Jan 03 Dennis Jones – Self Defence DVD’s

This interview was published in November 2007

SR Dennis you’ve being working with Will Henshaw not only for the WOMA channel but also on a DVD.  I thought it would be a good idea if you tell us what your DVD’s about.

DJ It was when I first started filming with Will Henshaw for the ‘WOMA. TV’ channel that we decided to do a DVD on pre-emptive striking.  We agreed it was important that what I said and what I physically did on the DVD must be based on my own personal experience.  I wasn’t going to conjecture about street fighting nor was I going to demonstrate techniques that other martial artists had used on the street. 

SR I gather you didn’t do any flying side kicks then (laughs)

DJ (Laughing) Do you mean the ones that are used to knock samurai out their saddles?  I was about 17 when I thought I might be wasting my time trying to jump as high as a horse!  But you know Steve every karateka or ex-karateka that I have ever known has at least one photo of themselves leaping through the air doing a Bruce Lee.  The funny thing is we all slag off those faded jumping yoko-geri photographs, but when we get pass the big ‘Four-O’ we’re the first ones to get that photo out and say ‘…I couldn’t half jump back then, look at the height of that kick!’

SR …you’ve got one of those photos; haven’t you Dennis?

DJ And I’m still impressed. (Laughs)

As we know there are some good martial artists here in the UK and like them; my DVD is out there for public scrutiny-people are able to see what I do!  

The internet has lots of footage of people punching and hitting and demonstrating their skills.  Now I can’t say what I do is better than what they do.  The choice or range of fighting techniques that are available is extremely comprehensive; however, it is very difficult for most students to separate the ‘good from the not so good’.  Let the consumer beware-it’s a market place and what comes with that is the ‘marketing’ that people use to sell their products.  I feel its pointless saying things like ‘I have the ultimate pre-emptive slap or punch’ or ‘I’ve had a million fights and knocked them all out.’  Now-a-days everyone seems to be saying the same thing.  It doesn’t matter if you’re being truthful because you sound the same as everyone else.  So I had to ask myself ‘Have I put out a DVD that is of any value to martial artists?’

SR Dennis do you have an answer to your own question?

DJ Perhaps I’ll put it like this.  A few months ago I watched a video of a man teaching pre-emptive slapping.  He was hitting a pad and demonstrating his technique on another guy.  As he was doing it he was explaining what he was doing.  Breaking the technique down he gave a moment by moment account of the damage his ‘method’ would do to an opponent.  Yet, what impressed me the most was not the delivery of the strike but the use of language that accompanied his action.  The dialogue was almost hypnotic.  He told the viewers how ‘The blow will disperse…’ and throughout the video he reinforced the learning process with verbal prompts.  Key words were combined with ‘You could do this or this…’ and so on.  However, my introduction to slapping was considerably different.

Many years ago, around 1986, I went to a nightclub for an evening out.  I was walking up the stairs when I bumped into an old friend.  In the past we had worked together on the doors and chatting we went through the normal niceties.  He then said to me ‘Dennis you don’t want to be punching anyone unless you have too’.

 ‘Why’s that?’ I asked.

 ‘You’re using your fist and you’re doing lots of damage-you’re breaking bones!’

He went on to explain that I’d have less chance of getting arrested and going to court  for GBH if I slapped instead of using a clenched fist.  It was only four years before, in 1982, when we were both in the dock for a serious offence.  We were in court for defending ourselves!  The trial went on for a week and I knew, like him, that court was something to be avoided.  He then suggested that instead of punching I should use an open hand and slap instead. 

I had never really given it much thought, preferring instead to use strikes that I was comfortable with, namely my elbow or a good solid right hander.  So when he said ‘Slap them instead’ I naturally asked, ‘Well how do you do that then?’  His answer was quite surprising considering the success he had using slaps.  Staring at me he replied ‘How do I know?  You just slap ‘em…that’s all there is to it!’  He quickly changed the subject, his attention drifting away as a pretty girl walked down the stairs.

I thought about what he’d said, but I didn’t know how to slap.  I was slightly perplexed and had no image or picture in my mind to attach my training to.  The only techniques that I had been taught in karate that had a slight similarity to a slap were the knife hand to the collar bone and palm heel strike to the ribs.  Both were in Tensho kata but I wasn’t sure if the techniques could be modified for slapping.  I also didn’t know what criteria my karate instructor used when he taught me Tensho.

Perhaps once upon a time in Tensho the knife hand was a slap, who could tell?  For my part I didn’t know how the now long dead Karate Master, the originator, had performed the kata.  But somehow I felt that slapping was a combination between the knife hand and palm heel strike.  The problem I had however was how to combine the two techniques into an effective slapping strike.  I started off using a ‘palm heel’ in the same way (flexible wrist) that I used when braking ‘Pills beer bottles.’  I also decided that I needed to slap a punch bag and a light focus pad in the same manner.  After a while I began visualising ‘volleyball, tennis and ball throwing’ and through this visualisation (based on having done a fair amount of ball games) I started to develop the appropriate mechanics and body motion for quick and powerful slaps-unfortunately I needed some fights to confirm the validity of my training methodology! 

Using my imagination I developed a number of good drills.  However, one of the drills I dreamed up was seriously flawed.  With my hands by my sides I would, moving in an upward diagonal line, practice head slaps on a pad.  Everything was fine until I had my first ‘slapping altercation,’ I made contact with my opponent’s arm-my palm never reached his face!  A split second later after this ‘faux pas’ I was in the middle of a right scrap.  But I think it was the mild ribbing off a friend that hurt me the most, in fact much more than the aches and pains that tell you, ‘you didn’t quite get it right!’

Over the years, with each incident, I started to really improve at the ‘old bitch slap’.  Practice was based on real life fights and using this as support I visualised what needed to be done in training.  I got friends to mimic the covering up, the flinching and the turning away often encountered in street fights.  I then re-applied what I was practising when I had to defend myself at the places where I bounced.  Experience also taught me what a moderately slow or a fast slap could do to an antagonist.

This is what my DVD is about, and if I’m asked if my ‘pre emptive striking’ method is better than anyone else’s, well all I can say is ‘What I’m talking about and demonstrating has been used to good effect on many occasions.’  But I won’t make a comment about what the man on the video or what anyone else’s is doing because quite simply it’s their business…

I suppose I could describe what I did on the doors in the following way:

I suppose I could describe what I did on the doors in the following way:

“Mentally set yourself up for the first strike.  Lead your opponent’s anger and aggression by being humble and quiet but silently resolved.  Let him bring himself to you. When you strike lead with your hips and strike from the ground (using it to push off).  The hip rotation chambers the other hand for the second strike and the necessary step forward.  Often the second strike will have to hit the target some 2 or 3 foot from where the first strike struck.  Don’t think about the second blow when you are still involved with the first, and power your shot like a burst of energy, visualising your opponent’s demise.  Your second strike is like your first, which will also be like your third.  Train to strike to your front and sides; step forward and strike to your rear. Train to be lethal with your first strike; anything else might be too slow.  Like a compressed spring, your emotions are held in place by anger.  And like an arrow released from a bow, your hand goes to its target under your intention but free from your grip.”

But then anyone can speak words!

SR  That’s right Dennis – and a picture is worth a thousand words, that’s why I think that your DVD will have immense value for anyone wanting to learn how to slap with power – take my advice guys and go get yourself a copy! 

Anyone wishing to purchase Dennis’s DVD can do so here…..

Steve Rowe

Steve Rowe is a highly successful Martial Arts instructor - an International Neigong, Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher and an 8th Dan Karate with many other senior dan grades in other martial disciplines.

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