Self Defense vs Martial Arts vs Fighting
 

I was sat around day dreaming and wondering about something. What's everyone's opinions on martial arts and self-defense in a real world fight?

I don't mean a prepared one on one fight either. I mean in the general real world where most fights happen whilst drunk, outnumbered, in odd circumstances, or by surprise.

In my limited experience (This really is just a question of wonder) most self-defense is bullshit. I once saw a Paul Vunak video which wasn't too bad. Headbutts, elbows, eye gouge, groin kicks, cupped slaps to the ear, knees.

Martial arts all vary but in my experience there are just people who are fighters and people who aren't. The most a martial art can do is give someone a bit of skill and confidence into being a fighter.

I've dabbled in martial arts and I've never really met a pussy who was good at martial arts to be any good in a scrap. Every good fighter has always just been that; a fighter. They never attended a boxing/martial arts session in their life but could regularly drop people in one punch.

I've also met many people who spent their life training and attending lessons, even the more 'effective' martial arts who would get dominated in any fight or even in a play fight. This goes for MMA too. Most people who always get into fights when they're out (let's use that as the equivalent as a training session) are usually pretty fucking good at it.

The only thing I can see a martial art doing is giving you some confidence and technique to 'unleash' the fighter in you. I could never imagine a pussy having such good technique they could take out a pyscho who throws the first punch.

What's everyone else's opinions or experiences? This is just a random question, not a thesis or me debating.

Are martial arts and self defense any good or is it purely a mindset.

Maybe I rambled and wasn't very clear. The question is a two parter. Are martial arts/self defense applicable in real life fights? And can martial arts actually turn a pussy into a fighter?

In my experience the answer is no. All the martial artists I met that could fight, could fight before they started training.

All the fighters I've met had never trained in their life. They had their own techniques and ideas but nothing more.

If u want to be good in a proper fight do any sport where theres alot of sparring. Boxing. Mma. Muay thai. Kickboxing. Ji jitsu even. Anything at all where your in a controled fight and you will get better. Its no use just running through techniques at half speed.

I wanna learn Krav Maga. It looks awesome..



One of the lads in work does it, he's a big tall skinny basketballer.

Apparently, they don't let members join if they have a criminal record for any violent offences. So technically I'd get turned away however, anything I've ever been convicted of is now officially spent.

So if I don't have to disclose it for work, I don't have to disclose it to them.

Although if I recall correctly I think the basketball guy told me it didn't matter to them how long ago the offence was.

It's exactly that sort of bullshit that gives Krav Maga a bad name. They wanna pretend all the time that it's extra deadly. Lol.


Peace,

kowalski

Another thing is, any videos on YouTube are all set up/sparring/demonstrations.

I'd love to see a video of an expert in Krav Maga being attacked by 3 or 4 guys, & find out what it looks like on the street in real life.

I think though, it would still feel pretty powerful knowing you have the skills at your disposal, regardless if you'd witnessed it in action outside the dojo.

In fact I've just remembered, about a year ago on the Facebook page of the local Krav Maga group there was a post from a member one morning. They told of getting out of bed 5am to investigate a noise they heard downstairs. Turned out to be a burglar, who on seeing the home owner, attacked them (I can't recall if the home owner was male or female, or if the burglar had a weapon). The burglar got disarmed/incapacitated, & taken down, & restrained until the cops came.

So, I bet that home owner was sure glad they'd taken up art.

I imagine an expert in Krav Maga could just keep making a trained fighter look stupid by continuously dodging incoming attacks & throwing them around the place etc.

Well at least until some cunt gets tired enough to quit.

first thing anyone gets hit with is a punch, so boxers are always fucking solid.

And a karate chop as well, hurts loads. I'm a karate chop expert

Was Krav Maga Christian Bale learned for the choregraphy for the dark knight trilogy. Looked pretty cool when he was fighting multiple baddies.

I worked as a Krav Maga Instructor for around 2 years. It has it's place as a military combative. It's quick and easy to learn and gives you a pretty good one.

The problem is it's marketed by most people as some magic bullet solution that'll turn you into Jason Bourne in 6 months. Wrong. So, so wrong.

Let's take knife attacks. Krav Maga makes pretty big talk about it's utility in defending against a knife. Let's look at the Israeli Defense force as an example. Everyone there has had at least a year of high quality Krav Maga training. On patrols in Gaza on of the most common problems have now is random stabbings. A random person will come up pretending to ask for help or to get their papers checked and then go mental with a knife and try to stab and slash at as many people as possible.

Not only do civilians get stabbed, but armed guards get stabbed too. It's one of the most frequent kinds of attack because it's so damn effective, and everyone in Israel is taught Krav Maga. So you can say this much. Knowing Krav Maga will not reliably stop a knife attack.

The exact same thing goes for fighting 3-4 people. There's so many different factors, relative size, space, exits, incidental weapons etc that would have to be working in your favour before kill even comes into the picture. Now if you're a Brock Lesnar looking dude and 4 unarmed guys try to fight you in an empty alleyway by a main road. You'll probably get out just fine. Stick the same guy in the middle of a pool hall and the odds drop drastically. You can be fighting 3 guys pretty well, which is practically impossible on it's own, while the fourth goes and smashes the side of your knee in with a pool cue of glasses you over the back of your head. Cue serious injury and getting your face collectively kicked of.

The thing is Krav Maga teachers aren't stupid. They know in that situation a guy with no military training or fight training would be fucked, and best case scenario is not winning, but getting the fuck out of there. Thing is, that's not how they market it. It's the main reason I wouldn't teach it now. It's irresponsible and could give someone a false sense of confidence that'll get them killed.

If you want to become a competent fighter, learn some MMA, or just boxing and wrestling if you dont fancy that. But if you want to feel like you can beat up multiple people and stop armed attacks with your bear hands, save yourself some money and just go buy a power ranger costume.

I can be batman tho.