Drills: The Spin-Off Thread For Scara & Others Who Do

D

DPris

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Nov 27, 2003
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Scara,
You switch hands, to build up equal strength in both arms & avoid the One-Sided Popeye Look? :)

I use a pair of 3-pound small dumbbells for extra calorie burn & arm exercise on the treadmill, I've considered developing a simple informal kata drill for one of the khukuries, when I get one up & running the way I want it.

I see it mostly as an outdoors tool for me, but also see a potential defensive device if it ever had to be.

Without getting too far into the weapon aspect of khukuris, brief discussion OK here?
If they're promoted as the icon of the Gurkha fighting forces (and not for the Gurkha Gardening Channel), seems a legit topic. :)

One comment re-drills & training (as such): I've seen a couple military training & drill routines via YouTube that show Gurkha units using a high circling "roundabout" before dropping down into a cutting strike.
That seems, to my admittedly non-knife-fighting eye, to leave the guy doing it open to a lower torso or leg strike by an opponent with a blade of his own.

What's your take there?
Denis
 
Any Ghurka knife fighting classes are a recent innovation....my workout has always consisted of the stretches and kata done more at a tai chi breathing cycle coupled with normal calisthenics of Army type (pushups/pullups/flutter kicks/situps) and cycle/run as weather/time permit....
 
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DPris said:
Scara,
You switch hands, to build up equal strength in both arms & avoid the One-Sided Popeye Look? :)

I use a pair of 3-pound small dumbbells for extra calorie burn & arm exercise on the treadmill, I've considered developing a simple informal kata drill for one of the khukuries, when I get one up & running the way I want it.

I see it mostly as an outdoors tool for me, but also see a potential defensive device if it ever had to be.

Without getting too far into the weapon aspect of khukuris, brief discussion OK here?
If they're promoted as the icon of the Gurkha fighting forces (and not for the Gurkha Gardening Channel), seems a legit topic. :)

One comment re-drills & training (as such): I've seen a couple military training & drill routines via YouTube that show Gurkha units using a high circling "roundabout" before dropping down into a cutting strike.
That seems, to my admittedly non-knife-fighting eye, to leave the guy doing it open to a lower torso or leg strike by an opponent with a blade of his own.

What's your take there?
Denis
Click to expand...

You needn't worry. I talk about kukri fighting plenty here. No rule against it.

So to answer your last question first: the Gurkha fighting style has a mentality of trading up. They'll trade a hand for an arm, and an arm for a head. The kukri does not excel as a defensive blade. It has greater reach than most fighting blades, especially those in use in modern militaries, but keep in mind that kukris work best with chops, so you have a little less reach than the size would indicate because you aren't working as much with the tip. The reason they do a lot of high roundabouts is because the kukri requires distance and speed to be used effectively. So there are a lot of strikes that leave you open because they have to build up that power. Kukris are very awkward in at corto mano distances because of the need for force (in the Newtonian sense). Kukris are very much largo mano weapons. At corto mano distances it generally takes supported cuts (hand on the spine just below the shoulder) to give it enough power to do the job. JW Bensinger can do a much better job of explaining them. You could also look at Dwight McLemore's book on the kukri on Amazon. He's mostly a Bowie fighter, and some of his techniques are not sufficiently adapted for the kukri, but his corto mano techniques seem mostly sound. The majority of the book is available on the free preview. I elected not to buy it, I didn't see it being useful enough to buy, but it gave me some ideas.

One little detail though, a lot of those roundabout things can be used as flourishes to build some extra strength and fluidity into what you're doing. You can use a flourish to end one movement and transition it into the next with speed and power.

I try to use both hands, though I have to be careful with my left. About a month and a half ago I took a fall while running, tripped over the guy in front of me, and my wrists took some of the force of the fall. It kind of screwed up my left wrist for a little while. Now I feel like my left wrist isn't as fast, and that it's less dextrous. Though it could just be that I pay more attention to it, or I'm more self-conscious about it.

Dumbells and kettlebells work for arm strength, but the kukri has an advantage over them in some ways. The kukri requires more precision to control, because if you're using it you are also controlling where the tip is, blade direction, and you're doing it with the kukri's weight forward balance. It builds a lot of your finer control muscles when you do it.

One thing I will mention since we talked about roundabout strikes, there is another way of using the kukri's chopping power that doesn't involve swinging it like an axe. One thing I've found with the heavier kukris like my WWII is that you can cock your hand back like you're going to throw a punch, thrust out with the kukri, and at the end of the thrust let it snap forward with your wrist. It's even better if you hold it loosely with your ring and little fingers and then snap them tight at the same time. This strike gets the kukri moving at rather shocking speeds at the end, and puts a lot of power behind it. It can be done with your knuckles aligned vertically, or with them aligned horizontally. Vertically has the advantage of gravity assisting the blade at the end. Horizontally allows you to strike at the neck, and it also exploits the natural movement of all the joints in your arm to give it extra power.
 
"using a high circling "roundabout" before dropping down into a cutting strike."

Sounds like Bando style? whatever that is? I saw some vids on that as well.

Disclaimer: I dont know what im talking about. I just saw a video.
 
DPris said:
.... One comment re-drills & training (as such): I've seen a couple military training & drill routines via YouTube that show Gurkha units using a high circling "roundabout" before dropping down into a cutting strike. That seems, to my admittedly non-knife-fighting eye, to leave the guy doing it open to a lower torso or leg strike by an opponent with a blade of his own.
Click to expand...

Training and drill routines in any martial art often include moves that wouldn't be used in actual combat, or might be used only under special circumstances. The high circling move could be to develop strength, or to intimidate opponents, or to use against someone who is not armed with a blade of his own, or for other purposes. That's one of the reasons that it's hard to master a martial art from videos or books alone, without an instructor to clarify these points.

There are many examples of training moves that are not intended for actual combat. In Tai Chi, for example, one often practices the moves in slow motion to develop strength and perfect the form. In competitive Judo, an expert usually wins matches with the same one or two moves that he/she has mastered to perfection, while other techniques are used to soften up or distract an opponent. A current example from MMA is Rhonda Rousey, who has won almost all her matches with the arm bar that she perfected in her Judo career. She practices many techniques, but might not use most of them in a match.
 
Scara,
Obviously the khukuri requires its own stylistic adaptations in dealing with its peculiarities.
It's greatest strength appears to me to be in its chopping ability, and to utilize that most effectively a certain amount of travel & distance is required.

That involves longer arm extensions to maximize the power & energy behind the impact. Pretty much the same on wood, or anything else you want to chop with one.

Just appeared to me that the high roundabout does tend to leave you open to a faster blade style in the hands of a skilled user.
I think one instructor was saying something about an intimidation factor, I suppose there'd be some of that.
I wouldn't want to be under one being roundabouted over my head. :)

You're saying flourishes can be useful in transitions & redirections, as I read it?
I'll buy that.

Had occasion to spend some time with a local knife instructor about four years back, picked up a couple minor points here & there, along with other odds & ends over the years.
I'll never be a knife fighter, but some of the techniques used as adaptations to various sizes & types are interesting.

Bowies, karambits, stilettos, tantos, khukuris, all share a cutting edge, but require different delivery methods of their own.
Thanks for the references, I'll look 'em up.

Ndog,
The high roundabout was in an older instructional video with a Gurkha instructor.
It was also part of a kata demonstrated in a more recent video by a formation of Gurkhas I found.

I stand in great ignorance of what Bando does. :)
Denis
 
David,
That older video had the instructor including the roundabout for actual use, as I understood what he was saying.
He was demonstrating cuts, angles, and transitions on a student standing in front of him.
I do get your point in general. :)
Denis
 
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