Everyday Ninja

Invisibility is often linked to mystic powers, technology that can bend light , or a ring placed on a finger of a hobbit that can transport the holder into another dimension making them invisible to those around.

Lets say that you didn’t have a magic cloak etc, there are still Practical ways to remove yourself from the view of predators or prey. Theses skills are really easy to practice and even easier to apply. For time sake we will break down invisibility down into three parts , Perception,  camouflage , Distraction

Perception

The mind  sees what it wants to believe or better said rationalize as familiar. For example you see a smaller person in statue dressed older clothing wrapped in a  shaw pushing a baby cart across the street would be just that. Only to look closer and find a small man dressed as an old lady pushing a cart full of money. If your  enemy cant perceive you ,you can consider yourself  invisible.

Camouflage

The military defines camouflage as paint or materials used to hide the body , personnel or equipment from detection. Material like paint or branches attached to helmets rifles etc  are used to dull, shape of the soldier, and or reflective surfaces from the soldiers weapon i.e rifle or equipment. Radio. Paint and brushes are a drastic measure used by the soldiers that protect our county on the battle field, However you will be surprised how far a WIG left over from Halloween or a False nose can go to through someone who is familiar to your normal make up goes. Even as far as hat pulled down over the eyes while you hunch your shoulders can make you look like a different person .

Distraction

Even though we are mentioning different methods of invisibility , it all comes down to the perception of the person you are trying to hide from, if the person perceives that your camouflage is out of place then his perception isn’t fooled and no type of guise will work. Distraction is used to pull the attention away from what is intended to be invisible. Rain , fire an explosion, a loud siren a sudden shout can take a pursuers eyes off of the target just long enough to aid in a simple disappearing act. Of course the distraction has to be used right before the escape or attempt at hiding.

The mind is the secret of Invisibility

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Practice like your life depends on it because it does; the way a person trains is exactly the way that they are going to perform when the fight is real.  So it’s very important that your partner attacks you with vigor and a level of intensity that simulates reality.  So here are some principles that you can follow in your Dojo/Dojang.

1. Practice Safety at all times, when you and your training partners know and trust each other with faster movements then you can actually get the feel of certain real takedowns. Confidence and competence goes up when there is a trust of hard training without injury.

2. Punch or kick all the way through your partner, meaning when practicing make sure that you or your uke punches straight towards you with the intent of impact. That way insures that you can practice using the momentum of the blow as you spin past the attack. Your partner isn’t helping you by throwing jabs or stationary attacks being that someone who is trying to kill you isn’t going to throw a sport jab.

3. Change the tempo its ok to break the pattern of attack for your partner as in reality attacks are unpredictable, mix it up a bit not to the point that the drill turns into a sloppy slap boxing session but teaches your partner to think on their feet and react to changing situations to get the drop on your attack

4. Resist, once again not to the point of injury or messing up the vibe of the drill just enough to let your partner know that you are there and they are in a struggle.

Its easy to feel like superman in a sterile environment with mats and gi’s etc so its important to make sure that you are pushing your training to a level of reality that serves the needs of your training core. If your training is centered on the aspects of fluid movement with the attitude that is open to the change of the dynamic the ninja shouldn’t have much of a problem surving depending oh how well the practice is set up. Make your partner take you down don’t just give in to complacent falling to pass the time make sure he/she know that they can really make the move work. Your doing them a great disservice by being a bad partner and building false confidence, which will get them in a bad situation that they thought, they were prepared for

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Two tools often overlooked by untrained attackers are the knees and elbows.From watching altercations erupt into violence working as a bouncer for a number of years i noticed that most people fighting rarely if at all use their knees and elbows. I think that hitting with the elbow takes a level of training as mentioned before and also intimacy. Elbows and knee attacking and defending means you have to get close to the person that your dealing with. The clinch and then the elbow across the bridge of the eye “bleeding” spot takes a level of calm and timing that can only come from repetitions of training. To break it down for the layman, the elbow can deliver more impact then the fist. While at the same time protecting the person using the elbow skill, because of the hard impact surface of the elbow. On the same note the elbow can be used as a blocking tool with the defender raising the point of his elbow to meet the point of impact of an attacker throwing a standard straight punch.

Knees when used are often lifted to the face of a person who’s head is pulled down to meet the force of the knee. Although highly effective without training in this area of striking it can be hard to pull off. Kneeing an attacker in the thigh “dead leg” inner or outer is highly effective very hard to predict while leaving the person utilizing the skill fairly safe.

Drills for using Elbows and Knees

1) Waist twisting , make sure that your elbows are positioned to be able to strike a person or bag for practice, in a lateral and vertical trajectory. Grab the lapel of your shirt to find a good distance from where your arms extends from your chest.

2)Knee Lifts practice thrusting your knee out tigh level, there should be a snapping motion driving from you hips. This attack can be launched to the inside and outside of the thigh , which is really hard to stop or protect against being that its such a low and fast attack . Practice moving in a direction of escape after throwing the knee.

practice safe

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Before one engages in combat it is wise to know as much information about your adversary as possible.  Sun Tzu states that if a warrior knows himself but not his enemy the warrior is gonna win 50% of the time. If the warrior knows the enemy and not himself than he will also win 50% of the time . If the same warrior doesn’t know himself or the enemy well the outcome is obvious, So we are gonna look at knowing ones self in this article.

Most Human beings have natural weapons provided by god for us in case of combat, of course as i always state our best weapon and the one that should be used first is the mind. Only after the mind was used to access the situation should the ninja go into physical combat. So here is a list of the tools that we have naturally as warriors .

Hands: They can be used for poking, scraping, striking punching and of course grabbing

Elbows: Very good for self defense , hard edges that can deliver  a fairly good amount of damage in the right area i.e the cheek, eyebrow which produces a good amount of blood to blind your enemy , collar bone and sternum , sensitive areas of the skeletal structure that can be broken or fractured . And areas like the thigh and the shoulder blades which are neglected in most combat . Defense , elbows are also a greet means of defense when used at the right time. If an attacker throws a hard punch in the direction of the face your elbow can swiftly rise and block the fist damaging the knuckles of your adversary making them not able to punch again in that way.

Shoulder : ??? yep believe it or not the shoulder can be used to off balance your  unaware adversary being that if they come at you and are met with the shoulder backed up by the weight of your body they can be sent flying. On of the great swords men of history Musashi spoke about knocking his opponent off balance with his shoulder and then cutting through them before they were able to get their balance.

Knees : Like the elbow another hard surface to hit with that can generate a decent amount of power , also very hard to see when up close and surprising when used with a leaping or jumping motion. Note its not always the best idea to bring the knee to the face so one might try bring the enemies face down to the knee “Just ” a though.

Shins: when striking the outside/inside of thigh can be debilitating instantly especially with soccer shin guards to help with the penetration. Shhhh that’s our secret(:

Foot: Used for kicking skills in different methods , the foot to the groin , solar plexus and head is lights out meatball” also shielded with hard shoes I.E dress shoes can be a nightmare in the possession of a skilled kicker

Head: not just used for thinking but also in some cases , delivering a surprising blow to the nose of the adversary in your face asking you if you want to dance. I find that the head butt which should be used with the crown of the head is best served in the middle of thier interview “what you got a prob-BAM ” head butt and they are seeing stars

Later we will discuss some great ways to deploy these tools but that’s for another day.

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