How many of you have actual combat experience?

[MuayThai Fighter]

When you say, "combat" ... do you mean "self-defense" or a "fighting" situation???

 

First of all, let me say that the majority of us here (correct me if I am wrong) are all martial artists .... (some more traditional than others). You ask a good question.

 

Many of the martial arts teach you to defend against the first strike but refrain from making the first strike.

 

If you talk with people who must use their martial arts skills regularly, such as bouncers, ,police officers, or just recreational streetfighters, they will tell you the person who hits first usually wins.

 

So we practice reaction, but experience says that action beats reaction. Therefore you could say that we are training to lose or at least give the advantage to our opponent.

 

No, I haven't had any "direct" combat experience.

 

Learning a martial art or self-defense is not just using defenses and counter attacks against attackers. It is the ability to prevent injury to oneself or others from attackers. This includes learning to fall safely, to communicate with aggressors, and to escape from violent situations. Self-defense is not just concerned with physically dealing with violence, it is mostly concerned with avoiding becoming a victim of violence.

 

But there is a difference between self defense and fighting...

 

That is because, while self-defense is legal, fighting is not.

 

Self defense is using whatever means necessary to quickly end a situation that offers you grievous bodily injury.

 

Talking your way out of danger is self-defense. Running like hell is self-defense. Breaking someone's jaw so you can run fiercely from the six guys who are attacking you is self-defence. Pulling out a gun and blowing the head off the guy attacking you with a knife is self-defense. Not putting yourself in the situation in the first place however, is the best form of self-defense there is.

 

....

 

..... so yeah I have then!

 

I agree with most of what you're saying,it is true that there is a difference between fighting and self-defense,however I disagree about the action ,reaction you made since I have used my martial arts in a real fight against someone else who happened to know martial arts too,we had gone to same high school.I've been in other fights where a guy went to hit me,I avoided it and dropped him.

 

A person might throw a punch,but if he misses your reaction will be better then his action.Same as if he goes to kick you,but you end up grabbing his leg then you have the upper hand since you can sweep out his other leg or push him on to his butt and then start stamping on him.

 

It all depends on situation and how good of a street fighter both of you are,and how well your martial arts has taught you to react.

 

Look at these boxers who get punched and they duck and come up with an upper cut which knocks the guy out.

 

If you have good technique and are a good street fighter to begin with you will be able to react pretty good and hopefully quick enough not to get your butt kicked.

 

In a fight it can go both ways.

 

Maybe you're training to lose and give your opponent the advantage,and if you are then you're doing wrong style and going to wrong school and I feel sorry for you,but I'm certainly not training to lose.I'm training to win.

[Muaythaiboxer]

good post. it's pretty sad when i go to my martial arts class's how many people i see who only put half of there effort into training. To win on the street or in the ring you need to give 100% at all times and think possitive. I have been in three non martial arts related fights and i can tell you that if you dont train to win you wont win

[JohnnyS]

I've been in plenty of fights, but not "combat" as in war.

[WC-Strayder]

Me too. I was the one YOU guys fighting TOday in the past, an real a$$hule! if someone yelled "i*m a black belt in this and that" I was there to prove them wrong and man some of those black belts really couldn't fight there way out of an paperbag!!

[daeinwolf]

I've been in plenty of fights, but not "combat" as in war.

 

Same here. I used to get into all sorts of trouble.

 

SiK---Joshua

[Muaythaiboxer]

its true that many blackbelts cant fight however it is also true that most blackbelts come from a mcdojo. at my high school there are no less than 12 blackbelts 9 of those being from the ATA. i saw one of the mcdojo guys fight with one of my wresler friends it lasted about 12 seconds a double leg and a quater stack and it was over.

[daedelus4]

Yup. Ive been in fights. Ive "won" them all. Since I finished them all in under 10 seconds, word spread about my ability and no one wants to fight me now. YAY! I didnt seriously injure anyone though. Just enough to end it. Now I can keep all of my fighting simply in the ring.

I do not know if this guy was serious or not but I wanted to respond to it because I have had similar experiences. I have not all of the fights that I have been in, one of them was with several people and although I took care of the first guy pretty swiftly and ferociously, his friends got me on the ground beat the crap out of me-I do not consider this a real loss though because I made it out alive--but my point is that once you have been in a real fight it not only does it act as a deterrent to others--particularly if you live in a smal town like me, but it helps you improve both your art and to stay out of more fights because then you have the experience of what it feels like to have someone, or several someones to genuinely want to cause you physical harm. It teaches you to be diligent in your art, especially of those particular techniques that work for you, to become more aware of your surroundings and the people in them and to recognize the warning signs of aggression which is invaluable! I do not suggest going to a bar and starting a fight like in the van damme movie because chances are the bouncers will trounce you out before your opponent but if nothing else if you happen upon a fight in progress take mental notes, watch if you can do so safely, and soak in the entire encounter if you choose not to help out (self defense classes are inaptly named because sometimes you must use your art to protect others) and apply the your learning in your sparring or visualize the experience when you run forms.

[daedelus4]

I find the more I learn about fighting, the more nervous I feel about it. It's like you see just how many times you could get done in by not having a technique air tight and you begin to feel more nervous. Anyone else feel like that?

That nervous-ness you feel might simply be adrenalin. welcome it, thank it--it will make you move faster, perceive quicker and respond decisively. I have never been in a fight where I did not feel afraid--and I have been in a lot!--but having said that, once you recognize how your body reacts to conflict you can make peace with it and it becomes easier to calm yourself.

[Menjo]

Ive been in 6, 3 or 4 of them i could have avoided however this was before shotokan. The rest were pretty intense and i couldn have done much to avoid them ahead of time, however the past seems to like to seep itself into the future. Fortunately i didnt lose any of those serious ones, and manadged to get away with minor injuries. Im glad martial arts came, it really changed things for me.

[Kajukenbopr]

Guys,

I am new here and all, but I just wanted to ask the question. I have read about the combinations and stuff that people prefer, and question the validity of their use. As you all know, real fighting is not like the dojo. I am not suggesting that you have to fight a lot in the streets to be a good fighter, but I wonder how many of you realize that difference between practice and theory. It is not a knock against you. Most of you guys seem to be pretty young, and may not have had to use your skills yet. That is good, avoid fights at all cost. But when I read some posts, I wonder if some of you harbor a false sene of security based on what someone else has told you will work. How about it guys?

well, the techniques taught in kajukenbo have been proven effective in order to be approved for teaching.

In my case, the closest thing I've had to real life fighting was sparring full contact against black belts, having to prove my techniques at medium contact(very few are done full contact so there are no bad injuries amongst each other), and having to defend myself against other school's black belts in a group-seminar we had a couple of weeks ago(pretended to be friendly only to start fights), and one had to defend against them and since I didnt know them, it was like having to fight someone on the streets.