Did you know about the three most important fundamentals of winning a fight? There are three elements of a fight that if you control all three, it is impossible to be beaten by anyone in a fight. Let me also point out that if you control one element of a fight, thus keeping your attacker from controlling all three elements of a fight you still cannot be beaten. You can’t be beaten because you keep him from controlling those three elements.

These building blocks of learning how to fight are simple when you think about it. You are going to learn from the ground up every particle of a street fight and how to win it from me. Right now what I mean by controlling an element like distance, speed or position is not controlling like keeping your mouth shut when your in a room full of men and you really want to tell them that you are not afraid of them, because you took a couple of Karate classes. When I say control I mean you own it lock, stock, and barrel.

When you control the distance between two bodies, it could mean that you out-run him when he is chasing you down the street. Or when he throws a punch or kick at you, he misjudges the distance and he is falls short just a hair. Or, he is trying to hit you but someone is between you and him and he falls short. You must understand that practice makes perfect when it comes to hitting a target. One of the things I want you to do is to take a piece of paper and wad it up real tight. Take a needle and thread and then put it through the wad of paper and tie a big knot in the end of the string, or you may need to use a small button instead of a knot. Tie that thread to a ceiling light fixture. Place the paper at the height you want to practice your striking/kicking at and tie the string off to something that will hold your wad of paper. The purpose is to not ever actually hit the wad of paper, but to get as close as you can to it without hitting it. Remember you are a beginner just learning how to distance your fist/foot to the target and it is not easy at first.

Speed, is next and it seems like you may be at a disadvantage here, but think about this. Because women are generally speaking smaller and lighter than men, they usually have a speed advantage over the male. Remember in this particular case, all you are trying to do is to avoid getting hit or grabbed, so we will take this one thing at a time and stick with these three words. Also, once you lean to use your body as a fighter uses their body, you can learn how to avoid getting hit quite easily. Speed is something I think your can learn quite easily by just walking down the street and imagine some man passing you and you imagine moving your body out of the hand that he is trying to grab you with. This is a game that I highly recommend that you play all the time. Don’t a move your body when he passes you, just imagine, moving it. An added twist on this game is to wait until the last possible second to make your move so that the game becomes more real. Let me give you an example to think about. Let’s say in your “game” you sense a powerful hook punch is coming towards your temple, imagine that you duck just under the punch as it goes over the top of your head. As, it is just going over the top of your head you hit him in the groin as hard as you can and then go “upstairs” even though he is doubling over in pain, you throw an imaginary hook punch to his temple, again swinging with all your might and then following up with a ridge hand to his throat and as he is staggering away very slowly, you quick as a wink position yourself behind him and give him a good solid kick to the testicles and if you are wearing pointy toed shoes, more fun! Everything is done at imaginary full speed, and no imaginary gaps between your imaginary techniques! Go from one technique to the other, like a buzz saw.

All of the imaginary moves are done in an imaginary blur of speed, of course. You practicing self-defense this way does not hurt anyone, but it does make you faster at moving from one technique to the next and does let you visualize yourself as being powerful and strong. And what is wrong with that game and playing it all the time? Remember though, you must always move fast, but don’t get in a hurry. And never give the target an inkling of what you are doing.

This game will sensitize you to very quickly, making quick moves towards him as you imagined he was going to do the same to you. Once you have mastered this game, step it up and imagine him throwing a quick punch to your face and you move out of harm’s way. Then when a man is standing in front of you and he is carrying on a conversation with you, imagine that he tries to grab your wrist or your shoulder and you move out of the way, don’t forget your wrist release! Next imagine him making a second and third grab for you. After the first grab, you, make your counter moves.

Learning about position is a little bit about playing mind games with position like walking down the street and getting into a fighting posture (just imagine this position) that would prevent him from successfully prevent him from hitting you because you would be not only out of range, but be ready to strike as he was attempting to strike you. That’s very important imaging and that’s good positioning of your body and your follow on strike. Of course, you could move quickly to a position where he could not strike you with any power. But, his opportunity in that moment, would have been lost. Position also means that if you were in a posture or position where, if he did hit you, your body could either move with the punch or you could roll with the punch and not be hurt seriously by it at all.  Again his opportunity would have been lost. One final thing about position is that when a man hits your body and you are in a rock solid position or posture, you can learn how to absorb the blow and he would be vulnerable to your counter attack, what ever you choose it to be.

Learning about distance, speed or position is best learned about as an absolute beginner because it is this mental foundation that sets the student off in the right direction. Think of fighting as something that you never let your emotions such as anger guide you. Think of anger as a dangerous volatile emotion that you don’t want anything to do with. Just focus on distance, speed, and position and you will be well on your way to learning how to be a great street fighter.  Understanding these three elements of a fight are the thing that I want you to start thinking about seriously right now.