Remove All the Extras

By Scott Shaw

            In every school of the martial arts, particularly those that teach a traditional system of self-defense, the students are taught a plethora of techniques. They are taught how to stand, how to punch, how to kick and in some cases how to joint lock and throw. They are taught these techniques and then they practice these techniques over-and-over again in order to develop exacting precision with each of them. Once they have learned these techniques they are then graded at how well they perform them. Thus, the martial art belt ranking system. As one moves their way through the martial arts, they do the same techniques over-and-over again as they are told this is the only way to gain true mastery over them. There is one very large problem in this equitation, however. The teacher who teaches them has most likely never been in an adult street fight. Thus, they have no true understanding as to whether or not they actually work. They are told that they do. They teach their students that they do. But, they have no first-hand knowledge.

            When a student of the martial arts is preforming one of the forms or katas of their system, striving for exacting precision is essential. At martial art competitions or demonstrations there are some practitioner who do what they do with exquisite beauty and perfection. Is this a part of the martial arts? Yes, it is. Is this part of the, “Martial,” “War-like,” part of the martial arts? Not really.

            There is a great divide between performing a specific technique with exacting precision and using that same technique as a tool of self-defense. In the classroom and on the demonstration floor, technique perfection is what is sought after. In physical combat, however, the belief that a specific technique must be preformed in an exacting manner is what may cause the student of the martial arts to lose a fight.

            There is an old saying among practitioners of Aikido and it can stretch across all of the various styles of the martial arts, “Thank you for letting me throw you.” If you have watched and studied the techniques used in an Aikido demonstration, (or any other style of the martial arts that focuses on elaborate throwing techniques), you will understand that though they are beautiful to watch they would not work in street combat. You are not going to cause a two-hundred-pound attacker to fly effortless through the air. And, this is just one exaggerated example. If you begin to break down any of the very-formalized techniques within your system of self-defense you will soon discover that in the rapid and undefined movements of a street fight the more you stick to structure and formality the less effective your techniques become.

            The martial arts are a great training ground to teach your body how to move and perform techniques that they average person does not understand. This being said, there is a grand illusion that simply because an individual can perform a perfect side kick in the studio that it would be effective on the street.  

            The martial arts, themselves, project this illusion. It is believed that the practitioner can defeat any opponent due to their ongoing training and the mental and physical development they gain in their school by preforming each technique over-and-over again as exactingly as possible. Again, this is where we must come to understand that there is a great difference between an idealized understanding of the martial arts and a practical one.

            As MMA has come to be embraced more-and-more over the past two decades, traditional martial art practitioners have been given the opportunity to witness, within the confines of a controlled environment, what one-on-one street combat actually looks like. It is not pretty. It is not defined. And, there are no rules. The two opponents do whatever it is they can do to win.

            From this understanding, within you own training facility, it may be time for you to begin to put aside the tradition of attempting to perform each technique a perfectly as possible. At least in association with your understanding of true self-defense.  If you want to know what truly works within your system, put it to the test. Glove up and let your opponent actually try to punch you. See which of your traditional punching defenses actually works. Do they same with kicks, body grabs and choke holds. Do not allow your opponent to know what self-defense you are going to employee nor allow him to react in the expected manner. Instead, make it like an actual street fight. Then, take it to the mat. Get in a ground fight for this is where many a street fight ends up. Do this, for this is the only way you will ever understand what truly does and does not work within your system of self-defense.  Once you have defined what does and does not work, in actual combat, you will then know what additional training you will need to prepare yourself if an actual street fight finds you.

            Every school of martial arts has a set of basic, intermediate, and advanced techniques that it teaches its students. Learn those techniques. Master those techniques and then put them to the test, leaving the extras behind. From this, you may emerge as a true martial artist.

Copyright © 2016 – All Rights Reserved

Remove All the Extras @ Scott Shaw.com

Scott Shaw Hapkido Taekwondo International 

Learning How to Take a Punch By Scott Shaw

By Scott Shaw

            At the heart of any form of physical hand-to-hand combat training is the developed ability to emerge victorious from a physical altercation. The various schools of self-defense each have the own set of developed techniques. Some are street-worthy and very effective; some not so much. The fact is, most schools of traditional martial arts teach a method of self-defense that is far less street-worthy than the teachers of the systems would ever admit. In class, all practice sessions are very orchestrated and expected. If there is sparring at the school, it is generally light or no-contact. Though the practitioners of these systems certainly come to master a heightened sense of physical movement, in many cases, when paired against a savvy street fighter they are quickly defeated as they do not know how to react to rapid and very directed physical assaults.

            Boxing is an ideal self-defense system where the practitioner quickly learns how to react to a specific type of assault. They get punched and they punch back. Simple but very effective. But, more than just that, a boxer learns how to take a punch and this is one of the most essential elements in the training of any fighter. You have to be able to take a punch and immediately continue on afterwards with your necessary self-defense or any defensive technique you may have learned at the dojo becomes useless.

            When the Asian martial arts hit the Western shores after World War II: karate, judo, and jujitsu became the idealized forms of self-defense. In the movies, the practitioner of a traditional form of martial arts always defeated their opponent. When taekwondo hit the West in the 1960s, its beautiful kicks again came to redefine what was possible with self-defense. But, again, if a stylized practitioner of these systems was put up against a competent boxer or seasoned street fighter they would, more than likely, be defeated.

            The reason for this is very simply, within any street fight the rules go out the window. All that matters is what works. People who have actually gone hand-to-hand with other fighters, on a frequent basis, are the ones who most clearly understand this and it is they who immediately, without thought, adapt to whatever is being thrown at them by their opponent. If they get hit, they know how to take that punch and not let it debilitate them. They simply move forward with the fight. This, while the stylized practitioner thinks about what they should be doing and why. It is this mindset that ultimately leads to the street fighter emerging victorious in a competition against a trained traditional martial artist.

            Throughout the 1960s and onward, more-and-more traditional martial arts practitioners began to open their minds and their styles to allowing other influences to come into play.  They would study what other systems had to offer and then integrate that ideology into their own system of self-defense.  Though schools of traditional martial arts are still in abundance, more and more training facilities emphasis leaving behind formalized tradition and learning what works and how best to use it.

            Here lies they ideal training platform that should be integrated into every school of self-defense. Teach your students the basics and then allow them to go hand-to-hand in a non-defined, unexpected manner, (within a controlled environment, of course). Let them learn what it feels like to actually fight. From this, they will emerge as true martial artists and ideal combat technicians.

            For anyone who has followed by writings on the fighting arts over the past three decades they understand that my focus has always been on developing and using what works best for you. Learn your techniques, study your environment, study your opponent, and then do what you must do to defeat them. I have long detailed the necessity of landing the first strike as that may be all it takes to emerge victorious from any confrontation. But, as time has moved on, I have come to enjoy studying the more refined elements of my opponent’s combat skills and then deciding how best to overcome their attack. To understand this, let me explain…

            Every person you enter into a physical altercation with has their own set of predisposed skills and fighting techniques.  With most people, they have virtually none. They will either come at you throwing wild punches or if they have no developed skills at all, they will try to tackle you. But, once on the ground, they have no idea what to do next. In each case, they immediately show their hand. They implicitly tell you what they are capable of doing. And, more importantly, of what they are not capable of doing. 

            Of course, there is the other side of the issue; this is where you come face-to-face with a highly trained fighter. Whether they come from the traditional martial arts, MMA, boxing, or something else, again, what they are going to initially unleash at you is their best technique. Meaning, if they have a really powerful side kick or a highlight developed right hook, they are not going to walk up and slap you. They are going to attempt to hit you as hard as they can with that technique for that is the best they have to offer.

            From my person perspective, what I have truly learned from is to let the opponent unleash their best technique. Once they do, then you know what they have – you understand what they can do. From this understanding, the moment they unleash their secondary attack, they have already illustrated how they can most easily be defeated.

            Certainly, this method of self-defense can be precarious if you go face-to-face with a highly trained fighter. But, most people who would step up to you aren’t highly trained fighters. They are simply an adrenaline filled individual, lost in their own anger. And, this is why they can easily be defeated. By keeping your focus, studying their technique and movement, you can quickly and consciously defeat them by understanding what they will most likely next unleash and then countermanding it with the most appropriate technique in your arsenal.

            At the heart of all self-defense training is learning to anticipate and then defeating your attacker. Yes, if you are a trained practitioner you can go up and probably easily knock a person out with one punch or kick. But, what is the fun in that? Moreover, as I always warn my students, that style of self-defense leaves you highly vulnerable to legal repercussions. On the other hand, if you allow your assailant to be the attacker, then you are simply defending yourself and personal self-defense is always legal.  

            Most people train in the fighting arts in order to learn how to defeat an opponent in the most expedient manner possible. This is fine. You should learn all the basics from kicks, to punches, to take-downs, to joint locks, and most importantly deflections. Plus, you need to know how to take a punch! But, once all that has been understood, then you must come to understand the individual body mechanics of each style of attack.  From this, you gain the ability to consciously observe your opponent while not being overpowered by them and then defeat them in the most appropriate manner, dictated by their own defined style of attack which you have previously witnessed.

            Practice with this in your training environment. You will find that it will make you a much more competent martial artist.

Copyright © 2015 – All Rights Reserved

Learning How to Take a Punch @ Scott Shaw.com

Scott Shaw Hapkido Taekwondo International

Ego, Dominance, and Defending Against the Sucker Punch

By Scott Shaw

            Recently, here in the Los Angeles area, there was an incident where an Uber driver was attacked from behind by the passenger in his car. Luckily, the driver had a dash-cam recording the entire attack.  The passenger sat there smacking the driver from behind over and over and over again. It was very troubling to watch for just like the coward who accosts a person from behind with a sucker punch, being seat-belted into your car seat and attacked from behind leaves you in an extremely vulnerable position. The attacker was wearing a short sleeved shirt and you could see that he worked out, so the attack had to be very painful. Due to the fact that the attack was recorded, the passenger was arrested, was fired from his senior position at a fast food company, and, in addition to facing several charges, is being sued by the driver.

            If we look at this situation more clearly we easily come to see that no matter what instigated the attack on the driver, the attacker was using his positioning to his advantage – knowing that he would easily emerge victorious as how can a person effectively defend themselves from the position that the driver found himself in?  This is simply a coward’s way to fight.

            As martial artists I believe that we must truly study our own inner nature and come to clearly define the person we are when we find ourselves in any physical confrontation. Certainly, one of the primary reasons for studying the martial arts is to gain a mastery of self-defense. But, many practitioners go far beyond this understanding and simply use their skills to beat up other people. This is simply the wrong mindset to possess as you move your way towards martial arts mastery. 

            If you are a trained fighting practitioner and you use your skills to defeat an opponent simply to stroke your own ego or to falsely attempt to prove to yourself that you are better than someone else, then you are missing the entire point of martial arts training. You are simply walking down the path of ego in an attempt to fill a void that exist somewhere inside of you where you desire to be dominant over other people.

            The truth be told, this ego driven mindset it very common in the martial arts. Everywhere you go you will hear a certain caliber of martial artist disusing how their style, their school, their teacher, or they personally are the very best. You will hear people saying that some other practitioner is not as a good as them. In fact, you will witness many lies or altered truths being spoken about other martial artists simply to make themselves, their teacher, or their school appear to be better. Though this is a common practice, it is sheer foolishness and this style of behavior is, in fact, against the entire inner teachings of the martial arts.

            What I always suggest to an individual who wishes to gage a person’s true inner knowledge about the martial arts is to simply listen to them. What do they have to say about other people, other students, and other instructors? Is their dialog based upon who is better and who is worse? Is it based upon criticism? Or, is it based upon mutual understanding and respect? Listen to a person and you will know who they truly are.

            An individual’s developed mindset defines how a person will react to the physical elements of this world. Yes, there is conflict. For this reason, a martial artist trains their body to effectively encounter any style of physical attack. But, once the attack has been nullified, it is what the martial arts does next that defines who they truly are.

            As I often discuss, as a martial artist you train your body to effectively defeat an attacker. But, what is the limit of effective self-defense? Is it letting them know that they cannot over power you? Or, is it you beating the crap out of them?

            In a physical altercation it is quite easily understood how some people, when they are being attacked, block and then hit and hit again until their attacker lies knocked out and motionless on the ground. As a martial artist you certainly possess the ability to do just that. But, is that the best strategy? I do not believe it is. Yes, you defend yourself. But, you only need to do that until your opponent has come to understand that you can and will defeat him. Then, you halt your counterattack for you have made your point. You do not have to hurt them further simply to hurt them. This is the true essence of the martial arts.

            At the heart of your martial arts training must be your inner development. Yes, learn how to block, deflect, joint lock, kick, punch, and throw but consciously allow yourself to move beyond that level of physicality. Become more. Never become like the person who beat on an Uber driver from behind. Never be the person who unleashes a sucker punch. Defend yourself if you need to but do not allow your ego, via your martial art training, to cause you to hurt a person unnecessarily, no matter who or what that person may be, just because you can.

Copyright © 2015 – All Rights Reserved

 Originally from the Scott Shaw Blog

Scott Shaw Hapkido Taekwondo International

Ego, Dominance, and Defending Against the Sucker Punch @ Scott Shaw.com

Environmental Fighting By Scott Shaw

By Scott Shaw

            As martial artists we continually train or bodies and our minds to encounter combative situations in the most effective and expedient manner possible. To this end, we must continually reevaluate and refine our training methods to ensure that we will be prepared to defend ourselves no matter where a battle finds us. For this reason, Environmental Fighting is one of the best training methods available.

            Environmental Fighting finds the martial artist setting up a situation where he or she is in a less than ideal fighting posture and then must effectively defend him or herself from this positioning. Thus, the practitioner develops the natural ability to refine their defensive and offensive methodology to met whatever type of combat they encounter.

            In most martial art classes, students train in a very sterile manner. They face off against their training partner and then performed prescribed blocks to specific punches or kicks. Or, they may perform specific hand-techniques designed to defend against a specific grab or hold. Though these are all age-old training methods, if that is the only self-defense training one practices, if they find themselves in street combat, where no rules apply, they are often left with a less then ideal skillset of what to do against a wildly driven thug.

            To begin to work with Environmental Fighting you simply need to set up a combat situation and then have your opponent move in towards you with various random attacks. Obviously, in the initial stages of Environmental Fighting training, your opponent is not going to come at you full speed or with full power. But, by simply unleashing an undefined technique in your direction you will be forced to come to understand what defense is most appropriate and effective against that type of assault.

            In is essential in Environmental Fighting training to make sure your defensive techniques are realistic to the environment where you find yourself. For example, when I was a young boy, my instructor set up a chair and a small table in the classroom and demonstrated how he could deliver a roundhouse kick to the head of his opponent across the table. Though this was an early example of Environment Fighting, even then I realized that if you were in a crowded restaurant, sending a wide roundhouse kick to the head of your opponent was not going to be an easy feat to perform as you may get hung up on the table next to you or by a guest dining next to you and so on. The point is, though you will obviously be training in Environmental Fighting in the dojang, it is essential to be sure to train in a realistic manner.

            The dojang environment is a safe and controlled place where you can refine your training skills and make Environmental Fighting a part of your overall training regime.  To do so, is quite simple. You simply need to place yourself in an unrehearsed, less than ideal position, and then have your training partner come at you with various aggressive techniques.  For example, one Environmental Fighting technique to work with is to have your back up against the wall where your opponent has pinned you in. From this training position you will learn how to effectively push your opponent back and deliver close-contact strikes to his body that will leave him disabled.

            Another ideal training posture work with is to be sitting on the floor when your attacker accosts you. From this position you will learn how to best deal with low kicks that are directed towards your head and body and how to quickly and effectively get up and reposition yourself and then continue through with appropriate self-defense.

            Laying face down, like you may be doing at the beach, is another training posture of Environmental Fighting to work with. By discovering how to defend yourself from a fully prone position, perhaps the hardest of all positions to effectively emerge from, you will gain invaluable knowledge about true methods of self-defense.

            The main thing to keep in mind when working with Environmental Fighting is to never let your techniques become stagnate or predetermined, nor should you ever believe that what works for your training partner will work for you.  Each situation and each person possess a completely unique set of variables. For this reason, you must never believe that one technique will universally work in all situations. You must forever be willing to immediately change your defensive strategy the moment you come to understand that it will not leave you dominate in any physical combat situation you find yourself in. Environmental Fighting is the ideal training method to develop the insight into what truly works and how you can emerge victorious from any confrontation.

Copyright © 2014 – All Rights Reserved

Environmental Fighting @ Scott Shaw.com

Scott Shaw Hapkido Taekwondo International

Defending Against the Sucker Punch

By Scott Shaw

            A sucker punch is commonly defined as finding yourself being unexpectedly struck in the back of your head by an attacker who has accosted you without your anticipation. The reason the sucker punch can be such a devastating blow is that you do not see it coming and, because of this fact, it can leave you injured and ill prepared to counterattack. As you have been hit first to a vulnerable portion of your body, (the back of your head), you may, in fact, even be knocked out.

            From a martial arts perspective, no well-trained or honorable person would ever attack an individual in this manner. This being stated, the streets are never kind and are rarely honorable. It is for this reason that as a martial artist you must be prepared to deal with this type of assault if it is ever encountered.

            In all systems of martial arts, it is understood that the first powerful, well-connected, strike can set the stage for the entire confrontation. This is because of the fact that the first person that is impacted with a powerful strike may be left dazed and vulnerable to further attacks. This is, in fact, the primary reason that an attacker employees a sucker punch. They wish to injure their opponent and hopefully set a pattern for confrontational victory without the need to actually go toe-to-toe with their target.

Sucker Punch: Step One

            As detailed, a sucker punch is never an honorable method of physical confrontation. Due to this fact, the moment you have been struck from behind you must counterattack without the thought of why your opponent has unleashed their attack. As such, to achieve any hope of confrontational dominance and to limit the injuries you will receive, you must immediately counterattack.

            As your opponent is behind you, your most rapid method of counterattack is to immediately spin on your rear based leg and deliver either a powerful spinning back fist or elbow strike to the head of your attacker or, if you are trained in effective kicking techniques, deliver a powerful back kick to the knee or mid-section of your opponent. These techniques are all rapid and powerful deterrent mechanisms. In addition, each of these counter-strikes possesses the ability to halt your attacker from unleashing further strikes to your body.

Sucker Punch: Step Two

            Each physical altercation is defined by its own set of parameters. Whenever you find yourself in a physical altercation these factors set the stage for the type of techniques you will most appropriately utilize for your self-defense. For example, each physical confrontation is defined by your environment, the height and weight of your opponent, and by the level of combat training your opponent has been exposed to.

            Each system of fighting arts trains its practitioners how to encounter an opponent in a specific manner. Boxing generally trains its practitioners to face off with an opponent. Jujitsu practitioners commonly attempt to tackle an opponent and take the fight to the ground. Hard style practitioners will move back and forth, side-to-side, while delivering hand and kicking techniques. Soft style practitioners will oftentimes attempt to deflect an opponent’s attack and perhaps counterstrike or send them to the ground with a throw.

            These are the techniques used by trained martial artists. More commonly in the streets, however, is that you will encounter at attacker who is not schooled in the finer aspects of physical combat. As such, they will do things such as sucker punch you and then simply unleash a barrage of wild, misdirected punches in your direction. To effectively end the confrontation in the most rapid manner possible you must immediately counter attack with the best techniques at your disposal.

Sucker Punch: Step Three

            As each martial artist is exactly trained in self-defense techniques that are unique to their style, it is those techniques that you will employee when you find yourself defending against a sucker punch attack. 

            To most effectively defend against the sucker punch type of assault, you must rapidly deploy the best defensive tools at your disposal. In other words, defend yourself with the least amount of effort and then continue to counterattack with your best available options until your opponent is defeated. 

            If you practice a hard style of self-defense use the best punching and kicking tools at your disposal. If you practice a soft style that employs joint locks to debilitate an opponent take hold of the most easily accessible joint of your opponent’s body and drive him to the ground.

            The main thing to understand when deciding to unleash any type of defensive attack against the sucker punch is that it must be a defensive maneuver that you are well versed in, can easily unleash, and will have the most devastating effect upon your attacking opponent.

Sucker Punch: Step Four

            As is commonly understood in all styles of martial arts, one technique is rarely enough to defeat an adrenalin filled opponent.  For this reason, once you have unleashed a powerful counter measure, you must continue forward with further counterattacks to cement your victory in the confrontation. Therefore, once you have redirected the path of the confrontation, strike your opponent until he is fully debilitated.

Sucker Punch: Step Five

            No confrontation is ever won by lingering. If you do encounter a sucker punch confrontation, your best alternative is to leave the arena before it escalates. But, in many cases this is not possible.

            If your exit is not an option, then you must counterattack by using your best available tools of self-defense and then immediate leave the sight of the altercation. Do not allow your opponent to recover from whatever self-defense techniques you have unleashed and come at you again.

            As explained, a sucker punch is the type of attack that no honorable combatant would ever employ. Though this is the case, as a martial artist you must train to defend yourself against whatever type of attack you may encounter. From this, you emerge as a more proficient self-defense technician as well as being a more whole and competent human being.

Copyright © 1997 – All Rights Reserved

Scott Shaw Hapkido Taekwondo International

 Defending Against the Sucker Punch @ Scott Shaw.com

Forced Into Confrontation

By Scott Shaw

            As discussed in one of my recent writings, "Watching Violence Unfold," people are often drawn into confrontation when they had no intention of ever being so. I mean this can happen in many ways. Somebody can get all road-raged at you as you are driving. Somebody doesn’t like the color or your skin, your hairstyle, or how you are dressed. Maybe somebody just decided to not like you for an undisclosed reason. Pretty much anything you can think of can cause a person to decide to attempt to dawn you into a confrontation. Certainly, on the internet, people do it all the time.

            I so often receive questions from people about how to remain centered when they are being attacked. Though it is depictive of an era, I find it very sad.

            As is the case with much of life, most people are good and kind hearted. They live their own lives. They understand if a person has a different belief system or holds a differing opinion. They do things for the betterment of humanity. Others, for whatever reason, live life differently. They are real jerks. And, as long as they can hide behind a screen name or an internet persona, they are all-empowered. They say and do bad things. Then, if they get blocked all they have to do is grab a new screen name and they do not care about any damage they have done to another person’s life. They find all kind of excuses or even feel empowered for what they have done. That’s just wrong!

            This is the problem with life and life confrontations – some people intentionally do things to make you angry. They do things to hurt you.  They say and do things that are not based in the truth. They do things to draw you into a confrontation. Then, if you stand up to them, if you stand up for your rights, they turn it all around and make it seem like you were the one doing something wrong.

            On the physical level, I have seen this in physical confrontation time-and-time again. A person gets dragged into a fight. They kick the ass of the aggressor but the aggressor tells the cops that the other person started it and, as such, the person who was initially minding their own business ends up going to jail.

            This is why I tell my martial art students to never fight. Because, as I explain, “As a trained martial artist, you will probably win. Then what? The person who actually started the fight will claim, ‘That guy’s a black belt. How could I win a fight against him (or her)?’”

            On the internet confrontations are much the same. There are some highly skilled people out there who learn how do to things that the average does not understand or is not even motivated to do. But, the difference is, they are not man (or woman) enough to go face-to-face with you. They do bad things and what can you do about an undefined entity, attacking you in a manner in which you have no viable means of self-defense?

            So, what can you do if you are forced into a confrontation? This is currently one of the most complex issues of life. As more and more people enter this world. …As more and more go through their adolescence in an internet world. …As more and more people refuse to let go of their adolescence because they can sit at home, stare at a computer, are financed by their parents, and do not actually have to get out there, get and job, and do something positive with their life – the entire concept of confrontations become distorted.

            First of all, I would say, if you want to avoid all confrontations, live in the abyss, do nothing – hide. Live like a sadhu in a cave. If you are unseen, you are UNSEEN. But, that’s hard. As human beings we all want interaction. Some of us what to create and actually do something creative with our lives.  But then, others find that as a reason to create confrontation. I have experiences this since the dawning of the internet.

            So, if you are going to be you. …If you are going to create. …If you are going to live a life not defined by the walls of a monastery, then you have to move and adapt.

            Again, just as I teach my martial art students, you must adapt to whatever type of confrontation you find yourself in. But, as a trained martial artist there is no need to fight when you do not have to. You have nothing to prove. As a trained martial artist you are already more than the person attempting to draw you into a conflict. Because a person of consciousness or a true martial artist would never do that. But, if you must fight, then you must move and adapt. You must deflect and refract. You only strike if you must. And, once you do, then you immediately leave.

            Saying bad things, doing bad things, hurting someone (no matter what your justification), attempting to draw someone into a confrontation is never to the benefit of anyone. This is true no matter what you think or believe about a person. Doing good and positive things is the only way to live a good and positive life. It’s as simple as that.

            If someone confronts you, leave. If someone accosts you, walk away. If someone attacks you, deflect. If someone hits you, strike only to remain conscious and alive, and then leave and return to being a person of peace.

            Confrontations never end well. And, they are of no benefit to the person of consciousness. 

            Think before you say something bad or do something bad to a person. Be more. Be better. Do not confront.

Copyright © 2013 – All Rights Reserved

Originally from the Scott Shaw Blog

Scott Shaw Hapkido Taekwondo International

 Hapkido: Articles on Self-Defense: Volume Two

Scott Shaw's latest book on Hapkido, Hapkido: Articles on Self-Defense: Volume Two, has just been released. Click on the link to find out more information.

Hapkido’s Theory of Circular Self Defense

By Scott Shaw

This article originally appeared in the July 1993 issue of Black Belt Magazine.

            As a martial artist you are trained to continually develop and refine your self defense skills. This training often times involves drills that will teach you how to defend yourself against the onslaught of the various attacks an adversary may launch against you. The defensive tactics that are generally taught, by many martial art system, teach you how to defend yourself with forceful techniques once an opponent has already grabbed a hold of you or has unleashed an attack such as a kick or a punch. The problem with defending yourself at this late stage of an attack is that your opponent either already has a hold of you or he has already unleashed his punch.

            Once an opponent has a powerful hold on you it is much harder to free his grasp from you then if you encountered him before he has the opportunity to take a firm hold of you. Additionally, if your attacker has already begun to punch at you, that punch is in motion, it has power, velocity, and speed, which you can only hope to beat with a traditional block. The Korean martial art system of Hapkido teaches its practitioners that it is far better to defend yourself before your attacker has the opportunity to solidify his attack upon you. To achieve self defense, in the early stages of an attack, Hapkido uses its Theory of Circular Self Defense.

            The Hapkido Theory of Circular Self Defense does not mean that you move your body in elaborate exaggerated circular movements. Instead, Circular Self Defense training is twofold; first of all, it teaches that the most important element in any confrontation is to define the range your opponent is attacking from. How far is he from you? With this knowledge the most appropriate and effective self defense measure may be put into place before your opponent has launched a successful attack upon you. Once this range is defined the second level of Hapkido Theory of Circular Self Defense can be put into place, that of moving in fluid circular motion.

            The first step we will view is how to conclude the range of your opponent’s attack. To accomplish this, the Hapkido practitioner utilizes the Three Concentric Circle Principal.

            The Three Concentric Circle Principal has you visualize three circles of varying distances encompassing your body. The First or Primary Circle is approximately three feet around you, or the distance of your outstretched arms. If an opponent has substantiated an attack this close to you, immediate and aggressive self defense is necessary.

            The Second Circle ranges from three to six feet around your body. At this level, your opponent needs to travel to you, to launch an effective attack. To travel this distance a certain amount of momentum is required. This momentum can be effectively used against him by deflecting his forward motion attack and using his expended energy to your own advantage.

            If due to defensive circumstance you must travel to your opponent, crossing this Second Circle limit, you must do so in a balanced offensive posture. The Second Circle is in relatively close proximity to you. For this reason, many martial artist attempt to overly stretch close-in fighting techniques to this three to six foot distance. This is a mistake. You should not attempt to stretch your close-in punching or kicking techniques, as this will leave you off balance.

            If these initial techniques do not make successful contact with your attacker, he can use your lack of balance to his own advantage and strike you with a powerful attack. To this end, if you realize the necessity to move into his Second Circle location, you should do so by rapidly sliding your body in towards him, guided by your lead foot, and then, immediately encounter him with an appropriate powerful strike such as a Straight Punch followed by a joint lock and throw.

            The Third or Tertiary Circle extends from six to nine feet around your body. If your opponent travels this distance to attack you, his oncoming motion is very obvious and appropriate defensive action can easily be prepared for and instigated. If, on the other hand, you decide it is in your best interest to travel this distance and encounter your opponent where he is located, then you must do so in the most efficient manner possible.

            The only reason to travel this distance is if your opponent possesses a weapon such as a gun and his using it is inevitable. If this is the case, then such techniques as a Stepping or Jumping Side Kick are most effective. This is because of the fact that these offensive techniques close the distance between yourself and your opponent quickly and you arrive in an offensive posture.

            The Three Concentric Circle Principal does not mean that you must maintain a stagnate positioning. What it does detail, however, is that these three circles move as your body moves. They are a method to accurately gauge the distance between your opponent and yourself and tell you when defensive tactic is most appropriate.

            By first defining the distance from your attack opponent, you can enter into any confrontation prepared to successfully defend yourself in the most appropriate manner. This area of Hapkido ideology is known as Range Effective Fighting. Once the range of your defensive posture is understood you then can successfully employee the second area of Hapkido Theory of Circular Self-Defense, that of Circular Movement.

            Hapkido teaches that by training your body to move in natural patters of circular motion you can effectively defeat an opponent’s attack with minimal expended energy and without the potential of unnecessarily injuring yourself. It must be initially understood that Circular Defense never has you encounter an attack straight on. This is because of the fact that linear defensive techniques are forceful, awkward, and often times hold you locked into a single pattern of movement. This fact can be witnessed in the case of the forceful Forearm Block against a Straight Punch. This common traditional defensive technique, among Hard Style Martial Art Systems, witnesses you entering into a Front Stance with your blocking arm powerfully traveling upwards towards where the attacker’s punch is expected to travel. If the pathway of his punch has been even slightly miscalculated or the attacker redirects his offensive assault, you will have expended excessive energy and your arm will be locked into forcefully moving in the defensive pattern you have instigated until it reaches its apex. While the aforementioned linear block is in progress, your opponent possesses the ability to strike at you with a secondary attack. If, on the other hand, you train your body to move in fluid circular motions, if your opponent redirects his attack, you can instantly adapt your defense to his movement as you will not be locked into a formal forceful blocking pattern.

            Hapkido’s Circular Theory of Self Defense is a style and a pattern of movement. This understanding teaches that first you remove yourself from the path of an opponent’s attack, then you deflect it, intercept it, and finally you disable your attacker from possessing the ability to attempt to injure your further. This strategy of defense is accomplished by training your body to move in fluid circular motion, following the path of least resistance. This defensive ideology, thereby, allows you to immediately follow one defensive technique with another and another until your opponent is completely disabled.

            At the basis of Hapkido’s Circular Theory of Defense is your moving out of the path of an attack. Moving from the path of an attack does not witness you rapidly retreating backwards or sloppily moving to one side in a linear fashion. This type of random movement leaves you ill-equipped to immediately follow up with further effective defensive techniques that will disable your opponent. This is due to the fact that by launching your body rapidly in a linear retreat, your body's own momentum locks you into one pattern of movement. Hapkido’s Circular Theory of Self Defense, instead, sees you calculating the path of your opponent’s attack, and then making only the minimal movement to remove yourself from the path of that attack. With this style of movement, you do not have to substantially re-balance yourself, you use little energy, and you remain in a close proximity to your opponent where necessary counter attacks can easily and effectively be instigated.

            The most elementary example of moving out of the way of an opponent’s attack can be witnessed in the circular defense against the Straight Punch. In the case of the Straight Punch, which is targeted at your head, simply by pivoting on the ball of your lead foot and circularly moving your rear leg to a forty-five-degree positioning from where it previously was, your heads positioning has shifted to the degree that the Straight Punch of your opponent will continue on its linear path and miss its target. With this you have achieved initial self defense without ever instigating a formal block.

            As forceful linear attacks are often very powerful in their forward driving nature, Hapkido’s Circular Theory of Self Defense teaches that deflective blocking techniques should be used in accordance with your removing yourself from the path of your opponent’s attack. With this, you maintain control over the confrontation and your opponent does not possess the ability to unleash a secondary attack on you. This is due to the fact that by deflecting an attack, you can leave your arm in place, thus, holding his striking arm in check, as you instigate additional defensive techniques.

            The most elementary circular deflective technique is the Frontal Circular Knife Hand Deflection. This block is performed by first forming your hand into a Knife Hand, bending your elbow, and locating your forearm in front of your body, parallel to the ground. To deflect the on-coming Straight Punching attack of your opponent, first pivot out of the path of his attack, (as previously described), as you do so simultaneously circularly guide your hand upwards across your body to a vertical positioning. The Straight Punch will have missed you, you will have deflected your opponent’s arm, and you will be in control of the altercation.

            With these two simple pivoting and deflection techniques as a basis, you not only protect your entire upper body from attack, but you deflect the on-coming punch of your opponent with little or no expended energy. In addition, by deflecting the attack, as opposed to forcefully blocking it, you do not risk the possibility of injuring yourself by meeting bone to bone in a traditional powerful intercepting blocking technique.

            Hapkido’s Circular Theory of Self Defense teaches that you must maintain control over the altercation and not allow your opponent to possess the ability to strike at you with a secondary attack once you have achieved initial self defense. Deflecting is never enough to emerge victorious from a confrontation.

            The point to launch further self defense counter measures is the moment your opponent’s attack has been deflected. This is due to the fact that in this rapidly fleeting moment, he is most vulnerable as his balance is somewhat misalign and his mind is recalculating what move to make next. Therefore, this is your ideal opportunity to launch a counter attack.

            In the case of the previously described, Circular Deflection Defense against the Straight Punch, your next line of self defense could be as simple as immediately reaching in to your opponent’s chin with your lead deflecting hand, as your other hand rapidly moves in and takes control of the back of his head. By immediately taking a powerful front and rear hold on his head and locking his neck unnaturally away from you, he can be effortlessly directed to the ground, where additional counter attack measures can be unleashed as necessary.

            Many confrontations do not begin in this previously discussed First Circle distance. Often times an opponent will rush in towards you, crossing through the Third and Second Circle distances, in order to attack. In this style of forward driven attack, your opponent’s intentions will become quite evident and you can use his own forward momentum against himself. For example, if an opponent rushes in at you and is either preparing to extend his arms to shove you or to punch you, your first level of defense is to Side Step his forward motion. You then immediately deflect his out stretched arm, with a Forearm Circle Deflection. Your opponent, due to his own expended energy, will continue to travel forward with his own force of motion. At this point he will be vulnerable to counter attack.

            Hapkido’s Circular Theory of Self Defense is simple in its design and it application. It teaches that you simply encounter any attack by not encountering it at all. Instead, it is far better to step away from the path of force, deflect as necessary, and then counter attack with the most circularly easy technique so your opponent will not possess the ability to strike at you with a secondary attack.

Copyright © 1993 – All Rights Reserved

Hapkido’s Theory of Circular Self Defense @ Scott Shaw.com 

Scott Shaw Hapkido Taekwondo International

The Forgotten Fists of Taekwondo

By Scott Shaw

This article first appeared in the June 2009 issue of Black Belt Magazine

            Taekwondo has long been defined by its advanced kicking techniques. But, taekwondo is much more than simply a martial art that places its primary focus upon the legs. At the heart of taekwondo is an exacting system of self-defense that employs all parts of a practitioner’s body. This is done so that the practitioner can be confident and emerge victorious from whatever type of physical altercation they may encounter.

            Throughout the early evolution of taekwondo, from the mid 1940s forward, its self-defense techniques were continually reviewed and redesigned in order to make taekwondo an exacting science of self-defense. During the latter part of the twentieth century, however, taekwondo evolved into an Olympic sport. From this came many rules and regulations that began to alter the evolution of this self-defense orientated style of martial arts. Most noticeably was the fact that many of the original hand and arm strikes, that were elemental to the foundation of the original art of taekwondo, began to be toned down and in many cases eliminated altogether. This was due to the fact that in Olympic style taekwondo competitions, the punch is never allowed to be delivered to an opponent’s face or head.  Punching and other hand techniques are restricted solely to an opponent’s body. 

            With the inauguration of the sport of taekwondo, this has caused many modern taekwondo instructors to veer their curriculum away from the traditional self-defense aspects of taekwondo and focus their training primarily upon the sport facets of the art.  There has been much controversy associated with this redefinition – especially among the early practitioners of the art.  This is due to the fact that many believe that by training a taekwondo student to focus their hand striking techniques solely upon the body of an opponent, the natural reaction to strike to the more debilitating locations on the opponent’s neck and head will be hindered if they ever encounter true combat.

Hidden Inside the Forms of Taekwondo

            It must be understood that taekwondo was developed to utilize all elements of the practitioner’s body in the most efficient and effective manner possible. Simply by looking at the forms (poomse) of taekwondo, one immediately sees that there are low kicks to the legs, punches to the head, knife hands to the throat, and elbow strikes to the temples. 

            With the dawn of Olympic sport taekwondo, some teachers have moved away from training their students in the actual self-defense applications detailed in these forms.  Instead, they have left the hand and arm strikes only to be practiced during the forms segment of a taekwondo class.  This has caused speculation on the part of many novice taekwondo students as to how to actually use the hand and arm techniques detailed in the forms. This has given birth to a school of thought that there are secret elements, known only to the masters, hidden within the forms of taekwondo. This is not the case, however. The only reason this myth persists is based upon the fact that some modern taekwondo teachers no longer embrace the essential self-defense applications detailed in the forms of taekwondo.  Instead, they have shifted their focus to training their students solely on the limited applications of sport taekwondo.

            It must be understood that by not embracing the entire system of self-defense, detailed in the original definition of taekwondo, many students have been left with a less than adequate understanding of self-defense.  To overcome this problem, the entire system of taekwondo self-defense training must be embraced – especially that of the hand and arm strikes.  Thereby, making all taekwondo practitioners the most competent and well-rounded self-defense technicians possible.

            For this reason, this article will detail some of the understandings of how taekwondo uses the fist, hand, and arm in the most efficient self-defense manner possible. From this, the taekwondo practitioner can gain a refined understanding about the techniques in taekwondo’s arsenal of hand and arm strikes in order to better understand how they are best employed in actual self-defense applications.

Taekwondo and the Fist

            Taekwondo possesses a plethora of hand and arm striking techniques.  The fist, the knuckles, the knife hand, the circle hand, and the elbows are all part of this vast system of self-defense. To this end, the true practitioner of taekwondo never leaves behind all of the tools of his art.  Though they may train extensively in the rules that make up Olympic sport competition, they also train their body and mind to be prepared to unleash the most devastating hand and arm strikes if the self-defense situation ever presents itself.

Rapid Penetration

            At the heart of taekwondo’s self-defense arsenal is the understanding of rapid penetration of an opponent’s defenses.  What this means is that taekwondo uses a very linear and straightforward method in the unleashing of all of its offensive and defensive attacks. From this, each taekwondo strike becomes very rapid and is designed to quickly penetrate an opponent’s defenses.

            Simplicity is the second key to the taekwondo arsenal of self-defense. This means that no unnecessary or over exaggerated movement is ever employed, as this simply slows down the process of self-defense. Each offensive or defensive strike is designed to be rapid and precise in its application and is implemented to debilitate an opponent in the most rapid manner possible. From these two understandings comes an extremely exacting system of self-defense that uses no unnecessary movement and quickly debilitates any attacker.

            With these two tenets as a basis of self-defense understanding, taekwondo’s primary punching technique is the straight punch. By its very design, the straight punch allows the practitioner to make contact with the intended target in the most expedient and powerful fashion possible. 

The Straight Punch

            The straight punch is one of the essential tools of taekwondo’s punching arsenal. The straight punch uses the front fist. It is understood that this punch is generally the first line of defense one should turn to for self-defense applications, as it is a natural, easy, and very debilitating technique of self-defense.

            The taekwondo straight punch is driven forward, directly towards your target, in a linear fashion.  Your shoulder muscles and triceps are the bodily tools used to propel your fist forward.  Your fist can make contact with your opponent in either a vertical or horizontal positioning. 

            The taekwondo straight punch is ideally delivered when the elbow of your punching arm remains slightly bent upon making target impact.  This is initially accomplished by accurately judging the distance between you and your opponent. You then make striking impact with your opponent before your arm reaches the point where it must stretch out or extend unnaturally to reach its desired strike point.  By allowing your elbow to remain slightly bent, whenever you use a straight punching technique, you not only maintain maximum body balance but you keep your elbow from possible hypertension, as the momentum of the punch drives it forward.

            The key element that gives the taekwondo straight punch its power is the fact that you make contact with your target before you have extended your punching arm fully.  The reason for this is so that your straight punch reaches its target as close to its point of inception as possible. This allows you to continue forward with the force and power of the punch -- extending it deeply into your opponent.  If, on the other hand, you have to reach to make contact with your opponent, you will have utilized and wasted a large portion of the power of your punch before it ever impacts its intended strike point.

The Taekwondo Straight Punch Verses the Roundhouse Punch

            The reason the practitioner of taekwondo utilizes the straight punch, as the preferred punching technique, is the fact that it holds several advantages over the more common roundhouse punch. The roundhouse punch is delivered when the punching arm initially swings outwards and then in towards its target. Due to its design, the roundhouse punch is not only much slower than the straight punch, but it is much more obvious and easy to defend against, as well.

Other Linear Hand Strike Techniques

            Through the design and application of the straight punch, the practitioner of taekwondo delivers other linear hand striking techniques in much the same, very direct manner.  By this style of application, these techniques not only become very fast and powerful but they additionally become very hard to block -- due to the extremely linear nature of their delivery.

The Knuckle Fist (Jin Joo Mok)

            The knuckle fist is formed by making your hand into a fist. You then cause your forward knuckles to extend forward.  Offensive delivery is made with this weapon of the hand by projecting your bent elbow from mid body level. The forward motion of this punch is driven forward with your shoulder and arm muscles. As the knuckle fist is a refined and highly specific striking tool, its impact is ideally delivered to the solar plexus or central throat of an opponent. 

The Circle Hand (Won Yuk Soo Do)

            The circle hand is formed by separating your thumb from your forefinger, tightening the muscles and tendons of the hand, and striking, in a linear fashion, to the frontal region of an attacker’s neck. The circle hand, which strikes an opponent’s throat, is also immediately delivered in a very linear style of attack.  From this, the opponent is struck and debilitated before he has the opportunity to block this offensive technique.

The Palm Strike (Chang Kwon)

            The palm strike, like the straight punch, is delivered in a very linear fashion. The palm strike has you bend your fingers at your second knuckle, which exposes the base of your palm.  By bending your fingers in this fashion, the muscle that extends from your thumb across the base of your hand is tightened, thus providing a powerful striking weapon. Your palm is then brought back to your shoulder level.  It is unleashed by snapping the strike towards its target with your shoulder muscles.

            The palm strike is most effectively used to target locations on your opponent’s head such as: underneath the base of his nose, (which can prove deadly), across the bridge of his nose, his temples, or the side of his jaw. 

The Back Fist (Ye Kwon)

            The use of the back fist, in modern taekwondo, has virtually disappeared. This offensive technique was, however, an integral part of the original teachings of this art.

            The back fist is an extremely rapid offensive weapon.  To unleash the back fist, your elbow is bent and your fist is brought back to your chest at shoulder level in a vertical position.  The back fist is then unleashed at its target by first snapping your elbow out and then extending the distance of the back fist’s attack from your shoulder. The back fist is generally aimed at your opponent’s head.

            The back fist is extremely difficult to defend against.  This is due to the fact that it is a very rapid striking weapon and once impact is made, your fist is rapidly recoiled.  The back fist can, therefore, be used multiple times when additional striking measures are necessary.

The Bottom Fist (Yoo Kwon)

            The bottom fist is formed in a traditional fist fashion.  The striking element of this weapon is the base of your hand, between your wrist and the base of your little finger.  The bottom fist is delivered in a downward striking motion. It is ideally targeted at the top of the head, or the bridge of the nose of your opponent when you are both in a vertical position.  In other instances, this strike can be used to strike downward to any location on your opponent’s body you find open for immediate attack.

The Knife Hand (Soo Do)

            To form the knife hand, the fingers are extended and the muscles and tendons in the hand and wrist are tightened. The initial mistake many novice taekwondo practitioners make when attempting to use the knife hand as a weapon is to relax the tension in their hand, either just before or when the knife hand strikes.  This should never be done, for you can easily break bones in your hand.

            The basic strike weapon of the knife hand is along the base of the hand. This extends from where the wrist ends to where the little finger begins. This is along its arched side and is the location where the knife hand develops the most strength by the aforementioned tightening techniques.

            The extension of the arm and then the snapping of the elbow propel the knife hand strike.  The momentum developed by the snapping out of the elbow should never be allowed to entirely control your knife hand assault. The elbow should remain slightly bent when the knife hand technique is delivered, thus maintaining control over your movement.

            The knife hand is not a randomly effective weapon such as the fist -- which can be allowed to strike virtually anywhere on an opponent’s body. Instead, the knife hand is ideally suited to strike very specific locations on an opponent’s body: the front of his neck, across his nose, to his temples, and the side of his ribs.

The Inside Knife Hand (Yuk Soo Do)

            The inside knife hand is formed in much the same way as the traditional knife hand. Initially, the muscles of the fingers and hand are tensed.  The difference between this offensive technique and that of the traditional knife hand is that impact is made with the inside ridge of your hand.  To this end, the thumb of the striking hand is pulled tightly into the palm, thereby exposing the inner ridge of the hand.

            Due to the fact that it is very easy to damage the hand and thumb if the technique is unleashed improperly, this advanced taekwondo hand striking technique is only used by the most advanced practitioners who truly understand this hand technique’s proper usage.  The ideal opponent striking techniques to be impacted by the inside knife hand are the side of an opponent’s neck, the front of his neck, and across the bridge of his nose.  As this technique does not possess a lot of power, it is not an ideal technique to be used on other, firmer, bodily locations.

The Elbow Strike (Keum Chi)

            As can be seen in a number of taekwondo forms, the elbow strike is a commonly employed tool of offense and defense. To the taekwondo practitioner, the elbow becomes an exacting weapon in numerous self-defense applications.

            The forward elbow strike witnesses you bending your elbow, exposing the protruding elbow bone at the base of your forearm.  This bone is your striking tool. This forward elbow strike is ideally targeted at a vital strike point on your opponent’s head. 

            To perform the forward elbow strike, bring your elbow up to shoulder level and pivot your body at waist level. By stepping in with your lead foot, you make an extremely powerful impact to your target. 

            The forward elbow strike is an ideal weapon to be used in close contact in-fighting. It is an ideal weapon on your opponent when your opponent is moving in on you or has taken a powerful forward hold on your body.  The ideal strike points for this type of defense are your opponent’s temples or any place on his face.

            The rear elbow strike is an ideal weapon to use if an attacker has grabbed a hold of your body from behind.  If you have been grabbed from behind, the rear elbow strike witnesses you pivoting backwards, unleashing your bent elbow from shoulder level, making impact to virtually any part of your attacker’s body, but most ideally to his head and face. 

            If you have not yet been grabbed from behind but your attacker is close, you can add the additional momentum driven movement of your body into the strike by pivoting at your waist level, as your rear elbow strike is unleashed. 

Using the Entire Art

            As can be easily understand, taekwondo utilizes much more in its self-defense arsenal than simply its feet. It also takes the hands and arms of the practitioner and turns them into exacting tools of self-defense. Though this expansive system of self-defense has continued to be refined over the decades, instead of diminishing its techniques it is essential that the true taekwondo enthusiasts continue to embrace all aspects of the art, thereby make the practitioner a more complete and well-rounded martial artist.

Copyright © 2009 – All Rights Reserved

The Forgotten Fists of Taekwondo @ Scott Shaw.com

Scott Shaw Hapkido Taekwondo International