The Body as a Weapon - the Mass Effect

How can you affect the attackers in a group? Are you planning to strike them, kick them, or manipulate them somehow? Maybe someone told you that you have to knock out the first attacker and the rest will give up (hopefully). You don’t have much time in a group encounter, so you might have to take them out with the first hit. The problem then is that the average student of the arts will find it difficult to take a person out with a single punch or kick.

In a two person battle you sometimes see people go at it hammer and tongs and they are both still standing at the conclusion (if the battle stays upright). Welcome to reality. In a group attack, you cannot afford to spend more than a moment of time on any one attacker and once the situation activates and people are moving, it becomes difficult to get proper timing on any strikes.

So we are back to how do you affect the attackers in a group? Your safety in a group attack is best served by accelerating along a line of progression to an exit. This acceleration will help to disrupt the opponents’ measuring of your actions which will affect their ability to effectively get their punches, kicks, etc. onto you. The flip side of this coin is that your acceleration can only be maintained if you don’t attempt to strike your opponents in return. Reaching with a punch/kick or a grab leaves the other parts of the body slowing down.

So, if any attempt to deliberately strike your attackers will diminish your acceleration and therefore reduce your safety, then what are you left with? The answer is – your accelerated mass. When you apply your accelerated mass in particular ways, coupled with the ability to keep your system together when you encounter resistance, you create the mass effect, and it will give you a pretty decent offensive capability against multiple attackers.

To maintain the mass effect, your whole body must continue to accelerate, creating momentum, which makes your body the weapon The unusual part is that it is a by-product of your defensive actions i.e. when you are good at it, the group gets shredded but it is not a deliberate act on your part; it is the outcome of your acceleration, full energisation, total focus on freedom, and absolute commitment to get to an exit no matter what.

It’s also fortunate that most groups are low functioning, where a reasonable proportion of the group is fairly lazy. You see this where some members of the group will let others do all the hard work of taking the individual down and then they will come with their strikes. They wish to get their bit in on the target, but they prefer not to risk themselves in the process. The lazier members of a group usually get out of the way when they see someone with a decent mass effect headed in their direction, as your acceleration gives them only a moment to decide what to do.

What I like about the mass effect is that it gives the smaller individuals a better chance against the group and that to me reflects better on the martial arts promise. Lastly, when you are deciding what offensive capability you should attempt to deploy against multiple attackers, beware of delusions of grandeur as they are often expressed at the expense of your safety.

As always with group work, train safely and under the supervision of a qualified instructor.