This past weekend (03/24-03/25/2018) I had the pleasure of attending Craig Douglas's Edged Weapons Overview course, hosted by Annette Evans at her facility Race Street Range in Upland PA. This course is a 2 day (not your typical 8 hour day) crash course in the use of and defense against edged weapons from entanglement. The course focuses on using basic wrestling techniques to defend against someone armed with a knife, as well as using the same techniques to earn the opportunity to access  your own knife (if you carry one). No prior training or experience is required to attend this training. We had people of all skill sets and background come and participate in the training and I assure you everyone walked away learning something. Craig is an incredible instructor with an incredibly refined delivery. He is clear and concise and leaves no room for misinterpretation. He provides simple instruction that everyone was able to follow and he ensured that everyone got their reps in so they could walk away with new functional skills at the end of the second day. No time was wasted and breaks were kept to a minimum. 

Day one started with introductions and a brief explanation of the criminal assault paradigm. From there we went into a block of instruction Craig calls MUC (Managing Unknown Contacts). MUC is  a block where you learn how to use your voice to deter someone from encroaching on your space. This block could easily be a two day course by itself, as verbal agility is something that takes quite a bit of practice and experience to refine. Craig recommended creating a "playlist" of phrases such as "back up" or "stop right there" so that when the time comes you are not searching for the right words. He also discussed the use of profanity and the difference between saying "back the fuck up" and "back up mother fucker". The second being more of an insult than an instruction. Having verbal agility is probably one of the most important and most neglected skills the self-defense minded individual should practice in my opinion. Its not sexy and no one enjoys practicing it, but in my experience my words have prevented more physical altercations than I can count. Going kinetic shouldn't be anyones plan A. 

After MUC we did some practical exercises working our new MUC skills while simultaneously emphasizing maintaining a high compressed fence (hands up in front of your face about where you would catch a ball), while circling to the outside of the advancing aggressor. Backing up into the unknown was discouraged as it could create a potential to trip and fall, or back you up into a secondary attacker. Circling into known territory allows you to maintain eyes on the threat while scanning for other potential threats simultaneously. 

The next block of instruction was the introduction of wrestling techniques that would serve as the delivery system for the rest of the material. We began by partnering up and performing the infamous mountain goat drill. This simple drill involves going forehead to forehead (Craig seems to have solved the mountain goat mark issue by having students place a boxing gloves between their heads) and driving forward, learning how to use your entire body to affect your opponent's posture. For those with little grappling experience this is an eye opening experience in and of itself. Craig then introduced us to 4 basic techniques to manage the clinch. Underhooks, overlooks, bicep ties and wrist ties were discussed and demonstrated as methods of control from the clinch or entanglement. The preferred technique being a undertook with your non dominant hand and a bicep tie with your dominant hand. This allows you to work the problem and have the ability to access your own tool with your dominant hand. These 4 simple techniques can be used to maintain control of an attacker or stop them from accessing a weapon. They can also be used to earn the opportunity to access your own weapon should you be carrying one. We did plenty of reps working these techniques and the forced partner switches kept us on our toes and forced us to try the techniques against people of all shapes and sizes. We also worked on using the split seatbelt position and the two on one position to control the weapon bearing limb of the bad guy. Both of these techniques are solid and repeatable under stress. For more on those take a course with Craig. 

Day one concluded around 730PM with a training evolution (EVO) involving one guy working his MUC skills against a bad guy equipped with a fist helmet and boxing gloves. The good guy's job was to cover, clinch and control the bad guys limbs before accessing his own weapon and using it to lawfully defend himself. It was a great drill to show you how difficult it can be to access your edged weapon while someone is tied up with you and trying to do you harm. Anyone who carries a knife for self-defense needs to participate in this style of training as it very quickly separates reality from fantasy. 

Day 2 began an hour earlier than day 1 as Craig had a wealth of knowledge to share with us and didn't want to leave anything unsaid. We began with a practical warm up where we essentially tied together all of the skills and techniques covered in day one at a flow pace. This got everyone moving and those of us who were sore from day 1 felt much better after the hour of flow work. Craig uses the term consensual, non competitive to describe this method of training. This means that both partners are working but at a building pace. In Jiu Jitsu this would commonly be referred to as a "flow match". This type of warm up is very practical and allows students to work on refining their newly learned skills while loosening up for the activities to come. 

After our practical warm up we learned two options for escaping the clinch and getting to our opponent's back. These techniques were the arm drag and the duck under. Both techniques are straight from wrestling and work very well for dealing with this type of problem. Next we worked on several "tie ups". These positions are essentially a plan B for when we are unable to get to the bad guys back and escape or access our own tool. The tie ups involve controlling both of the bad guys arms with one of yours (and your body positioning) so that you can access your own tool and use it to get the bad guy off of you. I had been doing something very similar but Craig was able to show me some additional detail that improved upon my existing technique for this problem. His attention to detail when it comes to body positioning is something that adds value to even the most experienced practitioners. I came into this course as a Krav Maga black belt and a Renzo Gracie BJJ brown belt so I'm not unfamiliar to grappling but Craig was able to give me some really good feedback and help me to improve my game in these positions. 

After working our escapes and tie ups we began to work with the knife in an offensive manner. Craig simplified all the knife grips into two categories. Thumb side (forward grip) and pinky side (reverse grip. Edge orientation was discussed briefly as both Craig and I prefer the edge in orientation, but the edge was secondary. Everything we worked involved stabbing first and slashing as a plan B. Craig favors a simple locked fist grip as it promotes the greatest possible retention when repeatedly stabbing the blade into the opponent. Several students deviated from this grip at times and many lost their blades on impact with the Fist helmets. We worked a few simple offensive techniques including a forward grip knife jab and a reverse grip knife jab. For both, Craig advocated a strong side foot forward to maximize the effective range of your blade. We worked these simple techniques to the face and neck as a "stay off me" technique. It is very difficult for a bad guy to attach to you when he has a blade being thrust at his face repeatedly. I found these simple techniques highly effective. 

Day 2 concluded with our final EVO in which we would tie up with a bad guy and attempt to access our blade before he does. Several seconds  later a second bad guy would be introduced into the mix and we would have to work to fight off both. I thoroughly enjoyed the EVO and found it more practical than any other knife training I have ever participated in. At the end of the day Craig conducted a "hot wash" where students were given an opportunity to discuss what they liked and what they didn't about the course. There were no real criticisms from the group, myself included which speaks very highly of Craig and his staff. I can't remember the last time I participated in training where I struggled to find words of criticism for the instructor, but with this course everything was so refined and well tested that I had none. Craig  also addressed each student individually and by name during this hot wash. He provided personalized feedback for each individual and genuinely thanked each and every one of us for our patronage. 

I have been in the self-defense world for over 18 years. During that time I have trained extensively in a variety of martial arts and firearms related courses. I became aware of Craig and the Shivworks collective many years ago and I have followed their work very closely ever since. They have heavily influenced my own training and teaching, and I was honored to finally get the privilege to train with Craig. I have not yet been to a course that included such a well thought out, well refined body of work. Craig's material comes from his own experiences with interpersonal violence. His willingness to throw out everything he thought he knew and start fresh speaks highly of his character. He is a man who much like me is just looking for the best way to solve problems. His ability to hold the attention of his students is incredible. The most experienced instructors could certainly learn a thing or two from Craig and his delivery. He is far from your stereotypical "tough guy" and he conducts himself like a gentlemen. His humility and character are admirable and I am proud to be able to call him a friend. If you are a serious student of self-defense and you are willing to get outside of your comfort zone and search for real answers to real problems, I strongly urge you to seek out and train with Craig. I am already signed up and ready to go to my next Shivworks course in October. I am very much looking forward to continuing my education and once again getting to spend some time with some incredible, like minded people. 

Lastly I'd like to say that while this is an overview of what was covered it certainly is not an exact list of everything that was taught. If you want to know more I would start with online resources readily available so you can see for yourself if this is something you might be interested in. If you decide to go and take a course search the internet for a list of course dates and locations. Craig teaches in 40 states and 11 countries so it shouldn't be hard to find one that meets your schedule. Ill close by saying that it took me years to finally get myself to a course. Life, finances and other obligations prevented me from traveling to train with Craig and when the opportunity arose for me to only drive an hour to get this training, I put everything else on hold to make sure I was able to get there. My only regret is I didn't do it sooner. Thank you once again to Annette Evans of Race Street Range for hosting this course, to my fellow students who made the experience enjoyable and memorable, and lastly to Craig for providing us with excellent instruction and even better conversation. Till we meet again......