The Cane for Self Defense

I ran across this news item that I thought you might like to see. It's about training seniors to use their canes in self defense.


For suggestions on how to use your cane or stick, check my previous posts:

Cane Fighting vs. Fighting with a Cane

Empty Hand & Weapons Skillset

Empty Hand & Baton Skillset, 2

In "Empty Hand & Baton Skillset", I showed a thumb-strike that transfers into a strike with the front tip of the baton. I want to build on that, but first let's review the basic baton grip.

If you remember, my instructor taught me to grasp the baton in the middle. This provides more versatility, in that you can use both ends for striking. As you hold the baton vertically in front of you, think of the upward portion as the front of the baton and the downward portion as the back.

Now let's look at the Judo Chop as a transferable skill. The following illustration comes from my book, 12 U.S. Military Combat Techniques That Could Save Your Life.




Look at the illustration & then visualize the combatants a half-step further apart. Instead of one soldier striking the other with his empty hand, he holds a baton (in the middle) and strikes with the front shaft.

The only change in the skillset is a slight snap of the wrist at the termination of the strike.

As you read this, you may very well say, "Well, duh! Could you point out anything more obvious?" Exactly! This isn't rocket science.

The only reason I am doing this is to spur you to look at your own empty hand skillset and think about how easily it would transfer to a weapon, like the baton. Then pick up a stick and try it out.

Empty Hand & Baton Skillset

Bill H. was the jujitsu instructor who taught me that someone won't be good with a weapon who is not already good with his empty hand technique. It was not until recently that I began to deconstruct the baton techniques he taught me in light of that truth.

He taught an approach to the baton that I have not seen elsewhere. Instead of grasping the baton at one end to wield it like a club or a whip, you grasp it in the middle so that you have equal use of both ends.

As you hold the baton vertically in front of you, think of the upward portion as the front of the baton and the downward portion as the back. (This is not official terminology; just a convenience to help you visualize the descriptions that follow.)

Now let's take a look at an empty hand technique that you'll find in the bonus section of my book, 12 U.S. Military Combat Techniques That Could Save Your Life.
This is a thumb strike to the base of the throat. (Take care! If you miss & hit the Adam's apple, the strike could be fatal.)

Now picture the same strike, only the practitioner has a baton (grasped in the center) in his hand. He is striking with the forward tip.

The gross motor skills are the same with the baton as with empty hand.

To be continued . . . .

Empty Hand & Weapons Skillset

In "Knife Fighting vs. Fighting with a Knife" and "Cane Fighting vs. Fighting with a Cane" I made the point that weapons training should draw on the same skillset as your empty hand training. I recently received an e-letter from Tim Larkin of Target Focus Training that highlights the same point:

Fighting with weapons is a subject that has generated
volumes of writing in the combat arts world. What is
interesting to note is that for the most part weapons
training is treated as requiring a completely
different set of training principles as opposed to
'empty hand' fighting.

In fact, there are whole martial arts devoted to just
training with a weapon. All this leads to tremendous
confusion from the client's point of view.

Basically, you end up with 2 totally different sets
of principles in response to violent attacks:

1) One response for a hand-to-hand assault, and
2) A completely different response to a weapons attack

Larkin's own approach is quite different:

Your fighting principles MUST be the same with or
without a weapon.

Fighting is fighting regardless of whether you have a
weapon, are facing a weapon, are on the ground, or are
assaulted by more than the other guy.

When you truly understand that your brain is your
primary weapon, your body your secondary weapon, and
EVERYTHING else (read knife, club, or weapon of
choice) is ancillary, you then become a person that
knows how to FIGHT WITH A WEAPON... rather than being
a 'weapons fighter'.

The former gives you unlimited options; the latter
limits you to the weapon in hand.

So, I've been thinking about how that applies not only to knives and canes, but to batons and to handguns . . . .

Cane Fighting vs. Fighting with a Cane

In Friday's post I suggested you pick up a weapon and ask yourself what empty hand techniques would work with it. Yesterday morning, I decided to take my own advice.

I normally take my Cold Steel walking stick on our morning walks, in case of aggressive dogs. After we got home, I took the stick to the heavy bag to see if I could fight with a cane.

I held the cane horizontally in front of my chest, with both hands. If I palm-heel jabbed quickly toward what would be the heavy bag's face, the stick snapped into the neck or side of head area. I tried a combination: jab, jab, right hook. The stick snapped into the neck area twice, and then the solid stainless knob connected with the "jaw".

Previously, when I've practiced striking with the cane, I've held it in the same manner but concentrated on swinging it, as though it needed its own technique, separate from my empty hand strikes. Using my hand strikes to set the shaft in motion is a lot faster. And the hits feel more powerful.

The cane extends my effective striking range. And mechanical advantage makes the tip travel faster than my hand, which adds speed to my strikes.

Next time, I think I'll try letting go with one hand while I perform a Judo Chop action with the hand holding the stick. Seems to me that would really whip the cane around, giving me a devastating long-distance chop.

By the way, if I were attacked by a knife wielder, I would hope it was at a time when I had my cane. It would have a longer reach than the blade, and I wouldn't have to worry about drawing my weapon in time, since it would already be in my hand.