Pre-Fight Posture

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Making use of a specific, well practiced, pre-fight posture increases your ability to maintain distance, gives your opponent a false sense of security, puts you in position to reflexively respond to an attack, and allows for better overall control of the situation.

There are lots of names floating around for this kind of thing. Passive stance, The Fence, Talking Stance, De-escalation Stance etc etc.

Each one has slight differences, and while the basic principle is the same, they are unique in application and each is better suited for a different gameplan or circumstance. Personally, i practice the Passive Stance, has taught by Richard Dimitri (https://www.senshido.com). I find it provides the best all round position for effective self defence and offers a number of options in terms of response and pre-emptive attack. This should not be mistaken for a static posture like a stance in the traditional sense of the word. There is a practical methodology behind the posture. To get a picture in your mind, it looks like you have your hands up how you would if someone was pointing a gun at you and you were doing the "i surrender" pose, although the hands are a little more infront of the body and one foot is slightly forward of the other.

The beauty of this position is that like the name suggests, its a "passive" response to any threat. Its almost borderline submissive, but this is used to your advantage. You can use it to guage and maintain distance by defining your personal space, and at the same time use verbal tactics to try and calm the situation.

If you find yourself being challenged by someone because you were looking at them the wrong way or they dont like you for whatever reason, this position shows that you are not a threat and slightly raises the ego of your attacker. From here they may no longer see you has a challenge or threat to them and along with some verbal tactics from you, the situation ends there. Or, if they still feel the need to phyiscally attack you, or your in a different situation where physical attack is unavoidable, this position still raises the attackers ego, and at the same time, their "guard" drops slightly, because they feel they are in control of the situation and any physical response from you would be unexpected.

This works in your favour because it gives you the element of surprise, and also lures the attacker a little closer to allow for effective pre-emptive striking on your part.

Also having your hands in this position puts a direct barrier in between the attackers weapons(his fists, arms etc) and his expected targets(your face and body). This makes responding to any of his attacks alot easier for you being that he is now limited to how he can attack. In most cases he either goes straight down the middle, and you "close off" by bringing your arms closer.. or he goes around your hands in which case you "open up" by extending one or both arms to the outside of your body. Limiting your attackers striking options and therefore limiting your required defensive resposes is a huge advantage in any self defense situation. The less things you need to choose from means you are more likely to react correctly in the high stress event.

Those are just some of my thoughts on the subject. Its not always covered in martial arts schools. Think about how you stand when sparring, and what position you practice most of your self defence techniques from, if you adopted the same position in response to a physical threat would the body language you give off match what you are saying("i dont want to fight" etc) in the situation?

Thoughts and comments are welcome.

[baronbvp]

Great post, cross. This would be a good article in the Articles section.

I agree with you. The only thing I don't like about passive stance is when the conversation gets long-winded. Then, it starts to feel a little obvious with your hands up like that - at least for me. But if we are still talking at that point, that's a good thing and maybe the threat is no longer as high. I might look for further things to do with my posture that are equally non-confrontational - perhaps gesturing toward another area where we might talk to others, exit the situation, get a beer, etc.

(It's not like I do this very often.)

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I agree with you. The only thing I don't like about passive stance is when the conversation gets long-winded. Then, it starts to feel a little obvious with your hands up like that - at least for me.

This is a good point baron, and i see where your coming from. However, i beleive the passive stance, or any other per fight posture has specific times when its used. This is where awareness is important. Im not suggesting that when someone walks up to you and asks for the time you should get into a passive stance, or if someone comes up to you and starts shouting abuse. Its not the only option for every potentially dangerous situation. If your are just having a conversation, then it is often not needed. Fights has a tendency of happening reasonable quickly. Sure, arguments can build up, if you let it, but you wont be in a passive stance the whole time, this position is predominently for use when the situation is close to becoming physical, or your personal space is being compromised.

But if we are still talking at that point, that's a good thing and maybe the threat is no longer as high. I might look for further things to do with my posture that are equally non-confrontational - perhaps gesturing toward another area where we might talk to others, exit the situation, get a beer, etc.

This is true, the idea would not be to hang around and chat, either talk until you are given a chance to leave, or until the other person leaves. If they are set on hurting you, not amount of talk will prevent it, however, rarely will someone have a long winded conversation with you if they are becoming more agressive, the longer the conversation goes (if the things you say are calming) the more chance you have of walking away without violence.

[baronbvp]

Yeah, you're right, Cross. I haven't been in this sort of situation very often - maybe a few times. Those guys in the sucker punch videos on another KF thread sure should have used the passive stance.

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Those guys in the sucker punch videos on another KF thread sure should have used the passive stance.

Certainly, there is a fine line between using it at the right time or like you mentioned in your previous post, standing there looking silly when the person is just talking to you. It at times can be hard to tell, but thats where training comes in, knowing what kind of indicators an attacker will give off and how you should best react to them.

[baronbvp]

Good point. I have a Royce Gracie self defense book that some advanced BJJ people think is not spectacular, but I like it. In it, he says that "checking your watch" is a way to get your hands up. That might be an option if you don't want to just stand there or look like you're flinching. Tricky business.

[bushido_man96]

Many years ago, my dad showed me a kind of passive stance in which the arms were loosely crossed, and showed us to bring them up to block attacks. It may not have been the best, but it was an idea.

I have also seen the stance where you have one hand on your chin, and the other under the elbow, like the "Thinking Man" pose.

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I have also seen the stance where you have one hand on your chin, and the other under the elbow, like the "Thinking Man" pose.

Definetly, that would be a good one to use if you are still in the begining of the talking stage and still evaluating the situation. The hand position also lends itself to a shot to the groin with your lower hand and a shot to the face with your higher hand. (or both at the same time).

[baronbvp]

These are good. I am also always conscious of protecting my groin, so while my hands are up in whatever position, I am also ready to raise my right (lead) knee/shin across my center to block a sucker kick to the groin. I've noticed it can be a little difficult to concentrate on the conversation when you are standing passively coiled like a spring, waiting for a sudden strike.

[bushido_man96]

I've noticed it can be a little difficult to concentrate on the conversation when you are standing passively coiled like a spring, waiting for a sudden strike.

Heh, good point. Kind of takes the "passive" out of the stance, doesn't it?

Another option along with the passive stance would be to back up, if you have room.