Can you defend yourself?
- Thread starter Backlashboy
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This is a hard one to answer. I have been studying various martial arts since I was 8 years old (I am now 30), so I would like to say that I can defend myself. On the other hand, it depends on the situation. If I was surrounded by 5 gentlemen and they were not practiced, I would probably stand a great chance. If I was surrounded by 5 gentlemen and they had ample practice I might be screwed. I have been trained to make numbers an advantage, but there is only so much you can do in a situation like that. Many street toughs are used to fighting in close quarters with a small group, so they have a slight tactical advantage. At the same time, if all they ever fight are people with no self defence practice, they will not have the experience necessary to fight someone like me (or probably like you depending on your training).Backlashboy said:
I will give you the tip that I was given in my Defensive Tactics course for the FDLE. "If you are being approached by multiple targets with the intent to do grievous bodily harm, fuck the first one up so bad the rest will have to question their dedication to the plan" *Cpt. Mcdonnald* My plan of action is to intercept the first strike destroying the elbow. Then follow up with breaking their knee backwards. If I have enough time, I will finish with a back hand to the rear of their jaw angling forward to dislocate. (though no plan ever lasts once a fight starts)
Quick Edit: My sensei always told me "Do you know the best way to avoid a strike? Don't be there in the first place". Avoiding the fight is often the wiser decision.
I seriously doubt any one of you could take on 3 on one. I got randomly attacked once, and defending a punch while someone else punches you from the side at the SAME EXACT TIME is impossible. Once that punch connects, the other gets an opening too. Then your screwed.
I don't think any of you can actually claim you can take on 2-3 people at once till you actually find yourself in that situation. This is not video game land
I don't think any of you can actually claim you can take on 2-3 people at once till you actually find yourself in that situation. This is not video game land
Waiting until you are feeling confident enough, is similar to waiting until you are ready to have children. If you wait until you are ready to have kids, you probably wont ever have any. Throw caution to the wind and go for it! I promise you that it will give you plenty of self confidence. I'm not trying to tell you what to do, dont get me wrong. I just wanted to offer a little advice, because when I first started I had NO self confidence at all. I think you would be doing yourself a great service if you just said the hell with it, and gave it a shot. I dont think you will be disappointed.BiscuitTrouser said:
Well, my family is heavily involved in organized crime, and I had a very messy upbringing and teenage years....So I've had to defend myself many...many, many times (not all unavoidable situations).Backlashboy said:
I now teach martial arts and am travelling to China in a year or so when I get the money together for more training.
So I'm pretty sure I can defend myself when the need rears itself.
and don't feel bad for 'potentially' being unable to beat 5 guys in a brawl.
It takes a special kind of animal to pull that off in most instances, which you don't really want to be; as well as 5 guys is ALWAYS a challenge... So many factors involved, and I've met with masters of TKD and guys who've been practicing karate and the likes for 6,7+ years who got their asses handed to them by just 2 guys.
It depends on the experience level of those involved, but the general tactic for multiple people is to use one person as a shield/battering ram to try to separate them enough to get away. You don't want to stick the fight out if you don't have to. Get the hell away as soon as possible. If you are in the situation though utilize an arm bar and centrifugal force to turn one person into a defensive weapon. Idealy you will manage to get one of them separated enough to get a strike or two in (preferably for the knees) before the fight resumes in earnest.Zeckt said:
That being said, you are 100% right. The best bet when fighting multiple people (you don't know how much experience they have) is to run away or give them what they want. Many people who practice martial arts think they know how to fight, and it is a fallacy. Experience is more important than training any day of the week. One might argue that you spar in training and that will work like practice, but unless it is full contact no holds barred, the sparing isn't going to work the same way experience does. Odds are if 5 guys are jumping you for something, they have probably done this before.
I don't think the Captcha likes me anymore.
Captcha: FORGET YOU
Right back at you captcha.
Yes well, as a matter of fact, I did take on two people at once and won. Put both of them in the hospital too. To be fair though, both underestimated me and weren't expecting me to fight back, so I got quite a starting shot (between the legs).Zeckt said:
It depends, is there a staff/staff like object anywhere near that I could realistically obtain? Usually I carry some sort of walking stick incase but realistically? If I have my walking stick, or there is an obtainable staff than yeah, I stand at a pretty big advantage. Also my teeth are sharp, and I have no problems with biting the shit out of people, so if worst comes to worst I would just go Dracula on them.
I could kick them in the balls and I could do it all day.
Most likely I would run for my god damn life, but if I had to I could use my boney knucles and my teeth to give them a bad day atleast.
Against five guys? I would most likely lose. I used to carry a knife around, but now I don't as much anymore. I started carrying a knife in highschool/middleschool, but after I graduated I slowly stopped, but still carry it around if I am downtown late at night after a concert or something.
But yeah, like I said, I would most likely run. I am a fast sprinter and haven't really met many that could catch me. Meaning I am faster than the average human.
Also, go for the bollocks and eyes first, always.
Most likely I would run for my god damn life, but if I had to I could use my boney knucles and my teeth to give them a bad day atleast.
Against five guys? I would most likely lose. I used to carry a knife around, but now I don't as much anymore. I started carrying a knife in highschool/middleschool, but after I graduated I slowly stopped, but still carry it around if I am downtown late at night after a concert or something.
But yeah, like I said, I would most likely run. I am a fast sprinter and haven't really met many that could catch me. Meaning I am faster than the average human.
Also, go for the bollocks and eyes first, always.
Good. Go with that thought.Backlashboy said:
A really good friend of mine (who was also one of my muay thai instructors) tells a story about being jumped one evening while sitting on his front porch. He was just hanging out, drinking a few brews and playing guitar when four guys mugged him.
Now this friend is very skilled and has won a bunch of regional titles and trophies. I've seen him fight and sparred with him many times (and I still sport a bruise from one of his leg kicks).
And he got his clock cleaned.
He says he got a couple of shots in before someone hit him from behind and...as Monty Python might say...the beatings began.
His story is a cautionary tale.
I've trained in several martial arts over the past couple of decades (mauy thai being the most recent) and I can handle myself in a fight.
But if I'm up against more than two attackers, my strategy is the Three D's: Diplomacy, Delay and Dash!
Try to talk your way out of it, stall for time until you can find the exits and then just beat feet.
This one time in elementary school I took on five kids at once, so I'd say I could defend myself against anyone under the age of 10.
Actually some of us legitimately can claim that. I've been in such situations. I've been trained to fight for the past 9 years, and multiple times been put in a sparring match of 3v1 to even 7v1(not fun). Also a group of like 4-5(can't specifically remember which) tried to mug me a year ago and I took them all on, and won. Though unfortunately I broke my walking stick in the process.Zeckt said:
There's a lot of this in my thinking. Except for the Krav Maga part.Nouw said:
However, I'm confident I could ensure I will always be remembered by at least one of my attackers, with them never able to run again and all (perhaps even walk if I get the opportunity).
I don't like fighting, I would prefer to talk them down.
If they want to fight, I'm good 1v1, I have hidden rage...dunno how that will work or help.
If there was more then 1 I would run...unless I had a sword or gun of course.
Other then that, I would prefer to keep things calm and not fight.
If they want to fight, I'm good 1v1, I have hidden rage...dunno how that will work or help.
If there was more then 1 I would run...unless I had a sword or gun of course.
Other then that, I would prefer to keep things calm and not fight.
Realistically, you're unlikely to walk out of a situation like that no matter how well trained you are. There are some things you can do to improve your odds, yes, but they're still pretty slim.Backlashboy said:
I'd probably be screwed, but I would try and keep to the outside of the "pack," use their own bodies against each other (limiting thenumber of people within reach is really useful) and...Well, if running is an option, I would run. Probably the best thing I learned from Martial Arts: sometimes it's better to run.
Having been short and fat during elementary and high-school I have been in my fair share of fights, plus adding domestic abuse on top of that my only chance was to grow tough and strong. However I believe that fighting should always be used as a last resort, I find it better to make aggressors back down via intimidation. Failing that you should run if you're outnumbered (even 2 on 1 is bad news). If push comes to shove I can manage up to three guys if I can keep them all in front of me, but it wouldn't be easy. If you're surrounded by five people you're not winning that fight unless something extraordinary happens... or you're a shaolin monk.
I've never "lost" a fight in the way that I was worse off than my opponent, I generally walk away without much need of medical assistance outside painkillers a bandaid and bedrest... That said, though I have trained in a variety of combat styles, I'm no master, and when I fight, I fight dirty, and I tend to use what I know to inflict the most harm to a person within reason that I can, I aim for balls solar plexus eyes and throat, if someone wants to kill me, it's adviseable to use a firearm from a distance, as I fight with the tenacity, ferocity, and rage of a cornered rabid grizzly, I am semi-suicidal, I don't care about death, I have little to live for, and as an exploratory person I'm kinda intrigued to see how it feels, and what it's like, to die...
I am not however going to kill myself pre-maturely, as there is too much to explore and see and experience while alive, and will fight, and struggle to the end...
Against 5 guys I estimate, that until one of them got behind me, I may be able to cripple or severely wound 2-3 of them before I had to bail or was overcome... if I had a baseball bat or a table leg or something, then it may turn out differently, as I tend to hit really hard with blunt implements, I broke apart a wooden shed at someone's request in a couple hours using nothing but an old dented aluminum baseball bat, which by the end of it, didn't really look like a baseball bat anymore, was kinda bent.
However, I tend to avoid such situations with my ability to talk people down, and make allies easily, every time I've lived in a bad neighbourhood, I've acted as something of a community diplomat, and have been on the good side of most if not all of the more dangerous people in the area, I don't choose sides, and tend not to associate directly with groups/gangs or authorities, but when it comes down to it, I also am not disposed to share information on anyone with anyone else, and as such, lemme just say, one day, I gave relationship advice to a Biker who recently got out of jail, and was trying to patch stuff up with his girl, met up with a bro of mine who was a dealer at the time, and smoked a joint with him and shot the shit for a couple hours, and ended up wandering onto the nearby reserve and having a beer with some of my native homies, in the 4 years that I lived in that area, known for crime and violence, I never had to fight, nobody wanted to hurt me, and I was poor as dirt, so nobody ever saw me as a mark to rob or mug.
I prefer diplomacy over violence, but my hands/feet/elbows/knees/forhead are all perfectly comfortable dispensing blunt trauma when need be, I just, prefer harmony and brotherhood over violence and dissorder...
Also being how the legal system in Canada is, I'd prefer not to fight if I can avoid it, as self defence in some cases will land you in jail for the same time penalty as the guy who attacked you in the first place, especially if you're armed with anything other than your hands, or have any high level martial arts training.
Also, advice for would be brawlers, never get a black belt in any martial art unless you want to be immediately in the wrong in the eyes of a courtroom if you get in a legal battle over a violent confrontation, and dont carry a knife(unless you're well trained with it, otherwise you may end up being stabbed with it yourself) or gun(unless allowed through a concealled carry permit where available) obvious reasons.
That or just prepare yourself for the worst, but walk a path of peace, and diplomacy, and you'll probably be fine, or at least have backup to fight alongside you, should shit hit the fan.
I am not however going to kill myself pre-maturely, as there is too much to explore and see and experience while alive, and will fight, and struggle to the end...
Against 5 guys I estimate, that until one of them got behind me, I may be able to cripple or severely wound 2-3 of them before I had to bail or was overcome... if I had a baseball bat or a table leg or something, then it may turn out differently, as I tend to hit really hard with blunt implements, I broke apart a wooden shed at someone's request in a couple hours using nothing but an old dented aluminum baseball bat, which by the end of it, didn't really look like a baseball bat anymore, was kinda bent.
However, I tend to avoid such situations with my ability to talk people down, and make allies easily, every time I've lived in a bad neighbourhood, I've acted as something of a community diplomat, and have been on the good side of most if not all of the more dangerous people in the area, I don't choose sides, and tend not to associate directly with groups/gangs or authorities, but when it comes down to it, I also am not disposed to share information on anyone with anyone else, and as such, lemme just say, one day, I gave relationship advice to a Biker who recently got out of jail, and was trying to patch stuff up with his girl, met up with a bro of mine who was a dealer at the time, and smoked a joint with him and shot the shit for a couple hours, and ended up wandering onto the nearby reserve and having a beer with some of my native homies, in the 4 years that I lived in that area, known for crime and violence, I never had to fight, nobody wanted to hurt me, and I was poor as dirt, so nobody ever saw me as a mark to rob or mug.
I prefer diplomacy over violence, but my hands/feet/elbows/knees/forhead are all perfectly comfortable dispensing blunt trauma when need be, I just, prefer harmony and brotherhood over violence and dissorder...
Also being how the legal system in Canada is, I'd prefer not to fight if I can avoid it, as self defence in some cases will land you in jail for the same time penalty as the guy who attacked you in the first place, especially if you're armed with anything other than your hands, or have any high level martial arts training.
Also, advice for would be brawlers, never get a black belt in any martial art unless you want to be immediately in the wrong in the eyes of a courtroom if you get in a legal battle over a violent confrontation, and dont carry a knife(unless you're well trained with it, otherwise you may end up being stabbed with it yourself) or gun(unless allowed through a concealled carry permit where available) obvious reasons.
That or just prepare yourself for the worst, but walk a path of peace, and diplomacy, and you'll probably be fine, or at least have backup to fight alongside you, should shit hit the fan.