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Blind Training by Mark Hatmaker

There are so many examples of blind training, or blindfold training that the paltry examples below don’t even scratch the surface.

  • Blindfolded Chi Sao [“Sticky Hands”] training among Wing Chun practitioners.
  • Blindfolded disassembly and re-assembly of the M-16 by armed forces cadre.
  • Blindfolded judoka and jiu-jitsu practice.
  • Emperor Joseph I, challenging the young Mozart to play the violin with one-finger, and to play the clavichord with a cloth lain on top of the keyboard. [BTW-The young prodigy did both unerringly.]

    • And perhaps most intriguingly, to me, at least…


    There was a “war game” engaged in by many American Indian tribes to prepare the young for all contingencies. The Comanche called the practice Pui Wha’i. Essentially, Pui Wha’i involves two warriors one blindfolded, the other sighted. They are to complete a long-run and series of obstacles with the sighted warrior calling instructions, but he may never give physical assistance, just vocal prompting. Once the course is complete the roles are reversed. (Imagine running a Spartan Race or Tough Mudder in this manner? I’d looove to experience that.)

    Now, with all of these examples in mind there is a question to be asked, perhaps two questions.

    The First Does blindfold training really add something valuable to our skill set or is it simply a parlor game, or something the skilled athlete may engage in from time to time when he or she is bored with the same-o same-o?


    Oh, I think blindfold training is easily of high utility.

    Consider the case of the blind disassembly and re-assembly of the M-16. Experiencing a gun jam or other such mechanical malfunction in dead of night conditions where use of light allows an enemy to zero in on your location, the ability to skillfully clear the jam is of utmost value.

    Blind training for the Wing-Chun practitioner, the judoka, the jiu-jitsuan and other martial arts where cohesion or “feel” is a prime skill seems also steeped in wisdom. In these cases, blindfold training forces the athlete to cut off the primary sense and begin processing a game about touch, feel, and balance with senses that might better be used for these attributes.

    At the very least, blindfold training in these martial arts may allow the athlete to play the sighted game with new insight, so to speak.

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    In the case of Pui Wha’i, the sense of confidence, the well of fortitude, the accumulation of personal grit that comes from having run miles blind, crawled over and under obstructions having no knowledge of what is before you, above you, below you. Having climbed steep walls sightless, navigated balance obstacles while carrying a load all the while sightless repays in spades skills that will serve well in low-light or no-light battlefield conditions, or preserving oneself if an eye injury is sustained.

    The second question we should ask, is when should this sort of training be introduced?

    That is, is this something for the advanced athlete to add only once fundamentals have been engrained or is there value to introducing such training early?

    I wager the earlier the better, here’s why.

    We are not as slick as we think we are in most aspects of life. To prove that let’s take a skill we have already mastered (most of us), the bad-ass skill I refer to is walking.

    We do it every day, long walks, short walks, fast walks, slow walks. We’re probably pretty good at it.

    OK, all of us walking hot-shots out there. Stand up, close your eyes and go for a walk. Right now.

    If you played along, how’d that go?

    Did you match your sighted pace?


    Did you exude the same confidence about destination and obstacle navigation?

    No, of course not.

    But hold on, this proves nothing. In most of the provided examples individuals were blindfolded during tactile tasks [Pui Wha’i being the exception] and standard walking is not tactile.
    I wager that if you did the same blind-walking while feeling along a wall or rail our performance improves a bit.

    But there is still something to be learned about blindfold training from a walking experiment.

    Grab a partner and head outside for the following experiment cribbed from navigation experts.

    1. Pick an open area with no obstructions.
    2. Have your partner pace about 50 yards away from you.
    3. Stare at them hard, then close your eyes and walk straight to them.
    4. Your partner is only there to make a sound if you begin walking into traffic or some such fun.
    5. Once you think you’re one yard from your partner open your eyes.
    6. It is important that your partner never make a sound during this exercise.

    If you are like most folks who experience this standard navigation eye-opener, you veered off course and wound up waaay short or a bit long from your target.

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    And…

    There is also a tendency for the right-handed to veer rightward, and the left-handed to veer leftward.

    No big deal, right?

    Well, according to navigation experts, this veer is a very big deal. Small deviations in our direction when sightless reveal a tendency that will remain when sighted.

    When we hear stories of folks lost in the wilderness who are eventually found [dead or alive] often they have been wandering in wide circles without being aware of it. The experts tell us this natural veer is the culprit. Until we are made aware of it via experiment and learn to correct for it we can fall prey to the veer error with eyes wide open.

    Now, we must assume that if we are susceptible to error with a skill as foundational as walking, an error only revealed with blind-training then it stands to reason that blind training may pay huge dividends in revealing shortcomings in other physical domains.


    I heartily urge all martial artists and street-combative adherents to add a bit of blind training to your agenda from week one. Even if you are engaged in primarily striking, blindfolded shadow-boxing, blind-shadow kicking, blind-shadow-striking of all stripes, can reveal some mighty interesting tendencies in the human animal.

    Sometimes to better see our mistakes, to better light our path forward, we need to go dark.

    Click here for more self defense training from Mark Hatmaker

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34 thoughts on “Blind Training by Mark Hatmaker”

  1. Great idea! I’m going to start doing this against my Bad Bob dummy:

    Slow blind knife draws
    Slow blind counter ambush
    Slow blind gun draws

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  2. I was blind for two weeks by a chemical explosion. Commands turn right, left, forward backwards. A second person was always needed to assist where I was waking or walking into. Always need to know where your feet are at. Most important use your ears and listen to your surroundings. Practice with no lights on and see how well you navigate your own house, without running into somthing that has been there for years and never moved, It is a challenge.

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  4. Very insightful, a definite eye opener. A very useful fundamental aspect that IMO we should be aware of and utilize for our benefit for it may be an essential attuned skill for ones survival.

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  6. Thsnks for a very interesting concept that I’ve never considered. I could see that with practi e you could develope senses that are not normally utilized by this process.

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  7. Very interesting concept, I’m almost blind due to diabetes so understand this thoroughly. Thank you for sharing.

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  8. Hey thanks Bob for sending me these video. I’m starting to think more about what I’m doing and paying more attention to the work around me……and the people in it.

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  9. I believe that the reason we circle when lost in the woods is that we consistently divert to the same side of an obstacle. I have found that if I intentionally alternate sides, it is quite easy to traverse a reasonably straight line.

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  10. I agree 100%. When you are blinded for several hours, your hearing and smelling sense start to compensate for the lack of sight and you can sense better who is present and coming at you by thesound and smell.

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  11. This is a great exercise in training your senses for spatial awareness. Having this ability will increase your stealth mobility and allow you to maneuver in total darkness as well.

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  13. Very interesting article. That’s something that most wouldn’t even consider. But very true. I’ve seen it myself when having the boys (boy scouts) do an orienteering course. Funny thing is they’re using a compass to point the way. I always have them walk a short distance, usually 100 ft. without the compass to show them the importance o walking a straight line. I’ve seen them go off course from 3′ to as much as 10’+ to one side or the other. It seems that your dominating side takes a longer stride with each step and the average person walks with their toes pointed outwards.
    Keep up the good work I love these little tidbits that get you thinking.

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  14. I have to be honest, this is something I haven’t thought about. I’m part of our church security team, and it seems this could be valuable training for anyone. If you’re in a building, even in daytime, and the electricity goes off; it would be one of those scenarios. At night in a partial lit parking lot could be another. Thanks for the wake-up call.

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  15. This blind training makes perfect sense to me. Worked night shift and often had to navigate in the dark as the flashlight batteries were often depleted.

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  16. Aboard an aircraft carrier, when the lights go out, it is blacker in a compartment than the devils heart. I would always practice two paths to exit my working space and my berthing space blindfolded. I would first do each with eyes open and count the steps and direction (left or right) to each exit point and mentally picture each avenue in my mind. Then, I would do the same blindfolded to ensure that I had a route to safety. Yes, I always had a flashlight within reach, but a compartment filled with thick smoke renders a flashlight useless.

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  17. This was so helpful for me because of the fact that it helps me better understand being blind folded an trying to find my way around my mom is going blind now faster than we thought an it helps me to have more patient’s with her not being abel to see Thank You so much for this test.

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  19. training with a partner will help to learn to fallow and give orders. you should also learn to trust your partner more.

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  21. Adding this training along with your other situational awareness skills can go a long way in keeping you alive in dangerous situations. Being able to use all your senses to guide and direct your actions keeps your confidence strong and your nerve calm to acomplish the mission goals.

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  22. I think blind training is essential for many reasons, not the least is how it will heighten all your sensory perceptions and repeated practice focusing on your heightened senses instills in you the ability to heighten your sensory perceptions to your advantage when you are not blind.

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  23. An easy way to get started is in your own home. Turn out the lights at night and walk through your home. You live there and should know where everything is, you may be surprised at what you bump into. I have made this a habit everywhere I go, even in hotels. I have trained in this manner since may Army days. You never know when it will help you. Good luck!

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  25. Pretty good advice… we use to do blind drills occasionally when I was studying Jeet Kune Do. It’s important not do get reckless or cocky when practicing this, as one can get seriously injured. Safety First!

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  26. My best friend is a totally blind female, she often travels on public transport alone, without her dog and with just a folding white cane to guide her. She travels the same route three times a week, travelling to the city from the suburbs is very safe as she does it in the middle of the afternoon, coming home is a bit different, it’s ten o’clock at night and the riff-raff are starting to come out of their holes. I taught her how to defend herself if she is grabbed, it’s not much use if the attacker is standing back punching and kicking, but in the total darkness, she lives in if she is touched she is formidable. People have two arms, one on each side of their body, between them is that aforementioned body and on top of that body is ahead, in that head there are eyes. On one trip a male (certainly not a man) got a little grabby, following her training she took the sight in his left eye, dropped him like a bag and dislocated his jaw with a stomp kick once he was down, after losing an eye he did go down, he dropped to his knee and from there it was just a matter for her to grab the back of his head using two hands and her folded white cane and driving her knee into his face. Once he hit the floor of the train she stomped. She then extended the cane, touching him with one end to see if he was going to move until at the next station the Police rushed onto the train. They had seen the entire thing on CCTV. While she was taken into custody she was soon released. If a real blind person can defend themselves I am certain we, sighted warriors can do the same thing or better.

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  27. Very insightful article with good points made for implementing this practice into a training schedule. Thanks for the tip on how to raise the level of skill.

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  29. roflmao! Since my disability involves my neck bones pinching the nerves to my inner ear, I can walk toward a doorway, and crash face first into the wall, unless I use my cane to help steer myself…and it’s entirely possible I’ll wander all over the place before I get there anyway. I take extra supplements for my eyes, so they adjust to night vision quickly, and I try to not be caught without my cane. The cats have learned to beware Mom’s big feet! It is interesting to sit and listen to what’s around me with my eyes closed. Since I hardly ever watch tv, I can identify almost all the normal sounds in my house (including what the cats are knocking onto the floor). It is a useful skill., even if it isn’t a fighting-type skill. I understand what you mean by “feel” also. Sometimes I can lay my hand right on an item I’m searching for, even in the dark. I used to use it to find veins deep in a patient’s arm , when I was drawing blood. It’s what my teacher called a type of harmonic resonance. Thanks for the article! It was interesting!

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  31. During my Fire Service career we practised this type of training whereby the only sense we were left during a search and rescue exercise was touch as we navigated through a building searching for casualties. In addition to maintaining contact with a wall, the area ahead was checked for the possibility of obstacles or holes in the floor by using a foot sweeping movement not unlike that found in Karate. By doing this training it not only provided a perception of the difficulties faced by those people unfortunate to have lost such a precious sense, but also created huge confidence in the belief that casualties could be quickly found even when the area being searched was devoid of light. A truly amazing experience. The combination of communication with other members of a search team and searching by touch alone bred confidence in the ability to complete the task successfully. I would recommend that people try the techniques to acquire an appreciation of what is involved.
    Yet another fantastic topic for the blog.

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  33. Interesting concept, I see the potential benefits you espouse.
    I shall attempt it asap. Thanks for the info.

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  34. I will say right off the bat, that without visual clues, particularly vertical and horizontal lines, walls and object or objects at various distances, we can find ourselves a bit lost.
    Simple example would be twirling a pair of nunchakus or a chain or maybe a staff. I have found that without even realizing it, it’s easy (during practice) to become unconsciously dependent on comparing the movement of a weapon to walls as we swing from a downward position (The floor) up straight (Guided by walls, mirrors, furniture) and toward the ceiling. And when twirling a weapon above our heads, we may use the ceiling and walls or standing objects to help us maintain a level twirling of the object.
    Matter of fact, I have gotten up extremely tired and become so confused that I was “stuck” behind an opened door. Without being able to see (No light) or touch the edge of the door or the knob or the hinged side, I was unable to determine my position or how to negotiate in, around or thru doorways. That was an eye opener to say the least.
    But I see there is a huge gap in capability with having open eyes and then being out of sorts, in the dark, but basically if not actually blinded and trying to just walk through the house or to perform a familiar act or well practiced task.

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