Play By Your Rules, Not Theirs... An Instant Advantage in Fighting!
"If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril....If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles."
--Sun Tzu
Our topic of study today is fighting. On your own terms, that is, and not theirs!
You might be thinking what I first thought about the title of this article: "Play by your rules, not theirs...An INSTANT Advantage in fighting." This may be your thought: "well, wait a second, I thought you taught that there are no overnight results and nothing is 'instant.'"
This is true. Nothing is instant. Except this. Knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are gives you an instant advantage. If you don't know what your strengths are, or have never taken the time to think about what they might be, then the learning of them will provide you with an instant advantage. You will be a little more (not a lot more) prepared for combat. So, it's not a HUGE advantage, but it's a start, and that's what this article is all about.
Please never forget that there are exceptions to every rule in every book. For you skeptics out there, here are a couple exceptions:
#1 You figure out what your strengths are and it becomes detrimental somehow because of some psychological delusion or exaggeration and you get hot-headed in a combat situation and die.
#2 You figure out what your strengths are and it changes your entire life and you become a powerful weapon on the street, whether conscious of it or not.
Okay, these are EXCEPTIONS, and rare ones at that. I wouldn't count on either of them to happen to you. Since many people will read this, I kinda sorta have to keep things on a "general" level, not working with specifics in terms of your own personal uniqueness.
In this study, we will have taught you how to create your own terms and rules that cater to your unique attributes and skills. Employ your weaknesses in a street fight, and you will LOSE! Employ your strengths, and you have a better chance.
Before getting into it, here is some general information:
There are two ways of learning: the easy way and the hard way. The easy way is through other’s mistakes. The hard way is from your own. Both ways are inevitable in life. However, sometimes you can choose from which experiences you learn. Luckily, in the world of martial arts, there is enough history from collective wars to individual experiences sufficient to teach us a wide variety of proven principles.
A lot of it is common sense, but as wise men say: “common sense is not at all common.” As far as combat psychology goes, once I’ve explained some core concepts you will probably feel as though I am teaching nothing new. You will be right. There really is nothing state-of-the-art about martial arts, except that times are changing and that a new variety of weapons are introduced and different attitudes and lifestyles are inherent. Therefore, everything I will teach you in terms of combat psychology should be either easy to learn or refreshing. As far as the mechanics are concerned, including fighting technique, perhaps you will need to learn, practice, master, and apply.
There are only two ways of handling a confrontation: fight or flight. Move in or move out. We even have an article dedicated to this important concept.1 Also, during a confrontation when the idea of “fighting” hits the brain, it is difficult to process a lot of information. All of the formal skills you may have learned from your old MA school will not be a practical option, as they are called “fine motor skills.” Taking formal training into the street on a practical level can only be done through a conversion process, adapting your fine motor skills into “gross motor skills.” Many martial techniques are fine motor skills (FMS), however they are (often) easily converted into their counterpart gross motor skills (GMS), as they are designed for that purpose. Remember that the better you are at FMS the better will be your GMS. But you have to understand that they are very different! One is clean, pretty, and structured. The other is gross, sloppy, and fluid. Martial art instructors may teach variations of this concept, but this is a simple way of explaining it in a nutshell.
Most people already have GMS. You do! It’s natural. Everybody can fight. Some can naturally fight better than others. Someone with FMS isn’t necessarily more competent on the street than your average GMS Joe. It is only through the conversion of FMS to GMS that a formally trained martial artist can apply his/her techniques on the street. If a martial artist cannot do that, his/her skills are nothing more than fancy dancing.
I’m not saying it’s impossible to accomplish fine motor skills on the street. I’m sure there are exceptions. For example, let’s say a soldier who has fought and killed dozens of people has developed the ability through experience, not training but experience, to utilize FMS in a combat situation. But for most of us, full time jobs occupy our time and we can’t spend our nights picking fights and street brawling, even if it were safe (or legal).
Ask yourself: how many times have you been in a fight? Any street fight, really. Boxing, Wrestling, and TKD point sparring do not count. A sanctioned MMA fight DOES NOT count. I’m asking about a street fight wherein “anything goes.” Scratching, biting, hair pulling, groin strikes, throat strikes, weapons, and multiple attackers are all variables in this personal question.
If your answer is less than five but more than one then you have an idea of what GMS are, but you still may not have enough experience to possess the kind of self-confidence needed to assure your safety on the street. You see, many civilized people have never even been in a fight. If they have, it was perhaps a playground fight in grade school. It counts, but can be a misguided representation of the cruel reality that much higher degrees of violence can occur. If you are able to read this article I’m guessing you are among the civilized people in this world. (Keep in mind that there are uncivilized societies in different countries that thrive off of mortal violence. Certain countries in Africa wherein children carry automatic weapons and use them are examples.)
So what’s the difference between training and experience? Training can be either informal or formal, but is an imitation of the real thing. Experience is the real thing. Remember when I talked about how there are really only two ways of learning, from your own experiences and those from others’? Well, you can learn from those who have experience as well as training. What do they have to say about combat? What do they teach? In previous articles I've given you resources that answer these questions.
We don't want to dig too deep into these concepts that could quite easily be expanded into several books, seminars, and classes. We want to learn what our strengths and weaknesses are so that we can gain that "instant advantage." Now that we've discussed the necessary background, we can get into the main subject matter.
I call this the D.U.E.L concept:
D=Decide what kind of weapon you are.
U=Use your resources to create your own terms in a fighting situation and to construct some type of training program that keeps your mind and body challenged.
E=Evaluate yourself by constantly tweaking, adjusting, and adapting your learned skills.
L=Learn your opponent. This is crucial. We'll get into this in just a second.
You are a unique individual; therefore you have different abilities and limits. Once you understand your martial potential you will have that instant advantage over the next person because many people are unaware of their strengths and weaknesses. The very knowledge of your weaknesses can be a strength and an advantage, as we've previously discussed. It's so advantageous because you'll have the ability to pinpoint your position and coordinates on your martial map.
Here are some basic categories:
Knife: You weigh 90-140 lbs. You are very fast and have a lot of potential for endurance. You are a long distance runner. You have quick reflexes. Speed is your weapon. Strength is your weakness.
Low Caliber Handgun: You weigh 140-160 lbs. A low caliber handgun is fast and effective. You have more speed than power, but you still have enough power to at least stun. If you aim dexterously at the right spots, you can be deadly.
High Caliber Handgun: You weigh 160-200 lbs. You are at average height or shorter. You have a good balance between speed and power. Your strength is your center of gravity and your equilibrium of speed and power. Your weakness is that you have neither extreme, being the jack of the two trades of speed and power. Your strength is that you have the balance between the two and are well-rounded. (Almost contradictory ;-)
Rifle: You weigh 165-225 lbs. You are tall. Your advantage is reach. Long arms and long legs can go a long way. You are either fast or slow. If you are fast you may be compromising strength. If you are slow you may be compromising speed. If you are too tall you may have a weak center of gravity. At any rate, your reach is your claim to fame.
Sawed-Off Shotgun: You weigh 200+ lbs and are either at average height or shorter. Your strength is power. Your weakness is speed.
If you fall under any of these categories, find your strengths and work on them very hard. Work on your weaknesses as well, but if you're not in for the long-run and just want to learn self-defense and how to protect yourself, then just focus on your strengths. Make sure you understand what kind of weapon you are. It cannot be stressed enough that the awareness of this is a clear advantage.
It is important to note that there are exceptions to these rules. I’ve known martial artists that contain three weapons all at once. I’ve known bigger guys who are exceptionally fast. I’ve known smaller guys who are exceptionally strong. If you are one of these exceptions, you are very gifted and should develop your talents to their maximum potential.
Furthermore, you are most likely NOT going to be 100% knife, gun, rifle, or whatever. You'll have a mix of something and might be between one or the other. These are mere categories that do not apply to your uniqueness. It's a one-size-fits-most model. Just pick the category into which you fit the closest. Keep in mind, just because you fit the height/weight description does NOT mean you have already developed its potential. It means that that IS your potential.
Now, if you have figured out what weapon your body is closest to, we can get into the final concept: fight on your own terms, not theirs.
If you are a "knife," don't try to muscle and out-punch a "sawed-off shotgun." A knife works best the closer you are to the opponent. Get in closer! If you are a "knife," don't try and fight a "rifle" from a distance! Again, get in closer! Reversely, if you are a "high-caliber gun" or a "sawed-off shotgun," DON'T expect to out-run, or be quicker than, a "knife," and don't get in closer! Keep your distance, cater to your strengths. You won't be able to draw and shoot a gun from 5 inches from your opponent as easily as it will be for him, the "knife," to slice you and cut you to pieces from that distance.
If you have Learned your opponent, sized him up, and have figured out what he can do...stay away from it and DON'T PLAY HIS GAME. He wants you to play his game. Don't allow it. Do ONLY what you do best, and your chances of survival go up.
I'll put it in a different way. If you are a wrestler and you must fight a boxer, DON'T TRY AND BOX HIM. You won't win. Oh, and vice versa, if you're a boxer, DON'T try and out-wrestle a wrestler. This is very simple. And yet, you still have your hormone-raging young male, set out to prove to the world he ain't no wuss, trying to step out of his element and defeat a goliath.
The Biblical story of David and Goliath is a great example of catering to your strengths. Even if the story wasn't true, or if you personally don't believe it, the martial concept is true, so bear with me.
The Philistine army desired to wage bloody war against Israel a long time ago. The King of Israel, Saul, as well as everybody in Israel, was gravely terrified of the famous, nine-foot tall Philistine giant named Goliath. When the two armies were squared off from a distance, Goliath verbally mocked and challenged anybody who dared fight him to do so. He did this for 40 days before David stepped up to the plate. David was a small teenager wearing a tunic. Goliath was a HUGE, seasoned warrior wearing full armor. David had a slingshot and a pouch of stones. Goliath had a spear, sword, and javelin.
David was smart. He didn't run up to Goliath with a sword, spear, or javelin. He did what he did best...the slingshot. Putting all spiritual and religious perspectives aside, David probably figured out he couldn't beat Goliath if he played by Goliath's rules and on his terms. No. He knew that his only chance of defeating Goliath was aiming at, firing, and hitting a small hole in Goliath's elaborate armor. That hole was on Goliath's forehead, conveniently. But you'd have to be a pretty good shot to get a stone there, especially at a moving target in a heated combat situation.
David, an expert at the slingshot, took out one stone and placed it in the sling as Goliath started moving in for the kill. David slung one stone and BULL'S EYE!!!!! Goliath got stunned and fell to the ground. David ran up to him, grabbed Goliath's sword and cut off his head. David won, as we all know.
Whereas Goliath would have killed and destroyed David if they wrestled, boxed, fenced, threw javelins and spears, etc.; David got around that and played his own rules. That's how he won.
"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat...Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy."
--Sun Tzu
Have a great week!
Patrick Asay
1. http://appliedmartialartstraining.com/content/featured-article-fight-or-flight-self-defense-vs-martial-arts-and-hard-lessons-human-male