A Ducal Re-post

Duke Sean recently posted his thoughts on "Aggressive" fighting on Facebook and I felt the need today to re-post it here. Passing along the insights of an individual who has had such great success in our sport is important to me, and I want those who haven't had the opportunity to read them yet to take the time to process his thoughts.



"I often hear people talking about how they need to become more ‘Aggressive’ in their fighting. I find that the use of this word comes with an indiscriminant component that I think does not create the proper focus in a fight. To me, being more aggressive means putting more lead down range. Aggressiveness in our fight involves throwing more blows with the hope that eventually you will get ahead of your opponent and wear them down with the shear ferocity of your fight.

When you fight with pure aggression you are trying to force your will into the fight. You are trying to make the fight go to certain targets, at a certain tempo and often to a pre-determined outcome. I find this type of fight to be mentally and physically exhausting. And with much less positive end results than one would hope for.

The Offensive Mindset is a razor-thin balance between Passive and Aggressive. It is a state of mind where you are comfortable enough to allow the fight to develop organically as it is intended to, without having the fight to happen *to* you. This is a mindset where you are more prepared to attack your opponent than you are simply to defend against their blows.

When you function with an offensive mindset you can allow targets to show up anywhere because you are not expecting targets to be at any particular location. Your body is in a position where you can throw any of your blows. You don’t worry about where a target will be because you know that a target has to present itself. And by allowing the possibility that those targets can come from anywhere, you are better able to respond to those targets as they develop.

The calm, comforted approach of the offensive mindset allows you to make better decisions about the blows that you are throwing because you are responding to what is actually happening in the fight. Rather than what you want to happen. Or what you wish would happen.

Martial combat between two free-thinking individuals is a very fluid process. You certainly can influence the flow of the fight. But, it is always easier to get your opponent to do what *they* want to do then it is to get them to do what *you* want them to do. With the offensive mindset you are always prepared to take advantage of the opportunities provided by your opponent. But, you are settled enough and calm enough to have the vision to see those opportunities.

Razor thin edge between passive and aggressive."