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If you go to www.youtube.com and type in the search box - Jujutsu 101 - you will see free videos of jujutsu 101 drills for you and your friends.  Enjoy!  Fred Crivello - Jujutsu 101 Founder

What is Jujutsu 101? - Drills adapted to a specific person to improve skills in balance and leverage for use in combative situations. Leverage skills; as opposed to pain compliance is the main focus.

What is the core capture hold in jujutsu 101? - It doesn't take many episodes of Cops to see the position officers want to get their suspects into - face down, not face up. In traditional jujutsu (not no holds barred - all weapons barred grappling) this was the core pinning skill.

Face down pinning - standing and ground positions - is the core pinning skill in Jujutsu 101. You will learn other pinning holds using other limbs (including the head/neck) but the single arm face down pin is the core pin in war time jujutsu, law enforcement as well as in Jujutsu 101.

Why do you work with single arm pinning holds? Weapons like knives, guns, clubs, chains, razors, bottles, sticks, swords, hammers, etc. are held in the hand. This is a main reason.

What is an example of a single arm face down pinning? Let us say that you off-balanced the suspect by shoving your weight into his torso and during this disruption you wrapped your arms around one of his arms and hugged it tightly into your torso; then as you wedge tightly the side of your torso into his arm pit area (keeping his captured arm stretched out from his armpit) you lever him down to the ground. If you have your angle held in such a way that the suspect's other limbs and head cannot reach you, then that is a pin for our purposes.

What is an example of a hold that isn't truly a pin? If the suspect can reach any part of your body as you hold him, then that is not a safe pin for our purposes. If he can touch you, then he could knife you!

How do you judge the quality of a person's jujutsu? It is how well he steals the limb. Self-defense, like war, is the art of deception. When you train you should be working towards more serious situations. A suspect on drugs who is big and strong and potentially armed will not always be a victim to pain compliance moves.

I have taught for years various law enforcement personnel and the truth is most are of average height and weight with minimum realistic combative skills and experience. On top of that the public believes generally that if you are an officer then you must know how to arrest the suspect without undue force. Most citizens have never had to deal with this situation.

There are some scenes on Cops where a number of officers are trying to bring face down one skinny looking suspect who (from drugs?) is like a wild man or woman.

Most officers are not big, strong, powerful, athletic and with a practical background in combative situations.

I am under 5' 5" and I weigh 130 lbs. I work on using leverage and balance disruption skills. Pain compliance is not always a safe option. Train as if it isn't; then if you get some pain reaction, consider it an added benefit.

Note: I certainly am not stating that pain compliance is of no use. If I have someone in a captured position I may need to soften him up with some elbows in the ribs, but you must seriously ask yourself the questions - What situation are you training for? Who are you really worried about having to deal with?

If you take the most common combative situations - but up them in intensity into a powerful ambush you will quickly find that there really is very little you can do to deal with your safety as you try to capture the suspect.

Imagine a college school wrestler bear hugging you or a trained boxer throw a sucker punch - it can be a wake up call.

There really is very little to do to successfully deal with serious combative situations.

But the very little can be learned very well!

Welcome to Jujutsu 101.

In 1882 Professor Kano developed Judo. Judo, in general, except for a few kata, such as Kime No Kata - a jujutsu kata from the 15th century which dealt with weapon type attacks as well as empty handed attacks - most of judo concentrates on weaponless throws and ground grappling.

The jujutsu used in the warrior's environment was basically one of battlefield grappling with some type of protective clothing (armor) and with hidden weapons (knives, etc.). The main weapon - the sword - was the weapon of choice. If you could not use your main weapon (sword) then you would be forced into a hand-to-hand type combat.

Note - In warring arts the weapons are senior to weaponless combat. If you do not acknowledge and train with surprise attacks with weapons, then you are missing a vital aspect of self-defense.

Imagine you are confronted by the enemy. You both have some hidden weapons that can very quickly be used to hurt or kill the other. Classical jujutsu absolutely acknowledged this reality.

Don't Forget Standing Grappling - Standing grappling is very important. You cannot simply run in and clinch with the enemy and drag him to the ground in a mount or guard. On the way down you may be cut seriously. On the ground - your legs, etc. will be swiftly stabbed over and over again. The warriors of Japan were NOT stupid. They trained with the reality that anyone could swiftly cut them. It takes less than a second. They were not fighting in a contest where all weapons were barred. Ground grappling is very important. When you do your ground grappling are you drilling that the attacker has a hidden blade, pen, razor, etc.?

"No Holds Barred" may sound like no rules are applied. However, the moment your moves do not take into the street reality of weapons, like knives, you are fighting by rules. Rules which, as the years go by, can be your self-defense blind spot. Of course if you are training for "All Weapons Barred" events and that is really all you care about, then you probably do not have anything to worry about. Besides - in self-defense situations - not everyone will always attack you with a weapon.

But if you are concerned about realistic self-defense, some other problems you may wish to consider are a lot of self-defense attacks are ambushes. A smart street mugger will only attack you when you are set-up for it.

It will be very unfair. Look at any Web site that has police statistics. Look how many attacks deal with knives, guns, etc. The attacks certainly aren't always starting in front of the person, with an equal start for everyone involved. If you practice 100% of your grappling without these realities in your training - then you are training for "All Weapons Barred" situations - and that is NOT jujutsu.

Look at Pride, UFC, etc. events. If an opponent can touch, punch the ribs, etc. - during the clinch or ground grappling - then the one punched or touched could have - by a knife, pen, needle, razor, etc. - been cut, stabbed, killed.

Do a search on Yahoo! or Google with the words - Kosen Judo. Look up some of the links and read up on Kosen Judo.

Ensure to look over: http://members.lycos.co.uk/fight/judo/judo.html. If you have time, go over the other links from that page too.

That should give you an idea of what happens to "martial arts" after there is no fighting (in a real war). To make it more sport, what you do is take out dangerous elements - like knifes, etc. from the training. You see that actually there are rules, aren't there? No weapons. To confuse contest grappling with self-defense grappling (weapons) is very serious.

Note - The great fighters in Pride, etc. are in fact in terrific shape, skilled, etc. Also there are well trained martial artists and experienced fighters who certainly can defend themselves with their well earned skills. But I am NOT talking here about specific fighters or martial artists. I am talking about you, in your self-defense environment.

Tips On Training - You need to LOOK at the actual TERRITORY and judge for yourself the parts that make up the activity. You then need to decide what your GOALS are. I am talking short-term goals first; then after you have achieved a balanced operating system for the basic attacks in your environment (as they would happen on the street), then make longer term goals.

Think of making a cake. If you added tons of eggs and no flour, you might have an egg omelet, but you would NOT have a cake. You only have so much time, so you need to build your body or your ability in a balanced way so you can get a result you can use soon. Later, as you invest more time, you balance the parts of your activity so you can accomplish a longer range or a larger goal.

In a physical activity - whether strandpulling, jujutsu, etc. you have:

1) Basic movements 2) Intensity of these movements 3) Coordination (or timings) of these movements at a certain intensity 4) The opponents, teams, powers involved - each having their own level of 1,2,3 5) The circumstances at the moment.

Types of Basic Movements - whether strandpulling, jujutsu, etc. you have:

A) Lifting, pulling, tugging, etc. B) Pushing, pressing, shoving, ramming, stamping, etc. C) Twisting, spinning, spiraling, swinging, etc.

Body movements - are made up of the above in many combinations, sequences and timings - in other words - COORDINATION.

There is also the INTENSITY of movements - yours and the opponent's or object (like a chest expander) that you are working against.

Basically, the more able you are in handling the various Forces - that you use and are used against you, the more able you are in achieving your specific goal.

Note: Of course you need to have a clear goal to align all these various activities too.

EXAMPLE OF INTENSITY USED AGAINST YOU IN GRAPPLING - There is a HUGE difference when grappling with some highly skilled child of 12 in some STYLE who weighs all of 75 pounds soaking wet and some STRONG and POWERFUL man who weighs a solid 250 pounds. Even if the 250 pound power house has less skill he is going to be tougher generally.

It is the SUM (total) of applied Strength, Power, Experience, Skill, etc. and circumstances of the situation - (factors like, weapons, furniture in the way, each persons level of intent, desire, energy level, etc.) that helps determine the outcome.

In other words it is either a cake at the end or it isn't! You are concerned about eating a cake - not one of its parts.

WHEN INTENSITY IS VERY HIGH AND RANDOM - WHAT EXPERTS CAN REALLY DO IS GREATLY LIMITED - AS THEY DON'T HAVE THEIR STYLE'S IDEAL SET-UP CONDITIONS - It is a myth to think one's STYLE in hand to hand combat is always better than all other styles. STYLE is ONE Part of the fight scene. The "style" is done by a particular PERSON.

Note: We all can improve something in our defensive tactics. Each individual - because of body structure, talent, etc. - will have an easier time with a specific situation, but a harder time with another. This goes for all of us. The point is to customize the drills to improve the student in front of you. When improvement occurs, then adjust again - always keeping the student winning realistically.

Another part which is very important is the quality of your training; the years of REALISTIC coaching - in progressively more and more powerful INTENSE situations. Has the person had - in using his style - REAL self-defense situations to work on? Was the situations tougher and more intense and "unfair"? Is the person strong, flexible, with good muscular endurance, good cardio, etc.? Are there gaps in the person's self-defense training?

LINING UP THE MASTERS OF MANY STYLES - If you line up 100 masters from various styles - and set up realistic self-defense scenes by people that are GOOD and POWERFUL at them - you will notice those masters who survive - when they do - all do very SIMILAR and BASIC actions - no matter what they CALL their STYLE.

Just look at any professional sporting game, including no holds barred (all weapons barred) contests. Basic plays, basic moves, are concentrated on - not high risk moves that are difficult to set-up in a fast and intense situation.

When you turn up the intensity and given the attacker, mugger, etc. has some coordinated skill - and only attacks when you are set-up for it - like a real mugging situation, etc. - you do NOT have a smooth looking DEMO anymore - You have chaos and disorder.

EXAMPLE - If a street smart mugger is going to BEAR HUG you from behind - he first judges if the conditions are in HIS favor to do this move on you; he will see if he can sneak up close behind you; then smash you into a wall HARD; then grab you and smash you to the concrete. And maybe kick your head in or perhaps simply knife you somewhere in the sequence.

He ISN'T just going to hold you so you get 5 moves to his 1. That is unrealistic training.

He is going to use POWER and have INTENT to HURT you. Also a mugger who has any street mugging 101 sense - will (if you try to drop down to get your base, will slide from a BEAR HUG to a CHOKE or HEAD LOCK or simply KNIFE you.

In other words he will alter his MOVEMENTS - with INTENSITY - AS you are trying to alter your movements with intensity.

TRY TO CLINCH AND DRAG SOMEONE DOWN WHO HAS WEAPONS ON THEM - Hide a few rubber knives in your pockets so you can get use them swiftly like a street fighter or warrior would be able to. Let your partner clinch with you. Notice that if you can touch him - you can stab him!

START IN ALREADY A BAD SITUATION - What would greatly improve the reality of self-defense drills would be to start ALREADY in a bad situation. Now (yes you will "die" many times in the drill) you and your partner will try to see what you REALLY can do in THAT condition. One develops a GREAT respect for the simplest things (general movements) like Shoving, Pushing, etc. When all hell breaks loose you can forget about being so exact and perfect. That really is mostly for demos of an art. Not REALITY. Yes, work towards greater perfection; but keep your drilling based with a healthy dose of reality.

Note - If you drill this way - a sort of IMPOSSIBLE DRILL - you will (with good coaching) either find something you can do better DURING the bad situation OR you may find that there really is nothing AT THAT POINT you can do BUT that you should have done something (a movement, posture) EARLIER.

Note - The coach has to hold you in the bad position (with control of course) long enough or enough times, to give you and your coach enough experience in that position to come up with something of use for you. The coach may start with a lesser amount of force; then gradually increase the power. The only thing the coach really has to work with in helping the student is the student's willingness and level of personal understanding. You get personal understanding by gradually increasing the power of the problem to a point where - from many times experiencing the problem with more and more power involved - you can become aware what is going on. Try many solutions - and together (coach and student) through effort and time - personal understanding occurs. Sometimes the truth is that you may need to work on muscular endurance, or perhaps isometric strength, etc. The point is that you want to work towards a useful and realistic result.

YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER - AS YOU MOVE - HE CAN MOVE. IT IS USEFUL TO - AS YOU MOVE, TO TRY TO DISRUPT THE OTHER'S BALANCE. Doing a bunch of drills that you get to move 5 moves and the opponent just stands there (no change or movement) after a while is UNREALISTIC. Unless you are very, very fast - you will not do too well against an experienced mugger.

In ending, there is quite a bit of knowledge on drilling wisely - self drilling, as well as partner and group drilling.

Below are just some Jujutsu 101 views of teaching self-defense, defensive tactics, hand to hand combat, etc.

The more intense the situation, the less you can actually do.

A few simple moves against harder intensities is much better than practicing many moves against many weaker intensities of attack.

The human body moves in a limited number of general patterns.

Punches, kicks, throws, and sophisticated joint locking are specialty skills.

Shoves, stomps, and wrappings of a limb into your torso type holds are generally easier to learn and apply in intense situations.

An expert martial artist does not automatically make an expert teacher.

It is very difficult to challenge your cherished beliefs.

To be a good practitioner become a good and caring coach.

It is the science of self-defense, not hero-worshiping.

You only have the person's willingness and understanding to work with.

All drills are artificial; don't be afraid to adjust the drill to the person's level of skill.

You only have so many fights in you; don't waste them on reckless training!

Fred Crivello
Jujutsu 101