Many people when they come to take “self-defense” classes, do so believing that they will be taught a few tricks and techniques that will allow them to disengage /escape from a violent altercation without them getting hurt, or having to hurt another individual(s). Few come with an understanding, that the only way to deal with violence is to become violent – even if this is only to create enough of a disturbance/disruption that will create for them the time and space to disengage. Many people when they practice striking in class, hitting and punching the pads with as much force as they can generate, don’t make a conscious connection that what they are training to do is hit another person full force, causing them pain, damage and possible injury. Striking drills using pads should not simply be a physical/athletic exercise but an emotional one as well, where the person training their punching/kicking etc. visualizes and considers the impact of their strikes on another human being.

The majority of us are not psychopaths and by default have a natural level of care and concern for others, even when they are being aggressive towards us. Unfortunately this reticence to inflict damage on another can put us at a serious disadvantage when we are dealing with someone whose heightened emotional state and/or predatory nature means that they don’t share this same reservation. Many people believe that because they have experience of throwing punches in sparring, they will not hesitate when put in a real-life situation; this is often not the case. Wearing a boxing glove, or other type of protective mitt, means that you have experience of throwing punches in a “safe” way, and may well hesitate when you realize that you are about to throw a punch with an ungloved fist that has the goal of causing as much pain and trauma to your aggressor as you can. In many instances people are more comfortable with taking a punch than throwing one.

Somewhere along the line, in our training, we must accept that what we are training to do is cause physical harm to others, whether it is by punching and kicking them as hard as we can, throwing them to the ground at full force/speed, or by breaking their limbs etc. None of these things are pleasant (or should be pleasant) to consider, and visualize e.g. close your eyes and think about throwing the most powerful rear-handed punch you could into somebody’s face – imagine how it would feel, what it would look like etc. For most untrained people, and for many trained, there will be some level of revulsion; just as there often is when considering forcibly pushing thumbs into a person’s eyes (as far as they can go). Visualize biting somebody’s nose and trying to rip it from their face. These are things that we may one day have to do in order to survive a situation, and we should in such incidents have little or no hesitation in doing them; biting, ripping and gouging should be things that we are morally comfortable doing.

In a fight there is not the room to be the “better” person than your attacker – trying to will seriously impede your survival chances. Holding back some power from a punch because you don’t want to cause serious physical trauma to another individual will limit you. This is not about talking big but about seriously considering your ability to become violent towards another person, and removing any self-imposed limits that you may have, regarding the use of violence.

Next time you throw punches against a pad-holder, understand what you are actually training to do; that this is not sport, a technical exercise etc. but the practice and education of how to cause maximum pain and trauma to an assailant.