“Dealing with the Lines of Combat”

            Energy and strength are vital in the life of any sport. What good is it for any active athlete to be skillful in whatever sport they engage in without the cardiovascular conditioning and strength to endure?

At the Summer Olympics, for example, we see sprinters having to go through a qualifying heat and a semi-final round before they are able to compete for medals in the finals. It is vital for these athletes to run hard enough to qualify, but not so hard that they wear themselves out. They must be smart in how they use their energy.

In the animal kingdom we see how wild animals also treasure energy; preservation and good usage of energy is vital to their survival. A poisonous snake does not go around shooting its venom and killing just for show; their venom is used for protection and to kill to eat.

In Full Contact Stand-Up Fighting the same principle of preserving and using energy effectively applies. There can’t be any concept of preserving energy without keeping in mind the lines of combat. Without at least a basic knowledge of these lines of Combat and how to approach each one, we will just be moving without direction and purpose; we will be indeed, wasting energy.

It is important to point out that all of these lines function as one; they must come together in stand-up fighting. They have a different value, but all of them have individual purpose. We also must point out that fighting is unpredictable; we don’t always know exactly what our opponent is going to do, so we must adapt, create quickly and be able to protect ourselves in cases where we have lost any one of our lines. We must quickly put ourselves together, attack and return to the proper usage of these lines.  These lines of combat are as follow:

1. The Emotional Centerline: It is very common to see fighters wearing themselves out within the first thirty seconds of fighting. They find themselves so exhausted that they eliminate any possibility of victory. We must remain calm in the midst of all the chaos; people screaming, the intimidation games, etc. To keep our emotional centerline entails “the ability to remain focused by applying what we learn in training, being able to improvise as needed, listen to and execute our instructor’s guidance during the fight.” Keeping the emotional centerline does not mean that you will not get nervous; but in the midst of it all you can stay focused. I have seen great fighters and athletes in general that are unable to deal with the stress of fighting and they fall apart; this centerline is perhaps the most important one. Without a good usage of this line we will lose sight of the rest.

TO BE CONTINUED…