subject: Self Defense - Why You Can't Afford To Have Favorite Techniques [print this page] It seems that everyone I talk to who has even the smallest amount of knowledge about self defense or the martial arts - has some kind of favorite technique, tactic, or weapon. And yet, the reality is that you will have to have a very high degree of skill - or luck - to be able to use any "favorite" skill in a real-world encounter.
What I mean by that is this - to have and rely on a 'favorite' anything, implies that the situation that you find yourself in will allow for that technique to apply. And, with all of the possible attacks that could be thrown at you - with all of the environments you could find yourself in when it happens - with all of the variables that could come up...
...it would be a virtual miracle to find yourself in just the right situation, and against just the right attacker - throwing the exact thing you need - to be able to use your "magic bullet."
Even in the world of mma fighting, there is no end to the number of fighters who go down trying to do his favorite move. And why wouldn't they?
At the beginning of each bout, even the announcers talk about "the technique" or strategy that this particular fighter likes to do. Of course his opponents are prepared for it - he's telegraphed it, talked about it, and done it often enough for it to be regarded as something to worry about, that every other fighter who wants a piece of him will train to be able to beat it, or at least stop it.
Of course they do. I would!
This same thing can be seen in the world of women's self defense, where the number one tactic that most women think of as "the best," is kicking a guy where it counts.
And yet, they never stop to consider the fact that a guy's first experience with getting hit there, including every male attacker in existence, was somewhere around the age of 3! So, unless they have a little more in the way of strategy and skill, they're probably never going to be able to set up a kick to the groin.
Because their attacker, who knows he attacking a woman, won't let his victim do it to him.
Kind of explains why most women who are attacked on the street are grabbed from "behind." The attacker sets up the attack to neutralize her ability to do what she thinks to be her only technique.
And, this leads to the other thing I talked about - being good enough to set things up in your favor. And, unless you can do things like:
Manipulate your assailant's perceptions so that he throws exactly what you need
Control the space and alignment between you so that he has no choice but to attack the way your favorite technique demands, or...
Hypnotize your attacker so that he does your bidding (but then, if you could do this one - you could just have him kick his own butt for you!)...
Either way, you're going to need a very high level of skill to insure that you can do your technique. But then, you'd also be betting your life that no one will attack you until you had attained that degree of skill!
I personally take the position that "options" - not favorite techniques - give you the advantage in any given situation. And, considering the variables and realities that I talked about earlier...
...believing that you'll be the one exception to this universal law, is gambling with your life.
But then, if this was how you normally thought and acted...
...you wouldn't be reading this, nor training yourself for effective self defense in the first place!
