I like to work the principles and concepts into "muscle memory" and have plan a, plan b, and plan c ....ie.... stay on your feet, if that fails, don't get mounted and so on.flintknapper wrote:
Ideally, you want some self defense skills that are committed to "muscle memory", but even this can get you into trouble. We do not teach "If he does A, you do B". We teach a variety of techniques that follow proven principles and concepts. This gives the student a number of "tools" to choose from and allows them to apply the skills as needed.
One thing is undeniable though, "If you never learn it, you can't use it".
I'd also say ALL skills are perishable, they don't dissapear overnight, they sort of fade. Maintaining them usually doesn't take a lot of time.