The Importance of Movement

I like to take a conceptual approach to training. As one of my instructors once said to me, “techniques can fail, concepts can’t”. We’ve all had techniques “fail” on us e.g. we picked the wrong one for the particular situation we were in, found that the one we were trying to use wasn’t particularly effective against someone of a particular weight and size etc – anyone who says that these two factors aren’t important in a fight should consider why there are weight categories in most combat sports (even the UFC went down this route as it looked to prolong the bouts and maximize its entertainment value).

One concept that I use in helping me define how I teach and train is, “Targets define weapons. Weapons define movement”. This also helps me consider the targets I deem as valuable. A street fight is not a pro-longed affair and there are no defined outcomes that result in a “victory” other than the other party’s inability or unwillingness to continue the fight. This means my targets must be able to yield a lot of bang for their buck, which is why I normally have the eyes, the throat and the groin as my primary targets – these are also the ones banned in combat sports for the very same reason. Although these are not exclusive (I may also try for the Xyphoid Process, the back/side of the neck etc) they certainly tend to be the ones that I choose when I’m considering pre-emptive strikes, as they are all forward facing and easily reachable.

When I choose my weapons, I choose those that are applicable for those targets. Eyes and throat are most easily attacked by the hands, the groin primarily by the hands but also by the foot, shin and knee. My next task is to recognize the movement that is needed on both the part of myself and that of the person I am attacking to “set up” my weapon.

The movement of the other person is as important as my own movement e.g. if they are closing me down I may not have the room to attack the groin with my legs but may still be able to do so with my hands etc. In training I stress a lot of importance on getting the aggressor/attacker to load weight on to the forward leg, which is best done by getting them to move forward and commit to their attack. This a) makes them a static target for a moment and b) exposes the forward leg as a solid and rooted target.

The other targets I look for are those that are large and can affect/shutdown the other person’s movement. The legs are the obvious choice here. The Quadriceps, Hamstrings and IT Band (the muscle that runs almost like a seam down the leg) are large muscle groups which move relatively “slowly” unlike the head, which can bob, duck and be pulled back quite quickly and reflexively. This makes the leg an “easy” target, which when struck will affect the other person’s ability to move. My weapon is the shin and ankle/top of the instep of the foot: a weapon with a large surface area – this also means I can use it from a variety of ranges (though there are those which make it optimal). This makes the low roundhouse kick a good first choice.

Now I have to define the movement piece. I need to have the room to make the kick and the person with their weight loaded on to the target, so that it will absorb the full power of my strike rather than being “moved”/pushed away. I need to do something to get the person to move their bodyweight forward i.e. get them to punch. This means I must present myself as the target and be prepared to move to a position where I can use my kick as the weapon i.e. targets define weapons, weapons define movement.