Impact Development for Self-Defence (diary entry)

21.02.13

Today’s private lesson followed on from the 17.02.13 introduction to self-protection. It was half the normal time allocated to these lessons and completely focused on impact development. Prior to this both students covered all the pre-fight soft skills leading up to the fence and were introduced the pre-emptive strike tactic.

We began with a light warm-up, moving the body in ways that resembled the straight and hooking strikes. It is important for students to put their mind into activating the correct muscles used when striking straight or round, particular attention is given to the oblique muscles and hip flexors, supported by work using the major muscle groups in the legs. Attention is taken away from the shoulder.

We then covered target familiarization and also an exercise to get a better feel for what it feels like to hit another human being. The latter exercise also helps body mechanics as you hit your training partner full force only using your body and not your limb in anyway. Feeling how a human will feel superficially as well as their uneven weight distribution is important, as your average focus mitt or punch bag obviously does not resemble a human being in the slightest.

This was then overlapped onto the focus mitts for full-contact striking mainly using the palm-heel. Palms are selected as they require little direction. A punch is a trained action – fists evolved for gripping tools and not for striking unarmed - and has a far narrower margin for error when it comes to striking the head. Palms were fired into a target as soon as it breached the line set by the fence. Strikes were made until the target goes down or is covered. The student followed the target until it went down or was covered. This is the correct counter-offensive behaviour for a person who is forced to defend themselves. The defender should look to strike first and continue striking until their aggressor is clear of their exit point and the defender can escape. Striking drills are always closed with the student tactically running to the exit point.

Following a target allows for what I call instinctive target selection. You naturally change the type of strike to fit the angle or range of the target. We looked at offline striking as well as striking with the elbows and knees. Then we went through some restrictive training. This is a good way to help better develop short-range striking using the correct body mechanics. It also introduces students to fighting from compromised positions such as when being seated or lying on one’s back.

*The above picture was created by Coach Benjamin Myers.