Ollie Batts disagrees with Matthew
Well I'm neither Police, nor Military, although I have taught members of
both. I'm not sure if that qualifies me to add my two-penn'orth or not.
For me, locking compliments striking (primarily), and they can be very
effective if someone makes the mistake of providing a 'handle' to work with.
For example: Someone I know was face-to-face with someone who was becoming
'heated' and this guy suddenly started jabbing his finger into my friends
chest. One millisecond later and he was squealing like a pig, and with his
finger doing a fair impression of one of Uri Geller's spoons.
On one occasion, I had someone lift me bodily, and aggressively, from behind
- his belly tight to my back. The only problem was that because he was much
bigger than me he grasped one wrist with the other hand in order to really
squeeze me tight. This provided me with an instant wrist lock. Now I should
add that this was a hold I had practised many hundreds of times. I also used
'Speed, Aggression and Surprise' to effect the lock strongly and securely.
Had I not reacted instantly he would have dumped me on the floor and given
me a kicking. How do I know? He later told me that was his intention.
Where locks and holds are concerned I'm afraid that people expect to be able
to master the instantaneous fine angle changes and adjustments required when
dealing with someone unwilling to co-operate in the same was that your Dojo
partner does. People also only want to practise each hold about four or five
times before moving onto the next, and do not understand about 'chaining',
or 'flowing' from one lock to another when the first (second, or third) lock
fails. These are skills that can take many years to fully understand, and
perfect to a level where they can be applied in realistic situations. When
applying locks, you should also be busy 'breaking down the base' of an
opponent with low-level kicks, and knees into the quads (front or side of
the thigh) and groin, etc.
Anyway, talk is cheap, I'm off to train some more.
Ollie Batts