Keep the combat up close and personal
Most exchanges between skilled martial artists take place at a greatly exaggerated distance when compared to what happens on the street. The vast majority of real fights start close and they stay close. In the street there is rarely a gap to be closed and there is rarely any back and forth. This obviously has a significant effect on how we structure our sparring for the street.
As we’ve established, real situations will begin with dialogue or without warning. The distance at which words are exchanged is typically the same as punching distance. So in the case of dialogue, the distance has already been closed when the situation gets physical (people don’t try to intimidate you from 15 feet away). If a situation begins without warning, then the distance has already been closed.
A fight is about to begin in the dojo. Notice the distance between Tim and me. Street fights take place at a much closer range.
When two martial artists fight in the dojo or competitive environment, they typically begin the fight from outside kicking distance. This means that a key part of martial arts sparring is to effectively close that gap. These skills are essentially irrelevant for the street.
This is typically how a situation develops in the street. Here I play the bad guy as Tim takes control and lines me up for a strike. Notice how the distance has already gone before things get physical. The verbal exchange and the close proximity should be replicated in street sparring.
Another big difference between the street and a dojo exchange between two martial artists is that the there is no back and forth. In the street, people don’t back off, and then move around for a bit looking for an opening before closing the gap again. All of this means that when training for the street we need to exchange techniques at close range (the exception being when we flee, which we will look at later).
Practice within arm’s reach
When you start your street sparring, you should be within arms length of your partner and you should stay at that distance; with practice you’ll get used to it. However, to begin with you may need to force the distance; here are two ways to do this.
One of the best ways is to limit the floor space. The students who aren’t sparring form a circle around those who are so that there simply isn’t the space to exaggerate the distance.Another way was introduced to me by Shihan Chris Rowen. Chris simply uses a karate belt to tie the students together. It’s a simple method but it works incredibly well. The students can’t exaggerate the distance and hence it forces them to spar at a realistic range. The only downside with this is that the students can’t practice escaping. That said, as a way to isolate close-range skills it’s superb.
When you keep your sparring close there are a few things you will learn. One is that blocking becomes almost impossible. There simply isn’t the time or room to react. This is a really useful learning experience as it brings home the importance of being pre-emptive and proactive in the street.
Another characteristic of close-range fighting is that it becomes very important to keep both hands active. They should be either attacking the opponent or setting him up so he can be attacked (i.e. setting datums and removing obstructions).
Keeping the sparring close is a great way to learn about what is required for the street. So to make your sparring realistic it’s important to start close and stay close.
Don’t bring trained responses into the mix
One of the most important things for martial artists to appreciate is that when training for the street trained responses are not a factor. As martial artists we get trained to respond in certain ways to specific stimuli, i.e. when the opponent does motion A; you are trained to respond with motion B. When two martial artists meet these trained responses are invariably exploited: martial artist 1 will move in such a way that it looks to martial artist 2 as if he is attacking with motion A. Martial artist 2 counters with motion B, just as martial artist 1 hoped he would. By responding with motion B, martial artist 2 makes himself vulnerable to motion C; which was martial artists 1’s true intention. He attacked with motion A to illicit a response which would set things up for motion C.
In a street fight, you can’t use trained responses in the same way; hence you need to do your best to eliminate such practices from your street sparring.
Why trained responses fail
Trained responses aren’t relevant in the street for two key reasons:
Your opponent is highly unlikely to be trained in the same martial discipline as you are and hence won’t react as predicted. But what if he is a martial artist, I hear you cry.The street is so very different that even if your attacker is a trained martial artist he won’t fight like he does in the dojo or competitive environment. Street fights are far faster, more emotional, and more chaotic than martial bouts.
Observe two world-standard martial artists fight and count the average number of techniques thrown in a 15-second period. You’ll notice that most of the time is spent moving around and playing for position. The overall rate of exchange is actually pretty low. Certainly they are likely to be some blindingly fast exchanges, but they are often very short in duration. The ones that last that little bit longer are the ones when a combatant becomes injured or disorientated and the other moves in for a win.
However, a street fight is consistently frantic. It starts fast, stays fast and finishes fast. There is no time for trained responses. Indeed there is no time for responses of any sort.
In addition to being faster, a street fight is also more emotional. The intense nature of a street situation means that neither you nor your opponent will be best placed to process the information that exploiting trained responses demands. So in the unlikely event that you do meet another martial artist in a street situation, it still won’t be like a dojo or competitive situation.
A good illustration of this is the fight that broke out at the Tyson/Lewis press conference in the run-up to their long awaited bout. There we had the two best heavyweight boxers at the time, but when it kicked off for real the resulting exchange was nothing like a boxing match. It was a “street fight,” and was hence faster and more emotional.
Trained responses aren’t a part of a street fight and hence they shouldn’t be part of your street sparring. The difficulty of course is that you will be training with other martial artists so it initially takes some discipline not to engage in “game play.” The instant you do start trying to illicit trained responses, you’re no longer sparring realistically. In a real fight you need to keep things simple and direct. So practice keeping it simple and direct in your sparring.
Escape: Don’t stay and fight!
At the very beginning of this discussion we said that a fight is what happens when self-protection goes bad. Real fights are thoroughly unpleasant affairs that can have severe medical, emotional and legal consequences. If you therefore get the opportunity to stop fighting and run you should take it without hesitation. Many a wannabe tough guy will frown on the idea of fleeing a fight, but the smart and experienced people who have “been there” will always advise flight over fight. The true warrior doesn’t risk his life and liberty over his ego. He always does the smart thing.
Real life isn’t a kung fu movie
I recently received an email from a martial artist who a few days previously had been approached by two men armed with knives. He quickly assessed the situation and