Rhythm and Cycling: Expression of Combat

Everything in life has a rhythm.  Things rarely operate in free form, as if a step by step reaction existed.  Let’s compare Horticulture sciences to human combat.  Plant growth involves several processes independent of each over, which are affected by each other, and work together productively or counter productively.  Each vascular plant uses a certain soil PH range for maximum absorption of nutrients.  Macro nutrients have a hard time existing within low PH soil; Micro nutrients have a hard time existing in a high PH soil. Sunlight is obviously converted, and temperature separately affects the gas cycling and conversion process.  More carbon dioxide accelerates plant growth, and the increased foliage converts the gas at an increased rate.  Too much of one macro nutrient such as Nitrogen blocks the uptake of other key high use macro nutrients such as Potassium and Phosphorus, and burns the nutrient receptors.  The roots themselves need access to their own gasses, and require completely different nutrients to thrive.  Sugars and starches feed mitochondrial bacteria, which have a symbiotic relationship with the root system, converting and assisting with nutrient uptake and a barrier to prevent disease.  All of these individual mini processes are what determine the end result; if any one reciprocal system fails or is removed the plant will weaken and die.  This is an example of energy cycling and response to variables and circumstance.    

In combat as we deal with any type of pressure from an opponent, we are forced into a given response.  If we stagnate our response, the opponent will simply answer by adding more focus and intensity in the same effective direction; moving towards a kill or finish.  It doesn’t matter if they are attacking with gun fire, a 100% effort takedown, or simply crushing body pressure.  This transition ends within 1-3 moves.  A late answer is not an answer, but a desperate response.  If you lift your head up at this point, you are finished. In every expression of combat there are angles, contact points, rhythms, and speeds. When someone attempts to settle, and you shift their end point of that movement, you force them to move again.  As you continue this interaction, and are able to intelligently continue until you are actively in a 5-6 move sequence, it is easier for one of you to relent and stop the sequence at a loss.  If you are the one providing the pressure, you have just gained ground on your opponent.  An inexperienced opponent is finished within three progressive moves, and a tired or mentally exhausted opponent is finished within 1-3 progressive moves as well.  We must dictate pace and direction at the first stanza, and of course attempt to regain our power position if at any time it is lost.  This is almost a separate conversation.

In military combat, we often attempt to have 2-3 force multipliers in our favor against a single enemy grouping.  We (Alpha team) move defensively, and attempt to pin down the opponent with a huge volley of fire.  The enemy cannot get up to fire back without being killed.  The volume of fire has nothing to do with killing the enemy!  It is a distraction.  We use a second fire team (Bravo) to sweep in from the side and assault through the objective.  The Alpha team shifts fire away, and eventually lifts or stops firing after Bravo has eliminated the target. 

 In Mixed Martial Arts or full contact striking in general, the less you do to your opponent, the more they will fire back and hurt you.  At a certain point in the fight as you ideally gain ground, a shift in combat is felt, and you have hen pecked your opponent into survival mode.  Although you are less likely to be hit, all further movements by your opponent are out of desperation (and dangerous).  You still cannot stop the initial pressure that caused this state, and you carefully finish by taking your opening. 

I’ve faced some tough and well know athletes in grappling competition, MMA fights, or on the training mats. There are people that will take you into deep water quickly, if you let them.  They are so dangerous that you can feel it, and they are flowing between one near finish to the next.  If you attack in a fast consistently variable and focused pace, some of these talented players will stop attacking altogether; as you begin to poke holes in their defense.  Eventually the danger relents, and you become the dictator of pace.  By not giving them this respect, and forcing them into a different frame of mind, the sequence becomes yours.  Your opponent gives a predictable reaction based on what you falsely tell them is coming next, and a few steps later a finish presents itself.  This scenario is very similar to dealing with other types of pressure.  The seconds we continue past the point of mental and physical fatigue and continue purposeful effort allow us to edge our opponent into giving in just a little more. 

The longer a striking sequence or active take down attempt is allowed to continue, the greater the odds that it will end with a successful finish.  Some of the most talented fighters can be broken faster than a less talented fighter.  It’s simply one of the realities of being human.  The more outstanding you are in regards to working outside the average performance range of an athlete of any kind, the more complex of a problem you present. Remember, your attributes are unique to you; and no one other than you can truly know you completely (even that is reaching). 

You are more likely to finish a stranger than you are a training partner, and the opposite is also true.  In combat we are forced to read people at an accelerated pace, and what we determine breeds comfort or fear of the unknown.  What is the variable that I cannot allow to happen?  Obviously this is a consumptive mindset, but is the obvious question when you are unable to answer the questions posed by your opponent.  You must survive, and move into a situation where you can attack again.  There is no pause or special moment, but a redirection in the defense that allows for a redirection into an attack.  That is why an active defense is the only real defense, and the only lifeline you will have until the very end. 

When somebody is going for a specific goal and not mixing up their attacks, you must pay attention.  They may be moving 100% in one direction, or maybe 80% in one direction and 20% in another.  80% double leg, 20% snap down.  80% double under pass, 20% knee through pass; 80% double leg, 20% over hand right or jab.  Which attack are you going to focus on defending more?  80-100% is the question you answer when your opponent is going for a desperate move.  You must stop the momentum of the attack, redirect them, and actively start your attack.  That’s what ends this sequence.  A tired or desperate opponent thinks in fewer moves, a probing fighter commits to less moves, an opponent actively attacking is probably combining 2-3 moves at percentages of 40, 60, and 80%.  All of this determines your commitment to each reaction, which dictates how much energy you expend throughout each transition.  This is the determining factor in your energy cycle, in response to energy expended for a specific goal, and waste.  Any amount of energy expended at the wrong time, or an overreaction of force based on the percentage of exertion of your opponent is energy removed from your energy cycling and percentages of return; also known as diminished returns.  In each situation of combat, you are giving and receiving all sorts of consuming feedback, forcing reactions, reacting to questions posed, and stepping that much closer to the finish.  The next move is yours.