Tag: edged weapon defense

ANALYZING WWII GUTTER-FIGHTING KNIFE WORK

ANALYZING WWII GUTTER-FIGHTING KNIFE WORK

Posted on by Evan Perperis

GUEST COLUMN BY EVAN PERPERIS, A U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES COMBAT VETERAN & A WORLD CHAMPION OBSTACLE COURSE RACER

Tiga Tactics has developed a self-defense method distilled from more than a dozen different styles learned by co-founders Dr. Conrad Bui and Patrick Vuong. Long before either of them was born, the now-famous Lt. Colonel W.E. Fairbairn developed a combatives system for training soldiers in World War II based off his experiences with the Shanghai police.

Thanks to YouTube and someone uploading an old copy in Greek, you can now watch some of Fairbairn’s training methodology. I was curious to see how his World War II combatives compared to the Tiga Tactics’ suite of courses, which were developed by Conrad and Patrick after watching hundreds of real attacks captured on closed-circuit TV (CCTV) and cellphone footage.

Here are some overlapping points and some ways that were wildly different:

  • Sophistication Through Simplicity: Fairbairn knew that he didn’t have a lot of time to get young soldiers ready for war. In fact in the video, he cites that he can teach you knife work in “only a half hour.” Tiga Tactics also understands that not everyone wants to be a martial artist taking multiple years to prepare for a possible attack.

    Both systems focus on simplicity in techniques. Rather than teach a dozen steps you won’t remember, both emphasize simplicity to ensure you’ll be able to remember the moves during high stress. For Tiga Tactics, this comes in the form of their Toolbox — which is crucial to getting your strikes into play under pressure or whether you’re stopping a lethal weapon or creating space to draw your own EDC Knife.

  • Shadow-fighting: Most of the video has Fairbairn working solo without a training partner. This is simply shadowboxing or solo training. Tiga Tactics’ methods work best with a partner, but you can still learn many of the moves by yourself in the comfort of your own home through their full lineup of online courses. Tiga Tactics also uses shadowfighting as part of their training progression — an important part of any system that allows you to build muscle memory for all of your techniques.

  • Mindset: In the beginning of the video Fairbairn mentions the importance of mindset by telling the audience the only outcomes are “kill or be killed” (a phrase made famous by one of his successors, Colonel Rex Applegate, who used it as a title of his book). This importance of mindset mirrors many of the mindset training Tiga Tactics teaches — including the motto, “run if you can, destroy if you must.

  • Maintaining Good Base: Fairbairn spends a fair amount of time in the 12-minute video talking about foot placement, balance, and footwork. This is an often-overlooked part of martial arts or combatives training by beginners. Tiga Tactics knows the value of this not only for their EDC Knife course but they have a whole series focused on the importance of maintaining and reestablishing your base through the Antigrappling series.

  • Body Movement Behind the Blade: Whether you have taken EDC Knife, EDC Karambit or Machete Fighting courses, you’ve heard Dr. Conrad talk about the importance of using body mechanics behind the blade. Fairbairn also emphasizes this in his instructional video.

  • Carrying, Drawing, and Repeating: For a 12-minute video, Fairbairn crams a lot in, and if you don’t pay attention you’ll miss some of the important lessons. He briefly mentions where to carry and the importance of drawing directly into a strike. Although glossed over in his video, if you take EDC Knife or EDC Karambit you’ll get plenty of repetitions through the Tiga Tactics methodology of slow, smooth, and fast. Then if you come to an in-person seminar, you’ll get a ton of repetitions often disguised as games or competitions to further refine the one part you will 100% use if you need your blade for self-defense: drawing the tool.

Not every Fairbairn technique transferred over well, including grip on blade and practice rolling the knife in your hands. This runs counter to what Tiga Tactics teaches and the importance of the “death grip” on your blade — because if you lose your grip, you’re (probably) going to die. Although the Lieutenant Colonel later says to grip the knife “viciously,” I think Tiga Tactics’ grip recommendations provide a more stable grasp when pressure tested.

I’m not saying that you should watch Fairbairn’s knife video and use that as your primary method of self-defense. I’m simply saying I think it is interesting to see how far we have come, what principles remain the same, and what has changed over time now that we have more data from things like CCTV showing real attacks.

Watch the 12-minute historic video for free here and then sign up to update the knowledge with Tiga Tactics with their online courses updated for modern times.

Train With A Special Forces Combat Vet

If you want to train with Evan Perperis in person, secure your seat for the upcoming Toolset Training Tour.

He will be a featured guest instructor at the San Francisco stop of this popular seminar series on July 18-19, when he’ll show you how to select, draw, and use an everyday-carry tool for self-protection.

Having been deployed to some of the most dangerous places on the planet and earned instructorships in multiple combat systems, Evan will also share how his experiences shaped his approach to personal protection.

SAVE YOUR SEAT BEFORE IT FILLS

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER USE TIGA TACTICS COMBATIVES AGAINST OTHER SOLDIERS

Posted on by Evan Perperis

GUEST COLUMNIST:
EVAN PERPERIS — A U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES MAJOR (RETIRED) & A CHAMPION OBSTACLE COURSE RACER

“LIVE” KNIFE DEFENSE APPLICATION

It should surprise no one that, as a certified Tiga Tactics instructor, I like and believe in the techniques and content that Tiga Tactics has created.  However, I don’t put them all on equal levels. 

The one I had the least confidence with, Knife Defense, I actually had the opportunity to pressure test.  Here’s that story and why I have greater confidence in this program than ever before.

Methodology in Training: 

As part of the military, we like to increase the stress on soldiers through training.  This is done in an incremental fashion, much in the way Tiga Tactics teaches by starting off “slow,” then going to “smooth,” than gradually speeding things up to “fast.”

This is a common practice you will see in all of Tiga Tactic’s online courses; the military calls this approach “crawl, walk, run”.

Situation:

As part of training, we did a “live” (AKA competitive) drill where one person was armed with a Shocknife and the other person had no weapons at all. 

The Shocknife delivers a jolt of electricity — up to 7,500 volts — like a stun gun if you touch the “blade edge.” Clearly, this is the “run” or “fast” phase of training. 

The goal of the unarmed person was to disarm the person with the Shocknife.  The soldiers were taught several self-defense techniques.  One of the options partially overlapped with what Tiga Tactics teaches in their Knife Defense course but with some (what I would call significant) differences.

Each soldier was then required to disarm his opponent in a round robin fashion by grappling over the Shocknife.  For the drill you ended up doing three disarms against three different attackers.

Plan of Execution:

Rather than use the military-taught technique, I decided to use this as an opportunity to pressure test Tiga’s techniques, since I would get to watch other people use the different military techniques around a couple of dozen times.  I was excited to test it out because unlike a martial arts class where everyone is learning the same technique, the other soldiers wouldn’t know my plans and thus would respond more instinctively and naturally.

Furthermore, the group was legitimately trying to shock each other, as is the case when you take competitive soldiers and put them in an environment where people are watching and judging. 

Results: 

So how did the techniques taught by Tiga Tactics in Knife Defense play out? 

Well out of the three disarm drills, I only got shocked once during disarm attempt number two to my forearm/hand area. 

That was three successful disarms using Tiga Tactics techniques against stakes that are about as high as you can get while still operating in a safe training environment. 

Possible Critique: 

I know what you are thinking, were the soldiers actually going hard in this training environment or just going through the motions? 

If you have worked with Type A personalities like soldiers you probably already know the answer.   The more one person gets shocked often the harder they’ll go the next round, creating an increasing level of resistance that just occurs naturally.  If you still have doubts as to how hard we were training, as further evidence I’ll cite that one of the 12 soldiers broke his hand in the scuffle that was part of the disarm. 

Yes…we were going hard. 

Conclusion:

Not surprisingly, Tiga Tactic’s techniques work when pressure tested.  This is what you get when you take real world video, come up with solutions, pressure test it and refine it to the best product.  If you aren’t training at home, now is the time and with how easy it is to conceal a knife, you may want to start with  Knife Defense.

THINK LIKE A BAD GUY, ACT LIKE A GOOD GUY

Posted on by Evan Perperis

GUEST COLUMNIST:
EVAN PERPERIS — A U.S. ARMY GREEN BERET & CHAMPION OBSTACLE COURSE RACER

 

The interesting thing about being a “good guy” is that you need to have the mindset of a “bad guy” to be truly effective at stopping, countering or understanding their tactics.

The big difference between the good and bad guy is what they do with that information. The bad use it to exploit and take advantage of the weak, while the good use it to train, protect and occasionally take up a profession dedicated to stopping the bad guys.

My background is in the U.S. Army Special Forces, therefore I primarily work in the projectile range of combat. Only when things start going poorly do I have to work in the striking weapon, kicking/punching, and grappling ranges.

So despite having almost two decades of training in the projectile range, I still decided to pick up some lessons from Tiga Tactics to help round out my skills. I knew I had found the right place because they were using lessons I had learned from real world combat that they discovered through analyzing actual footage from Closed Circuit TV (CCTV).

During deployments to both hostile and semi-permissive countries I often carried concealed weapons. Sometimes it was a handgun, sometimes a blade and sometimes based off local laws, all I had was my fist. The techniques I was taught to successfully hide your weapon are the same techniques taught in reverse that allow you to identify someone who is carrying.

Tiga Tactics provides these same tips when they are teaching identifying someone who is preparing for an attack in things like “Stab Proof” and “Club Proof”.

The same justification I have for carrying weapons in a semi-permissive environment when stopped by a country’s security forces, is the same justification criminals will use in the United States. Being able to use something you always have on you, like a fist, is a great weapon that requires no justification and one of the reasons criminals use it (that you can learn about in “Punch Proof”).

Furthermore, using a knife, when size/type are legal, is a great option (as you learn about in “EDC Karambit”).

The strikes taught in their “Toolbox 1.0” program are some of the same strikes I’ve been taught for combat.

The palm heel strike is effective and limits the chance of a fracture in your hand. After all, if I fracture my hand in combat it makes operating a gun or driving a vehicle very difficult. The same logic they use for the palm heel I was taught in offensive driving courses on hand position on the steering wheel. The way you position your hands when driving can help prevent finger breaks to allow you to fire your weapon after a car collision.

I share all of this to tell you that their logic is sound and based off the equivalent of several lifetimes of martial arts training. I can recognize the Tiga Tactics instructors’ logic path because I used it overseas but for a different application. During my deployments to Iraq, my platoon was the most effective in our Battalion at finding enemy weapons caches. We would find them frequently without any direct informant tips. The reason was simple, we put ourselves in the enemy’s shoes and said “where would we hide our weapons if we wanted to be able to attack Americans when needed, but reduce risk of being caught red handed when we weren’t in attack mode”.

The same logic I used in combat, Tiga Tactics as applied to everyday life here in America. If you are looking to get functional as soon as possible (ASAP) check out the full suite of Tiga Tactics courses now available.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Evan Perperis is a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran with a cumulative 44 months of combat deployments. He’s currently a brown belt at Shaolin Kempo Karate, has been trained in Modern Army Combatives Program Level I and is currently training in Kali, Jeet Kune Do, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

When not practicing martial arts or working, he’s racing as a professional Obstacle Course Racing athlete with more than 65 podium finishes and helping others as a National Strength & Conditioning Certified Personal Trainer (NSCA-CPT). His website is Strength & Speed, and his biography is available in hard copy/digital and audiobook from Amazon.

GET FUNCTIONAL ASAP

Posted on by Evan Perperis

GUEST COLUMNIST:
EVAN PERPERIS, A U.S. ARMY GREEN BERET & CHAMPION OBSTACLE COURSE RACER

If you’ve been part of a martial arts training center you may have noticed that there is a decent amount of turnover.

People will show up, train for just the free classes or stay for a month and then leave. Perhaps I am not describing a stranger but rather you or a loved one.

The problem with this is it doesn’t give you the skills you need to be functional in any way, shape, or form. In fact the little you learn or think you may remember may give you a false sense of confidence.

Luckily, Tiga Tactics has a couple of programs that distill techniques down to their basics and provide lessons based on the current attention span of many in our society.

Bottom line is you need to get basic functionality as soon as possible.

The attackers you encounter in the streets will use ambush tactics and tools that are easy to conceal and legal to own. These includes things like:

  • Their Fist: A fist never requires justification as to why a bad guy is “carrying” it. Everyone has their fists on them all the time and it can be extremely effective especially when there is little warning of an impending attack.

  • A Knife: Many knives are legal to carry for both good guys and bad guys (size/style dependent based on your local laws). So why are you going to let the bad guys start off with an advantage.

  • A Club: A club could be a baseball bat, metal rod or any other hard object in a similar shape. Situation dependent, these can be disguised (i.e. metal rod with newspaper rolled around it), hidden nearby (i.e. disguised as trash or an abandoned object near the site of the ambush site) or explained away (i.e. carry an object that has reasonable justification like a baseball bat near a baseball field).

All of these common attack methodologies are taught in Tiga Tactic’s full suite of courses: defense against the fist (“Punch Proof”), defense against a knife (“Stab Proof”), using your own knife (“EDC Karambit”) and defense against a club (“Club Proof”).

The lessons revolve around their methodology distilled using data obtained from close circuit TV covering actual crimes and by pressure testing their techniques in scenarios.

One of the best aspects you’ll find is that Tiga Tactics provides training and starts off each course with some basic instruction on situational awareness. After all if you can avoid being in the location of the future criminal act, you’ll avoid the incident altogether. If that fails, they also provide indicators of an impending attack, buying you the seconds or milliseconds you may need to be properly ready to react.

In the end, training for longer periods in person with a professional instructor is the way to get closer to mastery. That being said, many of our families or friends don’t have the time, effort, energy or money to commit to achieving a basic functionality. Tiga Tactic’s course give that functionality covered in an attention span that can be accomplished in a single day.

Plus, once you pay once you can go back periodically wand watch the training. This means that unlike an in person seminar, you can essentially take the seminar as many times as you want. Check out their full line of courses here, and I hope to see you in their private Facebook group (reserved only for Tiga Tactics students, alumni, instructors, and VIPs).  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Evan Perperis is a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran with a cumulative 44 months of combat deployments. He’s currently a brown belt at Shaolin Kempo Karate, has been trained in Modern Army Combatives Program Level I and is currently training in Kali, Jeet Kune Do, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

When not practicing martial arts or working, he’s racing as a professional Obstacle Course Racing athlete with more than 65 podium finishes and helping others as a National Strength & Conditioning Certified Personal Trainer (NSCA-CPT). His website is Strength & Speed, and his biography is available in hard copy/digital and audiobook from Amazon.

Stab/Slash Survival Skills Seminar in Virginia

Posted on by Tiga Tactics Propaganda

WHAT

Tiga Tactics is proud to announce that we’re collaborating with Red Team Alliance to bring our acclaimed Stab/Slash Survival Skills Seminar to the East Coast for a special two-day event.

Sign Up for 2 Days

Click below to sign up for both days of the seminar. There’s a discount for first-responders, law enforcement, military, and veterans. (Thanks for your service and sacrifices!)

Click Here to Register

Sign Up for 1 Day

Can’t make both days? No worries. Click below to sign up for one day of the seminar. There’s a discount for first-responders, law enforcement, military, and veterans. (Thanks for your service and sacrifices!)

Click Here to Register

WHY

We’re going to reveal what many other systems don’t teach (or don’t know enough about to teach) their students about violent knife attacks:

  1. How criminals truly attack.
  2. Simple (but not easy) defenses against those attacks.
  3. Effective yet fun training progressions distilled from the 12 combative styles that we’re certified in.

We didn’t create a new martial art style. Instead, we formulated the street-effective solutions to the most common knife attacks by first studying how real criminals use an edged weapon and then creating natural responses to stop those attacks.

This isn’t an issue of styles, it’s a matter of survival. 

WHEN

This two-day event will take place on November 2 and 3, 2019, during the following times:

  • Day One: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Day Two: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

WHERE

Red Team Alliance – East
3308 Bourbon Street
Fredericksburg VA 22408

WHO

While other arts might teach you hypothetical knife defenses that work great on paper, we will give you proven techniques and concepts that will work against a resistant attacker in a real-world setting. How? 

Our instructors — Dr. Conrad Bui and Patrick Vuong — have a combined 60 years of martial arts and combatives experience, including instructor certifications in the bladed arts of Filipino Kali and Indonesia Silat. We’ve spent countless hours training to filter out what really works on the street.

We’ve spent thousands of dollars on gear, tuition, and training videos to hone our skills and knowledge.

And we’ve watched years worth of surveillance footage and smartphone videos of real-life knife attacks.

Combining life-saving knowledge, street-effective techniques, and realistic training progressions that are safe and fun, Tiga Tactics has distilled all of that into a groundbreaking seminar that could potentially save lives and keep you and your loved ones safe from an edged weapon ambush.

# OF BLACK BELTS (or equivalent) OUR 2 INSTRUCTORS HAVE EARNED
0

WHAT TO BRING

The following is mandatory for attendance at our Stab/Slash Survival Skills Seminar:

  • Comfortable workout clothes
  • Athletic footwear
  • Safety-rated eye protection (ANSI Z87+, MIL-PRF-32432, etc.)
  • Groin cup
  • Blunt training blade

The following is optional items you might want to consider bringing:

  • Forearm guards
  • Water
  • Hand towel
  • Snacks or small meal

TESTIMONIALS

The following are what some students have said about our Stab/Slash Survival Skills Seminar.

“The simplicity of the techniques is what really impresses me. Not only is it simple, it also gives me a high percentage of surviving these types of knife ambushes.”

Sherman Chin
7th-Degree Black Belt in Kajukenbo

“What I liked was that you broke it down to really simple things so I can walk out of here remembering them. And I liked that you did the research — that’s much more useful than anything like this that I’ve been to before.“

A. Davé
San Jose, California

“I’ve seen a million videos over the years of knife attacks. So this is one of the first classes that deals with the multiple stab aspect. The techniques are very simple and super effective.“

Peter Mouttapa
Karate Black Belt

IRONCLAD GUARANTEE

Even if you’re a grandmaster, you will find something new or something of value in the first two hours of our seminar. If you don’t, we’ll refund your money. No questions asked. Seriously. That’s how revolutionary this seminar is. 

COST

The cost is $297 for both days or $167 for one day.

However, we offer a few discounts for those who like to plan ahead, as well as an additional discount for first-responders, members of the military and law enforcement, and veterans who show valid government ID.*

Early Bird Registration
(Through September 20)

For one day:

  • $127 
  • $112 for first-responders, military, law enforcement, and veterans *

For both days:

  • $237
  • $202 for first-responders, military, law enforcement, and veterans *

Preregistration
(September 21 to October 25)

For one day:

  • $137 
  • $117 for first-responders, military, law enforcement, and veterans *

For both days:

  • $257 
  • $219 for first-responders, military, law enforcement, and veterans *

At the Door

For one day:

  • $167 
  • $142 for first-responders, military, law enforcement, and veterans *

For both days:

  • $297
  • $253 for first-responders, military, law enforcement, and veterans ​s *

* DISCOUNT ALERT: If you’re a first-responder, member of the military or law enforcement, or a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, send us a copy of your identification by emailing info@tigatactics.com before paying and we will get you a special coupon code so you can enjoy the appropriate discount. 

Register now, as space is limited and slots are filling up!

Sign Up for 2 Days

Click below to sign up for both days of the seminar. There’s a discount for first-responders, law enforcement, military, and veterans. (Thanks for your service and sacrifices!)

Click Here to Register

Sign Up for 1 Day

Can’t make both days? No worries. Click below to sign up for one day of the seminar. There’s a discount for first-responders, law enforcement, military, and veterans. (Thanks for your service and sacrifices!)

Click Here to Register

Stab/Slash Survival Skills Seminar

Posted on by Tiga Tactics Propaganda

What

Tiga Tactics is pumped to announce that we’ll be holding our first official event — the Stab/Slash Survival Skills Seminar — at the Academy of Combative Defense & Fitness.

CLICK HERE TO PAY:

WHY

For the first time ever, we’re going to reveal what many other systems don’t teach (or don’t know enough to teach) their students about violent knife attacks:

  1. How criminals truly attack.
  2. Simple (but not easy) defenses against those attacks.
  3. Effective yet fun training progressions distilled from the 12 combative styles that we’re certified in.

We didn’t create a new martial art style. Instead, we formulated the most street-effective solutions to the most common knife attacks by first studying how real criminals use an edged weapon and then creating natural responses to stop those attacks.

This isn’t an issue of styles, it’s a matter of survival. 

WHEN

Saturday, June 15, 2019 

  • Start Time: 11:30 a.m.
  • End Time: 5 p.m.

WHERE

Academy of Combative Defense & Fitness
5833 Cottle Road
San Jose, CA 95123

WHO

Any open-minded, respectful adult can attend this seminar. (Minors 14 years and older may join if participating with a parent or guardian.)

how

While other arts might teach you hypothetical knife defenses that work great on paper, we will give you proven techniques and concepts that will work against a resistant attacker in a real-world setting. How? 

Our instructors have a combined 60 years of martial arts and combatives experience, including instructor certifications in the bladed arts of Filipino Kali and Indonesia Silat. We’ve spent countless hours training to filter out what really works on the street. We’ve spent thousands of dollars on gear, tuition, and training videos to hone our skills and knowledge. And we’ve watched years worth of surveillance and smartphone videos of real-life knife attacks.

Combining life-saving knowledge, street-effective techniques, and realistic training progressions that are safe and fun, Tiga Tactics has distilled all of that into a groundbreaking seminar that could potentially save lives and keep you and your loved ones safe from an edged weapon ambush.

NO. OF BLACK BELTS (OR EQUIVALENT) OUR INSTRUCTORS HAVE EARNED
0

What to Bring

The following is mandatory for attendance at our Stab/Slash Survival Skills Seminar:

  • Comfortable workout clothes
  • Athletic footwear
  • Safety-rated eye protection (ANSI Z87+, MIL-PRF-32432, etc.)
  • Groin cup
  • Blunt training blade

The following is optional items you might want to consider bringing:

  • Forearm guards
  • Water
  • Hand towel
  • Snacks or small meal

IRONCLAD GUARANTEE

Even if you’re a grandmaster, you will find something new or something of value in the first two hours of our seminar. If you don’t, we’ll refund your money. No questions asked. Seriously. That’s how revolutionary this seminar is. 

COST

The at-the-door admission fee is $100. However, if you sign up through June 11, you can get a 15% discount.

Pre-Registration (through June 11):

  • $85 (a 15% discount)
  • $65 for first-responders, military & veterans (a 35% discount) *

At the Door:

  • $100
  • $80 for first-responders, military & veterans (a 20% discount) *

* Discount Alert: If you’re a first-responder, member of the military, or a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, send us a copy of your identification by emailing info@tigatactics.com before paying and we will get you a special coupon code so you can enjoy the appropriate discount. 

Register now, as space is limited and slots are filling up!

CLICK HERE TO PAY: