Core Training

The main weakness for many exponents in the martial arts when facing multiple opponents is their body cannot hold together under acceleration, particularly when they encounter the resistance forces from members of the group. The result is they get stalled on the first opponent and this gives the rest of the group time to take them down.

You have to be able to keep the body together and acting as one unit, if you are going to be able to focus the energy generated by your bursts of acceleration. When you are in contact with an opponent you cannot split your energy.

The core or mid-region is an area that needs the correct kind of training. People train their core with exercises such as push ups, sit ups, yoga, pilates, etc. You need to distinguish however between training to strengthen your core and training to make a 'working core' that can function under accelerated movement.

A working core will ensure better coordination between the torso and the legs. This will enable you to develop better strategies for dealing with multiple attackers.

If you meet the Buddha, kill him

If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him. The Tao that cannot be named is not the eternal Tao. Whatever your concept of the Buddha or of the real Tao is, you can be assured that it is an image you need to kill, so keep practicing and move on.

You can apply the same principle to your martial arts. In a fight against multiple opponents, movies give students an idealized image of perfection. However, when the student tries their skills out against a group in the training hall, they can barely get past the first opponent. The solution for many instructors is to ensure the training is highly controlled so that students get a technical answer that somewhat lessens their fear of a group attack, but is never tested.

Many students are happy enough to scratch the itch of what to do against multiple attackers and put it safely back in the 'too hard' basket. Others practice the drills their system assures them will translate into battle.

I say 'if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him'. A higher functioning group will test whether your idealized solutions will actually work or not. My guess is that they won't.

The Resistance World

It’s what we do socially that entangles us in a world of barriers and resistance. This has shaped and developed traditional martial arts and has some major drawbacks when contemplating defense against multiple attackers. I think of it as the Resistance World and it is our personal struggle with resistance that defines how we approach our martial arts. The traditional methodologies of strikes, wrestling and ground fighting have a focus on either winning against or manipulating the presenting resistance, and while this may work against a single opponent, it lacks effectiveness when facing a group attack.

Multiple opponents require something extra, something that can be found when you can achieve full energisation of your system. This is similar in nature to a survival response; it’s where you fully energise and give everything you have for a few moments, with the end goal of getting rid of resistance and achieving safety.

The Energy World framework was developed to take an opponent through the complexities of a group attack. The development of these concepts was a way to understand what you have to do in a time strapped environment when facing a group attack. Time cannot be wasted, as time can either be your asset, or your enemy. A group of attackers can be a life and death affair; there is no time to indulge in endless technical solutions.

There is a free ebook called "Martial Arts against Multiple Opponents" that can be found on the web if you want to read more.