Mindset

[Anonymous]

Hey folks,
     I am seeing too much "technique x will work against an UNSKILLED OPPONENT OR THE AVERAGE JOE."  Personally, I train with my worst nightmare in mind - bigger and stronger than me and just as skilled or even better.  If I train to survive or even defeat my nightmare, anything or anyone lesser is relatively easy.  Look at it this way, why would I put a tool in my warriors toolbox that would work on an unskilled attacker but not a skilled predator?  I have found that when I keep my nightmare in mind when I train, I am more focused and get more out of my training, regardless if my training partners do not physically match the physique of my nightmare.  I tend to be more precise and intense because I know that I will need to be that way should my nightmare come calling.

Just some thoughts.

Creighton

[Jarlo Ilano]

Personally, I train with my worst nightmare in mind - bigger and stronger than me

Creighton

Bigger and stronger than Creighton...

That would be a nightmare!

[Burton]

Creighton is a dream!

[Terry]

Keeping that in mind should help you "chisle away the unessential"

[Burton]

So true.  If we plan to fight an easy foe, we won't be ready for the worst case scenario.

[Shelt]

This is a great topic. But I think that many people focus too much upon the technique, rather than the equally important mental state. My best friend and I were just having this discussion on Maui. Most people lack the mindset to deal with absolute unrestrained violence. Why is this? Many people can develop an incredible level of physical skill/technique, but may not have the mindset to use that skill to its full potential in a truly violent encounter, which may not last more than a handful of seconds.  

I am fond of SOME of the writings of Col. Jeff Cooper and a few others.  These men advocate anger as the proper response to violence.  Not wild berserk anger, but cold, rightous rage. "When a man demonstrates, in effect, that he is ready and willing to kill you, your response should not be fearful but wrathful," Cooper wrote.

So I have a question, how does one train/develop this? Is this a worthwhile trait/attribute? Looking forward to hearing responses and further analyzing this topic.

[Burton]

"How does one train/develop this?"  Great question Shelton!   First off, I totally agree with Cooper's assessment.  I think of it as a "controlled rage".  It is what Bruce Lee referred to as "emotional content".  Anger is out of control, and contributes to a loss of form.  That cold, "rightous rage" that Cooper speaks of is very useful.  But, how to train it?
   It seems to me that it is easiest to train it if you have experienced these sorts of situations.  Then you can get your mind in that place as you train in some instances.  Training an emotion is much like good acting:  it has to be real or it isn't going to come across correctly.  Good actors rely on past experiences to bring up emotions in other contexts.  If you can remember a time when you felt that rage and apply it in specific training, I believe it will help.
    I would also say that this is something that doesn't need to be trainined in every class, as it can take the enjoyment out of training.  If you really get into that place emotionally, it is kind of creepy.
    I look forward to other opinions on this.    Aloha!

[Anonymous]

I basically try and maintain the mindset where either I am destroying my attacker or I am escaping.  There are no degrees between.  That way I have a clearly defined point where I will act without hesitation.  I think of this as my "switch."  I think I learned the switch concept from Tony Blauer.  To be able to have instantaneous action when you hit your switch you need to visualize ahead of time and develop what I call a trigger vision.  Blauer mentioned that he once asked some women what they would do if they were attacked and they meekly couldn't come up with an answer.  But when he asked what they would do to defend a loved one from an attacker, these ladies got revved up and got very descriptive about the extreme violence they would exact on the stupid fool!  When I hit my switch, my trigger vision is BELIEVING that this attacker wants to hurt my son.  Just typing that last sentence started to make my adrenaline pump!  If you practice hitting your switch with your trigger vision you can get to the point where you can cause an adrenaline boost at will.  This is ideal, as it will also enable you to learn how to channel adrenaline positively and also prepare you for the physical sensations of a adrenaline dump, which in a real situation can make you freeze and or do other actions detrimental to your survival.  

They also believe that you need to first conciously make the decision to defend yourself, basically give yourself permission to do WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET HOME SAFELY. You wouldn't believe how many people allow crime to happen to them because they are worried about getting in trouble for the act of defending themselves.  

Any thoughts or questions are welcome.

Train true,
Creighton

[Shelt]

"They also believe that you need to first conciously make the decision to defend yourself, basically give yourself permission to do WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET HOME SAFELY. You wouldn't believe how many people allow crime to happen to them because they are worried about getting in trouble for the act of defending themselves."

This, I believe, is a byproduct of today's weak society. We are told "don't fight," "violence doesn't solve anything," etc. Attempts are also made to vilify segments of society for certain beliefs. Cooper and others have some interesting thoughts on these subjects. Then of course, civil and legal consequences for acting defensively are also costly.

 In the past, when I heard of this "idea" of "give yourself permission" to defend yourself, I thought it was so much BS psycobabble. But over the years, I can see why there is a need for this by many people. I was taught to "Hit 'em with a pipe when they're not looking" or "Whack 'em with a 2x4" in dealing with violence, which is why I have a personal philosophy of "immediate fire-superiority" when faced with violence.

As Burton points out, "it can take the enjoyment out of training." I believe training should be fun and for developing tools and skills. In no way would I advocate that ALL training be done "in the sprit of the bayonet." When faced with questions by people in classes, I pretty much say that I can't tell you "when" to fight, I can only offer some help learning and developing "tools" to fight with. I tend to do most of this type training on the dummy or kicking shield. It also comes out readily with weapons training because of the need for aggression when dealing with weapons.

 I suppose Burton is correct in his assertion that "it is easiest to train it if you have experienced these sorts of situations." It would certainly make "accessing" this mental/emotional state so much easier. Likewise Cr8's example of threat to a loved one seems like a logical method for those who are inexperienced. In real-life, this would (probably) personally drive me beyond the "controlled rage" and contribute to a greater degree of "loss of form."

[Burton]

Excellent points by Cr8 and Shelton.  I think that competition can be good for dealing with pressure, and honing the ability to put yourself into the fighter's mindset.
If you teach a women's self defense seminar, you will find that women will often say "I could never put my fingers in somebody's eyes.  That is too violent".  Amazing.  We are often taught that violence is wrong, with the connotation that it is ALWAYS wrong.  That is just naive.  This extrapolates that guns are always bad, war is always wrong, etc.  There is a time where extreme violence is necessary for the good people to prevail.  I wish it never had to be this way, but this is life, not fantasy.    Aloha!

[Anonymous]

Shel mentions "immediate fire superiority" and that is how police and military train.  The FBI and other think tanks have done studies and found that in most situations, the swiftest and most violent wins in a confrontation.  In terms of our street situations, that means that if a threat presents itself, we need to act without hesitation and act with a ferocity and intent that will completely overwhelm our attacker and break his will to continue.

I should explain that when I speak of predators, I am talking about those sociopathic criminals that do not have the moral and ethical controls that a normal person has.  These are the types that would kill for a few dollars or even no reason at all.  These are the types that view violence as normal and acceptable, even enjoyable.  Researchers have found that these predators usually have a process to choosing their victims, an interview of sorts, where he will gauge a potential victim's reactions to different types of input - If I stare at him, does he stare back or look nervously away?  Does he let me approach without attempting to make space?  Is he even aware of my presence (sucker punch time!)?  The "interview" process continues until he is satisfied that his attack will be successful and then he pounces!

So a successful mindset will recognize this interview process and work to disrupt it.  If someone is staring at you, look them in the eye with resolve.  If someone tries to get close to you, create distance and ask them if you can help them with something.  Be aware of your surroundings and avoid areas and situations where you could be ambushed.  Take this little test, as you go through your day, stop and think if I wanted to attack myself at this point where would I attack from?  This little act alone will greatly enhance your awareness.

more next,
Creight

[Anonymous]

I have heard many stories of people saving themselves from being hurt or worse because they fought back like their lives depended on it, which in some cases is true.

This mindset is even more essential for the smaller fighter as they are viewed as easy prey by predators based on stature alone.  If you carry yourself with confidence and poise, you may give a predator enough pause to decide to find another victim.  If the predator still attacks I feel that you should go down fighting, don't just stand there and get killed.  

I mentioned that my "fight thermostat" has only two settings, on or off.  This allows me to not waste time and energy dealing with situations that I could just walk away from.  I had to go through a period where I had to be honest with myself and recognize that most of the confrontations I found myself in had to do with my EGO and not with me being stalked by a true predator.  My pride was causing me to engage in a situation where I could simply walk away.  Nowadays I have no problem dealing with the wannabe predators who are all about loud posturing and bravado with relative calm.  I let them talk all the shit they want and will do everything I can to just walk away without responding.  I am so confident in my abilities that I would even allow someone to push me without responding with anger.  If you hit me though, I HIT THE SWITCH AND YOU GET DESTROYED!

Any thoughts or feedback is appreciated.  More stuff later.

Train true,
Creighton

[Jarlo Ilano]

All this is true definitely, but you cannot maintain this kill or be killed attitude all the time.  Having this at the forefront of your mind is not only not fun, it isn't healthy.

I agree with Shelton and Creighton that having that switch is necessary, but when does that degenerate into a paranoid mindset?

A previous employer of mine (who was a great boss and a good friend), has trained extensively in WWII Combatives (under Prof. Bradley Steiner), and he always iterates the "fallacy of a proportional response".  The students are trained in the mindset of "break, maim, and destroy", using all available tools as forcefully as possible.  Which is great, and the students I met were all nice people, and Prof. Steiner is just an amazing man, but again, I can see people taking that just too far.

Now, I'm no liberal vegan peacenik, but there has to be some balance right?

[Kentao5]

I think some of it depends on the situation.  If it's just some dude looking to cause trouble you have to learn what I call an intense calm and just keep yourself from getting hurt.  For a life threatening situation, everyone has a primal instinct to survive but in today's world most must look deep into themselves to find and be able to come to terms with the DARK SIDE.  Bottom line is you are out to seriously hurt someone in order to survive.
I think the "mindset " is a mental comfortability in understanding, accepting, and the willingness to take on the ruthlessness needed to survive, but most importantly, knowing you can handle the RESPONSIBILITY of the result/outcome of causing injury and harm to another person possibly even death.  Knowing this keeps one from just "getting into fights."  Skills come out for one reason...to go off.  
Whoa too deep, sooo Chreighton, from another post, do you really dream of large hunky men??
Later, Ken

[Burton]

I like the analogy of the light switch.  It is there, dormant, until you need it.  No sense in walking around thinking about it all the time.  Just go about your life unless you know or sense that you are in a "dangerous" place.  There was a time when I lived in Los Angeles that I carried a gun with me every time I went out.  Not paranoid, I just lived in a very dangerous area.  I heard gunfire every night.  One night my room mate and I realized that we hadn't paid our electricity bill, so we had to drive a few blocks to drop it off in a payment slot.  This was about 11 pm.  He had the .45, I had the sawed off shotgun.  That was just to drive down and drop off a payment!  I eventually was able to move to a much better place, and the gun stayed home, unless I went to my old territory.  
    I believe that when it is time to go, you must go hard because you can't assume that the attacker is alone or unarmed.  I've heard of really terrible things happening in my old neighborhood to innocent people.  Once you are in control of the situation, you can ease off.    
    In the end, I assume that all will be good, but I am prepared for the worst.  And I am a vegetarian!