Self defence myths that could actually put you in danger

[Nat Stringer]

I just read this article on flawed self defence myths that is actually pretty good - Self Defence Myths That Could Actually Put You In Danger - read this on Urban Kombat which is my local krav maga gym

What are some other really bad pieces of advice that people have been given or overheard? There has to be heaps out there

 

[mber]

There is a lot of bad advice out there; but I might include some of what that article mentioned as poor advise. In particular the last item on their list has definitely been recorded as working, and in a mugging scenario, is probably not going to increase your danger any more than letting the mugger have their way with you will.

I don't know if this counts as "advice" per se, but I know a lot of martial arts schools teach children the same self-defense techniques as adults under the guise of practical street defense, but many of the moves are only practical if you have the size and strength of an adult -- most children just aren't going to be able to hit that hard, and giving them the idea that they now have the ability to take down an attacker is dangerous, imho.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Martial arts in general give bad advice. most school teach the technique and ignore the conditioning that's required to actually be able to use the technique. The bad service comes when a person can use a self defense technique and failing to mention the training that's required to actually be able to do it.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

There are very few 'always' or 'never' rules that can be trusted. Any given situation or set of circumstances has its own set of best practice guidelines. It's very hard to come with one-size-fits-all rules for every situation.

 

[Paul_D]

The most dangerous piece of advice I continue to hear is that you are not allowed to strike pre-emptively (in the UK) which is simply not true.

Another is “go for the leader” which just silly as it pays no attention to where he is, or where his cronies are. Advice should be “go for whoever is nearest” ;-)

 

[Tez3]

The most dangerous piece of advice I continue to hear is that you are not allowed to strike pre-emptively (in the UK) which is simply not true..

Sadly there are a lot of myths about our self defence law, it's surprisingly liberal. Certainly you can make a pre-emptive strike and you can use weapons.

 

[Paul_D]

Sadly there are a lot of myths about our self defence law, it's surprisingly liberal. Certainly you can make a pre-emptive strike and you can use weapons.

The are indeed, which makes it all the more frustrating when people perpetuate the misconceptions.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

in a mugging scenario, is probably not going to increase your danger any more than letting the mugger have their way with you will.

If you wear shoes, you should not mess with those who is barefoot. It depends on whether you are the person who has shoes, or you are the person who is barefoot.

When I worked in the Ideal Toy Company for night shift back in 1971, I got paid $2 per hour. At the end of the week, I got a pay check for $63. One time I had $47 dollars in my pocket, 2 guys tried to rob me in the dark street of Queens, NYC. I fought back just because I didn't want to lose my $47. Did I put myself in danger? May be I did. But if I didn't make enough money to pay my next semester tuition of $650, I could be in big trouble.

When you are in survival mode, you may look at thing differently. When you have to make choice between starve to death, or killed by knife, you will have courage to fight back.

 

[Touch Of Death]

There is one myth I like to bust for all my friends, and some gals take it pretty hard, is that, I ain't gonna jump in and save you, if you start a fight. You got that?

 

[drop bear]

Eyegouging from the bottom. If you have time to do that they were not being very serious about hurting you.

Until you eye gouged them.


And using natural reflexes. If you used natural reflexes you would not have to train useful reflexes.

Infighting as being some sort of default street fighting position. Fighting in a phone box. That is kind of the most dangerous place you can fight from unless you are unknockoutable.

 

[punisher73]

I'm not even sure if it is still given as advice, but I remember watching a women's self-defense seminar from someone and they told women to "pee their pants" so the attacker/rapist would just be disgusted and leave. The issue is, we have been conditioned to NOT pee ourselves. It may happen naturally, but in a high stress situation it's just not going to happen on purpose.

 

[punisher73]

There are very few 'always' or 'never' rules that can be trusted. Any given situation or set of circumstances has its own set of best practice guidelines. It's very hard to come with one-size-fits-all rules for every situation.

This is very true. I have heard some questionable things and having talked to the person find out that it was exactly what they did in the situation and it worked. Every situation is different and what may work in some, won't work in others. Usually the best applicable advice is the pre-contact avoidance stuff.

 

[Buka]

Myths? From Martial Arts? Naaaaaa, say it ain't so!

When I was a kid there were some corkers. If you were a black belt you had to register your hands at the Police Station.
Think about that. Think about the desk Sargent, the look on his face.I wonder if he gave you a form?
This was a widely accepted belief.

If you were about to get into a fight - you had to warn the bad guy you were a Martial Arts Expert. (The word "expert" seemed to be important for some reason.)

If you palm heeled a guy to the nose, the nose bone was driven into the guy's brain, killing him. But this wasn't really news, everyone seemed to have heard this, believed it and openly shared it in conversation. No, seriously. Honest to God.

Karate guys always took their shoes off before they fought you. I used to watch out for that when I was ten.

We're probably due for some new myths pretty soon. Let's hope they're good ones.

 

[JR 137]

Myths? From Martial Arts? Naaaaaa, say it ain't so!

When I was a kid there were some corkers. If you were a black belt you had to register your hands at the Police Station.
Think about that. Think about the desk Sargent, the look on his face.I wonder if he gave you a form?
This was a widely accepted belief.

If you were about to get into a fight - you had to warn the bad guy you were a Martial Arts Expert. (The word "expert" seemed to be important for some reason.)

If you palm heeled a guy to the nose, the nose bone was driven into the guy's brain, killing him. But this wasn't really news, everyone seemed to have heard this, believed it and openly shared it in conversation. No, seriously. Honest to God.

Karate guys always took their shoes off before they fought you. I used to watch out for that when I was ten.

We're probably due for some new myths pretty soon. Let's hope they're good ones.

A few things...

When I started my first stint with karate about 20 years ago, an older gentleman at a family party overhead my conversation about it. No idea who he was, I never saw him again. He said he earned his black belt when he was stationed in Okinawa. He said once he came back, he registered his hands and feet as lethal weapons with the police department.

A high school friend of mine left judo after getting his brown belt because he didn't want to have to register if he got his black belt. His family owned a night club that he worked at, and wanted to avoid legal issues if someone sued because a black belt beat him up.

My college anatomy teacher showed us the part of the skull that gets pushed into the brain by martial artists (Crista Galli of the ethmoid bone).

You can't make this stuff up.

 

[drop bear]

Myths? From Martial Arts? Naaaaaa, say it ain't so!

When I was a kid there were some corkers. If you were a black belt you had to register your hands at the Police Station.
Think about that. Think about the desk Sargent, the look on his face.I wonder if he gave you a form?
This was a widely accepted belief.

If you were about to get into a fight - you had to warn the bad guy you were a Martial Arts Expert. (The word "expert" seemed to be important for some reason.)

If you palm heeled a guy to the nose, the nose bone was driven into the guy's brain, killing him. But this wasn't really news, everyone seemed to have heard this, believed it and openly shared it in conversation. No, seriously. Honest to God.

Karate guys always took their shoes off before they fought you. I used to watch out for that when I was ten.

We're probably due for some new myths pretty soon. Let's hope they're good ones.

I have had a guy take his shoes of to fight me.

 

[JR 137]

My favorite myth...

90% of fights go to the ground.

If you count people getting knocked down or laid out into the equation, it's still not close in my experience. My 10 years of bartending in college bars, hanging out in college bars, plus all the other fights I've seen and have unfortunately been in don't back this up. Not even close. Maybe I lived in a bubble during that time.

 

[JR 137]

I have had a guy take his shoes of to fight me.

Did he try to hit you with them? Knock you out with the smell?

 

[drop bear]

Did he try to hit you with them? Knock you out with the smell?

Took them off and advanced towards me throwing cresent kicks. From about 50 meters away.

Cops eventually tazed him.

 

[Touch Of Death]

If you palm heeled a guy to the nose, the nose bone was driven into the guy's brain, killing him. But this wasn't really news, everyone seemed to have heard this, believed it and openly shared it in conversation. No, seriously. Honest to God.

Karate guys always took their shoes off before they fought you. I used to watch out for that when I was ten.

We're probably due for some new myths pretty soon. Let's hope they're good ones.

Yeah, that is a great way to bury people's teeth into your palm.

 

[RTKDCMB]

One I've heard before is that "you have to give three warnings to your attacker before you use martial arts to defend yourself".