Not too long ago, at one of my seminars, a question was put to me by a boxing coach, or maybe he was making more of a statement rather than a question. The question went something like this, “why do you want everyone to hit the focus pads so hard, is that not what a heavy bag is for?” I asked him to explain to me the question, because I felt it a bit strange that you would not want to hit the focus pads in training ‘hard’ thus developing combative power. His basic reply was, the heavy bag was better for developing power than the focus pads. And one should use the focus pads to develop timing and distance, that required light fast strikes…basically tapping the pads.
I said ‘OK, nice theory’. I responded with this question, “why would you not want to train yourself to be able to engage the focus pads with speed, force and violence of action, that would simulate the force required to win a street confrontation?”. He had a puzzled look on his face after that response, because the difference here I guess was again sport training vs street training concepts! For me, it’s sort of like the guy who is a shooter; he’s really good at shooting paper targets that don’t move or shoot back. But the moment you engage him with moving targets and simulate combat pressure, he can’t hit shit! There are similarities to both the ring and range shooting for sports. In reality-based training, there is an aspect of training doctrine we call learning ‘speed, force and violence of your action (or just violence of action)’ that you must be able to execute in a heartbeat.
Yes, you can hit a heavy bag and over time develop some pretty hard hits, and I think this is good. But I also want you to be able to take that hitting power you’ve established on that somewhat sluggish moving heavy bag, and be able to engage a more mobile target. Hopefully, with the same power. Of course, for a heavy hitter that will not be the case, because the target, the size of a focus pad, has to be acquired each time much like shooting a moving target. And the pads are smaller than the heavy bag, therefore making it harder to acquire. So, one loses the sense of power doing this, until hitting the pads with speed and power becomes second nature. Then we need to be able to unload, for a lack of a better explanation. That’s the violence of action part, hitting a much more mobile target. Training oneself to overwhelm the assailant in a heartbeat from the start of combative action. Then too, I also want you to aim those blows of yours to vital areas of the human body, which can be represented by the focus pad as well. Because, light hits on the street don’t count. With the amount of drugs found in bad guys these days, one needs to be able to hit vital areas, not body mass, in order to be effective.
Watch any street altercation and it might start out face to face, but after the first blow it becomes a scramble, since it would seem neither party is really a skilled fighter. Hence, why learning to engage those focus pads under pressure is so important. Not just hitting them, but delivering kinetic energy into the pad, as you would have to do to the bad guy’s vitals. This I call being able to move, shoot and deliver your force in a timely fashion to end the assault. After all, you’ve not been engaged in a ring, but the street or restaurant. Then too, bad guys are rarely alone these days, so your actions have to be decisive and that brings us back to speed, force and violence of action. Learning where to put the hits, for maximum effect, on a moving target that’s dancing in front of you, trying to avoid your blows. Remember there is no round 2!
So, our pad work has to build that ability in your performance action, under some level of realistic pressure, before we let you mill (military term for combatives sparing). This also means training you to not always head hunt, and get your jab and cross hitting lower vitals, like the groin, liver and lower ribs. Hooks can work the back of the head and kidneys as well. After all, it’s not a boxing match is it? With the pads, you can also work getting off center-line, flanking, and so forth. Staying out of the front critical triangle is street important, since there are so many edged weapons and handguns now on the street. You don’t need to score points, because you’re not going to win a street fight where there are no rules by trying to score points. This also means learning to use your knife hand blows, palm strikes, elbows and so forth of that dirty boxing platform as well.
Hard strikes get respect, by creating fear reaction. And the faster and harder they come in, the better the results in my opinion. As I tried to explain, pad work is as much about building tactical applications, in conjunction to power strikes and pain compliance. Therefore, the student holding the pads is not acting as his partner’s coach. But rather helping them perform the drills I set out for them to accomplish. And this is all part of scenario-based training, they both need to master. Perhaps this is lost on some, but not my long-term students. It’s a focus of training they do not find when they go to other schools. It’s also why they perform better under the stress load of combative action.
No doubt about it, I train with the pads differently than say, that boxing coach. When used correctly, they are a very good training aid for developing some street smarts vs ring credits. But then, if I have to explain a street fight to you, and the why’s, perhaps you should stick to sports training. Because there, in sports training one’s life is not on the line, and the chance of serious and/or grievous bodily harm is not really going to occur, unless by accident. Compared to the street assault, where that is a certain part of the outcome these days. But, having tried to explain ‘the method in my madness’, I reflect back to my boxing training, and being drilled to hit the pads hard. Perhaps, like many modern training concepts today, things have migrated south, to use an old army term!