late and now this.

We got some free drinks as compensation and after some time the plane took off... I expected heavy turbulence with landing but it was OK. After collecting my luggage my dad collected me and we went home. This concluded a great trip and a great weekend with fantastic instructors, fantastic training and a wonderful group of people to share it with.

Great Review Mate!


phil

Hi,
Thanks to everyone for a good days training.
I sat about half of it out due to neck problems, but this didn't stop me learning. there was plenty of new material for me, in the presentation and in the physical drills, and plenty that i'll take away and work on in the future. And I got a good work out even though I only did half of it! - it must have been hard for you guys who actually did the whole thing.

I've noticed that I have a focus pad that isn't mine. (it seems to be becoming a habit of mine to end up with someone else's gear after a seminar!).
It's black and white, can't remember the make right now but can check. if anyone knows who it belongs to I'll make sure it gets back to them.

Cheers,
Ben

What a great team of instructors and a bunch of lucky students! The UK is lucky to have you all -- great work!

cheers, m

this is the restored picture of the second group shot I thought it was too pale to the others so i made it all nice and sparkly for all to see

Hi Ben,

Maybe the pad is from Steve, C I remember you borowing one from him for the kubotan drills. Again thanks for partnering up with me to you, Peter Little, Giles and a giant student of Greg with the name Richard.

Kind Regards,

Nick Engelen

bit of a late post but I only just found this forum, id just like to say I really enjoyed the seminar I was pretty smashed at the end of it tho jesus what a buz I was pushed so hard, many thanks to greg for getting me in, and everyone else whom I dont know there names for all the amazing content and hard work settin this lot up, and extra thanks to the dude at the end who had to tackle everyone, if anyone happens to of took a video of my fight at the end id love to see a copy.

Richard