Our senses, especially our sense of vision, possess the capability to identify risks and dangers and initiate subconscious reactions often before we can recognise or respond. Our eyes can collect up to a million bits of information around us a second and transfer important bits of information to our brains for processing and the initiation or reactions to the threat. A host of reactionary electrical and chemical functions can be activated before we know it to increase our safety.

This not only applies to CQC actions on encounters but also to accidents, deliberate threats, risks and dangers. I have experienced many such subconscious reactions over my lifetime under actions on situations and when hunting on difficult terrain etc.

One such recent incident of subconscious reaction combined with a trained hard targeting reactionary response really saved me from probable serious injury. I was riding my quad bike close to dusk out doing some hunting. I was riding at about 30 kmph off road and just passing through an open farm gate when I reacted by flinching, crouching, leaning backwards and raising an arm while keeping the other hand on one handlebar. I felt something contact with my raised hard cover guarding arm sliding from my forearm up to my wrist hand and over my head taking my googles off of my head. This all happened before I was consciously aware of what had been the cause.

I passed through the gateway, braked and looked back to see there was an electric wire stretched across the open gateway at my throat height. The farmer with stock grazing the property must have put it there to control stock. The flinch, crouch and leaning backward reaction was truly a subconscious reaction. However, the single arm hard cover guard I believe was a result of over forty years of high repetition practice muscle memory through CQC hard cover guarding.

My single arm hard cover guard on the highest level of my skull above my ear made the hot wire slide up my arm and over the crown of my head removing my googles that were on top of my head. If I had trained and developed muscle memory in a blocking technique the outcome could have been very different especially if the wire was blocked in a manner that would redirect it towards my throat or torso.

This outlines the importance of practiced skills having commonality with subconscious reactions.
After spending so many years instructing and practicing deliberate responsive tactics and skills to enhance safety and objective achievement for CQC on this occasion they prevented me from being garroted by a farm fencing hot wire not a garroted armed foe with bad intentions.