multiple opponents

I was just looking for some opinions.

What styles do you think lends themselves to defending against multiple attackers? Many real situations when you may have to defend yourself will force you to do this and i was curious as to what would be good to study for someone forced to do this and why.

thanks as always

 

Multiple opponents? I would suggest either a class in small arms or a good track club. Better to learn how to avoid situations where you might face multiple opponents or to travel with a group.

 

Depends on your view of this sort of thing. To my mind, there are two ways to look at it.

1) Training in a style designed for multiple opponents will reduce your risk of falling prey to multiple opponents. Logical enough.

2) This'll be the controversial one. Multiple opponents increase the chances that you'll be in a position against your will. Probably on the floor. And you'd better have at least some notion of what happens next (or simply accept the accompanying beating).

While the first idealistically makes sense, the second one seems like a likely upshot and makes me think that there actually is some logic to a grappling art for multiple attackers. Not because it's preferable. But because it's likely to happen whether you like it or no.


Stuart

 

fma...try fma...or your local gun club. either way, it gets the job done.

 

Not that I know a definitive answer for this question, and not that I've actually taken this art....but I would think a very fast and acrobatic kung fu wushu (sp?) type art would be particularly suited to this. Mostly I think this because my impression of it is very fast and agile circular movements which lend themselves well to spinning to face other opponents. But really, I don't know.....just a guess.

 

thanks

there is no doubt that grappling is good to know always; fights end up on the ground a lot and everyone should know that. In this situation though i think its good for a different reason. If you know how to fight on the ground you know how to get back up faster so you dont get stopped on.

I thought about FMA and think that is a solid idea.I really want to study them one day any way. I asked a buddy of mine this and he told me Hapkido and Aikido are made for fighting multiple attackers and is actually a requirment at upper levels.

any more opinions you have would be good. Thanks everyone

 

Ba Gua, Its why it was made!

http://www.ukbaguainstitute.co.uk/seminars.htm

there is a seminar on this topic here.

Cheers
chris

 

I think this'll come down to training methods more than specific styles. That said, footwork will have a lot to do with it. How well you move in relation to other people. FMA does put a lot of emphasis on footwork. As do other styles obviously. But most of my experience is with FMA. Again, though, that'll depend on the teachers. I've seen the Atienza Kali guys do some nice multiple attacker drills.


Stuart

 

I know kali can be useful with multiple attackers. What at Penjak Silat?

 

Animal styles, ie fight like an animal!

 

The fact of the matter is that no one style is wholly adequate against multiple attackers unless they regularly train you to defend against multiple attackers. Plain and simple.

Ask the instructor if s/he does things like group sparring, drills against multiple opponents, etc. Because it's all well and good to advertise that style "x" is suitable against multiple opponents, that doesn't mean the school actually trains it.

We have a few drills designed for this topic that I've not seen anywhere else. We have "mass attack", which basically is a group sparring session. One person has to defend while 2+ people attack. We've done it a couple of times, but it's generally reserved for upper level students. It's a lot of fun, though. We also do "shoulder and knee tag", which is less demanding than "mass attack", but still helps lower ranking students with their awareness of their surroundings. When you have a class of 15 people trying to tag each other on the knee or shoulder, you learn to become aware of your surroundings very quickly or you end up doing lots of crunches when you keep getting tagged out. While it's a fun drill, what it's taught me the most is that I want to find a way out of the group and get away. Really, that's it.

The reality is that unless it is trained regularly, all the claims in the world are meaningless.

 

Agreed. What it comes down to is you need to be a far better fighter than your attackers. Getting to that point will involve a lot of hard training, and probably luck to!

 

In all honnesty, I don't think you can do a thing against multiple oponents.
If five opponents attack you at the same time there is no chance for you at defending yourself. You simply can't defend your front and back at the same time. The only options, exept for using a weapon, would be running or threatening your way out by say you take somebody in an armhold and threaten to break his arm if they don't let you go. Of course with the latter, if they still attack you, your screwed. Running seems like the best option to me.

 

Get yourself in doorway or somewhere they can only attack from in front. Use good footwork to avoid simultanous attacks. Use standing grappling techniques to move one of them into a blocking position. Be attacking and decisive to lower the odds as quickly as possible.

Always easier said than done though

Running away is an option. Just be aware that theres a good chance one of them is faster than you and when they catch up you could add exhaustion to your list of disadvantages.

Avoid being alone were possible, or upsetting angry groups of people

 

Doesn't matter. You're probably going to get your ass kicked anyway.

Ever try playing two tennis matches at once? This is the same, but faster and more painful.

Aikido might work, but I've only ever seen randori done on a "one person at a time" basis. I've never seen it where the students rush the middle guy (usually sensei) while actually trying to hit him, and not just falling over when they get close enough.

Track would be your best option, followed by small arms, like GeeMac said. Yes, you stand a better chance at "winning" with small arms, but do you really want to kill or maim someone? I'd rather just cheese it.

 

If you end up on the ground versus multiple opponents, your dead. BJJ won't help. No matter how quick you think you can get back up, you aren't fast enough.

Aikido, Silat, FMA all prepare you for stand up fighting, FMA ans Silat are more realisitic, sorry Aikido people. I like aikido for other reason though. if you on the ground, see above comment.

 

Not true. BJJ (grappling in general) lets you control the guy who took you down, i.e. you got yourself a human shield. Will it save you? No. But it's better than not knowing ANYTHING on the ground and just flopping like a fish.

More importantly, grappling helps you STOP going to the ground. You need to know how to go to the ground in order to stop from going there, just like you don't just learn blocks on karate or whatever, you learn strikes, so that you know how to block them. This is exactly the same.

 

CLF is supposed to be good against multiple opponents. Crav Maga should also be very effective.

 

There's only one thing worse than knowing BJJ and being on the ground versus multiple bad guys. And that's NOT knowing BJJ (or some equivalent) and being on the ground...

Again, it would be preferable not to be on the ground in the first place. But that's kind of the idea of fighting isn't it. Do things that the other person won't appreciate very much. The more people who are working together to put you on the floor, the more likely it is to happen.


Stuart