I didn't say it's absolute. I just said that's the way I prefer to do.
I'm far from a basic brawler. I've boxed since the age of 15, did judo up to green belt, trained a bit of bjj, about 3 years of kali on and off. And dabbled in kickboxing, mma, and a little muay thai. I say none of this to boast or brag but I know how to slip a punch, counter punch, block and cover up, defend takedowns, basic submissions and their defenses etc I'm by no means bruce lee, but ive sparred pro boxers, pro mma fighters, black belts in bjj and judo, guros in kali, and this means nothing. I've held my own against a pro boxer for the first 30 seconds of a round and pinned him against the ropes and slammed him with flurries of body shots, he out classed me and as soon as I got gassed proceeded to beat me, and I went 2 more rounds covering up because I could do nothing. You never know how good someone on the street is, it could be a rogue pro mma fighter, or a guy who's dangerous and has a weapon. Most likely it will be a hot headed moron 90% of the time. If you can last 30 seconds with a pro boxer who isn't being nice than the average idiot isn't a threat most of the time unless they are packing a weapon. My sparring accomplishments are nothing, my smokers are nothing, my competitions are nothing. All it takes to beat any martial artist is to walk up behind them and hit them in the back of the head with a lead pipe. I will blitz, counter attack, takedown or do whatever is needed to win a fight. Counter fighting is good but in my opinion it's not a realistic way for most average people to defend themselves. Why was Bruce lee so fast? It's easy to be fast if you hit the other guy before he even gets a chance. There's better fighters than me in this world but by not playing fair and utilizing certain measures I can cheat and level the playing fields. I just think taking a step back and covering up or trying to block is literally taking a step back. Like you said a few kung fu guys who tried mma used the same strategy to a degree some won some lost, Jon Hess is one who used thus strategy in the early ufc and won using a similar strategy. Tank abbot also. In ww2 our troops had to find a way to level the playing fields in hand to hand vs a nation with a lot of skilled men in judo, ju jitsu and other arts. What did fairbairn teach our troops? He shocked everyone and taught self offense instead. Was it better than self defense? Both are equal in my opinion but you have to know yourself and your enemy. I know myself and 90% of potential enemies , and the way to win in my opinion is to hurt the other guy before he can hurt you. I always assume everyone I have to go up against is a better fighter, my goal isnt to fight, it's to win.
I just want to say I probably sounded like a wannabe tough guy and a bit of a douche in my last reply. Which both couldn't be further from the truth. I'm just passionate about my views on fighting and the experiences I've had. I don't consider myself a tough guy, I rarely get into fights. If I can avoid a fight and walk away I will. But I wanted to come in here and give my 2 cents and what I think. What ended up happening is me arguing over something stupid. It was out of character for me to act like that and I'm sorry jowga wolf for being stubborn. I just have my views and I heard what you were saying and I like what you were saying. But honestly this is going nowhere. And I want to say I respect you and look forward to having conversations on other stuff about the arts In the future but I need to leave this conversation. Thanks everyone in this thread for your time. I didn't mean to hijack it.
For all of those exams you gave is why I'm cautious about going all in on an attack. I have much more flexibility to do that in a sporting environment against someone I familiar with and have determined that the guy is going to ball up. But against unknowns I personally want to get as much of a read on that person "feel him out" take note of how he responds to my movement or positioning. Fight in general to me is like Chess. It's going to be either speed chess or average chess and a lot of on the fly analysis. Things slow down when 2 counter fighters go at it. Things speed up when offensive attackers go at it. Fights rarely happen when defensive fighters go at it.
I didn't take offense in what you said. I can tell by how you word things that you have a lot of passion. I'm known for apologizing for my passion with kung fu. I try to keep in mind that other people have passions about martial arts too.
Maybe we should just talk about training. This way we don't have to worry about any legal issue.
Lately I've been putting alot of emphasis on footwork and positioning. I don't think of footwork as offensive or defensive. So I'm neutral from that perspective.
Your defensive training is my counter training. Defensive training for me would be shuffling back as my opponent moves forward. If I kick when my opponent moves forward then that's counter training for me.Maybe we should just talk about training. This way we don't have to worry about any legal issue.
Do you put more emphasize on training how to:
- jump in, or jump back?
- use long guard, or use short guard?
- punch, or block punch?
- kick, or block kick?
- joint lock, or joint lock escape?
- takedown, or anti-takedown?
- iron pam, or iron vest?
- ...
If you spend 70% of your training time in punch, and 30% of your training time in dealing with punch, you are training offensively by definition.
Offensive training:
Defensive training:
This is why to deal with head punches should be treated as the most important part of MA training.
I think you and I often get into this loop, because many of your posts read to me as being binary and absolute. Reality is pretty nuanced. Much of my grappling training is about using the input provided, with part of the purpose being to provide fewer big openings to an opponent. That doesn’t equate to never training or practicing offense-first application, though I’m personally more likely to use strikes when I’m being offensive.
In grappling, do you use pull to set up push? If you do, you are using the offensive approach.
I can and do use both. In most of NGA’s initial training, we do mostly neither. Push into pull is addressed more obviously, and is the easier to work with in our foundational techniques.In grappling, do you use pull to set up push? If you do, you are using the offensive approach.
He uses push to set up pull.
You guys make that stuff look so easy.In grappling, do you use pull to set up push? If you do, you are using the offensive approach.
He uses push to set up pull.
That's a demo tape. Without clothes, the pulling is hard to do. When you have gloves on, the pulling is even harder to do.
Even in self-defense, when your opponent punches you, do you:
End the threat. That's my focus. As long as I am under attack, I am committed to defending myself. When the attacker can no longer threaten my safety, the attack is over and I will depart with all the alacrity I can muster.
From the SD point of view, if a stranger attack you, you counter-attack and hurt him badly (or kill him). Is that the best way for self-defense?
