Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!!

 

It’s a phrase from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Act 111 Scene 1, and I’m sure that we have all heard that phrase at some time or other. It summons up images of war dogs, soldiers and mercenaries, weapons at the ready, straining at the leash to get into the maelstrom of battle, who are then released on an unfortunate enemy so that that they can attack and rip them limb from limb.

 

It is what we should be like in a violent encounter against an aggressor – fired up and ready to do some real damage…..

 

Unfortunately the reality may be nothing like that. With adrenaline and the physical effects of danger, we will be frightened, clumsy, self doubting. All the usual suspects there then.

 

In this situation we have two basic options; give in or FIGHT BACK!! The latter may be the hardest part – whoever said that the greatest battle takes place in the mind had it absolutely right. The willingness to act is the trigger that starts your counter-attack, run with it and you can survive, ignore it and it will be to your detriment.

 

The ability to deliver a technique effectively –whether it be a punch, slap, kick, elbow, etc – rides on our ability to drive forward. Common sense dictates that in order to physically end a violent confrontation we cannot remain completely static or fight going backwards. In short we cannot fight defensively. Fighting defensively by its very nature means losing, and that at point we should take our attack to the attacker. Either that or suffer the very dangerous consequences of inaction.

 

By contrast close combat is designed to aggressively engage an enemy. How? By taking ground from him, closing him down and hitting him hard.  Its not rocket science and its not pretty to look at – but boy is it effective.

 

One of the most important lessons I have learned in my 20 years of close combat involvement is the ability to get POWER into strikes.  Power is the movement of our bodyweight forward, plunging the striking tool through an opponent and out the other side. There are many different methods of delivering power into a strike – not only physical, but also conceptual.

 

One of the concepts that we train at our combatives programs (and have done for many years) is SWAMP.

 

SWAMP comes from the late combatives instructor Bob Kasper and his GHCA organisation and is an excellent tool for getting into the correct mental and physical state for an aggressive forward drive.

For those who have not come across this acronym before SWAMP stands for;

 

 

Stay relaxed – keep your body as loose as you can

Weapon Moves first – do not telegraph your strike

Accelerate – the strike

Move – in the direction of the target

Plunge through- drive through the target and out the other side

 

SWAMP is a superb example of using a conceptual tool to get the individual into that “fight state” that can turn a violent assault around in favour of the good guy.

 

With the effects of adrenaline and imminent danger, our body does a number of things that can actually help with taking the attack into the attacker. We drop our bodyweight, lowering our centre of gravity – thus leaning our bodyweight forward and moving into the target area. 

As an analogy imagine a man standing halfway down a hill with an out of control train hurtling towards him – he has no chance of stopping a large object that has gained that much momentum. You have to be that train.

 

From here we have to overwhelm the attacker/aggressor with a flurry of power-driving strikes, forcing him back. We literally have to “take ground from him” replacing his backward steps with our forward steps. After all, a man cannot fight effectively whilst going backwards, due to the speed of attack and sheer body dynamics. He will effectively be “on the back foot.”

 

As an example of this,

 

We train the hammerfist as a gross motor skill/stand alone technique. This involves using a closed fist, and using the meaty bottom part of the fist in a hammer-like striking motion, either vertically or horizontally.

But when this is combined with a forward aggressive drive drill, it provides a skill set that can turn the tables on a violent aggressor. In our training programs I have seen much smaller men literally pound 6ft plus individuals into the mats. Impressive stuff.

 

Now apply that basic concept to a real world application.

 

Imagine you are backed against a wall down an alley. In front of you is a 6ft “groc” who is intent on kicking lumps out of you for an imagined slight. Your overall plan is obviously to escape, but in order to do that you have to drive through your new best friend to get to freedom. Your back is to the wall – what can you do?

 

You have no other option but to launch an attack, or as I tell the guys who train with us – you have to be like the shark, ALWAYS going forward.

 

After that the most important part is continuation – don’t allow him to re-orientate, turn that pause to his advantage and re-start his attack. You MUST keep the momentum by driving him down until he’s a bloody mess on the floor or no longer a threat to you. Pressure, pressure, pressure.

 

Aggressive forward drive can not only give us a physical superiority due to its ballistic effect, it can also help us to develop an aggressive mindset – or Mental Combative Attitude as we teach on our Modern Combative seminars. After awareness and avoidance topics, instilling combative attitude (or aggression as it is normally known) into the seminar attendees is a vital key in providing them with a “winning attitude.” 

This can be done in a number of ways ranging from mental imaging, kinaesthetic learning and scenario based applications, and can all be brought together to create a skill set that gives the individual the chance to “tap” into they’re previously undisturbed darker side.

 

However training the forward drive without using aggression is a recipe for disaster. The student will be just going through the motions, and for effective self protection training it needs to be combined with full on mental attitude to make it work. One without the other is basically an obsolete weapon. To use an analogy, if the mental attitude is the Gun – then the forward drive is most definitely the Bullet!

 

Stay safe