KNEE BENDS AND FOOT TWIST ALERTS
Ambush talk. Almost all, nearly every athletic action, sprinting, striking, tackling, evading, lunging, sports, or suddenly changing direction, begins with a bend at the knees. Then, a foot or feet below turn, shift, or digs into the floor-ground. That means an opponent’s lower body can reveal a great deal, but you are NOT just staring at the lower body in a hot situation.
Heads up? Down? All around? A sudden change in “elevation,” usually noticed through a drop in head height, a head elevation change of sorts, may well be an early clue that movement, aggression, or action is imminent.
The attacker may be angry and impulsive, or he may be carrying out a planned robbery or ambush. (The two ambushes in life – 1) whether the motive is emotional-biological or 2) criminally-pre-planned). The body still has to prepare itself for athletic action. Either way, his body will need to organize itself before explosive movement. Watch for the knee bend, glance then the feet shifting. The torso lowering. That maybe fast, but just think of all the body clues (and fakes) in sports and how quickly they are detected by people with proper training.
Yes, untrained, out-of-training, gawky people do physical things without knee bends. (Which makes them gawky!) My prayer for you is “may all your enemies be ignorant and untrained.”
The knees and you? A personal solution for you. When a situation begins to feel tense-suspicious, slightly bend your own knees. Do not ordinarily crouch dramatically or that will announce that you are preparing to fight the sneaky attacker. Build this response into your personal habits and body mechanics. During my years in police work, I routinely made this small, virtually invisible adjustment whenever I sensed trouble developing, concealed by clothing. I made it so that I quietly prepared my body to move. It does. This was a biological alert to my whole body, to “get ready.”
Oh and well, we all know to watch the hands. It is the hands that will kill you. That does not mean locking your eyes onto them and ignoring everything else. Just keep track of them with your peripheral vision and with quick, repeated glances. Know where both his hands are, what they are touching, hiding and whether either hand is disappeared into the body’s three weapon carry sites…
Primary -think quick draw (pockets, belt line.)
Secondary – think back up weapons (requires some “digging” to produce.)
Terciary – think off the body, (lunge and reach.)
*These three weapon draws are often tipped off first with his knee bends, certainly with the primary quick draws.