School safety, security, and violence prevention resource

 

TECHNIQUES VS PRINCIPLES

 

I played in a golf tournament the other day, and, afterwards, over a few beers, talked self defense with a woman with whom I had just been golfing.  I hope I can do a better job explaining the difference between techniques and principles today than I did with her over a few beers.

 

The woman spoke about here brief experience with martial arts.  She spoke of the various techniques she had been taught in order to react to this attack from this angle and another technique she had been taught (Note:  I am not saying she learned the technique.  Just that she had been taught it.  There’s a difference.) as a reaction to another type of attack from that direction.  And so on.

 

This I believe is unreliable, invalid and, doubtless, ineffective training.  Need I repeat my oft-repeated axiom that “nothing, or at least as close to “nothing” as possible, ever happens on the street in the same way, same angle and same intensity as it does in training.?”

 

I believe in teaching principles, not techniques.  Not that long ago I was attacked from behind and driven to the ground.  I must admit that my first reaction was to use a technique I had hard wired against a tackle from behind.  I threw the bad guy off with a Donkey Kick Escape, but immediately after that I relied on key principles of survival and the correct procedures and techniques simply followed.  Naturally, without thinking about it.

 

What principles did I rely on?  “Look For Open Targets and hit them hard and quick.  Other targets will automatically open up and hit the most vulnerable and the ones (Primary Targets)with the “Highest Dollar Value.”

 

When you rely on principles you are task oriented.  Being task oriented removes a lot of the survival stress because you are not trying to think under high survival stress. 

 

So, all I had to do was to follow what I have been teaching for years.  Rely on the following principles, which, by the way, will work no matter if you are on the ground, standing, tackled by surprise, or see the punch coming from a mile away:

 

• Breathe In and Exhale.
• Hit his most vulnerable, open targets with my nearest personal weapon(s).

Ø     I drove my middle two fingers hard into the attacker’s Jugular Notch underneath his Adam’s Apple.

• Once you Attain the Expected Physical Reaction, Follow Up with Strikes to Other targets as They Open Up!

 

Ø     The Bad Guy recoiled backward (on the ground), so I attained the top position (Guard Position).  Drove my forearm into his face and broke his nose.

• Don’t Stop Until the Bad Guy Is Done!

 

Ø     Followed up with a Descending Knee Strike to his inner thigh (and groin).

Ø     As the injured attacker tried to roll away I established a Shoulder Pin Neck Restraint until he went limp, unconscious.

 

  One final point.  I believe if I had been trained repetitiously on techniques against staged attacks I would have been hard pressed to have reacted the way I did to being tackled from behind.  My face hit the cement, and, for a second, I thought I would pass out.  But, then, my training and self-conditioned Survival Psyche kicked in.  Just the like the other principles above, the Survival mentality is Principle-Driven.

 

Never, ever allow yourself to give up.  Ever!

 

Until the next post, Stay Safe.

Hammer

 

 

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