Lures are not exclusive to Silat. Many conventional fighting methods use a feint, a fake punch that distracts the opponent from the actual punch that is about to hit him. While Silat may occasionally use this type of technique, Silat fighting is much more likely to use body position as a lure rather than a punch. A Silat fighter will attempt to take down an opponent by making them believe that an attack is coming from a different direction or appendage than the actual attack. Consequently, a Silat will often use angles of attack that would seem unusual for conventional fighting techniques.
If you use lures right, your attacker won’t know he’s about to get hit until it’s too late, or ideally, until he’s actually been hit. If his strike does not knock his attacker unconscious, he must focus all of his attention on the place where he has been hit until he strikes from another place where he expected to be hit as little as his first strike.
Silat uses upper and lower body art in lure art. There is a lot that can be done with the body below the waist. He can use foot, leg and knee techniques to kick, trip, catch and attack his opponent. In a lure form, you can defend against an overhand strike or hit your attacker while stepping on and crushing your opponent’s foot. You can also use your lower body as a lure and your upper body as an attack. If an opponent is advancing and you kick them, they can dash forward enough to allow you to land a devastating blow.
Another simpler lure is to just stick your hands out. If his opponent takes the bait and tries to hit his hands to disable him, he can hit his opponent’s hand with his elbow. If you use this technique well, you can break your opponent’s hand and end a fight very quickly.
Silat even uses the practice of stomping or body slapping to distract an opponent. This is where you step on the ground or slam your body to draw an attacker’s attention to where the sound is coming from to allow you to attack from a completely different direction. A good stomp or personal slap can disorient even a skilled fighter for the time it takes him to attack.
Here is a more advanced technique. You can try to switch from one defensive position to another. However, as he progressed, he could offer what seemed to be a weakness in his position. When your opponent went for weakness, you would have it where you want it. In addition to knowing how to use the lure correctly, this skill requires a thorough understanding of position, timing, and movement so that you’re prepared for anything your opponent might do.
All of these types of lure techniques require training to work well, but once you understand them, in a street situation they can be very powerful.