There is a saying that I’m fond of: “Amateurs fight bodies. Professionals fight minds.”
Effective self defence is not all about how much bodily damage you can inflict on an attacker. It is also about how much damage you can inflict on them psychologically.
Without the will to back it up, the body is useless. If you take away your attackers will to fight you will leave them with nothing but the sour taste of defeat.
Musashi was a master of this type of psychological beat-down. He employed many tricks to mess with an opponent’s head before and during the fight. It was this psychological cunning, backed up with supreme physical skills, that made Musashi one of the greatest fighters to ever live.
If you want to be more effective at self defence and be a more superior fighter, then you must find ways in which to instill a sense of panic into your attacker or would-be attacker.
You must find ways to break their will and take away their fighting spirit in order to defeat them.
It’s a fact that most people do not like to fight. Physical violence is a scary proposition to most people.
Social violence is motivated by ego and peer pressure and as such, most of those who instigate social violence would much rather win in a confrontation without fighting. They will try to win by using bullying and intimidation tactics first, only turning to violence if that doesn’t work for them.
Resource and process predators want something from you first of all. Violence is just a tool to get that something from you. If they can get it without using violence, all the better for them. Less hassle that way.
My point here is that you should be aware of most people unwillingness to engage in violence, and that you should learn to take advantage of this unwillingness.
Most people will only fight because they think they have too for whatever reason. They don’t really want to be doing it and they will look for a way to disengage as quickly as possible.
By using certain tactics before and during a fight you can take advantage of this inherent weakness in people and force them to confront the hard fact that they were not really up for violence in the first place.
Use the following tactics to break the will of your attacker and force them into disengaging from the fight.
1. Project Violent Intent
Without a doubt, this is the number one tactic for forcing a would-be attacker into capitulation.At the pre-fight stage, when a would-be attacker is giving you the interview, you must be able to project enough violent intent that your have-a-go asshole picks up on it and decides that starting a fight with you may not be a good idea after all.
In effect, you must scare him into backing down.
But what exactly is violent intent?
Richard Grannon defines it this way in his e-book, Violent Intent:
“Violent Intent in this context is the PURE will to do harm to another human being by any means necessary. It does not concern itself with the frontal lobe deliberations and pontifications of how this is best done. It simply desires to cause damage.”
Pure violence, in otherwards.
To quote Richie again:
“Violent Intent only has one question and it isn’t “how will I do violence?” but rather an impatient “when can I get to do it?””.
If you have ever come across a truly psychopathic thug (and I’ve met a few in my time) you will know why this works. A person of this nature–someone with real violent intent, a truly violent psychopath–is very good at communicating that intent. Just by being in their presence you can pick up on the fact that this person will turn violent at the slightest provocation. They are live wires and unpredictable to boot.
A great example of this kind of personality (disorder) is Begbie in the movie Trainspotting, as played by the brilliant Robert Carlyle, who completely nails that role in every respect.
Watch the following clip and see how genuinely scary he is in this movie, just by projecting violent intent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJPfwJMAok8&feature=player_embedded#t=0
Would you fuck with Begbie? Not many would!
This is exactly how you want a would-be attacker to feel when they try it on with you. You want them to feel like they have perhaps bitten of more than they can chew.
In my early days on the door I didn’t really project much in the way of violent intent. Consequently, a lot of people thought they could have a go with me or just refused to acknowledge my authority.
Eventually I realised that you had to adopt a certain attitude when dealing with troublesome punters. They had to believe you would turn on them if they didn’t adhere to your instructions. Punters will look for weakness in a doorman when first confronted. If a punter sees any weakness at all they will play on it. You can’t give them an inch.
Once I was able to project violent intent from the get go, I got a lot less trouble from punters. When they sensed I was willing to use violence if need be, they invariably backed down and did as they were told.
Here’s the thing though: YOU CAN’T FAKE VIOLENT INTENT. YOU MUST MEAN IT.
In otherwards, you must really be willing to use violence if necessary.
In my experience, just by having the willingness to use violence, your confidence will increase, since you have already made your decision to act if you have too. This increased confidence will add to the potency of your violent intent and thus your would-be attacker will feel it much more keenly and will therefore be more likely to capitulate.
Remember, most people don’t want to fight. Be aware of this and use it to manipulate the other person.
2. Use Overwhelm To Break Your Attackers Will
As I’ve just said, most people don’t want to fight, even when they are fighting. It therefore doesn’t take much to get them to capitulate and submit in most cases.A very effective way to put the fight out of an attacker is to make them feel overwhelmed, physically and psychologically.
In a physical sense you do this by attacking hard and fast and just not letting up until the other guy is down.
Fuel your attack with violent intent and completely shock your attacker into giving up the fight.
A good way to do this is by hitting your attacker from all angles so that he doesn’t know where the next strike is coming from. This tends to overwhelm their brain and force them into giving up.
An excellent technique for instilling panic in an attacker is the Shredder technique, as devised by Richard Dimitri. The idea behind the Shredder concept is to completely overwhelm an attacker physically and psychologically. It is a continuous attack on their senses that will very quickly cause the fight to go out of them.
Here’s Richard Dimitri explaining the Shredder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_yxwQ2HlZaU#t=0
When it comes to the crunch, it really doesn’t matter what techniques you use, just as long as your actions are fuelled by violent intent, enough to shock your attacker into giving up.
3. Apply Forward Pressure
Putting your attacker on the back foot is one of the surest ways in which to instill panic in them.Once you launch your attack, continue to move forward, railroading through your attacker and don’t stop until they hit the ground.
Combined with the previous tactic, this will make your attacker feel even more overwhelmed as they frantically try to regain ground.
The important thing here is that you give them no space in which to manoeuvre so that they find it impossible to regain their position.
Without positioning, they can’t fight back.
There is a real sense of panic that comes when someone is constantly pressing forward on you like that and hitting you at the same time. The first instinct is to cover up, which makes fighting back impossible (you can’t defend and attack at the same time). It almost feels like you are being pushed towards the edge of a cliff. You panic just as much.
Once again, pure aggression and violent intent should fuel your actions here. The harder and more aggressively you press your attacker back, the more panic you will instill in them and the quicker you will break their will to fight.
4. Employ Tactical Savagery
Using what Sammy Franco calls Tactical Savagery is another very effective way to instill panic in an attacker.Tactical Savagery involves using biting, clawing and gouging techniques to make your attacker feel like they are being mauled by some kind of wild animal—which of course they are…you!
These techniques tend to be last resort tactics when you are in a tight spot. I certainly wouldn’t recommend biting anyone unless you absolutely had to due to the amount of blood-borne pathogens and diseases present today.
A lot of the time it is enough that your attacker feels like they are being bitten. You don’t have to break the skin to do this. You just make a show of biting them without actually doing so.
Take a look at the video clip below, taken from Richard Grannon’s Six Seconds Of Extreme Violence DVD for more on using these techniques in a fight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=I207QKdlnyA#t=0
As always guys, share this article with your mates only if you found it useful.
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