“All warfare is based on deception.
Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”
- The Art of War, Written by Sun Tzu,
Translated from Chinese by Lionel Giles (1910)
Have you ever heard been told you telegraphed your attack? Maybe it was a telltale rhythmic step before a kick or a shot, or a windup before a haymaker, or a “target lock” with your head and eyes. If you’ve been on the receiving end of these signals, you know that they often make it very easy to nullify or counter the incoming attack. These telegraphs are the opposite of deception in combat. With these behaviors, the attacker tells the defender exactly what they’re up to.
Without deception, combat would be decided almost exclusively by physical characteristics. The strongest, most athletic, best conditioned person would win, every time. Deception can be simple, a misdirection encouraging the opponent to defend in one place while you attack another. Or it can be a “long con” where an attack repeatedly appears ineffective throughout the match, only to have its true effectiveness unleashed when the opponent has been lulled into a false sense of security. Sun Tzu insists that more than just a little bit of deception is necessary for success in combat and presents 3 maxims that can be readily applied to grappling.
1) Whenever you are able advance your position, appear like you are unable to do so.
Our first maxim entails attacking in a way that doesn’t trigger the opponent’s defensive instincts. No matter the skill disparity, attacking the opponent head on always requires greater effort. If you do the opposite and attempt to circumvent their defenses, the smart opponent simply adjusts their defensive focus to your new position. Knowing this, you must deceive your opponent into thinking that you haven’t beaten their defensive front, when in fact you have.
Consider the deceptive grappler and the guileless grappler, both in position to pass their opponent’s guard. They’ve closed the distance, and both are fighting for an underhook to secure upper body control. The guileless grappler punches his or her arm through, secures a grip on the shoulder, and makes chest to chest connection, then, with the upper body controlled, returns his or her focus to completing the necessary leg pummeling to complete the pass. But now the defender knows exactly where and how to fight the guileless grappler and, though at a disadvantage, the defender puts up a very strong fight at the lower body, and perhaps even resets the position.
On the contrary, the deceptive grappler maneuvers such that the underhook is available to him or her, but instead of securing it fully, wedges a hand between the opponent’s rib cage and elbow. This secures a sufficient grip and keeps the door open for the underhook but doesn’t trigger the opponent’s threat warning as strongly. Like the guileless grappler, the deceptive grappler now shifts his or her attention back to winning the lower body position, but the defender, not realizing how easily the underhook can be secured, doesn’t fight as desperately for the legs. Once the deceptive grappler wins the dominant lower body orientation, he or she can quickly and easily lock in the pass by taking the hand that was waiting at the ready and punching the underhook deep.
The guileless grappler punched the underhook through as soon as it was available and set off alarm bells in the defender’s head, increasing the intensity of their defense. But, because of the sequencing of the deceptive grappler’s attack, the defender realized too late that they had already lost the upper body and had to abandon the preferred strategy, retain guard, and adopt the less preferred strategy, attempt to escape the passed position.
2) Whenever you are alert to your opponent’s threats, appear like you don’t see what they’re doing.
Grappling success is often a consequence of good timing. And good timing depends in part upon good positioning. The wise defender understands his or her inherent vulnerabilities, such as the parts of the body that are easily damaged and exploited for submission, and the grips that allow an opponent to pin or to control evasive rotation. The wise defender knows how to position his or her body like a shell that limits the opponent’s access to these vulnerabilities.
But a defensive shell is not enough on its own. Human bodies are directional in their orientation: eyes front, arms and legs front, power zone front. If the attacker moves beside or behind the defensive shell, the effectiveness of the position diminishes.
Consider the open guard, seated or supine. When disengaged from the attacker, the basic defensive skill entails tracking the attacker’s movement with feet, hands, and head. Effectively tracking the attacker’s movement isn’t a bad choice, but it can easily lead to telegraphing. If the guileless grappler tracks too closely, the skilled attacker can sort-of hypnotize him or her by facilitating a predictable movement pattern that can be exploited.
By contrast, the deceptive grappler gives the outward appearance of inactivity. But inwardly, his or her observational capacities are hyper-active, watching how the attacker moves, looking for clues to intentions and preferences, giving away no signals to help the attacker decide where to attack. The mind, rather than the body, of the deceptive grappler tracks the attacker, and he or she waits for the attacker to enter into range before allowing any bodily movement. Thus, the deceptive grappler aims to execute a well-timed reversal of the attacker-defender roles.
For the deceptive grappler, the game of wise defense becomes one of adjusting to the approach of the attacker without appearing to. The deceptive grappler cultivates a mental activity that does not show through to his or her body. Nervous movement in the body of the guileless grappler will betray their awareness of the attacker’s intentions. But the deceptive grappler’s mind can observe the attacker’s approach, orient to it, and decide how to act, without his or her body ever showing what is happening behind the eyes.
The eyes of the deceptive grappler are deep, still pools that do not reflect intentions.
3) Position yourself such that your range is not what it appears to be.
Relative distance between attacker and defender is one of the most critical determinants of what attacks are available. The naive grappler thinks of all grappling attacks as existing within “close range”, and relative to kickboxing, this is true. But the wise grappler knows there are multiple ranges available, from disengaged-shot length to chest-to-chest, with numerous options in between.
Consider the use of the arms as frames. There are three primary variations: a straight arm frame, a forearm frame with the elbow pointed up, and a forearm frame with the elbow pointed down. The wise grappler knows what frames are available at what range and where to brace them against the opponent. The deceptive grappler goes one step further and disguises one type of frame as another.
Consider the palm/wrist orientation of the straight arm frame. The structure of the straight arm frame will be strongest with the palm facing the opponent, the fingers eternally rotated, and the thumb pointed up. But it still functions sufficiently well with the fingers internally rotated and the thumb down, and it can even be used with the wrist flexed and the back of the hand pressed against the attacker. The naïve grappler may worry that this orientation is bound to end in a wrist lock, and against a skilled opponent there is some risk in this orientation. But remember, one of the major functions of the frame is to control the range of the opponent, just because the attacker wants to close the distance and trap the elbow for the wristlock doesn’t mean the wise grappler has to let them.
There are two reasons that the deceptive grappler might choose to take on the risk of this position. The obvious reason is that minor variations in the orientation of a frame allow for minor variations in distance. A skilled grappler can use these minor distance variations to disrupt the timing of the opponent.
More subtly, the flexed wrist version of the straight arm frame can be collapsed on purpose when employed by the deceptive grappler. Whereas the palm-out-externally-rotated frame can’t be easily repositioned once it is bearing the load of the attacker, the flexed wrist version simply requires a bending of the elbow and a rolling of the wrist. This frame can be used to switch from a long range to a much shorter range before the opponent has time to react.
The deceptive grappler allows the opponent to apply pressure, loading their weight onto his or her frame. Then the deceptive grappler changes the orientation of the frame in an unexpected way, resulting in a “floating moment” for the attacker. While the attacker is busy catching their fall, they won’t be as quick to respond to the deceptive grappler’s change of range.
The deceptive grappler is not fancy, or flashy, or convoluted in his or her strategies, and deceptive grappling strategies should not be developed before solidly grasping the basics. In fact, deceptive techniques are not novel techniques, simply novel ways of employing the techniques you already know.
Take your basics and think, how can I use them to advance my position as far as possible before solidly securing my attack? How can I maintain defensive orientation towards my opponent without showing that I know what he’s doing? How can I maintain my range such that I’m never quite where my opponent thinks I am? Answer these questions and you’ll be well on your way to seeing why Sun Tzu values deception so highly.
Success,
Charles Batey