This brief post is all about counter fighting.  That is when the opponent attacks and you either dodge, duck, cover, evade, use angles and then you throw your counter technique at them.  When counter fighting you have to be dangerously close to make it work.  Through the years I have had the pleasure of training with quite a few excellent counter fighters.  They all lived on the edge in the moment and were dangerously close to getting clocked many a time but their interior movement on the inside or their exterior movement on the outside was flawless.  This allowed them to use angles and evasion skills to flawless perfection.  Throughout the years good counter fighting has been something that I have studied quite a bit.  Why?  Well in the moment if you are surprised guess what you will be doing.  Yes, that is right you will be counter fighting immediately for your life.  To learn good counter fighting skills you sometimes need to stick around in the space when your opponent is attacking you.  You still do not want to get hit so you have to have excellent movement and timing and utilize angles and evasion skills but yet still stay in the immediate vicinity where you can still strike them.  Nothing helps more than sparring with aggressive minded strikers.  They just keep coming and eventually they will give you that small counter fighting dangerously close room to work with.  Another fine way to develop these skills is focus mitt work.  A good instructor will have you doing quite a bit of focus mitt training where they are throwing jabs, crosses, hooks, etc. at you so that you can dodge, evade and begin to utilize the angles that will allow you to succeed with counter fighting.  Every martial science practitioner needs to have some counter fighting skills.  In the moment if you get surprised and are fighting for your life you will be counter fighting to start.  You will also be dangerously close!

See You On The Mats!

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Brian R. VanCise

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