Dear Friend:

Alright -- in my last chapter I talked about how fear can often lead to runaway Internal Dialog or "brain freeze".

Now unless you’re a Zen master, you’re never going to shut this little guy up – but you can put him to work. The simple key to controlling him – and this is BIG... is to direct your thoughts to an “external focus” of potential targets.

You must initiate Target Awareness.

Seeking out and gathering “target acquisition” info almost instantly begins to focus and channel your internal dialogue – suddenly forcing the “little guy” to start talking strategy instead of allowing him to overwhelm the mind with introspective panic. Now it’s the elephant who’s in charge with the little guy put to work asking questions like:

Hopefully you’ve noted the need to continually evaluate which targets are open. A common rookie mistake is to focus in on one target and then try to “wait” for it to open up or even strike at it when it’s not open. This is called Target Focus and it’s the wrong way to choose targets. You’ll need every shot to count big, so keep your target acquisition fluid and in a state of constant flux -- because that is what’s happening in real life. Don’t bet that one target will remain open. Instead – at the very least -- keep in mind the “high value” targets -- the side of the neck, throat, eyes, inside thigh, outside thigh, groin, and the angle of the chin.

Always, always, maintain target awareness during a fight.

Here’s a specific target hint for you. Your opponent – even if he’s NEVER been in a fight -- will likely be on guard for a right punch to the face – so it’s wise to do something he’s not expecting. Also...

1.) Do not pay attention to the yelling and verbal threats. It’s easy to allow the verbal side of your brain, (which is where the “little guy” lives), to get caught up listening to (and preparing a response to) insults and verbal abuse. Ignore this. I know that’s often easier said than done – but if you maintain your thoughts and energy on external targets, it will automatically “phase out” this interference and avoid activating your internal dialogue.

2.) Do not look into his eyes. It’s the same principle at work here. Staring him down triggers all kinds of internal mumbling that only distracts you from your target awareness. Don’t do it. Sure, it looks tough when a couple of boxers stare each other down face-to-face a couple weeks before the bout, but that’s a bad idea in a street fight.

A good streetfighter wants you to “buy into” his distractions. Mad-dog staring... insults... yelling... the whole works. It’s doubtful he knows the science of internal dialogue, but he does understand that it’s easier to win after he “gets into your head”.

So I can’t stress this external target awareness enough. It’s a simple solution to a big problem.

This is why so many martial artists -- even accomplished black belts -- have their asses handed to them in a real street fight. They wake up (if they wake up) wondering what the hell happened. Well in the well-lit dojo they’ve trained with plenty of room on padded floors. They bow politely. Their opponent also bows politely, and then comes at him in a predictable manner.

But later on, in the tiny dimly-lit bathroom at the local mini-mart, this same martial artist is suddenly confronted by some big dude screaming threats, insults and foul language about taking his parking space. Confusion hits, the “internal dialogue” goes berserk, and all that cozy training flushes right down the toilet. Fade to black.

Now don’t get me wrong, studying martial arts is better than spending your time on the couch watching reruns of “Gilligan’s Island ”, but these classes won’t teach you how to get around this internal dialogue or how to use fear to your advantage.

That’s why you’re here. You’re getting stuff that really works – in the “real world”. I’m giving you pearls here.

Anyway... the actual physiology of fear is a simple “sympathetic system” prompting from the brain -- more commonly referred to as “fight or flight”.

If you learn anything, remember this: fear is part of the “autonomic” response system. You have NO direct control over it. It’s like trying to control your digestive system with “willpower”. You can’t. As the saying goes, xyz@#!! happens -- and it happens automatically.

And so it is with fear. You simply cannot stop the physiological factors that come with fear. The heart rate immediately increases, mental focus on the adversary increases, peripheral vision narrows, and a whole bunch of other physical “alarms” go off.

Combat soldiers or police officers involved in a fire-fight laughingly refer to one physical response as the “300cc check” – which is simply a nice way of saying “pissing your pants”. Really... it’s your body’s way of dumping excess baggage to help in the “fight or flight”.

Here are some more, (perhaps less embarrassing) physical responses that happen automatically when the body feels threatened.

 

Now, of course the military is interested in just how all this affects their soldiers, so let’s take a look at the research for sympathetic response as it relates to heart rate for soldiers in combat:

So use the sympathetic system’s physical “signals” (often called fear) as clear alarms to begin an EXTERNAL focus on the potential threat. This is KEY. Fear is nothing more than an early warning system and a powerful ally.

Til next time...

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Bob Pierce
     Head Honcho, TRS/FightFast

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