Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
Wim Demeere has presented another outstanding article, you can read it HERE before continuing. Chasing the attacker or chasing the target is just my perception toward training the mind and body toward Mr. Demeere’s acceleration-deceleration concept. It is very true that most self-defense systems don’t teach this concept. It is great that Mr. Demeere brings it up to the conscious level because as can be seen in a lot of kumite and sport competitions our tendency to overcompensate and overextend losing structure, alignment, power and force is critical especially if you are training and practicing for self-defense.
“you need a specific kind of strength (eccentric) instead of the one you use for acceleration (concentric) while at the same time adjusting on the fly to changing conditions.” - Wim Demeere, The Overlooked Part of Effective Techniques
“are classified is into specific types of movement: cyclic or acyclic (also acyclic combined but we won’t cover that now.)” - Wim Demeere, The Overlooked Part of Effective Techniques
“Cyclic means a repetitive movement pattern … do the same movement all the time.” - Wim Demeere, The Overlooked Part of Effective Techniques
“Acyclic means several different movement patterns are necessary. … Karate, boxing, fencing, etc., … you perform a variety of techniques/movements and go from one technique to another. Acyclic sports typically require good technique, speed and power.” - Wim Demeere, The Overlooked Part of Effective Techniques
“Whenever you fight, in the street or in competition, you perform acyclic movements. You punch, then you kick, then you move then you grapple, then you punch again, etc. It always changes. What’s more, these changes happen because your opponent does the same as you. You have to adjust whatever you’re doing to his movements.” - Wim Demeere, The Overlooked Part of Effective Techniques
“The ability to stop a movement so you can do another, different one is just as important as being explosive with those movements.” - Wim Demeere, The Overlooked Part of Effective Techniques
Note: This is also critical when missing your target, i.e., why some tend to over-extend techniques when the target is not where it was a milli-second ago.
“train your body to explode into action, but also how to stop on a dime, change direction and do something completely different.” - Wim Demeere, The Overlooked Part of Effective Techniques
Deceleration or stopping the technique when it reaches the end of its cycle without allowing the inertia of our mass to carry us beyond that point is critical and involves also a control of principles rather than allowing the technique to control us. Acceleration to move mass in generating power and force as a part of the principle of “Yin-Yang” means once you commit to that acceleration and movement of our mass we must then train and practice to sop our mass through deceleration before we lose control and allow ourselves to overextend, thereby losing structure and alignment and balance, etc., becoming vulnerable to our attacker. This also effects our recovery when we lose such control and time is damage. Economy of motion is a principle that helps us understand this concept and allows us to train and practice it.
Finding that middle ground is difficult. Wim Demeere uses a term that explains that if we fail to control our actions with control speed, power and force we succumb to two different issues. First is if we exert too much control we often fail to achieve adequate speed, power and control while second, if we try to exert too great of power, speed and force we tend to lose control resulting in lost energy, uncontrolled applications and vulnerability, etc.
Modern martial arts, karate, tend to focus heavily on creating an illusion of force and power through the use of “Muscling technique” that we fail to apply force and power when needed in self-defense.
“If you want effective techniques, train just as hard on deceleration as you do on acceleration.” - Wim Demeere, The Overlooked Part of Effective Techniques
If you are simply applying “Air-technique” you will not train the dual concept of acceleration-deceleration for control with power and force. A simplistic example is to have uke with a padded shield or hand pads to stand and allow you to hit and kick but without notice to pull the target away at the last moment to see if you over extend, etc. One way I try to train my mind is to apply my techniques as if I am striking a non-moving target but I try to move in such a way as to move my target point to a place where my attacker finds their body, my target, in that targeting point. Hopefully, I don’t apply techniques unless I have a reasonable assurance it will reach its intended target but in a fight that doesn’t happen all that often but if you target, the attacker moves out of that target point, you have that balanced acc-dec ability to adjust on the fly.
Chasing our attacker is not good for a variety of reasons. First, it means we overextend, lose structure and balance and as a result fall into our void exposing us to damage. Second, chasing our attacker means he controls us rather than we control ourselves along with our controlling our attacker. Third, chasing our attacker means we become locked into that particular application of technique causing us to enter into a loop. Training to acc-dec and the target point putting the attacker in that zone rather than trying to chase down the attacker and the target seems beneficial. Finally, if we chase our attacker trying to use an one method or technique it may look to witnesses and on video as if we are the aggressor rather than the defender. If we use this target zone/point and the attacker moves out of that zone and we decelerate and adjust away, since that may present us the opportunity to gain distance and distance means time and time means the ability to stop the attack by deescalation or avoidance, etc., or to find some other means of stopping the threat thus damage, etc.
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