Russian Martial Arts Northwest
Why do we train slow when fights are fast?
Training is very much like running. First
of all you have to learn to walk before you go any faster. Through working against
slow attacks we gain an opportunity to see and feel what both our own and our partner’s
bodies are doing and how they interact with each other. To gain as much as we can
from the experience there are some simple rules to play by.
1/ If attacking do not
carry out any unnatural changes in direction or speed of your attacks. If you cannot
make those changes at full speed they have no place in this training drill.
2/ Attacks
have to be committed. When people really try to hit you at full speed they will follow
through with the movement to a degree even if you avoid the attack. The better the
timing shown during the escape the more follow through there will be. I know there
are people out there that train to hit no further than their reach allows. I was
one of them. Despite this I have nearly lost my balance when fighting a person who
ducked out of the way at the last moment.
3/ When attacked match the speed of your
movement to the speed of the attack. If you accelerate to your top speed when your
training partner punches slowly, what are you going to do if he punches at you full
speed?
Now you are ready to explore this area of work. You can try working against
any kind of attack. I like to start with kicks because of two reasons. First the
attacker has already surrendered his balance when he stood on one leg and secondly
because legs are heavy and have a lot of momentum. These two properties will amplify
any work you carry out so long as you get it right.
When working against kicks or
any other strikes first become comfortable with moving and escaping. This should
be done with your feet as if you were walking through a busy bar. You don’t hop and
jump around in the local pub or stand in funny stances to get out of the way of people
and it should be no different in a fight.