This Isn't For You!!

[sensei8]

In a fight, you've got to think every second! Attacks come at you slow! Attacks come at you fast! Attacks change their intended course ! However these attacks come towards you, you better believe by the stars above, that these attacks will come UNTIL they're stopped by either of your own doing or your at the discretion of your hell-bent attacker; they will come.

Do you do this or do you do that? What if this or what if that might happen? The game of chess is at foot!! How one responds determines a many of possibilities, this I'm quite sure of. Your attacker(s) will give you very little time to relax, very little time to ponder, very little of anything.]

Up, down, in, out, left, right, angling, transitioning, backwards, forwards, and staying your ground; with a determined attacker(s), often times an end isn't as near as one wishes and hopes for.

Both your defense as well as you offenses will become beleaguered with the furious intentions of your attacker. In a constant barrage where you must be doing something to survive to the next moment, and that next moment isn't far from occurring. Once, you're deflecting, then you're attacking, then you're pressing, then your transitioning, then you're grasping, the end never seems to occur, then you're wrestling, and then you're regrouping.

The play doesn't seem to ever have an intermission!!

If you ever want to test your multi-tasking skills, engage in a fight for your life!! Multi-tasking IS the MA! Multi-tasking demands a guile if it's ever going to succeed; if you're ever going to survive!!

However, if you can't multi-task, then the MA ISN'T FOR YOU!!

[tallgeese]

Good point. So much of this comes down to how humans process information in combat, and really all aspects of life with the OODA Loop.

A concept defined by Boyd after his combat experience in Korea, it's come to be used by just about every armed profession on the planet. MAs should be no different. And understanding of it will teach one how to train to process better. Manipulating this loop gives you a higher chance of success in a conflict.

Let's look at the acronym:

O- Observe

O- Orient

D- Decide

A- Act

At every point, when confronted with a problem, the human body goes thru this cycle. In Bob's example, the flurry of unanticipated attack, we go thru this from the first motion, thru each subsequent attack, until the end.

When we Observe, we do just what the point says. We take in information. In Bob's example, we can get caught here and never really move past it. When we observe the first attack we much move to the second step, or be caught behind the loop as we just continue to process over and over again in the flurry without every move on. This leads to a loss of the combat.

It's one of the reasons that combination striking is so important. Properly used it can immediately overwhelm the OODA loop. Look at security video of fights to see this in action in the real world.

MAs teach us to observe and process. In the MA arena, the longer one is in the more you will process, quicker, more accurately, and move to the next step quicker and with better results. Here is the level of multi-tasking that Bob's talking about.

So we understand, the next step is Orientation, where we put our bodies in a tactically advantageous position to what we observe. Good MA training helps this (moving to angles rather than straight back off of startle,hands coming up, etc) can all help us build the next step.

Which become Decision. Now we decide what to do. After we see whats up, put ourselves in the best position to deal with it we have to decide what to do. Here's where good training most obviously shines. If we react with out thought to the attack because we've seen it thousands of times in training we have a major short cut on our hands. Train. See every attack in training before you see it in real life. This is critical.

Last, we Act. We execute that decision. Here, the more committed, confident, and fit I am the better able to get it done I am. A certainty of outcome in our mindset will drive the process better than half measures and fear.

Then, we observe the effects of the action and start again.

This process cranks off in milliseconds and good fighters, in any arena, learn to manipulate it and move thru it faster than their opponents. Too often, we overlook the need to teach these principles to our students and wonder why they are overwhelmed by input or fail to process.

Some of the best reading material on the subject was Paul Howe's books. Leadership and Training for the Fight and the Tactical Trainer. He really breaks down each stage in a functional look.

[Judodad_karateson]

Isn't a big part of MA about self improvement? A skill that uses multitasking is sure to increase the multitasking ability of anyone willing to work at it. Sure, not everyone will be the next Chuck Norris, but I strongly disagree that MA isn't for everyone.

[Luther unleashed]

I am very in depth with my postings, but I am passionate about these topics so please forgive the books I write, my intention is to contribute healthy input.

So I have a couple of opinions here. First, if a person uses martial arts for self defense/fighting primarily then I suppose it can be a true statement that is not for everyone. However, these days in the society we live in, fighting is really not as much of a prominent threat as it used t I be. I live in phoenix, I'm originally from chicago, lived a good deal of my life in California after leaving chicago, just for some backround. Phoenix has got its share of gangs, murders, and other things, but IMHO doesn't compare in the aspect of violance, to the other places I have lived, and yet still a murder, an attempted stabbing, shooting, road rage and so on is going on daily. Fighting is hardly the same issue as it used to be. Many people use martial arts as a firm of focus building, an escape, for health reasons, flexibility and so on. It just shouldn't be limited to fighting/self defense, because its, well... limiting.

As far as the fighting aspect thpugh. My most recent instructor openly admitted to never being in a fight. This I cannot say, as a young teen and into my early 20s I fought. Real street fights, some I won, many I lost, but I never lost heart, now one may judge me and that's ok, I have to ready to be judged if I am open about something I don't need to be. My point is I usually don't say that to people because it's a bad thing in a sense and my old instructor is better for not fighting. A man who can avoid fighting must be a good fit to teach youth, and adults alike to be peacefilul, humble and so on. I feel my fights have really helped me to understand how much I hate the violance. Also, in my martial arts path I have always been geared combative techniques, where some instructors came up in a sport aspect or like my last instructor, almost for the tradition and artistic part itself. This is the beautiful thing about martial arts, it can be something to so many people.

I don't think my last instructor should try and great himself towards the self defense aspect as much because he would be teaching something he's never even "pressure tested" as he can't really know the pressure of a fight. For me, I do that better. Let me be clear, iv not been in a fight in 14 years and I base my teachings on not fighting, but I do have experience in what I teach. Martial arts filled a gap in my life and became my teacher of calmness, patience, and humility. Everybody is different. I see nothing wrong with somebody doing kickboxing cardio because it may not be what I love about my martial arts training BUT it is still the showing of martial arts reach to be an adaptive passion and I love this about the arts.

[sensei8]

Isn't a big part of MA about self improvement? A skill that uses multitasking is sure to increase the multitasking ability of anyone willing to work at it. Sure, not everyone will be the next Chuck Norris, but I strongly disagree that MA isn't for everyone.

Yes, the big part of the MA is about self-improvement!!

I didn't say that the MA isn't for EVERYONE, I said that the MA wasn't for the person who just can't learn to multi-task AT ALL. Why? My attacker isn't going to only do ONE THING and one thing only. If that was the case, multi-tasking isn't such a big deal, imho.

If I execute one technique to defend against my attackers one attack, and we both do nothing else, just that over and over; then multi-tasking is of no value!!

Imho!!

[sensei8]

Good point. So much of this comes down to how humans process information in combat, and really all aspects of life with the OODA Loop.

A concept defined by Boyd after his combat experience in Korea, it's come to be used by just about every armed profession on the planet. MAs should be no different. And understanding of it will teach one how to train to process better. Manipulating this loop gives you a higher chance of success in a conflict.

Let's look at the acronym:

O- Observe

O- Orient

D- Decide

A- Act

At every point, when confronted with a problem, the human body goes thru this cycle. In Bob's example, the flurry of unanticipated attack, we go thru this from the first motion, thru each subsequent attack, until the end.

When we Observe, we do just what the point says. We take in information. In Bob's example, we can get caught here and never really move past it. When we observe the first attack we much move to the second step, or be caught behind the loop as we just continue to process over and over again in the flurry without every move on. This leads to a loss of the combat.

It's one of the reasons that combination striking is so important. Properly used it can immediately overwhelm the OODA loop. Look at security video of fights to see this in action in the real world.

MAs teach us to observe and process. In the MA arena, the longer one is in the more you will process, quicker, more accurately, and move to the next step quicker and with better results. Here is the level of multi-tasking that Bob's talking about.

So we understand, the next step is Orientation, where we put our bodies in a tactically advantageous position to what we observe. Good MA training helps this (moving to angles rather than straight back off of startle,hands coming up, etc) can all help us build the next step.

Which become Decision. Now we decide what to do. After we see whats up, put ourselves in the best position to deal with it we have to decide what to do. Here's where good training most obviously shines. If we react with out thought to the attack because we've seen it thousands of times in training we have a major short cut on our hands. Train. See every attack in training before you see it in real life. This is critical.

Last, we Act. We execute that decision. Here, the more committed, confident, and fit I am the better able to get it done I am. A certainty of outcome in our mindset will drive the process better than half measures and fear.

Then, we observe the effects of the action and start again.

This process cranks off in milliseconds and good fighters, in any arena, learn to manipulate it and move thru it faster than their opponents. Too often, we overlook the need to teach these principles to our students and wonder why they are overwhelmed by input or fail to process.

Some of the best reading material on the subject was Paul Howe's books. Leadership and Training for the Fight and the Tactical Trainer. He really breaks down each stage in a functional look.

Very solid post, Alex!!

The OODA that you speak about sounds quite similar to...

Study your opponent

Study yourself

Make a plan

Carry plan out

I've used this my entire MA life; makes since to me, so does the OODA!!