Can you defend yourself?

[AngloDoom]

i still feel if i was Surrounded by 5 guys i would get my ass handed too me

As would anyone. I'm not sure that even the most well-trained and experienced martial artist could take down five sober determined men trying to take them to the ground and beat them. I'm pretty sure the moment there's more than two people who seriously want to hurt you than you're fucked no matter who you are.

OT:

I used to get into a lot of fights because of the places I lived, so I'd say that if I was drunk with a friend and we got into a fight I'm perhaps more likely to come out on top simply because I just tackle people to the floor, fit on them, and wail away. However, if anyone has even a smidge of experience in fighting on the ground, I'm fucked. If anyone has taken a martial art or martial sport for more than about a month, I'm fucked. If there's more than one person, I'm fucked.

Usually I just go for the quick jab to whatever looks painful, push over, then run like fuck. I don't want to hurt anyone, they want to hurt me, the solution is simple.

 

[Zeren]

I carry a firearm with me everywhere except where they are not allowed. That means that they would have to attack me in a bank, school, or other state or federal building.

 

[exessmirror]

im a supporter of guns and gun rights but i will never carry(transport) a firearm if it is not in a gunlock and empty(unloaded). so ill have to use my hands, seeing as im good in karate and am following a krav manga course i think i can handle 1 or 2 guys

 

[Arfonious]

I think that viloence is the worst kind of problem solving and almost any one surrounded by five guys is bound to get his ass handed to him

However I do believe that I stand a chance one on one

 

[Infernai]

If i was allowed to bring in a sword (Or, in my case, solid wooden sword) then i have a feeling i could probably cave in some skulls rather easily given i've actually managed to get a bit of training in with how to fight with swords.
No, havn't used a real sword (Those are KIND of hard to come across these days due to being just a TAD illegal, especially in Australia where even having a butter knife makes most people nervous) but given i've fought with wooden replica's that are solid enough to knock out a grown man i think that has to count for something. For perspective, with both of us using a one of those prior mentioned wooden swords i was able to go toe to toe with someone i know who has been trained in how to fight from an Ex-Soldier and is himself trying to get into the military, as well as being responsible for utterly dominating me in . Admittedly, he didn't have any training to fight with any weapons like swords so i think i naturally had an advantage but...I'm a nerdy and lanky as hell pseudo-pacifist who's barely been in any fights throughout his life. To me this is the equivalent of a Martial artist rookie managing to fight evenly with Bruce Lee. Yeah, i don't fight much..

In Hand to Hand combat though? Aside from dodging, well...i'd probably get my ass kicked into next Tuesday due to lacking physical strength and any formal martial arts training.

Or, In D&D terms: Damnit man I'm a Rogue, Not a Fighter!

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I have only lost one fight in my entire life and that was to a marine. I showed him mercy when I got him in a headlock... he did not.

I am a skinny, 145lb, boyish looking guy. People have laughed and said they can bench press me. I think this works to my advantage. People underestimate my ability to fight and as long as my first few hits are good I tend to win.

I do need to practice with first fights more, I usually grapple.

 

[dogenzakaminion]

I've been training TaeKwonDo my whole life, so i could hold my own against one or two, but in general the mentality is to avoid a fight at pretty much all costs. Against 5 guys, fuck that shit, they can have my wallet and cellphone, not gonna risk life and limb for that. If someone is getting attacked and i can help...that's more complicated. Hopefully taking down one or two will prove so intimidating that the rest will back off.

 

[talker]

i used to get bullied at school and sometimes when they really were pissing me off i would go berserk. three people my size? no problem

 

[DugMachine]

Five guys? Not a chance, you just RUN.

1v1? Idk, I took boxing classes but I've never really fought before and dislike confrontation all together so probably lose.

Not to be that guy but if 5 guys are about to jump me they should be worried about what's strapped to my waist more than I should be running. Not that I wouldn't run but if I was blocked off they'd be staring down the barrel of my handgun.

 

[KageFenikkusu]

i am not the person to fight, nor am i physically capable of winning a fight against anyone bigger than me(i am borderline anorexic) but give me a gun of any kind and i could take out a moving target from about 200 meters easily (been shooting at ranges since i was 6, now 19 and i have excellent aim)

 

[MidnightSt]

Not sure, sometimes (and some people) I feel I could take down with the right frame of mind, maybe even 2 or 3 guys, sometimes I doubt I could handle even one.

I'm not the type for fights, not by nature, not by body-type, but the one time I tried to beat up a guy (and failed), I learned that it very much boils down to the fear of really hurting someone.

In said "fight", I had a real chance to take him down with one hit - he was standing against a wall and if I hit him in the neck, it would be pretty crushing I think, but at the last second, while I was going for the hit, I realized it could hurt him really bad and went for the stomach instead, which did nothing.

That's the point where I realized that most people, even in serious fight, are kind of afraid to hurt their opponent, which is what holds them back. When I theorize a fight, I think that if I was able to let go of this fear (as well as fear of getting hurt), I could do quite a damage even with my brittle build, just hurling my whole bodyweight to people and using it to smash them into obstacles, etc... It seems to me it would give me double advantage - it results in a pretty unconventional "kamikaze" style which most people are probably not really prepared to counter, and it might give one the surprise/shock advantage because of how utterly stupidly aggresive it would be/look like.

That said, I never had a chance to try it out in practice, and I hope I never do (though there is that part that would like to know if I'm at least partially right or I just like to think I am).

P.S. I trained no martial arts or self-defence in my life and what I wrote assumes the opponent(s) didn't either, or they did, but very poorly (as this is the most common case in my country)

 

[Xaio30]

One-on-one? Probably not.
I'd have a much better chance convincing him not to fight me.

 

[CruisingForBiddies]

Yes. The answer to this (and most questions in life) is Guns.

I wish I had a gun so I could shoot people instead of not shooting people.
But seriously, using a firearm as personal protection just doesn't sit well with me.

 

[Acton Hank]

I live in England so if you do anything to defend yourself you automatically get in more trouble than the person who's attacking you.

Americans have the right idea when it comes to self defense, somebody breaks into your house and you are well within your rights to shoot them in the fucking face.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

what i mean by this thread is if you had to fight someone for whatever reason do you think you could stand a chance of beating them i do kickboxing and judo but i still feel if i was Surrounded by 5 guys i would get my ass handed too me so is there anything you guys do that would give you an advantage in that kind of Situation?

Your best chance is to hit one of them immediately. HARD. As in, hard enough to break their teeth, jaw, and knock them out hard. Then, move, and keep them pursuing you, and do not allow them to surround you. Hit any that get close enough to you in the throat, eyes, or groin, if possible. Do not stop moving.

 

[Lieju]

You should just run in a situation like that.
I'd have no chance in an actual fight. I'm not physically strong, I've practised fencing, but it's not like those skills would be of any use.

I do tend to carry a knife out of habit, as a tool, but I'd never even think about using it as a weapon, unless I had no other way out. And even then I'd probably end up hurting myself.

A 1 vs 5 fight will, most likely, end with the team of five winning, but if this is not a sports-match like event, it will depends a lot of what those 5 people are after.
Are they trying to intimidate you, or seriously planning to hurt you?

If they aren't expecting to get in a fight, just a little amount of opposition might get them to retreat.
If they are seriously looking to hurt you, though, it doesn't look good.

Martial-arts aren't going to help you much, a real fight is not the same as a 1 on 1 match.

If i was allowed to bring in a sword (Or, in my case, solid wooden sword) then i have a feeling i could probably cave in some skulls rather easily given i've actually managed to get a bit of training in with how to fight with swords.

And if they had swords/weaponry as well?

If we're talking taking weaponry from your house, I'd bring my scythe. (Yeah, we have a scythe, for cutting down long crass)
That, or the billhook.

Then I'd basically hope they'd rather not get too close to any blades, I suppose.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

Oh, and allow me to add something else. What I said before ONLY applies if you have no choice. If five people attack you and you have the choice to run, you should. Use your head, and pick them off individually later, if you can. If you cant, I recommend what I said before.

Also, ANYONE who immediately says, "Yeah, I can take five guys, I have training, blah blah.." is full of shit. I have been taking martial arts since I was 12, and I am 41. I got my black belt in kickboxing when I was 19. I am still in shape, I weigh about 215, and I have a pretty well muscled frame. I also have no problem taking someones life if necessary. However, to automatically assume you can take five individuals is folly. You fight hard, you fight dirty, and you fight smart, and hope you survive. Period. Over-confidence can be dangerous, you should never underestimate anyone.

 

[theriddlen]

One, no problem, straight up fight.
Two, knock one out with a quick shot and fight the second one.
Three, you start needing a lot of luck to pull that off. If the day is right and they aren't all bigger than you, doable - barely.
Four, you're an idiot to start a fight with that many guys. Run, eh?
Five, just hang yourselves, if you really want to kill yourself.

Oh, and if they have weapons, RUN. Unless it's a one guy, and you're wearing a hardened motorcycle full body armor, which I do, but then - people like that just won't attack you, they're not that stupid to try to fit a knife through a centimeter of hard plastic.
Basically, the message is, ride a sportsbike or a offroad one. Life is just better in every way!

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Also, ANYONE who immediately says, "Yeah, I can take five guys, I have training, blah blah.." is full of shit. I have been taking martial arts since I was 12, and I am 41. I got my black belt in kickboxing when I was 19. I am still in shape, I weigh about 215, and I have a pretty well muscled frame. I also have no problem taking someones life if necessary. However, to automatically assume you can take five individuals is folly. You fight hard, you fight dirty, and you fight smart, and hope you survive. Period. Over-confidence can be dangerous, you should never underestimate anyone.

Yep heres the professional opinion. It is BASICALLY impossible to win a 5 vs 1 scenario, in fact anything greater than a 3 vs 1 scenario because they can surround you. You have two fists and they have 6. Being blind sided or punched from behind in the back of the knee will totally fuck you. Unless they are falling down drunk or you are armed and they are not a 5 vs 1 is instant death even for the best trained person (assuming your assailants are averagely built men). In the event 5 people are determined to hurt and kill you flee. If you cant flee pick the strongest and try and inflict as much damage as viciously and quickly as possible to drive the group away. Gouge eyes if you need to be as animalistic and vicious as possible. And pray you come off as enough of a threat to break their courage to hurt you.

I used to be slightly under average in terms of strength. But a person on this forum asked me quite simply "Why put up with that?". Since then ive been doing 120 reps a day with some dumbbells and im seeing results only a month later. Every 2 days i add 5 reps so hopefully i can build up some more muscle. Id say im on part with your average male my age now. Its helped no end. When im feeling confident enough ill sign up for some self defence training.

 

[Vivi22]

Run. If you are outnumbered, try to run. No matter how trained you are, being outnumbered is essentially a death sentence.

I don't care what techniques you think you know or what stories you've heard - if your attackers are experienced and willing to take your life to get what they want, your odds of walking away from a 2 v 1 are slim and none.

This is generally the best option, but let's assume for the sake of argument that running isn't an option for whatever arbitrary reason you want to come up with, and you're surrounded by 5 guys who may not want to kill you. Maybe you just hit on some guys girlfriend in a bar and he took it a bit too hard and his buddies are there to back him up.

I've had some martial arts training in Tae Kwon Do during high school and Brazilian Jiu Jutsu later on, but the best advice? Fight dirty. My going assumption if five guys are trying to beat the crap out of me is that my life is in danger. Even if their intent isn't to kill me, accidents can and do happen, and are more likely when fists are flying and adrenaline is pumping. So testicles, throats, joints, eyes, doesn't matter. They're all valid targets and if an opportunity presents itself I will punch, kick, break, gauge, etc. any one of them to even the odds. I'd honestly be prepared to kill one or more of my attackers in that situation. Like I said, my life is literally in danger, and I'm not going to hesitate to disable someone as quickly and efficiently as possible. If that means bashing their skull in with a beer mug or stabbing them with something pointy, so be it. Most people will lose their nerve in the face of serious pain or injury anyway.

Funny this topic would come up though. A friend of mine was jumped by three guys several months ago who tried to mug him and running wasn't really an option because by the time he realized something was up they were on him. His reaction was pretty much what mine would be. He wrestled and did BJJ for years so when one tried to sweep him he defended and tossed him then disabled another by punching him hard in the throat. He took some hits and got bloodied up a bit. Actually broke his pinky which he subsequently reset himself before going home to get cleaned up. But he did send the three of them running pretty quickly. Assuming someone isn't mugging you at knife or gun point they're probably looking for an easy mark and weren't ready for someone to put up a pretty viscious fight.