When somethins yur pants off do you go open or closed handed?

[kenpofighter]

Which way do you normally react when you get scared. You most likely jump into some kind of stance and do you leave your hands open or closed? (I am asking this because just a minuet ago I was spooked~lol~and to my surprise I had my fist up. I hit a nice right neutral bow though he he!)

 

[MA-Caver]

I can be startled but scared, no. Typically I will jerk and turn to the source of whatever it was that startled me. My father has a proclivity of calling out my name when I least expect it. That's okay but being deaf he doesn't realize that he can be a bit... loud.
I need eyes in the back of my head.

 

[tshadowchaser]

Normally one hand comes to the center of my chest or a little higher and is open. I have been know to just strike out at whatever spooked me but I seem to have out grown that

 

[Ahriman]

Depends on the intensity and distance of startling effect. I tend to react quite strongly to sudden clicking or metal-sliding-on-anything noises, especially up close - in those cases left hand strike at face level with base of palm while getting off the X and right hand on hilt of most accessible weapon at the moment. Due to some... unpleasant experiences with stray dogs, I usually don't stop for a second at grabbing said weapon, rather draw it and advance when I hear the noise of a dog running towards me growling (there were some accidents here involving stray dogs and dead people). If said dog isn't one of the more dangerous kind it backs off - if not...
If anything startles me from behind me I start a diagonal forward leap while turning and evaluating the situation - if I come to the conclusion that everything is OK, the counter-action ends with said leap, if things aren't OK, I start a hammer fist strike with left and grab hilt.
If I'm unarmed... uh, that's only when I'm at home and at home we have "damage inflicting objects" everywhere.
...
So basically I use strikes to create a bit of distance, which is in some cases enough in itself, but would the situation escalate, I rely on armed skills mainly and unarmed secondarily - that is, use the off hand to parry-grab-control-strangulate so it usually ends up open even as in some cases it starts closed. If it was simply some sudden noise with no real meaning... well, I don't wear my knives open so others won't really see what I'm doing with my right hand near my belt and a more-or-less violent unarmed reaction isn't that abnormal so I don't freak them out.

 

[mook jong man]

When suddenly startled my hands will come up into a wing chun guard.
A funny thing happened years ago , i went out bush to inland New South Wales with a mate to visit his grandmother and she said we could sleep out in the old caravan ( thats a trailer in Americanese) .

Anyway so we went to check this old caravan out , i opened the door with my mate right behind me and this bloody frill-necked lizard came charging right at me and then went past us out the door.

It scared the crap out of me and my guard went up by reflex and i felt like a real dick , and my mate said were you going to do kung fu on a lizard.

 

[Sukerkin]

Nice story, Mook.

We train these actions into reflex for a reason and it's good to hear that all that effort pays off. Okay, it makes us look daft on occasion but better silly than duffed-up :tup:.

My instinct used to be a cross-body parry as I turned to face the source of startlement - now that looks really silly when done for no good reason :lol:.

 

[theletch1]

Haven't been startled like that in quite some time. It's the situational awareness thing I suppose. Last time it happened to me I reacted by dropping my center just a little, hands coming up (open) with my left side slightly more toward the motion than my right.

I have, for quite a few years, had to tell folks not to touch me while I'm sleeping. I've had some bad (or good depending on your outlook) reactions to being touched when asleep. Week before last was a very stressful week for me. I went to bed early and dozed off. My wife came into the bedroom later. As soon as she opened the door she said I came out of bed, left side slightly forward, hands up and open with my center dropped. I stared at her (through her actually) the entire time she was moving across the room and adjusted my posture to her position relative to me. She spoke my name a couple of times but I never responded. The look on my face, she said, scared the hell out of her so she left the room. I do not remember this happening. Not the first time something similar has happened. I guess I really, really, like my sleep.

 

[MA-Caver]

Depends on the intensity and distance of startling effect. I tend to react quite strongly to sudden clicking or metal-sliding-on-anything noises, especially up close -

Yeah the stealthy sound of a katana being drawn quietly in the dark somewhere behind me scares me too. :lol:


..... wait, whuzzat?

 

[Ahriman]

MA-Caver: I got the joke (and laughed at it) but I actually meant those would-be robbers who think that drawing slowly is less loud and noticeable than drawing quickly. Lucky for us, criminals around here are often so stupid that if I wouldn't have seen it myself I'd think that it's a parody.
(and actually there are criminals here liking Chinese mass-produced katanas but they are usually present at places known to most thus those who care about it can avoid said places)

 

[Sukerkin]

If a katana being drawn makes a noteable sound then you don't have to worry about the guy drawing it .

 

[Ahriman]

(uh-oh, I realized my previous post can be a bit confusing - I meant knives when I wrote drawing and added the katana part as a response to MA-Caver's joke)

 

[Sukerkin]

Not at all, Ahriman. Your post was fine; I too was responding in continuation of Caver's jest .

Also, many thanks for the compliment of adding my words to your signature. I am honoured :rei:.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Which way do you normally react when you get scared. You most likely jump into some kind of stance and do you leave your hands open or closed? (I am asking this because just a minuet ago I was spooked~lol~and to my surprise I had my fist up. I hit a nice right neutral bow though he he!)

Funny you should ask....

Once my wife and I were walking by the University Center at the UT in Austin (Texas.) Well while walking my nose had a whistle (don't laugh guys..) My wife heard the whistle and turned real fast toward me in suprise. I in turn, thinking we were attacked from behind me, whirrled around with my shields up, that is both hands up in a boxing stance... fist closed.

So I know definatly how I'd react, cause I have.

Deaf

 

[kenpofighter]

Funny you should ask....

Once my wife and I were walking by the University Center at the UT in Austin (Texas.) Well while walking my nose had a whistle (don't laugh guys..) My wife heard the whistle and turned real fast toward me in suprise. I in turn, thinking we were attacked from behind me, whirrled around with my shields up, that is both hands up in a boxing stance... fist closed.

So I know definatly how I'd react, cause I have.

Deaf

Funny, funny, sorry just had to.

 

[still learning]

Hello, Many of us prepare ourselves for surprise attacks....well some of us anyway....

We train to keep our hands up...like a pushing motion...(surrending)....what if a person has a gun...a close fist...can get you kill or shot!

Plus hands up protects you as you fall too! Keeping your hands up gives you lots of options for self-defense too!

Some people will SCREAM....JUST a reaction....some will pee in their pants too! ...this is when to keep hands in pants to close the piping.

Avoidance and prepareness.....best to smile too!

Aloha, Lovely HULA hands....the hands tells a story.....HULA dancing!

 

[Rich Parsons]

Which way do you normally react when you get scared. You most likely jump into some kind of stance and do you leave your hands open or closed? (I am asking this because just a minuet ago I was spooked~lol~and to my surprise I had my fist up. I hit a nice right neutral bow though he he!)

Open hands.

 

[thardey]

Which way do you normally react when you get scared. You most likely jump into some kind of stance and do you leave your hands open or closed? (I am asking this because just a minuet ago I was spooked~lol~and to my surprise I had my fist up. I hit a nice right neutral bow though he he!)

Open hands, thumbs tucked. One hand close, one hand out, ready to parry. Which hand depends on which way the surprise came from.