Ninja Key Ring – The escape from the Rear Naked Choke

Any Escape from the Rear Naked Choke is a contentious one. The hold, when applied correctly will completely isolate your head from your body cutting off both the blood to your brain and the air to your lungs and will cause loss of consciousness in less than five seconds.

I have seen many attempts online and in the Dojo of guys trying to beat the odds with different techniques, but the one that only ever came close is the one demonstrated in the video. I shot the video from behind to give you an idea of how to turn your body from your own perspective.

This first step is to grab on to the elbow around your neck with your opposed hand and try and establish the crook of the elbow and possibly get your Adams apple aligned with the bend to try and re-establish your air supply, but you should move on to the next step even if this doesn't work.

With the Key Ring in the same hand as your opponent used to choke you, you now use the reference point you made with your opposed hand and place the one end of the key ring protruding from the bottom-end of your hand between the two sides of the elbow, right on the muscle in line with your Adams apple so to speak on his arm. If you were to bend your elbow now and feel the elbow joint on the outside you will be able to identify this pressure point by the little rounded bulge your lower arm muscle forms when you flex it. When you get it right your opponent will lose his grip for an instant.

Now pivot on the same foot as the hand holding the key ring while pushing down and towards your chest as hard as you can and whilst swinging your other leg around the outside towards your opponents now bending elbow and lastly slip your shoulder past his chest. You should now be out of the choke with your opponents elbow bent to his disadvantage and free to use the key ring with lethal force against your opponent.

This move can be done without the key ring but if your opponent gets the choke on correctly, without a key ring, you don’t stand much of a chance. Remember the best way to get out of this choke is not to get into it in the first place.

Embrace the shadows.

Gun Tuesday

I felt charged. Watching the grading over the weekend after a joint agreement with my Sensei not to grade reaffirmed my beliefs that I am ready for grading. After seeing the grading from the seated perspective I realised what the Sensei are looking for and how frustrating it is for them so see poor form. I have always been a firm believer in form over force and although some still taunt me about my earlier days with NSA I have out grown my once ridged and strained earth like movements and replaced them with the fluidity of water.

I saw a lot of earth in the grading and coupled with some fire it made for a rather interesting show, but with only one second and first kyu student impressing me I couldn’t help but feel a bit side-lined and left behind. Don’t get me wrong, the grading was a huge success in my eyes and with one new addition to the black belt corps I believe each and every student deserve the grades they got. Well done, all of you.

I got to the dojo early and worked on my nunchacu. My hands were more nimble now and I could feel the strain less flow of the flare and the deadly impact of the strike. I was once again a deadly ninja in the shadows and my foes dropped by the dozen as I swung the deadly weapon around my limbs and body.

I headed inside and decided to grab the shinai and do a bit of jousting. One of the junior students took up the challenge and we squared off. I felt a little more comfortable with my right foot forward and parried most of his strikes. I started looking for openings in his defence and strategies on how to get to them, but I still have a lot more to learn. I saw him getting tired and decided to call it a round.

We lined up and started warm ups. I had loads of energy and after a good stretch we did a couple of hand coordination drills. We did some bag work and I swopped left to right for each strike midway through the ten count in a bid to train both sides of my body. My partner commented about the power in my right palm heal, I smiled and struck him harder with my left elbow. We did some combination drills and I worked a bit on my one arm techniques.

We broke for water and I did some push-ups with my feet up on a stack of chairs. We broke up for syllabus work and I opted to be uke for a 6^th kyu. The Sensei brought a training gun and we settled in for the second half of sixth kyu. My partner was still green and conscious incompetence was written all over his face as we worked through “gun to the side of the body”. I gave him a couple pointers as we went along and he quickly adapted as he grasped the techniques.

We were starting to have fun as the sensei intervened and gave us a scenario where the assailant grabs the wrist while holding the gun against his chest. The idea was to combine the knife edge out of the grip while neutralising the danger of the gun in your opponent’s hand. I visualised the way I would shrink in fear before I attacked my opponent’s gun hand, but the translation didn’t quite hide my intention of attacking and my partner warned me that he could see that I wanted to attack. I tried again, I went to that place in-between time and reality where everything seemed to freeze frame and the world had no sound. I cowered into a deadly half crouch position as I drew my partner onto the void. A deadly explosion of speed surprised him so totally that we both remained suspended in time as I brought my knee up while I grabbed the gun against his shoulder.

I realised what had happened when he groaned in pain. My knee connected with its target. I apologised profusely and hoped that the damage wasn’t that bad. I did hold back, but he was still in a fair amount of pain, luckily it subsided quickly leaving only me feeling bad and incompetent for letting myself go just that little bit.

Embrace the shadows.

Teacher Tuesday

After spending three days at Home affairs running up and down stairs my leg felt a bit sore. I decided to nurse it and take it easy at training. I got to class and when one of the juniors swung around an eskrima stick I immediately went to grab the other sticks to do some heaven and earth. We played around for a couple of minutes before the Sensei told us that class is about to start.

We did our core exercises and I took stretches. I was time conscious, but made sure the students were stretched properly. I decided against any jumping exercises and kept the stretch low key, focusing on form rather than effort.

We lined up in double file and I prepared myself for body conditioning. The junior students were ecstatic about hitting each other. Soon we were drilling blocks. I saw the student next to me punching half-heartedly at his opponent. I encouraged them to speed it up and really strike at each other. Their form changed and their technique improved immediately.

We went over to knee strikes and kicks. I decided not to kick with the left leg at all and kept my kicks softer. I looked at the student next to me and analysed his form while hi kicked. It was like he sat back into his kicks and used his arms to maintain balance. I spoke to him again and told him what I saw. I showed him the difference when I did what he was doing. I also gave him an exercise that I believe will increase his balance and core strength and focus his attention on his posture.

He seemed to respond well to my guidance and when we broke up into our levels I told the Sensei that I wanted to teach. We did 6^th Kyu. It’s the bridging level between a junior and a senior ninja. I particularly enjoyed this level when I first started Ninjutsu. It’s all about escapes from body holds and I found that combining my speed with a bit of body mechanics I became quite effective. We started off with the basics and did two handed grabs. The student was a lot smaller and younger than me so he struggled a bit as I changed my grip from medium to hard and pulled him around a bit, but he rose to the challenge and kicked me before breaking my holds.

I enjoyed teaching him and he had a sparkle in his eye as I gave him the tips I use while doing the techniques. I couldn’t help but envy his youth as I thought back at how much energy and drive I had at his age. The Sensei came around a couple of times and was amazed at how resilient he became against me and called me a bully to witch I responded that I was only being realistic with him and it was all in good spirit.

Embrace the shadows.

Uke Tuesday

I rushed into class just before the start. We had quite a number of students in attendance and I could see the Sensei was pleased with the turn out. I took warm-ups and made sure we stretched every muscle. The Sensei seemed to think I took too long and gave me a side comment about it being 7h30 so I wrapped up.

We did some body conditioning and my partner assaulted my midsection. I got my revenge and made him drop his arms a couple of times. My energy was building up and I wanted more action. I did a bit of tea cup with the Sensei. I enjoy training with him as he hardly holds back. Soon we grabbed the bags and did a couple of combinations. I swopped sides every time starting with the left hand. My left side felt a little dumb still and all the strikes took more concentration than the right.

We broke for water and I put my feet up to do push-ups. I was watching a video on how to punch harder and they guy said that push-ups is the best way to get the power up. One of the students put a heavy bag on my back and I stopped counting. I focused on each push-up at a time and not straining my breathing. Eventually I felt like I was about to fail so I came down. I got a couple of stares while I recovered my composure and with the sweat running down my face we banded together for the last leg of the evening.

The Sensei started splitting us up for syllabus work. He looked at me as I said I am doing one arm fighting and belt work. “But you know what you going to do” he said in a taunting tone. I agreed and with a smile agreed to be Uke for the 4^th kyu student while my partner trained the juniors.  He was working on Tonfa and Jo so I asked him which he wanted to start with. He chose the Tonfa and we squared off.

The Sensei asked him to do the strikes and rakes. I grabbed a bag and watched him dust the bag off. Soon we went over to arm locks and I had to bite my tongue to not warn him to mind his step. I knew they would have little respect for me as I wasn’t hitting back, but I decided to just take the pain as conditioning and roll with the punches as best I could. I slowed my punch and kept the resistance to the minimum, but inside my mind a war was raging. The Tonfa wielding ninja died multiple horrible deaths in close succession and I had an answer to each of his moves followed by a quick break and deadly choke to finish. Now and then I grabbed the tonfa from him and showed him how the move should be done and even had the Sensei give me a commendation.

The sensei called the end of class. I got a bit of relief with the Kata dante, but I felt very charged after taking all that pain without returning the favour. Maybe I can hit the bag a bit tonight…

Embrace the shadows.

Choke Thursday

The weekend has been way to long. I could barely remember how good it felt to train with the clan at honeydew. I behaved myself over the long weekend and trained moderately every chance I got. I kept my diet on the sensible side and felt ready for a good workout. The class was full. Almost everyone was there and it was good to see a couple of regulars keep their commitment.

I kept an eye on a couple of juniors, they were more relaxed and their styles have improved since they started. I could see their confidence building as their strikes became more powerful and accurate. The class was alive and as we finished the warm-ups I felt proud to be part of such a vibrant group of Ninjas. The body conditioning was relentless. My midriff is getting stronger from all the sit-ups and I took the punishment like a fighter.

We got the bags out and dusted them off with a couple of palm-heal strikes. The Sensei spurred us on as we did combination strikes. I had lots of gas in the tank and although I was sweating profusely, I felt strong and constantly changed my stance to train both sides of my body. This caused me to constantly be out of my comfort zone and took a bit more concentration. I also turned my head away while the Sensei used my bag for demonstration and visualised the strikes rather than see them for myself.

I did my push-ups while the rest broke for water. The Sensei put one of the heavy bags on my back. This substantially increased the weight I had to push as I already use a chair to put my feet on while I do the push-ups. My arms ran out of juice before I got winded this time and the sensei taunted me as I squeezed the last bit of energy out with a grunt.

We broke up into our levels and I got my leather belt from my bag. I felt more comfortable with it, but my nemesis had a mouth full of mockery for my choice of weapon. I smiled and nodded. He was violent and aggressive as usual, but I steeled myself and met him head-on. I decided to speed up my punches and be more aggressive myself. It is against my nature, but it’s the only language he seems to understand. It awoke the tiger from a long hibernation…

We trained with the Sensei and swopped the belt between the two of us after each strike. This slowed down the pace quite a bit and focused our attention on technique rather than force. One technique was a back to back choke. I got the belt around his neck and arched my back against his back. Suddenly I felt him tap. With his carotid artery cut off he was near fainting within seconds. He didn’t pass out, but we quickly moved on to the next technique as he joked about how euphoric he was becoming while being at the wrong end of a strangling Ninja…

Embrace the shadows.

Hard-core Tuesday

It has been a long day at the office and I felt quite drained by the time I got home. I didn’t get the little shut eye that I was hoping for, but I made sure I ate well during the day in order to keep my energy up. I felt a pang of regret as I dug in my bag for my nunchaku and realised that they were broken. I decided to stretch a little bit on the fare side of the hall. The sensei came over and made fun of my stance and hand movements as I attempted to focus my mind on the task at hand. I smiled at him and told him his was lucky he had a black belt to which he responded that a black belt doesn’t mean I can’t punch him. It was a taste of things to come…

We lined up and started our core exercises. Some complains we voiced as the Sensei asked me how many I wanted to do. I took stretches and after getting each muscle stretched out properly we did a couple of jumping jacks as well as running on the spot. We lined up for body conditioning and I was itching with anticipation. The class was quite full and the Sensei had nothing but smiles all over. But my friends elbow seemed to act up again so the Sensei fell in with me and we engaged in one of the most intense sessions I had in a while.

It started off quite subdued with a couple of hand speed drills, but quickly progressed into a full scale takedown session. He wasn’t holding back much and I followed suit. He took initiative and I tried my best to replay with the same. At one stage we wrestled a bit and I focused on not getting aggressive and just roll with the flow, but we ended up against the wall and had to break up. He was doing all kinds of evasions and threw me on the ground hard, but time after time I got up and came back for more. I was in my element as the sweat ran down my face. We trained well together and I got some good ideas for one armed fighting. It was one of the best work outs I have had since I started and I couldn’t help but look forward to grading the same way.

One of our newly belted Senseis also joined us and he was keen on teaching me some belt techniques. He had a couple of different views on how to use the belt and I enjoyed working with him, but I felt inexperienced with the belt. The belt I used suddenly didn’t wrap around my hands so well and I couldn’t quite get into the rhythm with it. I was completely out of my comfort zone, but he was patient with me and had a lot of good advice to add and together we experimented with variations and I even made a couple of tie-up attempts.

We ended the class like most evenings, tired and bruised and all too happy to go home and for a change I didn’t feel the fire in my belly for more training. I was spent and rid of the day’s stress.

Embrace the shadows.

One arm Thursday

I had to make a fire for the family before I left for class. It was with the smell of a warm, fresh, smoky fire that I spent a minute to centre myself whilst in the car and with the twilight fast turning into darkness I focused my breathing and recalled some of the things the Senseis in my live taught me. My mind is set on the Nunchaku and I looked forward to swinging them before class. As I ascended the steps I greeted my Sensei and Shidoshi Nathan. They we in deep conversation and I was just too happy to mind my own business and work on my style.

The Sensei called me closer after a minute or two and I noticed a father to one of the kids joined the circle of conversation. The Sensei reached out for my weapon. I let him off easy and handed them over. Shidoshi Nathan took them and started flaring. It was an impressive display but it was interrupted when the one arm of the Nunchaku suddenly separated from the other in mid-swing. The missile hit the father on the outside thigh. He didn’t flinch much and Shidoshi Nathan apologised. I have had the weapon for as long as I did Ninjutsu, in fact it was the first weapon I bought since I started the art of the Ninja. I looked at the two broken pieces and thought; cool now I have two…

It quickly shaped up to be another ill attended class. With only two students joining me in stretches, I made a meal of the event and even broke a sweat at the end as I handed the class back to the Sensei. I suggested some bag work and he happily obliged. Soon we were pounding each other. I enjoyed it, but deep inside I longed for a more personal encounter. The taste of aggression awakened the tiger inside two days ago, but the Sensei would hear of no such things when I suggested a bit of tea cup.

We broke up into groups and my old nemesis was back, but clearly with less steam and as I suggested we do one arm fighting he agreed that Tuesday was a rough session. We slowly went through the motions as I got used to only having one arm. Most of the techniques remain intact with one arm, plus you still have your legs to fight with. We did all the strikes with each arm being debilitated in turn and I got into the swing of things quite naturally. I feel with a little bit of experimenting I could be quite effective with one arm as most of my stand-up style edges towards one arm anyway, but it’s the groundwork that I really think needs some attention, especially if a takedown is something you like to end with. If the takedown ends in a wrestling match one arm might not be as easy on the ground as on your feet.

The class was over much too quick and even though I am not 100% after my head cold, I could feel almost a full tank of energy left. I miss the MMA drills…

Embrace the Shadows.