Learn to Set-up your Fighting Stance to Invite the Attack
It’s official. I’ve become obsessed with inside defense. Apologies offered all around folks. I’ve been teaching inside defense as part of an in-depth examination of the technique in my advanced programming format.
This week, I noticed that as the students in the class were performing more repetitions, the tendency to set-up in fighting stance by guarding the centerline against a right straight punch became more prevalent.
The issue with the defending hand being set-up closer to the centerline than optimally prescribed is a simple one: the probability that the attacker will take advantage of the perceived weakness in the defense falls dramatically (as the defending hand migrates more towards the defenders centerline). At the same time, the defense becomes more difficult, as the now faulty fighting stance requires the defender to make more “in the moment” decisions about how to defend punches/attacks that now seem to split the difference between an inside defense and Krav Maga’s 360 defenses (or outside defenses for that matter).
If you have about four minutes, check out the video below. I’m teaching the proper fighting stance to my advanced programming class, and I’m also juxtaposing the concept of a fighting stance that opens the centerline (and invites attacks into the centerline) with a fighting stance that guards the centerline (and invites attacks around the centerline).
…walk in peace.
