ESCAPE, CONTROL and TERMINATION are the “sacred three” with regards to self-defense training, conditioning and study.  Each has it’s own paradigm with its particular conceptual techniques, flow and options; and, all should be, at the very least, looked at very closely to determine what may be suitable for every individual, in any situation.
 
ESCAPE means exactly what it says, “to find the door”, and this should be the preferred option for everyone, no matter how much training one has undergone, and no matter how tough one thinks they may be, as there is always room for error in a street-fight, and, hello, there is always pain and injury, sometimes much worse! 

 
The tactics involved with escaping an assault are numerous, with intention solely based on getting to safety, no matter what.  These may include simple wrist releases, clothing grabs, hair-pulls, bear hugs, headlocks and more serious controlling and attacking methods.  The problem with training only in this model is that many times there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and that these initial techniques are predicated on a much more serious “conclusion”.
 
CONTROL is a multi-faceted methodology with a far-reaching range of skills implemented to do just that; control someone until help arrives.  This may involve basically benign techniques such as arm-locks, to far more damaging ones such as rear-naked chokes.  What determines any of this is level of aggression, number of attackers, and other surrounding scenario factors.  Different styles of JuJutsu, for example, directly address this widest range of “normal” responses to an assault, at least in a civilian environment.
 
TERMINATION means imposing whatever is necessary to your attacker until you are absolutely safe.  This is, most obviously, the “philosophical” part of this equation, and can range from severe controlling techniques, such as breaking arms, to more injurious applications, even death, as on the battlefield.
 
All in all, food for thought and I will explore even further with these concepts in part two’s continuation of this particular blog.