Let me start off by saying I am not so much permanently disabled but that I have some limitations right now that I hope I will be able to overcome. Due to a knee injury I cannot run and this leaves me feeling somewhat vulnerable. We are often told in MA to distract or hurt an assailant enough to 'get away'. My fear now is that even if I manage to keep my head and get a good strike in I will not be able to escape. I have never felt so vulnerable in my life. If I were to be confronted by someone I wouldn't be able to outrun even the most out-of-shape attacker. I live in a fairly safe city but I have been feeling rather intimidated recently and I was wondering how those of you who have similar limitations deal with A)the physical reality of not being able to run and B)the mental aspect of feeling unsafe when you are out in public. Thanks in advance for your comments!
I tore a tendant in my foot . That will take a long time to heal. If attacked I could easily evade though not your kinda of situation just got keep it ez on the foot so it can heal. If your skilled with knifes carry a legal sized one and conceal it. Butterfly knives are legal in my state dunno bout yours. I always feel safer with a knife handy. This site has some stuff http://www.tbotech.com/butterflyknives.htm . I would't pull anything out unless you plan on using it.
It's one of the crazy ironies of martial arts, isn't it?!! Before I started training, I was almost always able to run, skip, lift heavy things and move my neck from side to side without pain. Only since I started doing MA's have I stopped taking these things for granted!! I think that you've just got to take heart from the fact that while you're aware of what's going on around you, things are less likely to happen. I don't know about where you live, but in the UK as a whole most crimes of violence are comitted by and against men between 18 and 25, precisely the age when they are at their physical peak and feel least vulnerable. Perhaps this is why they take more risks? I have certainly found that men of that age will take chances regarding where they walk and at what time that women of the same age would never take. Like you, I have often had the experience of feeling uncomfortable in a situation when others around me don't. I think that the down sides of doing MA's in the long term can be that you can see more negative possibilities than other people around you, even though they are unlikely to come to fruition. I suppose that there's a fine line between awareness (or 'readiness') and paranoia.
Kenpo Kicker I am pretty sure I could never commit to using a knife and the people that intimidate me I don't want to hurt, I just want to avoid. If it were strangers and I had no idea of their intentions I would be much more likely to use greater force I think. It is the idea that I can't make a quick escape and avoid situations that has me feeling vulnerable. I am usually very good at being aware of my surrondings and avoiding dangerous areas but some people can spring up on you anywhere and now I have the issue of not being able to avoid them as quickly as I would like. And Ghost Frog, say it again about MA and pain! I used to take moving pain-free for granted until I started training. Now I know every muscle in my body in a way that is far too omnipresent and obvious. So I guess this thread should have been called 'mobility' instead of 'vulnerability'.
I wouldn't call it seeing more negative possibilities. I would call it being more aware of both yourself and the enviroment. In the Army we use to call this situational awareness and any good MAist will pick this up over time. I don't believe in any thing like a sixth sense, but I do believe that our normal senses and observation skills can be honed to the point that we start to notice things that the more oblivious people fail to notice. I'm willing to bet that if you feel uncomfortable in a situation you're noticing things that others aren't. You may not be able to necessarily identify what it is that bothers you, but that doesn't mean that it isn't real. Overtime you'll probable be able to see what elements in the situations around you are making you feel uncomfortable. Anything, my cousin, a fellow MAer had his elbowed snapped while playing around one day. The break was bad enough that he spent three months with a n arm in a sling and it was a still pretty useless for months after that. He too felt vulnerable since his personal fighting style depended so much on his hands. He also spoke of feeling like he was a potential victim. His solution was simply to better learn how to defend himself without that arm. He figured out what exactly were his limitations and developed a training program designed around that. It also helped that a few of us helped him by training with him. Anyway, he learned how to deal with by thinking his way around the problem. I hope this helps some.
I think that is part of my problem. Especially when I was in the splint I always felt like a potential victim. When you limp pronoucedly (something I no longer do ) you feel like you have a bulls-eye on you. Going anywhere near a bank machine or empty parking lot was a nerve wracking experience. I have really worked on my upper body strength and I think I have a not bad punch 'for a girl' but I would still rather be able to run from a situation than to have to try to fight it out.
Hi Anything, I've been practicing from a chair since I started & I've come to the conclusion all weaknesses are really strengths & viseversa. For instance, the chair is an obvious weakness until you realize that you're lower. 1) your targets have shifted to less mentionables if you know what I mean 2) the chair works well as a bulldozer 3) you can sweep with two legs 4) your opponent has to either strike down at you or lift his foot to kick and 5) you're on wheels, & there are more, but you get the gist.
