assuming youre reacting and fighting properly against opponents in the ring or dojo who are outt to harm you, its sounds like youre mentally freezing up.
Instead of staying calm and focused in order to react properly, youre panicking wheb in danger. Thats something that isnt easy to fix
Contact sparring and drills and bouts\matches (official or with like minded guys) are the closest you can come, but it isnt an exact translation to being in real danger. In those situations theres always someone there to stop it from going to far.
Its something that some folks need more practice than others at, and something youre gonna have to consciously work on every single time you do contact anything
If you spar/wrestle 15 rounds daily, in 1 year you will have sparred/wrestled 365 x 15 = 5,475 rounds. Your accumulated experience will help you to develop your confidence. IMO, this is the only way and there is no other ways.
When you think you are a
- nail, everybody will look like hammer to you.
- hammer, everybody will look like nail to you.
Thanks for your comments, you are right.
Continuous training will help you get over this "freeze", in time. If the training is geared towards that. I would advise you to do some Scenario Based Training either with FAST Defense, Instinctive Response Training, etc. In it you will get an adrenaline dump and learn how to deal with it. This in turn will help you overcome freezing up in the future.
I really hope, because I trained for almost 2 years, and everyone said my progress were fine.. but it doesn't seems like that. The problem is, in Krav Maga we learn techniques and make some fights/sparings, ONLY in order to achieve the next belt. That's it, those are our only tools.
Take up boxing. Do a fight. You are not any more scared or weaker than anyone else.
Well, that's also right.. I just want to be unlike anyone else.
Most people are familiar with the "Fight or flight" response we get from an adrenaline dump but there is also the freeze response. These are all natural and common so don't feel bad about having them the key is to learn to work with them and though them. From what you wrote my impression is this...
Having someone grab you around the back of your neck with their hand is outside of most people's training. I like to break down conflicts and fights into segments. Some of those segments match what you have experienced and some will not. It is always these unfamiliar segments that people have a hard time dealing with because it doesn't look like what you have done before and the brain is trying to make connections and find a response but can't find one.
In the situation you described he may have laid his hand on you but that was it. It would have been up to you to raise the level of the confrontation and make it a fight. That is a hard decision for some people to make and in most instances the correct thing to do is not escalate . Fights turn to law suits and no one really ever wins.
The other posters where correct. If your not training try to get back into it. It will raise your confidence level. Skills leave you very quickly. I also would advise some scenario based training.
First, thank you. Now, about my confortation - when the guy put his hand over my neck, I froze, but few minutes later, after I walked away, my brain found an easy response for that (for instance, take out his hand, push him, threat him and stuff). I could do that easily, but I didn't. Unfortunately.
When I'm thinking about it now, I had no reason to afraid the law. Why? because I could "disable" the threat, without making any over-damage to the guy. Right now? I feel like I just lose, and he won.
Firstly, welcome to MT!
What you have experienced is the effect of the adrenalin dump. Brian and hoshin have explained it above. The freeze is a natural part of the adrenalin response and is the bodies natural reaction to being startled. How long it lasts will vary from person to person. Sparring in controlled conditions like a dojo or ring and not necessarily going to do a lot to reduce it as you are not really being threatened. What Brian suggested above with reality based training will give you the same sort of challenge and the same reaction. You don't need hundreds of rounds of sparring, your Krav training for two years should have given you all the tools you need to defend yourself. Re-read Brian's post and chase up some of that type of training.
First of all, thank you!
Well, you are also right. Actually, I feel like I can defend myself right now. When I'm having unreal fights with my friends, I'm avoiding almost 99% of they're hits. So basically I got the tools, that probably gets away in the REAL rights..
What kind of training did you do in krav? I'm just curious, did you spar regularly? If so what was the sparring format? I trained martial arts for a few years and did some occasional light sparring, wearing your standard foam dipped tkd style gear. I thought I was confident.
Then I trained bjj, in bjj I rolled with bigger stronger guys trying to submit me every class, After a while I experienced a new level of confidence unlike what I'd felt before. When I started sparring in boxing years later I could feel that confidence again. My point is some people think they are confident, they think drills and scenarios give them what they need, and I think they help. But I believe that sparring with hard contact takes training and confidence to another level. Does it guarantee you won't freeze under pressure? Of course not, but I think it helps more than many people realize. I don't think more scenario training is the answer, you're never gonna perfectly emulate every scenario. Multiple opponents and other drills are good but the ability to react under pressure is whats going to make the difference.
How did your confrontation end up? What would you have liked to have done? Not doing anything may have been the best solution. Reacting with violence may have only made you look bad. You made it out alright so that's a victory. This scenario is another reason I advocate developing skills to handle a nonlethal threat. Grappling could have helped, a solid punch or palm to the chest or stomach may have been enough to get your message across. A knee stomp, eye gouge, or grion kick? Probably would have been overkill.
In our Krav Maga, there are many belts. Every belt has it own techniques, and that's what our Krav Maga based on. Techniques. We are learning the basic punches, kicks, elbow hits and stuff, avoiding chokes and liftings, and in higher levels we are learning how to avoid knifes, pistols, sticks and stuff. The Krav Maga made for the street, so there's no rules, and we are trying to hit especially in the weak spots of the attacker. We also have some sparrings regularly. We are using a simple gear like gloves, and spar for like 3 minutes, including boxes, kicks, elbows, knees, etc.
My confortation ends up as I said. I just walked away, and that's why I felt like I lose. Because I couldn't react, I couldn't say anything. That guy lead me, I felt like he told me what to do and how to act. I really wanted to diable him - take his hand out, push him, threat him or something, but.. I just couldn't. The truth? walking away with a scared face, with tens of people around watching you, made me look bad, more than react or use some violance. For me? that's not a victory.
Thank you all for your comments and advices, I'll consider it as soon as possible!
I really glad that I came to that forum, I'm sure I'll stay here for a long time..
