Wedging

One of the keys to defending yourself against multiple attackers is freedom, and even students that are new to the martial arts can keep moving towards an exit as long as they do not get caught up resisting their opponent's actions.

When an individual struggles against one of the attackers resistance, the most common posture you see displayed is the wedge. You can think of a person in terms of being represented by an "E" where their spine is the vertical part of the "E" and the 3 horizontal lines are equal velocity lines from the arms, mid-region, and feet.

When all three velocity vectors are not maintained in alignment then your forward progression will stall and your available energy will decline. The ineffectual "E" is easily identified by a slowing of the foot work and the bending in the mid region, which indicates stalling. When the bending of the mid-region occurs, the body begins to look more like a wedge.

No matter how hard you have trained to strengthen the mid region on its own, it is still the weakest area if you bend. It is always the weakest link in the chain. If you lose mid region coordination it will weaken all other movements of the body.

In battle, the wedged person usually struggles with the opponent and stops moving altogether.  The wedging reaction in a group attack is disastrous, because your progress is slowing and so the rest of the group has gained time to focus on you. You are then easy pickings for the group.

This has implications for when you try to strike members of the group, which many exponents have never fully considered. Attempting to strike one of the attackers slows you down, which makes you more vulnerable to the rest of the groups actions. The body as the weapon is the solution to this dilemma but it requires full energisation.