Key 2 of 7 From the Series, "7 Keys to Accelerated Defense"
Key #2: Reflex Triggers
We must learn to fight from varied positions. Most attacks come as a surprise, and you will not be in your favorite stance when trouble finds you. The training you engage in must prepare you to be aware and adapt. Let me put it another way. If you have to be stretched out and positioned in your style's fighting stance in order to protect yourself, your technique is probably not the most reliable defense. Let's be real, okay? Stay practical, and be prepared.
Almost all martial arts and defense training courses utilize set stances and attitudes in order to launch protective movements. What I mean is that punches, kicks, blocks, etc. are all initiated from a ready stance which assumes you will be ready and waiting when an attack happens. In many ways, this seems like a good starting point, providing balance and strength from which to begin defensive maneuvers. The problem is that most real attacks do not begin with an attacker challenging you mono-o-mono.
In real life, attackers always have an advantage of some kind. Often the defender is surprised and caught off-guard, forcing an ad hoc response under sub-optimal conditions. Because of this, it is vitally important to learn to launch defensive actions from the most common natural positions. You will not have time to restart the attack after getting into your practiced positions. This reality based approach will result in the discovery of the power behind fundamental human movement associated with reflex triggers.
Think about it. Around the globe, people practice martial arts by situating their bodies in every variety of stance and position in order to build muscle memory and replace the body's natural reactions with "combat" reactions. But if you are training in a dojo in a suburban area where the chance of being attacked is very unlikely, you are conditioning your body to respond under training stimulants. When you go out into your world, you will think about work, family, and other responsibilities and place this "combat" response behind the pressing priorities of life. If you are attacked walking to your car, you will not spring into a cat-stance or lop-sau in an automatic fashion. No! Most likely you will tense up, close your eyes, and flinch in the face of violence (just like most other people). What happened to your training?
Let's answer this by posing another question. What is the difference between a suburban black belt and a Marine serving in a combat zone? Well lots! But to make an over simplification even more extreme, let's talk about the mental states of these two characters. Assume that they received the exact same hand-to-hand combat training. What's the difference? Before you get to far ahead of me, I'll tell you my opinion. It’s mental state. The situation (environment) will cause the person to receive information differently and thus affect the way the body reacts to perceived danger. A Marine in a combat zone is focused and aware, looking for sources of danger with the acceptance of the use of violence to defeat violence. Not so with our suburban black belt. He does not anticipate trouble and thus will not maintain the survival mindset required for rapid response to danger.
I know, you are thinking of several problems with my analogy. Too bad. You still have to deal with the fact that you are not walking around in a horse-stance, fists at the ready. Instead, you are probably checking email, texting, searching for weather, stocks, and free cell phone apps while you try to feel for the right key to open your door. Did you even notice the guy standing a little too close to the front of your car?
There are ways to increase your odds at successfully defending yourself, even when taken by surprise. To understand the solution, we will look at two aspects that are essential to any real self-defense endeavor; natural reflexes and defense triggers.
Natural reflexes are hard-wired into your being. These are predictable responses that you can come to understand and appreciate. Another word for predictable is reliable! Muggers, rapists, thugs, and the like have made your natural reflexes a course of study in order to use them against you. But that can be turned for use in your favor as well. You know how you will be approached. The other elements of natural reflexes are speed and efficiency. Wouldn't you agree that movements that are described as "reliable", "fast", and "efficient" will be useful in self-defense? Isn't this the intent of martial arts training, to learn new reactions that have these very qualities? You already have tools that will help you survive the most violent and aggressive attacks. You just need to learn to use them as a spring board for defensive tactics.
Defense triggers occur at the point your brain catches up with your body's natural reflex. You will feel the surge of emotion (stress over fight or flight) with adrenalin, fear, etc. But you will move! And the moment you realize that you have moved is the moment of the defense trigger. This is the space between the reflex and the transition into defensive tactics. Your training must begin with the construction of a bridge to martial implementation of your reflex reactions.
Consider this: imagine you throw your hands up in front of your face as you see a punch aimed at your nose at the last instant. Come on... just do it. Throw your hands up in surprise, covering your face. Okay, now relax your shoulders just a little (let them drop to a comfortable level) and make your hands into fists. Ah!!! You remind me of a boxer I once knew :) The point is that there are many ways your body will react to various attacks, and the better you understand these reactions, the better you will be able to prepare for the worst. You may throw your open hands out in front of you, twist and look away while raising your elbows, step back and lean away, etc. Some of your reactions will place your elbows in perfect position for striking. Others will allow you to parry or trap a strike. Everyone is different, but your reflexes can lead to effective triggers for self-defense.
You might say that you will just be more careful, more aware. Well I wish you well and hope nothing ever happens to you. But what if? No really, what if?
What if?!
You may disagree with me, but I think that you will definitely move when caught off-guard by an attack. I think you will react by flinching and blinking and tensing up. I think you will do this even if you practice martial arts. I think this happens every day, and it's a real shame. Martial arts and self-defense teachers do a good job of training students to compete in matches (in the old days they called these duels). But most people do not go about their daily lives under heightened survival mindset conditions. And today's criminals do not challenge you like a thug in a Kung-Fu movie. No! You will certainly react when attacked. But have you truly prepared yourself to transition from Joe-six-pack to G.I. Joe?
Make your training count and awaken your inner warrior. Embrace the power of reflex triggers.
Stay safe,
Instructor Moore
Richard Moore teaches self-defense and martial arts in the Bay Area, CA. For more information regarding training philosophies and events visit http://appliedfighter.com/
