On Combat

[sgtmac_46]

The first two points I generally agree with.

I think in point#3, you need to differentiate between being "physically relaxed" and "mentally relaxed".
If you are mentally aroused it is a good thing, up to a point, as was stated. Beyond that point, panic sets in and everything starts to break down.
Physical relaxation is very important. Without it, your muscles will be tense, and your movements will be slower than normal. You will get injured more easily, and you will tire very quickly. I think this is why reality training is so important. It trains your mind to be alert and handle stressful situations, while your body remains relaxed. This comes from having repeatedly experienced the stress of an attack.

The distinction comes when we compare sport, which is designed around prolonged activity, and survival, which is usually accomplished by short, all-out bursts of energy and violence. One need only to look at nature to see that animals do not hold back during combat, they give total energy output to the point of exhaustion. It is violence of action, overwhelming and total, that wins in the street. Of course, conditioning and learning to breath are important, as they allow us to maintain optimal output. Col. Grossman talks about combat breathing and it's importance.

One thing we need to keep in mind. Under optimal stress, the forebrain (the cognitive brain) shuts down, and allows the midbrain to take control. It is the midbrain we train through repetition, and the midbrain is able to respond faster to changing combat conditions than the cognitive forebrain ever could. Keeping arousal in the optimum zone is critical for combat, and combat breathing as well as conditioning helps aid this.

 

[CuongNhuka]

I hate having to do this. 5th time man. All righty then

• “Judging the difference and power of one style over another is completely useless.”

Miyamoto Musashi

• “In any form of freestyle/fight, it is the person in the fight who determines the winner. Styles of martial arts are meant to teach you how you can, and/or should move and react in a fight.”

Myself

• These are the principles of the fighter who wishes to be at all successful in a fight. They come in the form of 6 philosophies. 5 are taught in Coung Nhu, 1 is my own.

3 “O”’s principle
i. Open heart
ii. Open mind
iii. Open arms
5 “R”’s for self defense
iv. Right time
v. Right place
vi. Right techniques
vii. Right perspective
viii. Run
5 “W”’s for self defense
ix. Wrong time
x. Wrong place
xi. Wrong people
xii. Wrong attitude
xiii. Wrong attitude
5 “A”’s for self defense
xiv. Awareness
xv. Alertness
xvi. Avoidance
xvii. Anticipation
xviii. Action
5 first’s for friendship
xix. Communicate
xx. Smile
xxi. Care
xxii. Share
xxiii. Forgive
The 10 things to devolop for self defense (mine)
xxiv. Skill in striking with the hands and legs
xxv. Skill in grappling
xxvi. A strong stance and guard
xxvii. Skill in moving evasively
xxviii. Skill in defending yourself from weapons commonly used in violent crime
xxix. Skill in wielding the above weapons, and yawara
xxx. Skill in running quickly, and talking your way out of a bad place
xxxi. Skill in defending yourself from multiple opponents
xxxii. Knowing when to do what in a self defense situation
xxxiii. Free style that hone your above skills
The O’s and first’s are meant to prevent the need to defend yourself. Simply if you have many friends, fewer people will want to fight you. The five A’s help to prevent being put in a self defense, by being alert who is likely to start trouble, and where you can go to avoid it. Notice I used the 2nd and 3rd A. the R’s are about how to survive, the W’s are about how to not survive.
Lastly my own. If you are in a self-defense situation, and cann’t strike with your hands, well you’re screwed. Same with grappling, it’s an introduction to weapon defense. If you don’t have a good stance and guard that complements you personal style, once again your screwed. If you can’t move evasively, well do I really need to say it? If you can’t defend from weapons you likely to use, well lets all say it together. o.k. So you have the knife out of there hands, now what? Stand there and look pretty? No, you cut his guts out if he makes a move you don’t like.
Most of the time if you are in a self-defense situation the best plan is to either run or talk your way out of it. If you have never trained talking yourself to safety, how safe are you? And what if you can’t run quickly, then what? A lot of the time in self-defense you might have to deal with more then one bad guy/girl. So if you can’t defend yourself from more the on opponent, well you probably get the picture. You practice different forms of freestyle to train and further ingrain what you have learned. That is why sparring and like forms were created.
And if you don’t know when it is appropriate to do what, you could be legally screwed. You should know when to run, when to talk, when to hold, when to strike, when to hurt, when to maim, when to use a weapon, and (most grimly) when to kill.
Of course this is not always true. A pro boxer could kick the living crapp out of anyone who trains these points. Why? Because boxers train almost constantly, so they can really blast guys. My 10 points are meant for the person that wants to be able to defend them self, but not have to train all day. For part of fighting in the ring and in a self-defense situation is about how well, and how frequently you train what you know.
Also, when you train, after you have more-or-less mastered the technique in the ideal (no resistance/contact), you must add contact/contact. Do this slowly over time, not all at once. Then after you have mastered with difficulty, remove it and add back round noise, or other distractions. And lastly put the two together. Full contact and lots of distraction. But do it slowly, not all at once. Doing it all at once, will ruin any chance of using it later, or even understanding it.
When you train free style, do it with Mushin and mugame. Mushin is closing down your mind, just acting and reacting. Not thinking about how you will. When you think in such situations, you get put in a bad place. Mugame is the physical equivalent of Mushin. Be mentally and physically relaxed. If your mind is racing, you get put in a bad place. If you are tense, you are slower, don’t have the reach you normally would. Be relaxed until the very last moment. Then be tense.

Sweet Brighit Bless Your Blade,

John (who hopes there will never have to be 6th time to put this)