Working against kicks from the floor

In fights there is always the possibility that you are going to end up on the floor. Sometimes this will be out of necessity because you have tripped or been thrown there. Other times you have moved to the floor intentionally as part of a counter to an attack or throw.

Gone are the days where the fight would stop if the opposition went to the floor. In today’s climate of violence there is every possibility that your opponents are going to try to finish you off, kicking you whilst you are down. It is therefore very important to have a strategy for coping with this situation within your arsenal.

Some disciplines recommend curling up in a foetal position so that they are covered up. The idea is to ride out the storm by protecting their vital areas. Other styles have their students spinning around on the bottoms trying to fend off the attacker with kicks. Both of these approaches have draw backs.

Covering up and hoping for the best might work to a point, but against a determined attacker it will inevitably result in you being kicked helplessly to pieces. Also if one of the group decides to add a knife in the equation you are in no position to respond to it.

Spinning on your bottom like a turret and shooting out kicks at your opponents serves little purpose. Certainly if there are more than one attacker you cannot turn to face all of them. Also you will only serve to tense up the attacker who will see you as a threat. It will not take him long to either move around your kicking legs or to smash through them with a few kicks of his own.

The approach of the Russian System is vastly different to both of these approaches and offers a efficient alternative for learning how to survive this very dangerous situation.

The first thing to practice is how to move on the floor. The student of the Russian System learns to move around on the floor from any position in a smooth and relaxed manner. They are enabled to do this through the correct use of breathing and by avoiding the development of unnecessary tension in their bodies. Simple drills are then used to practice getting out of the line of an attack using their movement.