DEVELOPING THE RIGHT SURVIVAL MOTOR SKILLS
BASICALLY, there are three types of motor skills you could rely on in any life or death struggle against a half-crazed, determined and probably experienced assailant. There is only one that is ideal for anyone – be that person a novice woman or a combat tested warrior – and that is Gross Motor Skills.
The two other motor skill types are Fine and Complex Motor Skills. The reliance on either Fine or Complex Motor Skills could become almost catastrophic for anyone in a fight for his or her life once the Sympathetic Nervous System activates and floods the body with stress hormones (Cortisol, et al.). Briefly, Fine Motor Skills involve dexterity and hand-eye coordination. When SNS activates, blood flows away from the extremities (hands and fingers) and pools in large muscle groups (Fight or Flight Syndrome) to empower a “victim” to either charge toward an assailant or take flight away with greater speed and power. Relative to Complex Motor Skills, Survival Stress (SNS) impedes a person from performing almost any act that involves three independent body parts working in tandem on any type of complex martial arts move (flying kicks; spinning moves; wrist locks; complicated takedowns; esoteric strikes, kicks and blocks). By the time a “victim” reaches a resting heart rate of about 145 BPM his or her ability to use either Fine or Complex Motor Skills are gone.
NOT ONLY that, but, at about 175 BPM, which I must add, in a serious self defense situation, will be reached within 1 ½ to 2 seconds, the “victim” will also experience the following catastrophic dysfunction:
- Visual Dysfunctions, including a loss of over 70% of peripheral vision (Tunnel Vision), loss of night vision; inability to focus and a loss of near vision (anything inside 4′).
- An inability to concentrate. If you have no survival plan at the moment you are attack, you will be without a survival plan. Period. You will be unable to make decisions, communicate, and, more likely than not, you will-
- Experience irrational behavior, meaning, you will freeze in place, or perform another type of self-destructive act of submission, including running around aimlessly, screaming (what I call the “Powerless Victim Scream”), both of which spends valuable energy, and, worse, Triggers the Predatory Instinct in the assailant.
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS, on the other hand, are at the heart of any Survival Motor Skills Training Program (defined as any preemptive motor skill designed to preserve human life). These are simple and symmetrical techniques composed of easy-to-perform and retain push/pull skills. Gross Motor Skills, as a matter of fact, are the only motor skill classification that actually increases in power and efficiency as your heart rate escalates beyond 175 BPM. The reason for this can be found in the actual description of the blocks, strikes and moves themselves.
BEING simple push-pull movements, GMS are analogous to weight lifting. Let’s use the act of bench pressing as an example. In order to push an Olympic Bar stacked with hundreds of pounds of plates, one does not need to think (The automatic, non-cerebral nature of bench pressing is exactly what my Fighting Arts programs have in mind when designing programs around GMS), but only to move his hands and arms in a steady motion from high to low to high again. If the lifter has a spotter, more likely than not, the spotter – especially if the lifter is trying to move heavy weight – will be screaming, cajoling, even trying to enrage the lifter to add stress and, at the same time, increase the lifter’s heart rate. You see, the more the stress, the better Gross Motor Skills work.
A BALANCE BEAM GYMNAST, on the other hand, relies on a combination of Fine and Complex Motor Skills. What do you think his or her coach will have the gymnast do in preparation for the Balance Beam competition? That’s right. The gymnast will be in a quiet environment, visualizing her upcoming event, breathing deeply, and slowly but surely decreasing his/her heart rate into the optimal resting heart rate (between 115 and 145 BPM. The lower the heart rate the better.
SOME GROSS MOTOR SKILL STRIKES
IN the next few blogs we will discuss some effective Gross Motor Skills that can be effective under any kind of “combat-stress” situation. But, for now, here are a few easy to perform GMS punches, strikes and kicks.
- The Palm Heel Strike. Probably the most effective GMS of them all. The PHS can be used from almost any stance or positions and it almost always surprises the bad guy. When you are pondering a puzzle of some sort, you take one hand – probably your dominant one – and gently press it against your temple. Feel how hard the heel of that hand is. Now, hold both hands out in front of you, palms away, fingers loose. Even though this gesture is recognized (by the bad guy) as “you don’t have to worry about any trouble from me-” you can easily, quickly and powerfully, drive from that Compliance Position hard into the assailant’s face. Just drive into it with your legs, hips and upper body behind the Palm Heel and you have a formidable strike.
- The Head Butt. What could be easier and more automatic ( natural) than driving your temple straight down or slightly up into either the “triangle” above the assailant’s eyes, or, probably more effectively, his nose?
- The Front Kick. I describe the Front Kick as the identical motion one would use to kick open a screen door when his or her hands are full. Just Scoot-Stick and Disengage is the mantra here. Scoot your strong-side foot close to the ground and drive either your instep or (curled-up toe hard into the Superficial Nerve Motor Point, located behind the tongue of the bad guy’s shoe. Make sure to “hit and stick” on the target to deliver more power. This is a proven Motor Dysfunction technique that goes back to ancient China. The Israeli Army perfected it and uses it on Dynamic Building Entries.
We will discuss these and other effective strikes and kicks in the next Blog.
Stay Real.
Hammer.