In order to learn effective self-defense skills it's important to have an understanding of motor-skill research. Essentially this helps us understand how the body responds to a given stimulus. This in turn helps us understand which techniques will most likely be effective under the stress of a real assault and which ones won't.

One aspect of motor-skill research is the understanding of reflexes, instinctive responses to an attack.

Motor-skill researcher, Richard Schmidt has broken the common reflexes down into 4 basic categories:

M1 Reflex
M2 Reflex
Triggered Reaction
M3 Reflex

M1 Reflex is the monosynaptic stretch reflex which occurs when a muscle is suddenly and unexpectedly placed under a load. This is the fastest known reflex. The knee-jerk reflex or patellar reflex(stretch reflex) is an M1 Reflex.

M2 Reflex is the polysynaptic functional stretch reflex. Because it includes more synapses and goes further up the spinal cord it's a bit slower than the M1 Reflex.

Triggered Reaction is slower than M1 & M2 Reflexes because it involves many more synapses. The cross-extensor reflex (withdrawal reflex) falls into this category. This is commonly seen when a person touches a hot stove, hits their thumb with a hammer, or stubs their toe on the door jam. Generally the stimulus is tactile in nature, such as something that causes pain. However, some sounds and some visual cues can also cause this reflex. This is seen when someone gets startled (jumps) during a loud sound or when someone sneaks up behind them and yells. It can also include someone sneaking up behind you and touching you suddenly. Generally, during a triggered reaction the hands will move toward the center of the body to instinctively protect the head and torso or they will move toward the site of the injury or away from the source of pain. Example, when touching a hot stove the burned hand moves away from the source (stove) toward the center of the body and the opposite hand meets it there while attempting to cover it (protect it). In the case of a car accident, the driver will have a tendency to convulsively lock the arms out in order to protect themselves from impacting the steering wheel, dash, or windshield. The passenger may bring the hands up to protect the head and torso or even reach for the dash or door in an effort to keep themselves from impacting the dashboard or windshield. Since most people have not been taught anything else they will usually fall back onto these general instinctive responses / reflexes.

All of the above reflexes are involuntary, meaning that occur without conscious thought. They are referred to as "simple reflexes" by some researchers.

M3 Reflex is a voluntary reaction-time reflex and is the slowest of the reflexes. This is referred to as a "conditioned reflex" by some researchers. For our purpose, this is the category that trained defensive or protective flinch responses fall into. Generally, the stimulus is visual in nature but can also be based on tactile or auditory cues. This could include seeing our car about to hit a tree or seeing another car about to crash into ours. In regards to self-defense it could include seeing a punch coming at our head or even seeing the attacker tensing his arm or making a fist prior to the attack. Essentially, we perceive the possible threat, identify it as an actual threat, and then activate a motor-program. However, in regards to self-defense this is where things get tricky. If we have tons of different motor-programs, say 10 defenses against a straight punch, 10 different defenses against a round punch, 10 different defenses against a knife attack, etc. etc. then it's going to take some extra time for us to choose the appropriate motor-program (response) for that particular attack. Also, if we have been training a bunch of unnatural blocking movements, we have the same problem. By the time the practitioner has actually chosen the appropriate blocking technique it's likely they will have already been hit by the attacker.

The key to real self-defense is to attempt to turn the M3 Reflexes into "automatic responses" which will essentially make them equivalent to Triggered Reactions. How do we do that? Simple! We train with natural gross-motor movements that are often activated during Triggered Reactions. We minimize our physical options and make those options applicable to dozens of different situations and different types of attacks. We train our brain to perceive and identify the threat sooner. Example, instead of waiting to see a punch coming at us before we respond, we should learn to identify
verbal and non-verbal cues that normally occur prior to the attack. Then we respond to those cues rather than an actual attack. We then train these basic responses over and over again through various adrenal / stress inoculation drills until they become spontaneous.

In most cases, if the skills are based on natural neuropathways they are generally easy to learn, easy to retain, and easy to use for the majority of average non- athletic individuals. Those who are athletic will have a definite advantage.


Copyright 2006 - Steve Zorn