The Seven Fighting Principles of Evolution Kempo

by Ken Warner
December, 2003

Many systems of Kempo teach fighting combinations, or techniques, with the assumption (often the unspoken assumption) that the student will be able to use the technique or combination exactly as-is to defend him- or herself. In fact, some Kempo systems justify teaching literally hundreds of techniques by asserting that the student will have a technique to match every possible situation which he or she may experience in a real fight.

This method does not work. No person will ever be successful at self defense simply by virtue of knowing self defense combinations.

We employ a much better method for teaching students self defense. As Bruce Lee stated, the best way to train for an event is to practice the event itself. Students who merely practice combinations against an opponent who throws one punch and then just stands there are not practicing self defense. They are practicing a combination. To practice self defense, one must practice drills that simulate as closely as possible a real fight.

In these simulations, there is absolutely zero chance that one will perform a technique or combination exactly as it is taught. In fact, to try to do so will almost certainly lead to failure. One should regard combinations as vehicles for teaching fighting concept. Each combination should teach a different takedown or throw, or a different method of striking or controlling an opponent's body in a fight.

In fact, really self defense comes down to that one ultimate principle: controlling an opponent's body long enough to provide an avenue of escape from the fight.

In our style of Kempo we teach a sequence of drills designed to teach the student how to bring a measure of control to the chaos of a real fight. If one allows one's mind to get stuck in the idea of one technique, one will lose. However, if one approaches a fight by attempting to utilize certain general principles of control, one stands a much better chance of success.

The following seven principles identify those elements of control we hope to achieve in our fighting drills, and thus in a real fight. Please note that there is a high degree of overlap between most of these principles. We have found that when we teach a student to focus on these general principles, the students achieves a much higher rate of success in defending against a random, unchoreographed attack. These drills define the general strategy of the fight, and the specific techniques we teach become the tactics used within the overarching strategy.

The principles I will outline below are those general principles we use against a standing attack that uses punches or kicks. Please note that we use the same principles to defend against a tackle, grab or weapon attack, with slight modifications to the initial phase of the fight to address the different nature of the attack. We utilize a different set of drills for ground attacks.

1. Evading the Attack
Many systems teach the student to block an incoming punch. This works well when practicing a technique or combination but fails completely when facing a real attack. Blocking does not work. Blocking is a construct that people invented for use against a controlled attack. Real attacks are not controlled - they are chaotic. If blocking really worked, boxers would use it in the ring. They do not.

In fact, boxing offers the best glimpse of the principle of evading the attack. Boxers weave and bob to avoid the incoming onslaught of punches. They also keep their hands on guard so that they occupy the space between themselves and the opponent. By keeping one's hands in such a guard, one provides obstacles to the path of an incoming onslaught of punches. And I say onslaught of punches, because much like a boxer, no attacker will throw only one punch.

We use the same methods as the boxer to evade the attack. We use footwork to bob and weave out of the way of the onslaught, and we keep our hands on guard to provide obstacles to the path of a punch or kick.

2. Closing the Gap
Much of the initial phase of a fight relies upon becoming aware of the range of the attacker's weapon and then controlling the range of the fight to one's advantage. In most fights, we assume the range to be that of a punch with an empty hand, a tackle or grab, or an attack with a short weapon such as a knife.

Any of these weapons have only a limited range. If we stay out of the range of the attacker's punches, the attacker cannot reach us. On the other hand, if we move in close enough, we can jam the attacker's punches.

Every weapon has a certain range in which it is effective. A knife, for example, must be used at short range (unless one throws the knife, of course.) If one is standing in New England, it is impossible to reach someone in Asia with a knife. However one could reach someone in Asia with an ICBM. But, of course, using an ICBM against someone standing right next to use would be useless, as it would kill both of us. As ridiculous as this analogy may be, it illustrates the vital importance of range in a fight.

If an attacker is throwing punches at us, and we position ourselves such that our face is exactly at the attacker's arm's length, his chances of successfully hitting us are quite high. If we stand out of his range, and can maintain that range, we have achieved an ideal situation by avoiding the fight all together. Alternately, if we can move in very close to the attacker, we also achieve superior position, as the attacker will now have to move away from us to throw effective punches.

3. Clinching or Sticking
Using again the analogy of a boxing match, we can use the behavior of the boxers as they become tired to illustrate the principle of Clinching. As boxers tire, they inevitably end up in a "clinch," where they are essentially hugging each other, and are close enough to each other where they cannot throw effective punches. Of course, at this point, the referree breaks them apart. This is only because a boxing match has rules.

Grapplers also use this clinching method to tie up an opponent's body, again, so that the opponent's punches become totally useless. At this point the grappler will generally try to bring the opponent to the ground to finish the job.

For our purposes in self defense, we do not want to go to the ground ourselves if we can avoid it. However we can still use the clinch to tie up an opponent's arms, giving ourselves ample opportunity to strike at the same time.

4. Continuous Attack
As we close the gap and tie up the opponent's arms, we want to deliver our own onslaught of strikes, elbows and knees. We want to hit the opponent repeatedly to nerve centers and vital areas. We want to hit hard, we want to hit fast and we want to hit repeatedly. Fights in the street do not go nine rounds. They end in seconds. The harder, faster and more repeatedly we can strike the attacker, the sooner we can escape.

5. Taking Space or Breaking the Balance
As we close the gap with the opponent, tie up his or her arms and strike the opponent repeatedly, the opponent will have a tendancy to move away from us. We want to stick to the opponent, and continue moving in such a way as to keep close. And if we are clinching effectively, we will be grabbing an arm or the head in such a way as to make it impossible for the attacker to get very far away from us.

But we want to go beyond closing the gap. We actually want to occupy the space the opponent's body is occupying with our own body. By doing so we can continually upset the balance of the opponent. If the opponent cannot gain his or her balance, it will be very difficult for him or her to throw a punch with any power.

To illustrate this concept, try standing such that you are rocking back on your heels. Now from this unbalanced position, try to throw a punch with any power. This is not so easy. We want to keep the attacker off balance in this way as much as possible during the fight.

6. Controlling the Spine or Breaking the Structure
Our bodies are designed to bend and twist. They bend in the middle, at the waist. And they turn around the axis of the spine. This bending and twisting is what gives us our amazing mobility and agility. However this bending and turning can also give us a way of controlling an opponent's body.

If we have closed the gap effectively and take the space of the attacker, it is quite easy for us to bend or twist the opponent's body any way we wish. As we bend and twist the opponent's body, it will become even more difficult for the attacker to regain his or her balance, or to throw any kind of effective punch at us.

And by bending and twisting the opponent's body, we can also give ourselves more control and greater opportunities to land our own blows.

7. Takedowns
Often when we use the first six principles effectively in a fight or fighting simulation, the attacker will already be falling. If not, we want to make the attacker fall. The best takedowns are those which give us direct control of the opponent's spine so that we can use the bending and twisting action of the opponent's body to make the opponent collapse to the ground. Ideally, of course, we want to send the attacker to the ground without going down ourselves. Thus we want to maintain our own balance as much as possible as we execute the takedown.

When we have taken the opponent down, we have afforded ourselves an opportunity for escape.

Unfortunately, many fights will bring us to the ground with the attacker. In this case, we want to do everything we can to achieve the mount. From the mount it is easiest for us to continue to deliver blows to the attacker without him or her being able to regain a standing position.