On the morning of 19 March 2011 I rose at 6.00 AM to get prepared for my travel to the UK. I was a bit worried about delays as I had planned a private session with Greg Hall in Manchester and I didn’t know exactly how long it would take to get from Manchester airport to the gym. Fortunately boarding was on time. The flight was full but I got a nice French speaking lady and her boyfriend as neighbours. Despite I am still learning French in night school I managed to talk for the duration of the flight. Guess the looks of my conversation partner was a good motivation... She was very constructive and I learned a lot during that hour.
Once arrived in Manchester I collected my luggage and set off to Greg’s gym. Thanks to the help of various people I arrived on time at the venue. I had some spare time for a coffee and a chat before Greg came down and the training started. After the basic warm-up Greg took me trough the body mechanics of the palm heel strike and the slap. After that we combined it and Greg showed how the transition between the two separate techniques was done. Thereafter we practised the combination on the pads. If it can be done one way we can also do it the other way around so we practised that as well. Thereafter Greg took me trough all kind of transitions combining a variety of techniques. Each time we practised the body mechanics slowly, making sure everything started with the hip and paying attention to proper alignment where after he got me on the pads. It was great and very useful. To finish Greg took me through some exercises again before walking me out and pointing me out to the nearest bus stop. He wished me good luck with the scenario next day and asked me to say hello to the other attendees.
I took the bus back to Manchester city centre from where I went to Liverpool Rainhill.
I arrived at the hotel, checked in and went to the bar to see if I could find any of the other attendees. I had a drink while waiting for my meal which was delicious. When I got back to the bar area I saw Chris, Dave and Adam, I went over to say hello and not too long after that Slacky turned up as well. It was very nice to see everybody again after almost half a year and we had nice conversations over a couple of drinks and a meal before retiring for the night.
Next morning after breakfast we travelled to the Prescot Leisure centre.
Inside the venue there was an air of excitement. I was happy to see a lot of familiar faces, friends I hadn’t seen for a while and there were a couple of new faces as well.
After everyone had paid, the course started.
The course started with an intro by Den about the scope of the Enhanced Performance In Combatives seminar followed presentation by Den on Motivation.
The presentation was very interesting as we all need motivation at times and also need to motivate others. This in training, work situation and daily life in general.
After this presentation Den took us through a warm up to get the blood flowing.
Geoff Thompson once said that self-defence is about learning to hit fucking hard. Impact is very important. Den had us to do our 10 hardest palm strikes on the pad to have a reference point. From there we started to build up the power. We isolated many aspects, focusing on snapping the hips, separating the hips, hand speed etc... practising in various drill with different aids like elastic bands.
At the end of the module we had to do another 10 strikes and our partner compared those with our earlier 10. Everybody made improvements. I enjoyed this module a lot as it fit nicely with what I did with Greg the day before.
The saying goes that even monkeys fall from trees, falling usually means ending up on the floor. So next module was about being down but not out masterly presented by Simon Squires. The module started off quite simple with fending off an opponent with the feet while lying on your back. It build up with getting up from that position and escape till the point that two opponents were attacking.
It’s not always possible to be on the offense so next module was about defence. We got split up in two groups. One group had to attack the other with slaps while the other had to defend. I got up in a corner and put up a fend moving in on anyone who showed intent of coming after me. This kept the damage to a minimum. Soon it was our turn to attack the other team members, the taste of revenge can indeed be sweet. After this we were shown 3 ways of applying the fend. All 3 ways were offensive though. By moving forward the opponent has to adapt to be able to attack properly. It’s something I experienced on a BCA course while being partnered up with someone who used to box. Just by coming in I could not make my attack work and it forced me on the back foot.
I had the honour to practise with Shackleton who is truly a master coach. We practised the fend in various drills with boxing gloves to keep the attackers hands from getting smashed up on the offensive defence.
To get and keep a good momentum going aggression is a great tool. The trick is however to know there is a time and place for it and be able to switch it on and off when necessary.
To train this switch Simon Squires took us through some tiring exercises. As oxygen was low in the room I had to go out about halfway. This module was the final one before our scenario against the suit.
After a short briefing about what was going to happen everyone got sent out of the room. On the corridor Shackleton gave more advice on stretching etc... which was both a learning experience as well as it kept our minds of what was going to come. Soon Shackleton went in though so I started to mentally prepare. At a certain moment I was called forward and went in. From the moment I went in till after the fight things went fast. I had to do some exercises before I faced the suit where after I was taken down to the floor on which luckily were some mats where after I had to escape from various attackers fighting my way up. Once on my feet the fight with the suit was on... I thought... I was soon back on the floor tackled like in a rugby match. The suit came down for some grappling as well. With my opponent on top I had to fight up again. Once up I expected the fight to be over soon but I was in for a nice surprise... again. A good whack made me see stars where after I grabbed the suit and brought him down with knees and elbows. Enraged I volleyed his head like a coke can just before the safety person stopped me.
I was congratulated by everyone and got compliments from people I rate highly and hugged Si who was in the suit. After that I was given a pad so I could pass on the fun others had given me. Everybody performed very well. We closed off with a group picture and the positive self talk. Unfortunately not everybody was coming to the Chinese restaurant so I had to say goodbye to some. The rest of us went to the Chinese restaurant on the docks.
The food was delicious, the tea and Chinese beer were great and the waitresses looked gorgeous.
After packing I went to the restaurant and enjoyed a chat over breakfast with Slacky, Adam, Dave and Chris. Everyone seemed feeling sore and as there had been some good movies on the tele quite tired as well. After the meal we said our goodbyes before going to the train station together with Slacky to catch a train to Liverpool city centre to meet Den for a coffee. After some nice chat about the seminar and various other subjects Den walked us back to the train station where we said goodbye. From there I moved to Manchester to take my flight home.
It was a great weekend with superb presentations, great people to train with, to eat with and to talk to. Thank you all very much.
Subject: Re: EPIC -2 Seminar, March 2011 + AAR 
Mon 21 Mar 2011, 22:14
