The Psychology of Self Defense In writing this I know that I will wrinkle some feathers. This is especially true of the hard core martial artist types who have set beliefs about their training (dojo/dojang mentality). After over 37 years of training in both the martial arts as well as self defense I have come to believe certain things. This is based on what I have seen in the dojo (training hall), the street as well as our specially designed adrenal stress trainings. It is my belief that most of what is being taught in probably ninety percent of martial arts schools, seminars and videos just will not work on the street. I came to this realization quite a few years ago. A master instructor who I had the opportunity to train with helped me (very graphically) understand. He taught me and showed me why simplicity wasn't just important, it was essential. I had learned this hard lesson after many years of traditional training. By the way, I am not knocking traditional training. Not at all. In fact I am a strong believer in the merits and benefits of traditional martial arts training. I teach full time at my dojo. Martial arts is one of the very best things you can do for yourself. Just understand what it is and what it's not! Traditional martial arts training helps build character. It conditions both the body and mind. It helps improve concentration, self discipline, self confidence and a host of other very important life skills. What it doesn't do for the most part (there are exceptions) is teach effective and realistic street self defense. The old saying is that "knowledge is power". I believe that incorrect knowledge is not only not power but very dangerous. Someone thinking they can really defend themself (but really don't have a clue) can get themselves into big trouble. After my "experience" with this master instructor I made a point to modify, simplify and improve every aspect of my self defense program. This required years of searching, experimenting, going to seminars, studying books and videos as well as searching out the best instructors and methods. I really felt we were on the right track and them something quite sensational happened. I call this true story... "Fighting the Bulletman" I was sitting in a national martial arts convention. This guy was up on stage talking about adrenaline stress response training. I had never heard about it at the time. The instructor was talking about the effects of fear induced adrenaline on the mind and body during an actual street attack. I was intrigued. A little later in the demonstration they asked for a few volunteers. Several men and a women were chosen to go up on stage. The next thing that happened had most of us feeling the effects of adrenaline, right in our seats. Another instructor comes out in this weird looking suit. He has football shoulder pads and some obvious groin protection. On his head he wore a huge piece of headgear which I found out later was a professional football helmet with four layers of special density foam padding wrapped in silver tape. They called this ‘monster’ the Bulletman, obviously because of the silver round headgear that looked like the top of a bullet. One of the volunteers was asked to come out. The instructions were to try to maneuver around the Bulletman without getting too close. If the Bulletman attacked they could strike him full force into the groin and head. The action began… The Bulletman starts screaming at the guy. He shouts obscenities at him. He taunts him. He faints attacks as he threatens the guy. I could feel my gut shaking just sitting there. Then suddenly the Bulletman attacks. The poor guy attempts some foolhardy kick which embarrassingly misses the mark by about a foot. Next a punch that had less impact than my eight year old grandson could muster. After a few more minutes of this hideous display a women instructor blows a whistle and the whole thing is over. A few more volunteers and about the same result. Now here is the interesting part. Everyone of these volunteers were experienced black belts. Some were school owners with a dozen years or so of experience. So whey did this happen? They fell prey to the natural effects of adrenaline on the mind and body. Adrenaline is the natural result of fear induced aggression. It really can’t be stopped but it can be focused and used. These black belt volunteers had tried to use their dojo (and dojang) techniques. What they hadn’t anticipated was that the adrenaline had dulled their senses. It minimized their fine motor skills, it gave them tunnel vision and even affected their cognitive thinking. With out taking this adrenal rush into account, effective street self defense cannot be accomplished. To be effective, each technique must be simple, direct and not require fine motor coordination. Additionally, the techniques should build, one upon another so that a minimum number of total techniques (regardless of the type of attack) need be learned and practiced. Within a few months we brought this instructor and his system into our school. We not only took the seminars but learned to teach this technology. We had many chances to see what would work against a fully armored, attacking opponent, that we could wallop full power into his vital areas. Besides being a lot of fun we sure learned a great deal. Next we went to work to adapt, modify and overhaul our system of self defense to employ this new found and proven knowledge. Unfortunately only a very small percentage of martial arts instructors and self defense "experts" have ever really felt the tremendous effects of full adrenal dump while trying to execute their techniques. I have no doubt (believe me I have witnessed this many times during our adrenal training seminars) that many of these black belt instructors would be shocked to find what they are teaching their students, would never work under real world conditions. Why? Beacause I realized the same thing myself. Mind you, this was after decades of training! Fear is very powerful. The adrenal "dump" has severe effects on us both physically and mentally. Here are some of things that happen: * It is doubtful whether most could remember more than a handful of technques under duress. This is due to the loss of some or most of our cognitive (reasoning) thinking. * Our fine motor coordination is minimized. What's left is only gross motor skills. Many of the techniques taught in many martial arts schools and self defense programs require pinpoint targeting or wrist or joint manipulation. This probably isn't going to happen under a strong adrenal rush. * We lose peripheral vision. Our field of vision tends to tunnel in. Things sometimes appear much larger than they really are. The more one stays focused in one line of vision the worse this becomes. * We feel weak at the knees or develop body shakes. Breathing becomes short and rapid. In fact studies have shown that if the heart beat gets high enough we can become totally "frozen in fear". Because most self defense instructors have not experienced this while trying to execute the techniques they are teaching, they really have no way of knowing whether what they are teaching could actually be done by the average person, while under duress. Again, I am not putting down other instructors or their systems. I am merely saying that most have not put their systems to the test while under the strong influences of adrenaline. Something that is inevitable while under a real attack.

For more information about Street Self Defense 101, visit www.easy-self-defense.com.

Shihan Michael Pace