Karate in Pompano Beach

[I:17J]A trained martial artist will be aware of how the attacker is holding his body, and what this positioning means even if a fight is a frantic affair from the outset. This article is about my thought processes when I formulated a plan for handling attackers. What is nice is that you don't have to go out and find a mugger to see if it works, it is workable in freestyle.

One of the earliest things I learned about sizing up an attacker was based on how he moved when you made a quick move towards him. If he moved towards you he was a fighter, if he moved back he was a runner, and if he blocked he was a blocker. This theory was attributed to Joe Lewis, but was supposedly figured out by Bruce Lee.

Time passed, and I came up with my own observations in this matter. My observations were not based upon feinting towards an opponent to make a response, for that means you have wasted a motion, and if he is not wasting motion you're already in a fight. So I assumed that I was in a fight already, and that I better just get on with analyzing the attacker.

First, I judged such factors as speed and mass. If he was chunky and strong, he would be more likely to close and grapple, and if he was lean and quick he would be looking for speed and striking. And, of course, there was incredibly limited value in these generalities.

So I asked myself which hand was forward, and began to isolate whether he was right handed or left handed. This was much better, and told me where the power was coming from, and even what angle. Still, maybe a ten per cent gain in my overall knowledge, and not enough to give me an edge.

Still, knowing which hand he was attacking with made me aware of whether he was setting up for a kick. Distance played a part in this, and I gauged how far an opponent was, and how I should angle my attack. The real key, however, was just being aware of how he was standing, whether he was shifted to free one leg up or not.

The importance of the positioning of the feet and the hands became crucial to my analysis, and this led me to view the body in halves. I would view it as two pieces, the right and the left, and estimate from the angle of his body, what what angle he would take on the attack, and what angle I should take on the response. This analysis was gold, and it drove my effectiveness up by as much as 70%.

There will always be a bit of mystery as to what is going to happen when you start fighting. Still, if you cut the body in half, top to bottom and side to side, you're going to have a distinct plan and reduce the mystery. Try it, and feel free to send me your observations, good or bad, I'll be very interested in your results and progress.

Karate in Pompano Beach

Pompano Beach Karate

Pompano Beach Karate

Al Case has practiced the martial arts for 40+ years. His instructional videos are available at Monster Martial Arts.

Karate in Pompano Beach: Karate in Pompano Beach Florida

This article, the best article ever, kindly provided by UberArticles.com