Fight School

2011-12-01T06:33:00.000-08:00

Bartitsu Seminar at Gallowglass Academy

Our next Bartitsu seminar will be on Saturday January 21, 2012 at the River Valley Complex, 605 Main St, Leaf River, IL (25 miles south-west of Rockford, IL) Cost is $50.00 until January 7, 2012 and $75.00 thereafter.

See our website www.GallowglassAcademy.org for more details or call 815-973-1615.

2011-10-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

Medicine Ball/Playing Card Workouts

As I mentioned in my last post I am trying to add some variety to my regular workouts. I continue to use the new book I bought. I like the short workouts it provides so I can also use my recumbent bike or do martial arts in the same workout.

However, I have also developed two new workout routines by combining a playing card workout with the use of a medicine ball. I have put together a workout for the arms and upper body and one for the abs and legs.

If you are not familiar with using playing cards for a workout the idea is to match each suit of cards with an exercise. You then do the number of reps of each exercise to the number of pips on the card as you come to it in the deck. I do ten reps for each court card and for the ace. If you use a full deck of 52 cards you will get 94 reps per suit. Or you can make the ace 11 reps and go all the way to 95 reps!

Here are the two sets I have put together. Feel free to use these or develop your own.

Arms and Upper body

Clubs - Bench Press
Spades - Overhead Press
Hearts - Bent Over Rows
Diamonds - Curls

Abs and Legs

Clubs - Lunges
Spades - Squats
Hearts - Butt Lift Crunches
Diamonds - Knee Raised Crunches

2011-08-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Trying Out New Workout Book

I bought a used copy of "Strength Training for Muscle Development: A Step by Step Guide" by Mark Hatfield last weekend.

I liked the looks of the book because the author starts by advocating not running out and buying a bunch of weight lifting equipment. Instead he shows how body weight exercises and the use of bottles with water in them can substitute for most of the gear you need to work through the exercises he shows you in the book. He then goes on to show both beginning and more advance exercises. Finally he gives you sets of exercises that can be done together to reach different goals in your weight training.

I have worked through some of the more advanced training he has in the book so far and find I like the simplicity of the exercises and how Hatfield sets them up.

I will make more comments as I do more of the work in the book.

2011-07-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

Young Swashbuckler Class

Gallowglass Academy will be starting a new youth program in September 2011. We will have fencing classes for children 10 to 14 years of age starting Monday September 12, 2011.

See our website at www.GallowglassAcademy.org for details.

2011-06-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Classes at Gallowglass Academy

Utah Concealed Carry Class
Wednesday July 6, 2011 from 6 to 10 PM
Cost $125.00

Bartitsu: The Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes
Saturday July 9, 2011 from 10 am to 5 PM
Cost: $50 until July 1 and $75 thereafter

Young Swashbucklers
Swordfighting classes for 10 to 14 year old children
for seven weeks starting Monday September 12, 2011
Cost: $30 (first class is free)

All classes will take place at the River Valley Center, Room #108, 605 S Main St, Leaf River, IL 61047. More information can be found at www.GallowglassAcademy.org or call 815-973-1615.

2011-05-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Trip to Bloody Lake

My wife and I took a day trip up to Black Hawk Memorial Park in Woodford, WI recently.

The park is the site of the Battle of the Pecatonica River during the Black Hawk War. The battle took place on on June 16, 1832 when Col. Dodge and a small group of militiamen tracked a war party of Kickapoo, who had killed a settler, to a bend in the river. A short hand to hand battle took place with the militiamen killing the Kickapoo. This was considered the first victory by the militia after the battle at Stillman's Run.

We day tripped up to the park by taking County Y, off of WI Rt 81 north of Monroe, WI, to Woodford. Be aware there are no signs for the park until you get to Woodford. Then follow County Y out of Woodford to the park.

We stayed at the park for several hours. Then it started to rain so we headed home. We did not get to the actual memorial of the battle but now that we know how easy it is to get to the site we'll go back again.

2011-04-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

After Action Report from Bartitsu Classes at Oklahoma Steampunk Expo

Marc Adkins had originally made contact with the folks running this event with a suggestion of offering Barttisu related programming. My wife and I thought it would be interesting to take a road trip to Oklahoma City, even though it is a good 15 hour drive from northern Illinois, so we sent in our volunteer application at Marc's request.

Unfortunately, Marc had a major life crisis and had to back out of organizing the programming. By this time a friend of ours had also pitched in to attend the event and had paid for two vendor tables. I then set out to make contact with someone at the event to offer some Bartitsu related classes.

To say the least I was under whelmed by the communications from the event staff. Just about a month before the event I made contact with one of the staff for the event and came to an agreement to offer two class, one on pugilism and one on Vigny's cane. Then just a week before the event another staff member contacted me about the scheduling for the event. She had only been told about one class. She, however, was very prompt in getting both classes on the schedule.

When I arrived at the event I found that the only information about programming was a poorly reproduced and hard to read printout of an Excel file. Both of my classes were scheduled on Saturday, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Marc had made contact with me and turned up as I was getting organized for the first class. No one turned up to participate in the class, the one on pugilism.

I later heard, quite by accident, that at some point during the morning the event staff had pushed the schedule back by an hour. By this time it was too late to find out if anyone had turned up at the later hour for the pugilism class.

I decided to shift gears and put a little bit of pugilism and Vigny cane. in the afternoon class. Marc and I had eight interested parties turn out for the afternoon class. I started with a short introduction about Barttisu and then started in on the pugilism section of the class.

I had time to teach the left lead and rear hand punch. Then showed a simple defense with the rear hand to the left lead by extending the rear arm out to catch the lead hand punch as it came toward the face. I finished the pugilism part of the class by showing a block of the lead hand punch with a rear arm elbow to the lead hand and then come over the lead hand and strike to the nose witha "chopper" (a back fist strike.)

We then moved on to the Vigny stick portion of the class. I showed both the offensive and defensive guards and had the students practice moulinets from both stances. I then taught the No. 2 Vigny defense while in the Rear/defensive guard and the No 4 defense when you only have a light stick.

With about 15 minutes left to the hour class time I showed some locks and throws from pugilism and referred to jujutsu throws. I got some good questions from the group of students and several of them talked to Marc after the class or took my business card.

We were selling both Bartitsu volumes at our vendor table and sold several copies of each.

Once again this proves how difficult it is to organize programming for an event at a distance where you can not talk directly to the event staff. I certainly will not plan on going back to this event if it is offered again by the same staff.

2011-02-07T10:33:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Seminars at Gallowglass Academy

Saturday March 12, 2011 Introduction to European Swordplay
Three sessions of European swordplay;. German Sword and Buckler (I.33), Italian Sword and Buckler and English Single Sword.

Saturday April 23, 2011 Utah CCW Permit class

Saturday May 21, 2011 Se(a)x and Violence: A Writers Workshop

You can find more detailed information at our website www.GallowglassAcademy.org

2011-01-09T08:57:00.000-08:00

2011 Training at Gallowglass Academy?

We are putting together our 2011 calendar of training events. So far we have planned an "Introduction to European Swordplay" seminar in the spring, a Bartitsu seminar in the late summer and possibly a writers conference to talk about and demonstrate "Se(a)x and Violence." Anybody out there have anything else they would like to see offered?

2010-10-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

Utah Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) Permit Training
Saturday January 15, 2011 from 1 to 5 PM
River Valley Complex, 605 S. Main St,
Leaf River, IL 61047, Room 108
with Mark Philpot, Carry Safe Training, Inc.

The class will be taught by Mark Philpot of Carry Safe Training, Inc. Cost will be $125 per person. Registration is limited to ten students, so register early. Registration is through Carry Safe Training at www.carrysafetraining.com

The class is NOT a shooting class. It is the mandatory 4-hour class to allow registration for a Utah CCW permit. Cost for the class includes having fingerprints taken during the class, but does not cover the cost of a required photo and a $65.25 processing fee charged by the State of Utah.

Those who are issued a Utah CCW permit are allowed to carry a concealed weapon in many states of the U.S., but NOT Illinois and Wisconsin. Answers to many questions can be found at the Carry Safe Training website or should be directed to Mark Philpot, carrysafe1@juno.com

2010-10-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

"Viking Mystery" by David Keys

The October 2010 issue of Smithsonian magazine has an interesting article about two mass graves that have been found in England. The graves hold the remains of military age males at the peak of their health. These men may well have been Danish/Viking mercenaries who were ordered to be killed by the Anglo-Saxon king Aethelred the Unready in the 10th Century when he suspected they were going to revolt against him.

You can see more about this article at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/A-Viking-Mystery.html

2010-09-21T06:32:00.000-07:00

Women's Self Defense Class at Gallowglass Academy

We are offering our four hour women's self defense class on Tuesday October 12 and 19, 2010 from 7 to 9 PM.

The class will take place at the River Valley Center (605 S. Main St, Leaf River, IL 61047) in room 108. Registration is $15 per person.

Call 815-973-1064 for more information or to pre-register.

2010-08-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

Playing Card Workout Revisited

Due to some problems with my shoulder I have not been doing a playing card workout for sometime.

This morning I decided to start up with it again. I dug a deck of cards out of storage and sorted them out so I had the two through ten of each suit.

The idea of the workout is to use each card to determine what exercise to do. You pick a set of four exercises (I use push ups, sit ups, Hindu squats and double leg lifts) and match them with a suit of cards. Then you flip each card over and do the number of reps for the number of the pips on each card.

Using the two through ten gives me a total of 54 reps of each exercise. I plan to add the face cards and ace one at a time (each is worth ten reps) over the next few weeks. I will finally end up with 94 reps of each exercise.

2010-08-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Advanced Tomahawk Seminar

Saturday Ocotber 23, 2010 from 10 AM to 5 PM in Leaf River, IL (25 miles from Rockford, IL)

Registration is $50 until October 9th and $75 thereafter

See wwww.GallowglassAcademy.org for more details.

2010-08-15T05:56:00.000-07:00

Solo Weapons Workout

I try and do a weapons only workout from time to time. This last Friday I once again took up Bowie knife and tomahawk for such a session.

I started with a warm up using a flexibility and strengthening workout for the tomahawk based on the one shown in the Cold Steel tomahawk video.

I then moved on to a flourishing (angles of attack) drill with the Bowie knife. For this I would do the flourishes at one end of my basement workout area and then run to the other end where I would do either ten push ups or ten Hindu squats. I did ten (five with the right hand and five with the left hand) sets of flourishes so I ended up doing nine sets of the intermediary exercises.

After the Bowie knife flourishes I did ten sets of flourishes with knife and tomahawk (again five with the right hand and five with the left.) Once I finished the flourishes I worked on short drills with the 'hawk and knife, both right and left side.

I finished with some drills opening a lock blade folder and going into attack mode with reverse/ice pick grip stabs to the "face" of my imaginary opponent. Once again I did these with both my right and left hands.

2010-08-08T06:22:00.000-07:00

Date for Advanced Tomahawk Seminar?

Check your calendar for Saturday October 16th and 23rd. I am planning to put together an Advanced Tomahawk seminar on one of those days and am interested in finding out which day is best for interested students.

You can drop me a note at gallowglassacad@aol.com.

2010-08-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

Class at Highland College

Registration for the next session of "Warrior Spirit" at Highland College in Freeport, IL is now open.

The class will run from Tuesday, September 7 to November 23, 2010 at 8 to 9 PM. Class #PERS 034 ACC (3783)

The class involves learning martial arts moves, weapon work and physical culture.

To register or get more information call 815-599-3612.

2010-08-01T06:14:00.001-07:00

Knife Throwing

I have been working with Ralph Thorn's style of knife throwing based on his DVD from Paladin Press (see review to follow soon.)

Today I went out to my throwing target with two of my throwing knives. I warmed up by tossing first a knife from the right hand and then the left. When I was sticking both knives on a regular basis I switched and threw with the left hand and then the right. I very quickly found myself sticking both knives this way as well. I then worked on throwing both knives at the same time. In short order I was sticking both knives at the same time with this method.

If you are interested in knife throwing I suggest you pick up Ralph's DVD from Paladin. I think you will find the system quick and easy to learn.

2010-07-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

Video Shoot

I did a video shoot on Sunday for the next Gallowglass Academy DVD.

This will be an exercise video using my "Dancing with Swords" set of exercises.

When the DVD is ready for sale I will post information on our website and elsewhere.

2010-06-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Classes at Gallowglass Academy

We have scheduled two classes in July 2010.

Saturday July 10, 1-5 PM, Women's Self Defense

Saturday July 31, 9 AM - 4 PM, Bowie Knife

See our website, www.GallowglassAcademy.org for more details

2010-06-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

Physical Culture at Gallowglass Manor 06/11/2010

Today I did my medicine ball exercise set.

With this set I do a series of seven exercises. I do ten reps of each exercise. Today I did seven sets of these exercises so I did a total of seventy reps of each exercise.

I started with Farmer Burns’ warm up set.

The exercises I did were

1 Bench press

2. Triple kicks

3. Overhead press

4. Bent over rows

5. Extended hip twist

6. Squats

7. Lunges

I ended with a set of cool down stretches and finished with cold water douse.

2010-06-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

Physical Culture at Gallowlgass Manor June 7, 2010

Took a throwing knife and sledgehammer out to my throwing target on Monday.

I warmed up with Farmer Burn's warm up set.

Then did a sledgehammer set borrowed once again from shovelglove.com. Between
each part of the sledgehammer set I did five knife throws with both the right
and left hand.

Hammer Set

"Building the Fort"

1 Dig the Moat - Twenty shovel type moves over the right and left shoulder and
twenty to the front.

2. Pole Across the River - 10 moves on both right and left side as if poling a
boat.

3. Chop Down the Trees - Twenty angle one "cuts" on both the right and left
side.

4. Load the Lumber - Twenty squats with shifts of the hammer to the side as if
putting lumber into the "boat."

5. Pole Back Across the River - Repeat #2

6. Drive the Poles - Twenty over the head "cuts" on both left and right sides.

7. Pack the Dirt - Use hammer as if pounding dirt down into the moat, twenty
times

8. Celebrate - Hold the hammer under the head and lift it over head ten times on
both the right and left side.

9. Salute the King - Hold the hammer about half way down the handle and do ten
curls with both arms.

2010-05-03T15:47:00.000-07:00

Photos from Gallowglass Academy Seminars

Links to a series of photo albums covering several seminars at Gallowglass Academy can now be found by clicking on www.gallowglassacademy.org/Pictures___Pix__Photos_.html

2010-04-18T06:21:00.001-07:00

The Bartitsu seminar at Gallowglass Academy went well on Saturday April 17. Seven students turned out for the class, four gentlemen, two members of the constabulary and a lady.

I started with a short discussion of the history of Bartitsu then we did Farmer Burns' warm up set and went right into the pugilism section of the seminar. Most of the pugilism techniques I took from Allonson-Winn but I also included other strikes and some techniques from Owen Swift's book on pugilism.

After lunch we started on the canonical jujutsu. portion of the day. I did show how to use the two techniques for removing someone from your room for self defense.

When we finished with the jujutsu we segued into Vigny's cane. Again, we covered canonical cane techniques and did some modifications to make them a little more street applicable.

The last part of the day, with help from my fellow law enforcement officers, I discussed modern self defense law and then had all of the students work through their own use of Bartitsu techniques for modern self defense.

Everyone left expressing their satisfaction at attending the seminar.

2010-03-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

Fighting with the Tomahawk

I iwll be offering a one day seminar on the use of the tomahawk in combat on Saturday May 1, 2010 at Gallowlgass Academy (near Rockford, IL.)

Cost is $50 until April 26 and $75 thereafter.

Go to www.GallowglassAcademy.org for further details.

2010-03-12T16:07:00.001-08:00

James Bowie and His Knife

On Saturday March 6, 2010, the 174th anniversary of the fall of the Alamo to Gen. Santa Anna’s army, I taught the class “ James Bowie and His Knife” at the Highland Community College West campus in Elizabeth, IL.

Four students who were interested in learning about both the life and times of James Bowie and about how to fight with his knife met in the gym of the building. Three of theses folks had no previous experience with WMA, while the other had taken classes from Bob Charon in Italian medieval swordplay.

The class was broken up into hourly segments that started with a session talking about the biography of James Bowie and then went into the hands-on use of the Bowie knife. Since three members of the class were novices, we started at a very basic level. I first explained that there were no texts letting us know how Bowie or any of his contemporaries used a fighting knife. So my system of using the Bowie knife is based on basic WMA principles.

We started first with my twelve-point flourishing drill, which includes eight cutting angles and four thrusts. Then we moved on to doing the flourishing while moving forward and backward. Since Bowie ended up down in the sand at the famous Sandbar fight, I led the students through the flourishing drill while kneeling, sitting and lying down.

The next session with the knife was how to defend from cuts that come in from the left side, the odd-numbered cuts of the flourishing drill. We then moved on to defending from cuts coming in from the right side, the even-numbered cuts. During these drills I demonstrated how with my high chambered guard one can use either empty-hand techniques or other weapons to defend oneself from any attack that comes in from these zones.

Each session with the knife built on the previous session. First a basic defense was worked on, then a response based on this defense. I emphasized that the student should not be tied into the basic targets for the response after the defense, which should be based on the easiest target available.

We finished the class by working on defending from the last two cutting angles, high and low. Again, a basic defense was used and then a followup technique to target a major part of the body.

Photos of the class have been posted at www.GallowglassAcademy.org

2010-02-27T12:51:00.000-08:00

TAK Knives

This company makes plastic training knives. I recently bought their short Bowie knife trainer and their tomahawk trainer. So far I am more than satiisfied with them.

2010-02-09T03:55:00.000-08:00

A Report on the Tomahawk Class at ReenactorFest

Along with my co-instructor Mike Pennock I taught a class on the use of the tomahawk at ReenactorFest on February 6, 2010.

We had about a dozen participants and another six folks watching the class. We had forty-five minutes to work on some basic 'hawk techniques. First we discussed the history and background of the 'hawk. Then we moved on to carry modes for the 'hawk.

We had the students work on drawing the 'hawk from different positions and then did a simple cutting angle drill showing five basic cutting angles.

We then had the students pair up for two drills using the single 'hawk and one with the 'hawk and knife.

For our final drill Mike put on a fencing mask and with an eight foot pole acted the role of a soldier using a musket with a fixed bayonet. Each student then attacked on the "run" pushing the musket off line and striking Mike in the head as they went past him.

We finished up by taking questions and comments. All of the participants seemed to enjoy the class and we got compliments on the class both while it was going on and afterwards.

A number of folks talked about coming out for the tomahawk seminar in May at Gallowglass Academy.

2010-01-31T19:06:00.001-08:00

Tomahawk Class

I will be offering a short tomahawk class at ReenactorFest on Saturday February 6, 2010.

Also, look for a one day tomahawk seminar later this spring at Gallowglass Academy in Leaf River, IL.

2010-01-19T15:00:00.000-08:00

Bartitsu Demonstration

On Sunday January 17, 2010 I did my discussion/demonstration of Bartitsu at the Centuries and Slueths bookstore, an independent book store that specializes in history and mystery titles, in Forest Park, IL.

The demonstration took place just after the meeting of the local chapter of Mystery Writers of America so we had about fifteen interested attendees. I opened with a discussion of the background of Barton-Wright and how Bartitsu was started. I, of course, brought in the connection with Sherlock Holmes. My capable assistants Andrea Dubnick, president of Gallowglass Academy, Inc, Michael and Antina Pennock and Lisa Menkhaus did an admirable job of showing some of the basic techniques in jujutsu and Vigny stick. I got a volunteer from the audience, who was martial arts instructor, to help me with the pugilism section of the demonstration.

We got some good questions from the audience both during and after the performance. I sold one of Kirk Lawson's "Banned from Boxing" books to the audience volunteer who is interested in learning more about historic pugilism.

We had a number of folks take away our business cards and flyers for the Bartitsu seminar in April.

I asked Augie Alexie, the owner of the bookstore, to send me some photos to put up on the Gallowglass Academy website and will post the info here when we have them.

2010-01-10T05:30:00.000-08:00

Meditations on Violence

I recommend this book by Sgt Rory Miller to anyone who is an instructor or student of a martial art that claims to teach self defense.

2010-01-05T04:14:00.000-08:00

Bowie Knife Class

A one day class on the Bowie knife is being offered at Highland College campus in Elizabeth, IL (about 15 miles east of Galena, IL) on Saturday March 6, 2010. For more info go to www.GallowglassAcademy.org

2009-12-31T06:33:00.000-08:00

Self Defense Class at Highland College

Gallowglass Academy is offering a Self Defense class at Highland College in Freeport, IL. The class is for both men and women. It is offered as a Community Education class on the Highland campus. It is six weeks long starting Tuesday Feb 2 and going until March 9. The class meets from 8 - 9 PM. Cost is $35. The class is #PERS 037N 6762, to register call 815-599-3612.

2009-12-27T06:06:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts on the New Sherlock Holmes Movie

Presuming this new addition to the Holmes lore is based on a previously unpublished case history from Dr. Watson, one has to wonder if Watson forgot his own time line or has time shifted the events to cover over the scandal of Lord Blackwood almost taking over the British Empire.

I say this due to the fact that much of the action at the end of the movie takes place on the almost completed Tower Bridge. Yet the Tower Bridge was under construction from 1888 until 1894, so the action in the current episode would likely have taken place in 1892 or 1893. Yet as we all know, Holmes was still considered to have been killed in his fight with Prof. Moriarty in 1891 and did not return to London until the spring of 1894.

Also, of course, Watson married Mary Marston in 1888. So this must shift the action in the current story to this time frame, which makes much more sense considering that Prof. Moriarty is alive and well in the movie.

I am not sure Holmes would recognize himself from the portrayal of Robert Downey jr. To be out and about on the streets of London in such an unkempt manner just does not strike me as Holmes' style. On the other hand I think Watson would very much appreciate Jude Law's presentation of how he handled himself in so many of the cases where he assisted Holmes.

As to the action scenes in the movie we now see Holmes and Watson using the skills we know they both must have had to take on the underworld of London. I doubt Holmes would have put himself forward in such a public way to display his skills at pugilism. Rather, I feel he would have taken himself to a private gym where he would have shown how to handle himself with his fists. Unless, of course, this was part of a case where he had gone undercover to root out a nefarious evildoer.

For those fans of the Holmes' stories who believe that Holmes would never have used such brutal methods to solve his cases, I am afraid you will be disappointed by this addition to the lore. However, for those of us who always suspected there was more to the stories than Watson was allowed to put into print, this case allows us to see Holmes and Watson truly at their best.

2009-12-25T06:36:00.000-08:00

January Women's Self Defense Class

Gallowglass Academy will be offering a four hour women's self defense class on Saturday January 30, 2010. The class is for all women 14 years old and up. Parent or guardian must be present for minors to participate.

Location: River Valley Complex, 605 Main St, Leaf River, IL 61047
Time: 1- 5 PM
Cost: $15 per person
Contact: Andrea Dubnick at 815-973-1064 or email GallowglassAcad@aol.com

Must preregister by Wednesday January 27, 2010.

2009-11-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

I took the short drive up to St. Martin’s Academy over the weekend of November 6 - 8, 2009 for Bob Charron’s winter retreat. This is Bob’s annual seminar on Fiore de Liberi’s medieval wrestling and dagger defenses.

I arrived on Friday evening to be shown into my guest room in the villa and then was ushered into the dinning hall, where I was introduces to my fellow scholars. We were a mixed group: several of Bob’s regular students were there; several folks who had no experience with historic martial arts; the rest of us had worked with various historic systems.

We then supped on the light repast put out for us before starting the evening’s activities.

Bob led us over to the converted barn that is now his training hall. Bob took us to the second floor room that is set up for close combat. The walls are lined with the historic art works of Durer and Fiore, as well as many symbols of the art of defense and of course a number of swords, daggers, spears and polearms.

Bob started the weekend’s studies by explaining the basic principles of Fiore’s close combat. Each principle was illustrated with a small cartoon so, as in the medieval system we were following, the principle would be easier to remember.

Bob then had us work on the basic footwork and entries for the wrestling portion of the weekend. We all worked on those for some time and then Bob showed us the entry for the dagger defenses. Bob has come to the conclusion that, as with any great system of combat, Fiore limits the student to a set response to most situations so as to eliminate confusion. Thus the basic footwork for both the wrestling and dagger defenses is the same.

After about two hours of training we once again returned to the villa for an evening of conversation and discussion about fighting. Bob and Kristi brought up the amazing horsemanship used in Portugese bull fighting. So we all went to view videos of these riders and their horses. I have never seen horses do the types of moves that were made, much less under the stress of being charged by a bull!

Saturday morning dawned clear and unseasonably warm for November in the mid-west. We partook of Kristi’s excellent breakfast, and then once again made our way to the training hall. Bob started out by reviewing the footwork and entry for Fiore’s wrestling and then led us into the plays from the manuscripts.

We learned how each play is a response to the opponent’s attempt to counter the previous move. We spent most of the morning working on this material. and then found ourselves consuming the hearty lunch put out for us.

The afternoon found us moving on to working on the dagger material. Bob emphasized the first thing you want to do with a dagger attack is get two hands on your opponent’s dagger arm. Then you work to get him to the ground as quickly as possible. If the initial move does not work, then you must strike him to loosen him up for a follow-up technique.

We worked on techniques from both inside and outside responses. These included armlocks and takedowns. After many bodies hit the mat, we all felt comfortable with what we were doing and retired for an excellent dinner.

After dinner some of the scholars felt a need to do more work, so Bob took them back to the training hall. I, however, felt it better to reserve my energy for the next day, as did some others. We instead gathered firewood and started a fire outside, to tell tales of our exploits at other training sessions and organizations.

Sunday morning found all of the scholars ready for the last hours of the seminar. We reviewed some of Saturday’s material and then worked on using the four guards of Fiore to defeat an opponent in an unarmed attack.

We then moved back to working on dagger techniques, including Fiore’s disarming moves. Then we started working on how to deal with multiple attackers. During the last part of the session, we went back to working at a very slow pace to review and refine what we had learned over the weekend.

This seminar put many of the pieces of Fiore’s system together for me. I really like that Bob has made Fiore’s teachings a system not just a bunch of techniques. I also like that Bob admits that striking is a fundamental part of Fiore’s system, something I have found too many other instructors forget.

I recommend anyone interested in getting the basics of Fiore’s system take the time to get to St. Martin’s for one of Bob’s weekend long seminars.

2009-11-01T06:09:00.000-08:00

A Busy Month for Gallowglass Academy

Andrea and I drove over to Philadelphia for the SCA's Known World Academy of the Rapier over Columbus Day weekend.

We put out books on HEMA at our merchant booth and did very well. I taught my classes on Silver and Swetnam.

The next weekend we hosted six members of Gallowglass for a member's day on Highland broadsword. We used the DVD produced by Paul Wagner on Page's system of Highland broadsword.

Then over October 23-25th we put out our books and I offered classes at Rock-Con, a gaming convention in Rockford. Last year we did fairly well at selling books but this year the only books we sold were to friends who were helping to run the con. No one signed up for the classes. Apparently, gamers are just not into learning about the fighting arts they "use" in their games.

On Halloween I went into Chicago to help with a promotion ceremony for three of the instructors at the Northwestern jujutsu club.

2009-07-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

A Report on the 2009 Cumann Bhata Recreational Violence Weekend

Over the weekend of July 11 - 12, 2009 a small but dedicated group of students of the Western Martial Arts gathered on the shores of Lake Pymatuning for the 5th annual Cumann Bhata Recreational Violence Weekend.

Saturday was overcast and muggy as Randal Gustitis started the festivities with a class on Shasqa or Cossack saber. Like many other Russian martial arts the shasqa involves the use of figure eight movements for both defense and attack. Interestingly, because the shasqa does not have a hand guard of any kind, the parries involve deflections with the flat of the blade rather than hard blocking moves with the edge of the blade.

Josh Little was the second instructor on Saturday with his class on Pollaxe. About half way into the class the promise of a storm that had been building all morning became all too real. Everyone took an early lunch break to let the storm blow itself out. We then resumed after lunch to finish up the class.

We then switched gears from European arts to the American frontier art of Tomahawk and Long knife taught by Steve Huff. Steve started out talking about the different styles of tomahawks. He explained that the ‘hawk was a small belt axe brought to the New World by Europeans and adopted by the Native American to replace the wooden and stone war clubs, as the tomahawk could be used both as a utilitarian tool and a weapon.

Once the everyone had worked through a number of drills with just a tomahawk Steve introduced the use of both the ‘hawk and knife. Again, Steve reminded everyone that the frontiersmen and Native Americans carried a knife primarily as a tool and only secondarily as a weapon. The end of Steve’s session saw the students working with both tomahawk and knife against longer weapons such as a military saber and a musket with bayonet.

The fourth class of the day was taught by Chris Thompson on the 1813 Cutlass Exercises developed for the British navy by Henry Angelo, jr. This set of exercises was set up to teach the sailor of the time a number of basic attacks and defenses using the cutlass.

The final class on Saturday was Kirk Lawson’s class on Grappling at the Tomahawk. This was moved up on the schedule from Sunday so Steve Huff could participate. Kirk demonstrated how the ‘hawk can be used to grapple and trap the opponent as well as to block and cut.

With classes over for the day most of the group removed to Ken Pfrenger’s new property where he and his wife had dinner ready for us. Much conversation was had over the similarities and differences between the different arts we study.

Sunday morning was clear, cooler and less humid than Saturday as we started up with Ken’s class on the use of the Carpathian Mountain Axe. This nifty little axe was carried by men throughout the Carpathian mountains from Romania up through Poland as a walking stick and utility tool.

It is Ken’s idea that the axe was also used as a weapon based on research he has done into stories, history and dances where men flourish the axe in mock combat. Ken sees a lot of the same figure eight and deflection type moves that Randal showed us with the shasqa on Saturday.

My class, Introduction to Silver’s Single Sword, followed Ken’s class. This class is aimed at the student who has no previous experience with the material from Silver’s two works from the end of the 16th and early 17th centuries.

I had the students work through a number of drills using Open Fight and Gardant Fight. We then finished with some moves demonstrating Coming to Grips or grappling.

Josh Little returned for the next class to show us how to use the messer, a German style short sword or long knife. Many of the same principles apply to the use of the messer as with the German longsword, but the messer being shorter is both faster and at the same time cannot do some of the single time actions of the longsword.

The classes for the weekend finished up with Randal coming forward again to show us how to use an entrenching tool as the Russian military trains its soldiers. The tool can be used to block and cut, but is also used against pressure points and to unbalance your opponent.

My wife and I had to leave before Randal finished his class so others will have to relate the activities on Sunday evening. I know Shannon, Ken’s wife, was lying out an ample spread of picnic food and there was talk of a few Broadsword League bouts.

It was an excellent series of classes by very dedicated instructors. I can recommend that anyone interested in WMA should make a point of attending next year’s gathering. I certainly plan to do so and already have an idea or two about classes to offer.

2009-07-04T19:24:00.000-07:00

Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) to Receive Congressional Gold Medal

Pres. Obama has signed a law that will grant to the members of the WWII WASPs the Congressional Gold medal for their services during the war. These civilian women pilots served to replace male pilots in transport, training and test flights during the war so the male pilots could fly combat missions.

The women were denied veterans benefits and acknowledgement of their servcie at the end of the war. Their records were sealed and little if no mention was made of their service in histories of WWII.

See www.wingsacrossamerica.us for more info on these women and what they did.

2009-06-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Seminars at Gallowglass Academy

"Fighting with the Highland Dirk" Saturday July 25, 2009, Leaf River, IL (25 miles outside Rockford, IL)
$50 for pre-registration, $75 at the door.

"Fighting with the Bowie Knife" Saturday August 29, 2009, Leaf River, IL
$50 pre-reg and $75 at the door.

See www.GallowglassAcademy.org for more information

2009-05-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

A Review of “The Bare-Knuckle Boxer’s Companion” by David Lindholm and Ulf Karlsson
reviewed by C. Allen Reed

available from Paladin Press
303-443-7250
www.paladin-press.com
$20.00 retail

As an enthusiast of historical English martial arts – and in particular Bartitsu, which uses bare-knuckle boxing as one of its major tenets – I have been looking for a good book to recommend to those wanting to learn more about the style. Unfortunately, this book isn’t it.

The authors start out well with the first chapter being a review of the history of pugilism. They start with the Ancient Greeks and progress up to the beginning of the 20th century, when the use of gloves pretty much ended bare-knuckle boxing.

In the second chapter, the authors set out to describe and show the basic techniques of bare-knuckle boxing. To do this, they first refer to various examples of historic boxers and their guard positions. There are several problems with how they go about doing this. The first is that in all the photographs in the book the authors are wearing baggy work-out pants, so it is hard to see their weight shifts, which is very important to any martial art, much less bare-knuckle boxing. I am also bothered that in all of the photos the authors are barefoot. This is an art which traditionally is fought in some sort of footwear, and since the authors also argue it is still valid to learn as a modern form of self-defense, it seems to me that the authors should wear modern footwear when representing the system.

More importantly, at least in one major instance the authors show a different stance than is portrayed in the historic artwork. In two of the pictures Mendoza, a well-known English pugilism champion from the 18th century, is shown with his fists held horizontally in front of his face, but the authors chose to show a version of his stance with the fists held vertically.

Then the authors demonstrate how to strike in bare-knuckle boxing. Again, they start out well by showing how to make a proper fist, but then make what I consider a dangerous error by advocating that a boxer should cant his fist upwards to strike with the bottom two knuckles. To my mind this will likely lead to a boxer doing damage to his wrist, as the torque on the wrist when punching will force the hand backwards.

Then the authors move on to footwork. Yet no mention is made of the major use or the lunge or deep forward step that was used by most historical pugilists when punching with the left or forward hand. Indeed, when demonstrating target areas in the next section, the authors are shown using their right or rear hand, in most instances, instead of the left, which was the primary hand for initial offensive attacks in many historic styles of boxing.

In the third chapter, the authors set out to show the strikes, throws and basic defenses used in bare-knuckle boxing.

In the first series of photographs Karlsson demonstrates a series of basic punches. Yet again no mention is made of the lunge step for the lead hand punch.

Also, in most of the photos Karlsson has the heel of his rear foot off the floor. Dempsey advocates doing this in his book but most of the 19th century sources I have looked at want you to keep the rear foot flat. If the authors are mixing Dempsey with 19th century texts it would be nice if they mentioned it.

Then the authors talk about the hook. They state that there is no good discussion of how to use the hook in most of the historic texts. This may well be because, at least according to Allanson-Winn in his book from 1897, the hook is not a punch that should be used. However, Lindholm and Karlsson completely leave out what Allanson-Winn calls his “contracted arm” hit, which is a hook to the body.

Then the authors move on to the throws used in bare-knuckle boxing. The first throw the authors show they call a trip, but they refer you to Allanson-Winn who uses the term Back-Heel – so why not keep this terminology? The second throw the authors show is what they call the hip throw but I just don’t believe that the way they show the front hip will work. Also, they again completely ignore the cross-buttock throw that is shown in Allanson-Winn.

Next the authors show some basic defenses. The stance they are using is from the late 19th century, yet they do not demonstrate a major part of many of theses defenses, which is shifting your weight onto your back foot.

The authors then mention kicking, which they infer may have been used at some point, since rules were made against its use. However, instead of going back to medieval German sources for kicks, why not use kicks form arts current when bare-knuckle boxing was practiced? Kicks such as those from French savate or from Welsh purring, a style of Welsh wrestling, would make more sense.

The authors finish this third chapter by demonstrating some blocks and counters. These techniques are well demonstrated in the photos provided.

With the fourth chapter, the authors set out to show a set of partnered sets to practice different combinations. In the opening introduction to this chapter, they state they are taking these drills from Mendoza, but then tell you not to follow Mendoza too closely. I would suggest instead that until you are very advanced, you should follow any such drills exactly the way the original author tells you to do so. After all, he was the professional boxer, while all the rest of us are amateurs by comparison.

In the first set of photos in this chapter, there is conflict between what the captions say to do and what is shown in the photos. This is all too common in historic texts from before photography was developed, but now with modern digital cameras you would think the photos would match exactly what the text is telling you to do.

In the next series of photos, Lindholm is seen lifting the heel of his back foot off the floor again, negating the power he should be getting from these punches.

In the fifth chapter, the authors discuss physical conditioning and show various examples of body weight exercises that can be used to build strength and endurance. Remember, before you start any of these exercises you should have a physical exam to make sure you are healthy enough to do them.

The sixth chapter of the book finds the authors referring to self-defense texts from before bare-knuckle boxing became well known in modern Europe. I am not sure why this material is mentioned in this book, except the authors are fond of German medieval fighting books.

The seventh chapter in the book discusses self-defense and how to consider using self-defense moves. This is material that can be found in many other books. The authors tell you up front they have compiled this information from other sources, so again I am not sure why it needs to appear in a book on bare-knuckle boxing.

The eighth chapter continues the emphasis on self-defense training by listing a series of self-defense scenarios to help train yourself in dealing with fighting on the street. I like many of these training scenarios and use many similar scenarios when I teach self-defense. However, just listing the suggested scenarios really doesn’t prepare you to use bare-knuckle boxing on the street.

The ninth and last chapter of the book is a recommended reading list for training in self-defense. I am sure many of them are valuable sources of information; the ones I have read certainly are. But again, I don’t think this is the place for such a book list.

As I said at the beginning of this review, I was looking for a good book to use as a modern reference for historic bare-knuckle boxing. At first the use of large format, simple photographs and plain text made it seem like it was a good book to recommend to others also interested in this martial art. However, as I delved deeper into what Lindholm and Karlsson offered, I was disappointed.

Instead of using this book, I would recommend anyone interested in learning bare-knuckle boxing take a look at the bibliography and track down the actual historic texts that are referenced and use the originals instead of this book.

2009-04-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

April is Sexual Assault Awareness month (SAAM)

We should all be telling out local news media, law enforcement and schools about this important topic.

Here are some statistics I found at the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (www.rainn.org/statistics)

1 in 6 women is the victim of sexual assault as is 1 in 33 men.
44% of rape victims are minors
15% are under 12
29% are between the ages of 12 and 17
73% of victims know their attacker
60% of sexual assaults are NOT reported to the police

Here are other sources of information on this important topic:

National Sexual Assault Violence Resource Center (www.nsvrc.org)
National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center (www.safeyouth.org)
US Dept of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (www.ovw.usdoj.gov)

The Office on Violence Against Women also has a poster you can download or print out to post in your workplace, school, library or other appropriate venue,
www.ovw.usdoj.gov/docs/saawarenessmonthposter.pdf

2009-03-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

"Knife Laws of the Fifty States"
by David Wong
published 2006 by Author House, Bloomington, IN

Do yo carry a knife for work and self defense? Do you travel a great deal? This book will help you know what you can carry and where.

Each state is listed alphabetically. Each chapter starts with a chart giving basic information on what can and cannot be carried in that state. Then Wong has a short section where he discusses how the knife laws of the state can be interpreted. After that there are other sections that quote various laws on knife carry in the state and other issues pertaining to carrying knives.

If you routinely carry a knife and want to know what is legal or not this is the book to pick up.

2009-02-18T16:39:00.000-08:00

Updating the Website

Gallowglass Academy will be doing a major update of it's website in the near future.

Please bear with us as we make the changes.

Now if we can only get Beyonce to come help us out.

2009-02-15T16:01:00.000-08:00

Training DVD's from Gallowglass Academy

I am pleased to announced that Gallowglass Academy has just produced our first training DVD's.

We have a DVD on the Bowie knife and one on Bartitsu.

The Bowie knife is the most (in) famous American fighting knife. Named for James Bowie who survived the famous Sandbar fight in 1827 and then want on to die at the Alamo during the Texas Revolution. The Bowie knife was carried by soldiers, traders and frontiersmen all during the 19th century and beyond.

The DVD provides close to 60 minutes of training on how I feel this big knife should be used.

Bartitsu is an eclectic martial art developed by Edward Barton-Wright in England at the end of the 19th century. It combines Japanese jujutsu, English pugilism, the Vigny cane system and French savate.

Our DVD has almost 90 minutes of training in many aspects of Bartitsu.

We are working on getting clips from the DVD's up on our website.

For more info go to www.GallowglassAcademy.org

2009-01-25T12:40:00.000-08:00

Interesting DVD

I picked up the "Women's Street Combat" DVD from Paladin Press recently.

I feel I can recommend it to any woman who is interested is learning self defense.

Although I don't agree with all of the moves shown in the video I think most of the techniques work well.

2009-01-18T01:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends of Gallowglass:

Now that the holiday hoorah is winding down (Epiphany, and Sherlock Holmes’ birthday, are safely past, and MLK-don’t-just-waste-the-day-off-from-work is still on the horizon), maybe it’s time to take a couple of deep, cleansing breaths just to get the ecch of some recent news events out of our systems.

On reflection, however, 2008 wasn’t all that bad, at least for Gallowglass Academy:

In February, we attended RenactorFest outside of Chicago, again on the coldest weekend of the year. Perhaps our sales weren’t as spectacular as they had been the year before, but folks who paid attention enjoyed the medieval and Renaissance swordplay demos that Academy members and friends put on.

Later in the spring, we imported Brad Waller from the East Coast for a popular workshop of close-quarter combat from the medieval masters. Brad’s modern approach includes huge charts comparing the illustrations from the various manuscripts side-by-side.

In early June, we journeyed to eastern Ohio, where Allen taught and learned from the stick-whacking lads of Cumann Bhata. This year’s commemorative t-shirt involved a slogan about enjoying stick-fighting “cuz I heard that chicks dig scars”..... Well, Lake Pymatuning forest preserve is a lovely setting for it all.

Josh Little came out to Leaf River from Michigan to teach German longsword for an elite, enthusiastic turnout over the solstice weekend.

Andrea got in on the act at AWSDA – that’s Association for Women’s Self Defense Advancement – co-teaching an improvised weapons session we call “Dress for Success.” Greenville, South Carolina in August has much nicer weather than it sounds....

Late in October, we took part in the 36th annual RockCon – a gamers convention in Rockford. Although we were Definitely A Novelty for that convention, some of the eager participants had dragged along family members who spotted us, and everybody seemed to appreciate the demos that Allen and some of the creative Rockford anachronists performed.

We offered the 4-hour AWSDA self-defense class 3 times, and cobbled together a 2-hour class for women at Rockford Federal Courthouse. Allen led an exercise class he’s calling “Warrior Spirit” at Highland Community College in Freeport. I like to describe it as “kinda like tae-bo except he’s white and has hair, and there’s no music.” Allen usually suggest something more along the lines of “calisthenics based on martial-arts moves.”

We’re moving forward, into final edits on two instructional DVDs, and hope to have them available before long: “Introduction to Bartitsu” and “Fighting with the Bowie Knife” feature Allen (of course), and members Patrick Bailey, Adam Velez, and Chris Vail.

In his Elizabethan superhero persona of Baron AElfred of Chester, Allen taught historical swordplay at a number of Creative Anachronist events: Ayreton Carnival in the spring, Middle Kingdom Academy of Defence (MKAOD) over Labor Day, Knowne Worlde Academy of the Rapier (KWAR) in Cincinnati in November, and a cut-n-thrust class at Mynydd Seren (Bloomington IN).

Academy member Patrick Bailey wrote an article on historical mounted combat, and how to train in it if you don’t have happen to have a medieval horse on hand. With assistance from fellow member Michael Pennock, as well as respective wives Kallie Bailey and Antina Richards-Pennock, he also starred in photos illustrating how to build the Equi-simtm system. Read all about it in Scott Baltic’s W M A Illustrated #3, which you might think about subscribing to.

Upcoming for 2009:
Starting in late January, we’re offering the “Warrior Sprit” class again at Highland, as well as a co-ed self-defense class for their winter term. We’ll be at RenactorFest again, where Allen will offer a class in Bowie Knife combat to all those Civil War and Cowboy Single-Action folks. We’ll offer a selection of practice weapons (some great Bowies!), and Chivalry Bookshelf and Paladin Press titles, as well as some used histories and historical cookbooks.
Actual Gallowglass events: Allen and Mike Pennock plan to teach a one-day session of Introduction to Rapier Defence (Feb 28), co-taught by Allen and Mike Pennock. Later in the Spring, Randal Gustitis has promised to come out from Bryn Mawr PA to teach a modern art: ROSS Russian Martial Arts (Apr 18-19).
Late in April we will make the pilgrimage “across the Pond”, where Allen and Gallowglass gentlemen Terry Tindill and Tim Lyon will be hosted by an SCA group in England for a weekend combat event.
And still on the to-be-arranged-sometime-this-year list, we need to get Tony Wolf out here to show us how Bartitsu is supposed to be done. And a Scholars Weekend would be nice, to ease folks into the study of historical combat.... to bring the WMA to the “unswashed masses” as Jamie Klock so nicely put it, lo! those many years ago. Five, in truth. Five years.

So that’s what we’ve been up to, with most of the bee-stings and boring things taken out. We hope your 2009 is off to as great a start as we’ve got going!

2009-01-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

My wife and I were in Bloomington, IN so I could teach a class this
week.

We went down a day early so we could stop at the Frazier Museum in
Louisville, KY and meet with Barrett Cooper, the head curator of
interpretations, and talk to him about the Bartitsu demo the Frazier
is putting on.

Cooper was very friendly and spent almost two hours chatting with us
about the Frazier, it's interpretations department and Bartitsu.

The Frazier Museum opened in 2004. It is a partner with the Royal
Armouries in Leeds, England and gets a lot of it's fighting demo's from
Leeds. The interpreters at the museum are also encouraged to do their
own research to develop their own interpretations, both fighting and
otherwise.

We watched the Bartitsu demo which is played as if Dr. Watson, played
by Cooper, was to host Barton-Wright for a demo of Bartitsu but since
BW is unable to make the demo Watson decides to continue the demo based
on his personal training at the Bartitsu Institute.

Watson is then interrupted by Sherlock Holmes, who believes Watson
isn't up on his form. The demo mostly involves use of Vigny's stick
techniques. I felt it gave a good representation of what we know about
Bartitsu.

After the demo I chatted with Cooper and was able to help him with the
footwork for septime envelope.

If anyone reading this is in the Louisville area I recommend a stop at
the Frazier. It is nice small museum with well put together exhibits.

2008-11-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Classes at Highland College, Freeport, IL

Highland College in Freeport, IL will be offering two classes I will be teaching through the Community Education program.

The first is "Warrior Spirit". This is an exercise program using martial arts, sword/stick moves and body weight exercises. The class listing for this class is PERS034CC (6784).

The second class is "Self Defense". This is for both men and women and will be co-taught with my wife Andrea. The class listing is PERS037CC (6785).

You can get more info about these classes by going to www.highland.edu

2008-09-13T07:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some interesting books I have come across recently.

How to Speak Dog: Mastering the Art of Dog-Human Communication
by Stanley Coren published by the Free Press
ISBN 0-684-86534-3

Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul
by Susan Harrow published by Harper Resource
ISBN 0-06-019880-X

Self-Defense: Steps to Survival
by Katy Mattingly published by Human Kinetics
ISBN 978-0-7360-6689-1

2008-06-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

A Report on German Longsword Seminar at Gallowglass Academy

This last Saturday, June 21, eight students of the German longsword gathered at Gallowglass Academy to learn about the art from Josh Little of Ars Gladii, in Detriot, MI.

I started the day with a brief warm-up session of Farmer Burns stretching exercises, and then Josh got started. As there was at least one complete novice, Josh lead us through footwork exercises first.

Then Josh introduced the four major leger (sword positions) of vom Tag, Pflug, Ochs and Alber. We were then shown how to transition between the different leger.

When everyone seemed comfortable with the leger, Josh demonstrated the three major cuts in the German system: Oberhau, Unterhau and Zwerchau. We then worked with doing the three cuts from vom Tag.

With a solid grounding in the basics, a tired but satisfied group of students broke for lunch. Upon returning from lunch, Josh discussed the three all-important terms of Vor (Before), Nacht (After) and Indes. Josh explained that Indes is not just found when you come to the bind. Instead it means a decision point that can, and should, be found as you are making or defending from an attack.

Swords in hand, the students now started to learn about Absetzen, setting aside an attack. Josh emphasized that we should be watching the body movements of our partners as we were working through the Absetzen drills so we could start picking up on Indes as well.

First, we worked on how Oberhau can be used to break, and guard, against all three of the cuts. Then Josh had us work on Unterhau against Unterhau, and finally Zwerchau against Oberhau.

We wrapped up the day with these drills, and most of the crew departed to Gallowglass manor for dinner and much conversation.

Bright and early on Sunday, we all gathered to continue our session with Josh. I again started the festivities with the Farmer Burns exercises.

Josh reviewed the Absetzen drills from the end of Saturday. Then we started learning how to move on from setting aside the attack to flowing into counter attacks. Josh introduced us to Zucken, getting out of the bind. First we worked on Abnehmen, moving your sword over your partner’s and cutting to the head. Then we moved on to learn Durcwechseln, Changing Through. Finally, we worked on various windings.

To finish up the day we moved to a more free-form drill where the Agent, attacking partner, would tell the Patient Agent, defending partner, what attack was going to be made. It was then up to the Patient Agent to defend against the attack and move into a counter attack. When both partners felt comfortable with this drill, the Agent was allowed to use any of the three major cuts to attack, so the Patient Agent had to watch the body language and sword movement to decide how to defend.

All of us left the training hall well satisfied with the information that Josh had imparted to us.

I want to thank Josh for coming over to Gallowglass Academy. I am sure we will invite him back again.

Any mistakes made in this narrative are mine and do not reflect upon Josh’s training.

2008-01-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

Gallowglass Academy 2007 End of Year Report

Recently Andrea read that holiday letters should not consist merely of a detailed recitation of the various individuals’ achievements. Perhaps that is good advice for a family holiday epistle.

Okay, we’ll call this letter the Gallowglass Academy Annual Report for 2007.

Early in April, Tim Lyon ran a day-long introduction to Fabris’ rapier. We had hoped this to be a sort of prequel to a return of Tom Leoni for more advanced Fabris work. Tom’s schedule has since become more complex, so we haven’t been able to book a date with him. Yet. We’re still working on this.

We invited Maestro Sean Hayes out at the end of April for a two-day intensive on medieval sword and buckler from the 13th-century text called “Royal Armouries MS 1.33.” We had almost thirty participants turn out for this event.

June may have been our most intense month: Ken Pfrenger drilled the bejaysus into us for a weekend of collar-and-elbow wrestling, Irish stick fighting, and classic pugilism. Later in the month, we convened the fifth (can this be?) Scholars Weekend, featuring the debut of Patrick Bailey’s “Equi-Sims” for a taste of mounted combat.

During the autumn, Allen presented a pair of 19th Century-flavored day seminars – Bowie knife techniques and the very Victorian art of Bartitsu. A video version of each of these is in the works; we’re looking for these to be available sometime in mid-2008.

We traveled a lot this year – teaching, learning, schmoozing:
– On the first weekend of February, the coldest of the year so far, we joined Classical Romans, World War II Allies (and Germans!) Civil War-ers (American and English) and everything in between to share a variety of historical combat and sartorial styles at ReEnactorFest 2 and strut our assorted stuff.
–In February, we went to the Illinois side of St. Louis for Allen to teach a day of English sword arts for SCA combatants. Then over St. Paddy’s weekend we went to Michigan to teach rapier at another SCA event.
– Cumann Bhata in eastern Ohio in May sponsored a camping weekend of recreational violence and bad spelling; Allen taught Cunningham’s “Cane as a Weapon”.
– At ISMAC in Detroit in July, we supported the roll-out of the premiere issue of Scott Baltic’s “WMA Illustrated” quarterly magazine, as well as Terry “That Guy” Tindill’s spiffy stainless steel perf-plate fencing masks;
– 2nd Annual Brotherhood of the Blade in Chicago included a class by Allen “Ambushed: Close Quarter Fighting with a Big Knife”.
– We enjoyed four days in Racine WI, at September’s end – WMAW, of course!
– AWSDA, the Association for Women’s Self Defense Advancement, in November, included a class taught by Allen, and a refresher in Rape Defense certification for both of us.
– And a couple more SCA events, to catch up with old friends, and teach and learn: MKAOD (Middle Kingdom Academy of Defense) and KWAR (Knowne Worlde Academy of the Rapier) in northern Illinois and Minneapolis, respectively.

Allen also continues the weekly sessions of “Fight School” practical, often-modern, defensive tactics at our studio in Leaf River. He presented a lecture and discussion on “The Active Shooter: Is Your School Ready?” to a gathering of northwestern Illinois school board officials. He taught CPR and First-Aid classes. Andrea and he twice presented AWSDA’s Rape Prevention course.

And 2008 promises to be Pretty Good Times, too. Some of these plans are still in the making, but so far we have confirmations on:

– “Warrior Spirit” an exercise course that’s somewhat “WMA Meets Aerobics,” at Highland Community College this winter
– Return to ReEnactor Fest 4 on the weekend of February 8-10
– “School of the Soldier” a one-day intensive in March, with a 19th Century American focus
– “Renaissance Close-Quarter Combat,” with Brad Waller in April
– Josh Little, on German Longsword, in June
– Scholars Weekend, a taste of WMA without those big-city prices, in the fall
– Chris Thompson, on Highland Broadsword, in the fall
– AWSDA’s 4-hour Rape Prevention course, to be presented quarterly
– a fully-developed 8-10 hour women’s self defense class
– production of DVDs of Bowie Knife and Bartitsu
– making available the “Dancing With Swords” anthology as an e-book.

And that’s the news from Leaf River, a little town that has celebrated 125 years, hanging on to life without public transportation, schools, fast-food or Starbuckstm... but it’s got Gallowglass Academy, catering to your Western Martial Arts needs since 2003.

How’s by you?

All the best for 2008 and beyond,

Andrea Dubnick Allen Reed
President Head Instructor

2008-01-16T06:13:00.000-08:00

Spring/Summer 2008 Seminars at Gallowglass Academy

I am pleased to announce the following seminars at Gallowglass Academy, outside Rockford, IL

Further information can be found at www.GallowglassAcademy.org or call 815-973-1064.

School of the 19th-Century Soldier

March 29, 2008
$50 until March 1; $100 thereafter and at the doah, suh!
Lunch included

Nineteenth Century Bayonet, with Patrick Bailey
Class will concentrate on the system imported to the US by George
McClellan, but will also feature an overview of the complimentary
systems of Burton, Hutton, and Angelo. Practical instruction will
include basic stances and attacks, parries, and scripted drills. If
time permits, the guards against cavalry will be explored against the
mounted saber techniques taught in the other section.

Sabre Exercise, with Michael Pennock
A class in American military saber of the nineteenth century. In this
class we will be working with the Mounted Sabre Exercise as it is
presented in Poinsett’s Cavalry Tactics of 1841 and Cooke’s Cavalry
Tactics of 1862. We will work through the Exercise and explore the
concepts behind mounted combat from a martial arts perspective.
Since we will be conducting the Exercise, each student will
require a saber simulator or, at a minimum, a 1" dowel rod about three
feet long. Part of the class will consist of slow-speed pairs drills,
so students will want to make sure that saber tips are properly blunted
or covered and that all blades are dulled for safety’s sake.
The Exercise will be conducted on foot as it was initially taught
to recruits, so there will be no need of horses.

Bowie Knife, with Allen Reed
Many Civil War soldiers were photographed posing with a Bowie knife,
and many sword and knife makers of the time made and sold Bowie knives
to soldiers from both the Union and the Confederacy.
Yet very little is known of how these famous knives were used in
combat. This class will work on examining how these big deadly knives
could have been used in close quarter combat.

"The Old Ways"
Workshop in Reniassnace Close-Quarter Combat
with Brad Waller

April 26-27, 2008
$100 until April 1 no foolin'!; $150 thereafter & at the door
Lunches included

The weekend would be dedicated to learning the breadth and scope of the
historical martial art that is used by Marozzo and many of the Medieval
and Renaissance Masters of Defence. The foundation of these systems us
often assumed by the manuals thmselves. Our two days together will
exlore this vast and comprehensive relationship -- Marozzo Pressa 1-22,
Durer Counter 1-120. We will give special emphasis to develop a
process to interpet how these techniques work together as a system.
There is more material than I think we can get through in two short
days. We will work hard, move quickly, and most of all have fun in our
celebration together of this art form. I look forward to working with
everybody. --Brad Waller

Safe in the Assault:
A Defensive look at Liechtenauer’s Art
with Josh Little of Ars Gladii

June 21-22, 2008
$100 until May 22; $150 thereafter and at the door
Lunches included

This two-day seminar will examine the old axiom "hit without being
hit," and how Johannes Liechtenauer’s art of the Longsword encompasses
this ideal. Appropriate for beginning and experienced students alike,
this course will work through the fundamentals of Liechtenauer’s
teachings as presented by "Döbringer," Ringeck, and Von Danzig, with
overall emphasis on defensive tactics. We will be examining stance,
movement, timing, strikes, thrusts, and deflections – all with the idea
of "hitting without being hit."

2007-12-31T11:11:00.001-08:00

Warrior Spirit

I am scheduled to start teaching an exercise/workout class at Highland College in Freeport, IL.

The class will meet starting Wednesday January 23, 2008 from 7:30 to 8:30 PM at the YMCA on the Highland campus and run for eight weeks. I have included a class description below.

If you are anywhere in the Freeport area and are interested in registering for this class call the Community Education office at the college.

"Warrior Spirit"

Every country and culture has stories of famous warriors who under went physical training to find their warrior spirit.

Both men and women are invited to work together in a one hour long class once a week. The class will involve using empty hand and weapon martial arts moves as well as physical conditioning exercises to manifest their own warrior spirit.

Participants should wear comfortable work out clothes and bring a three foot long dowel rod which is one inch in diameter.

2007-12-16T06:07:00.000-08:00

“Kill or Get Killed” by Major Rex Applegate
first published 1943, re-printed by Paladin Press 2007
www.paladin-press.com Price: $20.00
Reviewed by C. Allen Reed

First published in 1943 during the height of World War II, with this book Applegate set out to teach young soldiers going into battle deadly hand-to-hand tactics to survive close quarter encounters with the enemy.

Applegate argues that too many classes on hand-to-hand combat presume the soldier should be on the defensive. Instead Applegate demands that the soldier be trained to go on the offensive to survive.

Although today’s street fighting is not against enemy soldiers, many of the tactics that Applegate put forward over sixty years ago still apply to defending yourself in the 21st century.

Applegate starts his book by showing basic unarmed strikes, throws and locks. Most of these will be familiar to anyone who has done any kind of self defense training. The pictures used in the book are very clear and make the target areas for these techniques quite obvious.

With the second chapter, Applegate goes on to show how to disarm an opponent who is holding a hand gun or rifle. The modern student of self defense should realize that in most situations where you are being threatened with a gun, it is far better to give up your wallet or car instead of trying the tactics that Applegate shows here.

However, there may be times when you realize that your attacker has more in mind than just depriving you of your money and property. In this case it is important to have trained in some of these disarming tactics and feel confident that you can use them to survive.

The third chapter turns to the use of weapons. In this short chapter Applegate focuses on the use of a short (18-inch) stick. I personally feel that the use of this kind of item is very important in modern day self defense. It is legal any where you go and can be adapted to short umbrellas, flashlights and other rigid devices. Applegate’s tactics with the stick are easy to learn and put into effect for self defense.

Applegate’s chapter on strangulations is very much aimed at the military use of these techniques. The use of a stick or cord to choke an opponent is very deadly and should only be used in a civilian situation if you are absolutely sure it is a life or death fight.

Like Applegate, I too feel that training with a knife for defense is important both to the soldier and civilian. However, I tend to disagree with both the type of knife Applegate recommends for this kind of fighting and his fighting stance.

For the soldier, I feel a heavy cutting blade is far better than the fairly light double-edged dagger that Applegate favors. Partly this is because the modern soldier is likely to face an enemy who is wearing some kind of body armor, so thrusts to the body with a light dagger just won’t be effective. Also, a heavy cutting blade can also be used for more utilitarian duties, so there is no need to carry two knives.

In many states a civilian who wants to carry a knife for self defense can’t carry a fixed blade knife or a knife with a long double-edged blade. Thus, the dagger that Applegate favors is not suitable for these situations. However, the targeting information that Applegate illustrates is still important to both the civilian and the soldier.

I really don’t like the stance that Applegate proposes. Any stance that puts the free hand out in front of the body is too dangerous. I prefer a stance that does not give your opponent a free attack on either the knife hand or the free hand.

Applegate finished up his chapter on knife fighting by speaking to empty hand defense against a knife. I agree with him on many of his points in this section and can see using this section to teach how to defend against a knife attack.

After dealing with the use of the knife, Applegate moves on to training in the use of a hand gun. As a firearms instructor myself I like Applegate’s theory on training a student in a short time on how to use a handgun. However, I disagree with the basic stance he demonstrates.

The single-handed stance with the gun brought low that Applegate favors is not conducive to modern concerns about liability and shot placement. Instead, I favor Applegate’s second stance, where the gun is brought up to eye level, allowing for more accurate shot placement. I also highly recommend that most shooting should be done with both hands on the gun, as this provides much more control of the weapon.

Applegate moves on to training with a long gun by discussing the use of the Thompson sub machine gun and the .30 caliber carbine. Again, I would never train any student to use a long gun by holding it at the hip, as Applegate demonstrates with the Thompson. Instead, as with the handgun, a long gun should be brought up to the shoulder for better sighting and control. It is interesting to note that in the short section on the use of the carbine, Applegate shows the carbine mounted to the shoulder instead of at the hip.

In the next two chapters of the book, Applegate discusses how to set up and use a practical indoor firearms range. Applegate was an early advocate of practical training on the range and felt that all firearms training must include realistic targets, movement from target to target and low light situations.

The last chapter of the book is dedicated to discussing military close quarter combat techniques used by the Japanese soldier in World War II and how to defeat them. In particular Applegate focuses on the use of the bayonet in close quarter combat. This chapter is mostly of interest for the reader who studies military history.

Due to Applegate’s military back ground and the era when the book was first published. many readers will avoid it thinking that the information is outdated and not useful to the civilian interested in learning self defense. However, this would be a mistake. As mentioned before, Applegate was an early advocate of realistic training in both armed and un-armed defense. So any student of these tactics will find something of use in this book.

2007-12-15T13:09:00.000-08:00

Second Issue of "WMA Illustrated"

The second issue of "Western Martial Arts Illustrated" magazine has hit the news stand.

Articles include an introduction to Italian rapier by Tom Leoni, a report from WMAW 2007 and 19th century French self defense by Tony Wolf.

Single issues can be purchased by mail from Gallowglass Academy for $9.00. Send a check to PO Box 201, Leaf River, IL 61047 or send a Paypal payment to GallowglassAcad@aol.com.

Subscriptions for the magazine can be purchased thru the website at www.wmaillustrated.com

2007-11-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

Back from AWSDA Seminar

My wife and I are both members of the Association for Women's Self Defense Advancement (formerly American Women's Self Defense Association). We have just come back from Phoenix, AZ where the 16th annual training seminar took place.

We helped teach the day long Rape Prevention instructors certification class. We then went on to participate in three days of training classes provided by members of AWSDA to those attending the seminar.

I highly recommend any woman who is interested in learning more about self defense take a look at the website, www.awsda.org. and consider becoming a member of the organization. Men can only be members if they are martial arts or self defense instructors who teach women and get a woman they know to give them a recommendation.

Next year's seminar is scheduled to take place the first week of August in Greenville, SC.

2007-10-30T04:55:00.000-07:00

New Martial Arts Magazine

My good friend Scott Baltic is now publishing "WMA Illustrated". This magazine is dedicated to the practitioners of Western Martial Arts.

Scott is himself a practicing student of WMA and wants to get more information about Western Martial arts out to both current students of these arts and to those who have no idea that such a thing exists.

The first issue of the magazine is now available and includes articles on the use of the halberd, Western knife fighting and the early history of boxing.

You can purchase the first issue of the magazine by sending $6.00 plus $2.00 for shipping to Gallowglass Academy, PO Box 201, Leaf River, IL 61047

2007-10-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

California Wildfires!

The current situation in southern California again highlights the need to be ready in case of emergency.

I heard on the news about a woman who was told to evacuate but had no gas in her car. I had to wonder why she had not put gas her in her car sometime in the last week with the threat of fires coming towards where she lived.

Also, don't forget to prepare to move your pets when you need to leave your home in an emergency! Many people prepare for themselves and don't think of buying extra food and saving water for their pets.

2007-10-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

“Tomahawks: Traditional to Tactical” by David Grant, $15.00
Published by Paladin Press. Retail customers may order directly by calling toll free to 1-800-392-2400. All other inquiries should be made to 1-303-443-7250.

Reviewed by C. Allen Reed

In this slim volume the author sets out to discuss some of the history of the tomahawk and then lays out what to look for in a modern tomahawk, either traditional or tactical.

In his introduction, Grant outlines the history and background of how the tomahawk came to be a quintessentially American weapon.

The first chapter is dedicated to the pipe tomahawk. These tomahawks were made to include a pipe for smoking tobacco. The pipe tomahawk was more often than not a ritual item sold to the American Indian by white traders. Grant pictures and describes half a dozen historical pipe tomahawks.

The second chapter is titled “Modern Masters”. Here Grant discusses four of what he feels are the best makers of modern hand-made tomahawks. The author catalogs each maker’s hand forged tomahawks and gives the details of each maker’s various models.

In the third chapter, Grant turns to three vendors who make and sell production models of traditional tomahawks. Again, Grant lists and pictures various models made by these vendors.

With the fourth chapter, Grant looks at the life of Peter LaGana, who developed the tactical tomahawk for use during the Vietnam War. LaGana was a former Marine and veteran of World War II who was descended from Iroquois Indians. LaGana developed his tomahawk and tried, without success, to interest the US Army Special Forces in issuing it to their troops. He was able to get the Marine Corps interested enough to permit him to give a demonstration against live opponents. Ultimately, the Marines did not officially adopt the tomahawk, but LaGana started selling his tomahawk to soldiers privately, and it became a great hit for close-quarter combat in the jungles of Vietnam.

The fifth chapter gets to the heart of the material in this book when Grant discusses how and why to choose a tactical tomahawk. Here the author discusses everything from whether you should choose a tomahawk with a back spike or a hammer poll, weight and length options, and how to carry a tomahawk.

In the sixth chapter, Grant catalogs various makers of modern tactical tomahawks. When discussing each maker’s tomahawks, the author tells you how and what each tomahawk is made from, as well as the length and weight of each model.

The final tomahawk that Grant lists in this chapter is a training tomahawk made by Jeremy Bays and sold through Woodland Archery. I can personally testify to how well made and versatile this training tomahawk is when practicing your techniques with a tomahawk. I currently own two of these training tomahawks and use them with my own students.

The seventh and last chapter of the book is very short. In it, Grant shows pictures of two human skulls in the Smithsonian Institution collections that are believed to have tomahawk wounds.

Grant finishes the book up with a bibliography for more information about the history and use of the tomahawk. He also includes a list of website URL’s or email addresses for the vendors he discusses in the book.

I feel that this book will help anyone who is interested in purchasing and using a tomahawk whether for fun or into combat.

The only thing I see that could have been included by Grant is more information on how to train with a tomahawk. The author mentions Cold Steel in Chapter Three, when discussing modern makers of traditional tomahawks, but does not mention that the same company sells a video tape on training with a tomahawk.

He could also have included information about other books and videos that are available on training with a tomahawk, such as those by James Keating or Dwight McLemore.

2007-09-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

Are You Prepared?

The recent floods in the Midwest, the ongoing wild fires in the West and the first hurricane hitting the U.S. reminds us that we should all consider making preparations in case of a sudden emergency.

Can you and your family survive for three to four days without contact from local authorities in case of a man made or natural disaster? Being prepared involves more than stocking up on batteries, some canned food and water.

You might want to read through "Jane's Citizen's Safety Guide" to start your preparations. This book gives you information on what to buy as well as who to talk to before, during and after an emergency.

Go to www.janes.com to get information about purchasing this book and other Safety Guides from Jane's Information Group.

2007-08-25T06:32:00.000-07:00

Defender DVD

I received my copy of the Defender DVD. I took a look at it last night and find it works very well.

The video is very clear. There is a voice over narration by Master Brusso, who developed the Defender, so the instructions are easy to follow. Brusso and his training partner are dressed in street clothes and are in street situations.

At first I was afraid Brusso would just run through techniques without giving instructions but this is the first part of the tape and he does get into giving definite instructions on how to use the Defender.

The instruction part of the video is again clear and well set up with Brusso showing multiple times how to use the Defender for each attack. There are also stop action photos with highlights showing hand positions and directions of movement.

I can recommend this DVD to anyone interested in carrying the Defender or to any instructor who wants to start teaching the use of the Defender.

Brusso also sells tapes for instructors who are interested in teaching the use of the Defender. You can go to www.PDWS.biz for more information about the Defender and getting the DVD's.

2007-08-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

Neat New Defensive Device

This weekend I attended a martial arts seminar where I was introduced to a new defensive device.

The Defender is a simple piece of plastic cut into various shapes.

I have ordered the training DVD and will write more of a review once I have seen it.

In the mean time if you are interested in checking it out yourself go to www.TeachingsoftheMasters.com

2007-07-30T04:24:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the year I picked up the exercise DVD, "Warrior Wellness:Six Degrees of Freedom" after it was recommended by several friends.

The exercises in the DVD are based on those taught in some of the Russian martial art systems. These exercises are set up to help build joint strength. The DVD has three sets of exercises; beginner, intermediate and advanced. The exercise sets are developed to build on each other so it is recommended that you start with the beginner program no matter what your level of fitness is.

I have been doing the beginner program since I bought the DVD. This program is very easy to follow and works your joints starting at the head and neck and working down to the legs. I would recommend you have a wall, chair or other point of balance available when you start working the leg exercises.

This morning I started on the intermediate program. In this program you refine the exercises from the beginner program.

I find I am not a natural learner for any physical exercise. So I had to stop the video several times to figure out the right pattern to do some of these exercises.

The production values on the DVD are simple but clear. Scott Sonnon, who leads you through the exercises, simply stands in front of the camera discussing the system as he leads you through each set of exercises. There are no fancy camera angles or music. Just a good set of work out exercises.

I like the fact that in the introduction to the beginner program Sonnon suggests that if you have a preexisting injury or have problems with any of the exercises you stop the video, sit down and catch your breath before going on.

If you are looking for something new to add to your exercise program I suggest you try this DVD out.

2007-02-19T09:34:00.000-08:00

Martial Blade Concepts: A Crash Course in Defensive Knife Tactics
with Michael D. Janich
produced by Paladin Press, 1-303-443-7250, www.paladin-press.com
$29.95 in DVD or VHS, $34.95 in PAL, aprox. 60 minute running time

reviewed by C. Allen Reed

I am a martial arts instructor who teaches use of the folding knife for self defense to both law enforcement officers and civilians. I have heard some good things about Michael Janich’s system of Martial Blade Concepts (MBC). I took a look at this video both to check out his system and to see if there was anything I could add to what I teach.

Janich opens the video with a very clear statement that the use of a knife in a self defense situation is the use of deadly force. Thus, you must consider yourself to be under danger of death or great bodily harm to employ such force legally. Too often I see this important point left out of training on the use of the knife, so I applaud Janich for including it in this video.

Janich then goes on to outline the five points in the philosophy behind the MBC system. The first of these is you are not in a duel or knife fight when using a knife for self defense. By this Janich means that although you may face an attacker with a knife, you may also be facing someone with a hammer, tire iron or other weapon that can cause you serious injury. Secondly, you must understand the potential of the knife when you use it for delf defense. Third, your primary goal is to stop the attack, not necessarily to kill your attacker. Fourth, the best knife defense system must be based on human anatomy. Last, the system must be based on natural actions.

The only point I would add to this is that when you are involved in any physical confrontation, particularly one involving the use of deadly force, you must contact the police. Failure to report the incident to the police may lead to you being charged with a crime, when in reality you were the victim of the attack.

The next thing Janich does is help you to see what a knife can do with a demonstration of the cutting power of a knife against real meat. Again, I feel this is a very important part of any knife training. There are several reasons for showing this to students who are training with a knife. First, it gives them a sense of what they will be doing to an attacker. Secondly, it makes them aware of how deadly a knife deployed against them can be. Another advantage to having this kind of demonstration on video is that it can be used in court for evidence if you face charges or a law suit.

In the next section of the video Janich introduces his targeting system. Janich argues that the best way to stop an attack is to destroy the attacker’s ability to hurt you. To do this Janich shows how a knife should be used against the arm and leg of an attacker. Janich explains that cutting the muscles and tendons in the arm holding a weapon will cause an attacker to be unable to use the weapon. He also shows that cutting the major muscles in the thigh will cause the attacker to drop to his knees, thus rendering him incapable of advancing on you.

Next, Janich introduces his concepts of the four zones and five angles of attack. Janich divides the body into four zones and shows how most cutting attacks will come at you through one of these zones. These then comprise his first four angles of attack. The fifth angle is a center line attack, which he divides into a low angle five and a high angle five, depending on what part of your body is being targeted.

Now that Janich has shown you the five angles and four zones of attack, he goes on to demonstrate the primary defenses in the MBC system to these attacks. These defenses are clearly laid out and shown multiple times, from both a side and downwards point of view.

Once Janich has walked you through each of the defenses, he introduces two sets of drills to help you learn to work at speed against these different angles of attack. The first drill is his outside-outside drill to work on the four primary angles of attack. The second drill is called a hubud-lubud drill for working against the high and low center line attacks.

Finally, Janich introduces the concept of combining the two drills into one.

Janich closes off the video by reminding the viewer that this short video only introduces the basic ideas in his MBC system and encourages anyone who wants more information to buy other tapes on his system from Paladin Press or to look at his website, Martial BladeConcepts.com to learn about taking his training courses.

The production values in this video were very good. All of the movements can be clearly seen
and are repeated multiple times from different view points.

I agree with many of the points that Janich makes during the video. However, I have some philosophical differences in how he wants the knife to be used for self defense.

Janich argues that the proper stance for use of the knife is with the knife forward . The problem I see with this is it allows your attacker to see that you are armed, and he may escalate his use of force beyond what you are expecting, such as the use of a firearm. I prefer to teach to keep the knife in a reverse grip and only deploy it when you have closed with the attacker.

I also don’t like the way Janich wants you to avoid the initial attack by simply pulling your body back far enough for the attack to miss you. This is all very fine if you are facing someone with a short knife. It will only get you hurt if your attacker has a long pipe, baseball bat, or other longer weapon.

All that being said. I can recommend this video to any student of self defense who wants a video to introduce the basic concepts behind use of the knife for self defense.

2007-02-15T19:12:00.000-08:00

American Combat Judo by B. J. Cosneck
Reprinted by Paladin Press, $16.00
www.paladin-press.com or 800-392-2400

reviewed by C. Allen Reed

This small volume of martial arts techniques was first published in 1959. Cosneck was a combatives instructor for the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II where he worked with the boxer Jack Dempsey. Now Paladin Press has reprinted the book.

However, this book is not for the judo player. Rather the operative term in the title is Combat. In his Preface, Cosneck makes it clear he is aiming to present a series of fighting moves that will likely cause serious injury to an attacker.

The book is broken up into several sections. The first section, titled “Disabling Blows,” shows a number of strikes and blows that can be used to disable, stun or set up an attacker for further actions against his attack. In the second section, “Holds and Locks,” the author shows a number of holds, starting with a rear choke. Then moves on to other techniques such as wrist throws and defeating grabs from behind.

Cosneck then moves on to “Breaks and Releases,” which shows breaking out of various kinds of grabs, chokes and pinning moves. The next section is “Throws and Trips.” This section does include some classic judo throws such as the shoulder throw and hip throw, but also includes how to defeat a push at the chest and how to pull a man down from the rear by grabbing his ankles.

Next comes the section on “Police Tactics.” Moves in this section include disarming an attacker with a handgun pointed at you, and defending against an attacker with a club. Other police-type techniques such as come-alongs and moving a recalcitrant subject from a chair are also included here.

There are two techniques I would not recommend learning from this section. The first is how to resuscitate an unconscious subject. Certainly our ideas of proper resuscitation have moved beyond putting a knee into the back of the unconscious subject. The second is the use of a single kick to the knee to disable a man with a knife.

The final short section is “Situations.” This is really just a list of techniques that summarize how to use what has been shown in the book.

The photographs in the book are all black and white, but clearly show how to do each move. The photos are dated in that most of them show two men in 1950's style boxing trunks and boots. There are no photo credits in the book, but I believe one of the men demonstrating the techniques is Dempsey, while the other may be Cosneck. The only problem with this is that Dempsey is a much bigger man than Cosneck. Thus, the inexperienced martial artist might presume that these moves will only work with a bigger man going against the smaller man. I can tell you from my experience of doing many of these moves myself that this is not true.

Finally, I must agree with the author that none of the moves in this book should be practiced without a proper instructor, as they are quite dangerous if done improperly or without some basic practice learning to fall and roll first.

2007-01-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

"Innocent Targets" by Michael and Chris Dorn

After you have read "Terror at Beslan" make sure to pick up this slim volume.

In it the authors lead you thru the history of attacks on schools and students throughout the world.

Then the Dorns go on to report on how schools can start to prepare for the many hazards they face up to and including attacks by terrorists.

The Dorns also provide a resource list for further study and evaluation of how schools can make themselves ready for severe hazards.

2007-01-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

A Report from the Paddy Crean Workshop

I attended and taught at the recent 15th Annual Paddy Crean Workshop in Banff, Alberta Canada. The Banff Center provided excellent facilities for the workshop.

The International Order of the Pen and Sword (IOSP) runs the workshop. It was originally intended to provide classes in stage, TV and film combat. This year quite a number of teachers from throughout the world were invited to teach classes on Historic European Martial Arts (HEMA) and contemporary martial arts.

I presented four classes. Two on HEMA, Swetnam's rapier and dagger and Bowie knife and two on contemporary martial arts, fighting on the ground and use of a flexible device for personal defense.

I hav copied in below a report from Tony Wolf on the other HEMA classes. I was honored to take Tony's week long class on bartitsu.

For those who are interested in both stage combat and HEMA I suggest you look at the IOSP website (www.IOSP.org), which should be updated soon by Daniel Ford Beavis, the new Executive Director of the IOSP.

Report on HEMA at the Paddy Crean Workshop from Tony Wolf

A quick report on the seven-day Paddy Crean International Art of the
Sword workshop/conference, recently held in Banff, Canada.

This was the fifteenth year of the workshop, which is named in honour
of Maestro Patrick "Paddy" Crean, who served as a mentor to many
leading theatrical and film/TV fight directors. The workshops
themselves are the brainchild of Brad Waller, a fight director and HES
teacher who was a student of Maestro Crean during the '80s and '90s.
They are held under the banner of the IOSP (International Order of the
Sword and the Pen).

The 2007 "Paddy" was the largest event of its type known to have been
held anywhere in the world and was attended by over 150 participants
from throughout North America, Europe and Australasia. Forty tutors
offered a list of well over two hundred classes in subjects ranging
from historical swordsmanship and unarmed combat through to stage
combat and stunt performance. The workshop also featured a range of
lectures, round-table discussions and meetings.

Historical European martial arts formed an important theme for the
event and HEMA sessions included but were not limited to):

Jeannette Martinez - USA - Spanish and Italian schools of swordsmanship
Paul Macdonald - Scotland - Quarterstaff, backswording
Tony Wolf - New Zealand - Bartitsu and 19th c. civilian self defence arts
Jacques Cappelle - Belgium - Classical smallsword
Stefan Dieke - Germany - Halbe stange (half staff) and other weapons
of the German Renaissance
Jared Kirby - USA - deconstructing Capo Ferro
John Lennox - USA - Maritime and Frontier combat (tomahawk, bowie)
Allen Reed - USA - Bowie knife and Swetnam's rapier and dagger
Steve Huff - USA - Maritime and Frontier combat (tomahawk, bowie)
Scott Brown - USA - Cutting pattern exercises
Andrew Deane - Great Britain - Royal Armouries interpretations of
historical European martial arts
Andrew Balmforth - Great Britain - Royal Armouries interpretations of
historical European martial arts
Brad Waller - USA - Marozzo's prese

The venue, the Banff Arts Centre, is a superb international conference
centre located in a valley high in the Canadian Rockies. The dining,
facilities and views were all of great quality and many participants
took advantage of the schedule to enjoy extracurricular activities
including skiing, snowboarding and relaxing in the famous Banff hot
springs.

Plans are already afoot to revive the Paddy Crean events on an annual
or bi-annual basis. I would strongly recommend them to anyone
interested in HEMA, stage combat, or related disciplines.

Cheers,

Tony

2007-01-15T07:02:00.000-08:00

Terror at Beslan by John Giduck

Every teacher, parent, law enforcement officer and concerned citizen should read this book. Giduck outlines how the attack on a school in Russia by a large group of Islamist terrorists could occur in the U.S.

Most schools and local police department now work on handling an active shooter situation involving one or two killers. However, most departments would be absolutely overwhelmed by an attack from a large group of heavily armed suicidal terrorists.

Giduck argues that if parents, teachers and police officers cooperated on security at local schools this would cause terrorists to look for softer targets.

The full title of the book is: Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America's Schools.

2006-11-10T03:28:00.000-08:00

Back from AWSDA

Andrea and I went to the American Women's Self Defense Association's (AWSDA) annual conference in Phoenix, AZ the first week of November.

As usual the event was well put together with many interesting classes. Amongst them was a class on how to present information to parents and children on child predators and how to recognize and avoid them.

We are looking to try and build a similar program to present to local folks in our area.

Andrea and I also certified as AWSDA Rape Prevention Instructors. We will now be giving classes in this subject thru Gallowglass Academy.

If you are interested in getting more information about AWSDA and the conference go to www.AWSDA.org

2006-10-22T05:46:00.000-07:00

Playing Card Workout

I did my playing card workout this morning for the first time is several months.

I am going to have to do it more often since it really took some effort to get thru all of the cards.

I am sure some folks are wondering what I am talking about.

The idea of the playing card workout is to pick four basic body weight exercises, I use sit-ups, push-ups, double leg lifts and Hindu squats, and assign one suit to each exercise. You then flip thru the deck doing each exercise as a card of that suit comes up. The pip cards count for however many pips there are on the card. The face cards and ace count for ten.

When I started doing this set of exercises I used only the pip cards and built up to doing a full deck over about six months. I eventually got to doing 150 of each execise by using part of a second deck.

Those 150 exercises really did me in this morning.

If you are looking for a new and different exercise set I recommend you try this out.

2006-09-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

Pirattitude

With International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD), September 19, coming up soon I thought I would post a quick note about a book put out by John Baur and Mark Summers, the creators of ITLAPD.

The book is a very funny look at how the authors got ITLAPD started and how you too can join the fun of ITLAPD.

To pick up your copy look for "Pirattitiude: So You Wanna Bea Pirate? Here's How!" published by New Amercian Library.

Of course if you have _never_ heard of ITLAPD before you need to go to www.talklikeapirate.com

2006-09-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

Ragweed Forge

Like anyone who regularly throws tomahawks I eventually crack and break the handles.

I have found that Ragnar at Ragweed Forge is an excellent source for new handles. He has several sizes of handles and works with you on getting what you need.

Ragnar also sells different styles of 'hawks and throwing knives. Based on his customer service I would recommend looking at his site, www.ragweedforge.com, if you are looking to purchase a new 'hawk or knife or are just getting into throwing.

2006-09-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

New Throwing Target

With the help of some friends and inspiration from www.throwzini.com I recently built a new throwing target.

The new target is much smaller than my old one and is set up about five feet off the ground. On average I would estimate I am hitting the new target four out of five times and sticking the target three out of five times.

Of course as an admitted believer in the Mallard theory of knife and axe throwing I feel close is often good enough.

2006-09-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

Paddy Crean Workshop

I am honored to have been invited to be a Guest Artist at the 2007 Paddy Crean International Art of the Sword Workshop. The workshop will take place in Banff, Alberta, Canada from Dec. 31, 2006 to Jan. 6, 2007.

Instructors on stage combat, historic swordplay and contemporary martial arts will present short classes all week.

Keep watch at www.IOSP.org for more information about this exciting workshop.

2006-09-03T16:42:00.000-07:00

Italian Rapier DVD's

This is another set of DVD's that have been sitting in the pile by my desk waiting for a full review.

Instead, I will just say that if you have an interest in learning 17th century rapier and have no one to learn from this would be a place to start.

The one major complaint I have is that the instructors are wearing black so it is sometiems difficult to see their actions agaisnt the dark background.

If you want to pick these up look for Palpable Hit Productions at www.delongis.com/PalpableHit

2006-09-02T06:03:00.000-07:00

Catching Up

Whew, I am way behind in posting here.

I wanted to review a whole bunch of stuff and post info on upcoming WMA events.

Well, it is too late to post a reminder about going to ISMAC (International Swordplay and Martial Arts Convention) in Lansing, MI the first weekend of August. However, I can tell you it was a great convention. Once again the organizers, Jared Kirby, John Lennox and their staff, did a bang up job.

If you have any interest in WMA and are in the Midwest I can highly recommned consider going next year. So keep watching www.ArtofCombat.org for info.

Now, for other upcoming WMA events. The annual Western Martial Arts Workshop (WMAW) is taking place the second weekend in Octoberin the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. I plan to be there to teach a class on Swetnam's Rapier and Dagger. Other excellent instructor's from all over the world will also be there.

Here at Gallowglass Academy we have scheduled a weekend seminar at the end of October on German Medieval Martial Arts. If you have any interest punch up our website at www.GallowglassAcademy.org.

I want to let anyone who is into knife arts know about "Modern Knives", the quarterly video magazine that Pete Kautz at Alliance Martial Arts is putting out.

I have seen the first four issues and highly recommend the magazine. Each issue is on a different aspect of the knife arts. Pete and James Keating have a segement in each issue and then a special guest also does a presentation.

For more info on this magazine go to www.ModernKnives.com

That's it for now but watch this space for lots more in the near future.

Allen

2006-06-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

John Colter Conditioning Circut

As I mentioned in an earlier post I set up a conditioning circut on my property. Since I also wanted to practice with my tomahawk I started taking a tomahawk out to practice when I do the circut.

I have named my conditioning circut after John Colter. Colter was a member of the Lewis and Clark party but stayed in the West as a trapper when the expeditoin was over. In 1810 he was captured by a war party of Blackfoot Indians.

The Blackfoot stripped Colter naked and released him with the idea they would chase him down. Colter fought his way past the Indians and when he returned to St. Louis was the first white man to report on the wonders of the Yellowstone River area.

2006-05-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

Dream Horse Guest House

Andrea and I went out last weekend to the Cumann Bhata Weekend of Recreational Violence seminar in north-eastern Ohio.

It was cold and wet but we found the Dream Horse Guest House, a neat little Bed and Breakfast in nearby Kinsman, OH.

If you ever find yourself out travelling in that part of the world I recommend you stay there.

You can find the website at www.kinsmanbarncats.com

2006-04-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

I Bought a Rock!

Last weekend was so nice that I took Sensei Mike Reeves' advice and bought a rock at the local landscaping store. I then took a couple of cinder blocks and my new rock and set up a short workout circut on my property.

Allen

2006-04-22T07:02:00.000-07:00

Classes for 2006 Scholar's Weekend

I am pleased to let anyone who is interested in Historic European
Martial Arts know that the class list for the 2006 Scholar's Weekend at
Gallowglass Academy (outside Rockford, IL) on June 10 - 11 is now
confirmed.

Introduction to the Fight of George Silver with Tim Lyon

Introduction to Silver's Short Staff with Terrence Tindill

English Bare Fist Fighting with Adam Velez

Bastoncello: The Stick as Defensive Tool with Karl Jacobs

Introduction to German Longsword and Stick Wrestling with David Peck

Ambushed! Using the Bowie Knife When Attacked Suddenly with Allen Reed

Please pass this info on to any list or person who might be interested.

Don't forget our other upcoming classes including Cinquedea with Scott
Wilson from Darkwood Armory on July 1-2 and German Medieval Martial
Arts with Dr. William Ernoehazy on October 28 - 29.

See www.GallowglassAcademy.org for details on any of these classes.

Don't forget these are NOT SCA events.

2006-03-12T05:25:00.000-08:00

Advanced Bowie Techniques
Text and drawings by Dwight C. McLemore
published by Paladin Press, www.paladin-press.com or 1-800-392-2400, retail $35.00

reviewed by Allen Reed

I have had the honor to train with Dwight a number of times and found his first book on the Bowie knife, Bowie and Big Knife Fighting System, an excellent source of information on the history and use of this American icon. So when I heard that his second book on Bowie knife fighting was being published I really looked forward to pouring over it and adding more of his ideas on how to train with the Bowie knife to my training.

Dwight sets up five sections in the book. In the first section of the book Dwight explains the use of the Spanish Circle in his knife fighting system. An easily made training device the Spanish Circle is laid out on the floor so while you are training with the knife you can get an idea of the angles of attack and defense. This is one part of Dwight’s system that I plan to put in place in my own school.

Dwight then launches into the major portion of the book showing his system of what he calls engagement sets. These sets allow each student of the knife to work through different paired attack and defense scenarios. In this section Dwight has the students working with fairly simple attacks and defenses up to more complex sets.

In each set Dwight uses his excellent line drawings to show how to do the drill. I also like how Dwight suggests using a focus mitt to allow the student who “wins” the engagement to make full contact with his partner. I feel that too often knife training involves only minor, if any, contact.

Dwight also emphasizes that any real knife training must include full body contact sparring. He shows how to build a padded training knife and illustrates the full body padding he recommends for doing the sparring. Again, I like Dwight’s emphasis on full speed training in protective gear.

The third section introduces the use of kicks for use with the Bowie knife. Dwight emphasizes that if kicks are added into the mix, you must consider keeping the kick low and protecting yourself as you launch the kick.

In the next-to-last section of the book Dwight deals with how the Bowie knife can be carried and put into use. One style of carry that Dwight mentions is the Southern Comfort sheath from River City Sheaths (www.rivercitysheaths.com). I have one of these sheaths and can second Dwight’s comments that Mike Sastre makes an excellent sheath for carrying a big knife concealed.

Finally, Dwight finishes up the book with a section on dealing with multiple attackers. Fast aggressive movement is how Dwight feels you must deal with such situations. He shows two different engagement sets to work with when doing this kind of training.

Anyone who is interested in learning how to use a big knife in combat will find something to learn in this book. In particular I find Dwight’s drawings to help show how to do his drills. The drawings can show details that a photograph cannot.

However, there are problems with the book. There are some major copy-editing mistakes where the text calls for one move and the drawing shows another. Most of these problems can be dealt with by carefully following the drawings, as they show the correct application of the drill.

2006-03-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

Scholars Weekend 2006, June 10-11, 2006

Instructors include: Allen Reed, Adam Velez, Tim Lyon, David Peck, Terrence Tindill, and Karl Jacobs.

Classes include (tentatively) Fiore's Bastoncello (short baton), Bare Knuckle Fighting, Bowie Knife, George Silver, and German Longsword.

$30.00 for both days, $50.00 at the door

Cinquedea Seminar with Scott Wilson (from Darkwood Armory) July 1-2, 2006, $50.00 until June 1, $100.00 thereafter

The Cinquedea was a civilian weapon in use from about 1450 to about 1530, primarily in northern Italy, but also in Germany where is it was known as the ox tongue, a broad-bladed cut and thrust weapon of any length from small dagger to full 32" sword. Since there are no extant manuals dealing with this weapon, Scott has taken material and nomenclature from period sources, primarily Fiore d' Liberi and Fillipo Vadi, but also manuals dealing with German single-handed sword and messer, such as the Lebkommer and Ringeck, to develop and round out the system. The class will consist of training with basic footwork taken from Fiore and Vadi and the guardia incorporated from those systems, as well as basic strikes and combinations, and simple tactics that would have been employed.

Go to www.GallowglassAcademy.org or call 815-973-1064 for more information

2006-02-19T15:42:00.000-08:00

Ultimate Combat Conditioning: The Video with Sensei Mike Reeves and Robert G. Yetman Jr.

Available from Paladin Press (paladin-press.com) in DVD and VHS formats, approx. 60 minutes running time, $39.95 retail

Reviewed by Allen Reed

I live in a rural area so do not have easy access to major gym facilities. I am always looking for new ways to train that do not require me to travel to a gym. I also argue that for thousands of years warriors and athletes, such as those in the ancient Greek Olympics, trained without use of major apparatus. This video by Mike Reeves gives me a lot of new ways to train and train hard.

This video is a companion to the book by the same name, also available from Paladin Press. The video is set up in seven sections. Each section highlights different aspects of fitness. The exercises in each section show alternate uses of body weight exercises, improvised easily found objects, a partner or apparatus in a gym to work the same part of the body.

The first section is on warming up and stretching. In this section Reeves demonstrates a warm up exercise using a broom stick or just your body, then goes on to demonstrate leg stretches using a chair, a partner or again just your own body.

The second section of the video is on cardiac fitness. In this section, Reeves introduces the use of a weighted vest to help kick up the resistance when you are walking or running. A quick web search found various models and weight levels for these vests in the $100 to $200 range.

A cheaper method of adding resistance when walking or running is also demonstrated by Reeves: tying an old tire to a weight belt. Then drags the tire on the ground while walking or running.

The next section has Reeves demonstrating how to work on upper body strength. Again, Reeves suggests using a weighted vest when doing push ups and pull ups. Reeves also shows how to use a cinder block, boulder or log to do common weight lifting exercises. If you do have a gym nearby, Reeves also shows common exercises using free weights to work on your upper body strength.

Following the section on upper body strength, Reeves moves onto showing lower body exercises. In this section Reeves shows exercises for the legs that can be done with your own body weight, such as leap frogs or lunges while carrying a log on your shoulders.

In the fourth section, Reeves changes gears and teaches striking and kicking techniques for use in street confrontations. There really is nothing new here for the martial artist who has trained in karate or any other oriental martial art that teaches the use of such techniques. However, Reeves makes his instruction clear and simple to follow for those who have not trained in these systems.

I do have one major concern about the language Reeves uses when he teaches these techniques. He mentions that these strikes can be lethal. However, he does not explain the legal implications of when and where lethal use of force can be used in self defense.

The next-to-last section of the video has Reeves and his partner showing how to toughen up your skin and muscles to help absorb strikes if you get involved in a fight. Again, the experienced martial artist will be familiar with most of these types of body conditioning exercises. For those who are not familiar with this type of exercise, it should be emphasized that when you do these exercises you don’t need to use a lot of force to build up your resistance.

The final section of the video has Reeves and his partner demonstrating how the body-toughening exercises can then be tested by doing breaking techniques. Reeves has his partner break 2 x 2's on parts of Reeves’ body. This section is little over the top and these techniques should not be done by the inexperienced. Also, when watching these techniques, pay attention to the fact that Reeves is very careful not to have his partner hit him with the Center of Percussion, the most powerful part of the strike, but instead in about the middle of the 2 x 2.

When purchasing this video, be aware it is not a workout tape where you are led through a work out like Tie Bo or similar aerobic workouts. Instead, Reeves shows you how to do each exercise and then lets you decide how to build it into your own workout.

The production values on this video are simple but clear with no fancy special effects. The video is packed full of exercises that can be done by almost anyone who is interested in increasing their fitness level. The only concern I have is that Reeves never really makes it clear that you can build up to these exercises by using lighter weights or lower reps in any of his exercises.

I would recommend this tape to the martial artist or anyone else who is interested adding to their fitness work out.

2006-02-12T11:44:00.000-08:00

Apache Knife Fighting DVD

available from ApacheKnife.com for $75.00, sixty minute playing time

I was looking forward to seeing the system put forward by Robert Redfeather, the chief instructor of the Apache Knife fighting system, on this DVD since I have heard good things about his system and teaching style.

The instructional part of the DVD is divided into five sections. The Basic section comes first. In this part of the video Redfeather and Tanner Nydstrom, one of Redfeather’s instructors, introduce the system by talking about safety equipment that should be used when doing knife fighting training and then go on to show the stance and grips used in the system.

The second section is titled Apache Knife Techniques. In this section Redfeather and Nydstrom demonstrate different patterns of counters to attacks and Redfeather’s twelve angles of attack drill.

The third part of the video is the Non-committed or Non-lethal Techniques section. This section has Redfeather demonstrating techniques to disarm or discourage an attacker. I have a major concern with using the term “non-lethal” in the context of any knife fighting system. This concern is based on the fact that legally any use of a knife will be considered using deadly force.

In the fourth section, titled Committed Techniques, Redfeather shows fully committed, close range lethal techniques. These techniques include stabs to the body and head.

In the final section is a Review. Redfeather shows how techniques he has already demonstrated can be put together for use in a knife fight.

The production values on the video are good. Redfeather clearly demonstrates each technique multiple times and slowly enough that they can be followed. The name of each technique is clearly shown on the screen so the name can be associated with the techniques. However, it is a pet peeve of mine when martial artists wear black uniforms on their instructional videos and then use a dark background so it is sometimes hard to see all of what is going on. Unfortunately, Refeather has fallen into this style of martial arts video production and I feel it detracts in a small way from the instructional portions of the video.

Most of the DVD is taken up with video of the final free assaults (sparring) Redfeather has his students take part in at the end of each seminar. During these sessions the students use No Lie Blades training knives which are fairly heavy and rigid. In the first section of the DVD Nydstrom stresses using proper protective gear, but then in the two sections where Marines are shown fighting each other, no one has any eye protection at all. I n the other sections where free assaults are shown the students only have goggles on. In my personal training experience I have found that this really does not allow the student to use the knife with any real threat, since good attacks to the head cannot be made.

At the beginning of the DVD a statement is made that Redfeather bases his system on experience not theory. Yet on the DVD Redfeather gives no real information about his experience.

I went to the Apache Knife website and looked at Redfeather’s biography where he states that he holds an 8th degree black belt but he does not mention in what system or school. He also claims he is in several Halls of Fame but does not give their names.

As I mentioned, the basic production values on the DVD are good. The instructional sections present the material in a way that can be followed and replicated by the student. Redfeather and Nydstrom speak clearly and distinctly. However, there are only twenty minutes of instruction on the video. The rest of this sixty minute video is taken up with the free assaults. I just do not feel that this is worth the $75 that Redfeather charges for the DVD.

2006-02-06T04:44:00.000-08:00

Yowza!

Winter out here in northern Illinois has been fairly mild. This morning with a reported temperature of 18 degres it's back to being real dousing weather!

2006-02-04T16:42:00.000-08:00

Kicking It Up Another Notch

As I mentioned in my review of Joyce Vedral's book on weight training I started using her system in the Fall of 2005. I spent about a month learning the basic workout and then in October started on her modified pyramid sets, using increasinly heavies weights.

I have now started on Vedral's third level using her combined supersets. In the superset exercises Joyce has you doing two sets of exercises (eg flat bench press and inclined bench press without resting between them). You still do a modified pyramid for each exercise.

I'll post here how I do.

2006-01-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

Two Sets of Knife Fighting DVD’s

I picked up two sets of knife fighting DVD’s from Hock Hochheim’s Scientific Fighting Congress (SFC).

The first set is Hoch’s basic Knife/Counter Knife set including two DVD’s.

Journeyman Level One: Stress Combat Quick Draws and Solo Command and Mastery. Cost is $39.95 for a total of about 90 minutes playing time.

The Solo Command DVD includes Hoch’s solos drills including the use of the war post (pell) which Hoch emphasizes must be used by anyone who truly wants to master ths use of the knife. At the end of this DVD Hoch shows you how to make a war post with easily available materials.

The Quick Draw DVD emphasizes the use of the lock blade folder and how to get it out and into use for combat.

The second set is also a two DVD set with a total playing time of about 70 minutes for both discs. Again the set sells for $39.95.

The first DVD is Hoch’s drills for using the saber grip with the knife. In the second DVD Hoch shows drills for use when knife dueling. Though Hoch emphasizes that most knife fights are not about dueling but are close in fast and deadly.

I would recommend any or all of these DVD’s to anyone who is interested in working on knife on knife drills. As an instructor I found the drills ones I will include in my teaching. The student will find the drills a good way to work on their knife skills.

You can order these DVD’s from SFC online at www.HocksCQC.com or call 817-581-4021.

2005-12-30T12:35:00.000-08:00

Books of interest to the student of defense:

“Forza: The Samurai Sword Workout” by Ilaria Montagnani, published by Ulysses Press (2005)

I picked this book up while poking around in one of the local big box books stores. Tho I haven’t really worked with the exercises the author suggests I can see it being used by both the Oriental martial artist and the user of the longsword or staff.

“The Classical Pugilism and Bare-Knuckle Boxing Companion, Vol. 1” edited by Jake Shannon, published by Lulu Press (2005)

While doing research on early American pugilism I came across a reference to a manual published in the 1840's by Owen Swift titled “Boxing without a Master”. I then set out to find a reproduction of this work. The book listed above was the only source I found for this work. The book is a compilation of three works on pugilism and boxing.

I am not an expert on the history of pugilism but would suggest anyone who is interested in early boxing history take a look at Shannon’s book if interested in getting more information.

“The Bowie Knife: Unsheathing an American Legend” by Norm Flayderman, published by Andrew Mowbray, Inc (2004)

For any collector or student of the Bowie knife this is a must have book! Lavishly illustrated with photos of many Bowie knives Flayderman has set out to really give us the history of the Bowie knife. Flayderman has found the earliest published references to the Bowie knife and dispels many of the myths about the knife and James Bowie, the man for which it was named.

2005-12-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

Spyderco Knives:

I have always been a fan of Spyderco knives. I like them 'cuz they are good quality, inexpensive knives that hold up well under use. I carry a Delica folder on a regular basis.

Recently I found out Spyderco sells trainers for three of their models. Two of their folders, the Delica and the Endura, and one of their fixed blades, the Temperance.

I have purchased the Delica and Temperance trainers and am happy with both of them.

Speaking of the Temperance model knife. I first learned about this model of Spyderco when I attended some training at the School of Two Swords with Dwight McLemore. It is an excellent single edge fixed blade knife. The Kydex sheath is also very well made and is set up so it can be carried in a number of configurations.

Weight Training:

Back in the fall I was looking to kick my conditioning traing up a notch so I dusted my weights off and started looking around for a system to use. While browsing thru one of the big box book stores I found "Weight Training Made Easy" by Joyce L. Vedral(publsihed by Warmer Books) Ms. Vedral advocates the use of dumb bells for most weight training. Her system is easy to learn and the book is set up well for the novice to use.

Although I am using plates not dumb bells, not the optimal choice for the novice, I have found the system works well for me. I would recommend that anyone who wants to start weight training or wants to add something to their training take a look at this book

Fight School

2005-12-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Fight School the blog for Gallowglass Academy. Gallowglass Academy is a martial arts and training school in northwestern Illinois (near Rockford, IL) Gallowglass Academy is dedicated to providing training in Historic European (and American) Martial Arts (HEMA) as well as modern martial arts and law enforcement training.

My name is Allen Reed. I am the Director of Training for Gallowglass Academy. For those of you who don’t know me I have over 25 years in law enforcement both at the local and federal level. I have been doing Oriental martial arts for over 30 years and teaching jujutsu for over 20 years.

I have been a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) for almost 30 years where I was first introduced to the idea of HEMA (yes, I know SCA fighting isn’t really HEMA). I have been doing SCA armored fighting off and on since I joined the SCA. I first started doing fencing in the SCA about 15 years ago. I slowly learned more about HEMA through my interest in fencing.

Currently I am also a volunteer re-enactor at the Apple River State Historic Site in Elizabeth, IL. This site is established where one of the battles during the Black Hawk War of 1832 took place. Amongst my other duties on the site is re-enacting th role of one of the local militia men during the Black Hawk War.

For those who have not found the Gallowglass Academy website I encourage you to go to www.GallowglassAcademy.org to find out about our training schedule.

This blog is set up so I can jot down notes about on going projects and things I have found during my reading and other research that really don’t belong on the website. I hope you will find this information helpful in your search for information about martial art training and historic re-enactment.