Staying relaxed when pressed hard...

[qwksilver61]

I agree with Geezer....re-direct your fear and use it to your advantage!

 

[Yoshiyahu]

How do you re-direct your fear.

I agree with Geezer....re-direct your fear and use it to your advantage!

 

[geezer]

How do you re-direct your fear.

Short answer: Get really, really pissed!




In other words, if you are caught up in the so-called "fight or flight" syndrome, and you can't run, you can either collapse on the ground shaking and soil your pants, or you can get really angry. If you know that the only escape is right through your opponent, that might help. If he's bigger and stronger, I guess you have to cultivate a berzerker's attitude of, "I'm already as good as dead but at least I'll take this bloody bugger with me!"

In my limited experience, that's a hard state of mind to sustain, so I guess you've got about one short chance to take the dude out, then you're dog meat. So whatever you do, try to leave your mark!

Other opinions?

 

[Yoshiyahu]

Ha Ha...very good answer?

Short answer: Get really, really pissed!




In other words, if you are caught up in the so-called "fight or flight" syndrome, and you can't run, you can either collapse on the ground shaking and soil your pants, or you can get really angry. If you know that the only escape is right through your opponent, that might help. If he's bigger and stronger, I guess you have to cultivate a berzerker's attitude of, "I'm already as good as dead but at least I'll take this bloody bugger with me!"

In my limited experience, that's a hard state of mind to sustain, so I guess you've got about one short chance to take the dude out, then you're dog meat. So whatever you do, try to leave your mark!

Other opinions?

 

[mook jong man]

I remember reading something by Tony Blauer of panic attack fame. He said that fear is False Evidence Appearing Real . Meaning that it is all in your head . I used to get really bad when something was about to kick off , one leg would start to shake , the trembleing voice , lump in the throat , tunnel vision , the whole lot .

But the worst bit is the feeling of utter dread deep in the pit of the stomach . The things that can help diminish these natural symptoms are to start deep breathing right away in an effort to slow down the adrenaline turbo boost , and to realise that it is inevitable because a chemical is being squirted into your blood stream .

Another thing you have to realise is that the situation is happening to you , one of my instructors said people freeze because in an effort to protect the mind from trauma , the person will deny reality and say to themself I can't believe this is happening to me , and what results is that they don't do anything and sort of act like a spectator in their own body .

I have felt this feeling of disbelief myself in the past and I think the first thing you have to do is tell yourself that it is happening to you , and your probably going to have to bloody do something about it quick. I have done scenario training in the past with people yelling and swearing at you with their snarling faces , at first it is a shock and some people go overboard and react like it is a real fight , anything to get this snarling abusive person out of your face.

But after awhile you get immune to it and start thinking tactically like what is their range what targets are open to you. One of the problems in self defence is knowing exactly at what point you should act or when it is go time , and scenario training helps with this because you practice de-escalation dialogue all the time and it is usually only a couple of standard phrases .

Sort of apologetic phrases like Sorry mate , I didn't mean to take your car park , anything to de-escalate the guys anger . But if the bloke doesn't back down and nothing I say is working , then I use a trigger phrase that also engages his brain for a second and makes my attack more likely to succeed .

My trigger phrase is " Whats the frequency " ? and about a second after I say those words it is time for me to attack . But it could be any random question like " How's your dad " anything that will distract him for a second as he thinks what the hell is this dude talking about , and because you have practiced this phrase all the time in your training it is a automatic trigger for you to go forward , practice it with partners and also on the bag ,you might look a bit stupid talking to a bag , but who cares .

And the next time some hairy knuckle dragger comes up to abuse you , you will be a little bit calmer because you have already rehearsed all this stuff , you will still get the feeling of dread in your stomach , not much can prepare you for that , you will still be scared , but feel just a little bit more in control of yourself .
I have to acknowlege that this stuff comes from one of my Wing Chun instructors who now runs his own RBSD school and is influenced by Geoff Thompson , and Robert Redenbach's Kontact system .

 

[Si-Je]

If they're mad, you've already got 'em. They aren't clear and they're "hasty". They will overcompensate, they will miss their timing, and they will underestimate you.
This is good.
Fear will keep you sharp, alert, and responsive. Don't fight it so much. Accept it and use it to respond to what is given you. It's good to try to control it ahead of time, but when the time comes out of the blue it will take over. It's an animal response, we're animal species. Use the adrenalin and fear for whtat it is designed for. To keep you alive, make you faster, make you stronger, to keep you from feeling pain as much. These are all designed by our bodies to help us get through trouble.
Don't let it consume you, but don't deny yourself the benefits of it either.
When I get an adrenalin "dump" and I don't expend it, it makes me feel sick. I have to physically release it, punch a bag, run, sprint, do push ups, whatever. It's not healthy to keep it in. Not for me, anyways. Others may react differently.
But to stay relaxed when pressed hard, for me has been the best way to stop "thinking" about it. Stillness. Go "limp" and accept it. The more I think about how hard, strong someone is coming at me the tenser I get. Kinda like I have to remind myself not to try so hard. I overcompensate because my mind tells me I have to. So, I have to silence the mind and accept the force, accept the "rush" of adrenalin, accept the fear that way I can give control to my body and animal instinct and leave the mind out of it. The body knows what to do.

 

[skinters]

we have strayed from the original question,and turned it into a lot of bravado and chest thumping.

geezer wanted to know how you deal with staying relaxed,when being pressed by say a better opponent.

as for the fear question,being cool, calm and collected,is in concept a fancifull,almost phylisophical way of thinking.in the dojo things like this can be acheived to a resonable level due to the safe enviroment,but bringing these things to real enconters can turn even the most toughest of minds to a quivering wreck.the mind has a funny way of knowing real threat,to that faced in the dojo.

now i include myself in all this of course,due to the fact we are all basicly the same where fear is concerned,and none of us hold a unique perspective when truly threatened with violence.

all the real life encounters i have only confim my suspicion on this,and i have usualy come out shaken,disoreintated,fearfull and just plain glad to have survived.

just another way of looking at it.

 

[bs10927]

I think that one of the hardest things to do in WT/WC is to stay relaxed and "soft", or more accurately, to be "springy" when confronting a really tough opponent. It's easy to be soft and fluid with students, or someone inferior to you, but I've always had trouble tensing up when I spar or do "free" (sparring) chi-sau with someone who really presses me aggresively, is very fast, or does something unexpected. I've also noticed that even those a good deal better than I have this same problem when they confront their superiors in skill. Only the highest level masters seem immune.

One concern is that if you ever have to use your skills in self defense, you will be confronted with this very problem. An attacker of unknown ability, probably armed, probably using the element of surprise, will come at you with a lot of aggression. And probably in an unfavorable environment for you, the defender. Under such conditions, how can you possible stay relaxed and use your best skills? Or do you have to fall back on your most basic tecniques and just blitz the hell out of your attacker. Personally I suspect that the latter approach is your best bet.

Still, as a person even more interested in pursuing the "art" of WT/WC as in building self-defense skills, I really want to break this "glass-ceiling" imposed by my tendency to stiffen up when pressed hard. Right now, I just want to get a lot mor practice with guys that are bigger, stronger and better than I. I figure that way I'll have to loosen up sooner or later. I'm also going back to working more on my stances and footwork, since that is the foundation of everything ...especilly "dissolving force" without being unbalanced or uprooted.

Any thoughts? How do you guys deal with this?

i have the same trouble. but i'm finding that i'm getting better at relaxing the when i'm sort of not thinking of what i want to do. weird right?
also, building my endurance helps. when my arms are tired i tense up more.

 

[skinters]

i have the same trouble. but i'm finding that i'm getting better at relaxing the when i'm sort of not thinking of what i want to do. weird right?
also, building my endurance helps. when my arms are tired i tense up more.

find that interesting as i have found when im tired i am more relaxed,compared with being all full of nervous energy,at the start of a class.i seem to produce better stuff at the end of class than in the beginning

 

[bs10927]

find that interesting as i have found when im tired i am more relaxed,compared with being all full of nervous energy,at the start of a class.i seem to produce better stuff at the end of class than in the beginning

i understand what you're saying... i think i should probably say exhausted. cuz i'm amateur, my arms get blasted so it's like i'm using all my energy to keep my arms up. LOL. that's when i have to call it quits for the class. haha

 

[qwksilver61]

I learned a while back....(don't know if this works for everyone) that a loud shout will 1)distract your opponent 2) fein attack and follow up
or if you are really good...blast forward...right up the middle,the blitz defense has worked for me on occasion,but...to the street smart (the guy that squares off and checks your body language) it poses more of a challenge,you really have to have confidence in your ability.Then the fight could go anywhere.I've taken some knocks by these types,the only way that I could deal with this type of attack was to hope I didn't get knocked out,and that he did'nt do the mount (pin) in which case I had to move like I was on fire.
Yeah,yield....but when It could be your life...move like your on fire,or as
In the "Tao of Jeet Kune do" an indispensible book that I purchased many moons ago,I took one of Bruce Lee theories on fighting and made it work for me.He taked about the three phases of approach;pre-emptive,during(head to head) and post (the opponent attacks,then you attack,timing here is important).It made perfect sense,something I still use to this day.Any feedback? Two cents....

 

[Si-Je]

My other teacher told me once when we were doing Chi Sau. He's so advanced it's not even funny (especially from where I'm standing) and I constantly felt uprooted, and pressured. And he wasn't even going full out. Made me nervous and a bit intimidated. So, I got tense and too aggressive. Tried to hard to get in.
He simply said, "stop competing. Stop trying so hard."
"What do you mean?" I said.
"Stop trying to get into me so much, you tense up. Relax, feel it, flow, stop thinking about it, stop planning the next move. Just roll. Respond to what I give you and you'll find an opening without trying to."

That worked really well for me. When someone's more advanced than you, stronger than you, faster than you, the more you "try" to overcompensate the more you'll tense up. Accept it, relax, and stop trying to get in. Feel.
The more I try to give back the "force" of another partner or "opponent" the harder I make things for myself. I have to face the fact that I'll just never be that strong. So, why fight it?
If your "soft" you'll cancel out an aggressive attack, if you flow, you'll re-direct the power of a stronger attacker and be able to "answer" with offensive motion right away. I know men don't like the "softness" of Wing Chun, but it works, it's been tested, and it's what gives you the winning edge over most other types of fighters and styles. It's a hard thing to learn to relax when someone's coming at you hard, and I still tense up when I get surprised sometimes, and still tense up when I'm working with a stronger partner.
But, I say to myself. "Wing Chun is EASY, if what your doing is too HARD then your doing it wrong." It's a "lazy" art. Then I relax, stop trying so "hard", and stop thinking I have to do better and am just able to respond to what I'm given.

 

[Yoshiyahu]

Yea flow with thier energy and over their force. Its great.



Use both softness and hardness to destroy your opponent.

My other teacher told me once when we were doing Chi Sau. He's so advanced it's not even funny (especially from where I'm standing) and I constantly felt uprooted, and pressured. And he wasn't even going full out. Made me nervous and a bit intimidated. So, I got tense and too aggressive. Tried to hard to get in.
He simply said, "stop competing. Stop trying so hard."
"What do you mean?" I said.
"Stop trying to get into me so much, you tense up. Relax, feel it, flow, stop thinking about it, stop planning the next move. Just roll. Respond to what I give you and you'll find an opening without trying to."

That worked really well for me. When someone's more advanced than you, stronger than you, faster than you, the more you "try" to overcompensate the more you'll tense up. Accept it, relax, and stop trying to get in. Feel.
The more I try to give back the "force" of another partner or "opponent" the harder I make things for myself. I have to face the fact that I'll just never be that strong. So, why fight it?
If your "soft" you'll cancel out an aggressive attack, if you flow, you'll re-direct the power of a stronger attacker and be able to "answer" with offensive motion right away. I know men don't like the "softness" of Wing Chun, but it works, it's been tested, and it's what gives you the winning edge over most other types of fighters and styles. It's a hard thing to learn to relax when someone's coming at you hard, and I still tense up when I get surprised sometimes, and still tense up when I'm working with a stronger partner.
But, I say to myself. "Wing Chun is EASY, if what your doing is too HARD then your doing it wrong." It's a "lazy" art. Then I relax, stop trying so "hard", and stop thinking I have to do better and am just able to respond to what I'm given.