Drill Post #29: Before A Trap

As I have written about in a long previous post (from my potential book) on trapping, when you try to strike someone, there are four kinds of responses: 1) you successfully connect, stunning them enough to follow up, 2) they evade, 3) they try to obstruct you (whether in a naive or trained way), or 4) they try to tough it out and strike at the same time (or perhaps just happen to strike as you launch your strike). Since my first concern is being as safe/uninjured as possible, then option 4 is of central concern. Dealing with this circumstance, a very possible one, is one of the most neglected parts of training among those that are interested in trapping. Specifically, this is a "pre-trapping" skill, something that you may have to deal with that nullifies trying to trap for that moment. To train this understanding, drill in the following manner. The trainee throws either a mellow jab, cross or jab and cross at the trainer, controlling his punches so as to not quite hit the trainer although being at striking range or false attack range (just outside of a good connecting range) so that the trainer can either strike with impunity (representing the guy trying to just out punch you), OR obstruct you somehow. In the first case, you either abandon the attack and defend, or you continue the attack while defending in an appropriate manner: in the second case you either continue the attack to an open line or, it the energy feels right, trap. The point that is often emphasized on the posts here is that cognitive development is of primary importance in order to make the physical skills work.