Jab – Cross – Hook! Ever done that in training?  Only about a million times I’m guessing, or something very similar I’m sure!  What kind of striking combinations do you employ and drill to the death on the pads?  The ‘straight blast’ perhaps?  This could get pretty technical couldn’t it?  I’d better stop before this happens and change the subject, or should I?  Just bear with me for a little while and all will be revealed.
 
Let’s talk tactics for a change – everyone gets carried away with techniques I feel, and tactics get a little overlooked, but without tactics all techniques are without application, no game plan, like without strategy all tactics are lost and aimless.
 
Lets look at the military view on tactics, which are generally quite standard around the world, unlike martial arts that evolve; military skills devolve into flexible generics.  Pomp and ceremony are saved for the parade square, combat becomes more and more efficient as time goes on, forget futuristic weaponry – it still all boils down to getting stuck in on foot, and doing the business up close.
 
Standard generic tactics for any type of military combat engagement are to split your available resources, usually into two groups – one provides cover or support whilst the other closes with the enemy, to assault the position.  These roles are interchangeable, according to circumstances.  When one half (team) of an infantry section moves, under fire from the enemy, the other team gives suppressive fire until the moving team has reached it’s limit of safe movement.  The moving team quickly goes to ground and covers as the other team becomes the moving team, and this process is repeated as often as is necessary, until one team is in a final position to assault.  The underpinning concept is of having “one foot on the ground” at all times – seldom will both teams move simultaneously, it’s too hard to control, and just too risky without  accurate covering fire.
 
This has obviously been rather over simplified but I hope you get the idea!
 
To adapt this concept to close combat at a personal level is simpler than it seems, just think of your limbs as your resources – focus on the arms, (kicks and knee strikes have their place, but in the midst of real close combat, the sudden dynamic application of bodyweight fuelled by aggression can leave it hard enough to stand on two legs, let alone just the one!) one arm can be utilised as cover/control/support (think fence/trap/grab) and the other arm can provide the firepower.  Like with the cover and move of the teams (actually termed fire and manoeuvre) when the active limb has exhausted its use, it switches to covering and the other limb goes live.
 
The benefits of this method are many – just the mere act of having one hand or arm in contact with the ‘enemy’ (force of habit but the term suits!) improves your hit probability dramatically with the other, to the degree of being able to land full-power shots on target with your eyes closed!  Just this makes it worthwhile, think of the applications of being able to locate and hit a target without looking – blinded, observing third parties etc.  I implore you to try it!
 
Using both limbs to launch alternate strikes actually lowers your hit probability and your impact too!  Hitting a ‘clean and clear’ target is a lottery – admittedly training and experience buys you more tickets, but chance plays a massive part nonetheless!  Remember the last time you faced a sparring partner with good head evasion skills?  Or trained hard on a good floor-to-ceiling ball?  Tricky to land a real shot, cleanly, but almost guaranteed if your use the lead hand to constantly track and ‘confirm’ the target.
 
Under massive instantaneous stress – read ‘combat’ for this – the brain has a very difficult time accepting too much input.  It needs simple gross-motor stuff only, to cope effectively.  Trying to simultaneously focus on multiple limbs, multiple targets, multiple angles and everything else associated with the various ‘standard’ combinations (not to mention various other factors such as a man trying to rip your nuts off!) is simply too much information – instant ‘log-jam’ or system ‘crash’ – whereas sticking to one tool, one limb, one target, one angle works fine, repeated until the situation doesn’t suit and you change to another one tool, limb, target etc that does.
 
Repeating one shot puts the power up too – alternating (termed ‘reverse’) combos create a pivot in the centre of the body and therefore create limited leverage, ‘repeat’ combos place the pivot where it needs to be for maximum power, on the opposite hip/shoulder – as far away as possible from the tool to generate the maximum leverage and acceleration.  Think of a door slamming shut, the hip is the hinge, the handle is the arm.  Move the hinge in the direction of whatever shot you’re employing, not just toward the enemy, to gain massively increased impact and more direct attack lines – but that’s another article…..
 
Using the ‘reverse’ combo does have its uses most certainly – when you need rapid instant firepower to regain the initiative – it is the equivalent of both teams reacting instantly to enemy ambush and counterattacking to clear the ‘killing zone’ before dropping into the ‘fire and manoeuvre’ type drills, see the similarities?  The immediate action to an ambush type attack is to lay down as much firepower as is possible, as quickly as is possible, to fight through and take control of the event, then confirm the target with one hand and apply the other with repeated maximum-power attacks, switching wherever necessary.  Until the job is done.
 
Remember though, even when (especially when) using a reverse combination, keep the brainwork to a minimum!  Stick to the same shot, punch, elbow – whatever – and simply alternate limbs.  For both the repeat and reverse combo, always keep combinations short, rapid bursts of 2-4 shots max, quickly assess targets, and go again! If you don’t do this you might find that, on auto-pilot, you’ll end up either hitting thin air or a very unforgiving elbow or wall, or worse!
 
From an interview type ‘contact’ the lead hand performs many functions – it is your reconnaissance patrol, perimeter guard, warning sentry, protective shield and much more.  The famous ‘fence’ is no new thing – only the term is – and it isn’t the preserve of the trained man either.  That finger pointing at your face, that gesturing distraction, that aggressive posturing – they are all subtle versions of the fence, whether employed consciously or otherwise.  And they will all reduce your first hit probability, not to mention successive attempts.  Therefore, train to defeat the ‘fence’ or it will do for your ‘enemy’ what you expect it to do for you!  Never underestimate the flinch reflex that your opponent will demonstrate when you attempt to pile in, deceptive dialogue may assist your accuracy – never try to hit a man who is ready for it – but utilising the lead hand to clear a path, confirm and control a target will seal the deal! 
 
Trapping and grabbing – simple momentary stuff only – will create gaps, prevent counters and defences, but most importantly will confirm the target for the other limb to repeatedly attack.  You don’t have to actually grab and hold, any contact, usually in the form of a forward pressure type ‘trap’ does the job just fine, and confirms the shot (so effectively that it’s illegal for this very reason in boxing, for example) even if it is not in the immediate vicinity of the target – it serves as a point of reference.
 
Without delving too deeply into ‘tool specifics’ all the above should be fairly straightforward.  Try it out on the pads, try obscuring one pad with the other held in front – to force the lead hand into action, to make the gap. Try obstructing the hitter with the free pad on his or her chest, make them work for the shot, force them to trap and control, to close in, locate and confirm, and to repeat-hit with the most suitable strikes. Repeat and assess, repeat and assess.  Above all, move back, move around – simulate the head flinch that ruins a clean shot, the erratic movement that begs the lead hand to confirm the shot – drift the target to and fro, side to side, up and down, hitting a head is hard work, make hitting a pad the same. 
 
Try it with and without the index using the lead hand, see for yourself how the accuracy improves, how the blows land heavier and heavier when you have that point of reference.  Switch sides, simulate the attacker covering up, make the hitter find another target and employ another tool. Every now and again push the hitter off and throw a volley of heavy shots with the pads, force them to cover up, just for a moment, then step back and feed a pad for a blitz style reverse combination – to program the hitter to break ambush at the first opportunity with the rapid firepower of the reverse combo, leading into more confirmed, indexed, repeat shots.  Always step back, make the hitter advance with every action, even while covered up, again, program the forward drive with everything.  Don’t ever call the shots; make the hitter assess properly what is best and what isn’t, according to range and angle.  Present the targets only when they should be hit – leave them up and you only encourage routine back and fro, work them intelligently, with relevance and realism, utilise visualisation always.  Targets move when hit, they react to impact, simulate this, make the hitter hunt the target; don’t bring it to the slaughter!
 
Try all this, with your most basic tools only, I absolutely guarantee you will be able to see the fight in it all, and actual relevance to the last real fight that you saw.  Just save the jab – cross – hook for the square ring!