The fallacy of "target selection"

Folks,
First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!  I hope that you are able to achieve all that you want in this new year. I myself dont personally have resolutions per se, but improvement is a continual process. We are all works in progress right?

Anyhow,  I would first like to apologize for my lack of posting recently. Personal goals, epiphanies and all of that have occupied my time. Anyhow, I wanted to talk to you all about choosing your targets. It seems to be a matter of contention among martial artists. I can say myself that I have had a number of conversations about the import, or lack their of in my belief of choosing your targets.

They way I look at it is, the situation will dictate your targets. If an instructor is teaching a technique, he SHOULD be considering the physical differences of his or her students. Not everyone will be able to use certain attacks because of their size. A safe practice is to assume that your attacker will be larger and stronger than you are. That way, you will find yourself using technical proficiency instead of raw muscle and size. At any rate, let me get to the point of my post today.

In most Kenpo systems, there is a technique called 5 swords. It is defense againt a haymaker punch. In the way that it is largely taught, it involves using two hands to block one punch (dont laugh, I know), a backfist to the face,  a palm to the face, and then an uppercut to the stomach. If you want to see this is the classical sense, check it out on youtube. Casa de Kenpo has a decent grasp of the system as traditionally taught.

Now here is where it becomes manure. If someone of equal height uses this defense, it is possible that thwy will be able to back fist someone to the face and then palm them in the face directly afterward. But to mandate a certain type of response is LUNACY. There are two steps two self defense if you break it down to the essentials. The first is DO NOT LET YOUR OPPONENT STRIKE YOU! The second rule is to incapacitate them, but the second rule is NOWHERE near as important as the first.

Now, lets say that the attack is being perpetrated against a much smaller weaker woman. How likely is it, that she will be able to reach someones face with both a backfist AND a palm strike? Not very. To me the problem is that it is foolish to try to dictate how a person should strike back at the person who has attacked them. The key point of any technique is to teach ther student how to defend against a certain kind of attack. 5 Swords, Parting Wings, all of those cool names are just ways to make sure that a person remembers what they are learning to defend against. Now lets have a look at this realistically shall we?

First off, we remember that because of the cool name, 5 Swords is a defense against a haymaker punch. Lets assume that the attacker is my size, 6 feet and about 215 pounds. The attacker is a small woman about 5 foot 3 and 115 pounds. Likelihood of her outmuscling me? Nil. So, lets say that after the block she goes to the backfist to the grill. If you smack someone in the nose, their head tends to snap back, placing my face out of range for the follow up palm. My body however is much closer to her, and more open to a hammerfist, a cross or even a foot stomp. Laugh if you want at the foot stomp idea, but the heel is the hardest bone in our body, and there are tons of small bones in the feet. Add that up......then rethink laughing at my foot stomp idea.

A knife hand to the groin is a good option, yes, I stay true to my Kenpo roots :) Elbows to the floating ribs would work nicely, as would a ridehand to the liver. Are you guys getting the point? I if not, let me help you out. Technique names are just a way to remember what you are supposed to be defending against. How you effectively respond to it is nearly limitless. Now that is my rant for the day, I got a chicken salad screaming at me to go eat it. Later folks, remember to think about what works best for you. You make the Art fit the person, and not the other way around. We are all different shapes and sizes. Choose the defense that works best for you.