One of the most important skills to have when dealing with potentially violent individuals is decisiveness; being prepared, ready and willing to act, when assaulted – I’m using the legal definition of assault here, not the common usage one i.e. if somebody, who has yet to make physical contact with you, puts themselves in a position where they could cause you harm, and at the same time causes you to fear for your safety, it’s assault etc. Once you understand, and recognize this, you should be prepared to respond physically, either pre-emptively before the person goes to punch, grab you (battery) etc. or as a response to their attack. There are many warning signs, both verbal and physical that can alert you to the fact that somebody is getting ready to act physically against you.

A lot of people in the martial arts community will talk about how people telegraph their striking, explaining telegraphing as unnecessary or exaggerated movements that precede a punch or kick etc. However, telegraphing is more about a person’s entire movement and body tension, before they make the strike e.g. if somebody is bobbing around and shifting their weight when sparring, you know that they are preparing to make an attack; this is telegraphing. If in a Judo contest a person, is pushing and pulling their opponent back and forth, you know that they are setting up/telegraphing their attack (you don’t necessarily know what specific attack). If a Judoka is relaxed, and then suddenly explodes into a throw, or a Karetaka with no tension in their body suddenly darts forward, with a punch, neither individual has telegraphed their attack – there was no overall preceding movement(s) that showed their intent. So when we talk about identifying whether somebody is about to throw a punch in a real-life conflict, we shouldn’t get caught up trying to identify, each movement that precedes the punch, but rather look at their overall movement and energy, and try and see if they’re setting up the setup to the punch, rather than just focusing on the punch setup. An example of this, is somebody who keeps advances towards you shouting, and then backs away, only to advance again etc. This is somebody setting up the setup. They’re not yet physically and emotionally ready to punch you, and they’re getting themselves into a place where they’re ready to do so. This overall body movement is telegraphing their intent. It is much easier to act at this time, than wait to identify the specific attack they’re going to use.

There are “necessary” movements that have to occur, for a punch to have power, and one of these is that body weight has to be transferred forward – a lot of martial arts and combat sports striking training involves minimizing large movements that are needed to do this and chaining/coupling smaller less identifiable movements together to achieve, a faster and more powerful overall movement. Most untrained individuals lack the knowledge, the skill and the ability to do this, and so have to rely on relatively large shifts of weight in order to deliver a solid strike. This normally involves transferring weight on to the back foot first, in order to bring weight forward into the punch. One way to do this is to take a step back, or to turn away, almost as if the person is leaving/walking away – which is a fairly good way to get the person they are confronting to relax and drop their guard, thinking that the interaction has ended etc. The person who keeps advancing and retreating is also doing the same thing, as backing away from you can be used to mask this weight shift. Any movement that loads weight onto an aggressor’s back leg, should be considered as a setup for a strike.

Both the setup of the setup, and the setup itself, would be good occasions to act preemptively. The setup to the setup, in a court of law, could easily be argued and framed as an assault, and the setup itself could demonstrate the “battery” component of “Assault and Battery” e.g. the movement showed that they were preparing to make physical contact with you. It is worth understanding that the law gives you the right to act preemptively, as you want to eradicate all possible doubts in your mind about making the first strike, in order to be decisive.

Your initial preemptive strike doesn’t have to be a power strike i.e. you don’t have to end the fight with your first strike etc. Unfortunately, under stress and duress, many trained people forget their training and panic, using the same methods of power generation, that untrained individuals employ e.g. stepping back, swinging/pulling their punching arm back etc. In essence telegraphing their strike. This is why it is sometimes better to make an initial strike that doesn’t require power, but can be used to disrupt an attacker’s movement and setup a subsequent power strike, such as slamming your palm and fingers into your attacker’s face in a quasi-palm/eye strike, followed by a power strike etc. At some stage in the game, preferably early on you need to be delivering, hard powerful strikes – eye, throat and groin strikes are all good setups, but should not be relied upon to stop a committed aggressor. My personal belief is that when you close your hand into a fist, you should be striking with maximum concussive force. This is something that is often low on the priority list of many reality based self-defense instructors, who teach that punching just using the arms and shoulders, rather than adding movement from the back, hips and legs etc. is enough to stop an assailant. In almost every instance it will not be enough, regardless of the numeracy of the strikes. Ten fast punches lacking complete power, do not somehow equal one punch thrown with full power.  

There are also verbal cues, that may be part of the setup of the setup. In most violent assaults, there is usually some thought of verbal exchange that precedes a physical attack. If a person who is ranting aggressively at me suddenly goes silent, I can be pretty sure that what will follow is the setting up and the launching of the attack. If they start to garble and jumble up their words, I can be pretty sure of the same. If they keep repeating a phrase, threat or injustice over and over again, getting louder and faster etc. I shouldn’t be surprised if they then get physical. Telegraphing in real-life situations also involves dialogue, or lack of it.

By understanding how people telegraph their attacks, you can respond preemptively, or faster, than if you’re waiting for and trying to identify the specific attack itself. This means you don’t have to have speed, just the illusion of it, because you are able to move/respond earlier than if you were simply relying on your athletic ability alone.