The Most Important Close Combat Lesson You Will Ever Learn

Once engaged with the enemy, close the distance. Don't spar, don't feint, don't fake, JUST GO!!!!

As you close the distance you take what's given to you. You start with strikes. Strikes are the fastest and most efficient way to end the contact (fight). You can knock someone out a hell of a lot faster with a strike than a submission. If you don't sufficiently injure or incapacitate your target with strike you immediately go to gouges, tears and hooks. Use these to create openings in order to either end the fight or create an opening to strike. Grappling and submission techniques are literally last on the list because they require skill, finite motor skills and take longer to get into position and apply. You may find (as in SDTS Module 3) that you can use a combination of gouges, strikes and submissions if trained in the right manner with the correct intent. But, it's always better to strike first...and ask questions later.

Always take ground. This is extremely important. You need to be where the enemy is standing the entire time. Always move forward and into your target. This is imperative for two reasons. One, moving directly into your target while you're delivering a barrage of attacks is the most efficient, most effective way to deliver the most amount of damage on target. It will ensure that all of your body weight and power are behind your technique. The second reason is that it keeps your target off balance. A retreating, off balance target can not mount a good offensive. Sure, there are last ditch efforts in some spinning techniques, but if you are attacking correctly as seen in Module 1 of the SDTS your target will not have a chance. This holds true in one on one combat as in warfare between armies. Armies suffer the most casualties when they retreat.

Now I'm sure there are some people who will talk about "small circles" and "redirection of power". While there is some truth to this, it has little place in close quarters combat and does not play a significant role in strategy and tactics. In the heat of battle you will only be able to advance or retreat, not DANCE. In a nutshell, most movements that you do are already circular, it's the nature of body mechanics. Even a straight punch travels an elliptical path. I will say the overwhelming majority of martial arts instructors complicate the explanation of simple movement for reasons ranging from self importance to filling time, either way, the best coaches and instructors I have known sought to simply what they taught. In fact, you should only "correct" one or two mistakes per session. When learning a physical activity you should perform it until you are exhausted. This way your body has a chance to figure out the most efficient way to complete a task. You will auto-correct yourself. This is why in the SDTS we hit targets and training dummies A LOT>

The Common Denominators of Close Combat

All situations can be broken down to distance, position, momentum and balance. This is the crux of the SDTS. Distance: how far he is from you. Position: where you are in relation to your target. Momentum: always be moving and taking ground. Balance: break his, maintain yours. Combine that with techniques that will cause maximum damage to your target and minimum damage to you. This is the truth of combat.

Listen, there's a way we want things to be and the way they actually are. We WANT them to be pretty and neat. We WANT to be able to wrap our attacker up in a nice little package, twist him up with joint locks and wave to our buddies, but that's not reality. Reality is there is a man in front of you who doesn't care about your hopes and dreams. He's pissed off and doesn't think like you do. You have something he wants and he's going to take it. Reality is you have so much adrenaline going through your veins that you can hardly speak let alone think.

And he's going to keep taking until he decides it's enough. In order to survive you are going to have to go through him. You are going to have to do the unthinkable and the unmentionable. Hey, I wish it wasn't like this, but it is. Some times good people have to do bad things.

Train Honestly,
Damian Ross, CEO The Self Defense Company


Damian Ross is CEO of the Self Defense Company and developer of The Self Defense Training System, the most lethal and effective self defense system in the world, The Guardian Defensive Tactics Police Combatives Program, 60 minute Self Defense and the Family Safe Program. Mr. Ross also founded the Self Defense Instructor Program that helps people develop their self defense careers from the ground up. Mr. Ross is originally from Ridgewood, NJ where he was a High School Hall of Fame Athlete in football and wrestling as well as a varsity wrestling coach. He then went on to Lehigh University where he was a varsity wrestler and football player. Mr. Ross has 3 black belts, 4th Degree in Tekkenryu Jujutsu, 2nd Degree in Judo, 2nd Degree in Tae Kwon Do. In addition to his martial arts experience, Mr; Ross spent 8 years in the professional security and personal protection business. He is internationally recognized as one of the foremost authorities in reality based self defense.