by (c) 2002 Mike Delaney
Most people will do whatever they can to steer far clear of
situations that may take a violent turn. But sometimes,
for some people, violent behavior erupts uninvited and
unexpected.
Ten years spent mastering Tai Mai Shu kung fu may keep you
fit, flexible, and graceful. But ten minutes invested
reading these four tips may save your life.
They are simple ideas, but not common. Since most people
don't plan to be attacked, these ideas don't occur to them
until they are remembering the event and thinking, "If only
I had ... "
TIP #1 - USE YOUR HEAD
Second, the human skull is an awesomely powerful weapon.
Bashing your forehead into the goon's nose is tremendously
more effective than bashing your fist into it.
Similarly, ladies, if you are grabbed, bear-hug style from
behind, don't waste your time trying to step on his toes, or
elbow his ribs, or kick your heel up into his groin. Those
moves will do little besides anger your attacker.
Instead, start trying to bash his face with the back of your
head. All you have to do is connect once or twice with
your attacker's face or collarbone.
TIP #2 - ALWAYS HAVE A TOOL HANDY
If you remember this one absurdly simple rule about weapons
fighting, you will see the potential weapon in virtually
everything around you AND be able to effectively use it:
anything hard and fast goes to bone, and anything pointed
goes to soft tissue.
For example, a stick or can of vegetables would target bone:
the face, skull, hip, shin, elbow, kneecap. It would be
less effective to use these against, say, an attacker's
abdomen.
Conversely, a knife or pen is much more effective targeting
the throat, eyes, crotch, armpit, or belly than they are
targeting the kneecap.
Hard goes to bone, point goes to soft tissue -- remember
that rule, and you will never be without a weapon again.
TIP #3 - MOVE ALONG A TRIANGLE (a bit of theory)
One of the most dangerous mistakes the average person makes
during a fight is to move in straight lines, either forward
and backward, or side to side. This is also the mistake
that will cause the Tai Mai Shu black belt to get his or her
butt whooped in very short order on the street.
Imagine a vertical dividing line along your body, dividing
your body into left and right halves. The aggressor is
probably going to attack some point along or around that
line: your face, your throat, your heart, your groin.
Your goal is to move that line out of the path of the attack
AND change the distance of the target from attacker.
The attacker has mentally committed to striking to a
particular target. His brain has sent the signal to his
fist that the intended target is located at a particular
distance in a particular direction. When you change the
target's coordinates, it spoils the effectiveness of the
attack.
The attacker may be able to recover from a change in target
location or change in target distance alone, but changing
both factors is your best bet. Then, even if it does
connect, the strength of the attack will be greatly
diminished.
Moving in a straight line backward and forward changes the
distance, but does not move your centerline out of the
attack path. Moving laterally changes the location of the
centerline, but not the distance. Moving along an imaginary
triangle changes both.
Imagine standing with both feet on the point of a triangle
and facing the bad guy. The other two points of the
triangle can either be in front of you or behind you -- I
have a preference, but that's tip #4. Each of the other
triangle points are about one medium-large step away.
Step one foot onto either of the two available triangle
points. Note what has happened to the distance to and the
location of the attacker's original target? Bingo! Bring
your other foot up, and you are now at the starting point of
another triangle.
TIP #4 - ALWAYS ADVANCE WHEN YOU SHOULD RETREAT
Fight you own instinct and do not back up. Your instinct is
wrong.
For example, imagine you are throwing a flurry of jabs at
me. In your mind, you "know" exactly what I am going to do:
backpedal to escape your jabs.
In fact, you are counting upon me backpedaling into that
corner behind me, then you'll pound me into a liquid, right?
How surprised are you going to be when I step forward, along
my trusty triangle, and not backward? You'd be very
surprised because I'm not "supposed" to step into an attack,
rather away from it.
Since, in this scenario, I've stepped forward along the
triangle, while you are busy trying to figure out how to
handle this unexpected happening, I am now inside your
defenses, and face your unprotected ribs, armpit, neck,
head, abdomen, flank, and knee -- a virtual smorgasbord of
targets. Then it's back to tip #2: hard goes to bone, point
goes to soft.
All of these tips are simple common sense. But, most people
never think about them until someone points them out.
Additionally, most people will never use this advice because
they do not put themselves in situations which may become
violent.
As I see it, goal of self-defense training is to have the
ability to utterly destroy another person, but foresight to
never have to demonstrate it.
*** == *** == *** == *** == ***
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