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Jeet Kune Do

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Jeet Kune Do Killer Instinct

"Killer Instinct is the correct choice of tactics and the relentless application of those tactics!" Paul Vunak

Trying to explain killer instinct to someone who has never experienced it is a bit like trying to explain sweet to someone who has never had any sugar. Killer instinct can mean so much but, at the same time, is nearly impossible to accurately describe.

Killer instinct is the desire and ability to finish your opponent. It is a sadistic urge driven by the savage side of human nature. It is not how loud you scream or how many expletives you spew at your adversary. It’s not the ugly faces you can contort yourself into. It is certainly not mindlessly hurling yourself into the fray in an uncontrolled, incensed rush of adrenaline. Killer instinct is finishing the race, closing the deal, accomplishing the mission. It is the burning lust to damage your opponent. It is the cold, hard, calculating application of bad intentions.

Of course, the end result of the successful application of killer instinct is the resolution of the altercation. While this is easy to conceptualize, it is not so easy to actualize. "Doing what is necessary" to win a fight is a nice thing to quote from an armchair, but things get exponentially more complex when you hit the street.

Killer instinct is the correct choice of tactics and the merciless, relentless application of those tactics. It is every choice and action that leads to the downfall of your opponent. It is easy to confuse it for the mad-rush, see-red, wailing, banshee mode that we may have experienced, but that is really only one aspect of killer instinct. It’s an attribute, but it is also a mentality.

Survival of the Fittest
Killer instinct is the firm-gripped control over some of our most intense emotions. If we are to fully realize the maximum potential of our killer instinct, we cannot be a slave to our emotions. Think of any predator and the manner in which they stalk their prey. Take, for example, a cheetah. It may not have eaten for several days, but it will still wait patiently for the appropriate moment to attack to ensure its next meal. Its nourishment depends on its skills as a hunter, so it’s only logical that it is quite proficient at this task. In the wild, if you aren’t proficient, you are dead. It knows, innately or by experience, that if it allows a nagging belly to impair its judgment, it will only have to wait longer until the next meal. It calmly waits while collecting data that will shape its attack plan. Which gazelle will be the easiest victim? Which gazelle will stray into range first? With is the slowest, the weakest, the least alert. Once the appropriate moment arrives, it unhesitatingly launches its attack, mercilessly closing in on the target with single-minded determination. It tears the victim down in the most efficient manner, not stopping until there is no struggle left. This epitomizes killer instinct through all its stages.

There is a vast wealth of knowledge to be gained from predatory animals. If you compare the jeet kune do game plan with that of the cheetah, you will find many similarities. In the embryonic stages of a street fight, we make our preliminary analysis. This will include any observations about the opponent’s martial structure (boxing, karate, et cetera) and the gut-feel we get from the adversary. Our preliminary analysis must be as accurate as possible, because tactical choices will be made from this data. It cannot be tainted by too much uncontrolled emotion or adrenaline.

Just as the cheetah looked for the weakest gazelle, we look for any apparent weaknesses in our opponent’s defense. It would not be a particularly wise move for the cheetah to hunt the strongest or fastest gazelle, nor would it make much sense to try to outbox a stronger, faster boxer. In our case, we don’t stand around waiting for an opportunity, but try to create one by moving and probing. Through this process, we can get the opponent to reveal much more about himself than he would probably like. We can also possibly even force him to make a mistake that we can capitalize on. When the time is right, we enter, straight blast, and finish our opponent with an unrelenting barrage of head butts, knees, and elbows. This is the fail-safe, the point of no-return. We must assume that our life depends the success of our past analysis. In the same way, our emotional intensity must reflect this belief.

Total Awareness
To achieve full potential of the killer instinct, we must absolutely be able to control our emotions. We must be able to go from a cold, unfeeling machine to the uncontrollable rage of a berserk grizzly bear and back again in a second, if the situation calls for it. In kicking and punching range, we must be a cold machine, free from any emotional tension or anxiety. We must dispassionately view the situation and react to it as if it was a blatantly obvious course of action. Once we enter into trapping range, we must become a wild animal, oblivious to pain or reason. In the fight continues to the ground, we must kick back into machine-mode so we can effectively make the correct tactical decision. This level of control is not easy to reach. It can only be reached if we were aware of the changes going on inside ourselves. As the biofeedback axiom goes, "control follows awareness."

So if control follows awareness, how do we reach this "awareness?" First of all, we must see killer instinct in a light that is not obscured by any moralistic, idealistic, or institutional shade. Any time we try to categorize it in a neat little package, we are rationalizing and not seeing it truly for what it is. Awareness is being cognizant of the mental, spiritual, emotional and physiological ramification of the moment. Awareness is being in tune with your surroundings, sensing your effect on them as well as their effect on you. It is definitely not making a judgment call on your observations. For example, if someone cuts you off in traffic and fails to signal an apology, and you experience an overwhelming urge to separate this person’s head from his body, you don’t instantly clamp down and suppress this urge while berating yourself for your Neanderthal behavior. You simply acknowledge what you are feeling at the moment, what caused you to feel this way, and how you can use this knowledge to your benefit should a situation arise.

Awareness can be cultivated in many ways. Specifically, right now, we are only concerned with awareness in oneself, but the attributes necessary for street awareness can certainly be useful here. However, the catch is that we are dealing with something intrinsically more difficult. We come from a culture of distractions. Television, radio, video games, endless juicy tabloids – all serve to distract us from dealing with our supposedly mundane lives. By divorcing ourselves from reality, if only for a moment, we lose touch with the one thing that determines our potential for accomplishment: ourselves. How many of us have actually spent any time by ourselves free from any sort of distraction, even hunting or backpacking. I mean time spent walking or sitting, listening only to your own body. This is no easy task. Sitting quietly for twenty minutes a day for a week will tell you volumes about yourself. You will find all the kinds of intense emotions surfacing for no apparent reason. Your mind will concoct very persuasive arguments against this course of action. This will not be a pleasant experience. I am not espousing any religious and/ or spiritual doctrines for this practice. This is simply an exercise to cultivate awareness – because if you can’t listen to your body sitting still, you aren’t going to hear a damned thing when Gunnery Sergeant Pat Bagley is poking jabs in your face.

Total Control
Now let’s say that you’ve heeded my advice and now have a working level of awareness. Here’s where we get to work on the control aspect – this is actually the easiest part. Now that we are aware of the changes going on in our body, we simply try to effect gradual control over these changes. The more acute your awareness, the more successful your attempts will be. Any situation that causes your blood to boil or your heart to beat a little faster is an opportunity for training. It could be a fight with your significant other, a particularly condescending teller at the bank, or a check that was supposed to be in the mail. Anything that gets you going is fair game. Instead of flying off the handle, causing considerable damage to your home and furnishings, or completely suppressing the powerful emotions at play, thereby causing you an ulcer, I suggest that you take a few deep breaths and acknowledge what is going on in your body. You may still be angry, but now it is a controlled anger, which provides eminently usable energy. Make no mistake, anybody can throw a temper tantrum – losing your cool is not a sign of strength, but of a lack of control.

A lot of this may seem esoteric and obscure, but it really isn’t. Think of any great sports figure and pay attention to how they thrive under pressure. They feel the emotions as strongly as the next man, but they know how to channel and not be overwhelmed by them. Try to recall any accidental killing where the husband or wife took the life of their beloved spouse. Through all their regret and grief, one thing is clear, they lost control and didn’t realize what they were doing until it was too late. As martial artists, we must always be aware of our actions. For the safety of others, of course, but more so we can act appropriately, decisively, and ruthlessly when the need arises to defend our loved ones or ourselves.

Relaxation Drill: This should also be done with two or more training partners. Have them wear boxing gloves and instruct them to attack you with various punches and kicks. This explosion of blows should be as intense as possible for a full 60 seconds. Your only defense will be to cover and roll with the punches. As with the killer instinct drill, you should have a preset objective – this time to completely relax. When you are being inundated with an inordinate amount of stimulus – such as a mass attack with four to six fists flying at you at once – your neurological system will be fully taxed. The point of this drill is to develop the ability to relax while your neurological system is in overload mode. If you practice this drill twice a day, for a month, you will become more familiar with the feeling of relaxing under pressure.

As with all aspects of martial arts, how you train is the most important step to developing key attributes. The physical logistics of integrating these psychological concepts into your art is up to up. Always remember that in a crisis, you will not rise to your expectations, but rather sink to your level of training.

"Fear is the direct response to the fact that one feels incapable of dealing effectively with aggression!" Paul Vunak

"Killer Instinct is an attribute but it is also a mentality!" Paul Vunak

Total Application
The killer instinct we seek to develop is not a sledgehammer – it is a scalpel that must be continually honed. Killer instinct will allow us to prevail in an ear-biting, eye-gouging street fight. It is the savvy that clues us into our adversary’s weaknesses. It is the ruthlessness that drives us to mercilessly capitalize on those weaknesses. It is the impetus that turns your training into fighting. This topic should not be taken lightly. If you intend to be a fighter, it behooves you to implement killer instinct into your training. I have given you one way to train killer instinct. It is perhaps the most beneficial, but frustrating way. The physical logistics of integrating these concepts into your art is up to you but they must be grounded in these immutable principles. In a crisis, you will not rise to your expectations, but fall to your level of training. Don’t let your ignorance of killer instinct be your downfall.

Simply put, to win a street fight one must have a combination of killer instinct and relaxation. At first glance, theses emotions may appear to be mutually exclusive – however, they are not. Killer instinct is the burning lust to damage your opponent. It is the cold, hard, calculated application of bad intentions. This is not to be confused with mindlessly hurling yourself into the fray, in an uncontrolled, incensed rush of adrenaline. Killer instinct can be defined as the correct choice of tactics, and the merciless, relentless application of those tactics.

Relaxation is the other part of the street fighting equation. Relaxing in a street fight is the ability to perceive the action in slow motion. It is the window of opportunity that we use to make choices. Relaxation is inherently knowing when to stop moving during the fog of war and simply breathe – otherwise, uncontrolled rage can easily become your master, clouding your thoughts and dooming you to defeat.

In order to understand when to use killer instinct and when to use relaxation, it is essential to understand the four fighting ranges: kicking, punching, trapping, and grappling. When you are throwing punches and kicks from long range, you’re in the stage of the fight that Bruce Lee referred to as "probing" or "potshotting," like Muhammed Ali dancing on his toes, flicking out the jab. This is when you need to be as relaxed as possible. The attributes fostered by relaxation are timing, distance, and awareness.

If you break into trapping range, you are now in the stage that Bruce Lee referred to as the "rally." At this point you should be blasting down your opponent’s centerline, pummeling him with a barrage of head butts, knees, and elbows. This is the range when you must absolutely turn on the killer instinct! You must become a wild animal, oblivious to pain or reason. If the fight goes to the ground, you must shift into the relaxed "machine" mode, allowing you to employ the attributes of timing and sensitivity to look for a sweep, choke, or lock. However, if an uninterrupted bite or eye gouge presents itself, a sudden flare of killer instinct will be necessary. If the bite or gouge is successful, giving you enough room to get back on your feet, you now need to go back to the original state of relaxation – at which point you’ve come full circle. Perhaps a better term for switching from killer instinct to relaxation would be "explode and recover." I have two favorite drills for developing each of these two attributes.

Killer Instinct Drill: This should be done with two or more training partners. Have them get within an inch of your face, screaming expletives as loud as possible while you scream back at them for seconds. Immediately go to the heavy bag and unload with a combination of punches, elbows, knees, and head butts for at least 20 seconds. This drill should be performed with the objective of raising your adrenaline, blood pressure, and emotional content though the roof. If you practice this drill twice a day, for a month, you will become increasingly familiar with the feeling associated with killer instinct, and thus be able to call it up at will.