in general, is karate good for self-defence?

[A_mind_like_water]

hi im new here so please dont eat me!

 

anywho, ive been practising karate for 3 years and have never onece had the opertunity to use it in a real fight (which is a good thing right?)

 

and basicly was wondering if anyone has any stories (you know the non-made up kind) of how they have used karate tecniques and...you...know..WON?!

 

if so then what tec's did you use?

[Kirves]

I've used the low shin-roundhouse kicks from Gensei-ryu (a kick identical to Kyokushin's) and they worked. It's also about how you train; intense full contact sparring and karate works just fine. Too bad most people don't train that way. So, find a good school with that kind of training.

 

And I'd suggest a style with low kicking. Kyokushin is good, as are any of it's offshoots (Ashihara is the most "street-defence" oriented, but Seido and the other ones are fine too).

[A_mind_like_water]

I do alot of pad work, would that help

 

so wot happened to the dude? did he fall? hit back? die dramaticly?

[Kirves]

Well, once a dude came at me, obviously trying to reach and grab, I round kicked his left thigh quickly twice with my right shin, he winced in pain, nearly falling down. Then he cussed a bit and gave me the finger while mumbling something and limping away.

 

Yees, all kind of pad and mit work is great. But hard contact sparring is necessary too.

[Isshinryu Man]

Welcome....I'm new to the forum too. So I won't eat ya

 

In my 9 years in Karate, I've only had to use my skills once. I was a first degree black belt at the time (shodan). My college buddy had just purchased a new house and myself along with other guys headed over for a house party. Needless to say, we had way too much to drink. If that wasn't bad enough, we all decided to head to the bar down the street.

 

(From what I remember and what my friends have told me.....)

 

While there I must have been eyeing up some girl too long and some guy came over and started talking trash to me. I politely said I was sorry, said he was right about every nasty name he called me and moved him along. Well he didn't have enough and started to talk trash to my friends at the bar. One thing led to another and someone threw a punch. I grabbed him by the throat (thumb and index buried in his juguler around windpipe..only way I grab the throat), sweeped him to the floor and pounded him.

 

Well the bouncers, not liking that, jumped me. One tried to headlock me from behind. His arm around my neck in a classic rear choke attack, I grabbed his shoulder and elbow and flipped him over on top of the guy already on the ground. I proceeded to hit him too. I know....but how was I to know he was the good guy or bad guy. I was just reacting. After that I remember waking up, with my friend whispering in my ear to "let go".

 

When I regained awareness, I had a hand full of shirt and someone on my back. I let go and stood up. I was in a pile of bouncers with the entire bar watching. I was scared. I didn't realize what had fully happened until my friends told me. My conscious mind had taken a back seat and my body just went into action. I had blacked out.

 

I don't remember much in the way of the fight beyond a bit or two and the information my friends filled me in on. I was in no way proud of my actions because it was not self-defense on my part. I was intoxicated and I could have really hurt someone (bouncers) for no reason. It was scarey to realize that I could black out like that and wake up in a heap of bodies that I had created. I remember everything else that night, except for the fight.

 

That is my one and hopefully only tale of my use of force on others. Hope this is something for others to learn by, because I know I have.

[karate_woman]

I used a simple palm heel strike on a guy that wouldn't stop trying to put his arms around me. I'd tried to stop him by diverting his hands with simple open handed kakie style blocks, which he took as a sort of game. I got tired of the situation, and with him still trying to put his arms around me, I decided to strike. Given the situation, I felt a strike to the side would be appropriate, as I felt he'd stop once he got the point; I was right - one strike and he walked away rubbing his side

[A_mind_like_water]

I used a simple palm heel strike on a guy that wouldn't stop trying to put his arms around me. I'd tried to stop him by diverting his hands with simple open handed kakie style blocks, which he took as a sort of game. I got tired of the situation, and with him still trying to put his arms around me, I decided to strike. Given the situation, I felt a strike to the side would be appropriate, as I felt he'd stop once he got the point; I was right - one strike and he walked away rubbing his side

 

Cool i bet you severly rocked his manly hood

[Rich]

Notice 'mind like water' that each of the attackers were fairly passive, at least towards our friends here. A grab is passive, a punch not at you is passive (to you) and a headlock is fairly passive. If the attacker had laid in with strikes from the offset the outcome could have been very different. I'm not taking anything away from our friends just pointing out to you that aggressive action, pre emptively if possible, is your best way out of a seriously dangerous situation with the odds in your favour.

 

I wont start relaying any of my stories as they are not clever or worthy of adulation. The one instance I will give was a huge guy I defeated psychologically as I am proud of that. He was kicking ten barrells of s**t out of someone when I implored him to stop. He ran up to me and then I realised he was my height 6' 3" and twice as big so I decided given his propensity for serious harm (the other caho was a bloody mess) that should he even flinch and lower the three or so feet between us then I was going straight for his throat etc. and I tried to 'project' this to him. I waited in shizen, weight slightly forward focussing on his throat. He had squared up to me but stopped and what seemed like ages passed although it could only have been a few seconds, looked puzzled all of a sudden and then legged it off down the road as fast as he could. An instance of 'sakki' or just plain ol' psychology? I couldn't care less to be honest.

 

Best to avoid all violence if possible, cross the street and sit on your ego if necessary.

 

Regards

 

Rich

[24 Fighting Chickens]

Yes, karate can be good for self-defense.

 

But karate, like any skill you learn, cannot actually do anything for you. You are the one who does the karate. Your body, mind, and psycyhological profile will limit your karate ability in comparison to other people.

 

The same way that some guys can throw a 100mph fast ball with very little practice, and other guys can never throw faster than 40mph no matter how much they practice, karate is "platform dependent."

 

If you are interested, I have written two articles that address this issue.

 

The first deals with karate as self defense.

 

http://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/101/06_defense.html

 

The next article talks about platform dependency and why it is important.

 

http://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/belts/13_platform.html

 

I have found karate useful for self-defense, but then I am 6 feet tall and weigh in at 210 pounds. A much smaller, less athletic, less mean-spirited person probably would not be able to train a martial art and successfully defend themselves against me. And no amount of training is going to enable me to defend myself against Mike Tyson. He's a bloodthirsty criminal who is significantly bigger, stronger, and meaner than myself.

 

Ultimately, it is not the martial art, but the person trying to do the martial art. That's an ugly fact of life that not many people want to face. No one wants to believe that they are the way they are, and that they can only change themselves a little.

 

Learning to accept the things we cannot change about ourselves is probably a much more noble goal that pursuit of any martial arts training for self-defense.

[Rich]

The way karate is meant to be practised, which is basically to deal desicively and brutally with any attacker at the outset of their violent escalation, makes size a moot point. Size only becomes an issue when you engage in a struggle- end the fight before then if possible.

 

Even after you engage, the idea is to avoid and unload your arsenal without giving them room to reply. There are many smaller people who have used these skills to prevail, sometimes repeatedly. Developing the right attitude, learning to overcome the adrenal dump and developing a few basic techniques under stressful conditions will enable you to stand a good chance in a 'self preservation' situation- which is NOT a fight.

 

Rich