Bruce Lee's Fighting Method: Self-Defense Techniques

Ranges Of Contact In Self Defence

Author: Jaimie Lee-Barron
Date Posted: May 31, 2008

INTRODUCTION

A lot has been written about the subject of self-defence, much of it good, a lot of it completely useless rubbish. There are several important aspects to effective self defence (Legal, Psychological, etc) and they are each vital in their own way to a person staying safe, healthy and secure.

This article has been written to act a basic introduction to the ranges and distances of contact and confrontation as this will help to establish some basic truths while at the same time identifying certain areas of potential threat.

PROJECTILES:

This is, obviously, the furthest range and is the one that initiates the action upon the traditional field of battle wherein it was the archers, slingers and spearmen who would always be the first to inflict casualties upon the enemy. In modern warfare, this would off course be artillery, mortars and missiles.

Projectiles can either be "refined", such as the sophisticated weapons mentioned above, or "crude". Crude projectiles would include anything and everything that might be quickly picked up and lobbed at an attacker. Such implements as plates, glasses, shoes etc can all be efficiently utilised as a hasty, improvised projectile-type survival tool.

Throwing something at someone in order to try and protect your self requires nerve, power and (above all) accuracy. You need to try and maintain a cool-head long enough to ensure that your projectile hits its target with enough momentum and force to do some damage.

At this range, physical size and strength do not matter quite as much as in the other ranges, but they are still an important factor to take into consideration. For example: If you throw something at a larger, more powerful attacker, and miss, then they might well pick it up and throw it back at you with a lot more strength and bodyweight behind it!

In a close-range, self-defence situation, the use of loose change or even spitting can be a good "diversionary" use of a "crude projectile".

HAND HELD IMPLEMENTS:

Hand held weapons are perhaps the ones we most closely associate with the classical battles of bygone ages. The sword, axe and dagger of the warrior used either in open battle or in ritualised single combat. Again, contempory weapons would include such things as the rifle and bayonet, the fighting knife and the machete.

All of the above are to be considered as "refined" hand held weapons, meaning that they were manufactured specifically for combat. "Crude" hand held weapons, however, would include anything and everything we might be able to pick up and utilise to our advantage when faced with a violent situation.

This would include: Chairs, tables, cutlery, brooms, car aerials, tools, etc. These can lend us an advantage in terms of "reach" and the ability to do more damage than we could otherwise inflict with our bare hands.

Individual strength and size is far more important when using a hand held self defence tool than it is when using a projectile, as the confrontation is one of a very close nature, and the closer an opponent gets to you, the more important power and weight become. However, this can sometimes be compensated for through the use of superior intelligence, training and technique.

FEET:

Your legs are longer and more powerful than your arms, so it follows that you will normally be able to kick someone before you can hit them. Kicking can be an extremely efficient method of defending your self by inflicting damage upon an assailant. However, effective kicking techniques do require dedication and practice as they require excellent balance and focus in order to be delivered correctly, especially if you happen to be fighting upon a wet, un-even or slippery surface, or be barefoot at the time.

Highly trained students of the martial arts that specialise in kicking techniques such as French Savate, Korean Tae Kwon Do, and some northern styles of Kung-Fu may well be more than capable of kicking an attacker in the head with enough force to cause some significant damage. For the rest of us though, it is a far more risky business indeed!

The simple law of physics would tell us that the further our foot travels, the more kinetic power it loses. So we need to keep our kicking nice and low in order to transfer as much of our physical power as possible into hurting our assailant (this wont be very "pretty" but it should prove effective!"). This will also help to both preserve our balance (fighting is difficult enough, without us trying to do it while balancing on one leg!) and conceal the nature of our attack until the moment of impact.

Size and power are becoming much more telling now: A taller, stronger person will obviously be able to kick more powerfully, and at a greater distance, than a smaller, weaker person!

HANDS:

As human beings, we use our hands for many different kinds of things and we need our hands to survive. Hands can also be used for striking out against an attacker, but we need to be careful when we do this, as our hands are an extremely delicate collection of fragile bones that can very easily become damaged: You don't want to hit somebody only to end up breaking your hand and just annoying them even more!

Remember that places like a persons head are very hard, and have sharp objects (like teeth) and angles (like the chin) which, if attacked incorrectly, can end up hurting you far more than them, especially in this age of HIV (You get a tooth stuck in your hand, and it can turn out being a lot more serious than a swollen knuckle these days!) Even seasoned boxers and martial artists will find a great difference between their normal training/competitions and having to hit someone for "real" without any protection on their hands or rules of engagement to follow.

Also, trying to poke someone in the eyes with your extended fingers is definitely not to be recommended: It is far more likely that you will end up breaking your fingers than actually hitting the intended target!

Learn a bit about the vulnerable areas of the human body (form medical textbooks rather than martial arts manuals. Some of the latter can be helpful, but others verge upon being little more than fairy-tales when it comes to actual fighting!) and how best you can use your hands as weapons while keeping them safe at the same time. Again, strength and size have become even more important now, as the "enemy" is closer than ever. But, again this disadvantage can be overcome somewhat by the correct training and mental attitude.

GRAPPLING:

Grappling is the closest of all the ranges of contact, and is the one where the fighting is at its dirtiest and most desperate.

Grappling includes a very wide repertoire of techniques such as locking, throwing and constriction. We should remember here that constriction doesn't just refer to the methods of strangulation and chocking. In this context, they also include biting, pinching, grabbing or pushing your assailants face into something, etc.

This is the most dangerous range, as it is the one that relies most upon size, strength and weight, so you should try and familiarise your self with some good, basic techniques from wrestling and/or judo, etc. Understanding that, simply because any type of grappling sport is potentially very dangerous to the practicioner, they have a lot of strict rules and regulations attached to them.
Whereas of course, in an actual confrontation the only rule is to survive.

CONCLUSION

Self-defence is not a game or a sport. There is no referee waiting to step in and stop the proceedings if it looks as though someone is going to get hurt, and your assailant certainly wont relent and shake hands when you put your hands up and say "uncle".

What we are talking about here is an extremely dangerous and desperate type of situation. Thankfully, even in these days of increasing crime figures, the chances of you actually being unlucky enough to get into a violent situation is still very rare indeed (according to the Home Office, only about 5% of crimes are violent in nature) but this doesn't mean you shouldn't try and prepare yourself, and so improve your chances of survival should this type of situation ever arise. FOR-WARNED IS FORE ARMED!

It is better to have training in self-defence or personal safety, and not to need it, than to need it and not have it!

About The Author

Prof. J R Lee-Barron PHD FIMAS

President, Institute of Martial Arts and Sciences

http://www.institute-of-martialarts-and-sciences.com

Professor Lee-Barron is the Director of the Institute of Martial Arts and Sciences, UK, and Dean of the Faculty of Martial Arts, Knightsbridge University. These bodies are dedicated to affording martial arts instructors with the opportunity of gaining recognised university degrees in martial arts.He is an exerienced educator, researcher and academic, as well as being a senior black belt instructor in several martial arts. He can be contacted at: martialcollege@yahoo.co.uk

Article Source: JKD Street Combat - online collection of Self-Defense articles.

Write an online review and share your thoughts with other readers!