Let me make one thing clear – combat is ugly, make no mistake about this and let me also tell you to forget about the glamorous television portrayal of dispatching assailants with flying kicks and lightning fast punches. Leave that for the entertainment elements in your life!

In the KGB we were taught many physical and psychological techniques – some of the most advanced in the world as the former Soviet Union invested huge amounts of money and resources for this purpose…but the majority of our learning was teaching us how to survive…in any situation and any environment. We were taught to forget all notions of ‘winning’, only survival, because through survival comes opportunity and when you can survive, you can take advantage of opportunity. It is exactly the same in any combat situation.

Knowledge in the KGB hat to fit three main criteria before it could be utilized:

• It had to be easy to understand and learn
• It had to be simple to apply
• It had to be devastatingly effective

Say no more!Let me explain the ‘ballistic’ element of striking. Many combat systems teach you how to strike with power and that power comes from a strong stance or ‘root’ and that energy travels from the feet, through the legs, hips, waist and up into the torso and eventually into the arms and hands. This chain of events causes the maximum energy and that energy is ‘exploded’ into the target for maximum devastation.They are absolutely correct.

My point is that you rarely have time to do this is a real situation, combat is ugly and unpredictable remember that always!

The above chain reaction could be thought of as firing a high caliber, high velocity rifle – where much energy is expended through the firing pin, into the bullet which is traveling at great speed to the target and ends up going straight through it!

In fighting terms, this high speed chain reaction sends a high speed punch to the target which in reality usually bounces off the person’s torso because unlike the bullet, there is a much greater surface area and in simple terms the strike usually ‘explodes’ before it hits the target. Now I’m generalizing here, because it is still possible to generate a lot of damage, just as say a well trained boxer would do,but it requires a lot of effort, hours of practice and it is not consistent. For most people, it is beyond their reach.