A trained martial artist will be aware of how the attacker is holding his body, and what this positioning means even if a fight is a frantic affair from the outset. This article is about my thought processes when I formulated a plan for handling attackers. What is nice is that you don’t have to go out and find a mugger to see if it works, it is workable in freestyle.

When sizing up an opponent one of the earliest things I learned was based on how he moved when you made a quick move towards him. If he blocked he was a blocker, if he moved back he was a runner, and if he moved towards you he was a fighter. This theory was put forth by Joe Lewis, and supposedly was originated by Bruce Lee.

I came up with my own plan of action, as time passed. My observations were not based the fact that if you have feinted towards an opponent to make a response you have wasted a motion, and if he is not wasting motion you’re already in a fight. I realized that in a real fight I wouldn’t have time to feint because the fight was already started

First, I began to dissect such factors as speed and mass. If he was strong and chunky, he would be more likely to close and grapple, and if he was quick and lean he would be looking for speed and striking. And, of course, there wasn’t much value in this general an analysis.

So I asked myself which hand was forward, and began to isolate whether he was right handed or left handed. This was much better, and told me where the power was coming from, and even what angle. Still, maybe a ten per cent gain in my overall knowledge, and not enough to give me an edge.

Still, knowing which hand he was attacking with made me aware of whether he was setting up for a kick. Distance played a part in this, and I gauged how far an opponent was, and how I should angle my attack. The real key, however, was just being aware of how he was standing, whether he was shifted to free one leg up or not.

Understanding the importance of the positioning of the feet and the hands, I began to separate the body in half. I would view it as two pieces, and estimate, from the angle he was facing me, what what angle I should take on the defense, and what angle he would take on the attack. This invaluable observation drove my effectiveness up by 70%.

There will always be a bit of mystery as to what is going to happen when you start fighting. Still, if you cut the body in half, top to bottom and side to side, you’re going to have a distinct plan and reduce the mystery. Try it, and feel free to send me your observations, good or bad, I’ll be very interested in your results and progress.

by Al Case

Edited by Admin.

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