Self defense with a MA partner

[DWx]

I was practicing with my sister and it occurred to me that although I could probably block a TKD or MA attack, blocking a general attack from an aggressor would be completely different. Its not that I don't know how necessarily, but the only people I ever practice self defense against is other MAists. You tell them to throw a punch at you and they still throw it in a MA way. To some extent there are nearly always features of the "proper" punch and even though you ask them to just randomnly attack you any kick or strike or takedown will be done in an MA fashion.

So how effective is it to learn self defense when practising against a martial artist?

I have virtually no real self defense experience and it concerns me that I have no idea how I am going to react to an unwieldly fist that could seem to be thrown almost erratically. Through my training I am fairly good at recognising the signals of an attack but these are signals from an MAist and you kinda know the path their fist or foot will travel.

[Throwdown0850]

get a friend that is willing and have him or her put on boxing gloves and have them try to hit you, not hard, but enough to make contact.. tell them to hit "realistically", and you try to block..

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

the only real way to practice what you're saying you want to practice is follow throwdown's idea and get a training partner and just do it, or go to a school that would offer that. there's so much theory and physics behind the actual dynamics of a real fight that you'd be best off trying to find classes that would do that. my kempo school is great for dealing with real life scenarios. don't give up what you're doing, but find something to supplement your needs.

[cross]

I was practicing with my sister and it occurred to me that although I could probably block a TKD or MA attack, blocking a general attack from an aggressor would be completely different. Its not that I don't know how necessarily, but the only people I ever practice self defense against is other MAists. You tell them to throw a punch at you and they still throw it in a MA way. To some extent there are nearly always features of the "proper" punch and even though you ask them to just randomnly attack you any kick or strike or takedown will be done in an MA fashion.

So how effective is it to learn self defense when practising against a martial artist?

I have virtually no real self defense experience and it concerns me that I have no idea how I am going to react to an unwieldly fist that could seem to be thrown almost erratically. Through my training I am fairly good at recognising the signals of an attack but these are signals from an MAist and you kinda know the path their fist or foot will travel.

This is something that certainly separates learning martial arts from learning self defense. If you are seriously about learning self defense then its important to look at the most common types of attacks that you are going to face, a technical 1-2 combo is probably not that common outside of the ring, if someone is intent on hurting you, then you will more likely face an attack on your mind first off followed by some type of sucker punch or continuous swinging. That doesnt mean you shouldnt learn to defend against the 1-2, but if your goal is self protection then it shouldnt be the most commonly practiced thing.

[Rateh]

We do a few "street style" one-steps where the person throws a haymaker. The hardest part is being the one throwing the haymaker, for most of the students (who have been training for a year or more at this point), the instructor has to go over how exactly you throw a haymaker (because the students tend to fall back on their training of how to punch).

I do agree though that a good way is to find a training partner who is not a MA. I would also say get your instructors advice, they may know more then they are teaching on the subject.

[DWx]

We do a few "street style" one-steps where the person throws a haymaker. The hardest part is being the one throwing the haymaker, for most of the students (who have been training for a year or more at this point), the instructor has to go over how exactly you throw a haymaker (because the students tend to fall back on their training of how to punch).

This is exactly my problem. It is really difficult for me or my training partner to throw things like haymakers without having some sort of reaction arm or breathing or whatever and I definately can't kick like an untrained fighter. Even when we try real hard to just throw something it goes straight to a "proper" target so you know where the attack is travelling too.

We do do a fair bit in normal training its just again the attacks are coming from MAists who can't but help attack properly. I do think a non-MA partner would help and have had somebody do it before but they didn't like having the contact when I was blocking or coming back with techniques.

[bushido_man96]

I think that getting someone who is not an MAist to throw attacks at you is a great way to train from time to time. We see this at times when we spar low ranks, whose technique may not be quite up to snuff. We expect techniques to come in a certain way, but when there is something about it that we as higher ranks see as "wrong," it may contact us, because we are used to defending against it the "right" way. It is important to not get into this mindset too much.

[cross]

Regardless of if its martial arts or self defense my approach to defense is similar, in principle anyway.

Rather than focusing on defending against specific techniques i look more-so at the direction of the attack in relation to the centerline.

For hand techniques they can basically go straight down the centerline(jabs, crosses etc), around it(hooks, haymakers, hammerfists etc), or rise along it(uppercuts). So that means you really only need 3 different defensive motions to cover basically all hand strikes. This is a slight over simplification, but you get the idea.

So to me regardless of if its a technically correct hook, or a swinging haymaker the defense is the same, and if anything the haymaker is easier to defend against because its generally more telegraphed and has a wider arc.

[shujika]

The manner we train is “similar” to the above, except we (as a rule) are not as concerned with the specific technique being “thrown” at us (I.E. hook, straight, uppercut, reaching to grab etc.). (in training) we're concentrating on what “we” are doing as the self-defense motion with a “general” disregard for the attacking technique (does this sound as confusing to anyone else as it does to me? As I read it. LOL). For beginners especially, it's too common to try to “focus” on the assaulter's fist, hence, they “sit” and wait for the fist to “come” to them (in theory, so they can block, capture, redirect etc.) and wind up getting “hit”and are unable to initiate their “defense” to begin with. If the defender focuses on their own “defensive” motion (when the aggressor first begins their assault), they wind up striking the aggressor before the attack can actually be initiated (I.E. during the “cocking”of the strike). For this reason we have the uke “vary” their attack manner, occasionally “winding” the punch, or turn it into a wide sweep (hay maker, or even a “slap” ) with the express point being to continue their planned defensive motion to completion.

[Tiger1962]

Besides practicing with your martial arts partner you could have a willing friend or family member pretend that they were going to attack you or mug you - think up of a few real life scenarios and what you would do if "such and such" situation occurred. You do have to take into consideration that your partner doesn't know martial arts and that you could seriously hurt them if for example you got them into a wrist lock or something else. In real life, that is what you want to do to protect yourself but when you're practicing with a "good guy" you gotta also be careful.

Think of probable situations - i.e. someone coming at you, instead of actually body slamming your practice partner onto the floor.