In my combatives training, that meant skipping around from style to style depending up what was available on the military base I was assigned to.

Back in the 80’s, before “reality based” stuff really caught on, that pretty much broke down to common traditional karate systems.

Unfortunately, what I often found was that many schools built an entire attack philosophy around more of a “points” system rather than a “kick the shit out of the bad guy” approach.

For example, it’s common in many martial arts schools to use a “snapping” motion with both punches and kicks in which you strike and quickly retract your fist or foot to punch again.

Sound familiar?

This works great if all you have to do is touch a spot on your sparring partner to score a point and need to aim again in case you missed.

It sucks if your goal is to churn some gangbanger’s guts into hamburger!

Here’s why…

Think about the difference between using a hammer versus a sledgehammer.

With a hammer, your aim is to hit a nail and then quickly pick the hammer back up and hit the nail again and again until it finally goes in.  Speed is a primary factor in getting the nail in as fast as possible.

When you use a sledgehammer however, your goal is to knock the living hell out of something with as few blows as possible, preferably just ONE.

Well, same goes with your strikes in a real fight.

Since your goal is to end an attack as quickly as possible, you don’t want to be messing around with rapid, “speed punches” that make contact but do little do inflict damage.

I’d much rather get in one good solid “sledgehammer” strike on a vital target that makes my attacker see stars than get in a bunch of faster, less powerful strikes.

Yet this is how most guys strike because they don’t understand how to deliver REAL power into their punches and kicks.

No worries…

Here’s How To Train For REAL Power
In All Your Strikes…

The secret is to NOT focus on the surface of your attacker’s body as the “contact point”.  Your ACTUAL target lies somewhere about 6 inches PAST his body.

So when you strike, you want to imagine that your fist or your foot is traveling THROUGH your attacker’s body and literally coming out the other side.

What takes place INSIDE your attacker’s body is nothing short of complete devastation!

First, the force behind your strike is condensed to a much smaller area, focusing all of your power into a tiny section versus diffusing your effort across a wider area like that from a strike that makes contact and then snaps back.  (Think of it as the difference between getting shot with a shotgun using buckshot vs. a slug.  Slugs leave big wide, gaping holes and do much more damage!)

Second, your strike, although it won’t actually pop out the other side of your attacker’s body, WILL drive deeper into their insides and do more damage.

Training for such a destructive blow is surprisingly easy (though a bit harder to reprogram for those of you who are used to snappy “point strikes”).

When you punch or kick (a bag or a training partner), instead of quickly retracting your strike, make it “stick” to your target as if you were hitting fly paper.

This “stick striking” will very quickly reprogram your brain to avoid retracting  your strike and you’ll be able to better mentally imagine your blow traveling THROUGH your target until it becomes second nature.

And that’s EXACTLY what you need to do…

If you’re attacking the ribs, Visualize your fist moving THROUGH your target, snapping bones like twigs and coming out the other side, leaving a wide hole in its wake!

If you’re attacking a leg with a roundhouse kick, imagine that you’re literally shearing off the leg in half.

Head shot?  All you want left is shoulders…the head should snap right off.

Getting the picture (as morbid as it may sound)?

The goal here isn’t to actually visualize spurting blood and eyeballs flying through the air…but rather to simply train your body to think beyond surface targets to put more power into your strikes…

…and hit like a sledgehammer!

No, I’m not going to launch into some “anti-martial arts” rant about how it’s ineffective in a real street fight (though I have my opinions).

But the problem I have with most martial arts systems is that they teach their students how to defend themselves completely BACKWARDS!

Let me explain…

If you’ve ever taken a single class in a “martial art”, then you know that your training begins with learning how to get in the perfect stance to strike from…the perfect punching form…blocking…a fancy schmancy takedown…etc.

Eventually you progress to more advanced strikes, kicks, katas, and even more fancy schmancy takedowns.  And then finally, if you’re in a very progressive school…you MAY (if you’re darned lucky) get into how to actually AVOID using those techniques. You see…

…A “Fight” Is What Happens When
All Things Have Gone WRONG!

You weren’t able to identify and avoid a bad situation…

…you weren’t able to talk down the 300 lb gorilla snorting in your face because he thought you were checking out his girlfriend

…you let your attacker get too close to you and woke up in a hospital bed

…you let your ego get the best of you and decided to “stand up” for your wife when some guy made a comment

…the list goes on.

I’ve never attended (or even heard of) a self defense program that STARTED by taking you out behind the school to show you how to walk around a corner of a building in a way that doesn’t let a waiting attacker catch you by surprise…

…or how to use your car windows as a mirror to see what’s going on around you while you’re approaching it in a parking lot…

…or how to set aside your ego to talk down the guy at the bar who thought you were looking at his girlfriend.

I’m sure they’re out there. You may even attend one or be that kind of instructor.  I’ve just not seen it yet.

The number of potentially dangerous situations are limitless, but learning how to avoid a fight should be the very FIRST thing martial arts instructors teach in their schools.

Not in place of, but rather along side the techniques that can be used should avoidance and de-escalation fail.