The
Ultimate Guide
To Fighting and Winning
By Dr. Russ Horine, President, Fight-Fast Direct, Inc.
Part 22
“Let’s Roll!”
-- Todd Beamer Sept. 11 2001, Passenger of United Flight 93
Dear Friend:
Congratulations…
you’ve made it all the way to section SIX of my Fight
Guide. If you’ve read the first five sections… excellent…
you already have a damn good idea how to fight and win.
If you haven’t read the first five sections, then you’re
in the wrong place – you need to get the first five
sections HERE.)
Okay…
you may feel you’ve got this nailed down… but hold on! You don’t know it all
yet. I’ve got plenty
more critical tips and tricks for you – so let’s stop
wasting time, roll up our sleeves and get started.
“Never do an enemy a small injury.”
– Machiavelli
Altercation
vs. Personal Combat
Now, I haven’t really
discussed this, but it’s time. The difference between Personal Combat (a truly life-threatening
fight) and a simple altercation.
An Altercation
is where you’re life is not necessarily in danger
– but you are still in a physical confrontation. It’s
more of a situation where you need to control and restrain.
An example might be your drunken brother-in-law who
needs to “escorted” out of the house because he’s table-dancing
with a lampshade on his head… or the neighbor who’s
upset because your dog “unloaded” in his yard… or any
situation where shattering your opponent’s nose with
a vicious head-butt would be considered “over the top.”
And that’s the problem.
Spending precious
time pondering whether or not you’re in an altercation
or a real-to-goodness fight leaves you wide open. It’s
all squishy “gray area” – and we don’t want gray area.
Why? Because (as I keep pounding home again and again)…
winning a fight absolutely depends on instant decisions.
Go or no-go.
Fight or flight. Yes or no.
Wishy-washy indecision
is your enemy. Black and white decisions are where it’s
at.
But thankfully there’s
an answer for this altercation problem – and it allows
you to act decisively without fear of killing your obnoxious
buddy. I’ve documented (and have produced a number of
detailed DVD packages) that cover very specific fighting
styles and techniques designed to “control and restrain”.
In fact it’s what cops, bouncers and security officers
often use to subdue or detain an individual with the
least amount of damage.
This is good stuff.
There’s few things in life
more powerful than taking charge of a volatile situation
without hurting and maiming people. Think about it –
cops, bouncers, correctional officers and the like cannot
simply “take out” their adversary with the kind of vicious
disregard that we’ve been talking about throughout this
book. Nope… no head butts,
no brutal kicks to the knee, no bone-shattering hammer
blows. Sorry… no can do. They’re legally obligated to control the subject with the least amount of
damage.
But before you get
too happy about contain-and-control tactics – I want
to point out a downside. This type of fighting takes
more training, is more difficult to implement, and puts
you at greater risk for injury. Why? Because it’s a
heck of a lot easier to simply glance over your opponent’s
open targets then attack them viciously with complete
disregard for his safety.
Now, a good way
to tell if you’re in an altercation or an actual “personal
combat” situation is to look to your gut (no, don’t
look down at your stomach). Your
intuition. If you’re experiencing a huge adrenal
dump and all the signals of “fight and flight,” you
need to trust that and know you’re in a situation that
requires total commitment on a level that ultimately
could prove lethal.
Irritation and a
slightly elevated heart rate on the other hand is
telling you you’re in an altercation. Only YOU will
know. The trick here is to listen to what your body
is telling you.
Like I said, I’ve
personally developed a number of excellent “cop-training”
products designed specifically around the idea of contain,
control, and comply. Correctional officer Tony Walker
(who works in one of this country’s most violent detention
facilities) has an astonishing collection of specific
control and pain compliance techniques that are perfect
for altercations. It’s called “Quiet Man’s Fighting System”
We’ve also produced
a DVD package with police officer Mike Gillette
(who created quite a name for himself busting up huge
meth labs) demonstrating
dozens of highly effective control and comply techniques.
And of course Mike Serr
(the well-known bar bouncer) developed and his famous
“Finger Magic” -- designed to quickly and quietly escort
an unruly drunk out of an establishment without a big
scene.
Here’s another way
to look at it. If your answer to the question “Am
I Willing To Hurt This Person?” is “No,” then you’re
in an “altercation” situation that probably will require
“control” tactics. It’s why you must have your decision
points well developed before you actually find yourself
this type of situation.
And speaking of
which, let’s move onto more questions that will help
you develop your decision points and internal triggers.
Til next time…
Dr. Russ Horine
Prez, Fight-Fast.com
“Whoever said the pen was mightier than the sword
obviously never encountered automatic weapons.”
– General Douglas
MacArthur
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