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Physiology of Survival
By Tony Blauer
www.tonyblauer.com
A Scientific View of the Blauer Tactical S.P.E.A.R
System
In
the field of Close Quarters Combat (CQC) instruction
there has long been a widespread lack of understanding
of the neurophysiological effects of fear and
adrenaline, and the so-called "fight or flight"
response. This has been and continues to be a
potentially lethal problem for anyone, whether civilian,
LEO or military operator who is faced with the threat of
real violence. I believe that an understanding of the
survival stresses encountered in a real-life, real-time
violent confrontation is of paramount importance for the
effective teaching of CQC skills. Why? Very simple. In
times of danger, in the ambush moment, in the shock and
surprise of a real world attack one simple law applies:
physiology rules.
Over the past twenty years, Tony Blauer, the owner and
CEO of Blauer Tactical Systems, has dissected the
realities of violence from virtually every conceivable
approach: psychological, emotional, and physical. As a
result, he has created what he calls the S.P.E.A.R.
system, which has been described as "the first
behaviorally-inspired method of self protection" ever
developed, or as he sometimes prefers to say
"behaviorally inspired - genetically wired." S.P.E.A.R.
is an acronym that stands for Spontaneous Protection
Enabling Accelerated Response, which is the ultimate aim
of the system - responding more readily and effectively
to the threat of violence. Modern research has
demonstrated that Tony Blauer's SPEAR System is based on
the FACTS of neurophysiology. It is built on our
hard-wired neurological responses to danger, and is thus
more easily taught and easily retained than other
systems of defensive tactics. Instead of relying on what
so many trainers like to refer to as muscle memory,
which, generally speaking, is a physiological mistake
under times of high stress, the SPEAR system utilizes
reflexive, instinctive movements to create a platform
from which to first react to and then respond to an
assault.
SPEAR System Fundamentals
Before delving into the actual physiology of the SPEAR
system, it is important to understand some of the
philosophical underpinnings of the entire TCMS approach
to training. Perhaps the easiest way to summarize the
approach developed by Tony Blauer is to use his words.
He once wrote, "Preparation and "theoretical totality"
in training requires complete integrity." What does this
mean? It simply means that scientists in the field of
human combatives must never be swayed by egos,
traditions, systems or styles into controlling
"experiments" in training. The pejorative ego typically
wants to create, design and implement training
strategies that make us look and feel good. However,
very rarely does this type of training prepare students
for reality.
The SPEAR system has its origins in this form of
integrity in training. Many years ago, Blauer often
worked what he refers to as a "sucker punch drill" with
his students. What he discovered was that when one of
his students tried to hit him from a "sucker
punch/ambush" setup, martial art techniques typically
failed 50% of the time - in the trained body and mind of
a professional martial artist. From the perspective of
self-defense, Blauer found this completely unacceptable.
Almost by accident, Blauer began to note that in
situations of real surprise, when a student would
unleash a truly well-disguised sucker punch, this would
always create a flinch response. As he began to analyze
this phenomenon in greater depth, Blauer noted that
every time the flinch was created by the sucker punch,
the attack was never landed cleanly. After considerable
exploration of this theme, further drills and
refinements, Blauer was able to condense thousands of
hours of this research into two simple, but vitally
important, truths:
-
A stimulus introduced too quickly will by-pass the
cognitive, muscle-memory systems in the brain and
create a flinch response.
-
The flinch is a physiologic response that is highly
reliable and functions as an effective protective
mechanism.
As
he states, "The startle/flinch response appears to be a
sudden "reaction" to danger or surprise, but is really a
sound, predictable and reliable process. Our built-in
survival reflexes are actually much more reliable than
our theoretical, cognitive muscle-memory programs!
Therefore, the most responsible, reliable and retainable
protective system would embrace and integrate these
facts. This process is the foundation and inspiration
for the SPEAR system."
Based on this understanding, Blauer began the systematic
dissection of the use of the flinch as a responsive
platform. Countless "live" experiments were conducted.
Hundreds of real fights were examined and
microscopically scrutinized and the system was and
continues to be refined. In my opinion then, the SPEAR
system is the result of what I would call "pure"
scientific inquiry. The basics of real science are quite
simple: propose a question, propose an answer, test the
answer to see if it is correct, evaluate the results,
refine the question and begin again. Tony Blauer has
spent over 20 years following this very strategy. As a
result, he has created, in the SPEAR system, a process
that is not only backed up by recent neurophysiological
research, but in fact DESCRIBES THE OUTCOMES of this
research. It is a system that is at least a generation
ahead of its time and it may very well be the most
important development in CQC training for the
foreseeable future because it is built on the premise
and understanding that physiology is the controlling
agent in an ambush moment.
The "Fight or Flight" Fallacy
The SPEAR system evolved out of countless drills,
physical experiments, and ongoing research (often of the
dashboard cam variety) and is solely focused on
surviving the "ambush" attack on the street. From both a
philosophical and a pragmatic perspective, we are only
truly in danger in an "out-of-control" moment, which is
simply another way of saying when we are ambushed. From
a purely physical perspective, the ambush moment
initiates a lightning-fast, whole body response that is
coordinated by a small portion of the brain known as the
amygdala. What is vital to understand here is that the
fear and desperation created by a sudden attack causes
first what I like to term the "flinch or freeze"
response which is then FOLLOWED by the well-known
"flight or fight" response.
Numerous effects have been noted, seen, and
experientially and experimentally proven to occur during
times of high stress/combat. The very real possibility
of any fight in today's society quickly turning lethal
places personal combat in the highest category of
potential stressors. Just a few of the effects of high
adrenaline on the body are:
·
Tunnel vision
·
Increased heart rate
·
Increased cardiac output
·
Increase in blood flow to skeletal muscles
·
Pupillary dilation
·
Auditory exclusion
·
Tachypsychia
·
Precognition
·
State of fugue
·
Amaurosis fugax
All of these potential effects of high stress
environments and the engagement of the adrenal stress
response in the body have only one goal: survival. No
less an authority than Massad Ayoob advises his students
to remember that the "fight or flight" response
manifests itself in effects such as a period of extreme
strength, an increase in speed, a gross decrease in fine
motor abilities as well as an increased ability to
ignore pain. In other words, strength goes way up and
dexterity/coordination goes way down.
However, what is vital to understand is that all of
these responses which are built into the "fight or
flight" system of the body are only a part of the story.
In fact, what very few people have realized in the
development of the CQC field, is that this response is
in fact a SECONDARY response of the body to an immediate
threat and occurs SECONDARY to the incredibly fast
response of the amygdala. For developing a training
methodology that most efficiently enhances real-world
survival, understanding this distinction is vital:
amygdalic reaction, first - fight or flight response,
second.
Neurophysiological Evidence
Based on the above perspective,
there are two vital areas of neurophysiology that must
be understood in relation to CQC training:
-
Physiological survival mechanisms hard-wired in the
nervous system of the body will by-pass any learned
defensive system that is based on the ability to
access cognitively-based and developed responses to
danger if the threat is introduced too quickly.
-
hile the flinch response can never (and should never)
be removed from an organism except via radical surgery
or brain damage, the system can be trained to convert
the flinch into a dynamic tactical response platform.
As
stated above, the most important area of the brain that
we must consider in a study of human response to fear or
the threat of violence is the amygdala. The amygdala is
a bilateral, almond-shaped area of the brain. In early
neurophysiological studies, the amygdala was considered
to be part of the "limbic system" of the brain: a region
that was described as the old, instinctual portion of
the brain that was primarily given over to threat
response. Generally speaking however, many modern
researchers now believe that most of the processing of
fear and its subsequent effects on the body are related
to primarily to the amygdala alone and one of its many
nuclei.
The amygdala is home to the many behavioral aspects of
fear. Animals that have been experimentally examined
after surgery to remove the amygdala usually display
absolutely no organic fear. What is fascinating about
this process is that buried in the reflexes of the
amygdala are intuitive and instinctual reactions to
potential threats. For example, a normal laboratory-born
and raised mouse will have all of the normal fear
reactions occur upon exposure to a cat for the first
time: without having ever seen, smelled or encountered
one. However, after amygdala removal, the mouse will
cuddle up to the same cat without a hint of fear
behavior. By the same token, human subjects, when shown
photos of different "unfriendly" facial expressions,
show an increased amygdalic response. Hence, we know
that the amygdala contains, instinctive and intuitive
fears, but also that it can learn.
One vital piece of the amygdalic puzzle that must be
understood is that the central nuclei of this region
receives INPUT from every sensory system of the body.
Thus the amygdala can create responses to danger signals
represented in the visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile
or gustatory systems. In other words, the amygdala can
instantly respond to any sensory input into the body
that indicates danger, regardless of the source. You may
be sitting at your desk and suddenly flinch at the sound
of breaking glass behind you. You may jump up and begin
looking for the source of smoke that is tickling your
nostrils. You may flinch and cover your head at the
sight of a bottle flying toward you in the air just from
a hint of movement caught in your peripheral vision. All
of these activities begin with the amygdala.
Even more vital to understand than the sensory INPUT
into the amydala is its OUTPUT. This vital nuclei
connects directly into the brainstem of the body where
all of our instinctual responses and reflexive responses
to danger are stored. One of the easiest ways to
visualize this is to think of what is known as the
flexor withdrawal reflex. If you touch a hot stove, your
body doesn't waste time telling the conscious portion of
your brain that the stove is hot and that you should
remove your hand before it gets badly burned. Generally,
when you touch something very hot, your body's sensory
system feeds this information into the brainstem and
your hand and arm move away from the danger quickly: in
fact, extremely quickly. It is not until afterwards that
your "thinking" brain, the cognitive portion of the
cerebrum, catches on to what just happened. This is a
beautifully designed protective mechanism of the body
that does not require conscious thought. In fact, modern
researchers believe that many of the amygdalic responses
to danger do not involve the cerebrum, the
cognitive/thinking portion of the brain) at all. The
reflexes bypass our learned behaviors and, with
apologies to Nike, just do it. As one neurophysiologist
writes:
"Stimuli goes via the thalamic pathways (medial
geniculate) to the amygdala (lateral nucleus, central
nucleus). At the same time the information is sent to
the cortex which tries to identify the situation
Ôconsciously'. By the time the cortex has figured out
the situation, the amygdala has already started to
defend against possible dangers. The information
received by the amygdala from the thalamus is unfiltered
and biased toward action. In contrast, the cortex's job
is to prevent an inappropriate response rather than an
appropriate one."
Or, as Joseph LeDoux, the pre-eminent researcher of fear
and the amygdala so eloquently states,
"In simple terms, there's an emotional computer in your
brain called the amygdala. It rests quietly until it
perceives a threat. When the amygdala determines that
danger is present, it shifts into high gear, marshaling
the resources of the brain in an effort to protect you
and yours from harm. This system was designed by
evolution to detect and respond to predators and other
kinds of natural dangers that threaten survival or
territory, and it governs both innate and learned
fearsÉThe key to the amygdala is its neural wiring. It
receives nerves that carry messages from all the senses:
sight, hearing, smell, touch. If there's danger lurking
in the messages carried by any of these, the amygdala is
activated, and quick as a flash nerves coming out of it
send messages to bodily organs that respond in ways to
keep you safe. The amygdala works automatically, without
"you" having to get involved in the act... Part of the
reason for this is found in the nature of the
connections between the amygdala and the cerebral
cortex, where our thoughts, hopes, and plans occur, and
through which we exercise control over our emotions (to
the extent we can). It turns out that the amygdala is in
a much better position to influence the cortex than the
other way around."
As
mentioned above, one aspect of the amygdalic response to
threat that is vitally important, is that it can learn.
Numerous experiments have shown that while it is
virtually impossible without radical brain surgery to
completely eliminate the instinctive "flinch" response
to danger, it is possible, through training, to modify
the flinch response. A good example of this can be seen
in the explosive entry tactics used by SWAT teams, etc.
Consistent training of teams is necessary to prevent
"flinch and freeze" responses to the noise generated by
explosives and other door-breaching equipment. This
fact, that while the flinch response can never be
eliminated but that it can be modified, is the very
basis of the SPEAR system. Blauer refers to this concept
as "converting the flinch into a tactical movement."
The real beauty of the Blauer SPEAR System is that its
tools, tactics, strategies and training methods both
address and capitalize on this amazing genetic system.
The system is based on the "flinch response". It
acknowledges that the body will react without the
benefit of our conscious brain where we store all of our
typical "martial art" techniques and combatives
training. This dichotomy is of paramount importance in
understanding the SPEAR system as well as some of the
dangers inherent in traditional combatives training.
What is most impressive to me personally is that Tony
Blauer was able to develop this system from scratch,
without the benefit of this recent research. The
intuitive understanding of the human body and its
functioning inherent in the SPEAR system is a testimony
to Blauer's extreme perceptiveness, creativity and
intelligence.
Physical Platform of the SPEAR
Through observation, Blauer has determined that there
are three basic and distinctive "flinches" that are
present at times of danger:
· Push
away danger - This is easily visualized by imagining
the instinctive response to a car
suddenl slamming on its brakes directly in front of your
car.
· Head
Shield - When most people visualize a "flinch"
response, this is the motion that is typically imagined.
The hands, forearms, elbows come up to protect the face
and head, the shoulders rise, and head retracts.
· Shield
and Turn - This form of the flinch is associated
with a threat that is picked up with the peripheral
vision. This involves an arm, forearm and elbow shield
that is raised to the side of threat with a
circular/angular movement down and away from the line of
the threat. Again, this is easily visualized by thinking
about the movement induced at a baseball game when
someone yells "Watch out!" from beside you.
Each of these flinches carries with it certain movement
characteristics that are unique - a discussion of which
is beyond the scope of this article at this time.
However, they also all share some distinctive
similarities. The flinch response generally lowers and
widens the center of balance to increase mobility, the
arms are placed into defensive positions that cover
centerline (and vitally important) targets, the eyes
focus intently on the threat, the breath is exhaled
quickly which is a component of both absorbing shock
from an incoming blow and delivering a blow with power
and the fingers are webbed and spread for additional
coverage and protection.
Blauer has taken these three flinches, broken them down
into their component parts, and then determined the
manner in which each can be best converted into a
tactical movement based on his observations of their
similarities and differences. The SPEAR functions as a
synergistically developed movement that is extremely
fast and powerful.
Because the "flinch" response to the threat actually
initiates the movements and creates the SPEAR, it is
also important to understand that these three flinches
are hard-wired neural loops. Just as the automatic
response of your hand touching a hot stove (known as the
flexor withdrawal reflex) is an instinctual and
incredibly quick movement, so is the flinch response.
The output from the amygdala into the brainstem areas
that are in control of our reflexes creates massive
coordinated muscular contractions, postural shifts,
changes in eye focus and pupil dilation, etc. in
response to a threat. Furthermore, the physical motions
of the flinch require very little
modification/conversion to become extremely sound from a
tactical movement perspective.
In
short, the physical platform created by the three
flinches, while different, are inherently the same as
they begin in the amygdala, are then carried out by
reflex loops and are easily modified to increase
tactical superiority.
Conclusions:
Keeping the above background material in mind it is
possible to draw some definitive conclusions about the
SPEAR system and its applicability to the CQC needs of
anyone - civilian, law enforcement officer or soldier.
Ease of Assimilation - Because the SPEAR system is based
on, built around and trained via the reflexive movements
of the body, there are no "techniques" to memorize. As
discussed above it is imperative, for real world
survival, to have a system that is built upon a gross
motor/ reflexive toolbox. The cognitive dissonance and
amygdalic reactions that are virtually guaranteed in a
real world fight wreak havoc on the typical trained,
fine motor responses taught in most CQC systems. The
SPEAR is a completely intuitive system that once
embraced in theory, becomes readily available in the
physical arena.
Non-Perishablility - Because of the inherent stability
of the human nervous system and the hard-wired nature of
our reflexive responses, the SPEAR is extremely
non-perishable. In simple terms, babies flinch, kids
flinch, teens flinch, adults and elderly people flinch.
The instinctive reactions of the amygdala are hard-wired
from birth and thus the very physiological basis of the
SPEAR system makes it an incredibly efficient,
non-perishable system that can be readily accessed at
any time - despite a lack of consistent training. This
is one of the major aspects that differentiates the
SPEAR system from other CQC practices.
Universal Applicability - Blauer often refers to this
concept as the "power of one". Again, in accordance with
research, there is no need in the SPEAR system to
memorize, train and "develop muscle memory" for a large
variety of "techniques" to meet a threat. The SPEAR
system allows for the application of one tactic (meaning
the three-dimensional application of physical, mental
and emotional skills) to meet any threat. There is
tremendous value in this concept from a practical
teaching and training perspective as well as a pragmatic
tactical perspective. The SPEAR system allows a very
reasonable level of skill to be reached by virtually
anyone with normal physical reactions because it is not
based on athleticism, fine motor control or physical
conditioning. While all of these factors are, of course,
important, the SPEAR system allows for the natural
protective mechanisms and skills of each individual to
be accessed. Tactically speaking, research has proven
that as the number of available options increases, so
does reaction time. In other words, having one available
alternative, in a situation that requires the fastest
possible reaction time, is the best situation available
- as long as the available option is capable of meeting
the threat. It is in this realm that the SPEAR system
most uniquely shines in comparison to other training
methods available.
These three factors are the "founding fathers" of the
SPEAR System - speed of acquisition, ease of retention
and universal applicability. In his efforts to construct
a generic system of self-protection, Blauer was forced
to confront these three distinct challenges. The SPEAR
system is the result and is now proving itself by saving
lives all over the world.
Blauer was once asked by a student what he considered to
be the primary aspect of any fight. The clear, succinct
answer given was, "The result!" This passion for
teaching real world survival has been and continues to
be the sole motivation for the existence of TCMS. With
this concept as the consistent guiding principle of his
company, Blauer has constantly been challenged to
innovate, create and explore the most effective methods
available for self-protection. In the constantly
growing, evolving and improving SPEAR system, Blauer
seems to have found the answers.
A bout
the Author:
Dr. Eric Cobb is a chiropractic physician with a
lifelong interest in hard-core CQC training. With over
twenty years experience training and teaching a variety
of martial arts, he has traveled the country and world
training with different instructors in a wide variety of
arts. Dr. Cobb was initially drawn to Blauer Tactical
Systems as a skeptic, based on its claims to be a
scientific approach to CQC. After three years of
training and independent research into the SPEAR system,
he is now one of its chief advocates. He states, " I
believe that the Blauer SPEAR System goes a step beyond
the classic "fight or flight" response dictum and
utilizes the body's most basic reflexes as a platform
for training and response. This creates a faster, more
skilled, and SAFER operator in shorter time than many
would believe possible. It is revolutionary - and it is
based on good science."
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