subject: Street Self Defense For The Serious Student - 3 Critical Strategies To Control Any Attack Situation [print this page] Are your serious about learning the skills necessary for defending and surviving a real-world, self defense situation - defending against an attack from a brutal assailant who will stop at nothing to beat, break, humiliate, or kill you? Are you?
Are you the kind of student-practitioner who has spent more time training this past week than watching martial arts movies and surfing the internet "researching?" Or, are you like 90% of those who "say" they are studying martial arts or self-defense - doing so from the comfort of your favorite chair and in front of a mind-numbing computer screen?
The reason that I asked is because, unlike most martial arts and self defense instructors who are trying to convert the masses, I really only want to focus my time on those people who...
1) Recognize that danger exists in the world "and can touch THEM!"
2) Accept responsibility for their own safety and the safety of the ones they love, and...
3) Take the necessary action to insure that they learn what they need to and practice to perfect their skills!
If this describes you, then here are 3 critical strategies that will help you to control any self defense situation. These are not step-by-step techniques, but strategies - principles and concepts - that will allow you to gain the necessary control of a situation against an assailant who is bigger and stronger than you.
Strategy #1 - Control the distance. Remember: he (or she) who controls the distance - controls the fight. But, you must understand that distancing is a relative thing and not subject to some teacher telling you to stand so many inches or feet away from the opponent.
Controlling the distance means controlling his ability to reach you. In my own programs, I teach my students 5 distances that they have at their disposal. Choosing the right distance relies on your being able to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the weapons or attacker logic being used by your assailant. It also requires an understand of your own techniques in order to either employ the ones designed for the range you're in, or to move to the range required by the technique you wish to use.
Strategy #2 - Control his perceptions. Before you can control the attacker's movement or body, you must first control his perceptions about...
1) what he has available to him
2) what you're doing, and...
3) whether or not his own techniques are working
The ideal here is to be able to gain control of the attacker long before he realizes that he has lost control.
Strategy #3 - Control your positioning. You must understand that the position that you are in relative to your attacker, either gives or takes away your vulnerable body targets. If you don't understand this, you may be exposing targets that your opponent can exploit without knowing it.
Controlling your positioning means to...
1) Only expose those targets that you hold out as bait and want him to attack - thereby controlling his options
2) Use effective cover and shielding - thereby forcing him to have to attack over or under at least one of your arms and making countering/blocking easier, and...
3) Staying at a distance where you feel comfortable and in-control - thereby forcing him to have to "come and get you" instead of trying to defend against anything he throws at you because you're fighting by his rules!
By learning to control the things that the attacker can't see but must rely on to make his decisions - how far he has to reach to get you; what he thinks you're doing to and against his moves; and what he has to do to hurt you...
...you make your job of defending as easy as possible while making your attacker's job more difficult than he ever bargained for when he chose you as a target!
