Pressures and Combative Situations

[fighting-american]

Here are some of the pressures you may experience in a combative situation and in turn the physical/mental behaviors you can train to counter those pressures.
1.) When someone comes in hard at us with an attack whether it is a ambush tactic or a bar fight, that is an imminent pressure. We must learn to defeat this pressure by immediately seizing the initiative from our opponent. If we allow our attacker to get us ìback against the proverbial wallî we will probably never recover. A good way to prepare for ambush tactics is to have your training partner work in some surprise attacks. Example, after you have done so many reps, have him pause, talk to you, and then launch a surprise attack. Surprise attacks work, because talking puts you at ease and you are not as guarded as when you are working reps. What if you havenít been attacked, but the attack is imminent (meaning your attacker is posturing and poised to attack i.e. the bar fight)? This is a another form of imminent pressure. If you can leave and get somewhere safe, then do so that is always the best option. If you can summon help then do so. If you are alone and against the wall or cornered then take the fight to your attacker. A guy I know allowed some kid to get in his face and the kid sucker punched him (eight stitches to the lower lip). If the fight is going down, you are better off taking the lead rather then taking a punch. The ìhit me first mentalityî will get you hurt or worse.
2.) If you worry about being hit, then you will suffer from a concussive pressure. Some very experienced Martial Artists have written articles about ìcrumbling under concussive pressureî or ìcrawling into oneís shellî and the only way to deal with the fear of being hit is to spar (fight class) and get hit (a lot). Another helpful counter to concussive pressure is to take the fight to your attacker. That is to say ìhit your enemy firstî (again this applies when you know the fight is going down), regardless of his actions (posturing, spitting, etc.) once you feel your’re in danger, you have a right to defend yourself. The proper mindset to be in for this is, ìyou may hit me, but I am definitely going to hit youî. Remember, rarely can you control what your opponent will do in an engagement. But you have total control over what you will do.
3.) Fatigue is a pressure we all must deal with. To counter fatigue you must be able to rest, but only after the threat is dealt with can you rest. We need to train our mental toughness to fight through our discomfort and fatigue for as long as it takes to address the threat, knowing that when it is over we will be able to rest. A good well balanced physical conditioning program will help to ease the stresses of fatigue. Exhaustion drills are also a great resource for learning to deal with and mentally prepare for fatigue.
4.) A formidable pressure to fall under is indecision. This one can shut you down, freezing you in place. The counter to this is simply action. Do something, do anything. So you screw up your technique, just keep going, you do the wrong technique, just keep going, never stop and stay in the fight until the fight is over.
5.) The last pressure is being or feeling alone. How to counter the pressure of being alone is not as difficult as you might think. Take a piece of paper out and write down the five most important people to you (son, daughter, mother, sister, wife, girlfriend, father, husband, boyfriend, etc.). Now fold the paper up and put it in your wallet, purse, etc. From time to time pull the paper out and read it to yourself. Imagine what would happen to those people if you were no longer around. Are you starting to get the idea? When you are in a fight, you are not alone, your family, friends, training partners, and instructors, are all there if not physically, then mentally. You donít just want to survive, you need to survive, there are people counting on you.
-FA \”These Belts Aren’t Issued They’re Earned.\”

[cjs-dad]

FA did you write that?

Some interesting comments, and certainly some points that are food for thought.

Reminded me of an article I read once called something like ìmy spider sense is tinglingî basically about mental awareness in your surroundings.

I also agree people can become complacent when doing dills and almost go into auto pilot trance of muscle memory but if the drill suddenly changed are faced with having to ìresetî to deal with the new threat.

For example I was working with a lvl 4 in class the other night who I often partner with, the instructor said OK lets review some of our basics lets do 360ís my partner said OK, since its us lets visualize knife 360 block/counters. And for some reason it confused him until he reset in his mind it was a knife he was blocking.

So when we went to the next portion of the class techniques as we were reviewing them after the first part of the technique the attacker would make a motion to his pocket and say the word ìdeployî and simulate slash etc. and you would need to defend a 2nd now armed attack.

Now understand this was not a part of the curriculum being taught but simply something we came up with that we were working on over in our little corner of the mat but it speaks to the above post I feel in that mental readiness is such a key and as was shared above complacency can get you hurt.

We were doing gun techniques the other night and I saw Darren walk up behind someone who had just done a take away and yell from behind him ìBANG your deadî because the person never checked left/right let alone his six.

Thanks for the post FA

[giant-killer]

Yes, great post. Many good points. I like the idea of mixing things up and also to incorporate surprise attacks. That’s why I like the idea of going down to the garage sometimes where people could hide and then attack, or bringing KM into different environments (such as the park, the beach, a small side street). Also to talk more about self-defense scenarios or how to adapt a specific technique if you are sitting up, lying down or when there is an obstacle in the way.

Maybe one could have the KM instructor and assistants randomly attack students sometimes, while they are concentrated on another type of drill. Just to confuse them and help them to learn to adapt to an unexpected situation. Or have the attacker react in different ways when the defender does the technique (sometimes he struggles, sometimes he doesn’t – or he may pull another weapon). Or a second student suddenly comes in with another attack when the defender doesn’t expect it. All good ways to try and minimize the danger of freezing up when under attack in real life.

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Giantkiller

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