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Often the lead up to confrontation is far worse than the confrontation itself. We are our own worst enemy in this regard. I think its best to try and take comfort in the training you have done and re-enforce to yourself that regardless of what happens(even worst-case scenario) you will do everything you possibly can to deal with it.

I agree with the others, and keep in mind that most grappling techniques can seem fairly difficult to pull off in isolation, but when you have already "softened up" your opponent with strikes they suddenly become alot easier to do.

Nice work SakranMM, sounds like you have found a great class. Keep us posted.

Hey Everyone, Wondering if you guys have any advice on ways to strengthen the trunk/rib area? Ive suffered rib cartridge strains several times on the same side whilst training bjj, usually when im on the bottom of side control, so i think the injury is caused by a combination of the weight of the other person as well as twisting and stretching. Thanks for any info you can provide.

Boxing is more about hard work than anything else.... you will spend far more time skipping, hitting a bag/focus mitts, shadowboxing, doing pushups and situps, than you will getting your head punched in. As for being "to violent", boxing is closer to the true realities of violence than alot of martial arts, when you try to hit someone in boxing, your actually trying to hit them full speed/(often) full force... and they are trying to do the same, if self defense is a goal of yours, this experience is invaluable.

Great post ps1. Totally agree. Particularly:

I do see your point. However, the fact remains that kickboxing/bjj train against resisting opponents and this get results. Its been seen many times when other styles are put to the test under full contact circumstances, the practicioners end up looking like poorly trained kickboxers. There are only so many ways people can cause pain to each other without weapons, its unlikely we will see many new revelations anytime soon. Its the delivery system you learn from kickboxing and bjj that is the key.

Its been my experience that if someone asks you to "step outside" or they push you and are yelling etc. Its all because they have not reached a level of anger where they are ready to actually stike you yet. They are looking for a reaction, i.e. the moment you agree to step outside with them, or you push them back, or you join in on the argument with them then you are giving them the reason they are looking for to start actually fighting with you. If a person wants you to step outside its because they have a reason why they dont want to do whatever it is they have planned for you inside, the longer you can stay inside the better, in most cases. I didnt have my hands in any particular position, however i have trained quiet extensively in pre-emptive strikes and defense from both passive positions and a more natural hands by the side position, but has mentioned above he wasnt ready to actually fight yet, situational awareness and the understanding of human behaviour made that quiet clear. Yet most self defense classes you go to will tell you that the moment a person starts yelling at you or lays a finger on you then you should pre-emptively strike to try and 'finish' the situation. When in reality, most people are not that good at pre-emptive strikes and chances are if your not confident you can knock someone out with a solid pre-empt you probably wont and will just give the person a green light to start fighting you. Most of the time if you wait just a few more seconds the person will often start seeing reason and calm down without the need for you to punch their lights out. Also i didnt feel that yelling "i dont want to fight" so security could hear was a very smart option at the time. Drawing further attention to the situation was not really needed being that the security guards would have noticed one rather loud aggressive person and a passive calm "victim"(me).

Interesting points and i certainly agree with the passive stance method. However im not sure its a black and white situation where if they enter a certain space then its a certainty that the fights on. For example, i was in a situation where a guy i was standing next to at a bar started talking to me and seemingly out of no-where started becoming rather aggressive towards me and suggested we should "step outside" which i didnt want any part of, the whole time he was well within my personal space and even started pushing me at one point, moments later security removed him. I enjoyed the rest of my night. If i acted on the assumption that if he came within a certain distance, or if he touched me, or if he stepped towards me and then attacked straight away, the night would have ended a whole lot differently for me. I suppose my point is, there isnt really a clear cut answer, and like most things in self defense, its dynamic and 100% situational.

When people offer self defense advice i often hear: "if the confrontation cant be avoided.... do this". Im interested to know at what point people consider a confrontation "unavoidable", because from my experience most confrontations can be avoided right up to the moment where the other person throws the first punch. Thoughts?

Im not sure that striking the eyes is a one-size fits all solution to physical altercations.

From personal experience i believe self defense has an extremely important role to play for those that attend bars/clubs. Having spent most of my weekends at clubs and bars for the last 2-3 years either working(djing) or just out with friends, i have seen a large number of situations where self defense training has been essential. I have had countless people try to start fights with me(for no particular reason, although most feel they have a good reason at the time), rarely have these situations gone physical because i have had a reasonable amount of training in not only martial arts, but in verbal de-escalation, situational awareness, threat analysis etc. All of these "soft skills" are important aspects of self defense, and they all happen before a punch is even thrown. I have numerous friends who have been attacked for various reasons, and female friends who have been sexually assaulted. If they had some training in self defense (and im talking about the soft skills mentioned above not how to kick and punch) then they may been able to better deal with the situation, or avoid it completely. I dont think saying "dont go to bars, or youll get into fights" is the best thing to teach people if they want self defense. Some people need to be at bars for work, and most just like going out with friends, and should be able to do so with the confidence that they have some ability to defend themselves, with both non-physical and physical tactics, if the need arises.

In my own training i think there is a balance of both. I doubt that there will be 2 many new discoveries in terms of techniques/tactics any time soon. By now we pretty much know what works and what doesnt. If you want to strike someone you cant go past the delivery systems of boxing and kickboxing, for grappling bjj and wrestling have been proven time and time again. The areas we can improve and experiment on are functional ways to train these already proven skills. This is where my main experimentation occurs. Working out different ways to develop the skills.

This video is an interesting demonstration of the art of karate, if your into that kind of thing. However, it has nothing to do with actual combat. Consider it your lucky day if an armed attacker tries to stab you in the same way that the attacker does in this video. Have a look around the net at videos of actual knife attacks if you want an idea of how people actually attack each other. Whenever i watch self defense demo's i always keep an eye on the attacker, is he/she actually attacking with real intent, and using an attacking method that is based in reality? If not then any technique shown against the attacker probably has no base in reality either. Check out the following videos and look at the attacks used, and notice the actual intent of the attackers, in comparison to the above kata video: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=YHeMrHOvZnI&feature=PlayList&p=302C5622FEC322EC&index=3 http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=HAvlf0V4_H8&feature=channel_page http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=reuHRoETmHg&feature=related

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=njPgVLPTWZk&feature=PlayList&p=259EEC8605280211&index=0&playnext=1 In the above clip Rodney King explains that the position of only used momentarily during defense, you still stand in a normal boxing stance at other times.