The Plan Of Attack
JUNE 26, 2022 BY MASTER MULHOLLEN
Regardless of what situation you may find yourself in, having a plan of attack will help to cater the odds in your favor.
In the Sherlock Holmes 2009 & 2011 film starring Robert Downey Jr. you see in each fighting scene, Sherlock Holmes plans out his strategy to overcome his adversary(s). While there were some unrealistic maneuvers for theatric purposes, the concept of thinking through the physical situation to create a scenario in your favor, can be done as long as you understand simply physics and body mechanics.
For example, punching someone in the face will throw them back a bit while a front kick to the groin would have the body slump forward. Even something as simple as torqueing the wrist would have the person lean to one side as opposed to the other.
Below is the steps to consider when deciding to execute a defense response:
Control The Situation – It is strongly encouraged to control a physical encounter before, during and after it starts! Lets say you are surrounded by four attackers. You figure you’ll front kick the guy in front of you in the groin. While that may drop him, you’re still in the middle and at risk by being jumped by the remaining three. Instead you could advance into the first attacker (with hands up protecting your face), creating a knee strike as you step to the side of the opponent. while still holding onto the opponent, you make a 180 degree turn thus getting to the OUTSIDE of the circle, allowing yourself a better opportunity to then take on the remaining three if need be. While the knee strike isn’t as powerful as a front kick, that tactic allowed you to gain control of the confrontation as well as removing the threat of getting blind sided by multiple threats at once, allowing you to maintain said control, and finally keeping control of what potentially could occur next.
2. Reverse The Urgency – When facing a threat, emotions tend to overwhelm the system. Emotions of fear, anxiety, stress, all emotions that a threat is counting on to keep the control over you, in hopes you’ll cower to their will. This URGENCY needs to be reversed and this is where step two comes into play. The above mentioned scenario, creates such an action. The above defense tactic would put the assailants in a state of shock or confusion thus the “Reverse The Urgency” step has been initiated.
3. Create Injury – When you have maintained control throughout the scenario, causing confusion along the way, windows of opportunity are almost endless!
Create situations and work through a gameplan on how you would retaliate, using this step system. To test it, be the attackers and see if you’re able to offset any defense tactic you came up with. It’s time consuming however well worth it when it comes to improving your skill!