Not being hit

Kung Fu Wang

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You have 2 arms and your opponent also has 2 arms. When you try to hit your opponent, your opponent also tries to hit you. Which strategy/strategies do you use in order to achieve "not being hit"?

Here are few possible strategies.

1. Move around and don't stand still.
2. Use kicks and foot sweep to maintain distance.
3. Protect your head and body so well.
4. Redirect your opponent's punching arm away from your attacking path.
5. Use your opponent's leading arm to jam his back arm.
6. Control your opponent's arms and disable his punching ability.
7. ...

Would you like to add in some more strategies?
 
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Tony Dismukes

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To quote myself from an earlier thread:

Methods of defending against strikes:

  • Being out of range
  • Moving out of range
  • Evading at an angle
  • Evading in place (i.e. head movement or pivoting)
  • Moving in to jam the strike
  • Stop-hit
  • Hard block to stop the strike in place (this can be done as a damaging strike to the limb)
  • Redirecting/parrying just enough to make the strike miss
  • Redirecting/parrying with a damaging strike
  • Redirecting/parrying with some extra movement to pull the opponent off balance or spin him out of alignment
  • Passive covering
  • Spiking the attacking limb
  • Wrapping the attacking limb in preparation for a grappling technique
Many of these methods can (and should) be combined with each other and with counter-striking. All of them are important and useful when used at the right moment.
 

JowGaWolf

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Didn't see these 2 so I'll add them.
1. Kick when the opponent punches
2. Punch when the opponent kicks.
3. Use the elbow to meet the strike
4. Turn and donkey kick (high risk)
5. Fall in donkey kick (high risk)
6. Leg scissor the opponent (forgot what it's call. In my system is called "ox rolls in mud" and is done at knee level instead of waist level.)
7. Take the punch (glancing blow) and land a stronger punch
8. Throw combos
 

Touch Of Death

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You have 2 arms and your opponent also has 2 arms. When you try to hit your opponent, your opponent also tries to hit you. Which strategy/strategies do you use in order to achieve "not being hit"?

Here are few possible strategies.

1. Move around and don't stand still.
2. Use kicks and foot sweep to maintain distance.
3. Protect your head and body so well.
4. Redirect your opponent's punching arm away from your attacking path.
5. Use your opponent's leading arm to jam his back arm.
6. Control your opponent's arms and disable his punching ability.
7. ...

Would you like to add in some more strategies?
Get to the out side
Put your hand over his eyes
Stick your finger in his eyes.
Limbo under punches, as long as you are going to the ground, anyway, screw getting hit.
disturb his balance
Break his posture
 

Touch Of Death

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Didn't see these 2 so I'll add them.
1. Kick when the opponent punches
2. Punch when the opponent kicks.
3. Use the elbow to meet the strike
4. Turn and donkey kick (high risk)
5. Fall in donkey kick (high risk)
6. Leg scissor the opponent (forgot what it's call. In my system is called "ox rolls in mud" and is done at knee level instead of waist level.)
7. Take the punch (glancing blow) and land a stronger punch
8. Throw combos
Punch his punches
Elbow his feet
 

Phobius

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Not getting hit? Run the other way.

If I go in, I expect to get hit, that is the only way to avoid it. The rest is for my feet and body to handle. As soon as I need to use strategy I am spending too much time trying to make the situation into something my opponent does not want, and suprise will follow. A suprise where I might not like the outcome.
 
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Kung Fu Wang

Kung Fu Wang

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As soon as I need to use strategy I am spending too much time trying to make the situation into something my opponent does not want, and suprise will follow. A suprise where I might not like the outcome.
IMO, fighting is all about "strategy". If you can lead your opponent into an area that you are more familiar than he does, that will be your advantage. If you have tested your strategy 10,000 times, it will be difficult for you to get surprised any more. If you test your strategy 15 times daily with your partner, in just 2 years you have tested it 365 x 2 x 15 = 10,950 times.

When I decide to fight my opponent, if my opponent

- and I both have right leg forward (uniform stance), the 1st thing that I'll do is to move my back left foot to my left and line up with his right leading foot and his left back foot.
- has left leg forward and I have right leg forward (mirror stance), the 1st thing that I'll do is to move my leading right foot to line up with his left leading foot and his right back foot.

There are many reasons that I want to do this.

1. His back hand will be too far to hit me.
2. I may force him to rotate his body with me. This way I lead the fight and I'm one step ahead of him.
3. My left back foot is in a good angle to sweep his leading leg.
4. I can push his leading arm to jam his own back left arm.
5. If I shoot in from this angle, no matter how he may move his leading leg, that leg will always be under my attacking range.
6. ...

This strategy doesn't take any time at all. Boxers do this all the time, keep moving behind their opponent's leading side to avoid that powerful "cross".
 
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Kung Fu Wang

Kung Fu Wang

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If you extend your

- left arm between your opponent's right arm and his head,
- right arm between his left arm and his head,

you can separate his arms, get in between his arms, and occupy his center, his hands will be hard to hit on your head at that moment.
 

JowGaWolf

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Not getting hit? Run the other way.

If I go in, I expect to get hit, that is the only way to avoid it. The rest is for my feet and body to handle. As soon as I need to use strategy I am spending too much time trying to make the situation into something my opponent does not want, and suprise will follow. A suprise where I might not like the outcome.
We actually train how to make our opponent throw the punch that we want them to throw. From the very start, we try to control the fight. I often surprise the new students by telling them to punch for my face or body while the older students watch on. Everyone smiles because the older students know what defense I'm going to use before I use it and the new students are surprised because I'm able to block all of their punches. When the new students ask how am I able to block all of their punches. I simply tell them, that I made them punch where I wanted them to punch so I new ahead of time what punches are going to come. From the surface it looks like Kung Fu magic, but in reality it's strategy.

Having a strategy for fighting is key to winning. Going in without a strategy means you are always trying to guess what your opponent is going to do or guess where you can hit the opponent. Strategy doesn't have to be complex, it tends to work better when it's very simple. A simple strategy for punching the face is to punch the body or kick the legs until your opponent gives his face. Strategy for fighting tall people is fight close to a tall opponent and not far from him. On the most simple level strategy can be built around a stance or a guard. Strategy is dynamic. When one method of attack stops working then you have to go to another strategy. People who can't change strategy or people who only have one strategy will continue to do something that doesn't work.

The key isn't to make an opponent do what they don't want. The key is to make the opponent do what you want and have him believe that's what he wants.
 
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Kung Fu Wang

Kung Fu Wang

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The key is to make the opponent do what you want and have him believe that's what he wants.
When my opponent refuses to initial his attack, one of my favor strategies is to

- lower my guide to invite a punch. When my opponent punches at my head, I'll kick his belly.
- raise my guard to invite a kick. When my opponent kicks at me, I'll block his kick, push his leading arm to jam his back arm, and move in.
 

JowGaWolf

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IMO, fighting is all about "strategy". If you can lead your opponent into an area that you are more familiar than he does, that will be your advantage. If you have tested your strategy 10,000 times, it will be difficult for you to get surprised any more. If you test your strategy 15 times daily with your partner, in just 2 years you have tested it 365 x 2 x 15 = 10,950 times.

When I decide to fight my opponent, if my opponent

- and I both have right leg forward (uniform stance), the 1st thing that I'll do is to move my back left foot to my left and line up with his right leading foot and his left back foot.
- has left leg forward and I have right leg forward (mirror stance), the 1st thing that I'll do is to move my leading right foot to line up with his left leading foot and his right back foot.

There are many reasons that I want to do this.

1. His back hand will be too far to hit me.
2. I may force him to rotate his body with me. This way I lead the fight and I'm one step ahead of him.
3. My left back foot is in a good angle to sweep his leading leg.
4. I can push his leading arm to jam his own back left arm.
5. If I shoot in from this angle, no matter how he may move his leading leg, that leg will always be under my attacking range.
6. ...

This strategy doesn't take any time at all. Boxers do this all the time, keep moving behind their opponent's leading side to avoid that powerful "cross".
We have a similar fighting strategy. I don't like the closed stance because it give my opponent too many options. The open stance (mirror stance) usually takes away the options of most people and makes it easier for to deal with that rear leg kick. Because I train this way, my options are just as numerous as if I was in a closed stance. My first strategy in fighting starts with my stance and taking away as many options from my opponent as possible. I wouldn't fight without a strategy. Fighting without strategy is like putting me in a lion cage and trying to figure out how to fight the lion on the fly.

Like you say the strategy doesn't take long to think of and the ones that people go into fights with are ones that should have already been developed before the fight. That way it's only a matter of matching the correct strategy and not actually trying to think of one.
 

JowGaWolf

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When my opponent refuses to initial his attack, one of my favor strategies is to

- lower my guide to invite a punch. When my opponent punches at my head, I'll kick his belly.
- raise my guard to invite a kick. When my opponent kicks at me, I'll block his kick, push his leading arm to jam his back arm, and move in.
yep.. the same freaking strategies lol. I'm always inviting punching for the sole purpose of kicking under the punch. I haven't done it yet, but I already know that's a winning strategy and an easy way to break someone's ribs. There have been many punches where if I had only kicked full force my sparring partner would have been seriously injured.
 
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Kung Fu Wang

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The open stance (mirror stance) usually takes away the options of most people and makes it easier for to deal with that rear leg kick.
I like the mirror stance (open stance) too. Since I don't switch sides, I don't have any control over this. IMO, the beauty of the mirror stance (open stance) over the uniform stance (close stance) are

in order to guide your opponent's leading arm to jam his back arm, in

1. uniform stance (close stance) - I have to use my back hand to push on his leading arm. The distance is a bit too far.
2. mirror stance (open stance) - I only need to use my leading hand to push on his leading arm. This distance is much shorter.
 
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Buka

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When he moves, you move.

Do not give a damn what he does, just take him.
 
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Kung Fu Wang

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I wouldn't fight without a strategy.
IMO, by using a "strategy" when you attack, you can reduce your risk to be punched or kicked to the minimum.

For example, when you enter, if you can jam your leading

- leg on your opponent's leading leg, you can prevent his kick.
- arm on your opponent's leading arm, you can prevent his punch. He may borrow your force and hay-maker at your head, you can take advantage on that too.
 

Phobius

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So with strategy you do not mean a pre-defined set of movements but rather a preferred situation / position? Then I can agree.

I have a place I want to be but every move the opponent does will either let me continue on my path or do something else.

Like chess, at start I want a position and rarely can I continue that path more than 1-2 moves before I need to change based on opponent moving differently.

Otherwise I end up chasing which is a big no for me.
 

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