Often when we train, we look to find ways to make our strikes, faster, more powerful, more technically efficient and effective etc. and don’t take the time to see how our striking and techniques could be made more effective by putting our opponent/aggressor in such a disadvantageous position that almost any strike regardless of the power level would be effective. When practicing striking we often neglect something which is an essential part of our grappling training i.e. disrupting and setting up. When practicing throwing we never simply “throw”, we create movement and take balance before we execute a technique however when practicing striking we often neglect to set up our strikes and rather rely on what we believe to be our power, strength and speed. This is where working pads and bags can be detrimental to our training; we can end up believing we have such a good punch and kick that we simply have to execute it and it will be effective, regardless of what our opponent is doing or can do.

In a real life encounter, relying solely on your capabilities, without first taking out your aggressor’s ability to be effective (and/or respond to any attack you make), is to underestimate their competency and overestimate your own. You may believe you have the greatest, strongest, most powerful punch in the world however if you assume that your assailant isn’t competent enough to deal with it and counter it, you are making a grave mistake. It is no good throwing “good” punches against an aggressor, who is in a good position to deal with them, you must first disrupt them in some way. If you want to land effective punches in the street, it may be necessary to start with a “soft” strike such as an eye strike, in order to cause a negative response in your opponent; force them to blink pull their head back etc. (in the Krav Maga Yashir system we refer to this idea as “Soft Strikes into Hard Strikes). In sparring, you may throw a jab out to force your opponent to block and move to the right, so that you can set up a turning back kick - in both situations you need to be prepared for the fact that the person you are dealing with doesn’t react/respond in the way that you want; not everybody’s response will adhere to the most common and likely ones.     

Positioning your aggressor/opponent so that your attack will be effective must come before, or as part of your attack. Your aim should be to position your attacker so that: 1. Their weight is rooted/planted and they must undergo some form of weight distribution and movement before they can make an adequate defense or force them to move so that their weight is shifting (basically they should never be in a “neutral” position where they are stable and potentially mobile), 2. They are in a position where their stability is compromised (they can be well balanced without being stable) and 3. They will be mentally and emotionally unprepared for your attack/assault. These should be principles that although obvious in grappling should also be adopted when striking.

Attacking a prepared opponent is a dangerous thing. I see this in sparring all the time e.g. a person is in a strong fighting stance, in front of another person, “waiting” for an attack, and their partner obliges. Their partner is then confused why their very, fast, powerful and strong round kick fails to yield the same results it did on the pad. When someone is “waiting” there is no element of surprise. In a sparring contest somebody has to attack, and if a person isn’t attacking they’re expecting the other person to. Rather than attacking a “waiting” person you must force them to engage in a movement, an activity, a behavior which causes them to have focus on that, rather than on the expected attack/assault. In sparring it could be moving, so they have to move, on the street it could be talking/conversation to mask a pre-emptive strike or a weapon disarm.

The central principle of throwing, which require a disruption to setup an attack is one that should be adopted into striking as well.