School safety, security, and violence prevention resource

EVER see a professional fighter – be he MMA or boxer – win a fight by back peddling?  Or a tennis player back pedal to retrieve a deep lob?  Me neither. 

IF you are thinking, wait a sec, you nimrod, I’ve seen both of these plenty of times, let me ask again:  Have you ever seen a real good pro netter or boxer win while trying to run backwards – and I mean straight the hell back – right foot followed by the left foot?

 

I forcefully submit, if you have seen this, more likely than not, you saw this from a weekend hacker playing against another weekend hacker who neither knew nor cared how to take advantage of his or her opponent.

 

MY POINT is this:  In the mercurial and violent world of  self defense, every millisecond counts, and, fact is, when you attempt to move straight back to evade an onrushing attacker, you will always be slower than the Bad Guy.  I have put hundreds of officers and civilians through this in my trainings and every single time the person pursuing the teacher moving straight back caught up with his or her victim.

 

NOT only that, when the Bad Guy catches the victim, he or she is always off balance and in no position to counterattack.  And in many cases the back-peddling teacher trips before his/her pursuer catches up with him or her. 

 

SO, going back to my original question, how does the skilled athlete move when trying to evade a punch or retrieve a lob?  My guess is he or she will move in such a way that it appears he/she is gliding sideways.  Looks like a step-slide movement with the body canted diagonally.  In this way the athlete maintain the crucial element of balance while keeping his or her eyes on the target. 

 

WHEN training or practicing (or, when thinking about or planning your strategy) for a self defense encounter, movement should always be one of your top five considerations.  So, I encourage you to adopt the strategy of athletic movement.  Always move diagonally when evading any kind of rush or tackle attempt.  By moving diagonally in a slide-step fashion you accomplish three outstanding feats in one:

 

1. You will move faster than you would if you moved linearly.
2. You will make the Bad Guy move slower because your diagonal movement will fragment his thought process (Bad Guys think, for the most part, linearly, at least in their attack strategy) and make him change direction.
3. By speeding you up and slowing the Bad Guy down, diagonal movement, in effect, adds movement-to-movement, increasing your ability to gain distance from him.

 

DIAGONAL MOVEMENT is Dog Crap Simple, folks.  Anybody can do it.  The Bad Guy can do it and so can you.  The thing is, though, only you are in control of how and how fast you move to evade the attack.  YOU are, therefore, in charge.  The Bad Guy can and will only be able to attack (charge) straight ahead – he can get to you fastest by running straight at you – The shortest distance is always a straight line – so we know that much – we know how he will charge; so, damn it, Dudes and Dudettes, turn your body slightly and move on a slant, keep your hands up, and, being in charge, beat the living crap out of him as he stumbles by, if he ever does catch up with you.

 

FINAL WORD:  “Diagonal,” I’m telling you is the answer to many nuances of Street Fighting, and, let’s face it, when we are talking Self Defense, that is exactly what we are talking about, even if the fight is in a classroom, job site, inside your home, or on the street.  The J-Step and Other Great Diagonal Fighting Secrets in the next Post.

 

Until Then, Stay Safe.

 

Hammer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't miss another post -- subscribe by email or RSS today!