Combatives: Let the Enemy defeat himself

The Fight to your Weapon (FTYW) course is unique in the Combatives world.  There are many empty-hand combatives programs, many knife-fighting arts, pistol-fighting programs, and CQB courses.  LEO is taught to give you a push or shove or linbacker-tackle before going to arms.  But that’s the extent of it.

FTYW is specifically designed with a core curriculum of techniques to allow you to take whatever opening your enemy provides, execute a simple technique that either kills him, disables him, or creates enough time and/or distance for you to get one of your weapons into play.  (Notice I say ‘one of your weapons’.  If you’ve attended the FTYW course, you understand…)

Your enemy, as the aggressor, will ‘always’ give you a target to attack.  By his very act of aggression, he is going to offer you an arm, a leg, a neck, his back, or some other piece of his anatomy to attack. The FTYW course is designed to take the student through a series of techniques in a single day that will allow him to attack a wrist, elbow or shoulder, an ankle, knee or hip, the neck, the back – whatever the enemy offers, the student has at least one technique that has a high-probability of success.  

This goes straight back to Sun Tzu, for those who want a philosophical lineage.  In modern terms – you attack whatever the enemy gives you.  If he opens his neck, go for a choke.  If he offers a wrist – break it.  If he manages a bear hug from the rear, you can sweep him easily and break his leg.   Every technique is designed to keep you alive long enough to get your weapon into the fight to end him.

We teach several joint manipulations, chokes, weapons take-aways, and more.  It is a full day, and nothing more than a primer.  If the student does not go forth and train these techniques into the realm of muscle memory, it is a waste of time.

There is one series of techniques that I emphasize more than any other – the ability to get your wrist(s) free from a captor.  These are very simple techniques, and can be taught easily over the course of the class to the point of muscle memory.  The one thing I demand for everyone who receives their tab at the end of the day – you must escape from two of the biggest, strongest guys in class, while each has a double-handed grip on your wrists.  

If you can’t do it, I have failed you.  

To date, I have never had a student fail – from 12 year-old boys and girls to older women who have never trained a day in their lives.  Everyone who has taken the FTYW class has seen Holly execute these techniques on me with ease – size and strength are not factors. Technique matters.

This is not a sales pitch for taking FTYW.  

This is a simple reminder that when you are attacked, your enemy will always present openings for you – and you are not morally restrained from executing any and every technique at your disposal to end his aggressions.

This ain’t no f’n game.