intent in the environment; the Conflict-Aware phase is where you initially become adrenalized, but have not yet ascertained if the danger is directed towards you; the Pre-Conflict phase is where you have recognized and assessed that an aggressor’s harmful intent is towards you but they haven’t yet made a physical assault, e.g., they may be verbally abusive towards you; the Conflict phase is the assault itself; and the Post-Conflict phase is everything that occurs once the assault has ended (such as disengaging to safety as well as seeking medical attention, getting legal advice, etc.).
The Interview Stance
The point of the Interview Stance is to get you into a physically strong position, while at the same time not appearing overly aggressive—you don’t want to escalate the situation at this point by giving your aggressor a reason to pull a knife, gun, or other weapon. Neither do you want to appear overly timid or fearful. Instead, you want to communicate through your body language that you don’t want any trouble, but at the same time you are confident in your ability to handle any attack. Your goal should always be to avoid a physical confrontation, and if you can, you should either try to discourage your assailant from attacking or de-escalate the situation. You should also put yourself in a position to be able to make a preemptive assault if you recognize that a physical confrontation is inevitable because you were unable to de-escalate or disengage from the situation.
Most violent encounters involve a verbal confrontation that precedes any physical assault. Depending on the motive of the aggressor and their emotional state, it may be possible to de-escalate the situation and resolve the conflict without having to engage with them physically.
An aggressor’s body language and their ability to communicate verbally will indicate whether they are about to launch an assault. If they respond to a question such as, “What can I do to sort this situation out?” with silence, with jumbled up words, or by simply repeating their complaint over and over again, you should take this as an indication that they are about to make an attack.
Key Points Regarding the Interview Stance
The aim of the Interview Stance is twofold: firstly, it should present you in a non-threatening way to your aggressor, and secondly, it should prepare you for a physical confrontation. If a person is verbally aggressive towards you, you don’t want to escalate the situation by balling your fists and trying to intimidate them—if they are carrying a weapon, such as a gun or knife, they may feel that your aggressive posture necessitates them pulling their weapon (once somebody pulls a weapon it is very unlikely that they will put it away without using it). Your goal should be to present yourself in a non-threatening, but confident way. Your aggressor is probably used to people either cowering or posturing back when threatened, so presenting them with a different image can cause them to question the situation.
Your head should be directly over your hips, so you are stable. If your head moves forward or backwards from this position you may still be “balanced,” but you won’t be stable, and this increases the risk of you being taken to ground. Your arms should protect the space in front of you, creating a “No Man’s Land” that your assailant’s strikes would have to cross to reach you.
You should appear non-threatening but in control. By using a hand gesture (open palm facing forward) that is the international signal for both “Stop” and “I don’t want any trouble,” you are sending a confusing message to your aggressor. When this is coupled with an upright and “dominant” posture, you are presenting yourself in a way that most assailants are not used to being met with, i.e., you are not cowering or acting submissively, but at the same time you are not acting aggressively or appearing to posture back. You are also in an excellent position to both defend yourself physically and launch any necessary preemptive assaults. Obviously if you are attacked by surprise then you will not have time to adopt such a stance; however, if somebody verbally threatens you or acts in a manner that makes you uncomfortable, this should be your first response.
1. The foot of your least dominant hand should be the one you lead with. This keeps your dominant hand at the rear, from where it is able to generate the most power (for ease of communication, the techniques in this book will default to right hand dominance going forward).
2. Your feet should be on opposite corners of an imaginary rectangle, with your toes pointing towards your assailant—the feet control the direction of your hips, and it is the movement of your hips which will give power to your striking. This stance will also make you stable in all but two directions, meaning that if you are knocked from the front, side, or rear (you must always assume that there is more than one attacker), you will be able to stay on your feet.
3. Your head must be over your hips. Your head controls the direction of your weight, and if you are leaning forward or backwards you can easily be thrown off-balance in those directions. For the same reason, your weight must be evenly distributed between both feet. Make sure you hold your head upright and stand tall, so that you appear confident and in control.
4. Both legs should remain active. That is, they should be able to create movement without having to shift weight first. Keep the knees bent and the legs relaxed, so that they don’t have to be unlocked in order for you to move.
5. Your weight should be on your toes. Toes are for moving, heels are for braking. Don’t lift the heels of your feet too high, as when you move you will want to make sure that they can be placed down quickly if necessary, e.g., to be able to strike with power.
6. Your hands should be placed out in front of you, with the palms of your hands facing your aggressor. Unlike clenched fists, this hand position is non-aggressive, and is understood in all cultures to be a non-threatening gesture. It is also the international sign for “stop” and “stay back.”
Controlling Range
If you are too close to a potential assailant, they will be able to strike or grab you without having to make any prior body movement. Therefore, you should always keep a suitable distance between yourself and your assailant, forcing them to have to move before they make an attack. If they make a movement forward, to move into attacking range, you should make a corresponding movement backwards or away, to maintain your original distance. If you don’t, and you stay within their range, you will be attempting to counter the speed of their arm/punch, rather than the relatively slower speed of their body. In most cases action beats reaction, so you will be unsuccessful in countering their attack if you don’t force them to reposition their body, first.
Forcing them to move their body before making an attack will give you a larger movement to respond to, rather than having to react to somebody’s arm speed. If they can punch or grab you without having to move first, you are limiting your chances of identifying the attack.
When you face someone who is acting aggressively towards you, you should attempt to control the range. You want to position yourself at a distance where, if they want to strike or grab you, they must move their body into range first. This larger body movement is easier to detect than an arm movement alone.
If an assailant is already in range, they can punch you or grab you without having to make any prior body movement. In this instance, you will have to react to the arm movement alone, which is a much faster and smaller movement than that of the body coming forwards—and so much harder to detect and respond to.
The simplest way to learn how to control range—before it becomes an inherent fighting skill—is to make sure that when you look at the