The Importance of Scenario Drills, Forms & Sparring in Building Conditioned Responses

High Block against Reverse Punch

Seized the Wrist & Inside Elbow Hook

Outside Elbow Thrust and Arm Control

Don't follow the Attacker to the Ground

These are old Pics from about 2007 but shows a pretty simple scenario, high block counter to a reverse punch. From here one simply turns the blocking wrist and grabs the punching wrist pulling the attacker forward into an inside elbow hook. Use the elbow hook as a distraction to seize the attacker's reverse wrist & push pull the attacker off balance, while executing a elbow thrust/back fist and pulling the attacker's elbow against the chest hyper extending it. Once the attacker has been off balanced and sent to the ground, I don't suggest following them down. This gives one an opportunity to a) break contact, b) stomp to disable or c) warn the attacker to stay down. Remember that each technique is executed only for a split second, and transitioned to a new technique.

Now common sense says that the step by step scenario is unlikely to be executed in an actual fight. But, training in such free form kata called randori allows one to consider chains of techniques that can be executed consciously and allowing the unconscious mind to execute such techniques when reinforced through sparring and scenario drills. Pretty much all martial arts do this, even if some do not spar and, this is not enough to build a competent fighter for a real world situation.

Your mind learns by association and this means you have to train to deal with common real world scenarios. Someone trying to keep you talking to hit while you are processing information and not expecting it (a common street tactic), someone in your face yelling and threatening you to keep you confused and to try to shock you into submission (also a common street tactic). Dealing with ambushes and fighting in different locations. Parking lots are common areas where people are ambushed & assaulted for robberies, muggings and rapes. Here free form randori was used in conjunction with the scenario drill, to a) build memory association and b) force the conscious mind to function under simulated stress mirroring a real world self-defense situation. This in turn builds associated recall of the conditioned responses that are trained, allowing them to be used under stress. However, this is why full contact sparring with similar simulated conditions are a precursor must be used to reinforce the memory association of the conditioned response via repetition.