A talk about what works. Please participate.

There have been some good exchanges here. The issue of flinching looks to be a discrepancy in what people believe flinching means. I know drilling has caused my "surprise" reaction to be a lot more practical. In the medieval swordfighting I do we drill the first parry as though the sword was being pulled directly out of the scabbard. A friend of mine showed up to a party with his practice weapons and I happened to have mine in the improvised scabbards we used for them. He playfully lunged at me with both his weapons and I instinctively drew my weapon and parried both attacks. It was one of those "perfect" moments.

I remember a time a friend of mine as a prank jumped up to my door and launched a playful punch at me and my reaction when I was startled was to throw a strong block and start a counter rather then awkwardly throwing my hand in front of my face.

Takes a lot of repetition though.

 

In my experience, on the numerous occasions where I witness such an event, or see it on video, what the person remembers as a 'strong block' was strong, did block, but was a flinching protective motion. Since a number of taught 'blocking' motions are stylisations of unconscious movements this confusion is hardly surprising. Of course, where the 'attack' is so telegraphed or slow as to pose no danger to a trained person I see them access learned behaviours.

 

I think this is key here. You don't train out your flinch response but rather train your responses to be a more effective defense against what made you flinch in the first place.

 

Right. Exactly.

 

Ok, How many folks have nearly killed a jogger running up behind them?.......a couple of times I've been ready with a back elbow and just managed to shut down in time

 

what works is what doesnt

in other words, if time is spent on what works, it will never fully be able to work all of the time

It is a pun formulated to be a riddle
'The members name is what works.....

what works is what doesnt
in other words, if time is spent on what works, it will never fully be able to work all of the time

 

I guess learning to fight better would be subjected to the martial art and the instructor.

We can all learn to fight better from such art/instructor if or when one will happen to come along.

Learning about fighting never stops



(Note: Multi Quote feature not working for me at this moment)

 

Understood...

But it wasn't about being wordy or intelligent...it was in jest

 

When I started in martial arts, may peers (esp non-martial artists) would prank throw, jump out, etc, to witness my reaction.

I think at that time, they were trying to mimic stuff they seen in Pink Panther.

It took one time for something to get ugly and then they soon learned to halt.

Along with that, some had matured beyond such physical humor

 

So to further this conversation, I wanted to share a statement from another thread:

There is definitely a significant difference in the strategy and circumstances surrounding these situations.

 

Hi WhatWorks,

here's a thread with a relevant article:
http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20838

 

SD is not always the same as 'streetfighting'
The pre and post Fight issues are different, as is the scope of the 'infight'

 

One thing that is important is speed in a self defense situation. A lot of people talk about "street fighting" and that's just the wrong frame of mind. If you are taking the time to get into a fighting Stance than you are doing the wrong thing. Learn to hurt your opponent very quickly and then get away. My personal favorite for quick attack is a hammer fist, often a horizontal one if the situation calls for it.mits very powerful, easy, and most of all incredibly fast.

 

What I mean, is not to try and fight them, hit them once to stun them, then run as fast as possible.

I say the hammer fist is faster, because (at least in my experience) it can be much more quickly deployed than most hand techniques, and it simply moves quickly. You may have a different experience than me, but that's what I've seen.

As for what kind of speed, I'm just talking about time between when you are grabbed (or attacked in any way) and the point when your strike makes contact with your assailant.

 

I didn't say it was a complete defense, it's just one thing that I like. You assumed that I ment it was useful for all situation, (perhaps I should have explicitly said otherwise) but that would be foolish.

 

Speed is certainly critical.

Stunning seems to be something like rolling dice as far as to if you are going to get get a good number.

Groin strikes are the same way. Every time I think they are maybe not as good as I thought I watch someone get hit there and it totally takes them out.

 

I know what you mean. That's why it's important to be able to follow up if need by. And in general, I don't like pain compliance techniques for the same reason, your rolling the dice.

Another good self defense technique, is a suto takedown. Instead of putting your leg in position to throw your opponent, you stomp the back of their knee joint. It works incredibly well. If your on pavement you could break their knee cap like that. It also puts you in position to elbow to the face.