Using martial arts in a self defense situation

You've just described it yourself!

Anything that you've done thousands of times against a resisting training partner will be high percentage for you.

 

Let me take an example from 5 years ago or so.

Me and a friend step in to stop 2 strapping young lads in their 20's from bullying and roughing up 2 men in their late 70's or 80's.

We managed to shout and manhandle them out of the area, and no-one was harmed.

Was that a competition to see who was best at fighting? Even though we could have given them a pasting but chose to resolve the situation by making sure no harm came to any party? Even though they were trying to strike us and we didn't respond in kind?

 

Social violence is more common in social areas with groups of people, but anywhere with people will have a share of it.

You get less battles for dominance over 30.

But more people looking for weak targets the older you get.

There's been 2 wheelchair users violently mugged in my local area in the last week.

 

[QUOavid Harrison;1074989230]Let me take an example from 5 years ago or so.

Me and a friend step in to stop 2 strapping young lads in their 20's from bullying and roughing up 2 men in their late 70's or 80's.

We managed to shout and manhandle them out of the area, and no-one was harmed.

Was that a competition to see who was best at fighting? Even though we could have given them a pasting but chose to resolve the situation by making sure no harm came to any party? Even though they were trying to strike us and we didn't respond in kind?[/QUOTE]

Yes that was still a fight, and you had the superior skills to make them back down, having equal numbers against 2 beta males trying to challange the elderly may of helped too.

 

Exactly. Victimisation is just as much an issue as consensual social violence. And let's not forget that not all young people who end up in fights are engaging in monkey dance ego fights. They can be victims too.

Predators deliberately pick circumstances that make escape very difficult. Of course awareness and avoidance should always be the priority, but it doesn't always save you from confrontation.

Giving people the tools to help them fight back against victimisation when they cannot escape it, or to come to the aid of a victim as and when their conscience dictates, should not be belittled or looked down upon... in my world, anyway.

 

I didn't ask if it was a fight or not, I asked if I was entering into a competition based on ego, to see who was better at fighting with these 2 lads.

Not sure calling them "beta" males is accurate though. As a throwaway derogatory term from a macho perspective I guess it works. However, alphas bully everyone in the pack, and I know that these guys were not hesitant about taking on people of their own age and size. They were certainly bigger and stronger than me.

 

Most social violence isnt consentual, its social because its not asocial, murder isnt the plan.

they're beta males because they're playing the social violence game with people far below them in the pecking order.

You obviously thought you could handle them, so yes it did have ego involved.
It doesn't make it bad, but it is what it is.

We are all traped by our primate brains. You might as well embrace it, and learn from it.

ps you did a very good thing. Kudos.

 

You never know though, do you? Grown men have been killed while breaking up kids fighting. The only advantage I had going for me was technique.

I'd like to think I would have stepped in even if I was very unsure of the outcome. If ego comes into it, I think it is only that it would be damaging to my sense of self-worth if I ignored someone else's suffering.

 

If you dont mind me asking, what technique/tactic etc did you use?

 

Shouting and pushing, pretty much.

That does belie the use of technique and principle though. Which included zoning (getting them to a gate, not letting them flank us, keeping them in a "fire zone", keeping ourselves between them and others), pushing with timing and targeting to keep them destabilised, unable to strike, pushing into a wall to wind and distract for half a second to aid with manhandling them on the other side of a barrier.

Have you ever played Go? I think of it like that, but with unwilling humans as counters.

I say that I only had technique going for me, because I was just starting to come out the other side of a chronic illness. I had, at most, half the strength of these guys, so I had to rely on technique so as not to allow them an opportunity to leverage their advantages against me.

 

I carry a stick and I know how to use it, and I have learned to be violent if I need to be. You can expect a fight to go on until your opponent is down, or out of commission.

I have never been in one that lasted less than a few minutes, due to a lot of mitigating circumstances. Such as, I am not naturally violent, so it takes me a while sometimes, to get it in gear.

When you fight, do it like your life depends on it, because it may. Fight as if the guy is trying to maim you, as if he wants to take out your eye. It is good to be that way, because there are guys who want to do that. Don't let them.

What I can't understand is how the pro fighters can survive relentless punches and kicks for so long?! They're only human after all. do they take some sort of drugs before a match?
Some guys can really take it during a fight, but later on, they will regret it. It really tears you up, but it takes a lot of time for it to show. I remember Kimbo Slice, and how he could fight, and then he died at 42; his fighting probably sped his death.

Watch the "Thiller In Manila" boxing match, between Ali and Frazier, it took it out of them to fight in that heat and humidity. I don't think that either one of them was ever the same after that.

I don't know how they kept standing, it was a punishing fight, and like you said in your post, you can expect a fight to last at least 5 minutes.

 

Meditations on Violence by Rory Miller, subtitled the difference between real life violence and martial arts training. Read and form your own opinion.

 

One thing that stands out to me in this video is how much fun the people throwing punches look to be having.

I understand it too--that is me when I'm sparring, even though I am terrible at it.

I struggled for a long time with getting regular exercise, until I started doing MA again. Its one of the few forms of exercise I find fun, rather than just something to get through for my health.