The
Ultimate Guide
To Fighting and Winning
By Dr. Russ Horine, President, Fight-Fast Direct, Inc.
Part 16
5.
Violence of action: As Fight-Fast instructor
Tom Cruse puts it: “You want to do something that demonstrates
to your opponent that you have a total disregard for
his well-being.”
The
object here is to trigger your opponent’s own “internal
dialogue” through a display of extreme violence. Remember
that the Bully, the Predator, and the Emotionally Highjacked all have a movie-like scenario playing in their
head that doesn’t include them being hurt. You need
to change the reel in that movie in his head as quickly
as possible so that the ending resembles more of a Nightmare
On Elm Street.
The
more you can “disrupt” this movie and snap the idea
into his head that he may have made a HUGE mistake –
that he may actually be hurt or killed by you – the
more likely you are to trigger his internal dialogue.
This leads to hesitation, doubt, distraction, and “back
peddling” – all good things for you to take advantage
of with continued forward pressure.
And
the more adept you are at choosing an appropriate “tool”
to strike an open target, the quicker you can convince
your opponent that he’s in trouble. So it’s important
that you choose targets and techniques that can deliver
high damage potential. You’ve got to let your adversary know that
you are willing and more
than able to hurt him – which means that learning
and understanding specific fight techniques is key.
Now, you’re in control of the fight.
Let’s
cover the two general classes of fight techniques, or
tools.
a.
Fine Motor Skills – These are typically
complex moves that require a high degree of training
to learn and continual training to maintain. Your typical
martial arts class will teach you these skills. By the
time you’re a black belt (which may take ten years)
you’ll know all sorts of fine motor skill techniques,
including flying round house kicks (originally designed
to knock a man off a horse), flying knees, spinning
back kicks, and a lot more.
Now
these “Hollywood” moves look
impressive, and they draw a lot of attention when they’re
used in a real fight. But once again, we are talking
about possibilities vs probability. Sure, it’s
possible to make a reverse
spinning high round-house kick work in a real street
fight… but it isn’t probable. My research has exposed
me to thousands of documented street fights, so I’m
not saying I have never seen these Hollywood
moves work successfully. I have – but they’re the exception.
It’s
understandable why many fighters want to use fancy moves.
It’s the same reason why basketball players want to
swish it through the hoop from half-court – it looks
cool. But fighters who actually put “looking cool” over
winning a street fight often meet a rather ugly end.
Don’t risk it – use the tools that consistently win.
Because
my research shows that – when it comes to real world
street fighting – using fine motor skill techniques
are for all practical purposes useless. It’s mainly
because (once again) traditional training is all about
technique with little or no concentration on finding
vulnerable targets. You’re left pondering about how
to use your fancy moves instead of looking for open
targets. Pondering is not a good idea in a street fight.
Another reason fine motor skills are often ineffective is
that when the “fight or flight” hits, higher thinking
processes begin to degrade and fine motor skills deteriorate.
It’s how the sympathetic
nervous system works. As heart rate goes up, fine motor
skills decrease, there’s simply nothing you can do about
it.
b.
Gross Motor Skills – These do not require
a lot of complex biomechanical skills. Nail down a few
simple kicks, head-butt, elbows, knee work, and ground
moves and you’ll be on your way.
Now
don’t get me wrong – these skills don’t come to you
in your sleep. You’ll have to actually learn them. But
they don’t require a “high level firing pattern” in
the brain to work. They’re based on natural movements
that don’t require years to learn and they’ll stick
with you in a clutch.
In
fact, most fights are won with these simple (but well
executed) skills – mainly because you’re simply tapping
into your body’s own natural movement patterns instead
of forcing some overly-complex process that will often
fall apart in a real fight.
Okay,
some of this may seem to run contrary to what you’ve
seen in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) “Sport Fighting”. After
all, you may have seen some pretty nifty stuff used
in these “cage fights” that actually worked. Well there
are four reasons for this:
1.
Ring and Rules
– The ring is an open area with plenty
of fighting room and there are plenty
of regulations on hand to protect the fighters. This
creates an environment far more suitable for fancy-dancy
moves that work.
2.
Training Time
– Prevailing in the ring requires a fighter to be well
trained and highly conditioned. MMA fighters are incredible
athletes who train for 4 to 10 hours a day – so they
are far more capable of complex moves. But winning a
street fight rarely depends on conditioning (as it only
lasts seconds), and is more about your ability to use
every nasty dirty trick at your disposal to end the
fight as quickly as possible.
3.
Risk vs. Reward
– Scoring a beautiful back-flip strike in the ring
can make you a name in the MMA world. Guys around the
globe will be watching that move over and over again
for years and crying out your name in awe. So ring fighters
are more willing to take the chance and shoot for glory.
After all missing that shot in the ring is no big deal.
Sure, it may give your opponent an advantage, but the
ref will stop anything before it gets too ugly. But
failure on the street is different. You can’t depend
on mercy from your adversary, or good citizens stopping
the fight, or the cops showing up in the nick of time.
So you’ve got to use high-probability moves that won’t
open you up to unacceptable risks.
4.
Adrenal Stress
Accommodation – This is probably the biggest reason
why complex fine motor techniques can be successful
in the ring. Typically MMA fighters (or boxers) prepare
themselves for days, weeks, and months
before a fight. And when the bell rings, many take the
first minutes to “acclimate” to the high stress levels
they’re experiencing. All this allows the fighter to
accommodate his own stress reaction and stay out of
“hyper vigilance” (which I talked about earlier) and
retain much of his cortex’s higher thinking. Of course
this is NOT how a street fight plays out. Instead of
months… you have mere seconds
to prepare and respond. There’s simply no time for
fine motor skills.
6.
Total Commitment: Fight-Fast instructor
Glen Boodry calls this “laying
on the hate”. It’s a similar concept to “continued pressure”,
but “total commitment” is a mindset or way of thinking
and “continual pressure” is a specific technique. And
it all starts with the internal question, “am I willing
to hurt this guy?”
First,
it’s important that you understand that street fighting
is a zero sum game. That means there’s no such thing as a “win-win” outcome.
You either win or you lose… period. And losing can mean
hospitalization, permanent injury or death.
Even
“friendly” fights that start with a couple buddies wrestling
for fun can quickly turn serious and become lethal.
I’ve seen the police reports.
The
smart fighters – even experienced match fighters --
avoid personal combat on the streets when possible as
they know that the “rules” are different. How? Well,
unlike the ring, there are NO rules. They understand
that even a “little guy” can use an improvised weapon,
or get in a lucky strike for an instant knock out.
You
should never resign yourself to taking a beating under
the assumption that you’ll take a couple shots then
lick your wounds and go home. My research has shown
that one of the most popular “gang-banger” moves is
“stomping” your head once you’re down. There’s no guarantee
you’ll live through something like that, and if you
do, that you won’t be drooling from a wheelchair for
the rest of your life.
Here
are some assumptions you’ve got to keep in mind for
any fight that’ll help you stay totally committed in
a confrontation:
a.
Zero Sum Game – There is NO potential
win-win. There are thousands of “let’s step outside”
kinda fights that end in
permanent injury or death every year.
b.
Defeat is not a temporary set back – and
it’s NOT an option. Because keeping the option open
that it may be “okay” if you get a good ass beating
means that you’re also okay with the possibility of
permanent injury or death – or that the people you’re
supposed to be protecting will be left to the mercy
of your adversary.
Never
get comfortable with the idea that if you simply let
this guy beat you up a little it’ll be better than really
pissing him off by fighting back. This is why getting the first question
right in your head is so important. “am I willing to hurt this person?” Not, “am I willing to fight this person?” you must be 100% committed to
victory.
c.
Your adversary has NO rules. Let me tell
you about an “underground” match fight I witnessed between
a baby-faced “tough guy” and a hardened tattooed ex-con.
I touched on this earlier
– but let me tell you the rest
of the story.
This videotaped fight was supposed to require
bamboo sticks and “Baby face” said, in private, he’d
use his stick to break his opponent’s fingers.
The ex-con (on the other hand) said, in private,
his goal was to “kill” the guy. That’s it… didn’t even
mention the sticks.
Guess what?
When the fight started and the ex-con simply
threw down the stick, leaped on his opponent, and tore
half his face off with his teeth. In those seconds of
terror, baby-face could only scream “he’s biting me…
he’s biting me… he’s not using the stick… he’s not using
the stick.”
Certainly an ugly… brutal… and shocking way to
make my point, but unfortunately it’s all true. A real
fight means NO rules. You cannot expect your adversary
to show mercy or fight “honorably”.
It’s like the fighter pilots in WWI. Both sides
used to use airplanes to spot enemy troop movements.
There was an unwritten code of honor where – as enemy
planes passed one another – they would salute the opposing
pilot. Nice guys, considering that they each held critical
information about how to slaughter thousands of opposing
troops on the ground. One day the Germans figured they
could stop the British flyers by simply flying over
them with a brick hanging from a rope. Brick
into the wooden prop and game over.
The British were appalled at such a cowardly
and dishonorable act. My goodness, how naïve. Don’t you dare make the same mistake
– you MUST assume that your opponent has no rules and
will do anything he can to hurt or kill you.
These principles aren’t designed to make you
a smug tough guy – they’re designed to allow you to
avoid or, if necessary, win a fight.
d.
Always leave immediately. Don’t stand
around “waiting to see what happens”… because winning
the fight is as good as it gets – it’s all downhill
from there. Get you and your family the hell out. Hanging
around means there’s a good possibility you’ll be caught
up in the next round of drama from friends or from citizens
who might perceive you as the “bad guy” or even from
the police. That doesn’t mean you’re necessarily running
from the law – it’s just that you want to talk to the
cops on YOUR terms – without the extra drama and confusion.
Bottom line – as Navy SEAL trainer Paul Vunak points out… “Get out while you can.”
Okay…
we’ve covered a LOT of ground, but there’s still more
to come. Look for the next part in your email soon where
we’ll cover how to actually prevail in a fight. I know
you’ll want this, so keep your eyes peeled.
Til next time…
Regards,
Dr. Russ Horine
Fight-Fast, Inc.
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