This winter’s Shinergy[battle] made me think about the role of the individual defensive system we practice in training and how each of them has its place in combat. Although definitions on the subject may (and surely will) vary, a defensive system , for me, is pretty much everything that keeps you from being (severely) hurt/damaged by an attack. So, without further ado, let’s take a quick look at each of those systems: Evasion and soft blocking : From my point of view, it’s always best to simply not be where the opponent strikes or kicks. Now that might seem like a no-brainer at first, but actually, most intelligent fighting systems make quite a lot of fuzz on that matter. Now on the one hand, you have western boxing, where a basic bob and weave is amongst the first things you learn. On the other hand, consider Wing Tsun (or early forms of JKD, for that matter), where most if not all blocks aim at redirecting the attackers force and ultimately using it against him. I won’t bother ela...