I hear the term banded about all the time. "They would be in trouble in a real fight", "Useless on the street" and such. We all come across it seemingly daily, some of us may even have offered the very same criticism. However, what is a real fight? How many of us have been in a real fight? As a teenager I saw many pushing and shoving matches that never came to throwing fist or foot. Is that a real fight? A few of my friends have been slashed. Was that a real fight? I remember a time when I cousin was jumped from behind and beaten by three guys? Was that a real fight? My old karate instructor was bottled across the head from behind just as he was going through his garden gate? What this a real fight? Is 'reality based self defence' based in reality at all?
I would consider anytime someone truly wants to deal out serious damage on someone else. When someone would do anything in their power to hurt the other person as much as possible. So if its a bar fight and someone breaks a bottle to cut the other guys face to shreds, i would consider that a real fight. I would also consider anytime someone will hurt you in order to steal something from you. So if you get jumped by 2 guys who steal your wallet and bag, i would consider that a real fight as well because the guy getting attacked may do anything in his power to prevent that from happening.
Glasgow is getting a bad rep because of the number of knifings. Number of KNIFE FIGHTS ? zero.Latest knife related injury the police are looking for three GIRLS. Number of street fights compared to muggings or because of booze. I would think rather small. Fights between "martial artists! and "streetfighter"(if such a thing exists) I would not know. A "real fight" is fighting when you do not want to or when you do not expect it. Only people who have been there will have anything of true value to say. regards koyo
That depends on your reality. My definition of a real fight is anyone stupid enough to attack the bear without consent. It's a broad definition I know but it works for me. Oh and if they red hair regardless of consent. The Bear.
They say the only real fight you have in the martial arts is with yourself, I never really understood that until I got old and getting out of bed in the morning made me look like the 'Dawn of Man' poster.... and my back started going out more than I was..
Exactly, how can one prepare themselves for such a situation? Out of all the people I know who have been attacked with knives, none knew that a knife was involved and only one knew they were in a violent situation.
you can't prepare yourself for every situation that may arise, but you can prepare your mindset. being able to control your emotions is the first key to surving an attack
To me a fight can only happen when both parties know they are going to have a contest to see who can exert their will over the other... what you have described are more assaults that were not avoided or percieved... I think the greatest defense is prevention and "real world" self protection starts with awareness and avoidance... real world self defense ultimately is not fighting and not having to defend yourself because the situation never comes up... Finding yourself in a violent confrontation is the clue that your martial art is one dimensional and does not address the real world... The only way I know to prepare for a knife is to always expect a knife and move accordingly... stay aware of hand positions, never square up, smother the opponents limbs, and keep the pressure on the opponent... it is interesting that in the old days the knife was so common in fighting that empty hand fighting was unheard of... or relagated to sport... and now it seems the wheel of time is coming back to this bladed reality... as the great sage once said when asked for the 3 steps for gaining truth... "Awareness, Awareness, Awareness" steve
Hi Steve The most effective way of winning a fight is to strike through the attacker's INTENTION to mount an attack. Paradoxically this ability allows you to see the intention and take action (not physical if possible) to pre-empt any conflict. As you say awarenes awarenes awareness (I would add a couple more just to be sure) regards koyo
Where I come from, the definition of a "Real Fight" is when someone wants to beat you down, make you bleed and at least make you unconscious. Pushing and shoving isn’t fighting and is just normally about anger and ego. You can walk away from that. But, If a guy throws a punch at your jugular or tries to choke you out, that's when you have to basically maim him. Now when you say "reality based self defense", If you referring to most older MA like Karate, Gung Fu, Etc. Yes. Of course that is reality based. Gung Fu and Karate were both arts that were created and developed during times of war and great social strife, so they were programmed with effective moves to counter people that would try and hurt or kill you. So that's a question with an obvious answer. But If your talking about, say, the variation of MMA they practice in the UFC, I'd say its pretty unrealistic, at least as an intelligent way to defend yourself. Bum-rushing and attacking in a blind rage won't do anything but get you killed or crippled in a "real fight". Hope that helped.
I spotted a guy was concealing a knife as he came towards me and I backed off. I'm still here. If I'd turned it into a 'real fight' I might not be. I was in loads of standup fist fights before I took up MA, I don't know how 'real' they were, the punches and kicks felt pretty real, the blood seemed real and the chipped bone in my brow still feels real to me. So what? Everything is real - it's only a question of context, boundaries and consequences. If you're enlightened of course nothing is real...
Except that the current MACP curriculum (for the US ARMY) is strongly based on MMA and BJJ. Guess soldiers wouldn't know anything about 'real fights' though.
How often does a soldier have to fight un-armed and alone? I would say probably never nowadays. Plus, just cause the US Army adopted a certain approach does not mean anything and does not prove anything, their still gonna use as much fire power as they can, shock and awe and all that, don you think? I think if your gonna use professional soldiers as an example of reality, then you have to use units which operate without support and huge numbers, i.e. special forces, those likely to have a close one on one encounter with an enemy. Krav Maga is used by Mossad, Systema by Spetsnaz, etc, etc.
Control your emotions? Little bro has just pranged big bro's £830,000 week old Buggati Veron. Reaction please G-bells
controlling your emotions= adreneline rush and thats family then little bro would be spending some time in the hospital
