You may have heard “speed is everything in a real fight.” The importance of speed in executing a given technique or defensive move seems quite obvious, really. But, we need to look at the important concept of speed more deeply as it applies to real world self-defense. Speed is not just how fast we can move our hand or foot to strike the target or how fast we can move to block an incoming strike. Our students need to understand this, too. There are three elements of speed as the term applies to self-defense:
First, speed is the time it takes for the individual to realize an action needs to be taken. The second element is selecting the appropriate action. Third, speed is how fast we can execute that selected action or response.
These first two elements of speed ate at least as important and often even more decisive in self-defense that is that final element, which is how fast we can move. I discovered this truth many years ago when I worked in the security field (ok, a glorified term for a “bouncer”). I saw that in order to avoid being hit by my assailants, I did not always have to be faster than them – just one step ahead.
Imagine you see a man throwing a right hook to your head. Since this happens in a fraction of a second, you had better be much faster than him or you’ll “eat the shot” for sure. Keep in mind that once you are tagged with that opening sucker punch, the assailant often continues the attack giving you no chance to further defend yourself.
What if you had recognized the assailant’s intention to throw that shot before he came close enough to actually uncork it? I am not talking about anything mystical or clairvoyant here. The aikido expression “the body tells” is meaningful. I cannot expand in any detail here on these pre-incident body cues; nonetheless, the basic idea is that you learn to spot the body carriage – the walk, the eyes, the way he holds his hands – the toal gestalt of his presence that signals “predator.” If you can do that, many times he will recognize this and take you off his prey list right away.
Recognition of the pre-incident cues of an attack isn’t possible if you are unaware, not alert, or in denial of what you do see. You can also “freeze” or “choke” at the realization that another person actually has it in his mind to assault you. These aforementioned attitudes are the antithesis of “thinking in a martial manner.” Do not confuse this with paranoia, either. Is it paranoid for you to look both ways before pulling out into traffic?
“Perceptual readiness” is the quality of speed I am concentrating on now. It is the recognition through observation of whom and in what form an attack might come. Again, if you develop this skill, it often goes a long way towards avoiding an attack in the first place.
Here is a drill for your students to experience the idea of how perceptual readiness allows them to be “faster” then they thought they were: Have two students stand just a little past arm’s length from one another facing each squarely. One of the students has a rubber knife in his hand concealed behind his back. Without warning, he tries to stab the student in the abdomen moving as quickly as he can. The defender tries to slightly turn his body out of the way of the thrust line as his hands slap down and trap the attacker’s wrist at the wrist’s joint.
The knifer may stick the student the first few times, many times the student will be able to the avoid the attack after a few initial failures. It is “perceptual readiness” that makes it possible for the student to defeat the knife thrust.
At this point, this exercise is not meant to be a “knife defense technique” )even though it begins the foundation for one). This exercise is designed to show the student the critical importance of perceptual readiness in the real world and to encourage them to exercise and develop that skill beyond the confines of the dojo, kwan, or dojang. Because that is where real-world violence occurs.
