In this video from the online self defense training “Martial Studies: Defense against multiple attackers”, discover why the principle of “simultaneous counter parry” (mainly derived from Krav Maga) is not the absolute way to react to an attack in the street.
Table of Contents
Simulation
“He throws a hammer fist at me, whatever, but he does something…”
Right now, you must be happy since you are a kind of as if you were a “miracle survivor”. Indeed, such a success in blocking is a big step forward! Why? Because it is the aggressor who triggers your emotions, and therefore your reactions. You will therefore have several things to deal with in addition to stress and fear: the surprise effect.
Following some self defense methods, especially in Krav-Maga, instructors and trainees only swear by the simultaneous counter parry.
“Bam, as soon as someone attacks me, counter-blocking, yeah, that’s how it works in Krav-Maga, we never back off”, I swear it’s true, some schools that teach that. Of course, it also depends on the teachers, not all of them behave this way.
“Bam, as soon as I see something coming, I’m ready to defend myself” – “Yes when you see something coming in the dojo”. Let’s be lucid, outside, even with the best will in the world, we don’t see things coming which is why stress invades us. Hence, it is already a success if you don’t poop yourself. Thus, if you manage not to have your legs give out under the effect of stress, it’s already a great point!
Simple techniques
Also, giving nice tight kicks is not so easy. Not to say that it is impossible, nothing is impossible, but it is risky. Just imagine, it would be silly to be a champion of acrobatic karate, to make beautiful techniques of striking and to say “this is what I think about right now, so I’ll do this” and to fall flat on your face like a fool – tell me it never happened to you on the tatami? It happened to me once while I was with my trainees, I was wearing socks and I wanted to show them a kick in the face until my leg gave out. Why? I don’t know, there was no banana peel, but still I came a cropper, got up and told my trainees, “You see, that’s exactly what you shouldn’t do”.
Basically, it’s better to use simple techniques. Simple means not higher than the belt! Now, let’s say that you see an attacker running towards you. You can push him away with a kick in the stomach (or in the chest for the more flexible), but you must not mess up. It also depends on how lucky you are!
“Everyone has a plan until you get hit in the face”.
So simultaneous counter parry are relevant when you have the time to do so.
Let’s consider an example. You are queuing to order a hot dog. Why a hot dog? Why not – or a baguette – as you’ll see, a well-done baguette can be a great weapon.
You hear your attacker coming towards you, his fist raised, shouting and threatening you. Maybe you will have time to wonder “What is this?” This leaves you two options. Either you run away, or you have time to tell yourself “ok, I’ll take a few seconds to analyze, let’s do a simultaneous counter parry”.
Another example. You are still ordering your hot dog, you feel someone tap you on your shoulder, his fist in the air, about to hit you… So you turn around and… suspense… Either you get hit on the face, or you are as fast as lightning and you manage to dodge… ” Why do you want to make a simultaneous counter parry? Start making a parry first, it’ll be a good point!” It’s already a privilege if you manage to move your head away from the fist and dodge the blow!
Stop dreaming and stop saying “I do this, I do that”.
Remember this: “Everyone has a plan until you get hit in the face”. In other words, you can plan all the techniques you want to counter any aggression, but when you’ll be confronted to the situation, all your plan are likely to fall through. “I’ll do that” and then “What? I don’t understand. I surrender, here is my black belt, take it back, I’m not on it”.
