Thinking is not an option

[Anonymous]

Last night at training a student brought up a point about thinking. He is an older gentleman (67 years old!) and we were talking about reacting in a real life scenario.

We stumble on to the topic of “thinking” under stress. His comment was “I like to think things through and examine all of my options before I react.”

He was a little taken back when I told him “you won’t have time to think AND react.”

His misconception about self defense was an honest normal one. Most, normal, rational people try to think logically about the subject of self defense. This is a common martial arts mistake. In the dojo or the gym it is easy to imagine what you wold do in a situation. You can try to make your training as intense as possible, but you can not escape one simple truth: no one in your class is actually trying to kill you and you are already prepared to “defend” yourself just because you are training.

Take your self out of context. After work, tired or injured when you are focused on you life, not the attack. When faced with a complete stranger who has every intent on doing the worst to you, you will not have time to think.

Mike Tyson is famous for saying “Everyone has a plan until they get hit”.
Once its on, you will only be able to react in one specific manner and with a handful of techniques. There is no sparring, no jockeying for position or anything else. You just need to be prepared in a way that makes you as effective as possible and takes all possibilities into account.

Weapons
Multiple Assailants
Bigger
Stronger
You name it.

Thinking about what to do has to be MINIMIZED to a few select tactics and strategies. The hardest thing to do is to prepare in a mindset that is foreign to you.

We can create hectic situations: random assault drills, sensory overload training (try doing random assault with a strobe light- get your mouth piece) or training while exhausted can simulate some of the effects of the massive adrenaline dump you will experience, but it still is not the real thing.

Train minimally. Always seek to eliminate the extras.

[Author]

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