Decoys are not unique to Silat. Many conventional fighting methods will use a feint, a fake punch that distracts an opponent from the real punch about to hit them. While Silat may occasionally use this kind of technique, Silat fighting is much more likely to use body position as a decoy rather than a punch. A Silat fighter will attempt to throw an opponent off by making them think an attack is coming from a different direction or appendage than the real attack. Consequently, a Silat will often use striking angles that would seem unusual for conventional fighting techniques.

If you use decoys well, your attacker will not know that they are about to be hit until it is to late, or ideally, until they have actually been hit. If your hit does not render your attacker unconscious, it should focus all of their attention on the spot where they have been hit until you strike them from another spot where they as little anticipated being hit as your first strike.

Silat uses upper/lower body art in the art of decoy. There is a lot that can be done with the body below the waist. You can use foot, leg, and knee techniques to kick, trip, trap, and otherwise attack your opponent. In one form of decoy, you can defend against a hand strike strike or strike your attacker yourself while you are stepping on and crushing your opponent’s foot. You can also use the lower body as the decoy and the upper body as the attack. If an opponent is advancing and you kick them, they can pitch forward enough to allow you to give them a devastating blow.

Another, simpler decoy is to simply stick out your hands. If your opponent takes the bait and attempts to strike your hands to disable you, you can hit your opponents hand with your elbow. If you use this technique well, it can break your opponent’s hand and end a fight very quickly.

Silat even uses the practice of stomping or personal body slapping to distract an opponent. This is where you stomp the ground or slap your body in order to attract the attention of an attacker to where the sound is coming from in order to allow you to attack them from a completely different direction. A good stomp or personal body slap can disorient even a skilled fighter for the time you need to attack.

Here’s a more advanced technique. You might try moving from one defensive position to another. However, as you moved, you could offer what looked like a weakness in your position. When your opponent went for the weakness, you would have him where you want him. In addition to knowing how to decoy properly, this skill requires an in depth knowledge of position, timing & movement so that you are ready for anything your opponent might do.

All of these kinds of decoy techniques require training to perform well, but once you understand them, in a street situation they can be very powerful.

Author Bio: Richard Clear has studied self defense for over 30 years both in China and America. He is a master practitioner of Kun Tao Silat and of Pentjak Silat. For more information or to read his blog, visit http://www.clearsilat.com

Category: Self Help
Keywords: Silat, Martial Arts, Decoys