Hock Seminar

Man, was this a blast! We started about 10am, with an hour for lunch, and went to about 430pm. The focus started with multiple assailants & moved into such concepts as hyper-extensions with weapon disarms & recoveries at the end.


The multiple assailants part really stuck with me. You are "attacked" by three people whose purpose is to prevent you from getting to the door at the other end of the room. You start off surrounded by them & any manner of grabs/pushes are fair game. All they have to do is take you down & it's over. According to Hock, I am only the second person ever at one of his seminars to escape successfully.


The trick, he said, is that I didn't try to fight off three people at once - like many other martial artists do - I just tried to get out of there. I would advocate anyone else do the same. Heck, I'd say try it the next time you have a bunch of people together! It's valuable to get used to the "panic" feeling. Believe me, that's exactly what happens when you're trying to escape - even when the "attackers" are your friends.


Another tactic we went over is when you're actually knocked down & multiple people are kicking you. Now, we only did light taps instead of rib-busting kicks but the freaked-out feeling is still there. Trying to get up when everything is in your face like that can be intimidating. Try it & you'll see what I mean.


The weapon disarms/recoveries were tough but valuable. There are plenty of tricks to prevent a person from overpowering your weapon away. This is particularly useful for women, who may be at risk of a large assailant believing he can easily disarm them. With practice in this area, that attacker will be sorely disappointed.


The joint manipulation part - with hyper-extensions - was fun but required the most coordination. The part where we had to practice capturing the stick weapon was particularly painful. You catch it under your arm & trap. The person with the weapon then cranks your arm over the top, using the stick you just caught as a lever to take you down. Hard.


Overall, a great experience that I'd recommend for anyone with self-defense in mind. It's harsh, there's some pain & you can be beaten by overwhelming force or just bad luck.


Just like real life, come to think of it...