The Dynamic Combat Shield Concept

The Dynamic Combat Shield was featured in the October 2002 issue of Black Belt magazine, in an article written by Richard Ryan. The shield was developed by Ryan in the 1980‘s as a way to protect your most important abilities in a sudden, close-range self-defense situation: your ability to see, breathe, and think, which all happen to be right around the area that the shield protects most.

The shield may look like the Muhammad Ali “rope-a-dope” but there are subtle differences. These differences many people often criticize the shield for but it is only their ignorance of the application and use of the shield becoming vocalized. A group of MMA fighters I was in a discussion with several years ago argued that your’re vulnerable for body shots and leg kicks and sweeps, and are vulnerable to knives and baseball bats, arguing that a blade would pass between the arms of the shield, and a bat would shatter the arms. Another complaint was that it would not be effective when defending barehanded strikes, only if an opponent were wearing boxing gloves, otherwise the fist would pass between the forearms. One complaint was also that, John, the man in the picture to the left was supposedly off balance and had too much weight coming forward. Another criticism was it’s seemingly defensive nature. It was argued that should you successfully defend a barrage of strikes an attacker would simply overwhelm you and eventually bash through your arms.

As you can see there have been many criticisms of the shield. Some are valid observations, and others are pure nonsense. All of these criticisms, however, suffer from one thing: lack of knowledge of how to utilize the shield properly and I will address each and every one of them. One method of learning is knowing how not to do a particlar technique and by explaining it in this manner I hope to clarify some common misunderstandings. But first I want to explain the proper use and mechanics of the shield.

As stated above, the shield is utilized when faced with a fast, close-range assault. You are to counter attack A.S.A.P. and not allow the attacker time to go around the shield or find some other means of hurting you. This cannot be stressed enough. If you are unable to strike back for whatever reason, while still in the shield position, use other defensive skills, such as ducking, slipping, evasive footwork, etc., in order to get the time and distance needed to counter attack. But ideally, you’d like to try to counter immediately after the attacker’s first attack and, as I said before, not allow him to even begin to overwhelm you.

Second, you must position your body so that it can absorb force. The shield is not a block or a parry (when you first start out, though there are one-arm shielding tactics that allow you to deflect attacks at more advanced levels) and so you should focus on staying compact and close off any holes. You must lean your spine forward with a brace leg behind you to absorb the impact. The energy hits your arms, travels down your spine, down your brace leg, and into the ground when done properly. You must fight to keep your spine forward; do not allow your spine to be knocked backwards, or you will lose all power from your lower body to drive and throw a powerful counter-attack and absorb any energy from an attack. See the picture to the left.

The positioning of the arms is equally important. You DO NOT want your arms in this position. The arms create a V and the energy of the strike will travel right through the pivot point created by the angle of your forearms and upper arms. See the picture below on the left. [1]











The correct way to shield is to position your arms in such a way that eliminates that pivot point and that is to angle your upper arms so that they are pointing towards the oncoming attack. In the case of a straight on attack, you make sure that your upper arms are horizontal with respect to the ground. See the picture above and to the right. Compare the two and see the difference. It is subtle, but it makes all the difference in the world. You also want to keep your head close to your arms; do not lean your head back as that creates openings for circular attacks.

If an attack happens to come from the side you shift the arm back to cover the side of your head as seen to the left.

The shield can be used for a variety of attacks. From kicks, punches, elbow strikes, finger jabs, grappling, and even weapons, such as knives, which I will get to when discussing the criticisms of the shield.

Regarding the stopping of a takedown attempt, the shield works because in order to get a good takedown a grappler must get body to body contact with you. By using the shield like a wedge between you and him, it temporality keeps him off of you, but as I’ve said again and again, you must immediately attack the attacker because it will not keep him off forever. It will buy you enough time to stop the takedown attempt and counter-attack as seen in the picture to the right. The same body mechanics apply with a grappling attack as with a punching attack. The only difference is you are slamming into a person who is coming in on you low, so your hands will not be quite as high as with the shield as done against a punching attack to the head.

I hope I’ve explained how to properly use the shield and its mechanics. Now I will tackle the above criticisms.

First of all, it can be very difficult to judge a technique that is by its very nature fluid and (no pun intended) dynamic in its application when you’re only looking at still photographs. By the way, the same pictures I’ve reproduced here were featured in the Black Belt article I mentioned in the beginning and are the pictures that were being criticized.

Criticism # 1: The shield makes one vulnerable to body shots and lower body attacks, such as kicks and sweeps.

Reply: While shielding, one must remain alert and watch the opponent through one’s forearms, looking for the first opportunity to counter attack. Also, one should not stay in the shield position for too long, but counter attack the second you spot an opening in between your adversary’s punches. Or move at an angle in order to counter attack so as to avoid becoming a human punching bag.

Regarding the claim that one is vulnerable to lower body attacks, this is clearly false since your vision is not closed off but there is a gap between your bicep/tricep area where you can see the ground and any lower level attack that might be headed towards your body. In this case you crunch your body towards whatever direction the strike is coming and drop your elbow down to block it. If a strike comes up from underneath, as with an uppercut, you close off that gap when you see that occurring by pressing your arms together. In the picture below, John demonstrates this, as he angles his arms slightly downward to block the uppercut that is thrown in the third picture. Also, because the goal is to immediately counter attack, you do not want to give the opponent the time to figure out how to go around the shield. The best defense against this is a powerful offense once you’ve protected yourself against the initial onslaught.



In addition, there is also what is called the full body shield in which you momentarily lift one of your knees high and compress your body making it so your knee touches your elbows. This creates the full body shield and protects against a combination of kicks and punches to your lower body, midsection, and head, and you are also lifting your leg, keeping your lead leg from being swept, should an opponent try to take your leg out from under you. Another option is the typical leg block that is done in Muay Thai kickboxing where one defends a lead leg kick by lifting one’s leg and causing the attacking leg to hit your shin. The awareness you develop while in the shield should enable you to continue to see what your opponent is trying to do and respond accordingly.

There is also an emphasis in Dynamic Combat to protect those three vital things I mentioned at the beginning of this piece. They are the ability to see, breathe, and think. If an opponent effectively pokes us in the eyes we lose much of our ability to defend ourselves. If you are punched in the head repeatedly your brain’s signals to your limbs get scrambled and your brain is getting slammed back in forth inside your skull as you are getting hit, causing disorientation, black out, etc. We must remain clear-headed and be able to see, think, and breathe in order to effectively defend ourself. On the contrary, the best ways to end a fight are by those very means. But to my point. Body shots will not cause as much harm as a good punch to the head, however, a rearing back, Mike Tyson bulldozer type of body punch should be blocked (with the elbows preferably) since that can do damage.

Criticism # 2: The shield is vulnerable to knives and baseball bats.

Reply: The person who made this statement is completely ignorant. As for knife attacks, the shield should only be used as a last resort. Parrying methods, etc. are used at a distance if you have the time. But again, the shield was developed for close range assaults and someone taking a quick stab or slash at you will not be as easily blocked or parried (let alone grabbed) as many self-defense instructors advocate. Again, Dynamic Combat is a martial art that deals with the worst case scenario and with a knife that is someone in close range, rapidly thrusting in and out towards your stomach, trying to kill you. I doubt anyone would be able to successfully block or parry such attack at real speed. Even if you could, I wouldn’t want to bet my life on such techniques that have a high probability of failing when it matters most. Also, when in a violent situation your body will go into what is called fight or flight mode and most, if not all, of your finite motor skills will go out the window, making many of those blocks and parries even more unlikely. And this is where the shield comes in. You take the stab in a body part (your limbs) that will give you a better chance at surviving than being open and being stabbed in the stomach, and, just as with the shield in an unarmed attack (though this is even more vital when facing a knife) you immediately counter attack hard and fast, and with lethal force.

As for a blade passing between the arms, yes in the classical shield position that is possible, but I was taught to overlap my forearms against a knife making this unlikely. Even if you were unaware someone had a blade in their hand and you shielded the attack, your forearms would stop the person’s knife hand and the knife (depending on the length) would not even touch your body. It’s doubtful an attacker would be trying to stab you with a very long blade anyway. They are not easy to conceal in the hand and thus (assuming you’re aware as you should be in a confrontation) you should notice that the attacker is palming something in some manner, and take appropriate action before the attack even begins.

As for a baseball bat the shield isn’t even used. The typical get in or get out method is taught. Cover your head just in case as you quickly move into the attacker as the swing passes by, trap the weapon arm and hit, hit, hit. Or move out of striking range if you don’t have time to move in and repeat the first step.

It’s people like this (people who say things like this) that truly make me shake my head in disbelief. The guy hadn’t even seen a live demonstration of the shield, only still pictures, and he’s sitting there thinking of all the ways he could defeat, in essence, a statue! Anyone could do that! But, as I’ve shown, the shield is a fluid position and you immediately counter attack at the first opportunity.

Aside from all this explanation, the guy’s argument is completely ridiculous. No matter what position your arms are in, if you try to block a baseball bat of course your arms have a good chance of being broken! And with a knife, of course you are going to get cut or stabbed. But as I said, it’s a life or death struggle...would you rather not cover up against a knife assault and surely take a potentially fatal wound to the neck or abdomen? Personally, I’d rather take my changes with a stab to the outter limbs where I have a better chance of survival.

Criticism # 3: The shield will not work against a bare-fisted adversary. The opponent’s fist will go right between your forearms.

A shield, by it’s very nature, is not very effective if it has holes and so to utilize the shield most effectively, one must keep tight and compressed while in the shield. Do not over extend your arms, opening yourself up to an attack and keep your elbows pressed together, keeping the position tight and solid. Personally, I’ve practiced the shield many times using the small mixed-martial arts gloves that are only an inch thick so I know from experience the shield works. Now, no, my training partner was not completely bare-fisted, but the small amount of padding doesn’t make that much of a difference. It worked without large boxing gloves, unlike what the critics have naively said.

Criticism # 4: While performing the shield your body is leaning too far forward, potentially causing you to be pulled off balance.

How the person who made this remark could have said such a thing I am not sure. A reminder about balance I heard a long time ago was toe-knee-chin. As long as these three body parts are all in a straight line, you are in a good balanced position. If, say, your chin passes over your knee you are then out of balance. But look at John’s posture here to the left. Does he really look off balance? I even added a line I made sure was perfectly vertical. I even used a leveler to silence any critics! No, John is in perfect balance. As I said, all balance points are aligned, and his spine is forward necessarily in order to absorb the impact of an attack, as I explained earlier. This is not a “fighting position.” It is a fluid, constantly changing, defensive position for close range fighting and the goal is to stay there only as long as you have to in order to protect yourself and launch your counter-attack.

Criticism # 5: The shield is purely a defensive position and if an attacker reigns down a flurry of punches, you will be overwhelmed and be unable to counter attack.

I can understand this criticism since it seems like a valid concern, and it is. As I’ve tried to emphasize over and over, you must not just sit there and take punishment, you must attack, attack, attack! Some may not feel this can be done, but it can with proper training in using the shield. The key is to attack in between the opponent’s flurry of punches. The second or two (or even three seconds if your opponent is slow) between an attacker’s punches in plenty of time to launch a counter attack. People don’t seem to realize how long one second in a fight really is. In one second I can easily throw two punches...if I’m having a good day I’ve thrown as many as three (though most times I’d say it’s been closer to a second and a half).

As a case in point I was asked once about a fight that took place in UFC 47 between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. Tito used the shielding concept and survived most of Liddel’s punches, but he neglected the most important aspect of the shield: he did not hit back, and that caused him to lose the fight. Here is the video of the knockout.



While looking at the footage Tito had several opportunities to counter but didn’t. An excellent chance for him to counter out of the shield occurs at exactly ten seconds into the video. You see Tito still in the shield and Chuck wide open for a counter attack. Even a few seconds after that with Chuck rearing back for power shots, Tito had more than enough time to launch a counter attack, but didn’t. The shield did not fail; Tito failed to utilize it properly.



A good example of using the shield the right way is this clip from the Shield Defense System DVD that was produced several years ago. You will see an example of Richard using the diagonal shield [2] and immedicably coming back with a flurry of counter punches.



I’ve explained the basic concepts and mechanics of the shield and dispelled some myths and half truths that have come about due to the Black Belt article several years ago. Despite its very few weaknesses and those few detractors who are simply spouting off and have no intimate knowledge of how to properly use it, the shield is probably the best concept you can use to protect yourself against a sudden, close range attack.



1. Photo was taken from Reality-Based Personal Protection, by Jim Wagner, Black Belt Communications LLC, 2006; 107

2. There are different variations of the shield that are used for different reasons, but I didn’t get into that in this piece, though Richard goes into them all in the instructional DVD.