How to Defeat Multiple Attackers- Damian Ross, The Self Defense Company

How do you defeat multiple attackers? One at a time.

There's a new series on the National Geographic Channel called Brain Games and anyone who is into defensive tactics needs to watch this. Especially the episode that focuses on attention and multitasking. In one segment they put a chronic multitasker through a series of tests like driving a car through an obstacle course while talking on a hands free cell phone. The results were less than spectacular. It was impossible for the subject to talk and drive a car at the same time. What they proved was when talking on the phone, you focus on the conversation NOT you're driving. You may be looking at the road, but you're not processing that information, your just staring at it. It's funny, how many times have you turned down the radio when you're trying to find an address? That's because in order to concentrate you need devote complete attention to the task at hand. The truth is we're not multitaskers at all it's impossible to focus on two things at once. What we really are is serial processors. We can process things one at a time in rapid succession. The best we can hope for is to shift our attention from one thing to another very quickly. It may appear like we're doing multiple things at the same but we're only going back and forth between tasks. It's like the guy spinning plates, you just dart from one to the other trying to keep them all in the air.

How this relates to self defense is that when you're under stress, this inability to multitask becomes intensified to the point that you are only able to do one thing at a time. Your ability to shift attention drops as does your ability to perform multiple movements.

Take a multiple attacker scenario as seen in many martial arts demonstrations. This is where you see the defender standing in the middle of a group of attackers. While he's still fighting the one in front of him he will engage another attacker. While in practice, in the safety of the training hall this looks like it would work, it's misleading. If you pay close attention, he really can only handle one attack at a time. The problem is that he is trained to stand in the middle and wait to be attacked. This is what's going to get him killed (aside from what he's trying to do). You are lead to believe based on the structure of this drill that you will be able to stand there and take on all comers.

The problem is obvious, if everyone decided to attack at once you would be bum-rushed and crushed.

You can only take care of what's right in front of you. The thought of shifting your attention in mid technique to another attacker, while maintaining the same level of effectiveness over two attackers is just not going to happen. Your best bet is to eliminate the threat right in front of you as fast as possible and keep moving in a direction of escape. Squaring off against multiple threats is ill advised and foolish. When everything else is equal and the threat is 1 1/2 times your forces you will most likely lose.

Years ago we practiced keeping one person in front and using that person as a shield to fend off the others. The best you could do in this situation is grab the person closest to you and watch the others behind him using the person in your grasp and keep them in between you and the next threat. In the dojo, it looked like it worked (when there were only two attackers) and no one was really trying to beat me senseless. But as soon as the attackers turned up the juice, you were forced to eliminate them one at a time as fast as possible. The other tactic of shielding only wasted time and burned a lot of valuable energy. Which brings us to our point.

The way you defeat multiple attackers is the same way you defeat a single attacker: as fast as you can. Repeat the process as needed.

You need to assume that every situation is a multiple attacker scenario. You can't see who's with your primary threat, he may have friends blending into the crowd or hiding near by. Plus, you'll be completely focused on the person standing in front of you to even scan the area. The only way to account for multiple threats is through distance and movement. Engage the initial threat, keep moving forward and continue to steam roll over whatever pops up in front of you. Drive, attack and move. By moving you'll create distance between you and what you don't see. You don't know where they are, but you can control where you are. The only way to make sure you will do this under stress is to incorporate that movement in your training.

Can you train to engage multiple attackers like they do in the movies? The Brain Geeks say it's impossible. Yet people continue to force feed themselves something that goes against their body's natural programming. The obvious problem is that you're only going to find out if your training works when you're actually attacked. If you want to risk your neck on someone's best guess, have at it. I'll stick with science and nature.

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.