Doesnt all that training go out the window?

[RRouuselot]

I seem to notice that when you may be taken by suprise in a street fight everything you have learnt seems to go out of the window and it turns into a mass brawl, for example, I've being doing Kung Fu (Wing Chun) for a while almost a year but I'm not sure if I was thrown into a situation where somebody just ran at me I would be able to successful react and defend myself in a Martial Art response, I'm sure I would just panic and refrain to a sucker punch, how could I stop this and keep my cool?

Regards

Nick

You will fight the way you train……if people train in non-serious environment with out having to work under pressure then it only stands to reason they will be unprepared. I have seen many people that do “tippy-tap” kumite that swear they can handle themselves in a real situation but when we put on protective gear and go full contact they “lose it” and get all excited and frustrated when the first blow lands.

Soldiers just don’t practice on the firing range and the go off to war…they do live fire exercises and so on which have more stress to better prepare them for the real thing.

 

[JKD_Silat]

Another old musicians' adage:

Practice does not make perfect.
Perfect practice makes perfect.


So.... drill your muscles in a few basic blocks and strikes so you'll react instinctively. I liked the "flinch as trigger" comment earlier. Hopefully the drilled moves will see you through until your brain wakes up to the fact that you're being attacked.

Actually, awareness should come before anything. Be extremely paranoid! Keep thinking what you'd do if "that guy over there" made an aggressive move. Yeah, it can be embarrassing if you misinterpret a move. :whip:
Here's a story.

I was at a local community college, walking down the hallway, and of course there were all these guys lounging around, leaning on the walls. I'm a very paranoid, suspicious person, so I was keeping an eye out for anybody that wanted to try anything stupid. One guy stepped out rather quickly as I was preparing to turn the corner, and before I knew it I'd slid my backpack off my shoulder (I only carry it on one) and my hands were halfway up to a guard position. Of course when I realized that he was only looking down the hall for his friend.... I felt pretty embarrassed. Stupid. Etc. (I hope nobody noticed - I really jumped the gun on that one.)

But the point is I'm trying to illustrate the kind of mindset I'm talking about.
I'm going to shut up now and let you laugh.:asian:

-Flamebearer

Better to be safe and embarrased every once in a while, than the alternative.

 

[Jerry]

Sorry for redundancy:

Some material is more suited to a given situation than others. The more suited your material is to what you are doing, the more likely you will do it rather than abandon it.

Some training is more suited to instilling as reflext material than other training is. The more suited your training is to instilling the material, the more likely you will use the material under stress.

Some material/training is more suited to given individuals than other material/training. Same rule.

Some material/training/people are more suited to retention under sudden stress. Same rule.

We've had good success with students as new as 6 months ending up in surprise fights and useing our material.

My first suggestion would be "try some realistic role-playing with sparring and see what comes out. If cou can video-tape yourself". It's not a perfect way to see what you will do under less controlled conditions... but many people don't do their material even under limited-rules sparring. If you don't do it then, you are not likely to do it "on the street".

 

[Kamaria Annina]

In aspects I agree with this, and in some aspects I do not. Of course it is possible for the situation to be overwhelming and you don't have control over it. However, although I haven't been in a life threating situation, I assume it would be difficult to think clearly. There have been times when I have felt a situation is right, and sometimes, I have even found myself automatically blocking or protecting myself.