ON THE GRADUAL ACQUIREMENT OF SPEED

THE NEED OF WORKING, NOW, WITH AN EXPERIENCED BOXER—TAKING A CLUB AWAY FROM AN OPPONENT — AGILITY GAINED BY THIS WORK—SIDE-STEPPING AS SECOND NATURE

It is time, right here, to call an earnest halt against the natural impulse of the student to try to learn, in one or two bouts of practice, all of the principal feats that are employed in stopping the boxer. In instructing his friends the author has discovered the difficulty of con-vincing a student that a new feat, once men­tally grasped, is by no means mastered.

If the reader has the patience and perse­verance that he should bring to this work I will offer him a suggestion that is of great value. Do not attempt to learn more than one trick at a time; do not be in haste to go to another. Several bouts of practice should be devoted to the repeated—even if monotonous—rehearsal of the feat that is under consideration. Jiu-jitsu tricks, in order to be of real value to their possessor, must become in their execution as second nature. The student who departs from this rule, and who tries to make haste, will be sorry for it later on.

It has been stated already that the first de­sideratum is to be able to execute a feat with unvarying precision. Make sure that you can always perform the feat in exactly the same way. Precision counts for nearly everything in the effect that is to be produced on the opponent.

Pay so much attention to precision as not to be in haste to get up speed. When precision has become second nature, then speed will fol­low quickly. Do not try for speed until it is unnecessary any longer to pay particular at­tention to the matter of precision.

At this point there is another mistake of which most students are naturally guilty, and it is one that should be rigorously avoided. When working, at last, for speed, do not feel that, for the time being, the matter of precision may be overlooked in favour of rapidity of exe­cution. Never, even temporarily, slight precision for the sake of speed. Consider the gaining of speed as a matter of no importance when it is acquired at the least expense in the way of pre­cision. After all, patience and the willingness to progress only as rapidly as is consistent with thorough work are the most valuable traits for the student to possess at this point in his training.

After the work of picking up speed, as an addition only to precision, has been gotten fairly under way, it is much better for the stu­dent if he can practise with a man well versed in boxing. The boxer, when he has seen the jiu-jitsu method of stopping him, will be able to suggest many other ways in which he might have an opportunity of downing the jiu-jitsian. And thus, by practice and study against the traps of the boxer, the student is able to teach himself much.

Bear in mind always that speed has not been developed to perfection until the jiu-jitsian is able to stop a rapid and skilled boxer. It is possible for any agile student to reach this stage of development, for the feats that are employed against the boxer can all be used with greater swiftness than is possible in de­livering boxing blows. Hence the student will know when he has gained the right amount of speed with a given feat; it is when he is able to move quickly enough to prevent the boxer from defeating him.

And the student should constantly encourage his boxing companion to suggest all possible ways of delivering the blow so that jiu-jitsu might not stop it. This affords rugged and varied drill for the novice in jiujitsu.

Of course agility is one of the main factors in gaining speed, although it is not the only requisite. Quick vision, intelligence, and a very considerable degree of automatism are also needed. For making agility there is no better exercise than practising the feat of tak­ing away a club from an opponent who makes an attack with that weapon. Nor is it at all difficult to learn how to get the club every time.

In the beginning have your opponent stand facing you with the bludgeon in his right hand.

No. 18. ANOTHER USEFUL METHOD OF HOLDING AN OPPONENT DOWN-EMPLOYED AGAINST A BOXER AND
IN WRESTUNQ.

No. 19 USING OPPONENT'S LEFT AS A GUARD AGAINST HIS OWN R1QHT-THIS FEAT ENDS IN A THROW,

Have him raise this weapon and bring it down across the top of your head — or, at least, attempt so to strike you. Of course, at the outset, the assailant does not attempt to strike quickly, increasing the rapidity of the blow only with the jiu-jitsiaris acquirement of speed in stopping him.

The student's defence consists in throwing up his left hand and seizing the wrist of the hand that holds the club. The wrist is seized from underneath. At the moment of taking this hold the student grabs the club with his right hand. The assailant's hand is held, just as it is caught, with the thumb side of the hand up. With his right hand the man on the de­fensive twists the club over and downward, back of the hand, at the same time retaining a strong, vise-like hold on the wrist. The twist on the club forces it out of the hand of the as­sailant.

Your true jiu-jitsian, on securing the club, throws it away and carries on the battle with Nature's weapons.

By degrees the student becomes so well as­sured of his ability to catch and to hold the assailant's right wrist that the attacking man ean at last deliver the blow with all the speed of which he is capable. And the man on the defensive catches the wrist and twists away the club so quickly that the assailant is deprived of his weapon before he has had time to realise it.

When the ability to take the club away at lightning-like speed has been fully acquired, the student should vary his practice by asking the adversary to strike at any part of the body, and from any direction. It does not require much added practice to render the student practically proof against assault with a club. But it must be borne in mind at all times that the assailant's hand must be so caught as to leave the thumb side of the hand up; and that the club must be twisted downward over the back of the hand.

Another feat that makes for agility, and one that saves the student the discomfort of many a blow received, is that of side-stepping. Practise this, at first, by letting your adversary strike out at you without much speed. Sup­pose he strikes for your face, or your chin, with his left hand? Take one quick step to your own left—to the right of his body. His blow will pass harmlessly by you. Keep at this side-stepping patiently until you execute it as a matter of second nature.

Then ask your boxing friend to increase the speed of his blow gradually, and keep at it until you are able to side-step out of the way of the swiftest blow that he can send out. Be satisfied, in the end, with nothing less than the speed that enables you to step easily away from his swiftest blow. And this speed in side-stepping can be acquired without fail if the practice is patient enough, and if the jiu-jitsian is ever keenly alert.

But in side-stepping out of the way of the boxer's left-hander always bear in mind that he has a chance to follow up and register with a right-hander. In side-stepping have your own left hand in readiness to stop his right by a sharp edge-of-the-hand blow across his right fore-arm.

In side-stepping out of harm's way there if an opportunity, at the same time, to deprive the boxer of any further interest in the con­test. While stepping, let your right hand go up with a rapid sweep, the little-finger edge striking him fully and forcibly across the right jugular. If this blow lands with force and sharpness enough any man other than a Her­cules will go to the floor. Even when lightly delivered this blow makes the recipient feel uncomfortable.

But there is still another trick to side-step­ping. Follow up the first step with a quick second step in the same direction. Thus, if anything happens that prevents your blow from landing on your opponent's neck, the second side-step carries you out of the reach of any blow he may send suddenly after you.

Pay great attention at all times to practice in this side-stepping. It offers the most effec­tive means, when thoroughly mastered, of get­ting out of harm's way, or, at the worst, of minimising the effect of any blow that the boxer may succeed in landing. Jiu-jitsu, without swift and effective side-stepping, is not jiu-jitsu at all.

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