A Closer Look - Tips & Things to Remember

What can we do with energy?

Intercept

Deflect

Receive and Absorb

Provide

Let it be - not be present

The Decision

Participant

Nonparticipant

Seeking Center

Interceptions

Every Defense is an Offense

Deflections/ Interceptions/ Blocks

Examples:

  • Perry

  • Block

  • CatchPsychology of fighting

  • Swim

  • Puch up or down

  • Footwork

Stops: Defending and Striking

Stops: Why I call them stops.

“Stop” … Like a road worker or school crossing guard who wants traffic to halt. There is jutting hand. Palm and fingertips pointed up. The hand in the classic stop position. This position can be used to catch punches, elbows, jam punches or kicks if stop hand is placed on the shoulder or hip.

Psychology of fighting

Height, weight, reach, strength, experience, speed - fighters and in cases of self-defense, these are things that go through their minds. What do we do? You’ve learned so much and you know what your good at. Stick with what you perform well and what comes naturally. If you happen to engage in a conflict or a physical threat, you must think, “I’m going to win.” If you think otherwise, well, let’s just say it’s not good for the psyche.

Timing and Rythm

Just about everyone has a specific rhythm in fighting. Watch some boxing matches on an electronic device and clap your hands to the rhythm of the fighter. They differ as yours does to theirs. Once you understand their rhythm, you’ll know when to strike or defend. Do not fall victim of falling into their rhythm. Maintain yours and time your strikes based on theirs.

Finding an opponent’s rhythm creates frustration and takes away a fighter’s spirit. Draw your opponent into your rhythm - do not try and imitate theirs.

Don’t get hit last. If your opponent throws and lands a flurry of punches and you respond with the last strike of the exchange, it breaks their spirit. If you break someone’s spirt it breaks down their mind and body, then…they will make mistakes which means opportunity for you.

Switch Stances - I know some people will disagree, but I suggest that you're training entails switching from one lead to the other lead. For example: most people stand with the “jab” or left hand in front and their “cross” or right hand behind it. If you really commit to certain punches, you may find yourself in the opposite lead. Or if you are being attacked on the street and you don’t have the time to turn around, or if you have multiple opponents - switching leads is a time saver and perhaps a life saver.

Breathe - when sparring or fighting pay attention to your opponent’s breath. Short quick exhaling typically comes with jabs or punches that aren’t as powerful as the rest. So conversely, longer sharp and longer exhales mean something bigger is coming your way.

Watch the elbow - There is debate about this too but I’m sticking with the elbow. In order for a hand to move forward, the elbow must too. There are plenty of ways to fake out an opponent but one thing for sure is that the hand goes where the elbow takes it.

Now you may be saying “do I listen to the breath or watch the elbow?” Answer, both. Listen to the breath first. I don’t know of any fighter yet that holds his or her breath and when it comes to breathing, I haven’t been to a school yet, thankfully, that hasn’t emphasized the breath. I’m showing my age here, but in the original movie “The Karate Kid” the teacher said to his student “Breathing. Very important.” Is that it? No. But the important thing is to put these tools into practice. Fighters may have a code to crack but the best tool is experience. Put these things to the test and not with just one sparring buddy. Have many. Everyone has a different style, way or je ne sais quoi.

Move your head - If you don’t move your head, you’re going to get hit. If you move your head, you have a chance not to be hit. Slipping and rolling are an important part of your arsenal. Covering too. Covering takes away some of the shock of a blow. Make sure when you cover that you keep your hands firmly pressed against your face. If your hands are not place as such, you will end up punching yourself. Your opponents’ gloves or fists will connect with yours, then your hands will travel back to your face and collide with it, so, minimize the space between your hands and face while protecting yourself.

The Protractor Approach (circling centerline) - we have a safety zone (where you can’t get hit) and a danger zone (where we can get hit). We measure this zone from point A to point B. Point A is your weapon and point B is your target. If we circle with our weapon (A) as a protractor circles its centerline (B), we understand that we are in a range, and can touch our target. This is similar to the tringle theory. Similar concept, different shape.

Touching your opponent with your hand lets us know that we are in range for both punching or kicking. Touching with the foot lets us know that we need to close the distance between us and our opponent if we want to strike with our hands. If we can touch with our hands, we need be even closer if we are going to strike with a knee or elbow.