If your first notice that soemone is there is the curtain whipping open:
1. You
will flinch, crouch, hands will come up and you will / (may) vocalize / scream.
If you allow someone you trust to do this to you in the ordinary places like your kitchen and your living room and you respond this way - why will you respond better in the shdower! ?
2. Therefore, any move you make must be based on being in scared and flinching mode. Did you fall down? Yes, then... No, then...
3. Now, whenther or not it happens this way, once you start to react it must be based on it happening this way: that after you flinch,
he will start to move. This means that he is moving to control you while you are moving to get the shaving cream (if you can even thnk of it!) so as your hand gets the can, he either has the knife in you or is pushing, pulling or hitting you. Not good, as a friend of mine says. (His movement is said to be in "positive timing", while yours is in "negative timing.")
Your only defense is in immediate first move offense - and you have two choices: strike his weapon arm or go for the eyes or throat.
If you go for the eyes or throat and he is starting to stab, there will be a double kill, both hitting about the same time, so you will lose.
There are only two ways to attack the weapon arm with hopes of success in such a situation; the strike to the arm must be forceful and then
bounce into the throat with no time gap. ("Tut-tut," as Musashi would say.) OR: hit the arm at the same time as the other hand hits the eyes or the throat.
Any other action opens you to the dangers of negative timing or of fighting defensively which, in this situation, you will probably lose.
Since we are thoughtful and practicing martial artists, we can
train our flinch response in various ways:since the hands will naturally come up as you flinch, this can be trained to become a pre-emptive strike...every flich includes a strike. This is dangerous for your trusted partners who are startling you for practice so here is how my wife and I did it years ago when she was in danger from her ex.
We painted scowly faces on a baloon and tied it up by thread to a thumb tack in the ceiling. Then we'd randomly hide the baloon around the house - if you walked around a corner, it would be in your face and your first move was a targeted eye strike (the reason for drawing on the eyes). This actually worked for a long time until we desensitized to the surprise and it became eye-hand coordination rather than a stress reaction when we had no eye-hand coordination.
Now I feel I must make the claim that may get me flamed: ONLY by scenario training in as realistic a method as possible will you prepare for this type of scare - dojo training will NEVER do it. Either that or shower clothed with a weapon in your hand.
Cleuseau had the right idea having Kato randomly attack him - a brilliant martial arts training tool decades ahead of its time.
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The Fighting Old Man
[This message has been edited by Sochin (edited June 29, 2002).]
[This message has been edited by Sochin (edited June 29, 2002).]
) miss an open net shot.
