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Bobbing, weaving, ducking, and dodging are not exclusively defensive tactics, nor are shuffling, bouncing, skipping, or circling stepping movements. Employing a Morse code kind of code to describe the timing of delivery is extremely effective in mastering the deceptive delivery of any attack. Broken rhythm is unarguably the most difficult of the five approaches to master, but it is likewise the most effective way to bridge the gap. Most students learning to attack develop natural rhythms; most are metronomic, very consistent tempos. Consistent tempos provide the opponent a wonderful opportunity to find the half beats; that can become extremely annoying. Once one learns to become unpredictable, all kinds of openings and opportunities present themselves. This is the equivalent to being in Aikido's shikaku for a sport karate player. Traditional aikido ignores this approach because it is the antithesis of the connectedness sought in blending. Further discussion is beyond the scope of this article.
Combination Approach: This category is any combination of the preceding approaches.
All said and done, nothing is quite so gratifying, or effective, from an attacker's perspective, as to overwhelm and dominate one's opponent. That includes successfully projecting or immobilizing one's uke; remember, there is no difference between attack and defense! Any combination of the preceding approaches, in combination, represents the pool of opportunity encompassed by the Combination Approach. Traditional aikido ignores this approach except for the "collar grab with a strike" attacks and the kumi-jo, kumi-ken, and ken-tai-jo exercises. The reason is that without close supervision, exceptional control, and exceptional ukemi, the likelihood of injury is very great. That said it is not impossible, just dangerous. It is best to start slowly, as we do with basic weapons training. Practice free form one-steps at a slow enough speed and the chance of injury decreases dramatically. Gradually, the intensity of training can be increased, but be wary of accelerating too quickly. As with weapons training, mistakes are painful.
Conclusion
This has merely been a cursory explanation of angular attack theory with some very limited suggestions regarding training methodologies. Regardless of the martial discipline being analyzed, it has been this author's experience that the theory facilitates comprehension and accelerates learning.
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