Tai Sabaki & Body Defense

One of the principles that I was first taught in my Krav Maga training, was the idea of every defense having a hand-defense and a body-defense. This was explained to me through the concept of a 200% defense i.e. if you did the hand-defense correctly, it alone would be a 100% defense, and if you did the body-defense correctly, it would also give you a 100% defense. This meant, if you only managed to do each 50% correctly/well, then you would still have a 100% defense. From my own experiences, I appreciated the understanding that when put under stress and duress, it was unlikely that you would perform perfectly, and that you would need solutions which would work even when performed sub-optimally. From my time studying Japanese martial arts (Judo and Karate) the idea of body movement (Tai-Sabaki) is a key part of any defense, however it has a few nuances that when understood, can enhance our appreciation of body movement in our Krav Maga training.

Anyone who has studied traditional martial arts, understands the concept of getting out of the line of an attack, as part of a defense. In many Krav Maga systems “bursting” forward, into an attack is taught, rather than stepping off-line, and there are good historical reasons (as well as practical ones) for this. When Imi first started designing his approach to fighting, he was looking to teach a basic infantry man/woman how to defend themselves against common attacks of the time – violence changes over time, and also has cultural and regional aspects to it - which is why Krav Maga as a system needs to adapt and evolve, and be taught in a manner relevant to its audience. At the time, Imi was looking at ways for a person with a pack on their back to be able to move, and how the position and weight of the pack might restrict that movement. If you have 50 lbs on your back, movement to the side (stepping off-line) could see you become unbalanced, whereas forward movement would allow for the weight of the pack to add momentum to the simultaneous defense and attack. This also had the effect of being a simpler movement to teach, rather than having a person take the time to train and develop the movement skills, to both block, move laterally (out of the line of the attack), and deliver a simultaneous strike.

There are several misconceptions about Tai-Sabaki. I have met and trained with people who believe that it refers to a particular movement, that takes you out of the line of attack. I have also heard from some that it is purely an evasive maneuver to get you out of danger, and doesn’t have an attacking component to it; from a traditional perspective, both are wrong. Tai-Sabaki, can utilize many different types of movement, including pivots, steps to the side, sliding steps backwards/forwards, etc. If you have studied traditional Karate, and practiced Kata, you will have been introduced to many different forms of Tai-Sabaki. In its truest form, Tai-Sabaki should not only move you out of the way of the attack, but at the same time it should put you in an attacking position, where you have the advantage and your assailant is at a disadvantage. When I teach sparring, this is the key concepts I try to get across to my students e.g. it is no good throwing a punch or a kick, when your partner is not at a disadvantage – people will often throw out kicks and punches, when a person is moving away, rather than first getting them rooted, or moving onto your strikes, where they will have a much greater effect. It is fine to move away from an attack, but such movement should set up an attacking opportunity, whilst putting your attacker at a disadvantage. This is what true Tai-Sabaki is, and it can be in any direction.

When I was a competitive Judoka, it was drilled into me by my coaches that there should be no truly defensive movements to my game; defense had to incorporate an attack, or set up an attack (concepts I teach as part of my Krav Maga training). Defense alone only creates a further attacking opportunity for the person you face. This is one of the reasons I have problems with referring to what I teach and train as being “self-defense”; it communicates the wrong message about the solutions I, and others, teach. A major change in my Judo came, when my previously defensive movements became offensive ones. As well as giving me more attacking opportunities, it also took away some of the “panic” I’d previously experienced when I was just “avoiding” attacks. From a real-world perspective, I see striking as a zero-sum game: if you’re not hitting/attacking the other person, they’re hitting/attacking you. Making sure that all your defensive movements contain an attack or put you in a position to make an attack is what Tai-Sabki and good Krav Maga is all about.

Many Krav Maga practitioners see the traditional martial arts as outdated and/or irrelevant. However, these systems contain the same fighting principles upon which Krav Maga is founded and based. Krav Maga may take on a different form to Karate and Judo, but it did not create different fighting principles and concepts. If we are to evolve who we are as practitioners and teachers, it is worth our time looking at and studying ideas from other arts and systems, so that we can better understand those of our own. We may, as direct and practical Krav Maga people, believe that the subtleties of the traditional martial arts may be too subtle to be relevant, however looking at what we do from a slightly different perspective can both give us a better realization of what it is we are actually doing, along with ways of how we can improve our performance of it.