The Art of Fighting Without Fighting Techniques in Personal Threat Evasion Geoff Thompson S U M M E R S D A L E Copyright © Geoff Thompson 1998 Reprinted 1999, 2000 All rights reserved. The right of Geoff Thompson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, nor translated into a machine language, without the written permission of the publisher. Summersdale Publishers Ltd 46 West Street Chichester West Sussex PO19 1RP United Kingdom www.summersdale.com Photographs by David W Monks Member of the Master Photographer’s Association Snappy Snaps Portrait Studio 7 Cross Cheaping Coventry CV1 1HF Printed and bound in Great Britain. ISBN 1 84024 085 7 About the Author: Geoff Thompson has written over 20 published books and is known world wide for his autobiographical books Watch My back, Bouncer and On The Door, about his nine years working as a night club doorman. He holds the rank of 5th Dan black belt in Japanese karate, 1st Dan in Judo and is also qualified to senior instructor level in various other forms of wrestling and martial arts. He has several scripts for stage, screen and TV in development with Destiny Films. He has published several articles for GQ magazine, and has also been featured in FHM, Maxim, Arena, Front and Loaded magazines, and has been featured many times on mainstream TV. Geoff is currently a contributing editor for Men’s Fitness magazine and self defence columnist for Front. Red Mist, Geoff Thompson’s powerful debut novel, is now available in paperback and as an eBook. Other books and videos by Geoff Thompson: Watch My Back – A Bouncer’s Story Bouncer (sequel to Watch My Back) On the Door – Further Bouncer Adventures. The Pavement Arena – Adapting Combat Martial Arts to the Street Real Self-defence Real Grappling Real Punching Real Kicking Real Head, Knees & Elbows Dead Or Alive – Self-protection 3 Second Fighter – The Sniper Option Weight Training – For the Martial Artist Animal Day – Pressure Testing the Martial Arts Fear – The Friend of Exceptional People: techniques in controlling fear Small Wars – How To Live A Stress Free Life Blue Blood on the Mat by Athol Oakley, foreword by Geoff Thompson Give Him To The Angels – The Story Of Harry Greb by James R Fair The Ground Fighting Series (books): Vol. One – Pins, the Bedrock Vol. Two – Escapes Vol. Three – Chokes and Strangles Vol. Four – Arm Bars and Joint Locks Vol. Five – Fighting From Your Back Vol. Six – Fighting From Neutral Knees Videos: Lessons with Geoff Thompson Animal Day – Pressure Testing the Martial Arts Animal Day Part Two – The Fights Three Second Fighter – The Sniper Option Throws and Take-Downs Vols. 1-6 Real Punching Vols. 1-3 The Fence The Ground Fighting Series (videos): Vol. One – Pins, the Bedrock Vol. Two – Escapes Vol. Three – Chokes and Strangles Vol. Four – Arm Bars and Joint Locks Vol. Five – Fighting From Your Back Vol. Six – Fighting From Neutral Knees Advanced Ground Fighting Vols. 1-3 Pavement Arena Part 1 Pavement Arena Part 2 – The Protection Pyramid Pavement Arena Part 3 – Grappling, The Last Resort Pavement Arena Part 4 – Fit To Fight Contents: Introduction 8 Chapter One: Avoidance 19 Chapter Two: Escape 33 Chapter Three: Verbal Dissuasion 52 Chapter Four: Posturing 68 Chapter Five: Restraint 82 Conclusion 96 The Art of Fighting Without Fighting Introduction There was once a very famous Aikido player in Japan who spent his whole life studying Usheba’s legendary art. Although he had dedicated his whole existence to this beautiful art he had never actually had occasion to test it in a real life situation against a determined attacker, someone intent on hurting him. Being a moralistic kind of person he realised that it would be very bad karma to actually go out and pick a fight just to test his art so he was forced to wait until a suitable occasion presented itself. Naively, he longed for the day when he was attacked so that he could prove to himself that Aikido was powerful outside of the controlled walls of the dojo. The more he trained, the more his obsession for validation grew until one day, travelling home from work on a local commuter train, a potential situation did present itself – an overtly drunk and aggressive man boarded his train and almost immediately started verbally abusing the other passengers. ‘This is it,’ the Aikido man thought to himself, ‘this is my chance to test my art.’ He sat waiting for the abusive passenger to reach him. It was inevitable that he would: he was making his way down the carriage abusing everyone in his path. The drunk got closer and closer to the Aikido man, and the closer he got the louder and more aggressive he became. Most of the other passengers recoiled in fear of being attacked by the drunk. However, the Aikido man couldn’t wait for his turn, so that he could prove to himself and everyone else, the effectiveness of his art. The drunk got closer and louder. The Aikido man made ready for the seemingly inevitable assault – he readied himself for a bloody encounter. 8 The Art of Fighting Without Fighting As the drunk was almost upon him he prepared to demonstrate his art in the ultimate arena, but before he could rise from his seat the passenger in front of him stood up and engaged the drunk jovially. ‘Hey man, what’s up with you? I bet you’ve been drinking in the bar all day, haven’t you? You look like a man with problems. Here, come and sit down with me, there’s no need to be abusive. No one on this train wants to fight with you.’ The Aikido man watched in awe as the passenger skilfully talked the drunken man down from his rage. Within minutes the drunk was pouring his heart out to the passenger about how his life had taken a downward turn and how he had fallen on hard times. It wasn’t long before the drunk had tears streaming down his face. The Aikido man, somewhat ashamed thought to himself ‘That’s Aikido!’. He realised in that instant that the passenger with a comforting arm around the sobbing drunk was demonstrating Aikido, and all martial art, in it highest form. Why have I written this book? Why have I written a book about the art of fighting without fighting when my claim to fame is probably the fact that I have been in over 300 street fights, where I used a physical response to neutralise my enemy. Why write a book about avoidance when it is obviously so simple to finish a fight with the use of a physical attack? Indeed why write it when my whole reputation as a realist, as a martial arts cross trainer, as a blood and snot mat man may be risked by the endeavour? The reason is simple: violence is not the answer! It may solve some of the problems in the short term but it will create a lot more in the long term. I know – I’ve been there. I was, as they say, ‘that soldier’. It took me nine years of constant violence and many more of soul-searching to realise this truth and because so much has happened to me in my post-‘door’ years, my attitude and 9 The Art of Fighting Without Fighting opinion has changed. At my most brutal I justified violence, to myself, to those I taught and to those I spoke to. I was even prepared to use verbal violence to substantiate my views. That was how lost I was. But I’ m not at all ashamed of that, my views may have been distorted then but I did genuinely believe them. I was never a bad person, it’s just that my beliefs were governed by my limited knowledge, which left me somewhat Neanderthal. As my knowledge has grown so has my intellect and confidence, this has allowed me a new belief – a belief that will keep changing as long I grow. I can see it all now. I can see where I fit into the scheme of things. I can see the futility of violence and the pain of violent people. I can see that fighting on the pavement arena is war in microcosm and that wars destroy worlds. I know now that violence is not the answer, in the short term or the long 10