The importance of a good support system (or why you need to learn and modify shit that's out there and add it to your Personal Protection methodology)

Guys, we all know that a street fight (unless it is avoided with awareness and ran from with evasion) begins as an assault on the mind, psychological violence, intimidation, stare downs, etc. prior to going physical. Being adept at defusing, deescalation, verbal dissuasion is crucial in surviving and evading violence.

But suppose those tactics failed or were not usable (think multiple attackers looking for a piece of your ass), then you need to take out the big guns of physical retaliation.

The good thing about the different stances used at Senshido is that they allow you to land a preemptive strike or use the 5 principles to physically retaliate upon intercepting or getting hit. Very few out there can withstand a full power palm strike to the jaw or a vicious eye/ face rake followed by a shaving elbow combo. Or a well-executed Shredder.

BUT SUPPOSE THEY DO, or they're wearing a motorcycle helmet (bye bye shredder and primary targets :( ). You are in your fighting stance, and so is the terminator-looking bad guy. What do you do?

If you do not have a support system, the fight might end badly for you. I didn't say you will lose the fight, just that it will take more sweat, blood, and pain from your part to survive.

What is a support system? As its name implies, it is a system that acts as a backup in case you screw up (probably by not capitalizing on the bad guy's flinch and ending the fight fast and furiously).

Ok, what the heck makes up a support system?

To me, as a Senshido guy, my support system needs to include the following tools, to allow me to survive in the following ranges: Hand strikes for the boxing range, leg strikes for the kicking range, clinch work for the grappling range, and ground tactics for groundfighting. (The trapping range is covered extensively in the Personal Protection program and is therefore needs little additions).

Boxing:
One must understand how the sweet science works, by sparring and training in boxing yet modifying the strikes to be doable with open hands (thus avoidance broken knuckles some boxers experience in street fights). Boxing also teaches you about the importance of getting hit and keeping on fighting. Integrating finger jabs and rakes into the sweet science will allow you to at least survive in this range long enough to either run away or get closer and land the kill.

Kicking range:
Here, no surprise, you will learn to kick. Forget about the high kicks and other spinning bullshit, I believe you need to learn how to give as well as receive and block modified Thai low kicks, soccer kicks, and front kicks. This doesn't mean you should keep your hands down. Do that and you'll learn one of the striking arts' trademark: The K.O .

Clinch work:
Combining Judo, Freestyle/ Greco-Roman/ Catch Wrestling, and BJJ's throws, takedowns, and standup controls should give you a good understanding of standup grappling. Some prefer pure Judo, other BJJ, while the rest swears by Western Wrestling. To each his own or better yet, learn from all and find your approach.

Groundfighting:
Here, no two ways about it: You need an art that is well versed in submissions and done under stress. In my opinion, I prefer BJJ and Catch Wrestling to Judo and Sambo but then again I only took Judo as a child and found it boring. I cant wait for my knee to heal completely before enrolling with some good Judo guys (We don't have Sambo in Lebanon).


While striking is relatively easier to learn and use, grappling arts may take longer with the novice, because they require more tactile sensitivity than striking.

In the end, it is crucial to blend all these ranges together, not saying "when at striking distance, I do boxing, when at grappling I do Judo, and on the ground I do Catch Wrestling". Wrong. One needs to train all of these ranges and tools simultaneously, to be proficient or at least manage in all the ranges.

As I said in a previous article, the one range that one should be most proficient in, in my opinion, is the trapping/ CQC range. But this doesn't mean your grappling or boxing should suffer and become weak. Here, you'll have some smart asses who come and say "Jack of all trades, master at none". But as we know, fighting is but one trade, as Prophet Abrasif said it in his Bibles of Hand To Hand Combat. So, stop reading my rants and go and train you lucky bastards (I can't do grappling before another 2 months and I'm limited to sloppy boxing because of my injury. Tabernak!)