Okay no matter what you are doing whether you are being attacked with a knife, empty hands, stick or you are sparring, etc. In any physical confrontation there will be three ranges of combat. Long, Medium and Short to be exact. Long range could be firing an assault rifle or it could be that you are ten to fifteen feet away from someone with a knife or handgun. It could also be that you are just effectively outside of medium range which is when you are close enough to strike with very little movement. Short range is when you are toe to toe or clinching, grappling etc. They all provide unique dangers in that if someone is in long range against you and they have a projectile weapon you are in a lot of trouble if they are accurate with it. Short range requires that you fire your striking tools, clinch or go to the ground. The medium range is often a very, very dangerous place. You can attack and they can attack and quite often whoever fires first has the advantage. This could be good for you or it might not be. The way I like to teach people to move is to work from long to short and then out again. I personally am very comfortable in this manner in that at a longer range with my footwork and speed oriented attributes I can cover the distance faster than most into a short range and out again before people know what hit them. In other words I often try to avoid the middle range or middle ground where whomever fires first may decide the outcome. Instead I prefer to teach people to control the distance and dominate the long and short ranges. This has proven very, very effective throughout the years. Though each unique individual has to play to their attributes and strengths. So if you do not have the speed to move from long to short range quickly then you may have to develop a skill set where you bring them into the middle range by defensive footwork and counter attack as they are moving in. You see you have to uniquely figure out how you move and what you can do. Once you do that then you play to your strengths! In the end it is up to you!
See You On The Mats!
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Brian R. VanCise
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I define close range as needing no step to attack or defend, middles as being 1 to 2 steps apart, and long as any where further, 2 or more steps to be in range to use your weapons.
I teach students to fight in the middle or long, mostly middle, where they are close enough to attack/defend, but far enough to have time to react.
Jks9199 we are probably pretty close in what we do just using a slightly different way in how we describe things. We both seem to agree in how we want the practitioners to have effective time to attack/defend. Space and controlling the distance is essential. 🙂