In 2016 we have reviewed a number of self defense concepts and specific techniques. Keeping concepts in mind is of the utmost importance to avoiding the most dangerous situations, while techniques offer options that play off of these concepts in specific situations. However, there is only one way to be certain that things will not result in injury or worse: avoid a physical confrontation altogether!
While this may not be the most exciting rule to practice, it is certainly one that is most effective, and one that has kept me out of trouble more times than I can count. Of course, it is not as simple as ignoring an aggressor, acting tough in the face of danger, or running away. While these options may work sometimes, they actually don’t take the Predator Mindset into proper consideration.
The typical aggressor is looking for a victim, and usually an easy one. This means that ignoring a potential threat (especially with any form of acknowledgement or eye contact), or trying to escape before assessing the situation and environment, may result in the same type of instinct to attack that we see in predator-prey confrontations in the animal kingdom. On the other hand, posturing oneself as a tough and hard target isn’t always going to back down every type of adversary and can actually be exactly what escalates the situation into a physical alpha vs alpha challenge.
Winners Drip, Losers Gush
As a self defense instructor, martial arts instructor, and combat sport competitor the lines can often get blurred between fighting techniques and reasonable real world advice. For example, we train a lot of knife technique in our FMA, Bando, and self defense methodology. What knife training should teach you more than anything is that no matter how efficient you are with a knife, unless you are a soldier going to battle, you should want NO PART of a knife fight. My main teacher, a legend in the Chicago self defense and security team scene, always said it best: “When it comes to a knife fight—winners drip, and losers gush!”
I don’t really want to drip or gush. I want to remain as life threatening injury free as possible. Not to mention, as legally clean as possible (you may recall some points I made in the previous article Acting First). A problem is many self defense schools teach in the unfortunate way that makes students feel ready to go out and give it a try. They teach you to feel like you are tougher than the average attacker, tougher and cooler than the average person. After all, cool, slick, and tough sells. The toughest fighters I know, never get into fights. They know what they can do, they have nothing to prove, but most importantly, they know that…
On The Street, Winning A Fight Doesn’t Matter
It only matters if it saved you from an immediate serious threat, and it only matters in that immediate instant, but it doesn’t mean the fight is over. Did it occur in an area that you regularly visit? Was it near your house? Did your assailant see your car or license plate? These are things to consider on the street. What’s scarier than that is there are many other things to consider, and these are things that the attackers often know better than you. Ask a gang-banger how they would find someone that they had beef with. There are a lot of ways. Ask a stalker if they can find you in another area on another day. Maybe the attacker (who usually is armed with a lack of moral compass as well), simply rounds the corner and finds a weapon to even things out or gain the advantage for round two.
Watch how ugly things can turn on the street when you may think the fight is over
(adult language and violence warning!)
Why Train?
I stopped fighting (outside of competition) and started avoiding all street fights in my early teens, because fights never ended. Someone always came back with more people, a knife, a bat, or a gun. I lost friends to the morgue over very silly street arguments, and others were hospitalized. I’ve worked with teenagers in some of the toughest Chicago neighborhoods for whom this was a monthly or weekly occurrence. Fighting on the street is not glamorous—it is dangerous!
So, how do I reconcile this knowledge with my passion for the fighting arts? Simple. I train the arts for the love of understanding the fight. I compete in combat sports for the love of testing myself and pushing beyond limits. I train self defense in case of the immediate need to respond correctly.
Image credit: http://www.combatstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/street-self-defense-bangalore.jpg
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