Hello again. Ando here from SenseiAndo.com. So, the other day I'm doing
some multiple attacker scenarios. Two on one. Three on one. Four on one. And boy, that is always a
humbling experience. I don't care how cool you think you are, and for sure, I think
I'm pretty cool, when you turn up the pressure like that, you find out pretty
fast that some of your good fighting skills stick and other ones break.
Today, I want to talk about the worst self-defense and fighting position that
anyone, you, a white belt, a grandmaster, can find yourself getting sucked into.
But don't worry, I'm also going to give you a quick tip to help you recover, survive,
and get back to being cool. Here it comes.
Okay, so you've heard about fight or flight. Maybe you've even heard of fight,
flight, or freeze. Well, the worst position in self-defense and fighting
combines all three. Let's say a bad guy attacks you. Your head takes flight,
your hands still want to fight, and your brain freezes in the middle,
it won't let you commit to either one. I call this the Triple-F Stance.
One, because its fight, flight, or freeze and two, because if you find yourself in that
stance, you my friend, are triple F'd. The Triple-F Stance can look a few different ways.
The first one I talked about in my video, How to Land More Punches.
That'll be when your chin gets pushed up and you're still trying to swat down at the bad guy.
The next one would be if punches are raining down on top of you, you get bent over,
and you're still trying to fight up. The last one would be if you flinch or you turn and
then you're still trying to punch blindly behind you. Now, let's be clear...all three of those
positions are going to get you killed if the bad guy is pursuing you. That's why I
think your number one training goal should be maintaining a balanced, strong posture
with your hands up protecting your head no matter what happens. Punch, kick,
shove, it doesn't matter. You've got to hold on to your core fighting stance. As a matter of fact,
I would rather eat a shot, I would rather take a punch, but hold on to my stance, than
have a punch miss me, slip it, but give up my back. Why? Because if you end up in
that Triple-F Stance, you may never ever get another chance to fight back.
In case you didn't notice, all three versions of that Triple-F Stance that I just showed you
were made even worse because I was moving backwards when I was showing you them.
Now, we all know you shouldn't move backwards when you're under attack, right?
That's martial arts 101. We all know that a bad guy moving forward is going to be
faster and better coordinated than I am moving backward. But that's my point.
Even though we know that, under pressure, we still do stupid things. And it can happen
to anyone. Anyone can get caught off guard and sucker punched. Anyone can get
overwhelmed by multiple attackers. Anyone can just be exhausted. Anyone can get
injured and start to panic. But really, the biggest mistake isn't falling into
the Triple-F Stance. The biggest mistake
is staying there. Getting caught, frozen between that flight or fight and not making a decision.
So, look, obviously, I can't tell you when to run and when to fight,
that's your call, but I can tell you that part of your training time should be spent
under pressure and practicing making that decision to either run or fight.
If you decide to run, well, then run. If you decide to fight, then snap back into your position and fight.
This is important, so I'm going to say it again. If you decide to fight back,
fix your stance first. If you try fighting back from a Triple-F position,
well, the next position you might find yourself in is the Flat On Your Back Stance.
Look, always set yourself up in a position where you can punch with power
and connect on purpose. You should never be putting yourself in a situation where
you're flapping your hands like a headless chicken and hoping that you just connect by
accident. Now, it's a little confusing because I know that when you're throwing
crazy combos like that, and just flailing away, it feels like you're still in that
fight and you still have a chance. But you're kidding yourself. You don't. You're about to die.
The only way that flailing works is if you have a knife in your hand.
Sure, if you're just blindly flailing away with a knife, there's a good chance you might cut your
attacker and make him back up. But empty-handed? I wouldn't bet my life on that.
So, don't even think about punching or kicking back until you've gotten back into a
strong position. That means chin down,
hands up, and off line. This is so important I think you should drill it as
a separate part of your training time. Just practice recovering your stance.
And here's a drill to do just that.
Grab a partner. Give him a shield and let him push you around a little bit. Or maybe
let him pad up so he can throw some punches and kicks at you. Either way, for round one of this drill,
I don't want you to hit back. No punching, no kicking, nothing. You just focus on
maintaining your stance no matter what. That means protecting your head,
staying on your feet, and getting out of the line of fire.
Anytime you feel your stance being compromised, I want you to just snap it right back.
You feel your head getting tipped back, snap it down.
You feel your head getting dipped, snap it back up. You feel yourself getting turned,
then snap it back and get off line. Once you get that wired into your body, now we go into round two.
Round two, now you can turn up the speed, turn up the power, add another
partner or two, or three. Whatever it takes to put you under pressure.
But I still don't want you to hit back yet. Just focus on this hard enough challenge
of staying on your feet, protecting your head, and getting out of the line of fire.
Once you're feeling good with that, now comes round three.
Yes, you're allowed to start countering. Following through. Snap back your posture and
then immediately start following through with your punching or your kicking, or running to safety,
however you'd like to set up that drill. And, of course, I always recommend
recording all of your workouts with your camera, or with your phone, so that you can sit down
afterwards and take a good, clear look at it. If you're doing these things right and you're under
lot of pressure, you're not going to have time to analyze while you're doing it.
Hey, you made it to the end. If you liked what I was talking about today,
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Until next time, stay cool, my friend. And keep fighting for a happy life.