ARE YOU PREPARED?

 By Phillip Starr

For those who believe that the way they’re practicing gong-fu, karate, or taekwondo is providing them with real-life self-defense skills, I have a surprise.

You may be, and likely are, very wrong.

Actual self-defense may well be very different from what you imagine, and hence, train for. The first major consideration is DISTANCE. Almost all real self-defense situations occur at very close range; there’s no time (or adequate distance) to set up in a nice-looking fighting stance. Stand facing your training partner and stretch out your arm so that you can touch him. THAT distance (and often closer than that) is the distance where real self-defense happens. The attack comes out of nowhere…it’s very often preceded by a push or a grab, and then BANG! You’re hit. No time to back away or perform any fancy movements. So if you favor using really nifty-looking kicks, you’re in a very bad place. My friend, Master Seiyu Oyata (10^th dan Okinwan karate, dec.), demonstrated…walking up to his partner and stopping about 4 ft. away, he smiled and said, “This (distance) for sport, for fun”… Then walking up quite close to his partner, he said, “This self-defense!”

So your self-defense techniques should be practiced at this distance…from a natural standing position. You will quickly discover that freestyle sparring is NOT essential for developing genuine self-defense skills. It helps develop some things that are useful in self-defense such as timing, rhythm, and so on – but overall, it is of little use in real combat. Remember that our current version of sparring evolved from the culture of Japan, where many people once carried and fought with swords. There’s a considerable difference in “fighting distance” when you and your enemy are armed with 3 foot razor blades…

And when the attack comes, it comes in multiples. Nobody is going to throw a single punch and then stand there, looking into your beautiful eyes. The same is true of grabs. Punches are thrown in flurries (unless you break in and stop them). The head and face are the preferred targets.

There’s no need to try to land a decisive blow right away. You need to stop the attack long enough to give you the opportunity to do that. A solid slap to the tip of the nose (keeping the fingers loose so they can flop down towards the eyes) works very well. Not only is it very painful, but it causes the sinuses to go all off-kilter; the enemy’s eyes tear up instantly and he can’t see clearly…there’s pain and blood and confusion. And lots of time for you to deliver a deliberate, powerful strike…and it better be strong! And remember there are no rounds, no rules at all, no referees, and NO ONE is coming to help you.

Now, I’m not saying that things like 1-step, 3-step, and freestyle sparring are worthless. Far from it! But bear in mind that these are training EXERCISES. They foster the development of things you’ll need for real self-defense; a fine sense of distance, timing, rhythm, how to apply various techniques, and so on.

To become skilled at real self-defense, you have to train for it! And the single biggest consideration that practitioners forget about is DISTANCE. Nobody is going to stand 4-6 feet away from and move in to attack; real attacks begin at arm’s length OR LESS. Now train for it!