An implication of the Principle of Specificity is the need for environmental training - self defence training out of the training hall and in the 'street'.

In the previous article I described this sports science principle and its place as a key component of the Tactical Approach to street self defence training. If you are unfamiliar with the principle you may wish to consult any sports science text or search the Internet. One good location is "Sports Science Abstracts" at the address given in the references. [1]

To re-iterate, the principle states that the training effect (change in performance level) on an individual as a result of performing any particular exercise or drill is very specific to the action practiced. In other words for training to be truly effective, practice sessions should mimic as closely as possible the demands of the target environment (in our case confrontation situations), not only in terms of the movement execution requirements but also in terms of the perceptual and decision-making aspects of the performance. [2]

Some of the broad implications were touched on in the previous article. Here I will touch on another, that of the training environment. The nature of the environment impacts our ability to perceive our opponents and their actions, our ability to execute movements and quite clearly impacts the tactical decisions we have to make in the heat of a confrontation.

Location and Timing of Crime

U.S. crime statistics show that the crimes of robbery and assault are roughly evenly split between occurring during the day versus the night (robberies 47% during the day and 53% at night, assaults 56% during the day and 47% at night). As for location the most common places for robberies are the street (35% of all robberies against the person) and the home (21%) with parking lot (8.7%) being third. Assaults most often occurred on the street (15.8%) followed by school (15.2%) followed by home (14.2%). [3]

Australian statistics are similar. For example the Jochelson study [3] indicated that 48.1% of assaults and 75.3% of robberies in the Sydney district took place outdoors. The timing of offences is spread across times and days of the week but favour the early hours of Saturday and Sunday morning. The Briscoe and Donnelly study [4] also confirms this. The variety of locations and times also implies that the clothing worn at the time by participants will vary greatly.

This distribution of time and place would suggest a number of differences in the environment between the practice conditions in the martial arts training hall and crime locations. Specifically poor or uneven lighting, uneven ground surfaces, obstacles and restricted area for movement. Additionally a significant portion of the crime occurs outdoors and is therefore subject to the elements (rain, wind, dust etc). Regardless of time and location, the victims would be wearing normal clothing that may assumed to be in many instances more restrictive than martial arts uniforms. The point is that in many instances these environmental circumstances are markedly different to that in the training hall.

It is therefore interesting to speculate on the wisdom of conducting so much self defence training in environments that have open space, flat (sometimes padded) floors with bright and even lighting all while wearing loose fitting uniforms and different footwear. It may suit the comfort and convenience of students and instructors but does it adequately prepare them to adjust to the environmental impact of a confrontation in a totally different setting? The Principle of Specificity implies not.

Impact of Different Environment

A lack of lighting or an uneven distribution of lighting will quite clearly affect our ability to see our opponent(s) as may other environmental factors such as rain, wind, dust or smoke. And we are dependent on clear vision to perceive the visual clues in order to determine how to physically respond. If this occurs at the one time where we are in real danger, having always only trained in conditions of good visibility, we are at a severe disadvantage.

There is a similar significant difference in ground or floor surface between the training hall and the home, or parking lots or school yards or the street. Having spent many hours training on that same flat surface in our training location, we would be accustomed to performing our technique only on that particular surface. The grip or slippage it provides, its evenness and openness would all be second nature to us. To then have to adjust our technique while wearing different footwear to a surface that provides a different grip, that is now uneven or sloping and do this on the fly in the stress of combat is a big ask.

Training halls are generally clutter free environments. The home, car parks, schools, street locations, public transport etc are not. The items of furniture, walls, cars, kerbs, fences, seats, plants, other people etc that also inhabit this space will hinder our freedom of movement, constrain our technique. An action which in the training hall that is performed reflexively will now have to be modified (or stopped) consciously if an obstacle is in the way.

On the tactical level, the lighting, the ground surface and particularly the objects in the environment all provide opportunities for seeking tactical advantage over our opponent(s). We may position ourselves to take advantage of differential lighting, or move onto a surface or location of our choosing, use obstacles to hinder the opponent(s) movements or shield ours and use items as weapons to hand. You don't get the opportunity to practice that by confining your training to the open well-lit training hall.

It would therefore seem obvious that some training must be conducted in different locations or in different environmental circumstances to allow the student to adapt to those changed circumstances. Come the time of a confrontation, which let's face it in all probability will be at a different location to that of training, students are better prepared to adapt to the new environmental circumstances.

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