Can you defend yourself?

[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.

 

[Eddie the head]

I have a shot gun. Dose that count?

 

[barbzilla]

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?

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).

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.

 

[Zeckt]

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

 

[Riff Moonraker]

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.

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.

 

[A.A.K]

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?

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).

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.

 

[barbzilla]

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

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.

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.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

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

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).

 

[kahyonhowanen]

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.

 

[Pieturli]

I gotta tell you, the vast majority of very high level martial artists would get their asses handed to them if 5 people went up against them at the same time. It's time to stop pretending that martial arts are superpowers.

 

[Rose and Thorn]

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.

 

[Zen Bard]

i do kickboxing and judo but i still feel if i was Surrounded by 5 guys i would get my ass handed too me...

Good. Go with that thought.

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.

 

[excalipoor]

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.

 

[kahyonhowanen]

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

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.

 

[Phasmal]

I'm quite a small lady and I don't have a lot of strength so I don't think I could defend myself from a lot of people.
But probably from one person.
Because I fight dirty.