GET TACTICALI
n my previous article, I
discussed the concept of
‘cheating’ in self-defence.
The notion was that in a
confrontation, your socialised
mindset can get you into
trouble because the other
person will not likely conform
to your expectations of how
people should — and generally
do — behave. Therefore, you set
yourself up for a beating when
they do something unexpected.
There is another concept
related to this that I call
‘Murphy’s Law of Self-Defence’:
it says that if you find yourself
in a physical confrontation,
chances are your opponent will
be bigger and/or stronger, there
will be more than one of them
and/or they will be armed and
you will not be. In simple terms,
it will not be a fair fight.
Not only that, but your
physical disadvantage will be
compounded by the fact that
your opponent, or circumstance,
decides the time and place of
the confrontation. Murphy’s Law
of military operations — whichapplies here equally — says that,
“The enemy will attack on two
occasions: (a) when they are
ready; and (b) when you’re not.”
So it is interesting, isn’t
it, that we usually train in a
manner that flies in the face
of this reality. We have our
students conform to rules to
keep order in the class, and, for
safety (of course), we arrange
our sparring or competitions
so as to match opponents of
similar size and ability, to give
the student a better chance
of success and a lower chance
of injury. In other words, we
train our students in a way
that is different from how they
will be required to perform on
the street.
Is there a way around
this contradiction? We need
to have those rules in place
in class, in order to make
training a manageable and safe
experience. Yet leaving it at
that exposes our students to
potentially unpleasant surprises
in the real world. It comes down
to a question of balance.The class experience for
those training in self-defence
must contain exercises and
drills where they are at a
disadvantage, but also with
instruction on how to deal with
that disadvantage. So, if it were
a ground fighting drill with the
subject in the bottom position,
for example, the concept of
creating space to set up an
escape extends beyond the
use of good leverage to shift
the opponent, to using such
leverage to shift yourself when
the opponent is too large
to move. Furthermore, such
actions should be preceded by
an attack to cause pain as a
distraction; the type of attack
that in sport fighting would be
considered illegal — cheating, if
you like.
To that, add ‘chaos drills’:
anything where the student will
be overwhelmed, within reason,
but they must keep functioning.
Examples would include being
on the bottom of a pile of
students holding them down
with kick shields, being in the
middle of a melee of students
with shields jostling and yelling
at them, or fighting from one
side of a group of students with
pads to the other side.
Then include mental
toughness drills where the
student must push past the
point where their brain is telling
them to stop. The wall-sit drill isa good way to begin here: have
the student assume a sitting
position sans chair, back against
a wall and thighs parallel with
the floor, and stay there for a
set period. Instruct the student
to be aware of their internal
dialogue, because how they talk
to themselves greatly influences
their ability to continue.
Put context around this
drill. Let them know that we
humans have two limits to
performance: the psychological
and the physical. We hit the
psychological limit first, with
our mind telling us to cease
this uncomfortable activity. The
physical limit is our capacity to
continue, which can be raised
with training. But regardless of
where that physical limit is at,
it is the aim of training to push
the psychological barrier up
closer to the physical, bringing
them ever closer.
We will not find ourselves in
a fair fight and we will have little
say in the time and the place.
Murphy’s Law of Self-Defence
is always in operation and,
ignoring that fact in training
will set us up for a comeback,
that reality is good at inflicting
damage. A good portion of
training must be devoted to
drills that teach the student
to use everything in them,
on them and around them to
advantage. Never train for a fair
fight. Always cheat.You’re probably a fair-minded person with a good handle on social expectations...
so are you prepared to throw it all out the window when survival demands it?Murphy’s Laws
of Self-Defence
Graham Kuerschner is a 51-year veteran of the martial arts
and an instructor in seven systems. He has competed at
state and national level in judo, kickboxing and eskrima,
and was formerly director of Krav Maga Australia and
New Zealand. He can be contacted through his website at
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