Action Beats Reaction

[Jiffy]

There's no question, everyone agrees that action beat reaction, but here's a question for you.

In martial arts, what's more important...???

Your increased survival of Action Beats Reaction (strike first)

Your moral, martial and legal obligations to never throw the first strike

Please vote and leave comments

[parkerlineage]

I would throw the first strike if I percieved a threat. My instructor says that you don't learn karate to defend yourself from your attacker's blows - you learn it to make sure your attacker doesn't have time to throw those intended blows.

PREaction beats action.

[bushido_man96]

I agree with parkerlineage. If I feel a threat, I will strike first (if I am off duty!). I don't like being hit, so I won't allow it if I feel it is coming.

[alsey]

you can usually tell when physical violence is imminent. why wait for it to start when you can just end it then?

i don't feel any moral obligation to not throw the first strike or anything. i feel an obligation to avoid and prevent fighting whenever possible, but when its clear that a fight is going to happen i'm not going to stand around and wait to get hit.

[bushido_man96]

I view fighting kind of like sparring in class. Why wait? In class, you may wait, because the of the rules, and knowing your opponent will give you an idea of what he is capable of. But, even in class, I will not always wait. I think of it the same way in a fight.

[Rick_72]

Unless your sucker punched, you have two choices in my mind. Strike first when all avenues have been exhausted, or run like hell......if you don't you should be prepared for the possibility of being seriously injured.

[patusai]

If it is one on one I will wait until there is some sort of agressive action before attacking.

[P.A.L]

i have a defensive mind set, so most likely i wouldn't throw the first punch, if i can maintaine the proper distance.

i am disagree with Bushido man96 about similarity between sparring and fighting ,may look the the same but quiet different. for a well trained person street fighting is easier than sparring. street fight helps your sparring but sparring won't help that much on the street. hard blocking works on the street but it won't work that good for sparring, because there is no commitment in sparring, it's all checking and response to checking.

[bushido_man96]

i have a defensive mind set, so most likely i wouldn't throw the first punch, if i can maintaine the proper distance.

i am disagree with Bushido man96 about similarity between sparring and fighting ,may look the the same but quiet different. for a well trained person street fighting is easier than sparring. street fight helps your sparring but sparring won't help that much on the street. hard blocking works on the street but it won't work that good for sparring, because there is no commitment in sparring, it's all checking and response to checking.

I was stating similarity in how I approach fighting and/or sparring, not necessarily techniques or strategies. Sorry for the confusion.

[Zorbasan]

throwing the first punch doesnt always mean you didnt act defencively.

a violent shove in the chest is an aggressive and and more than likely it will esculate from that. i voted on the second option but the first "strike" doesnt always have to be a punch/kick/technique to cause injury.