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Everyone has at least one friend that says, “Bro, you gotta start training Jiu-jitsu with me, it’s awesome”, every time you see them. Yes, Jiu-Jitsu guys can be annoying for sure, but never as much as Crossfitters, keep that in mind. Your Buddy has good reason to be excited. Many benefits come from training, whether they do it for sport or to just stay alive at work. What is often forgotten in the conversation about training, however, is the part about Self Defense and its root concepts. Probably because of the lack of emphasis on it in the past few years, unless you’re a Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) of course. But why do I think “Gun Guys” need these concepts in their toolbox? When your life truly depends on it and you don’t have as much time or distance as you thought, these anchors can help you hold on to your firearm in a real fight. The three most valuable concepts to a gun guy or gal wanting to retain their weapon in a close quarter scrap with a bad guy attempting to take it away from you(and I’m not talking about Joe Biden) are:
1. Base
2. Connection
3. Framing
Let us look at one of the definitions of the the first and probably most important of the ideas.
When teaching Gracie Jiu-Jitsu one of the first lessons taught is what base means. Visually it looks like a widening of your stance. Often demonstrated by the wrist grab escape. Widen the base, center yourself, and be aware of forces pushing or pulling on your person. Firearms stance is also one of the first things taught in an organized class or in the backyard by your Grandaddy. This would definitely imply the importance and necessary development of base and stance. If you’ve ever been in a wrestling tussle with anyone you already know what happens. Your stance will get wider, to improve your base. But the stance can only get so wide before it gets unstable in other directions. My thought on how to cultivate your base is get heavy. Think heavy and do not tense up. Be like a tree and root to the ground. When something challenges the base, let the structure move and breath. Prevent being knocked over by allowing the mass to move intact… in base.
When teaching Gracie Jiu-Jitsu one of the first lessons taught is what base means. Visually it looks like a widening of your stance. Often demonstrated by the wrist grab escape. Widen the base, center yourself, and be aware of forces pushing or pulling on your person. Firearms stance is also one of the first things taught in an organized class or in the backyard by your Grandaddy. This would definitely imply the importance and necessary development of base and stance. If you’ve ever been in a wrestling tussle with anyone you already know what happens. Your stance will get wider, to improve your base. But the stance can only get so wide before it gets unstable in other directions. My thought on how to cultivate your base is get heavy. Think heavy and do not tense up. Be like a tree and root to the ground. When something challenges the base, let the structure move and breath. Prevent being knocked over by allowing the mass to move intact… in base.
Framing allows for making space necessary to protect yourself, keep the bad guy from closing in on you and allow distance to fire your weapon. In grappling forearms are used to form a barrier and keep weight off of the person in bottom positions. Once this framing happens, guard can be established and distance maintained. When retention and firing of a weapon is the goal, framing is used for offensive and defensive striking. Since the elbows will need to stay close to the body, alternative frames need to be put into action. Other than the arms, the most useful frames are the shoulder and the head. Projecting the chin down with the head in forward position as well as the shoulder into the fight provides a barrier between the bad guy and your weapon. Using these frames also allows your hands to remain free to hold on to the weapon and fire.
At the end of the day, all the mentioned components come together to form a functional structure for weapon retention. The importance of this is more fully recognized when gun handlers are in realistic training scenarios. These concepts cannot be learned or practiced into a habit by just shooting rounds or dry firing. They must be repeated and practiced through actual force on force training. It does not take you going 100% in training scenarios to appreciate the fact that the bad guys will always be closer than you think. You won’t have as much time as you think and it never goes exactly as you thought. Once you figure all these things out, your close-quarter weapon retention skills can move to the next level. Just remember that Jiu-Jitsu concepts helped you get there.
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