Controlling the Counterattack: Formidable Fighter, #9

By Martina Sprague

When there is chaos, the techniques you have mastered flawlessly in the training hall don’t work as intended. They may work, but only partially, and often not at all. Why? Because your opponent is not cooperating, he or she is struggling to escape the onslaught of your attack, and he is intent on winning the fight. The effectiveness of a technique is always measured against the chaos of the attack. If you can’t end the fight now, you can at least limit your opponent’s ability to counterattack. You can buy time through intimidation tactics and mental control, and maybe save yourself from further assault. Striking or kicking seldom satisfies this need, however, because strikes and kicks are generally not effective for controlling your opponent’s movement. By contrast, techniques that stifle movement generally stifle the opponent’s ability to counterattack. These are the techniques we will explore in this book. Formidable Fighter: The Complete Series, a compilation of all 14 books in this series, is available in both electronic and print format.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Martina Sprague
• Release date: Apr 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386043089

Martina Sprague

Martina Sprague grew up in the Stockholm area of Sweden. She has a Master of Arts degree in Military History from Norwich University in Vermont and has studied a variety of combat arts since 1987. As an independent scholar, she writes primarily on subjects pertaining to military and general history, politics, and instructional books on the martial arts. For more information, please visit her website: www.modernfighter.com.

Book preview

Preface

The Formidable Fighter Series is a series of booklets for martial artists desiring to learn the concepts that create formidable fighters in the training hall, competition arena, and street. Each booklet is between 5,000 and 10,000 words in length and includes fighting scenarios, training tips, and illustrations. Controlling the Counterattack, the ninth booklet in the series, deals particularly with how to attack an adversary or defend against an attack and anticipate his response, while limiting his ability to move, strike or kick with power, or otherwise remain effective in stand-up or ground battle. Since the advice is not style specific but explores the underlying concepts of personal combat, it is applicable to students of most martial styles.

A counterattack is a response to an attack and allows a fighter to seize the initiative after the first exchange of blows. Carl von Clausewitz, the famous nineteenth century Prussian military theorist, noted that friction, or the uncertainty of battle, may be the factor that interferes the most with the likelihood that you will claim victory. Your goal is therefore to retain the initiative by interfering with your opponent’s ability to counter your initial attack or defensive technique. If you follow the instruction and tips in the Formidable Fighter Series, you will learn how to develop your physical strength and mental tenacity and triumph as a fighter in the training hall, ring, and street.

Where is the end of this spiral of force and counter-force?

—Alva Myrdal, 1902-1986, Swedish Diplomat, Politician, and Writer

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The pleasure of risk is in the control needed to ride it with assurance so that what appears dangerous to the outsider is, to the participant, simply a matter of intelligence, skill, intuition, coordination – in a word, experience.

—Alfred Alvarez, 1929- , English-Jewish Poet, Writer, and Critic

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It was a counterattack and I had to take him down. I don’t regret it and I would do it again if I had to.

—Thomas Gravesen, 1976- , Danish Football Player

And there it is: the chaos. The techniques you have mastered flawlessly in the training hall don’t work as intended. They may work, but only partially, and often not at all. Why? Because your opponent is not cooperating, he or she is struggling to escape the onslaught of your attack, and he is intent on winning the fight. The situation has changed; it is not what it seemed to be . . . the adrenaline, the risk of injury, the poor footing, the inclement weather, and the restrictive clothing . . . The effectiveness of a technique is always measured against the chaos of the attack. If you can’t