Will you attack first or you wait?

[cross]

somebody kicks you if you are a offensive person ,you won't accept the attack so you may wanna dis engage and come back for your turn or you may block hard, dis-engage and come back to attack, a difensive person may accept the attack and move into the kick hard or blend in with kick and go for a lock.....

 

The idea of being an offensive fighter and/or attack first is to stop the kick before it happens by finishing off your opponent without giving them the chance to attack you.

 

If they do get the chance to attack you WHILE your already attacking them their attack wont be anywhere near as effective.

 

In basic terms your mentality should be "i will hit you before you hit me so you better be ready to deal with it".

 

You dont want to be thinking "hey buddy you have a free-shot at me and ill do my best to defend against it and then attack you back."

[P.A.L]

Cross , it seems in your karate a block is a block and punch is a punch. in my version , my block is a strike and a punch is a block. if you think this way ,being defensive may make more sense.

[cross]

Cross , it seems in your karate a block is a block and punch is a punch. in my version , my block is a strike and a punch is a block. if you think this way ,being defensive may make more sense.

 

Thats not the case, my karate is just the same as yours.

 

For your block to be an attack you first need your opponent to attack. Therefore your reacting. Its always alot quicker to act than it is to react. Plus it would be difficult to stop an attacker by attacking his punching arm with a hard block.

 

(you can test this if you want by getting a friend to stand with his hand extended near your chest and as you see his hand move towards you try and block it out of the way before it touches you. You will be suprised how hard this is. This makes being defensive or reacting in a self defence situation even harder because there are unlimited ways the other guy can attack you and once the attack is initiated you have to decide which block is best for the situation.)

 

Obviously blocks are not just blocks as you said, and they are not just strikes either. They are mainly used, within our style atleast for joint-manipulation/breaking techniques.(but thats not really what we are talking about here so illl leave it at that.)

 

If someone manages to fend off your pre-emptive attack and retaliates with a strike you would obviously defend against it and then attack again. Im definetly not trying to say that defence is not needed.

 

Once again i will try and simplify here:

 

If i am going to be attacked by someone and im given these 2 choices:

 

1. Punch the guy in the face before he gets the chance to hit me.

 

or...

 

2. Let the guy attack first, risk getting hit, hit his arm if i do manage to block it(which may not even damage him), then punch him in the face.

 

I know im going to choose the 1st one. And you see there how a strike can be a defensive technique(1st choice) and how a block can be a strike(2nd choice). The pros of the first choice definetly outweight the pros of the 2nd.

 

Just keep that in mind.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

As I said earlier, and keeping in mind I just got up and haven't had coffee yet , each situation is different. I have attacked first, but generally I am a counter fighter. This is my nature, it is my comfort level, and it is the practice and philosophy of my chosen martial art.

 

One thing that hasn't been addressed yet is the legal aspects of attacking first. Generally, a trained martial artist is viewed by the law as a trained fighter and the law views us as having an unfair advantage in a fight over your "average" attacker. Now, if your attacker is larger than you are, obviously stronger (a body builder for example), has a weapon or there are multiple opponents, then the law allows us to attack first and harder because we are in fear of our physical saftey.

 

If however, your attacker is smaller, or even your same physical size and you chose to attack first, then you may very well be libel for any injury that he/she sustains. For example, I'm 6'6" (198cm) tall and weigh 240lbs. If I attack a smaller man first and break his nose, knee, rib, etc, I may end up paying his medical expenses, plus possibly open myself up for a lawsuit for assualt or damages such as lost wages, medical expenses, trauma, mental injury...and who knows what else. It could easily bankrupt me just on attorney's fee's, let alone what I might have to pay the person in damages.

 

In my classes, I often talk to my students about this sort of thing. I have had lawyer's come in and talk to my classes about our legal responsabilities and obligations. As martial artists, we have a responsability to train and condition our minds and bodys to respond to an attack and end the conflict as quickly, with a minimal amount of injury to ourselves first, and our attackers secondly.

 

In every fight I've been in in the past 30 years, I have gotten out of a fight usually by using my brain and my vocal skills. However, those that have escalated to the physical level have been resolved quickly and so far, efficiently with no damage to myself, and little to my attacker. And yes, I have managed to "win" each fight thus far.

 

OK...coffee's done.

[P.A.L]

Cross , what do you think about Aikido?

[cross]

One thing that hasn't been addressed yet is the legal aspects of attacking first.

 

This is very important and im not saying you should just go around hitting people to solve arguments. If all else fails(most of the time talking works fine to get yourself out of a situation), and my attacker is hell-bent on hurting me, i will hit first to give myself an advantage. Where and how hard i hit will depend on the attacker and the situation.

Cross , what do you think about Aikido?

 

I did aikido for a little over a year in a smallish school before i moved on to karate. In my opinion it is 2 hard to learn in a short time, after a year of training i was no more confident in defending myself than when i started. Im not saying this is the same in every school of aikido, there are probably some great ones out there(i dont know i have really looked), but from my experience i would not say it equals effective self-defence in a short period of time. Give yourself 5 or more years of training in it and it may well be effective.

 

Karate is a different story, from the first lesson you learn basic strikes and blocks which can be effective straight away, as well as take part in basic sparring drills which always help.

 

Thats just my opinion, but if you find a good aikido school, go for it.

[P.A.L]

i don't see much difference between Aikido and karate.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

i don't see much difference between Aikido and karate.

 

Huh? Only about as much difference as black and white I guess.

[P.A.L]

sorry i was wrong karate has nothing to do with Aikido. lets go back to our Karate.

 

step in down block ,reverse punch , front snap kick with front leg. Ich , Ni, San ,Chi ....

[cross]

i don't see much difference between Aikido and karate.

 

Both are martial arts from japan, thats about all they have in common.