Self-Defense and the importance of simplicity and reality

I've noticed a few threads where people say how they "would" conduct themselves in a "given situation." A few thoughts.

The first being, you aren't going to know what you'll do until it happens. What you will do and reality tend to be two very different things. The best thing you can do is train frequently and realistically in order to have something to draw on should a "given situation" arise.

Next, train simple. The ninja shit you see in movies will most likely backfire and put you in a vulnerable position. The reverse flying pretzel kick that you see in Tae Kwon Do tournaments has a better chance of you ending up on the ground than it does landing your foot in their face. What do I mean by keeping it simple?

Your techniques should be easy enough to pull off that it doesn't require a plethora of steps to prepare their usage. Anything that involves spinning or jumping adds time needed to coordinate a bunch of added factors which are almost always unnecessary.

Finally, be realistic about what you carry in your "arsenal." The likelihood of a complex aiki-jitsu small-joint manipulation working in a combat scenario is slim. Anything that small requires an extraordinary amount of precision and timing. Your assailant isn't going to be giving your their hand or fingers willingly, and if you manage to get a hold of them, they're going to be hitting you.

The same thing goes with using Kung Fu "vital points" for striking references.

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Update:

In addition to the above, a lot of people talk about identifying an opponent's weakness and exploiting it. In order to identify a weakness, your opponent has to show you one (assuming it's not a bluff/bait) and you have to figure out how to get to it. The simpler thing to do is analyze the more obvious thing an assailant is going to show you...their strengths. Neutralizing or negating their strengths is faster than trying to figure out and exploit a weakness in most cases. Also, by depriving them of whatever "skill/technique" they rely on, you'll find out what their weakness is pretty quickly.

Example:

A person has really fast and strong punches. By depriving them of distance, they no longer have the necessary separation to throw the majority of punches. It will limit them to infighting which, for the most part, has less power.

(Yes...I will be following this up with videos when I get a chance.)

- Get in shape.
- Breathe.
- Street fighting is dirty and unpredictable.
- Bend your knees, keep your chin down, hands up and elbows in.
- The kicks go below the hip. High kicks are shit easy to counter.
- Breathe.
- Hit where it hurts. Don't waste openings and breath.
- Intoxicated people feel little pain. More effective to take out their balance than administrating pain if they are intoxicated.
- If you don't want to hurt anybody, you'll get hurt.
- Don't follow the rules, there ain't any.
- If you do to little, you'll get hurt or killed.
- If you do to much, you'll get jailed.
- BREATHE FFS!
- Don't box a boxer. And never wrestle a wrestler.
- Don't eat junk food.
- If it's stupid and works, it's not stupid at all.

Counter-attacks FTW

I have just one thing to add to this: Know your own strengths, and use them.

Or know your own weaknesses and get rid of them.

Getting rid of every weakness is unrealistic. You're going to have them. What you can do is compensate so you can protect those weaknesses.

Aim for the stars.

"Aim for the stars."

OK, fine. Just don't keep your head in the clouds during that journey.

Here's my opinion. If you enter into a fight thinking that you have no weaknesses, you're going to be proven wrong at some point. It may even get you killed.

Or you can just stop evolving, get fat and watch reality TV.

?

It needn't be an either/or thing. Keep training and improving where you can. But RD is right, you will always have weaknesses (both actual and relative to your opponent) and the trick is to make the most of your strengths while not advertising your weaknesses, so they can be exploited. But in reality, most fights will be over so quickly that such an analysis will not take place, and you won't likely be taking too much time to analyze a situation while some poor victim is getting the snot pounded out of him.

most fights last less than three minutes.

many people throw sucker punchs.

if your back is against a wall, no one can come up behind you

every one has one of five "triggers"
saying - yes, speaking - one of them can throw the person off-guard mentally
* self-safety * family safety * money * sex * god
My favorite Sensei's old momy got a guy to let og of her purse by saying,
"Get your hand off of one of God's children!"
He freaked and let go.
She used three triggers
1. "your hands"
2. "god"
3.. "children"


hitting with your hand hurts YOUR hand

and, yes, high kicks are COMPLETELY stupid unless you are dancing
( I took to the ground a Tai Quack Do black belt when I was a Kenpo orange belt.
He gave a high kick and just hugged him and his leg and placed him gently on the ground)
{ smooch, Eon!}

every thing needs to end with "...and run"

weapon-of-opportunity is more important that any bragging you have about any
thing that you think is expensive or fancy

ANY circles of any sort are better than linear strikes.


good?