Archived Videos of the Club
Archived Videos of the Club
The main video index is updated every couple of weeks with a new set of videos to try to show the progression of the club as time goes on. However, over time, it becomes necessary to remove some of the videos from the site in order to remain within the 50 Mb limit imposed on the site. In order to give visitors access to "old" videos (and also some which were always too big to upload) I'll be putting together a CD with all of them on. Write to me if you'ld like a copy and we can sort out a price. EMAIL. The list below gives details of what videos are there on the CD. Eventually there will be an "instructional" video included but it's not finished yet. As for the CD price, probably best to E-mail me but it'll be as cheap as possible (probably ~ £5 - £10 once the instructional video is added, cheaper before that). Most of that will be the cost of the CD and posting it to you ! None of it is "hi-tech" but if you feel cheated by what you get then send me the CD back and I'll refund your money. Feel free to copy the CD and distribute it to your friends / family etc (as most martial arts media goes this way anyway !) Only thing I ask is to not sell it on, claim it as your own system or try to make profit of any kind (financial or otherwise) out of it. If you do still decide to profit from it etc., I won't be out looking for you as I've got better things to do with my life. However, accept your actions as being dishonourable and live each day of your life with that thought in your heart and accept whatever consequences that thought may bring to you.
Steve2.zip
One of the basic concepts of Peaceful Fight is that no movement is done without acting as a strike. This can be against any target as long as it is within the student's balance. The object of this half speed practise is to let students feel when they have undertaken a "move" and for them to assess whether it has "done anything". More often than not, it hasn't so it's important to break down movement in this way. Once they understand that there is wasted movement in, for example, repositioning hands to do a lock, then they can flow into the move behind a flurry of attacks. Me and Steve worked through the arm lock / throw prior to this version to see where his movement was being wasted. The video doesn't quite show the "fine detail" of the techniques as a lot of little actions are being undertaken (eg pressure point squeezes / strikes / jerks) during the whole move. However, it gives a feel for how a formal move (ie the lock / throw) is more than just that. Just to note, Steve is from an Escrima background (training with Pete Lewis / Dave Hand : see recommended clubs) and this shows a bit within his movement (ie it was very good before he came to Peaceful Fight). Therefore I don't take credit for his high standard !
knees1a.mpg
This video was a quite an early one but a bit long for uploading to the site. It deals with a position which Steve (Hill) and Ruth ended up in. The crux of the instruction was how and why different types of knee destruction would occur when under natural movement the centre is in different states. Some of the movements are driven by Ruth's leg impeding of the balance of the defender (ie Steve) who wanted to move forward. Because within the basics of the system, no move should be undertaken without it achieving a strike etc (in order to optimise movement). However, this meant that lifting the foot was not an option. In the first example, Steve's foot drags forward and traps the knee between his two feet this movement is driven solely by the movement of his centre forward an not by "planning" to get Ruth's knee into that position. In the second example, the balance centre moving forward would cause Steve to "overbalance" as his balance centre is further forward. In this situation, natural movement dictates that Steve's knee strikes downwards, with his own knee to push Ruth's into the floor. Another version is where the balance centre is further back In this situation, the centre causes the striking leg to arc onto the knee, using a spinning heel kick through the joint.
uncspeed.zip
Peaceful Fight works in an "unconscious" state for the first part of any fight sequence. The fight is driven by tension within the body and not by "picking targets" during this period. One problem students were having was that after the initial strike (against the attacking arm) they were developing a pause before continuing the attack against the opponent. This was my attempt to show how it flows and that the attacking speed should be ~ 5 - 7 strikes / second with no wasted movement.
group1.zip group2.zip
These two files continue with the movement studies which have been outlined in the previous files. Bit like one of those "Police Academy" type movies where its important to watch the background action as well as the foreground. Steve (Hodges) and Ruth (Huson) both have techniques within these files and are well worth comparing against Steve Hill's movement. Ruth has never done a martial art before so is the most "natural" out of all of us. Steve (Hodges) learned an external form of Kung Fu many years ago and so still has some remnants of this within his movement.
211001ae.zip 211001be.zip 211001ce.zip
If you read the first question on the "Technical Questions Page 2", you'll see a question from Steve concerning stillness, intent and generally asking how the system works. Steve had had a "less good" week the week before these videos were taken and these videos came from working in more detail on the basics of the system. In all the videos you'll see that the initial actions of the defender are different from the ends. At some point they lose "stillness" (but thankfully generally not until the opponent has been tackled) and this was one reason for the training. Compare the movements against the "checklist" given during the answer to the Technical Question and you'll see when it happens for yourself.
41101ed.zip 41101fe.zip 41101he.zip
One of the issues which underpins Peaceful Fight is initially moving away from "techniques" to "concepts" (formal techniques come in later to emphasise martial art theory and strengthen understanding of anatomy for healing purposes). This week we were working on a concept which is called "1...1,2,3,4 " and combining it with various other concepts (eg stillness, feedback, flow etc). "1...1,2,3,4" is a teaching tool to try to get away from falling into a set rhythm within the attacking / defensive roles. In a nutshell, many fights you see between martial artists have a 1,1,1,1 type rhythm. The attacker strikes (1), the defender defends (1) and then reattacks (1) and then the original attacker defends (1) and the pattern is repeated. "1...1,2,3,4" training tries to get away from this by the defender doing 4 reattacks for each of the attackers strikes. Obviously stopping after a set number of reattacks is an unreal situation as a Peaceful Fight exponent actually flows with what the opponent does. If he's really slow, we might try to hit 6 or 8 times before the second attack. If he's fast / competent it might end up as a fast 1,1,1,1. Remember this is a training exercise, not real life ! The exercise might not seem difficult in itself but it's not so easy when you consider the students are trying to do all the other concepts (eg feedback, energy, stillness, intent etc) at the same time (whilst operating all of these including 1..1,2,3,4 in the subconscious brain !). This is why the attacker in the videos sometimes just goes for a big shove or grab on the defender to "trigger" these other concepts to come to the fore (or sometimes to try to disrupt them !). However, 1..1,2,3,4 has to be taught somehow and this is my first attempt (the next stage is to do 1...then a random number before the second attack. Hopefully will be working onto this in the next few months. This is one of the stages before continuous flow / fighting studies but these preliminary bits have to be understood first).
251101ed.mpg
The link of the intent of the mind to the energy of the centre (dantien) and ultimately to the striking weapon is the same "mind control" which is required to undertake healing applications. As a consequence, it is taught within the martial realm. This video shows the development of this type of movement / understanding when working with Ruth. The video shows a number of sequences from one training session, starting with the "basic" tension driven movement system which all beginners start with. With each of the subsequent sequences, a modification of the understanding / concept being worked on is being practised. Ideally, over these type of exercises, you should see a "sharpening" of technique and feel the energy developing at the attacking limb. This was true for Ruth during this training session (and the development acted as one part of her second grade assessment). The change was noted by Steve (Hodges) when he next faced Ruth (which coincidentally was in her second grade assessment).
251109ed.mpg 91201c.mpg
All of the martial training in Peaceful Fight slowly moves the student along a path of feedback and concepts to allow them to ultimately apply them at realistic fighting speed. One "stepping stone" technique to get closer to "real fighting" is to link 1..1,2,3,4 feedback training to near continuous work. This trial normally highlights that it is very difficult to maintain 1...1,2,3,4 training when the brain slips into a "fighting" mode. This was the first time Ruth had undertaken this work and you'll see that there are a number of occasions when she has to be reminded to continue the 1,2,3,4 reattack. However, this is the objective of the training ie to highlight that this is difficult to achieve and that the student has to understand the state better before being able to apply the technique at full speed with the required quantity of control. The second video highlights the same training but with 1...1,random response. You'll see that, after a while, the tendency of the defender is to defend and not reattack. Again, a common response. This trial was part of Ruth's second grade assessment and generally shows that the defensive feedbacks are working well.
rg9aed.mpg
This work formed part of Ruth's second grade study and was based in the assessment of how her feedback training would fare against an opponent who was using predominately strength. Steve has already had a go against her during which she had got on well. I thought I'd have a go because it looked like fun ! The exercise is a bit of a bastardised variant on Tai Chi "push hands" replacing centre movement and Qi flow with strength. The objective of the defender is essentially to give way and flow / move with the strength based feedback rather than giving it anything to find purchase on. Ruth performed well within this exercise and evaded / redirected / spoiled a number of elbow strikes aimed at her head / body which we all know can be a bit tricky at minimum distance.
161201aed.zip 161201bed.zip 161201ced.zip
These are some more videos of the work which we undertook with Mark when he came over. These were before those versions labelled eed, fed, ged and hed.
41101ed.zip 41101fe.zip 41101he.zip
One of the issues which underpins Peaceful Fight is initially moving away from "techniques" to "concepts" (formal techniques come in later to emphasise martial art theory and strengthen understanding of anatomy for healing purposes). This week we were working on a concept which is called "1...1,2,3,4 " and combining it with various other concepts (eg stillness, feedback, flow etc). "1...1,2,3,4" is a teaching tool to try to get away from falling into a set rhythm within the attacking / defensive roles. In a nutshell, many fights you see between martial artists have a 1,1,1,1 type rhythm. The attacker strikes (1), the defender defends (1) and then reattacks (1) and then the original attacker defends (1) and the pattern is repeated. "1...1,2,3,4" training tries to get away from this by the defender doing 4 reattacks for each of the attackers strikes. Obviously stopping after a set number of reattacks is an unreal situation as a Peaceful Fight exponent actually flows with what the opponent does. If he's really slow, we might try to hit 6 or 8 times before the second attack. If he's fast / competent it might end up as a fast 1,1,1,1. Remember this is a training exercise, not real life ! The exercise might not seem difficult in itself but it's not so easy when you consider the students are trying to do all the other concepts (eg feedback, energy, stillness, intent etc) at the same time (whilst operating all of these including 1..1,2,3,4 in the subconscious brain !). This is why the attacker in the videos sometimes just goes for a big shove or grab on the defender to "trigger" these other concepts to come to the fore (or sometimes to try to disrupt them !). However, 1..1,2,3,4 has to be taught somehow and this is my first attempt (the next stage is to do 1...then a random number before the second attack. Hopefully will be working onto this in the next few months. This is one of the stages before continuous flow / fighting studies but these preliminary bits have to be understood first).
251105ed.zip
Development of energy driven movement and changing from the basic "tension" driven understanding of why movement happens was the objective of this study. This study aims to link the intent of the subconscious brain to the dantien with small movements of the energy within the dantien being used to produce macroscale movements in the body. generally this leads to a "sharpening" of technique (and also energy / heat can be felt in the striking limb at contact points). This is one of the most important links to be made from a healing perspective and this is one of a series of videos which shows the progression with Ruth during a lesson. (The full series of videos (251101ed) is on the CD as detailed in the video archive but is too big to upload).
251109ed.zip
The use of 1...1,2,3,4 is a bit false as both the attacker and defender have the habit of counting rather than getting feedback from the opponent's movements ! However, it does act as a basis for the more complicated "1...1 Random" sequence which is shown here. In this training regime, the defender is attempting to continue for as many reattacks as the natural movement will allow (normally 6-8 strikes if the opponent doesn't do a second attack) but is "interrupted" by the attack of the initial opponent. As such, the defender has to get the feedback from the attacker that it is now time to swap from "reattack" to "defend" mode. This then triggers the next series of movements which the defender undertakes. This ebb and flow of the combat is planned to introduce students to the feeling of feedback and the need to be flexible in terms of whether they are defending or reattacking. This was the first time Ruth had done this exercise and as a consequence, its a bit stuttery. Also, I'm more in "forcing feedback" mode than usual so am a bit heavy. However, pulling the knife at the end was obviously a bad idea even for me ! This "1...1 Random" practise is the stage before continuous flow studies.
91201bed.zip
This is an early attempt into "1...1, Random" practise. Sadly, I don't get much of a chance to do my third move ! This is one of the many problems of teaching Peaceful Fight ie sometimes it is not possible to carry out the objective of the exercise because natural movement cuts across it. This is especially the case when trying to do formal techniques such as discussing pressure point techniques. Striking to a chosen point is only possible within natural movement if it happens to be in range. As such, setting up to hit a specific target is in opposition to this naturalness (and so seldom happens). (We choose to identify the pressure points which are struck in the natural state when going with the flow or have to practise this kind of thing outside of the natural state). In this way even "failures" lead to an increase in knowledge which is the objective of the training in the first place !
91201ded.zip
This was the first attempt at doing "continuous movement" work with Ruth within the system. Yes, we are only going slowly and I'm still in my "heavy feedback" mode but I don't want to get injured during this practise ! Once we have developed this stage (with the necessary control required) then we'll speed it up. You'll notice that for once Ruth is predominately on the defensive and only lands a couple of strikes (even though the final kick to the groin was sufficient for her to claim victory !). This was the first time Ruth had done this and shows how difficult it is to step up straight from the 1..1,2,3,4 drills etc to continuous flow. However, during the melee she was generally maintaining her feedback and dealing with attacks as they came. This is the important thing within this practise. To win without learning anything would have been of little value. There will be more continuous flow videos going up fairly soon to show the changes which occur with increased familiarisation with this "ebb and flow" mode training.
161201eed.zip 161201fed.zip 161201ged.zip 161201hed.zip
You'll notice on the Technical Questions pages a number of items relating to Mark Lashmar from Warrior Escrima. Well, here is your chance to see him in the flesh ! This series of videos were taken during his recent visit when he was kind enough to come over to discuss knife defences / attack methods with us. Ruth, Steve and I took him through a bit of natural movement followed by a bit of 1..1,2,3,4 before he cut us to ribbons with his knife work ! Mark has very fast hand speed (as you would expect from an Escrimador) but driven in a slightly different way from the Peaceful Fight route. As a consequence, you'll see different movements coming out driven more by top body work rather than solely centre driven. In version 161201hed.zip, Steve (Hodges) tries to counter this top body work with grabbing to the lower body. Gets a bit ragged and, as expected, Mark deals with it well but not a bad strategy for Steve to try based on "what he thought might work at the time". Overall though, the videos show the quality of Escrimadors from Pete's club and highlights why every serious martial artist should become more acquainted with Escrima. Hopefully Mark will be coming over again in the New Year so that we can continue do cross training (and for him to raise even more questions !).
rg9aed2.zip rg9aed3.zip
A couple more bits from Ruth's second grade. In rg9aed2 it shows flow and feedback work with Steve, with Ruth trying to "disappear" whenever Steve tries to grab / push. Works well overall especially when you consider the height / weight advantage that Steve has. Appears like a bit of a weedy ending of the technique by Ruth but that's because she's consciously trying not to drop her body weight through her knee into Steve's ribs ! Such a caring student ! In rg9aed3, you'll see Ruth getting feedback during 1..1,Random training and reattacking when appropriate. Compare this against 251109 (above) which was Ruth's first attempt at this exercise and you'll see the improvement in her movement / flow. Chooses the right time to reattack and also reasonable targets.
130102aed.zip 130102bed.zip 200102ced.zip
These videos try to show the effects of connecting all moves to the centre (and ultimately to the energy of the dantien). The difference in instruction between the two movement types is that in centre movement it's a physical move. The centre moves very subtly in or out of its balance point and so optimises the effect of any defence / strike. This movement of centre should however not result in a total loss of balance or even the "fright" of falling which only serves to cloud the mind (and stop energy flow). Some of the video is a bit stuttery as each of the students "self check" the moves. Ideally the centre moves smoothly, parallel to the ground (unless the student wishes to follow an opponent down, where the centre is moved downwards without bending the body)
Once it is possible to maintain the centre movement (and so be free to move without any mental distraction) it is then possible to shift the movement to energy driven movement. In this energy driven movement state, all movement is initiated via the link between the mind intent and qi in the dantien. Choosing the intuitively "right move" has already been achieved during tension driven movement training. So the exercise is to envisage the qi in the dantien as a swirling ball (or however else the student wants to envisage it) then "ripple" this ball very slightly in the way of the intuition chosen move. This ripple then links to the striking hand / foot and drives / pushes it towards the target. In this mode, you'll find that the laogong point (or other contact point between yourself and the opponent) is energised after each move. I'm sure you can see the benefits of this movement / energy transfer for both the martial and healing realms. I've used this system to remove energy blockages and also reinforce sites of deficiency in patients. All a matter of getting the mind / body / energy connection (which is what this exercise is designed to do).
200102aed.zip 200102bed.zip
As you have probably noticed, much of the martial work within Peaceful Fight is practised at short distance. It is sometimes suggested that training at this minimum range gets you ready for any distance of fighting as you have to be extra quick to survive. I disagree as speed itself is not what determines whether you get hit or not. Timing is what makes the difference. So, it is important to be "acclimatised" to fighting at every range. This was Ruth's first work with longer range attacks. We deliberately reduced the number of reattacks during this practise but would in real life be linked to the normal 6-7 strikes / second rule.
260602d.zip
Tension driven movement is one of the first exercises all students have to work through. It gives an easy measure of feedback to allow an answer to the question "what should I do now". Sean had been working for about an hour when this set of moves came out. He had been prone to giving Ruth too much distance or limiting himself to moves he already knew from his previous training (and so again, giving her a chance if it was a dynamic situation rather than a training exercise). This was probably the first one when he just "let it happen" and the final takedown is very much within the way of movement of the system.
190602a.zip
The basic rationale within knife fighting is always to run away. It's grim death that you are staring at and if you continue to stand there, be sure you are fighting for a really good reason. If it's macho posturing that is keeping you there, that's really not a good enough reason for spilling your insides onto the pavement. If the Dao says "run", then get sprinting.
However, martial arts can't ignore the fact that sometimes you can't run and have to fight against weapons. Knifes (and other stabbing / slashing weapons) are easy to get hold of and so must be high on the list of items you might have to face. The Peaceful Fight view on fighting against weaponry is that you have to allow your mind to recognise that the knife / weapon is there and also allow it to do all of the necessary calculations to get you away from instant death whilst not trying to "force" your mind to move in a different way than it wants to. Putting it another way, your brain recognises the knife as being deadly and, when you link with the Dao, will take every necessary action to evade / control the knife and destroy the attacker. However, if you deliberately try to control the knife, your movements will be clumsy (and so less effective). In this demo, Ruth attacks to stab me from close range (12" away) into the stomach. My movement is exactly the same as always (ie shake the waist and connect with chaos) but you'll notice that my actual body movement (which is normally forward with hands free to strike) is different. My centre moves itself around the knife and the movement grabs and restrains the attacking arm. It's not planned, but the Dao / chaos has lead me to do this move in order that I don't die. The rest of the move just unfolds after that in its usual manner, eventually disarming the opponent.
190602b.zip
This video shows some of Ruth's basic floor fighting / restraint work. In this case, we decided to start where the opponent is armed (in this case with a knife) from a neutral position when both have gone to the ground but have broken apart. Yes, she would normally try to get up and run off but this is an artificial position ! Essentially, basic floor fighting is destined to maintain the contact with the centre and to move the centre in order to overpower / restrain / strike your opponent. If you just use muscle power (eg to punch) then you are only using the muscles of the striking limb and they will never be sufficient (especially is you are underneath. See Marc MacYoung's "Floorfighting" book for more details of the mechanical limitations you encounter in this position). By moving from the centre, balance is maintained and so body mass can be used at maximum effectiveness. Aiming to place all of this centre over the shoulders or hips gives control with finishes generally centring on control of the head / neck or testicles. Midway through this fight (when I'm in the prone position) Ruth has grabbed me by the ear before manoeuvring herself on top. Eventually she locks everything up and finishes it with a few head strikes to the floor.
260602a.zip
A old friend of mine, Sean Poole, has started training and me and Ruth took him through some of the concepts etc of the system. I first met and taught Sean during my time at Hok Koon and he had trained there for 3 years at the time of this video. He was a stand out student at Hok Koon, very dedicated, with a lot of natural talent and a very good attitude. He always studied hard to perfect the Hok Koon way and also helped the seniors with items both outside of the club (eg helping moving things or decorating etc) and inside of it (helping to teach etc). I'm glad to have him available to train with Ruth and to bring his own ideas into Peaceful Fight. In this video, I was showing the differences between using the arm / upper body to do the work and using the centre instead.
260602b.zip
Every now and again, Ruth pulls out what can only be described as a truly graceful move, totally aligned with the Dao. At these moments, there is nothing within the move for me to complain about. This work with Sean is one of those moments. I'm very lucky to have her as a student.
260602d.zip
Ruth never fails to surprise me during training. Here she is working with Sean on tension driven movement. At the end, she pulls off a fine piece of unexpected work, executing a strike to the back to get Sean moving and then (thankfully) restraining herself from kicking his legs away as be fell forward (but you can see that that is the move she's thinking about). Would have been a very nasty finish (limited breakfall options available) but shows how she continues to develop as the weeks go on.
040802a.zip
Ian Richards (a new student with no previous martial arts training) has started at the club and here is some footage from his third week of training working on feedback with Sean. The feedback we were working on was the release of externally applied tension (eg via a push or in this case from a limb higher than the defender). Sean works well to use Ian's "mistake" of bearing down to his advantage. After completion of the move, we discussed the merits of Sean's final push away of the opponent and decided that further attack / restraint would have been more effective (as it gives less opportunity for the opponent to continue).
040802b.zip
Although I always advocate running away if someone draws a knife, it's not always possible and sometimes the draw is at short (rather than minimum) range. Here, Ian and Sean work through an attack at this short range using the same concepts that apply during open hand work ie you let subconscious mind do all of the "extra calculations" about the fact he has a knife and just do the waist shake as normal. Might sound like a recipe for disaster but the unconscious mind will protect you sufficiently in this situation if you allow it to (so in my particular case, it means that the subconscious leads me to grab / restrain the knife hand which is something that I never do in open hand work. The subconscious mind only "makes me" do this grab because it is the right thing to do, not because I'm letting my conscious mind think about or concentrating specifically on the knife).
040802c.zip
Another weapon that is trialled early on in Peaceful Fight is the bat. In this case, Ian's defence highlights some of the difficulties that early students have with driving the system correctly. Here, although the defence against the bat is successful, the lead is more with the hands than the centre. As the move progresses, this leads to a loss of balance which, in this case, is not too important (as the opponent is on the floor) but could have more serious implications. Ian worked on this balance issues over the week and was significantly improved during the next lesson (shown in the next videos).
110802a.zip
Here Ian shows his improved movement from the centre (so retaining better balance). The exercise was to be able to close distance with an opponent from outside the opponent's reach by "bouncing" attacks along the arm before moving into head / body shots. This gives a good lead in and serves to disrupt the body's energy system prior to arrival at short range. Peaceful Fight works at ~ 5-6 strikes / second at "real" speed so ideally the student must try to move the centre from beyond the opponents reach to wherever it is supposed to end up within 1/6th of a second. Here Ian travels the distance well. He still shows an undesirable amount of lead with the arm but in this case moves the centre successfully so as to retain balance.
110802b.zip
Talking about the speed of the system, one of the the reasonings behind the use of the unconscious state is to allow sufficient speed to counteract any attack. Probably the fastest attacks that students will encounter in open hand work is where an opponent has a predetermined strategy of attacking with a double (or possibly triple) hand combination. To be able to defend this successfully, the practitioner must be in the unconscious state whilst performing. Here, Sean shows successful defences against these double attacks by using the waist shake to "trigger" the unconscious state in a relaxed manner.