The other day, I saw something amazing, a common sight, but this time, I saw through the eyes of a street fighter. A girl, maybe 5 or 6 years old, tried to be dragged by the hand by a boy who looked like an older brother or some other relative maybe 12 years old.

While crying in protest, she suddenly stopped crying and became aggressive. She bit his hand and kicked him hard in the shins. He fell to the ground clutching his shins and rubbing his hand writhing in pain with a shocked face. He, of course, released the girl as she ran into the arms of an approaching lady who looked like her mother.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the instinctive fighting response of children that will still work for us today as adults. We just have to relearn what we already know.

Instinctive Fight Tips

1. Fight like a human, not like an exotic animal. There has been a lot of romance and myths surrounding most modern martial arts as they are taught and drawn from their ancient origins centuries and centuries ago. There is an idea that we as human beings should imitate the fighting styles of animals to be efficient fighters. Seriously? Animals walk on all fours. Humans walk on two. Animals have fur. Humans wear coats. Animals stalk barefoot. Humans wear shoes and sometimes boots. Someone help me! I don’t see the similarity. Look, this is my premise. A bear has an instinctive way of fighting. It leans on its hind legs with some difficulty and uses its front claws to strike. A kangaroo has an instinctive way of fighting. Since its little arms are almost useless, it must use its powerful front legs to kick forward and trust, but not claw like a bear. A crane has an instinctive way of fighting. It uses its beak and claws with its paws, but the claws on the legs of a crane cannot be said to be the same as the claws of a bear. A snake can only wrap and squeeze, if it is not poisonous. A snake does not scratch or kick. Where am I going with all this? I contend that we too, as humans, have an instinctive way of fighting that is best seen in its primal state when young children fight, kick, and bite.

2. Cock – Cock – Cock – I put this on three times because this is the most basic and primary self defense technique out there. Biting is not polite. And that is exactly what we want. Biting is painful, and when an adult suddenly does it to another adult, it is shocking and disarming. If you bite into almost any part of an attacker and don’t let go, you panic and literally bite him. This reminds me of when I was about 12 years old, when I didn’t even know the meaning of martial arts. I was talking to my girlfriend in the neighborhood outside on the sidewalk when the neighborhood bully arrives on his bike with two of his cohorts. This bully was maybe 13 or 14 years old, and he was much, much taller and bigger than me. Ride to my side. I turn to look at him. “What are you looking at,” he challenges me. “I’m looking at you,” I reply, not wanting to seem whimsical in front of my girl, when suddenly, “Pow!” He punches me on the forehead. He disoriented me, and before I knew it, he lunged for my legs, hitting me in the stomach with his shoulders, lifting me from the back of my knees, and hitting me on the ground. Now he’s trying to get into position to punch me and punch me in the face trying to hold my shoulders down with his hands. Well, while trying to do this, he accidentally pressed his cheek against my lips. Instinctively, I bit that fool’s cheek like it was a rib eye steak. And I didn’t let it go. Now, Hey He’s supposed to be the one kicking my ass, but he’s screaming and screaming like a girl. After getting tired of hearing him scream in my ear after a couple of minutes, I released him. His jaw was bleeding and he was in shock. He and his friends got on their bikes, drove off, and I never saw him again to this day.

3. Sucker Punch – This is exactly how the bully got the best of me. He punched me. But of course, as adults, we must give it a fancy name, which is why we call it “pre-emptive strike.” The Dee Dee. The Dee Da. It is all the same. The idea is to attack first before the other person has time to react. (And, of course, don’t let your guard down and be unaware of a possible first hit coming from the other person.)

4. Learn and master just one or two powerful techniques – Keep it simple. Make it easy to remember and easy to execute. Stay away from any martial arts system that claims to teach you 400 ways to perform a technique against an attack. This is ridiculous because the only thing this will do is to slow down your reaction time as your mind begins to process which of the 400 techniques to use as you watch this crazy son of a bitch with a knife standing in front of you ready to gut. you like a fish fillet. You will freeze. You will not know what to do. And in all likelihood, you will end up being seriously injured or killed. It’s like someone told me they want to show me 400 different ways to clean my butt. Well, I contend that at least 398 of those ways are totally unnecessary. If a child is learning to tie his shoes and you try to show him 400 different ways to tie his shoe, in an emergency, how fast could he tie that shoe with 400 different ways swimming on his head? In self defense and street fighting, less is more, that is, less is more than enough to take care of business and protect yourself. Keep it simple. Keep it powerful. Keep it instinctive.