“The best fighter is never angry.”
-Lao Tzu
-Lao Tzu
"Sword and mind must be united. Technique by itself is insufficient, and spirit
alone is not enough." -Yamada Jirokichi
"Courage first; power second; technique third."
-Unknown
This is a post inspired by one of my favorite blogs; http://filipinofightingsecretslive.com/2012/03/20/ten-rules-of-fighting/
I find I agree with everything written above in the article, and it led me to ask myself what are my rules of fighting?
So here are my top 10;
1- Focus on the core, not the limbs- A lot of people when fighting will focus on the hands as they approach, as the feet and legs come at them. Doing this distracts one from the other limbs which pose a danger. By focusing on the throat to nose one can see the opponents entire body and anything they are attacking with. I open my pupils, called eagle vision, and this allows one to not focus on anything in particular at all. This means your peripheral vision sees as much as your central, and this is excellent especially when fighting multiple people. It is the only way I have found I can keep track of multiple sets of limbs, and is also very useful even when fighting one person.
2- Burst- A common tactic in Krav Maga, it is where one attacks the opponent with their full body weight at an extreme speed. One blocks and attacks at the same time as the opponent approaches or moves within range. A kind of this technique is the flurry used in boxing; one of my favorite techniques in a fight. Both of these often overwhelm your opponent due to the combination of force and speed. It is not jumping, but moving forward.
3- Avoid Repeating- I have found that the more often one repeats a move the more often an opponent is able to deal with it. We all have favorite techniques, or prize-winners you could say, but in all honesty they are only effective against the same person only twice at a max. After that your opponent will in all likelihood have become prepared against it. Because of this I do not attempt to repeat a move more than three times in a fight, and the third time I use it, it is used usually as a distraction.
That is key- repeating a technique in the same way for the same purpose is what informs your opponent. But if you re-utilize it; say your front punch lands a mark twice consecutively, chances are they will have become prepped for it. By using the punch to distract for a kick or different following technique this is essentially like resetting the fight and having used an entirely different technique. At least in my experience, that reaction is often how it goes.
4- Strike High, Strike Low- I have a bad habit of being a head-hunter. When I do this it means my opponent will switch their focus to guarding their head. If that happens, the least intelligent thing I can do is then to keep going after their head. So instead I advise that if you throw a strike to the head, or even two, the next attack should be aimed lower. The lower the better. Often in a rotating non-specific pattern I will go head- legs- head- body- legs- head- etc... and keep the pattern changing so they cannot begin to predict what will happen.
5- Step Across- In the picture below when facing another, the blue arrow is usually how fighters approach each other when making contact and afterward. After the blow often many will step back. Instead, one should take the red arrows represent and step across their centerline, which is what the blue line primarily illustrates.
6- Circle Like A Wolf- I have found that circle walking around an opponent has two benefits; it relocates you to a position that may expose a vulnerability in your opponent, such as having moved to their offside. It will also unnerve the hell out of them. They will feel stalked like prey, because that is essentially what you are doing. By constantly having to move to keep you from reaching their vulnerable positions they will feel unstable. Often letting an opponent stay where they are in the position they are in gives them not only confidence in an able defense, but also allows them to better root. By keeping them moving from one spot to essentially sit in and fortify you keep them from rooting effectively.
7- Strike Like A Lion- A long time ago I used to kick a target hard, and one student we called Suki began yelling at me, "Kick the target like you're going to kill the person!" and this opened my eyes to a simple truth; as hard as we may kick in training, if we hold back, then we will also in fighting. If you are in a conflict that involves your safety you had better hit them so hard that one punch should be enough.
As his and my favorite teacher used to say, 'if you punch them and they can still get up you aren't doing enough push-ups.' Which was essentially saying we didn't hit nearly as hard as we should be.
Keep in mind if you do this in sparring or practice it will not only escalate the bout, but it will also probably keep you from keeping training partners.
8- Be The Wind- This is quite similar to the principle of bursting in a fight. One must move as quickly as the fastest wind, but wind can also be like water in a sense; flowing around any obstacle. You must do the same so you can get behind them, or to get around any kind of onslaught they are bringing towards you.
9- Don't Be There- This is a fairly simple premise; you cannot be hit if you aren't where they are aiming. Now that sounds simple, but it's actually quite complicated. It's more than evading; for one it is reading your opponent's intention and actions, and then responding as they throw what they will, moving from that location. In a way it's like setting up, but timing is essential. Your opponent will throw a strike for where they see you at; as they throw the strike you must move from that location, and be absent from that space as it reaches that mark.
10- Body Language Is Key- Reading body language is probably the most important part of a fight outside of actually hitting the other. One can read literally everything the opponent will do once versed in this. You don't have to take classes, and it is both simpler and more complicated than it appears. Yes, oft with beginners you can tell where they are trying to hit you based on where they are looking, but what about against someone like me whose eyes may not move at all while fighting?
Then you must focus on when the other will breathe, such as if when they draw breath in they will strike, or if they will exhale and strike. It differs from each individual though there are some commonalities. Some people learn how to take maximum oxygen intake from very, very small breaths. What then?
Learn how to read facial expressions; these can be quite telling. Learn how to observe if your opponent's body muscles are tensing, that can often be a key to telling how they will move.
Is their body pulled back as they strike? That may mean they are using the attack as a distraction for a more deadly. An attack that will hit is usually committed to, meaning full body weight is behind the blow, especially if they are trained. This is not always the case; body language is always situational and ultimately will differ from person to person.
A good drill I use is you stand across from another (preferably a training partner you do not work often with) and when they are about to make a move to shadow strike you (use a strike but not make contact) you raise a finger to let them know they are about to. This takes time, but when able to do it reliably, and then be able to tell them exactly what attack you believe they were going to do, and be correct, you will be better prepared to read opponents you have never met than you were before.
Plus, this drill keeps you meeting new people as training partners to keep you fresh and not relying on memory. It will also teach you how to limit the tells your own body will give when you are the one doing the striking.
And a bonus;
11- Body positioning- Certain stances carry a certain amount of danger. Traditional fighting stances, no matter how accessible the arms are, are raised to about chest level, and often lead the midsection vulnerable. A place where the majority of our organs are located. By turning the body one reduces this vulnerability considerably, effectively only leaving a kidney exposed. I prefer a Liondog Baguazhang stance where one crosses an arm across the body while the other is located near the face. This maximizes covering the body.
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."
-Aristotle
"Everyone has a plan until they are hit."
-Joe Lewish
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