Lessons Learned

Joined : 11 Apr 2008 Posts : 25 Location : South Wales, UK

Just thought I’d summarise an incident that happened to one of my students recently. I’ll call him John, who is a strong, fit guy in his mid thirties. He has only been training with me for a couple of sessions, but has done some boxing training previously.

John was driving to work in his van and another van overtook him and clipped his wing mirror. The guy driving proceeded to give him some verbal and aggressive gesturing, before cutting John up trying to force him off the road. John almost hits a stationary car and has to pull back into the guys van to avoid crashing. The van driver is now really wound up and forces his van into johns, slowing until he stops. He sees that the van driver has a mate in the cab also and as he gets out of his van the other guy is already coming towards him.

John felt he had no option seeing the rage of the van driver and hits him with a pre-emptive right hand. This doesn’t stop the guy and they start brawling. John pinned the guy down so that his head is between the roadside and the curb and is hitting him in the face with several punches, the van driver then drives his thumb into John’s eyes to try and get him off, John manages to knock his arm to the side and holds him down with his hand on his face, while he delivers some more punches, the van driver then proceeds to give a deep bite into Johns finger, causing extreme pain. He told me that this really freaked him out and his energy level lifted and he managed to pull his finger away and starts to drive several punches into the guys face.

The guy’s mate is now on the scene and is pulling John away. They end up in a clinch on floor both exhausted, now with several bystanders watching and John says, “is this over”, the guy agrees and they break away. The van driver then walks back to his van and pulls out a pickaxe handle, he runs at john with a sweeping lunch towards his torso, John said he managed to quickly close the gap, somehow controlling the guys arm. They brawl for a short while before it breaks up, police now involved etc

We discussed this at the class last night and he explained that being an ex- rugby player he had had quite a few fights over the years especially during games and a few late night fights during light socialising etc, but he had never encountered someone trying to injure him with such intent, he said he thought the guy was trying to kill him!

Some Lessons learnt

Firstly, I congratulated on how well he had done, he read the guys aggressive manner enough to get a pre-emptive strike in and also managed to control the fight and defend himself from a potentially lethal weapon.

A few points he learned from the experience was:

1) How much punishment the human body can take in an adrenalin-fuelled situation, being a decent puncher he thought that the punches he delivered would have been sufficient – they weren’t!

2) The guy was more street-wise than he anticipated, surprising him with the eye gouge and bite! Although this sparked a new level of adrenalin in him, he did get injured. Also, he did not expect the guy to re-attack him

3) Although he is a fit guy, he didn’t appreciate how quickly he became exhausted by the grappling and also by taking blows to himself.

4) John now appreciates that it would have been better trying to stop the attacker very early on by way of possible joint destruction, knockout/choke etc and that in the heat of the moment under pressure he relied on his boxing experience to defend himself. What he failed to do was stop the guy re-attacking!

What again was very pleasing to me was John’s willingness to learn from the experience and he was back training a week later!

Hope this helps somewhat in adding to some real situation learning!

Take Care
Al

Admin Joined : 16 Aug 2007 Posts : 232

Hi Alun,

Thanks for the write-up.

You raise some very salient and valid points that everyone should take heed of and remember. I especially like your comments on adrenal response and exhaustion. Often we forget or just don't appreciate how adrenaline and violence burns resources.

I think it was Cus D'Amato who said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." Nothing more disheartening than dropping shots into someone and they just don't "go". Kudos to your student for digging in and driving on.

Pleased to hear that your student is none the worse for wear and back training. I bet he sticks around for a good while. Smile

cheers again
Chris

Subject: Re: Lessons Learned Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:23 am

Hi Alun,
Piggybacking off of Chris, thanks for sharing your student's incident with us. His experience is a salient reminder of what reality brings to the "dance."

I hope your student isn't too discouraged that his preemptive shot wasn't as effective as hoped. A preemptive strike is most potent when it's executed against an opponent who isn't psychologically/physically prepared for it (set up through deceptive/distractive dialogue and body language to divert/disrupt the adversary's immediate intent and/or manipulate perceived vulnerabilities). Due to the preceding factors between the two, the confrontational conversation stage was not surprisingly bypassed (though I believe the situation could have been re-directed into that stage through training and the proper presence of mind).

Other contributing factors with your student's preemptive shot not being as potent as it could have been, are target accuracy (the lack thereof) and preparedness (which his opponent had an abundance of at the point of engagement). These factors are understandable and quite typical considering how the situation unfolded. When you've got an adversary with bad intentions walking rapidly towards you, well, he's prepared to engage. And, unless you are highly experienced (which if that were the case, the situation could have been deftly redirected), most anyone would be hard-pressed to have accurate targeting ability. In these cases, a strong "support system" is essential, especially when a situation has already degenerated into a match fight engagement. What I refer to as the six S's (i.e. skill, speed, strength, stamina, size, and (p)syche) definitely come into play at this stage.

As far as how much punishment the human body can take, yeah, it sure can take a lot, especially when adrenaline is coarsing through the body. This is but one reason why it is so vital to develop: 1) strong pre-fight skills (for a whole host of reasons), 2) combative stamina (when a situation degenerates into a match fight situation, 3) "bone-crushing" power and accurate targeting in technique applications, AND 4) indomitable, relentless, ferocious, tenacious INTENT.

If an opponent can't think, can't see, can't breathe, and, to a lesser extent (and, personally, not my cup of tea), can't walk, he can't fight too good. These are the best ways to "stop" a hostile, combative adversary, whatever the condition/stage you're in, and should be what you are concentrating on when engaged in personal combat. How do? Externally FOCUS on attacking the primary targets (which are, for me, the head and neck areas) and keep doing so relentlessly until your adversary is sufficiently neutralized to ensure your safety and survival.

Anyway, I'm glad your student came out okay. I'm sure he's gonna train much harder and smarter now... Wink

Take Care,
Lito
_________________
The essence of true love is purposeful effort.

True happiness is attained through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

Winners take chances and perceive pressure as a privilege.

Whatever you believe, it's true.

Subject: Re: Lessons Learned Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:13 am

Well you have to take your hat off to "John" he did really well with only a few sessions under his belt, this time next year he will be much better equipped, the main thing is that he came through it undamaged.

Nice one.

Alan

Admin Joined : 13 Aug 2007 Posts : 177

I think it was Cus D'Amato who said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all."

That was Vince Lombardi Chris, former coach for the Green Bay Packers.

Joined : 08 Feb 2008 Posts : 36

And here I thought it was General George Patton in his book "War as I Knew It" published in 1947. Smile

Joined : 07 Nov 2007 Posts : 84

Did Lombardi plagiarize Patton ? The only cool quote I can recall from General Patton was "Rommel you magnificent bastard, I read your book". Even then, it may have just been George C. Scott reciting some lines from his script.
I suspect that even the suggestion of plagiarism has Coach Lombardi rolling over in his grave, mumbling something under his breath from that huge gap between his two front teeth.