To Spar on not to Spar

It's a perennial question in the martial arts world and one that continues to ignite debate. In some places it also seems to have become an indicator of whether your art is effective or not, if it is "alive" - ie you work against a "resisting opponent"

Sparring in the generally accepted sense means two people, usually with some form of protective gear, working within a sports-based ruleset over a set period of time or rounds. Adherents to this method point to benefits such as technique development, good stamina and working under pressure as the main benefits to be gained. But are there drawbacks to this kind of sparring as well? I think there are and, depending on your training goals they can have a negative influence on your development

First let me say that I'm not of the "too deadly to spar" school. This is often used as an excuse to never engage in any type of work outside of a fixed response pattern, which even at basic levels of training is of very limited value.  On the other hand there are of course real safety factors to consider and no-one would suggest we regularly break each other in training in the name of "realism"

But if your goal is to study self-protection , sports-based sparring is of limited value. To begin with look at the range and set-up of sparring vs fight. Actual fight range is very close - I'm talking about a person intent on causing serious harm here rather than arguing or a pushing match. When a person is in the mindset of wanting to knock your block off they close in very quick. They want to punch, grab, bite, It's a very different experience from touching gloves then maintaining a safe distance while you feel each other out.

There is a psychological aspect to consider too. A highly agitated and aggressive person is acting off of primal instinct rather than a carefully though out strategy. That in itself can be overwhelming and needs to be prepared for.

We must also take into account environmental factors. Sparring takes place on mats or in a similar "safe" area. Real life incidents can happen anywhere at any time. As I write this outside it's dark, cold and icy. Not ideal conditions. You may be seated, on a bus, with family or friends.  There is your own condition to consider too - you could be injured, tired, drunk (shurely not!) or feeling on top of the world

In short there are countless variable factors to any situation, and we haven't even mentioned weapons or groups yet. None of these factors are replicated in the conventional "sparring" situation. One more thing to think about is that the sparring experience replicates only a very specific moment of any situation - the actual physical  hitting/grappling part. If we are serious about self-protection we need a wide range of awareness and observation skills, how to read people, good communication skills not to mention a reasonable understanding of legal and associated issues.

I feel that to just train in conventional sparring is not sufficient to develop good self-protection skills. But with a little work we can get the benefits of good sparring while avoiding the pitfalls. An easy way to do this is to run goal-based sparring sessions. These can be as simple or as involved as you like. On a simple level give one person two minutes to get through a door and the other person has to prevent them  doing so. You can add in other conditions as neccesary to simulate different situations

This can develop into very sophisticated drills, such as the ones put together by Ed and Rory at this year's training camp, which put people through a range of physical and emotional challenges. As they ably demonstrated real self-protection work isn't all about being "tough" and charging through everything like a bear with a toothache, it is about having the skills to assess a situation and react accordingly. It's not often how self-defence is "sold" - people like an easy answer or a "no fail technique" that will get them out of trouble. The truth is unfortunately more involved than that, even the simple solution of giving someone a slap can have consequences way beyond the original situation.

So to spar? Yes -  but with conditions. As with all training be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the drill. Having a good ground grappling session helps develop skills and is a good workout (probably the most real you can get without injury).  Gloving up and having a spar is good for hitting and getting hit, movement and developing tenacity. For instructors who run these drills - every now and then throw something different into the mix. Three people boxing instead of two. Chuck a knife to one of the grapplers. At least that will keep your people on their toes and stop them getting too "sparring" fixated. To take it beyond that start working the type of drill mentioned earlier, keep it safe, keep it challenging and keep it grounded in reality and personal experience - then sparring becomes a useful tool

Man and Superman

Admit it -  I bet when you were a kid you were tempted to send off for a pair of those X-Ray Glasses in the comics. The desire for "super-human" powers is universal, old as time and is still an area ripe for entertainment, trickery, scientific study, pseudo-science, manipulation and marketing.

Sales of comic books and movie spin-offs are at an all time high, we all enjoy Spidermanm, the X-Men and co. Magicians and mentalists such as Derren Brown are doing very well too. Running parallel to that is the NLP / psychology  industry which has made huge inroads into the corporate market.

The martial arts world has always been fertile ground for superhuman feats. Every culture has its myths and legends, from Achilles to Cuchulain to Mu Lan to King Arthur. Many martial art styles have roots in mystic practices - Shaolin temple, ninjitsu, Zen monks. They often talk about developing "superhuman" powers. Traditionally these might inlcude things such as - light body skills (the ability to jump high distances from a standing start), poison hand/ dim mak (the ability to kill with a touch),  telekenesis (the ability to move people or objects with the power of the mind), telepathy (the ability to read others' thoughts) and so on. In  popular culture martial arts masters are able to display any or all of the above thanks to years of rigorous training in their respective disciplines.

Given that it is no suprise to find that the promise of "superhuman powers" is often used to bait a commercial hook. A casual glance around the internet will bring you the secrets of the "no touch kockout", "iron shirt" to make you immune to blades, "short range telepathy" and similar claims

So do these things exist? Are there really people who can read your thoughts and kill you with a mere touch? In recent history both major superpowers obviously thought it was an area worth investigating. The USA set up groups like the Stargate Project, the Soviets had similar programs running  (in fact the book Experiments in Mental Suggestion discusses research as far back as the 1920s). As you might expect from the Cold War era  it is difficult to draw definite conclusion from amongst the fog of secrecy, competition, desire for funding and   mis-information. However I can't help feeling that if anything truly substantial had been achieved we would have had some kind of trickle-down effect by now

On a more personal level over the past 30 years I've experienced a wide range of teachers, some of whom claimed "special powers". In fact some of whom built their whole persona around those powers. So I've seen most of the no-contact people, a few ninjas and various type of chi-power exponents.  In 100% of cases where  their powers were heavily promoted,  I thought their work was totally explainable through mundane psychology. They were very good at leading, establishing rapport, cold reading and so on. In even less savoury cases they were very skilled at manipulating the psyche of their students through what could probably best be described as "grooming". Of course there are a few Youtube clips of what happens when these teachers try and work with someone who hasn't been through the process - with predictable results!

On the other hand I've met a few people who demonstrated interesting skills not so easily explainable. The big difference was these skills manifested in normal situations rather than as a show-piece. No attention was drawn to them, they weren't presented as anything special. No money changed hands either! 

Now when I say not so easily explainable I'm not talking about a supernatural experience here - I've never seen anyone levitate, knock someone out with no contact or explode a chicken from 6 feet! The skills were more in the area of awareness and ability to interact on various levels with other people. This for me, points  to the fact that some of these so-called "superhuman" powers are in fact very "human". They are simply outside the range of what we use everyday.

Let's take a simple example, the hunter who lives and works in the forest, the commuter who works in the city. Switch environments and both will struggle. The commuter in the forest will not be able to predict the coming change in weather, see animal tracks, pick up the distant scent of woodsmoke. To the city dweller these may appear to be "superhuman" abilities (Crocodile Dundee) when in fact they are the result of training, experience and finely honed natural senses.

You can apply the same thing to human interaction. Those of you who trained at our Body Language Workshop recently will now be able to pick out some good indicators of stressful behaviour. When you get good at this you can amaze people by telling them what they are thinking in some circumstances. It isn't telepathy - you aren't literally getting a word flash up in your mind - but you can "read" them through the physical indicators. Refine that skill to a higher level and you can understand how some people disappear from view, confuse you into forgetting your name and all the other things that a skilled operator or  "mentalist" can achieve.  That's not to say there isn't trickery involved in stage mentalism though, as anyone who has seen my "mind reading" routines will know!

So "superhuman" abilities are a fantasy. Either the wishful thinking of someone wanting to be a lot more than they are, or the bait on a hook to reel in the vulnerable and gullible. Developed human potential is something esle altogether - but even then this development takes part alongside regualr training, it grows alongside the "bread and butter" skills. To sell it as some sort of instant "add-on" is also misleading in my view. There is also an issue of potential harm for anyone undergoing some types of training without adequate qualified supervision, that applies equally for physical and psychological work

I guess the old adage applies at the end of the day "if it sounds too good to be true, it is"

I'll leave you with a story I heard about an instructor up in Manchester. There was a local Ninja who was offering to teach the "secrets of invisibility".  Out of interest the instructor  visited the class and the results were less than spectacular. A few weeks later the instructor was in a local pub and saw the nija talking to a girl. He went over to the table, ignored the ninja and started chatting up the girl. The ninja gave an indignant "oi mate!". The instructor turned and said "sorry mate, I didn't see you there!"  Classic....

PS  if anyone out there feels they can demonstrate powers of telepathy, non-contact work or the like please do get in touch -  as long as I can film whatever goes on I'm happy to give it a try.

STRUCTURE AND FORM DVD

To develop skills in martial arts or any sport you need a good understanding of your body's form and structure. Without this you will never develop true strength or efficient power and may even run the risk of short or long term injury
This DVD shows the importance of posture, how to develop good spinal alignment, the use of the hips for low impact running, how to maintain good form under pressure and more. There is also a bonus section from the 2010 Training Camp on the use of circles and lines in hand-to-hand work and how joint rotation assists in both absorbing and developing power

Running time 1 hour 45 min, available at our store

It's All in the Game

It's not uncommon to hear martial artists talking about a "game plan". Most times this concept relates to combat sports - where, of course, it makes perfect sense. You study your opponent, figure out his strengths and weaknesses, compare them to your own and work out a strategy accordingly. The strategy will also take into account the ruleset - is striking allowed, kicks or not, gi or no gi and so on

However it is also a concept your hear in relation to fighting or self-defence in general. It tends to take a slighty different form in different cases. Sometimes it is a general style strategy - so styles will specialize in high kicks, or close-in striking, or throws, for example

In other cases it relates to technique and mindset. In the RBSD styles it might be that palm heel strikes and axe hands delivered with plenty of aggression and "forward drive" are the preferred strategy

There may be something to be said for such an approach. Perhaps all your work is very specific - you only ever fight on a narrow boat, or you are primarily concerned only with the specific 10 seconds of a particular kind of street encounter. But I also feel there is a concomitant drawback, along the lines of the old saying "if all you have is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail". so why not look at the broader picture? Everyone says "how you train is how you fight" so what happens when the circumstances aren't suited to your strategy?

One of the great strengths of Systema is that from day one the situation dictates the tactics. A new guy in class commented the other week how in a previous school he was constantly "corrected" when deflecting a punch (his hand was not quite in the right place apparently), despite the fact he was succeeding at not getting hit.

It's when you get the approach of form over function that problems begin. Not that form is unimportant - sound body mechanics can only improve efficiency and power. But if these principles of movement become frozen into some kind of ideal they become not just useless but potentially dangerous.

Another guy said to me this week that when he studied a previous art he was more concerned about getting all the postures and moves correct than anything else. So straight away you are introducing tension into the training - but not in a good way. It is tension purely related to how well you are "performing".

Systema is liberating - you learn to move and exist in the moment, not in someone else's idea of "perfection", not in an urban commando fantasy and certainly not by shoe-horning your favourite "skillz" into the situation. This manifests in training by all the work we do in different circumstances - restricted space, seated, in cars, outdoors etc. I've noticed an interesting recent trend of other styles starting to do this now. Once you understand the physical and psychological principles of any type of conflict you can learn to apply them to suit the current situation.

There is an important psychological aspect to this approach too. First, you have to stop worrying about what to do and just do it. Working slowly helps you to sort this out. It also gives you an opportunity to refine your work and make it "cleaner". For more on this please see Steve Wildash's excellent blog

Working under increasing levels of stress and pressure will help you understand your true reactions and how you operate from that point. You have to start from where you are! Again, with time, understanding and a bit of guidance you will refine your work.

You also have to understand the concept of acceptance. It sounds glaringly obvious, but you have to accept whatever is happening to you and be comfortable with it. I don't mean that you have to like it or that you do nothing to prevent it, but you have to accept the realities of the situation you are in.

It's not uncommon for people to mentally freeze in the face of danger - they simply can't process the information, or can't accept that it is happening to them. More than once I've heard someone say "Why did he hit me?" when it was quite apparent that the hit was coming to everyone watching.

So you have to learn to park your ego, this is what being comfortable means. It's all very well and quite natural to get angry and upset about what is happening, but unless you learn to channel that emotional response in a useful way it will do you no good. In fact a skilled manipulator can use emotional responses as a handle in all sorts of ways.

This is why it is important in training to undergo all the unpleasantness of being hit, locked, thrown, squashed, rolling through mud and all the rest of it. After the event you get up, brush yourself down and carry on. Some people see this type of training as brutalising - and done in a certain way it certainly can be. But the Systema approach is about understanding sensations, not deadening them. It is important to maintain awareness to truly learn.

As a side note, I mentioned in class last week that this concept applies both ways in training. In other words, in a drill you feed in the movement to your partner but not your response. In martial arts it's not uncommon to see "tori" feed in the punch a foot away from the head and then fall or stay perfectly still because he is "supposed to". We don't really have that notion of tori and uke in Systema, your reaction should be natural and appropriate to the drill. Once you get into free play you are responsible for your own safety - your partner should never feel the need to pull a strike. If it hits you then you need to move better! If your structure is severely compromised you can try and fight it (which may mean injury if working at speed) or you can roll or fall out. It's not "right or wrong" it's purely self protection.

Awareness also brings questioning - of ourselves and others - and again this is a very important aspect of Systema training. Some of the best sessions have come about as a result of people asking questions and sharing experiences in class. Nothing or no-one is beyond question and I've yet to meet anyone with all the answers (though I know a couple of guys with more than most!)

If you maintain this attitude you will find you can learn from anyone and everything. Some people feel they are victims and go through life suffering and struggling. In fact this became one of my biggest beefs with my previous training - it seemed to me to be all about suffering and bitterness. Systema is about problem solving and seeing the opportunities in hardships.

Of course it's all easy to write and talk about, much harder to constantly acheive. But that is why we practice! Not to be the "best", or the toughest, not to impress or dazzle people with our little tricks, but simply to make life's road a little easier to travel.

Autumn 2010 Class Clip

I Have a Theory....

In class recently and on the Summer Camp I have referenced the idea of three brains, or Triune Brain Theory (TBT). Before we get into that, just a quick word on theories in general.
I've observed that a theory is like getting new a coat. You buy a new coat and you want to wear it around town, show it off, let everyone see your nice new coat. A year later you are walking the dog in it. Two years later you are doing the gardening in it.  So when we hear of a new theory we find ways to drop it into conversation, put it into training, it becomes a prism through which we view our activities. Over time the idea either fades or becomes so ingrained in our work we don't really notice it any more

Theories help us to understand intellectually how things work (for example the role of the amygdala in fear control). But it is even more important to have a physical understanding and then feed that into the survival response. A balance must be struck  between the emotional / logical/ instinctive - that way a good theory will soak into our practice and become a natural part of our work. 

OK, having got that out of the way, let's look at Triune Brain theory. It was developed by  leading neuroscientist Dr Paul Maclean in the 1960s.  According to TBT three distinct brains emerged successively in the course of evolution and now co-inhabit the human skull. These three parts of the brain have  numerous neuro pathways through which they influence one another. This interplay of memory and emotion, thought and action is the foundation of a person’s individuality. Dr Maclean detailed the three brains as follows:

Reptilian Brain
The oldest of the three,  comprising the brainstem and the cerebellum. It controls the body's vital functions such as heart rate, breathing, body temperature and balance. It is the repetitive, mechanical part of the brain, operating on instinctThere is nothing wrong with enthusiasm for something new - an enquiring mind is a healthy thing. But we should be aware of grabbing every new idea that comes along as the latest "big thing" then, in a few months time, gravitating to the next shiny idea.

Limbic System or Mammalian Brain
Emerged in the first mammals, comprising the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the hypothalamus. It records memories of behaviours and is the primary seat of emotion, attention, and affective (emotion-charged) memories.  The limbic brain is the seat of value judgments

Neocortex
First assumed importance in primates and culminated in the human brain with its two large cerebral hemispheres. MacLean refers to the cortex as "the mother of invention and father of abstract thought". In Man the neocortex takes up two thirds of the total brain mass. The cortex is divided into left and right hemispheres. The left half controls the right side of the body and the right side of the brain the left side of the body. Also, the right brain is more spatial, abstract, musical and artistic, the left  more linear, rational, and verbal. The neocortex is flexible and has almost infinite learning capabilities

That, in a nutshell is Triune Brain Theory. Using it we can broadly think of three areas of the brain - the instinctive, the emotional and the logical. There is communication beween the three, but at any one time one mind can "take over" and submerge the other two.

Now the Bad News
TBT gained widespread acceptance amongst psychologists, psychiatrists and various other students of human behaviour. Neuro-biologists, however, have been less enamoured of the theory and there are various debates and discussions for, against,  or somewhere in-between. Current theories still support the basic separation, however the models have come a long way since MacLean's time - an internet search will show the latest thoughts and research

For me the value of the theory is as a systemic way of thinking about the cause of behaviour. It may be a simplification of the mechanical processes going on in the brain (of which we still know so little), but  TBT is very usable as a "map" for our purposes

Training and Reality
TBT fits nicely onto how we train, how we react to things in everyday life and our actions in a threatening situation. If, for the moment, we stick with the simplification of logic, emotion and instinct:

When learning something we are engaging our logical facilities. We are finding out what fits where, how does this move,  what happens if I do that. The ideal conditions for this type of learning are to be comfortable, not rushed, low pressure. It's basic common sense and generally how we are taught any new skill, be it physical or mental

In everday life we tend to live in our emotional brain. We smile when we see friends, swear at the driver who overtakes us, think about what's for dinner, buy your wife some flowers (actually that's a survival tip...). In terms of training we become emotional when things aren't going our way (we get upset or give up), we want to show off,  or we step outside the drill in order to "win"
Our instinct level is running under the surface all the time and gives you the occasional nudge (feel hungry, need to pee, feel tired). Under real pressure it can override the other two - usually in the guise of fight or flight. In severe cases it triggers survival instinct which can  lead to people acheiving feats they would never normally consider possible. For example  the trapped climber who amputated his own arm to escape certain death - a perfect fusion of survival and logic.

In our training  each "mind" has a role to play,  but the two that we should focus on the most are the logical and the survival. The first for learning, the second for testing. When engaged in testing work we should neither be too focussed on the "hows and whys" nor should we be working with anger or pride, but just letting the work develop.  Just like touching the hot kettle  - no thought, no emotion, just pure instinct to protect

There has to be balance though.  I first became aware of TBT around 15 years ago during my researches into the Chinese  Internal styles of fighting. Teachers like Erle Montaigue tied TBT in with the shamanistic aspects of those styles. In other cases it was there but couched in traditional / cultural terms. There are several intense practices that teach you to quickly access the so-called  "killer" mindset. They mostly involve  people putting  themselves into  trance-like states in order activate the "reptilian"  predatory aspect of the brain (hence the preponderance of tigers, snakes, dragons etc in some martial arts ).  There are many risks attached to this type of training and you have to wonder if it is really suitable or desirable for modern everyday life. Even in modern battle, harking back to tales of Viking "berserkers" Dr Jonathan Shay wrote

"If a soldier survives the berserk state, it imparts emotional deadness and vulnerability to explosive rage to his psychology and permanent hyperarousal to his physiology — hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder in combat veterans. My clinical experience with Vietnam combat veterans prompts me to place the berserk state at the heart of their most severe psychological and psychophysiological injuries.^"    
Achilles in Vietnam

In order to maintain balance  the mammalian brain should still  be present in training -  in terms of compassion (not breaking our training partners), the social aspect (having a good laugh, being supportive of our colleagues) and in learning from each other - everyone is a teacher and a learner in class. Where it has no place is in terms of ego, pride and status, these are all counter-productive to training.

Survival
Training drills should be designed to stimulate one or more of the three minds. Something as simple as a slap in the face can be used to elicit an understanding of emotional response. Drills should be carefully organised to provide a comprehensive and progressive path from logical step-by-step gathering of knowledge through to adding in emotional and social/psychological factors through to various forms of  pressure testing to stimulate instinctive response.

 Activating the survival instinct is a challenging area of training, both for the instructor and those taking part. It is very easy for people under pressure to "stick" in the emotional mind - especially when you begin non-goal orientated sparring. It is important that the people taking part understand this. Of course an instructor is there to supervise the session but remember one of the key principles of Systema - know yourself.  Every drill is an opportunity to observe yourself in laboratory conditions and understand how you react to different stimuli. That self-knoweldge gives you the power to ensure your response is relevant and applicable to the situation. In short, you learn that you are responsible for your own behaviour.

Emotional Intelligence
There is another theory that states when we are put under  pressure we revert emotionally to a point at which we suffered extreme stress in the past. For most of us that is an incident in childhood. So people who get very emotional can return to a much younger level of emotional intelligence. You might expect a child of two to cry if he drops his ice cream. If a man of 35 did the same you would think something was wrong. Yet people behave in this way more than you might think - keep an eye out and you will see what a mean. Emotional intelligence is just another term for "know yourself". Once you become  self-aware you will become more aware of others and, as we covered in our recent body language workshop,  your communication skills will improve drastically.  For professional people this is extremely imnportant - there are a few Youtube clips showing examples of emotional brain taking over from the logical /professional  which of course leads to problems for all those involved

Don't think that "pressure" means a mugging or ninja attack. It can be as mundane as reading something on a forum - take a look around at the countless heated  arguments on every type of forum that degenerate into insult or "challenges".  If you can be that upset by somethng so inconsequential, what does that say for your self defence capabilities? Be aware of how your mindstate can be influenced. Advertising is the prime everday  example of stimulating an emotional response in order to sell (aspirational, status, conforming to the crowd, sad piano music, fancy terminology,  highlighting a fear, etc). Skilled people (or sometimes just annoying ones!) can do the same thing - be aware of it
This is a  simple view of a deep subject, but then again it doens't have to be overly complicated for our purposes. Just be aware in training which "brain" you are in. Over a period of time that awareness will extend out to rest of your activities, in the same way that the physical aspects also do. In a short space of time you will become much more aware and tolerant of the people around you - and more tolerance can only be a good thing.

Leicester Camp 2010

Last weekend saw the first weekend camp organised by the Leicester Systema group. For me it was a nice change - in the past I've organised camps myself  whereas this time I was guesting, which meant I was also able to observe the drills and participants a lot of the time.  I'll run through the format of the camp first then offer some thoughts and observations

Friday afternoon saw everyone arriving and pitching camp. We had use of a farm on the outskirts of Leicester, far enough out of town to be rural but close enough to be accesible. Most the of the participants were local, but some came from as far afield as Kent, Herts and Notts. First job was to get tents pitched (these ranged from a simple tarp against a fence to large efforts complete with double bed and shower!)
Then fire pits were dug and wood gathered. While everyone enojyed a brew (why does it always taste better from a camp fire?) Rory and Ed took everyone through the plan for the weekend and orientation of the site. The main theme for the training was to be psychological work. Participants were told they would be put through various types of pressure over the camp and the ground rules were laid out to ensure productive and safe training for all

It was just starting top get dark so we began the first session. As the emphasis was on the psyche after a warm-up I took the group through the basics of using the breath to help control fear and tension. I then explained how the brain operates under stress and  how we can move between three states - the logical, the emotional and the survival. The role of each in training and in real life was explored through some further drills before taking the group into some deep striking methods in order to prepare them for the work ahead.

Time for another brew and a quick bite to eat and we were off for the first major exercise. This was to be in an urban setting, so it was a quick drive into town. The group was split into two teams and the role and aims of each explained. One group was basic operating as surveillance on the other, each with specific tasks to accomplish. The exercise took place in and around a large park and adjacent industrial area, which led to some interesting interactions! Myself, Ed and  acted as observers and it was interesting to see the two groups at work sometimes unaware of the other (and us!). On conclusion of the exercise a few hours later it was back to camp for a nightcap and beans before bed

Saturday morning - glorious weather and after breakfast and a warm-up it was time for my next session. This time I took the group through body structure, in particular the use of the straight line and circle / sphere in hand-to-hand work.  Also, keeping with the psychological theme I emphasised once again the "three brain" theory and how it relates to practice and real-life application

Following lunch break the group was divided into four teams for the next exercise. Three of the groups were to work on the "firing range"  - with air rifle, bows, etc - while the other group were takne up to the deserted farmhouse for the main exercise. This took the form of an intense psychological test - I won't reveal any more details as some of you may wish to try it in the future and in any event the test is about the experience rather than reading about it. Each of the groups was rotated up to the old farm in turn and also got the chance to experience the exercise from different angles

By now it was late afternoon so while the food was prepared the group was prepped for the night exercises ahead. This involved another short drive to a different site and a cross country trek to an old abandoned railway line deep in the woods. Ed took the group through a PT session, making full use of the surroundings, and then teams were again formed for the next set of drills. These again were mostly psychological-based, though with a healthy dose of physical interaction! Again I won't go into full detail for the benefit of those who wish to try them in the future. We finished up after mindnight, then it was back to camp to feast on the chicken, lamb and beef that had been roasting in the embers!

Sunday morning - time to clear the site and also, as a favour to the farm owners who so kindly allowed us use of their land, to help with some ragweed clearing and general tidying-up. Following this the group was driven to a local sports centre for the last session and a post-camp "de-brief".  Each of the participants was also presented with a certificate and so the weekend ended!

OBSERVATIONS
It was interesting for me this time to be more "in the shadows" this time rather than teaching and organising all the sessions. First off I was extremely impressed with how the camp was run and structured. Ed and Rory had obviously put a huge amount of work into creating  the various drills together and were ably assisted by their team - including Ash, Gaz, the two army lads Chris and Mike, Michelle and Leanne the farm owner. This meant participants were given some unique experiences outside of the normal realm of what we can practice in class.

In most cases the drills were unknown to me too and were in turn funny, exciting and interesting to watch. The different strategies employed by the participants, their inventiveness in dealing with or creating situations and their determination to keep on going (particularly Tracy) were inspiring to watch and a tribute to their training. The one unplanned incident in itself revealed the participants at their best - how people can pull together as a team, help someone out and then carry on with things as normal. That was very interesting for me as all of a sudden it wasn't training any more, it was real life - and everyone shone.

I hope to get some footage up on Youtube in the next day or so, though as most of the exercises were at night there is not a lot of footage to choose from! Some people also asked for more info on the "brain work" we were discussing, so I will get some relevant links posted up too

Overall - an outstanding camp. As everything went well I'm sure we will have use of the site in future which gives us scope for so many different types of training in the future - so watch this space. Thanks again to Rory and Ed and to everyone who took part, it was a great experience all round!