Key #7: Realistic Drills

Key #7: Realistic Drills

In the context of self-defense and martial arts training, I have heard terminology such as kata, sparring, technique, shadow-boxing, routine, etc.  To me the application is the most important, as it won’t matter how great you are if you cannot deal with the dynamic encounter of a real fight. 

Drills are a wonderful way to hone skills and learn to apply the technical aspects of your chosen style in a way that provides a meter of your real world ability.  The more realistic those drills, the more realistic your ability.  Below you will find a couple suggestions regarding ways to make your training stick and benefit you if you ever are faced with a violent attacker.

First of all, let me encourage you to perform your drills with a partner.  The sooner you start to encounter real resistance in training, the better.  Throwing a punch or blocking against a real person is very different than doing forms in a mirror.  You need to know what it feels like to hit and move while engaged with a partner. 

If you practice with people who just go along with your technique, you will be disappointed with your inability to handle a real fight.  So, be careful but make sure you are learning to apply your skills in as realistic a way as possible. 

Here are a few aspects of training that can enhance your experience and deliver rapid results for people of all levels. 

Distance and speed:

You have no doubt seen this yourself.  Two students stand facing each other in mirror stances.  One initiates an “attack” that falls several inches short of hitting the target.  The defender has no need to move at all, because the strike wouldn’t touch him regardless. 

But the defender does move, he performs his prepared technique.  And guess what…?  He is successful.  The attack is defended, and he moves on to safety. 

This is a terrible situation for the person learning defense.  He thinks he dealing with the threat.   But in reality, he has not developed the ability to deal with a real strike.  Even when performed at high speed, this type of inaccurate training only diminishes a person’s innate defensive tendency.  He is deprograming a primal skill of self preservation.

Realistic Application:

Make sure that the partner throwing strikes continues to press his strike forward at the target until he either hits the defender or his strike is blocked/redirected.  This is effective even at slow speeds, as long as the resistance and range of motion is real.  It is better to get hit while training than to be laid flat on the street.  Don’t let your pride keep you from learning correctly.  Let your partner’s strikes get really close before you move, allowing contact if necessary to train your body how to deal with reality.

Anticipation and reaction:

Another problem with prepared techniques is that you have already decided what movement your body will perform.  This takes place apart from your body’s natural systems (nervous, muscular, circulation, etc.).  The result is that you may be able to perform counters only when an attacker follows the pattern you have prepared for.

I remember countless times watching people utterly frustrated that they cannot demonstrate their martial prowess to their friends and/or older brothers, who just don’t seem to throw strike the “right way.”

Realistic Application:

Learn to apply concepts of action, not rote techniques.  It’s more natural to allow your body to respond and then work your martial skills into those reactions.  If you can only fight when your brain gives advance notice to your muscles, then I’m sorry but you are going to lose.  A fight just has too many variables and dynamic pieces of information for you to aptly process everything you need to respond.  Better to learn how to use your reactions as a launch pad for defense.  Besides, spontaneous training is fun.  Try it.

Mindset and aggression:

Your mindset can alter your personality and posture.  This comes into play in defense because you cannot control the outside world.  Things may happen that you are not looking forward to.  If attacked, you will be faced with a level of violence and aggression that you may not have known.  Some people are uncomfortable thinking of themselves as potentially violent.  But in order to survive an attack, you may need to tap into a more aggressive side of yourself. 

Realistic Application:

It is important to understand how you might react to real violence.  In training, you can simulate anger from the attacker and put pressure on the defender in an effort to develop an insight into your own psyche.  The point is that only a fool would go out into the world (thinking they possess defensive skill) without any idea of what it feels like to experience a violent mindset (either from the perspective of attacker or defender). 

Continued response:

I have personally trained hundreds of students over the years, and I am still surprised at the timidity of the general population.  Why we as a society have decided that it is virtuous to be civil in the face of danger, I have no idea.  But I can tell you that most students come into training with a peaceful disposition. 

After blocking/redirecting a couple strikes, they commonly counter with one strike (usually a poorly delivered palm to the strongest part of their opponent), and turn around to relax in victory.  I quickly instruct them that they need to continue to fight until the attacker is unable to present a threat.  Sometimes a light bulb goes on and sometimes it doesn’t.  But after they see a demonstration of how to take strikes to the body, they realize they probably need to do more.  

Realistic Application:

As a rule of thumb, continue to counter until you have brought the attacker to the ground (and maybe stomped him a bit).  Otherwise, you may just anger an already violent person to increase the level of aggression and return even more dangerous.  Always continue your motion to go through the attacker.  Always leave them with some damage to detour them from continuing the fight.  In most fights, someone gets hurt.  Why should it by you?  Think about it.

At any rate, please consider ways to make your training count in the real world.  Apply the concepts of realistic drills and have fun while developing a very real ability to defend yourself and your loved-ones.

Stand!

Emotions & Defensive Training

I remember when I first started training in the martial arts.  There was this expectation that after a while the hours upon hours of practice (stances, blocking, kata, etc.) would translate into the ability to fight.  Of course my intentions were good, and I never went looking for a fight.  But for some reason I felt disappointed when I realized that a real fight consists of a dynamic that was completely lacking in martial technique and sparring.

In the first few minutes of Bruce Lee’s epic Enter The Dragon, he spends a moment teaching a young student a simple concept that I didn’t fully understand until I hit a wall of frustration in my own training.  After throwing a couple kicks at his teacher, the youth is told, “We need emotional content.” 

I used to think this was an expression on the face or some way of animating each movement in a type of mechanical strategy.  Now, after years of processing that statement, I believe the point is even more basic.  There is an element here that says you must be committed to the attack in order to deliver a strike with rhythm and timing.  But even more, beneath the surface perhaps, is a reality which can spell the difference between an artistic exercise and the ability to fight.

Emotions have an intense impact on our physical state.  Fear, anxiety, anger, etc. cause the body systems to change and react to chemicals generated and expelled during a conflict.  A real fight is full of unknowns.  Will I embarrass myself?  Will my friends respect me?  Will I go to jail?  Will I be injured or worse?  What would my family do if something happened to me?  How do I get out of this?  …

Further, emotions have a direct effect to the tension in and between the joints, muscles, and movements you need to perform in a fight.  Depending on your skill level and methods of defense, this could-and often does-create an environment that totally negates the training you have engaged in.  That’s why Black Belts will get their ass handed to them on the street by a bold but untrained thug. 

The mind, as well as the body, must be free to fight.  There’s no time to consider options once the action starts.  If your training has omitted the emotional dump that occurs in the face of an aggressive attack, you might as well run.  But your training can at least simulate heightened emotional states.  In this way you can build reliable skills and know that you are able to respond to a violent encounter. 

Of course, any class situation will promote safety and thus limit the emotional response slightly.  But if you are familiar with the rush of adrenaline and any other corresponding sensory responses, you can develop the ability to fight.  Here is one suggestion as to how to incorporate this concept in your training.

I believe strongly in training against the resistance of a partner (opponent) from the first stages.  As a beginner, you will have to work out how to utilize the techniques you are learning in a more realistic environment.  This may feel frustrating at times, but it’s easier than mastering movements and then going back to figure out how they apply to real fight scenarios. 

Blindfolded sparring is a great tool for developing many aspects of fight ability.  Multiple opponent scenarios can also provide a setting where the urgency to move and keep moving will teach a student to trust initial reactions and work through panic.  But now I will give you a simple drill that I have used successfully in teaching students to work with their emotions to build a practical defense skill set.

Lights Out Drill:

The Lights Out Drill can be a lot of fun for people of all backgrounds.  It’s different and exciting, and the benefits are immediate.  There are several ways to employ this drill, and you will probably come up with new ways on your own.  It’s important to make it fun too. 

One example: (Lights On Drill)

The student stands in an open space.  I have been lead blindfolded into an open field, for example.  Around the student stand a group of training partners who silently position themselves at the ready to attack.  One or more attackers can be used, depending on the skill of the student and the intent of the session. 

When ready, the student quickly pulls off the blindfold and is immediately attacked by the training partners.  He has to process the location, proximity, priority, and dynamics of the situation.  This is extremely stressful, and the emotional overload is a good simulation for a real fight. 

Another example: (Lights Out Drill)

The student is lead into a training hall or room that is dark.  The darker it is, the better.  I have done this outdoors in the dark of night, and that is fun for all. 

Allow the attacking partners to adjust their eyes to the darkness.  When ready, shine a flashlight into the face of the student for a split second.  Back in the dark with his eyes spotted, the student will be effectively blind.  He may glimpse the others coming within range to spar.  He will hear them coming closer. 

All these elements will bring stress, fear, etc.  Again, he is safe because these are not real thugs trying to hurt him.  But the emotional response will be real, and he will learn to move and fight in the presence of emotions that would otherwise control him.

These are just suggestions, but I think you get the idea.  At the very least, remember to think of ways of simulating the emotions that accompany the threat of violence.  In this way you will develop abilities, not just aesthetic skills.  Do all that you can to prepare.

Stand!

Key #4: Sensitivity and Freedom

Key #4: Sensitivity and Freedom

Defensive scenarios are dynamic and changing events.  The threat of harm comes in many shapes and sizes, and your training must allow for all manner of situations.  It is not enough to respond in a linear fashion as the assault occurs.  It is far too dangerous to be one step behind the attacker and attempt to catch up through a block and punch sequence. 

Often the attacker will make contact through an initial aggressive move.  This is where your defense begins.  This is the realistic moment of response and the point at which the majority of your training should take place.  Sensitivity is an important element to defensive training because this initial contact is so reliable.  Fear and anxiety can cause you to break contact in an attempt to escape.  But as we have discussed elsewhere, this can place you in harm’s way by keeping you in striking range with a violent attacker. 

By keeping a point of contact with the opponent, and learning to avoid becoming overly tense, you can move with the attack and nullify the advantage of the attacker.  Through training your body to sense movement and shifting in your opponent, you can begin to respond and counter in a dynamic way.  This is the only way to get out in front of your attackers technique.  You can defeat the attack as it occurs.

Freedom of movement is essential to responding to a dynamic threat in a way that provides the best chance for survival.  You must learn to strike from any angle and avoid any change in attack.  As we have said, holding only the necessary tension is the key to achieving this.  Too much tension can lock up the body and prevent the natural movement in response to a changing attack.  But when your body is free to move in a natural way, you can maintain alignment and positioning for the ultimate defense.  Your attacker will not even know what hit them. 

There are many ways to develop this sensitivity.  Let me present one example, but you can get creative and experiment with other methods, as long as you keep the essential concept. 

Blindfolded drills:

Sometimes our eyes can prevent us from experiencing our training the way we intend.  Therefore, a blindfold can keep the reactions true, as you cannot anticipate contact with timing.  Some students are frightened of being hit to such a degree that they will cheat themselves out of the attainment of defensive skill.  Let a strike (light and slow) land on the body and feel how you can move and flow with it.  Learn to relax parts of the body such that you can escape the force of a blow and counter simultaneously. 

Work against a partner who continues to throw slow strikes which contact the body and provide resistance.  This allows you to learn how to sense the initial touch of contact and develop a means of moving initially in the same direction as the strike, and then redirecting or shifting the momentum in order to escape and strike back.  You will be surprised how quickly your body will learn to relax and move, and the position and location of the opponent will be more obvious than you realize. 

If you prevent panic from setting in and bringing tension into your body, you will flow with the situation.  Once the attacker touches you in trying to strike or grab, keep a point of contact.  This point of contact is like a direct line to the every move of the attacker.  You will know exactly where the next attack is going because the tension and intent of the opponent will be communicated through this point of contact.  Alter your position relative to the attacker, shift into and away as he brings each strike, and don’t be scared to let a strike touch you.

When you feel a strike make contact (remember your partner should deliver them slowly but with full follow through) experiment with simple and natural movements that reduce the force and impact of the attack.  Find ways of keeping the opponent close and discover how to position your weapons for counter strikes.

Have fun and embrace sensitivity resulting in physical freedom.

Stand!