Red belt blues

[Shorinryu Sensei]

I have defended myself in the past, but it was against a skinny punk, and I basically took care of him. I was thinking at work today, about this guy who works with me if he attacked me. He's about 250lbs, and all muscle. Big guy. How would I do against an attacker like him? I'm 150bls, and I've been training for 4 years, but would that be a match against a body builder freak intending to do harm?

 

My comments were addressing the above quote of Lauries where she is obviously intimidated and worried about her possibly having to defend herself against someone this much bigger than herself some day. I know several TKD multiple black belts (4th Dan and above) that have been involved in that system for over 20 years now, and they have confided in me that they don't feel confident that they can defend themselves in a real life or death street fight. Maybe it doesn't to some, but that tells me something about the system they have chosen to study. I have asked these people "Why don't you study another art then...one that may teach you skills that you would feel better about in a self-defense system?" Their response is invariably..."I've been in TKD so many years now, I wouldn't want to start over as a white belt."

 

I'm beginning to get into my first post now that I decided not to submit earlier because it sounds like TKD bashing, and that is not my intention here. I'm stating my experiences with friends of mine that have expressed the same concerns as Laurie has about their training, and their confidence in that training working when they need it.

 

Laurie, there is no reason, given proper training and work, that you can't expect a favorable outcome with a man that is physically much larger and stronger than yourself. The martial arts are the "great equalizer" in most situations, or that is their intent. As Thor stated, no system can guarantee that you will be able to defend yourself, but anyone that has spent a lot of time in the arts...ANY art..and has done observations and research into other systems, will tell you that there are some systems out there that are more designed to work in a real life situation than others.

 

I'm not the biggest, baddest and toughest guy on the planet by any means. I've never fought K-1, the Octagon or the fabled "Kumite", nor do I plan to ever do so. I have however, been involed in a number or real fights since beginning my training in the arts, against up to 3 assailants at a time, and thus far I have walked away from these altercations without injury, or without my opponents even landing a decent blow. Lucky? Oh...definitely! But I also attribute it to my training, and the techniques I've learned in that training. They work...pure and simple.