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PHOTOS:
Melee training in the Contact Flow: Free—form continuous exercise with multiple participants helps develop awareness, balance, sensitivity, Iooseness, body unity and the anything-goes principle,

The ability to adapt to any critical survival situation has been a goal of martial artists since the dawn of time. Bruce Lee shined a spotlight on it, perhaps most famously in this quote:

“Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. lf you put it into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a tea cup, it becomes the tea cup, Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."

Being a martial artist requires you to be fully prepared to deal with any situation at any moment, without hesitation. To attain that goal, most martial artists strive to perfect their performance of techniques—which can refer to anything from a preplanned sequence of movements to a prescribed way to execute a strike, block, throw, etc. No matter how complex or simple a
technique is, the fact that it’s being practiced limits your potential to achieve a high level of adaptability.

That’s because the formalization of any technique presupposes a precise situation for which it’s suited. Clearly, a preplanned sequence of movements

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will work only if the enemy moves and reacts in the manner anticipated. Even something as simple as a perfect right cross presupposes the precise angle, distance and height of the target. Should any of those factors change during the delivery of the punch, the technique will fail. Therefore, in essence, techniques represent optimized solutions to specific situations.

Biggest Problems

Some martial artists assume that the more techniques they know, the more situations they can resolve effectively. While that sounds logical, several problems arise:

- You can’t learn everything.

How many techniques can you learn? Enough to handle any situation? In how many ways can you be harmed? No matter how many techniques you know, your effectiveness depends on whether you‘re presented with a situation that precisely matches one of the practiced techniques.

- The brain has limitations.

Will you be able to recognize, amid the stress, chaos and suddenness of real violence, exactly what your enemy is doing so you can apply the correct technique? The answer is usually no.

- It takes time to choose.

Even if you can identify the nature of your enemy’s attack (and assuming he doesn‘t change what he’s doing), will you be able to sift through a library of practiced techniques to select the right one in a split second? Again, probably not.

Photos

Relying on guesswork and hand/eye coordination: Al Ridenhour (left) thinks his opponent will throw a right cross, which he’ll parry with a left inward block ( 7). Instead, the opponent executes a right hook, bypassing the block and connecting with the defenders jaw (2). Training in sensitivity and adaptation enables the defender to avoid fixating on a defense, Then, as soon as the opponent switches to the right hook, Ridenhour feels the change and dives into the centerline space with a spearing elbow (3).

- Mastery requires practice.
Training time is finite. How many times must you practice a given technique before it’s “good enough”? How much time does that leave you to learn other techniques and practice them?

- What if your attacker doesn’t follow your script?

Finally, the act of learning techniques that fit specific situations leads you into the trap of pattern recognition. You grow accustomed to the specific situations you encounter in training, which are presented to allow you to practice the matching techniques. You learn to quickly recognize and react to those situations to the exclusion of anything else. The patterns can be as exact as the motions of a cooperative uke or as dynamic as the movements of a sparring partner. When presented with situations that deviate from the accustomed patterns you may hesitate and fail to generate an effective response. This problem is one cause of the frequently cited blackbelt—beaten-up-by-a—brawler scenario. The brawler moves in a way that doesn‘t fit the patterns the black belt is used to seeing and the black belt cannot generate an effective response. It was also evidenced in the first few Ultimate Fighting Championships, when strikers unfamiliar with grappling succumbed to fighters who were familiar with both striking and grappling but who specialized in grappling, which they used to present the strikers with unfamiliar patterns.

Some martial artists, particularly those in the reality-based camp, seem to recognize these limitations and attempt to figure out ways around them. For example, by using the pre-emptive strike in a self-defense situation, you can theoretically negate the first four problems because your pre—emptive action results in having to recognize and deal with only one situation: attacking an unprepared enemy.

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Very few techniques must be learned to deal with only one situation, maximizing training time for each technique and reducing the mental Iog jam involved in selecting a technique. However, pre-emption isn’t always possible. Also, if your pre-emptive attack is executed imperfectly or if Murphy‘s law intervenes, you’re again faced with having to deal with an unpredictable situation.

A related work-around is to attack with a barrage of a few relatively economical techniques, acknowledging that most will fail to achieve their desired end but hoping that even those that fail will keep the enemy busy, perhaps creating the ideal situation for one of them to work. Again, though, you're counting on the assumption that the enemy will be unable to move
in a manner that’s threatening to you while you’re attacking. That's not an assumption you should bet your life on, given the many variables involved including the introduction of weapons, environmental obstacles and multiple assailants.

These two methods attempt to eliminate the need for adaptability by dominating the situation and bending it to your will-which isn’t always possible, that‘s why in anything approaching real violence—including sport fighting—we witness plenty of discrete techniques executed ineffectively, from the untrained brawler swinging away with ineffective haymakers as his
victim refuses to position himself properly to receive the punches, to the trained submission artist attempting submission after submission, hoping to make one “stick.”

The dynamic is that the fighter, rather than truly adapting to the situation, attempts to apply the techniques he knows best to situations that resemble the ones ideally suited to the application of such techniques, as quickly as he can recognize the familiar patterns (usually too slowly to effect a successful outcome). This dynamic exists even for trained fighters whose uncooperative training gives them certain critical advantages. Often the physically superior fighter can bend the situation to his will as described above, forcing the inferior fighter into a position in which the superior fighter’s techniques can work. True adaptability is notably absent.

Photos

Limitations of choreographed setups: The opponent grabs Al Ridenhour's shirt with one hand and prepares a punch with the other ( 1). Ridenhour demonstrates a common response: the wrist lock (2). But in a real assault, the enemy might elect to dive forward and attack (3). The solution, according

to Guided Chaos, is to avoid practicing unrealistic, static setups (as shown in Photo 2) and not let strangers enter your personal comfort zone. If one does, an augmented “fright reaction, ” which might entail dropping the body weight and raising the arms and shoulders, can protect Ridenhour’s neck and head while he delivers an elbow to the throat (4).

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Photos

Attempting to grapple with a stronger person: The opponent (right) grabs Al Ridenhour‘s throat and pushes him off~balance (i). The crushing impact of the attack means it's too late for a counterstrike or counter grappling technique. Instead of challenging the attacker's strength, Ridenhour chooses to yield to the pressure, twisting his body so he can slam an open-hand strike into the man’s throat (2).

Self-Defense Without Patterned Techniques?

A promise of long—term training is that eventually the master will be able to transcend discrete techniques and simply do what’s necessary in the moment, regardless of the situation. In other words, somehow he’ll break free and achieve adaptability.

There’s actually a way to achieve adaptability from the beginning, and intrinsic to this concept is the absence of patterned techniques. The method, created by John Perkins, is called Guided Chaos.

The specifics of it are spelled out in his book, Attack Proof. Guided Chaos acknowledges that real, extreme violence is unpredictable. No one can forecast exactly how a prison—hardened psychopath or a drug-crazed monster will attempt to harm you. Additionally, in the sudden stress of a life-threatening situation, anyone would be hard pressed to observe, classify and organize an optimal response to the movements of an assailant. Perkins’ experience as a police officer responding to violent felonies in progress served as the basis for the development of his ideas about self-defense.

Guided Chaos involves the cultivation of key attributes that in concert yield adaptability. One by one, they are:

Balance: Without balance, on your feet and on the ground in any conceivable position, other skills or attributes become worthless because you have no base to work from. Why, then, do virtually all martial arts develop their students’ balance only indirectly—for example, through forms training and shadowboxing? Solo exercises designed to develop solid yet mobile balance on two legs, on one leg and on the ground should be practiced.

Tools such as wobble boards, cables and exercise bands can further enhance balance. Stances and set positions should be avoided. The emphasis is on extreme balance in all positions so you can generate what you need from any position, at any angle, to adapt to any situation.

Sensitivity: Conscious visual-pattern recognition is insufficient to guide your body in an adaptive manner through the chaos of real violence. This is especially true at close quarters, where the most brutal and decisive violence occurs and where things change far more quickly than the eye and conscious mind can process.

Therefore, you need a different means of guiding your movement. The answer is sensitivity.

In Guided Chaos, "sensitivity" refers to subconscious tactile sensitivity as well as preconscious subcortical vision (in essence, “feeling” by sight). Action that is too fast for visual cortex processing is no problem for tactile sensitivity because of the different way tactile reactions are “wired” in the nervous system. For example, if you unknowingly touch a hot surface, you pull away without conscious thought, and the reaction doesn’t take any specific form or direction (besides away from the hot surface).

Through solo and partner exercises emphasizing freedom of action, you need to train your nervous system to react subconsciously to the sorts of pressures and feelings inherent in combat. You literally don’t “know” how you’ll react once contact is made. Your body takes care of things before your brain has a chance to catch up.

Another often overlooked element of sensitivity is proprioception. According to The American Heritage Stedman ’3 Medical Dictionary, proprioception is “the unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself.” It’s the ability to accurately feel the exact position and tension state of all parts of your body. Put simply, those with highly developed proprioception are more coordinated, balanced and graceful, and they’re better able to use their tactile sensitivity to adapt to the movements of others.

Subcortical visual sensitivity is an advanced attribute applicable only after a high level of tactile sensitivity has been achieved because it involves training to associate preconscious visual cues with tactile responsiveness. A movement, before you’re consciously aware of “seeing" it, can be detected by the eyes and seemingly treated as a tactile stimulus in terms of subconscious reaction. If this sounds weird, don’t worry—it is. However, it becomes clearer when you move with a practitioner who can utilize this attribute because he seems to “feel” your motion and adapt to it even before physical contact is established. Even then, this attribute is typically used to guide you into a position in which physical contact can be established, allowing the most reliable tactile sensitivity to take over.

Body Unity: All martial artists know what it means to get their body behind a strike. However, applying the concept in combat can be problematic. In many arts, the enemy must be in just the right place at just the right moment to allow full (or even partial) body power to be delivered in the prescribed manner. The solution entails training your body to always move in unison during combat, getting full body power behind even the most subtle movements.

Whenever trained sensitivity prompts your body to move, it should move in a united fashion, using its full momentum to strike, break or unbalance the enemy.

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Photos

Adaptive attacks: AI Ridenhour (left) attempts a chop to the attacker's throat, but the bad guy blocks it with his right forearm (7). When Ridenhour pulls his left hand back to strike again, the attacker charges in and rips at his face (2). One possible adaptation to avoid the follow-up assault: Ridenhour yields to the inward pressure of the attacker and transitions into an elbow strike (3). Another possible adaptation: Ridenhour yields and steps behind the man to wrench his neck (4).

Looseness: Looseness or pliability, refers to the maximization of efficiency in muscle use. Typically, when you try to apply muscular strength to movement, the muscles on both sides of the involved joints contract to stabilize the joints. It’s easy to see how this can be detrimental to speed and power because it’s like hitting the gas and the brake at the same time.

Additionally, excess muscle contraction saps energy and wears you out. The most efficient way to use muscles is to contract only those necessary to create the given movement while all others remain relaxed, ready to fire explosively if you need to adapt to circumstances.

Perkins advocates developing the ability to relax so you can avoid putting the brakes on your own movement and so you can change movements instantly.

Such pliability also makes you safer. A relaxed body can yield to and roll with impacts and falls far better than a stiff, rigid body.

If you examine police reports of car accidents, you’ll find that inebriated people tend to survive more frequently than sober people do, and with fewer injuries. That's because the sober folks stiffen up and brace themselves before impact, while the drunks remain loose and pliable. Any boxer knows the value of rolling with punches, as opposed to tightening up and taking the full impact.

Finally, looseness increases tactile sensitivity. A tense limb is far less sensitive than a relaxed one and is also much easier for an enemy to feel.

Think of it as a signal-to-noise ratio, with muscle tension representing noise. You attempt to “listen” to the enemy with your sensitivity. However, if your arm that’s in contact with him is making too much “noise,” it won’t be able to "hear" as well. Additionally, your enemy, even if untrained in sensitivity, will be better able to “hear” you the louder your noise is.

The development of any one of these attributes is not unique to Guided Chaos.

Grappling actually develops a relatively high level of full-body sensitivity, which is one of the key advantages a grappler has over non-grapplers.

Grapplers also typically have good balance, especially on the ground. If you watch high—level kickboxing, you’ll notice that the fighters with the most devastating kicks are the ones who don‘t have to fight for their own balance while delivering their kicks because the balance and proprioception are already there. Most combat athletes will be more relaxed and loose under stress than the average person and will use their muscles more efficiently.

However, the focus of those endeavors is learning and perfecting techniques, after which they’re applied in uncooperative partner drills. That‘s what holds back the development of adaptability. Guided Chaos teaches you to focus directly on the development of the four critical attributes and their synergistic application in free—form, unchoreographed partner and group drilling.

Combining the Attributes with Self-defense

Make no mistake: Dynamic, uncooperative partner and group training is an essential ingredient of adaptability. A system that makes use of it offers you a better chance of developing some level of adaptability than does a system that doesn’t utilize it. In other words, a system that teaches techniques in a dynamic, uncooperative manner will develop adaptability better than a system that teaches techniques only through choreographed patterns and cooperative exercises.

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Photos

Grappling alternatives: Having fallen to the ground, Al Ridenhour struggles unsuccessfully against a groin and throat attack while using the open-guard position (1), Viable option: When he feels he's about to fall, he goes to the ground first and keeps his legs between his head and the attackers body, kicking instead of directly engaging the larger and stronger man (2), without the dead weight of prescribed techniques

However, it’s even better to train in an uncooperative and spontaneous manner. Note that “full power, all the time" is not an ingredient of such training. Many people misunderstand this. How hard you struggle, how quickly you move or how brutally you punish your partner doesn’t determine how effective or adaptive your training is. Professional fighters go full power in partner training very seldom, if at all, because it will leave them battered, broken and unprepared for the match.

They save the all-out efforts for heavy—bag training and conditioning, working the uncooperative partner training primarily at lower speeds.

The number of restrictions placed on the freedom of movement of the trainees determines how dynamic and beneficial a given partner training method is. The fewer restrictions there are, the more realistic and adaptive the method. Examples of restrictions that seriously reduce the realism and spontaneity of popular forms of uncooperative partner training include:

• no striking (in grappling "rolling").
• no grappling (in kickboxing sparring).
• no striking to certain targets (virtually all forms of uncooperative training that include striking) and no “dirty fighting" (eye gouges, biting, ripping, etc).

Contact Flow, the primary partner and group—training method used in Guided Chaos, has no such restrictions. 

In Contact Flow, the trainees endeavor to apply their basic attributes to completely free (nonpatterned, nonprescribed) movement intended to destroy the enemy while preserving the self.

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Photos

Drilling for balance, sensitivity and looseness: Al Ridennour and Killeen Good perform a free-form Contact Flow exercise on a ladder.

Through this training, the body subconsciously learns to trust its sensitivity to guide it in adapting to the situation at hand, moment by moment to save itself and stop the enemy. Any kind of movement is fair game because maximum subconscious learning is achieved by exposing the nervous system to combative stimuli from as many different opposing bodies as possible,

The one restriction imposed in Contact Flow in the early stages of training is that all participants must move at equally reduced speeds to ensure safety.

As the trainees gain experience and control over time, speeds may be gradually increased nearly to the maximum for the human body. Still as in all uncooperative partner training, most of the time reduced speeds (from medium fast to excruciatingly slow) are used to ensure safety and to access the many benefits of slowness. The general rule is that while high-speed partner training certainly has its benefits, the slower the movement is, the more detail and subtlety the subconscious mind can pick up.

What This Means For You

The good news is if you practice any martial art or sport, you can use these elements of Guided Chaos to improve your performance, even if you choose to stick with your trained techniques. What boxer, judoka or karateka wouldn’t benefit from increasing his balance in all positions so he can punch, kick, disrupt or get a takedown more efficiently?

Likewise, developing greater looseness and more efficient muscle use will increase endurance and accelerate the execution of any technique so long as the requisite tendon strength is gained to allow the body to maintain its integrity at higher speeds without tensing up. True sensitivity and body unity are a bit harder to apply to the execution of prescribed techniques because often the structure and prearranged nature of the techniques hinder the realization of these attributes.

However, even for the technique-trained fighter, it pays to spend time working exclusively on these attributes.

About the author:

Ari Kande/ has a second-degree black belt in Guided Chaos. His previous 10 years of martial arts training included taekwondo, jeet kune do concepts, wing tsun, escrima, systema, judo, Brazilian jujutsu and mixed martial arts.

Lt. Col. Al Ridenhour, a Guided Chaos master and former antiterrorism/force-protection officer in Iraq who has trained in boxing, wrestling, karate, kendo and tai chi, assisted with the creation of this article.