Some things may seem obvious. For instance, when a technique is shown in slow motion, it seems logical that we don’t see the effect and force it will have at real speed, such as an attacker’s retreat after taking a blow to the shoulder.
But when we say that there is no certainty in self defense, this applies to the trainees and their reflection system! What is obvious to some is not obvious to others. How many times have you heard “while you’re blocking, I can hook you”, “if you attack here, I can attack you here” or “if you do this, I can do that”, and so on and so forth.
As you can see, an umpteenth clarification is necessary!
Table of Contents
Why we first execute techniques in slow motion
As explained above, a good training should be based on slow motion. Not only when demonstrating a technique, but also when practicing it with your partner.
As I often tell my trainees: “Train in slow motion, you will progress even faster!” Putting the cart before the horse is a non-sense that won’t help assimilate the techniques. Avoid rushing when you don’t even master the techniques.
This also explains why a coach has to deconstruct the movement under study and take time to explain the logic that lies behind the technique.
This step has to be done in slow motion, so it is useless to point out the visible “flaws” of the technique at that stage.
One can judge the efficiency of a technique only when it is executed at full speed (and with power) since it is the only way it will resemble a response “in condition”.
However, such an execution is impossible in training due to safety reasons, or else you should wear special protections.
It is up to everyone to get their brains firing and to imagine the technique along with its potential effects on the opponent.
Ways and means to question a technique
Self defense is not a frozen discipline. It must rather evolve constantly, and this requires questioning techniques with regard to oneself (it is up to everyone to forge his own self defense and to sort out which techniques he feels comfortable with or not compared to the whole range available), to the social context (the rules of legitimate defense, the degree of violence with which you may be confronted in your environment) as well as to feedback you get right on the spot (which techniques have been tried and tested, which ones are too complex to be used in a real situation, which ones are “far-fetched”).
Hence there is nothing wrong in questioning an instruction. That would rather be the exact opposite since it allows to make things change for the best.
Just make sure to make remarks with tact and respect. As they say, “criticism is easy but art is difficult”.
So before criticizing like crazy, a learner must acquire a technical background that allows him to take a step back and develop an informed opinion.
There is no mystery to this: you have to practice, assimilate the technique, repeat it again and again, be patient and, above all, use common sense before judging!
A typical example would be the locking. Let’s imagine that a perpetrator attacks you with a hook and you defend yourself by hitting on his throat (classic). A clumsy learner could proudly object that it is possible to make a second hook on his unprotected side.
Yes… it’s possible… In SLOW MOTION!
Let’s reconsider the same situation and plug his neurons in the right order, common sense takes over and he realizes that at real speed and using full power the aggressor will not have time to place the famous “surprise hook”!
It is up to each of us, therefore, before criticizing a technique, to question our own logic and ask ourselves a simple question: “Is what I am about to say right if we assume that the technique I have just seen must be executed quickly, in time and at full power?”
In other words: turn your tongue 7 times in your mouth before you speak!
The perpetrator can do everything he wants
There is no guarantee, no technique is perfect and anything can happen during an attack, often for the worse. self defense strives to erase the technical and psychological deficiencies of practitioners so as to enable them to raise their chances in this kind of tense situation, but NOTHING is guaranteed and everything can change in a second.
In other words, “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst”.
OF COURSE your aggressor can do anything, throw a punch, kick, pull a knife out of nowhere and stab you, etc. Yes, everything is possible. And even if typical attack patterns emerge, statistically speaking (self defense exercises are largely based on these feedback which offer to prepare for typical attacks), nothing prevents you from coming across an attacker who stands out from the crowd and does nothing like everyone else!
You may understand better now why there is no certainty in self defense. Everything is possible and we do our best with what we have because there is no miracle solution.
