Category Archives: pinnacle gym

martial arts, pinnacle gym, restraint, security training, wild geese

Restraint Training for Security Personnel

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Here in Ireland there is no provision for the hands on aspect of the security industry. So while you’ve passed a course to get your Door licence, it won’t have taken into account the very reason you’re employed in the first place

I visited the Irish Security Expo last year and spoke to various people at the top of the industry and asked about the provision of physical training. I was quite gobsmacked by the responses. The general viewpoint is to bury the head in the sand. These are the people that put together the Door Supervisors Training Syllabus, the guys that the government listens to.

Speaking to the head of one of the largest security training companies (who is also an aikido practitioner) I was told that yes, he recognises that there is a need, but he and his contemporaries didn’t want to be the one’s to address it.

The funny thing is, I have a couple of Garda (police for those of you reading this from outside Ireland) training with me, they relate stories of the time they spent at the training college. The self defence and arrest procedures training is a standing joke amongst the fraternity. Just ask a copper to show you “Avoid 1”

Where am I going with all this?

Lads working on the font line be it walking the beat or on the doors, even the lads patrolling the isles of the high street shops, will at some point have to get hands on and physically restrain somebody.

If the first thing that comes to mind in this situation is a right cross, you’re going to land yourself not only with a criminal charge, but probably with a law suit amounting thousands of euro. You just can’t get away with it any more.

So some form of training is necessary. To be able to enter, hold, takedown and effectively restrain a non compliant person long enough for assistance to arrive or to get the cuffs on, with the minimal of fuss and violence. A respected doorman with a history of working some of Dublin’s worst Bars said to his manager “If all the lads learned this, nobody would ever get hit again, there wouldn’t be any more claims”.

The Garda Baton training is also extremely basic, with no refreshers or follow up courses. I showed two or three very basic non striking and low impact baton techniques to an experienced copper, his eyes were like saucers and his comments were “we should be teaching that s**t back at the college!”

It seems the only people who would disagree are the bureaucrats.

If your a forward thinking club manager who employs door staff, or you work in the industry, get in touch and either come to or class at Pinnacle or get on one of the Control & Restraint courses we run.

We’re bringing over Steve Tappin in may. Steve trains Police and Security across europe in some of the most up to date tactics available. He’ll be in Dublin for a two day open seminar, but be aware places are limited.

Wild Geese Martial Arts
any cause but our own

Eskrima, kenpo, martial arts, pinnacle gym, wild geese

New Class opened

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We’ve just opened a new class due to special request.

A few of the lads I work with on the door had just seen the Bourne Ultimatum and were asking me about Krav Maga, I explained the similarities between KM and FMA/Kenpo, plus the fact that in the previous films Bourne had been using FMA so we opened a new class.

Every Monday at 4.30pm we will be teaching FMA/Kenpo at the Pinnacle Gym off Camden St, just behind Copper’s. The class format is based around empty hand and street defence. The ceilings are just too low for full on stick swinging, but we already have 3 classes based around the stick/weapons, so it’s about time we taught empty hands and unarmed vs armed on a regular basis.

So far, my students (largely due to the class time) are security and Garda, this suits us as the Wild Geese are active in the securit field and love teaching to people who may actually find themselves in the situation where they need some of this training. However we are open to everybody.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get some youtube footage sorted out soon showing all aspects of our training.

For those who don’t know pinnacle, it’s a proper Gym. Mick has set this up as a gym for people who want to train, he has plenty of free weights, a selection of machines, an outdoor (covered) section with a powerlifting platform, maize bag, punch bag and boxing ring as well as an upstairs room for martial arts classes, one end of the room features half an octogon for all you mma’ers.

Oh there’s also a treadmill and rowing machine, although they’re a bit dusty!

More on Pinnacle on http://www.irish-lifting.com/

Wild Geese Martial Arts
any cause but our own

body weight, conditioning, Doce Pares, Eskrima, kenpo, martial arts, pinnacle gym, strength, wild geese

Quick Introduction

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Wild Geese Martial Arts are are the Irish Reps for Rapid Arnis, Guba Doce Pares and Doce Pares “Original” Eskrima. Although we love all FMA, and martial arts of every style. We’re not into politics and ego’s just training, teaching and promoting martial arts, fitness and health.

The Wild Geese are Paul Cox, 3rd dan Ed Parker’s Kenpo, 2nd Dan Shaloin Kempo, 1st Dan Doce Pares. And myself, Dave Hedges, 2nd Dan Ed Parker’s Kenpo, 1st Dan Wado Ryu Karate-Jutsu.

Our official site is http://www.wildgeesema.com/.

In the near future (as when we get time) we will be putting together an Irish Council of Kali, Eskrima, Arnis Instructors. This will be based on the British council (http://www.bckeai.co.uk/), which in turn is based on the Philippine Council of Kali Eskrima Arnis Masters.

The idea of the council is to be a non profit, non political council, made up of genuine FMA instructors, with the goal of promoting FMA in all it’s forms and ensuring that the public is aware as to who are the real instructors.

If you have comments/suggestions/questions put em down here.

Wild Geese Martial Arts
any cause but our own