Fakes Don’t Work

2. Re: your concept of ‘faking out’ attackers and then striking the secondary target.  I will preface this with saying I do not go out looking for trouble and have thus far been able to avoid it.  My experience in the multiple attacker scenario is limited to RBSD training where multiple people pretty much try to punch, kick, etc and take me down.

 –Z

Call me the mirror of your experience, where most of my multiple attacker encounters have been in a training atmosphere, with the following exceptions:

a) Once, some “friends” decided to dog-pile on top of me, to show the martial artist a thing or two. They got rough, and I had allowed them to take me down onto a couch.

The end result was that I escaped them by tapping various vulnerables, but the escape started when I chopped at a roommates upper arm. It “temporarily” paralyzed his arm, and it was sore for days.

b) As a teacher on the coast, there were several instances where 350 lb. students tried to prevent the teacher from getting to the center of the circle where a student-to-student fight had broken out.

These behemoths couldn’t actually hit me, but they tried to manhandle me. The multiple attacker tactics I had learned worked admirably.

c) There have been a few occasions, one in England, where I was working out with another school, and the guys had something to prove; they let their egos get in the way. (More on ego a few posts from now.)

I befriended the guys in London and taught them some of my strategies. Unfortunately, the school in Mexico had problems accepting any coaching from a “gringo.” (¡Qué Lástima!)

Fighting multiple attackers takes practice. It takes training. And one has to collect tips, tactics, and techniques over the years, and apply them to repeated practice … with different training partners.

Let’s continue the multiple attacker series….