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It was Kung Fu’s heyday: the mid-70s. Everyone wanted to be Bruce Lee, and everyone who wasn’t wanted to prove that Kung Fu wasn’t really so great a thing. It was a scene you wouldn’t expect to find outside of a movie, but it happened. Five young men with knives went after a Kung Fu Instructor, somehow feeling that a five on one fight with weapons would prove that kung fu wasn’t so great.

The training group met in the park, and the small gang of young thugs had watched the class. As the group dwindled to the instructor and a couple of beginners, the five suddenly attacked. They were clumbsy, not particular coordinated and showed no signs of teamwork. The instructor moved with fluid grace born of years of training. The few witnesses left reported that the fight looked hopelessly one sided.

But the instructor lost.

He fought them like he fought his students. He trapped them, took them down, thumped them, but he didn’t finish off any of them. The fight started at five against one. It finished with all five still on their feet, bruised a bit but not hurt. The instructor’s forearm was sliced up from the blocks, and he would never regain full use of either of his hands.

He was stuck in “teacher mode.”

Fabio Santos, a teacher of Gracie Brazillian Jiujitsu in San Diego and trainer of top fighters, once said “you can be a great fighter or you can be a great teacher.” When you train to be a great fighter, you train to win. When you train to be a great teacher, you train to help others win. The focus is absolutely reversed. That creates a serious danger for the teacher who has to fight.

* * * * *

In the early 1990s, Guardian Kempo student Debora Hicks was the prey of a criminal. He lunged at her, grabbing her in a stranglehold, and without a thought she was a blur of motion. Her reflexes took over, the product of her martial arts training. Five strikes and less than two seconds later, she was holding him in an arm bar/wrist lock on the ground. The police arrived in minutes, called by the security guard, and Debora turned the culprit over to the police.

That was the first time this cute, innocent and helpless looking girl got attacked. She moved with power and purpose despite having never before hitting a human being full power. Her martial arts training didn’t have any of the “adrenalin response training” used by the best self-defense programs, but she blasted through her opponent with ridiculous ease. The fear didn’t hit until after. She has since been the target of other attackers and beaten them in seconds every time. If you ever saw her, you would not imagine that she could fight at all, but she remains a very, very dangerous woman.

More often than we like to think, martial artists prove themselves ineffective in combat. The long time Kung Fu instructor is attacked and overcome, unable to stop the attacker though landing scores of blows. What makes Debora different? What did she have that made her so effective when she had to act?

Answer: a psychological switch we all need if we're going to be able to engage in effective self defense.

THE PROBLEM IS IN THE MIND

If you have several years of consistent martial arts training under your belt, then you've probably spent a good deal of your time practicing power, speed, focus and control. Every time you work with a training partner you work on generating all the power, speed and focus you can, yet control your technique so you don't hurt your partner. Obviously we don't want to injure our partners in the name of effective self defense training, but if our unconscious mind has been conditioned over the years to always control our techniques when there is a person in front of us, we will probably do the same thing out of reflex when we really have to fight.

Creating the psychological switch is easy. The key to creating this switch is imagination. If you can visualize, you can program your unconscious mind with information that it won't get from experience (unless you fight full contact regularly). Some will find this easier than others, and a few may have to practice visualization for a while before it can become an effective training tool. There is nothing mystical about visualization despite the new age movement's extensive use of it. Though we've only heard a lot about it in recent years, the principles of visualization have been used for a long time.

Jim Thorpe, the winner of the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympic games, reportedly used visualization as part of his training regimen. Psychocybernetics by Maltz, copyrighted in 1960, deals extensively with the benefits of visualization, and it is recommended reading for anyone desiring greater understanding of visualization's effect on performance. An updated version is now available in most bookstores.

The unconscious mind has no method of distinguishing reality from fantasy, all it does is store information and generate reactions to it. Many learned skills are stored there. When we first learn to drive a stick shift, all the information is conscious: let up on the gas, clutch down, shift gears, gas down, clutch up, don't forget to watch the road, watch traffic, use your mirrors, how fast am I going? In time, that information becomes subconscious, and you can drive and shift without thinking. Martial arts training works in a similar fashion.

Imaginary information is stored the same way, and it generates reactions in much the same manner as real information does. If you've just watched a good, scary, horror movie and go walking off in the dark, you may find you half expect Jason or Freddy to appear out of no where. Consciously you know this can't happen, but your unconscious has been programmed for two hours with information that says that there is a threat. This mechanism can be harnessed to effectively prepare for combat situations.

The exercises are easy, but don't let the simplicity of them fool you. The simple answer is often the best solution to a problem. We can use visualization to split the "there's a real person in front of me" category into two sub-categories: training and combat. The training category should already be developed through years of practicing with partners. The combat category is forged through the following visualization exercises.

EXERCISE 1

First, visualize an opponent in front of you. If you have access to a heavy bag, superimpose your imaginary opponent over the bag. Just practice striking into your opponent. Whenever you practice on a bag or any other padded target, continually visualize an opponent over the target. Visualize his reactions to your strikes. This exercise should only be difficult if you have a non-visual imagination.

If you are having trouble maintaining the image, or in perceiving his reactions realistically, take it slowly. Some people have a visual imagination, other's don't. There's nothing wrong with that, it just means you'll have to work a little harder and spend a little more time on this exercise than a visual thinker. Before too long, even non-visual thinkers begin to master this exercise.

If you are still having difficulty, work with a partner. Use your partner’s body for your target and really pay close attention. Don’t actually hit your partner, just use his body for focus on a few hits, then move back to the heavy bag with the image fresh in your mind.

There are a few common errors to check for when you do this exercise: 1) focus; 2) position; and 3) power/control. Since this is visualization training, you may be the only one able to tell if you're training properly. You will have to check yourself on the first two errors. A skilled partner may be able to help you with the third.

FOCUS: Very often when using visualization exercises, martial artists use the same focus points they use when they train with an opponent. Simply put, they strike the surface of their visualized opponent rather than striking into their imaginary target. Be certain you strike into your target, after all, you're training to devastate an attacker, not work with a partner.

This can be a very dangerous problem to have. You can be completely confident in your ability to strike hard, fast and in perfect position for defense, but if you don't strike into your target, you will never hurt him. Unfortunately, the problem is most common with long-time martial artists. A long time martial artist with exceptional talent and skill found himself in a fight, and with uncounted strikes he was unable to incapacitate his opponent. The opponent armed himself, and things really got out of hand.

POSITION: Are you ready for a counterattack? The second common error is improper position. The strike is executed magnificently, but the martial artist isn't in a very defensible position after the technique. Just because you strike with devastating power and focus doesn't mean you will always land your technique. You must practice striking without opening yourself up. Without an actual opponent, it becomes simply a matter of disciplining mind and body to do this naturally.

A flip-side of the same problem position is assuming unrealistic opponent positions for multiple attacks. This isn't usually as critical a problem as poor defensive position, but multiple street-techniques often result in different body positions than multiple class-techniques. Some people really don't know how a body reacts to certain strikes, and short of actually hitting someone or being hit, some people may never quite understand. However, logic along with understanding of movement and elementary physics will yield most answers.

POWER/CONTROL: These are problems that arise under different circumstances. The problem with power often arises when training without a target, and the problem with control occurs with target training. The solutions are easy, but discovering the problem may be a little more difficult. This is the one problem set a skilled observer can help you with.

When training open air, the martial artist often lacks power in his strike. He focuses properly, and his position may be good, but his strike really wouldn't cause much damage if he actually had an opponent to hit. Power is sometimes sacrificed to maintain the level of control necessary to execute the technique with good form.

Your sense of power is often subjective and relative. You may think you're hitting hard, or at least harder than you normally do, and still not be doing much damage. The use of energy results in perceived power, but true power comes from a relaxed technique. Full tension is used to stop the punch, snapping it at the end, not pushing it all the way through. You can always check your power on a heavy bag or kicking shield, but then you need to watch the target problem: control.

Remember that power is not simply a factor of moving with speed. You have to have proper speed and focus to have a transfer of energy into a target. If you focus on stopping your punch, but your visualization of your target would amount to a surface strike, you have no power. If you do that, you stopped your own power before you could cause any damage. Focus is part of power.

Heavy bags are often struck with a tremendous amount of force. Too often, to obtain this amount of force the martial artist sacrifices control. He throws his weight behind his technique and depends upon the impact with the bag to stop his body. You need to make absolutely certain that you have control of your techniques. If you miss with an out-of-control technique, you'll be out of position to defend yourself or to launch a follow-up attack.

This can be checked best on a kicking shield. If there is some doubt about control, the holder should periodically slip out of the line of the attack. If the technique isn't well executed without the target, then the martial artist needs to work on his control.

EXERCISE 2

Once the first exercise is mastered, simply progress to visualized fighting. This can be done through shadow fighting, through more heavy bag work or through the use of kicking shields or focus mitts. Shadow fighting is simply combat practice without an opponent. Keep all the skills from the previous exercise in mind so you don't lapse into any old mistakes. Visualize the opponent's movements, attacks and reactions to your strikes. Imagine the feel of your impact and the effect of your attack.

Visualized fighting on a heavy bag is made more difficult in that the bag is relatively stationary and therefore cannot realistically move in response to your actions. Heavy bag visualized fighting is good for the powerful, truly devastating strikes. This exercise is distinguished from opponent visualization in that you will visualize portions of combat interaction leading up to the one devastating blow that will hit the bag. Make sure that when you hit the bag you are visualizing a person in combat action, not a stationary opponent and certainly not the bag.

Kicking shields and focus mitts can be moved to better facilitate actual combat positions and openings. Naturally this requires one or more partners that know your style or the risk of someone getting hurt is too great. The partner(s) with the shields or mitts move around giving you different positions to attack. Imagine opponents and openings. Treat it very much like a fight, staying ready to defend yourself since the imaginary opponent is presumably trying to hurt you.

MAKING THE SWITCH

Using the visualization drills provides the mind with a frame of reference for combat. Condition your reflexes with those exercises and you can develop the automatic reactions you need to win a fight. Your normal training provides you with “training mode.” Training mode is the mode in which you normally practice in class, the “preserve the safety of your training partner” mode that allows everyone to train safely. The combat visualization exercises give you “combat mode.”

The challenge is to use a technique spoken of by Steven Covey in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. He talks about stimulus response and the unique ability of humans to find space between them. For us, he says, there is a gap. We do not have to use that gap, but we can insert anything we wish in there. We can respond according to a plan rather than react with automatic action or emotions.

We need an instant evaluation placed between the stimulus and response so we respond accordingly. This, too, is a visualization exercise in itself. We have to evaluate the threat and respond so we do not fight a criminal in “training mode” and we don’t beat a training partner or friend to the ground in “combat mode.”

A young beauty, Shannon, learned a self defense technique against a grab from behind. She drilled it and paid special attention to drilling a combat reflex so she could defend herself if she were ever attacked. Unfortunately, the next person to grab her from behind was her boyfriend giving her a hug. She shifted her hips and hit his groin before she realized the grab was no threat. Her poor boyfriend fell to the ground. Her exclamation “Wow! It works!” didn’t help the situation.

Playing scenarios in your mind helps develop the switch. Take the lesson right from the movie “Speed.” Pop quiz: that guy you see walking toward you turns out to be a criminal on PCP and attacks with a knife. What do you do? Pop quiz: your buddy had too much to drink and wants to “see what you can do” and throws a punch. What do you do?

As you play these scenarios, you brain imprints the imagined event in the brain for reference. When similar situations arise, it puts together instant evaluations based on all the imagined references. Nothing beats actual experience, but effective visualization is a good substitute for those of us not interested in learning on the battlefield.

OPPONENT REACTIONS

A big problem many martial artists seem to have when visualizing opponent reactions is that they really don't know how a body would react to a strike. Underestimating your power usually won't put you in any greater physical danger, but overestimating the effect of your attacks will. If you convince yourself that a slap to a person's ribs will stun him into momentary inaction and find out only when you do it in a fight that it doesn't, you could be in big trouble. Unless you're an experienced fighter, ask yourself what the technique would do to you if you were intent on hurting someone. Ask someone with a high pain tolerance if it would stop them if they were angry. If the answer is no, change it before it matters.

Another element of street fighting that isn't often seen in class is total pain suppression. Groin kicks or grabs tend to be the most shocking to martial artists, since there is a general myth that such a move will end a fight. Any intoxicant or drug, as well as adrenalin or limited shock, can completely eliminate the pain reflex of an opponent. In the opening scenario, one of Debora's five moves was a groin kick so devastating that blood streamed down the man's leg, but he kept struggling. If she didn't have total control of him, he could have and would have kept fighting. Had she assumed the fight was over with that move, she would have lost. Never assume pain will be enough to stop someone, he might not feel it.

A general rule of opponent reaction is that the point of impact will move in the direction of impact. If there is substantial body mass in many directions from the point of impact, the body will fold over the impact point. If the point of impact is on the head or limbs, then the point of impact will lead away and attached areas will follow. Additional movement may result from a pain reflex, a desire to regain control, a defensive motion or a counter.

IS FULL CONTACT FIGHTING GOOD PRACTICE?

Somewhat, but not by itself. Full contact fighting can be excellent combat practice for the strikes and kicks that are legal in full contact fighting, but those techniques are limited and the fighting style of the ring is very different than the fighting style of the street. For one thing, full contact targets are (generally) above the belt. This not only affects the kind of attacks the full contact fighter practices, but also affects the kind of attacks the full contact fighter is trained to defend against. When combined with visualization training, however, full contact training can yield excellent results.

Also, any sport fighting, even if full contact or “no holds barred” is radically different from a street fight. Just consider the differences. It’s martial artist vs. martial artist. You know the fight is coming. You square off before you fight. The surface is smooth and probably padded. You’re warmed up, properly dressed, and you look for openings and play the game by the rules.

In a criminal assualt, the bad guy chooses the time and place. You’re wearing whatever your wearing. You are where the criminal attacks. The variables are all his to control. If he doesn’t like the set up, he doesn’t attack. When he feels he’s got the upper hand and the odds are in his favor, he attacks. The defender starts with two strikes against him, and the bad guy gets the first move. There won’t be any dancing around and looking for openings. You must move, you must move now, and you must end the fight immediately. There’s no clock running, and there’s no way to know beforehand if the attacker is going to be armed or not, and if there will be one guy or two, maybe five with knives!

CONCLUSION

These simple exercises will help you develop a psychological switch that should click to "combat devastation" whenever you're faced with a serious threat. If you practice realistic though imagined combat seven times, your unconscious will store it just as thoroughly as if you had one fight actual experience. So if you train often and train well, your automatic reaction to a real threat situation should be natural and devastating. If you ever do get attacked, the fight will be over in seconds.