Training With ShivWorks - Combat Round

Jeff, founder of The Atomic Bear, is training and practicing with ShivWorks (Craig Douglas). Grey shirt is Jeff. Against a younger martial artists. Jeff applies his fencing techniques. They were instructed to hit the head. They are using practice knife, but it could have been the Stealth Pen Pro with a Practice Head.

Fighting with a Pen Using Olympic Fencing Fighting Techniques

Training under pressure is difficult but really important to test your ability to fight a willing attacker.

In the video filmed during a edge weapon week-end seminar given by the ShivWorks team, you can see me (grey t-shirt and a little overweight ;-) fighting with a trainer knife.

I trained in fencing in my 20s and competed at the Canadian national level. I had not practiced fencing for 18 years! But some of the core elements came back to me with a knife in the overhand grip. This is a grip I love with a tactical pen because it adds distance and possibility to hit forcefully to vital areas. There is a lot more details about this way of fighting... but I could experience its effectiveness in the multiple simulated fights we did.

The key here is to hit first without being hit. Imagine the real life analogy of the simulation, we both have a knife or a weapon in our hands and we need to cause a maximum damage without receiving any.

This is exactly what I went for. A quick strike to the head with a lunge. The speed and distance covered in a movement like this create surprise. The other fighter here is a martial artist who trains regularly with weapons. He has a great footwork. I had to hit hard first by controlling the distance and exploding.

The fight lasts long enough to let both participants to land a few good strikes. In reality, I cannot imagine that both guys would be willing to exchange blades to the face for that long...

What I found is that I can transfer this style of combat to the use of a pen like the ones we make at The Atomic Bear.

Exploring Different Attacks Pen vs Knife

I wanted to demonstrate what it takes to learn and use these techniques by introducing a UFC fighter, Natan Levy, to an old friend who was a World Class fencer and is still teaching Yann Bernard.

I am attaching the video we created from this meeting here.

Even thought Natan is an exceptional athlete, he learnt fencing rudiments in less than one hour and was able to to use the techniques to push back attackers holding a threatening knife. Those two 'bad' guys are MMA martial artists.

In my upcoming book, I dedicated a chapter on the use of fencing techniques for fighting with a pen. Detailed explanations for each techniques and drills. This with illustrations to give a good idea of what it feels like.

In a nutshell, holding your Stealth Pen Pro in a overhand grip and understanding the power of a lunge... is the key to an effective surprise defense against a bad actor.

The key part is to understand how to fit the pen in your hand to be able to use it as a 3 inches sword. We have a video that Doug Marcaida created with me to show the three grips... and pay attention to the overhand grip. This is what Natan is using and the one you can use to combine fencing techniques.

>> Link to the 3 Grips Video as part of the Way of The Pen online course.

There is SO MUCH MORE to say about fighting with a pen... but I hope this was helpful and gave you the itch to train with your Atomic Bear pen!

Jeff Truchon, Founder Atomic Bear