In the circles in which I circulate, I know of several people who are in the process of training for an upcoming competition, contest or event.  These include sport competitions, cage matches, SWAT team qualification courses, police academies and even martial arts belt ranking exams.

These people have a goal in mind and a program which is designed to build their attributes and skills to a high state for their own respective event. 

Unfortunately, you and I on the street don't have a schedule of our upcoming fights.  Our next fight could be at any time.  And, if your luck is anything like mine, it will be at the exact time and place that you are most unprepared for it.

We cannot get into the mind of the morons out there that we suddenly find in our path.  They want to take out their pain on us, commit their crime on us, or just screw with us.  Who knows why they do it.  But you have to be prepared for the confrontation, anytime, any where.

Here's some real-life examples:

•      You're at the movies with your wife and some obnoxious loudmouth behind you continues to talk throughout the movie.  You politely ask him to stop talking during the movie.  He stands up behind you, thrusts a finger in your face and spews "F*** YOU!"

•      You're at a family gathering at your new fiancée's home when a very fit, very drunk guy decides he doesn't like you and grabs your wrist and sneers, "what makes you think you're so tough?".

•      You're with some friends at a popular spot where guys gather to show off their cars and do some cruising.  Three guys you've never seen come up to you and one says, "THAT'S the guy!  That's him!  F*** him up Raymond!" 

•      You're at a house party and a guy you knew in high school walks up to you, gets in your face, steps on your foot and says, "nice shoes", then shoves you backwards.

•      You are at a bar with your girlfriend.  Two knuckleheads sitting two stools down keep looking at you, then they turn around and start laughing.  You look at them hard.  They look back, stand up with their chests out and say to you, "Hey, your girlfriend has nice a nice a**."

•     You are at a club talking to some people when you notice a guy staring at you.  He walks over to you and demands, "What the f*** are you lookin' at?"

Your next fight will usually start in a social or public situation. 

Your next fight may have little or nothing to do with what you are actually doing at the time.

You won't be able to choose the nature of the confrontation, in fact, the nature of it will probably be initially baffling.

You may not have an option of not fighting, the fight may follow you even if you walk away.

You next fight may happen regardless of what you say.

Your next fight will most likely be when you least expect it.

Even if you have not been in a physical altercation since the fourth grade, your next fight could literally be tonight.  It could be tomorrow morning as you are driving to work.  It could be this weekend in the parking lot of the home improvement center (don't think it can't be, I've seen it).

That's the reality.  So what are you doing right now to prepare for your next fight? 

1.  Are you practicing?  Come on, I mean are you practicing your skill consistently?  Once a quarter?  Preferably you are practicing some sort of H2H, CQC, and firearms skills at least once a month.  Better still, once a week.  Optimally, you are practicing at least three times a week. 

2.  

     Are you training physically?  Do you run, skip rope, shadow box, swim, bike, lift weights, or hit the heavy bag at least once a week? Better yet, do you train fast and hard three times a week?  Do you stretch two to three times a week?   I know it's a savage schedule, but professional trainers are now saying you need to train six days a week in a variety of strength building and explosive movement exercises for 60 minutes to reach the elite athlete level.  A former Navy SEAL once told me that after experiencing all the benefits and advantages of being at the elite athlete level, he could never let himself get out of shape.

3.  

    Finally...are you sparring?  Don't give me all the excuses about your back, your schedule, or your need to get in shape first.  You must engage in non-choreographed sparring with a non-compliant opponent.  To develop the attributes you need in combat, you need to apply your skills in a realistic environment.  Can you imagine any athlete who must face another individual (or a group of individuals) in their sport, but never scrimmages or plays against someone?

Don't misinterpret this to mean you have to go toe-to-toe with some hard core cage fighter.  You can literally spar at 50% effort and get tremendous benefits.   Use protective equipment to keep injuries down.  Get a partner that will work at your level.  Check your ego at the door and don't worry so much about "winning".  Just get your flight time in with "real" fighting against someone who is moving and trying to hit back or submit you. For your firearms training, sparring means shooting under stressful and realistic conditions.  Shoot in some competitions.  Shoot in a league.  Shoot for time.  Shoot after you run or do push ups.   Shoot from behind a barrier.  Shoot from rollover prone, on your back and while kneeling.

To be honest, doing anything is better than sitting around promising that you will start training and practicing next week.  And surfing the Internet chat boards or reading Black Belt magazines don't really count.  You need to get out there and move.

A good way to stay on track is to enroll in a school or club that has regular classes.  You will be able to work with a variety of body types and ability levels.  You'll be gaining access to a body of knowledge and experiences that are outside of your own.  If the club or school isn't exactly working for you, find a new one.  There's no magic "right" program, style or curriculum.

In my experience, I've found that a formal "school" or club is far superior to just getting together with some like- minded friends.   I've done both and the informal group of guys seems to degenerate into too much talking, not enough training, and not enough commitment to keep the training going.  The more formal setting of a school or club means that someone is in charge and is committed to running classes regularly and there seems to be a commitment by other paying students to keep showing up for classes. 

The guys I mentioned at the start of this article that are currently training for an upcoming event have the luxury of knowing the date and time of their next "fight".  You and I don't.  Train hard now, for your next fight could be tomorrow.

 Brad Parker is executive director of Defend University (www.defendu.com) a research and development group in Phoenix, New York and Ireland dedicated to the exploration of leading edge techniques and strategies for self-defense, security and defensive tactics.