What TRIGGERS a Bridge?

The opinions expressed in this blog are only mine. Don't hold anyone responsible for my thought processes. :)

What I am trying to demonstrate in this blog entry are what I describe as "Triggers" as they relate to my Grafting Matrix. The Grafting Matrix is a visual tool to show what I believe happens or has influence on the necessary actions we take during a conflict that does not end with the initial physical strikes.

A fight that lasts longer than a sucker punch is dynamic and changes as both parties try to gain a dominant advantage. This may cause you to graft techniques in order to stop an attacker. The TRIGGERS I am referring to are basically three factors that can lead you to graft into different techniques.



Can attempt your favorite technique on an attacker, but three things can affect the outcome...

1. You
2. Attacker
3. Environment

You
You may decide that your technique is not working "as advertised" and your dance partner (read as attacker) did not fall down.

Attacker
The attacker might not be as cooperative as you anticipate because he did not know that you are a Kenpo Master, and he does not give up after three moves. he may over-react, under-react or react in a way other than expected. Or maybe, just maybe, no matter what you do he is gonna try to hurt you.

Environment
The third Trigger is the environment. Your environment can affect the decision to stay with a technique sequence or abandon it for another. the environment can be a friend and assist you, or it can be an opponent and help the attacker.

We will explore these Triggers in more detail in later blogs. I do strongly believe that if you understand how these factors can trigger the choice of which "Bridge" is applied to the situation we can be more spontaneous in our use of techniques.

The Grafting Matrix describes the mental process from Initial Attack through Filters to our Initial Response. If the fight continues...we move through Triggers and Filters to Bridges and end up with a secondary Response (graft). If that still does not end the confrontation the cycle begins again.

So far we have touched on several parts of what I call the Grafting Matrix. We have briefly looked at Triggers and Bridges. The next several blogs will look at how Filters affect our actions in a confrontation and some Concepts, Principle and Theories within Kenpo that I feel relate directly to effective grafting.

Soon I will be explaining some very cool training exercises using "Bridges" to enhance anyone's ability to graft "on the fly".

I hope that you are getting value in reading this. Please feel free to comment or ask questions regarding my entries.

Next time...Filters and How they affect our Response to an attack.