When Something Doesn't Work... VARY

Jumping out of the car, just off “The Strip” in Vegas, and running up to a stranger because your GPS is taking you in circles isn’t a good idea. However, that’s exactly what my wife did saying something like, “It’s okay, he works here!”

It turned out he didn’t work there, and he was on drugs, and in her rush she disappeared out of line of sight for a long 3 minutes. Not a good self-defense tactic from a 22 year veteran of HAPKIDO. However, sometimes even the best of us make mistakes.

Luckily, Carrie returned safe, and sound and we sped off. However, just as likely a scenario might have included a direct attack, and ultimately injury to either the assailant, Carrie, or myself if I could have even gotten there in time.

Sure, if the drug addict lunged at Carrie, pushing her to the brick wall in a front choke, she probably would have struggled a little then stepped back offline. VARYING her presentment, twisting her torso, and reaching for his one hand, she then could have powerfully VARIED her stance back the other direction, using all her weight against the elbow of his outstretched arm, delivering a punishing blow to break his grip, which likely would have shattered his elbow in the process.

Pretty detailed for a “what if” scenario. But since we went there, let’s take the technique apart, and the PRINCIPLE behind it…

The power from this technique comes not from resistance, rather from PRINCIPLE of VARIANCE to the force. Since the person is pushing, in the case of a choke, no resistance is offered, just an offline motion. This allows the “twisting” motion of her body. After the attacker pushes past his balance is compromised, and his arm is overextended. All that is needed is VARYING back the other way to multiply his force with her own force, and body weight, and “pop” broken grip, broken elbow. VARYING is the key.

Almost to a person, we struggle at first when attacked. In life and Life Defense, it’s the same. When an unruly teen puts up a fight, breaks a rule, or invariably, outright refuses common sense advise the parent has a choice. Resist, by digging in and forcing an outcome, or VARYING their approach.

The outcome might still be the same, however, the VARIANCE in approach between, “I’ve told you a million times to clean your room! You're definitely, not going to your fiends tonight!” and “Interesting choice you’re making about tonight…” and the teen says, “What?” and the parent says, “Nothing really, I’ll love spending time with you this evening. I’ve got a movie I’ve been wanting you to see. It’ll be perfect…”

Instead of fighting, and meeting force with force, VARYING approach uses the energy of the other person to accomplish your success. When meeting resistance, VARY your approach. When something doesn’t work, try something else… They’ll never see it coming…

Allen Hughes Life Defense Coach
#lifedefense #vary #allenhughes