When training in the relative safety of the Dojo (Martial Arts School) on the mats with our friends, we practice with control to try to avoid causing injury to our training partners and ourselves. One of the areas that we train in is Ground Fighting. It's important to know how to fight and defend oneself on the ground, because a large majority of real-life fights will end up with the people involved rolling around on the ground.
But I tell my students that in a real-life fight it's usually best to avoid having the fight go to the ground.
Why? Because outside in a real-life street fight it's already very dangrous fighting standing up, but taking it to the ground may probably make your situation much worse and more dangerous with so many other added factors to consider;
* Fighting on hard pavement can easily tear up your skin as well as a greater risk of causing injury to your bones and joints. On the ground there may be dangerous objects such as rocks, nails, needles, broken glass and various other rubbish that increase the risk of injury to yourself.
* You may be in the middle of a busy street with cars zooming by, so being on the ground in this situation there would be a greater chance of not being able to avoid a car and therefore perhaps being run-over.
* You may be on a stairwell, in a confined space (perhaps a closet, phone-booth, between two cars in a parking-lot, etc...), on the beach at the water's edge or some other area that going to the ground would not be suitable.
* The attacker may have a weapon, such as a knife, and getting into very close quarters by ground fighting, you don't want to be grappling with a knife that is slashing and stabbing you all over.
* Also, and probably a couple of the more important factors of why I suggest to avoid taking a fight to the ground is multiple attackers and lack of mobility to run away. So let's say you do take your opponent to the ground and you're both tied up in a grapple, then "BAM" "POW", a couple of his buddies suddenly start kicking and punching or hitting you with weapons, but because you're on the ground wrapped up grappling your opponent, you can't really protect yourself well aginst his friends that are now attacking you. Plus fighting on the ground you lose the ability to run away (which as you may remember my first post "The best block is a city block", running away from a fight is probably the best choice).
All of that being said, learning ground fighting and grappling is still an important part of self-defense, because as I mentioned earlier a large majority of real-life fights will end up on the ground anyways even if you try to avoid it. So it's important to know what to do there, how to better defend yourself in that situation, then do what you have to do and get back to your feet as quickly as possible and get out of there if possible.
And even though I say that avoid taking the fight to the ground is usually the better option in a real-life fight, remember that each situation is different, so there are some situations that maybe taking the fight to the ground might be a better choice such as; the opponent seems to be a good stand-up fighter (such as a boxer) and you feel confident that you are a better grappler and could better control him and the fight if you take it to the ground, and you are sure that the fight is one-on-one and that he has no friends that will attack you if end up ground fighting, and there is no immediate choice to run away, so in this case it may be better to take the fight to the ground.
Best regards!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
E.C.T. The 3 keys to self-defense.
When actually performing a complete self-defense technique, there are 3 main keys I try to follow, which is E.C.T.
E = Evade. C = Control. T = Technique.
Evading can be physically moving out of the way of the attack, blocking the attack, or if possible combining both of these elements of physically moving and blocking.
Control is to as quickly as possible to try and gain as much control as possible of the attacker and his attacking limb, body and balance or all of these elements combined. So for example, if an attacker is throwing a punch at my head, after evading the attack, I will do my best to grab and trap his arm and try to place myself in a more advantageous position. By controlling his attack I will hopefully, temporarily at least, take away his currently attacking weapon (in this case his fist and arm) as well hopefully gaining a better position in which to control his body and balance as well. This phase now sets me up to continue into the next part, which is...
Technique(s) that can now be performed according to the current position and situation. So now that I have some momentary control of the attacker, I'm in a much better position to be able to follow-through with a variety of techniques that I might do.
In performing the sequence, the E.C.T. phases of the overall self-defense technique should flow smoothly, quickly and naturally together.
E = Evade. C = Control. T = Technique.
Evading can be physically moving out of the way of the attack, blocking the attack, or if possible combining both of these elements of physically moving and blocking.
Control is to as quickly as possible to try and gain as much control as possible of the attacker and his attacking limb, body and balance or all of these elements combined. So for example, if an attacker is throwing a punch at my head, after evading the attack, I will do my best to grab and trap his arm and try to place myself in a more advantageous position. By controlling his attack I will hopefully, temporarily at least, take away his currently attacking weapon (in this case his fist and arm) as well hopefully gaining a better position in which to control his body and balance as well. This phase now sets me up to continue into the next part, which is...
Technique(s) that can now be performed according to the current position and situation. So now that I have some momentary control of the attacker, I'm in a much better position to be able to follow-through with a variety of techniques that I might do.
In performing the sequence, the E.C.T. phases of the overall self-defense technique should flow smoothly, quickly and naturally together.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The best block is a city-block!
Martial Arts has been a part of my life for over 25 years now. It's a fun way for me to help take care of my health, reduce stress, build confidence, participate in sport, socialize with friends, to keep in practice and keep learning.
But at its core the techniques we practice in Martial Arts is also about self-defense. About using your learned Martial Arts experience and knowledge to hopefully survive a potentially dangerous or life-threatening encounter.
In a real-life situation things are different than when we practice Martial Arts in a safe controlled environment with friends. Outside the safety of the Dojo (Martial Arts School), on the streets, away from the ring or mats, with no referees and rules, we have to face the harsh reality that our personal well-being and even our life may be in danger if we get into a real fight.
I tell my students, "In a real fight, the best block is a city-block". The best way to avoid getting hurt or maybe even killed is to not be there. Simply put, run away!
In fact, I think it's best to avoid a real fight before it ever happens. Be smart, aware of your surroundings and listen to your instincts. If you're walking down the street and you see up-ahead a group of rowdy looking people that seems like trouble, then cross the street, go another way, avoid the potential trouble and conflict even before it happens by not being there. But sometimes even though we try to avoid trouble, trouble finds us. In this case, be calm and confident then either walk your way out, talk your way out or run your way out if trouble and conflict seems imminent.
But even when doing your best to avoid the fight, sometimes without warning you could still be attacked. That is the time to react to defend yourself, put what you have learned into action. All the long hours of training, practice and sweating in the Dojo will now hopefully give you an edge and a much better chance at surviving a real fight. We have an expression we sometimes use to motivate ourselves in training; "The more you sweat in the Dojo, the less you'll bleed on the street".
A real life fight is not what you want it to be or what you expect it to be, it just simply is what it is. So in the situation where you suddenly find yourself in a real fight, react the best you can from moment to moment. Do what you have to do to survive the encounter, make it count, then get the hell out of there!
But at its core the techniques we practice in Martial Arts is also about self-defense. About using your learned Martial Arts experience and knowledge to hopefully survive a potentially dangerous or life-threatening encounter.
In a real-life situation things are different than when we practice Martial Arts in a safe controlled environment with friends. Outside the safety of the Dojo (Martial Arts School), on the streets, away from the ring or mats, with no referees and rules, we have to face the harsh reality that our personal well-being and even our life may be in danger if we get into a real fight.
I tell my students, "In a real fight, the best block is a city-block". The best way to avoid getting hurt or maybe even killed is to not be there. Simply put, run away!
In fact, I think it's best to avoid a real fight before it ever happens. Be smart, aware of your surroundings and listen to your instincts. If you're walking down the street and you see up-ahead a group of rowdy looking people that seems like trouble, then cross the street, go another way, avoid the potential trouble and conflict even before it happens by not being there. But sometimes even though we try to avoid trouble, trouble finds us. In this case, be calm and confident then either walk your way out, talk your way out or run your way out if trouble and conflict seems imminent.
But even when doing your best to avoid the fight, sometimes without warning you could still be attacked. That is the time to react to defend yourself, put what you have learned into action. All the long hours of training, practice and sweating in the Dojo will now hopefully give you an edge and a much better chance at surviving a real fight. We have an expression we sometimes use to motivate ourselves in training; "The more you sweat in the Dojo, the less you'll bleed on the street".
A real life fight is not what you want it to be or what you expect it to be, it just simply is what it is. So in the situation where you suddenly find yourself in a real fight, react the best you can from moment to moment. Do what you have to do to survive the encounter, make it count, then get the hell out of there!
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