has your M.A. ever not work in a S.D. situation ?

[Kenpo Missle 47]

has your Martial Art ever not work in a Self Defense situation ?

 

[Nomad]

Yep.

Out with friends many years ago, drinking too much, my buddy's girlfriend insulted some guy who was being an ***, and I got sucker punched for it. Couple of stitches in my lip from where a tooth pierced it, and still have the scar to remind me.

Not sure if this really counts as my "martial art" failing me, or just being young and dumb, since I was likely beyond the capacity to actively defend myself at the time.

 

[WC_lun]

Not personally, though I don't really make it a habit to put myself in those situations. I have had to use it a couple of times and I was fortunate enough to walk away. A couple of my class mates have told me of similiar experiences and they were also successful.

 

[Kenpo Missle 47]

of course not , but im just saying has anyone ever exp. this type of situation and what did you do afterwards , train harder , spar more , switch styles , take the arts more serious ???

 

[baron]

My best self defense was best when I was drunk.

 

[Kenpo Missle 47]

i got this one friend we call punching bag mike cause everytime hes drunk , next day he wakes up with a black eye , missing tooth , forehead lumps , etc etc you get the picture , some guys are just good at fighting when there drunk some arent.

 

[Xue Sheng]

No...never...not once... I get beat up daily :uhyeah:

And please, continue believing that...thank you

 

[tshadowchaser]

The few time i have had to use any they have worked for me.
That includes knowing when to walk away from a situation and when to shut up. ( yep those where taught to me as self defence also.)

 

[chinto]

never failed me so far...

 

[ralphmcpherson]

Not me personally, but I went to school with a guy who started muay thai. He was about a year into it when he started to get real cocky and would walk around trying to start fights and everyone would back down because he did muay thai, he even wore a big leather jacket with his muay thai club logo on it. Anyway, we had a zendokai black belt who was quite shy and didnt say much and the muay thai guy tried picking a fight with him one day. The zendokai guy beat the living crap out of him very quickly and very efficiently much to my amusement. I have never seen that many kicks and punches in such a short period. Im pretty sure its safe to say the muay thai guy did not have his MA work for him that day.

 

[chinto]

there is always some one better trained, faster, tougher, meaner and better then you out there some where.... remember... if you fight, you may die!

so train hard, train consistently and then do your best not to be where you will need it.
BUT, if you are attacked, then survival is at stake, and dispatch that attacker quickly and efficiently.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

there is always some one better trained, faster, tougher, meaner and better then you out there some where.... remember... if you fight, you may die!

so train hard, train consistently and then do your best not to be where you will need it.
BUT, if you are attacked, then survival is at stake, and dispatch that attacker quickly and efficiently.

Good point. If I am walking down the street and mike tyson walks up, corners me and and proceeds to beat me senseless, then I wouldnt regard that as my MA not working in a S.D situation. There is always someone bigger, stronger and better trained and its important to keep your own training in perspective.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

has your Martial Art ever not work in a Self Defense situation ?

No. And I am very careful about how I live and the kinds of places that I frequent so as to avoid the necessity of having to defend my self.

On a very small number of occasions over the years, I have had to use my MA training, at those times, what I had learned in taekwondo, and it has never failed me.

And lest anyone get the wrong idea, I am not exactly a martial arts prodigy nor am I a wall of muscle. In spite of being 6'4, I have spent most of my adult life in the 175-185 pound range (in other words, I was skinny!!). Only in my senior year of high school/freshmen year of college when I was regularly lifting and much later in life (after forty) did I ever exceed 200 pounds (currently, I sit at about 205).

In spite of being skinny, I suspect that my height makes me off putting to potential attackers as well.

Daniel

 

[Zero]

From a slightly different tack, often it is not so much your MA or style letting you down but you letting yourself down in such an instance.

Sometimes a person gets a skewed perception of their ability, particularly when they are first starting out in a particular style and when they may not have actually been in an actual fight, street, tournament or otherwise, and they tend to inflate their ability to defend themselves or handle situations (as often do their friends/associates around them). The times that members from different clubs I trained at over the years got badly served where when they dashed into street fights or altercations to help their buddies and ended up getting pummelled. This was mainly just down to not having enough training behind them (physical and mental).

That said, there are also unfortunate times when even some of the better fighters have got into situations they should have avoided, sometimes with tragic consequences.

As said, the best thing is to put the time in, train hard and regularly, keep an open mind, be able to dis-engage the ego and be on the lookout - and as Dirty Harry said:
"A man's gotta know his limitations..."

 

[WC_lun]

I think Zero has the truth of it, especially in hi last paragraph. If you are fighting for your ego and your opponent is fighting to keep from getting hurt or because he's just a nasty SOB, your gonna be at a disadvantage. Additionallly, people fighting for thier ego do tend to over-estimate thier own skill and underestimate thier opponent's skill.

 

[Kemposhot]

I have to agree with above. So far I've never been put into that situation, and I hope to never be. Knowing when to walk away is definitely very important, and something often over looked during training.

 

[Balrog]

M. A. training does not make us invincible. All it does, in the long run, is give us an edge and teach us how to exploit it. But nothing is going to overcome a session of the massive stupids on our own part, or the bad guy who sneaks up behind us with a big padlock in a sock.

 

[Flea]

The best thing my SD training has done for me is educate me about how to avoid bad situations in the first place.

There's only been one situation where I've been in genuine danger since I started training. I was clearly outclassed by someone twice my size so I chose not to potentially aggravate the situation by being "uppity" with a punch or takedown. Instead I verbally submitted and got the hell out of there as fast as I could.

Is that a failure? I'm not sure. I think the failure was blundering into the situation in the first place by misjudging a "friend." But I got out of it with my honor and physical integrity unbesmirched, so on balance it was probably a success.

 

[Sensei Payne]

Part of your training should be to know how to avoid those types of drunken confrontations, or various other situations that can usually be avoided.

In a True Self defense situation, where you are confronted with a known threat, and you have no other choice but to stand your ground and let your training take over.

If you have trained well...in that situation, it will not, and should not fail...if it does, the scale has been tipped in some way that Martial Arts will not handle(IE, gun, out numbered, etc) and in those cases, defeat is most times inevitable, at that point its all about doing your best, and keeping your guard the best you can.

All in all, there will always be situations to where you will not "win" but your training should never, not work.

 

[Josh Oakley]

The only time my martial arts didn't work for me was the first time I got jumped. Three guys came at me, surrounded me, and the biggest of them wrapped me up and the other two pounded on me until they got bored. My dad called the cops, who didn't show up for about three hours. Then they took a statement and left.

The only other time I got jumped was about four years later, and at that point I was more prepared, a bit taller and heavier. It was also three guys that time (different 3) but this time I didn't let anyone wrap me up. The one guy that tried ended up on the ground. I didn't land too many solid blows, but at the same time, neither did they. At some point I got bored because everyone was tense and ready to pounce, but nobody was willing to try again. I said this wasn't worth my time. I told them if they ever tried anything like this again, I'd find each one of them when they're alone and make them a human baseball (we were all in our early teens at the time, so it sounded threatening at the time ). Then I walked away. They tried to give chase a couple of times, and throw rocks, but each time I started running after them and they fled.


I haven't been jumped since then because I got smarter about not running my mouth and making enemies in the first place. Amazing... you stop being a jackass and you get in a lot less fights. Who knew?