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!

Tension Management

Tension Management

In your daily life there is a baseline tension that you are so familiar with that you no longer even notice.   This tension manifests in fatigue, pain, and stress that many people live with.  Of course you see the benefit of reducing tension at work and in your personal life.  But tension beyond a certain level, what I call the point of “necessary tension” can impact your ability to defend yourself as well.

Many of us who have studied the martial arts are accustomed to holding powerful stances during training and sparring.  We have been taught to block and strike with great force.  But this has an impact on your body that affects your ability to adapt and avoid injury in real-life defensive situations. 

In Systema, the Russian martial art, tension is reduced and controlled such that your body is free to move naturally throughout combat.  This is as interesting as it is unique. 

Tension management is important in delivering strikes, but what I will focus on here is the way tension can prevent natural movement and ultimately cause injury in training and real attacks,  as well as how to manage the level of tension in the body.  This can and should be applied to every aspect of life, as it will lead to a more fluid and flexible existence.

When you engage large muscle groups, you in effect are connecting and combining the various parts of the body.  This is good if you need to move a refrigerator, but not if you need to survive a knife attack in a dark alley.  Once you have locked up the body, there is almost no way to unlock it.  This becomes even worse under the stressful conditions of an attack.  The tension builds up through the muscles and prevents you from changing the body’s alignment, direction, and response to new & escalating threats. 

Try it out.  Flex your entire upper body and attempt to move each shoulder independently, for example.  Experiment and try to be fluid while holding excess tension.  This should help you to see why people throw out their backs and experience other pain and/or injury during strenuous activity.  Now imagine that the activity is avoiding being slashed by a blade, held and punched by multiple muggers, etc.  In dangerous scenarios, you will need every advantage you can get.  Allowing excess tension to rob you of the freedom to move and adapt could spell trouble even if you have trained. 

There are many examples that could be stated to support this thesis.  I will assume that is unnecessary at this point.  Instead, let’s move on to what you can do to reduce tension under stress.

Breathing is very important, as holding your breath creates tension in and through the chest area.  So breathe and keep your core flexible, preventing the spread of tension throughout the body.  If you don’t think this is such a big deal, try it out.  Hold your breath as long as you can and pay attention to your chest, back, and shoulders.  Psychologically, this is difficult and many people experience a panic phenomenon.  See if continuous breathing can reduce this tension and promote natural movement.  And do yourself a favor, taking note throughout the day just how often you hold your breath (while driving, reading, concentrating, focusing, etc).

Now that you are breathing, learn to move various parts of the body independently.  This can be developed in many ways.  One example is holding a weight in one hand (which will cause that arm to move with greater resistance than the other) and start bending, extending, retracting, and swinging both arms.  Breathe and try to relax the upper body, holding tension only in the hands and forearms (these are the only body parts that must be tense).  Now add lower body movement, moving around while keeping the stomach, hips, and upper legs free of tension. 

Proper body alignment is important too.  People injure their backs when lifting heavy weight with a bend in the back.  So pull your lower back into straight alignment (removing the arch), bend the legs a little, and keep the hips tucked directly under the centerline.  Then try to  move and perform activities using the absolute minimum muscular tension required to complete the task.  You will learn just how much more the body can move and adapt if you let it.

This is a brief discussion of the topic to get you thinking.  But consider how much energy is wasted, and how little benefit is added, when tension takes hold of us.  In life, tension can impact our success, our happiness, and our relationships.  In combat and defense, tension can put us in unnecessary danger.  In any case, tension should be limited otherwise it will surely limit us.

Stand!

THREE DRILLS TO ENHANCE ADAPTABILITY

Adaptability is essential to those who want to possess real skill for defensive encounters.  I don’t care who your teacher’s brother’s roommate used to train with.  What if the thug who tries to knife you at the ATM trained with someone’s teacher’s brother’s roommate too?  J

These drills will give you ideas for improving your adaptability by increasing sensitivity (decreasing reaction time and enhancing fighting position), reducing the effect of surprise (using reactions as fighting foundations), and improving transitions (allowing you to fight between techniques).  It’s up to you to prepare yourself for the worst.  As I have said to many students, we train to fight so that we might not have to.

1. Sensitivity

Concept: It is important to learn to feel when an opponent is moving or changing his attack.  You don’t want to be in the position of constantly reacting to strikes and other attacks.  If you can keep a point of contact at all times and relax a little, you can sense subtle shifts and changes in angle of attack.  Your body’s natural reflex reactions will keep you one step ahead.  So learn to use all 5 senses (including the sense of sight) to the highest potential, and it will appear that you have the power to predict the attacker’s next move.

Any training routine or drill you commonly engage in can be made fresh and exciting simply by removing the sense of sight. 

Drill:  Wear a blindfold while working on grappling, trapping, and striking skills.  Start from a static position where both you and your partner are making contact.  This could be standing face to face with your forearms resting against each other.  Be creative and create interesting scenarios (sitting next to each other shoulder to shoulder, back to back, etc.). 

Try to relax as much as possible.  If you are too tense, you will not be sensitive to subtle movements.  You will instead feel yourself move, not your opponent.  So relax your muscles such that you can receive the movement as it starts.  Then use that motion as the beginning of you counter.  Work off of the tension from the attack, allowing your body to take a better position while finding an advantage (striking, leverage, etc.).

2. Surprise

Concept:  In training we usually know what is about to happen.  But on the street, the element of surprise is enough to change the outcome of any fight.  Attackers experience fear too, and that is why they use excessive force (weapons, surprise, greater numbers, etc.).  So the more you train your psyche to allow your body to respond when under sudden stress the better.  Don’t allow your body to freeze.  It’s okay to be scared and afraid, as long as you respond.  Hesitation is what we are trying to reduce or eliminate.  It is far better to be uncomfortable in training than defeated by fear.

Drill:  Stand in the middle of the training space, with other students at various positions and proximities to you.  Close your eyes while they move into new positions.  When you open your eyes to see them coming from unknown angles, you will experience (in a small way) the feelings that are realistic on the street.  Learn to continue moving even when you panic.  Don’t have too much pride.  If you get hit, learn from it.  Who cares if you could have blocked that punch if you were ready?!  The key here is to respond with less and less tension until you are able to absorb a strike and keep fighting, move with a grab and find an advantageous position, shift off line and redirect a strike, etc.  Do not let yourself tense up and pre-load by taking a strong stance.  Just move fluidly from wherever you find yourself at that moment.

3. Transition

Concept:  Things change all the time.  It’s what makes life interesting.  It’s also what makes fighting dangerous.  You may take an opponent to the ground and dominate him (until his friends come around the corner and join in the fun).  You may be the better striker (until he pulls a knife).  Get it into your head that there is always the possibility of an unexpected event changing the equation.  You need to be able to adapt and keep fighting.

Drill:  Work from one standard to another.  For example, begin standing and transition to the ground.  And then start out on the ground and work to get back to your feet.  Or better yet, move fluidly from standing to sitting to kneeling, to lying down to standing, and keep transitioning as you learn to work against attacks of all kinds.  Don’t think of certain techniques as “ground” and others as “standing”.  You will be a step behind if you have to change approaches all the time.  Continue to fight through changes and transitions as if there is no difference between them, because there isn’t.

 Concluding remarks:

Have fun in training, and keep it as practical as you can.  The key is to make progress, learning about your art and yourself all the time.  Position yourself in a fight, as in life, for the best possible outcome.  And above all else, don’t let others dictate the limits of your existence.  Don’t live in fear.  When others crumble, rise above. 

Stand!

Key #3: Natural Movements

Natural Movements

I love traditional martial arts, so don’t take this wrong.  I am not saying common training methods are without merit.  What I hope you will understand is that there exists a disconnect between the expectations of many new martial arts students and the reality of traditional teaching objectives. 

All it took for me to get the bug for martial arts (like so many others) was to watch Bruce Lee dispatch a room full of foes with a continuous flurry of kicks.  I started kicking everything in sight, and my parents decided to get me some lessons (read discipline). 

After spending weeks and weeks learning the most awkward positions I had ever seen, I started wondering when I would get experience in hands-on defense.  I was told that I needed a firm foundation in the basics before “advancing” to scenarios involving actual attackers.  I accepted that answer (sort of) for the time being. 

That’s when I started to notice that almost nobody in my school practiced in a practical way.  This showed in the way sparring sessions (even with the black belts) devolved into a brawl that resembled amateur kick boxers.  Where was the art we spent so much time “perfecting”?  I asked my instructors why the art wasn’t more applicable in combative applications.  Guess what?  They didn’t appreciate my criticism.

Go figure.  People don’t like it when you punch holes in an endeavor they have spent years of sweat and effort in.  When I eventually watched the first UFC fights, my concerns for realism in training were validated. 

What’s the point?

Application is everything.  People turn to martial arts for defensive ability first and foremost.  So I feel a burden of responsibility, as an Instructor, to give my students experience working with concepts they can use in short time to defend themselves. 

I don’t mean we shouldn’t teach basics (stances, postures, etc.) as a foundation.  In fact I think that is essential.  However, there is no excuse for stringing along students for months.  While they are learning the repetitive basics, they can engage in exercises and drills that utilize natural movements to fight violent attackers.

Natural movements are those that you already know, do, and can depend on under stress.  Think about how you would react if someone hauled off and threw a punch in your face.  What do you feel?  Do you tense up, and where?  Do you cover your head, or throw your hands up, palms out (and eyes closed)? 

It’s important to know your true reactions today!  Know yourself!  You naturally shift your weight a certain way.  You naturally rotate your elbows a certain way.  You naturally push threats away, or you naturally grab and contain a threat.  These are reflexes currently programmed into your very being.  That means they are reliable.  You are going to move. 

Traditional styles have a very specific way of moving and transitioning that define the identity of that style.  That’s great!  But that means you have to break down natural movements in order to build brand new muscle memory, etc. 

Beginners should be encouraged to embrace their natural movements in a way that provides them a means of defending against aggressive attacks right now.  Then they can walk in confidence while they develop technical aspects of their chosen style.  I think this is the best approach.

The ultimate gift we can give to our students is power and choice.  Power to participate in life without anxiety.  Choice in exactly what that means for each individual.  I am not urging people to abandon traditional methods.  On the contrary, my vision and passion are for the development of supplementary tactics that will allow students to fulfill their goals of martial proficiency throughout the entire journey of becoming an artist.

Pass it on…

Richard Moore

Founder/Chief Instructor

Applied Fighter

For more information about Applied Fighter and Instructor Richard Moore
Please visit http://www.appliedfighter.com/

Don't be emotional!

Your attitude and mind-set are very important in life and in combat.

Think about the emotions you would experience if you were attacked in violence.  How will you feel toward your attacker?  I know this may seem strange, but to be at your most effective and efficient performance, you should not feel anger, or any other powerful emotion.

It goes like this...

When you have an intense emotional reaction, you limit your bodily responses.  Tension takes over parts of your body as you try to appear bigger, stronger, more fierce (primal animal instinct).  When you are angry, your eyes narrow and you gain laser-focus on the target.  This is good in athletic competition, where one-on-one action is ensured. 

But on the street (as on the battlefield) you don't always know all the variables.  There may be others who will join in to attack you.  There may be weapons coming into play.  You need to have maximum flexibility and adaptability as you work to destroy the attacker.

The solution...

Do not think (or form an opinion) about the attacker.  He is not evil.  He is not anything.  He is simply in your way.  He stands between you and the rest of your life.  Do not assign value to anything the attacker does.  Just go through him into your future. 

When you are indifferent to the attacker, you can work freely through any attack.  The point is to give yourself as much of an advantage as possible. 

Take it!