Street Stick Combat with W. Hock Hochheim

I’ve enjoyed W. Hock Hochheim’s instructional materials for quite some time. I’ve learned things from some of his videos, and I’ve liked a number of his articles and the magazine he used to publish. “Street Stick Combat: Stick Takedowns for Hard-Core Self-Defense” is his first DVD with Paladin Press. It is a two disc set that runs approximately 180 minutes. The DVD was filmed in Paladin’s studio, so the picture and sound quality are very good, as are the menus to the DVDs. This allows you to find the segment you wish to study easily.

Hochheim’s goal with this DVD set is not to teach you to be a “stick fighter” or to teach a stick fighting system. The goal is to teach how to use a variety of “stick” weapons to defend yourself, the weapon could be a baton, collapsible baton, escrima stick, rifle, shotgun, etc. I think he does a very good job of providing many techniques for a wide range of circumstances and attacks. I like that he takes a practical approach to his teaching and training, and borrows from his military and law enforcement training as well as various martial arts and self-defense systems. He teaches to the camera and uses partners to demonstrate what he is teaching, and he emphasizes that the viewer needs to practice and select techniques that work for each individual, and he acknowledges that others do some things differently and that is okay too. Nor does he forget that sometimes you use your other hand, the one without the stick, or your feet, knees and so on, before you go into a stick take down.

On the first DVD, Hochheim opens with a brief introduction to this program, he then introduces his combat scenarios that are designed for training and learning. He states that real life situations won’t be like the training drills and combat scenarios, but they help you learn.

The DVD then gets into his combat scenarios and techniques for them. The first set are under what he titles the face, head and neck series. These include the face crush takedown, rear pull takedown, rear pull takedown with fists strike choke, interlocking choke, rear x choke takedown, front x choke takedown, side x choke takedown, armpit catch takedown, arm wrap trap takedown, and the counter the tackle shove-down. After these, the program goes into the torso series. These include: the clavicle pull, leg sweep rear takedown, port arms pull, belt-line pull, rear groin lift escort, front groin lift takedown, and the wheel throw. The program then continues on the second DVD.

The second DVD starts with the arm series. This series includes the police escort #1, police escort #2, police escort #2 from a punch, biceps push, forearm turn, triceps turn, Remy elbow pulldown, hammer drop, armbar hammerlock, under arm catch vs. stick threat, Remy stick wristlock, and the finger catch. The last series is the leg series. In this group Hochheim teaches the fire pole, roll over the round kick, shin takedown, shaft thigh push, pelvis rear pull, behind the knee push, knee pull, knee push, and the ankle pull.

Hochheim concludes with a brief statement where he states that it is important to be able to defend with hands, sticks, knives and firearms, and to be able to defend against all types of weapons on various levels, and that he hopes this program inspires viewers to go beyond what he taught in this DVD series with their stick and other training.

If you are looking to add stick training into your martial art or self-defense training curriculum, and I believe you should. This is a very good resource to learn a variety of stick takedowns, and I do believe that it will inspire you to continue learning and training beyond what was shown here. Get the DVD set and work with a partner to master the techniques presented, and then go beyond them. I know I’ve already incorporated some of what Hochheim taught into the techniques I already taught to add variety, and to illustrate there is more than one way to do certain things. I’m sure I’ll be reviewing the program again and adding more to my training as I continue along my martial journey, and I encourage you to do the same.