When it comes to martial arts, and more importantly self-defence, you must earn the right to land your technique. That is what this video lesson is about.

Too many people train a technique as if the other person will simply stand there and let it happen. In real life nobody does. If you want your best technique to land, you have to create the conditions for it first.

What Earning It Means

Earning the right means doing the work that makes the technique possible. Before the finishing move comes:

  • Position. Being at the right distance and angle
  • Balance. Taking theirs, keeping yours
  • Distraction or a first strike. Giving their brain something else to deal with
  • Timing. Moving when they are committed or off guard

When those are in place, a simple technique works beautifully. When they are not, even a world-class technique fails.

Why Techniques Fail

I see the same thing again and again. Someone learns a great lock, throw or pressure point and tries to go straight to it against a resisting partner. It does not work, and they decide the technique is rubbish.

The technique is usually fine. What was missing was the set-up. A person standing square, strong and alert can defend almost anything. A person who is off balance, distracted and turned the wrong way can defend very little.

This is also why pressure points have a bad name in some circles. Try to dig into a point on someone who is fully set and ready and it is hard work. Take the balance first and the same point becomes far easier.

How To Practise It

Build the set-up into every drill:

  • Never practise a finishing technique on its own for long. Always add the step before it
  • Start from realistic positions: being grabbed, pushed or crowded
  • Practise breaking balance with small movements, not big heaves
  • Add a light distraction strike and notice how much easier the next move becomes

Train with control and a partner you trust, especially when strikes to the head or neck are involved.

In Self-Defence

The goal in self-defence is not to show off a technique. It is to use reasonable force, stop the threat and get away. Earning the right to land your technique simply makes that more likely to work.

Take It Further

The Pressure Point Self Defense Course teaches balance and set-up before every target. For the underlying ideas, read Pressure Point Fighting: The Complete Guide.