Martial arts

Many fights end up hitting the ground. If you are not comfortable working from the ground, then maintain a solid fighting distance and avoid in-close fighting as much as possible. Adding to the danger of ground fighting is the possibility of more attackers arriving, glass on the ground, weapons, and your most immediate attacker being much heavier, as well as numerous other factors. A grappler will have methods of closing the fighting distance with you, and taking you out of the range from which many types of strikes can be thrown solidly. In this case, make well-timed use of elbows, knees, standing submissions, reversals, makeshift weapons, and other such anti-grappling maneuvers. Be especially careful not to over-extend your strikes, or leave them extended for long after delivery, against a seasoned grappler.

When faced with an attacker who you suspect has a weapon, you will, of course, have even more reason to seek means of escaping the situation other than hand to hand combat. It is possible that if you comply with your attacker, they will let you alone afterwards. However, do not always be quick to believe that he or she shares your belief system; they could very well harm or even kill you after getting what he/she wanted.

The attacker may also be on drugs such as PCP, which would make him or her very dangerous to deal with. Pain compliance may not work as well against such an assailant; move defensively while doing as much damage as possible. Use the environment even more so, such as getting free to run and throwing things in his/her path. Also be extra careful of weapons the attacker is wielding. If at close range, attempt to stop the weapon from even being drawn. If this is not possible, dodge an attack or jam it as your opponent comes at you. Control the wielding arm, and strike at your opponent with your free limbs, head butts, etc. until you can disarm or subdue. It’s also very important not to get caught off guard with a handgun, which would put you at a severe disadvantage. In this case, use distraction or other methods to diffuse the situation, and disarm if necessary.

Overall, many attackers will concentrate on their “weapon” (striking, grappling, a weapon, sheer strength or numbers, etc). Your attacker may believe that he/she has something that guarantees success. There is no way anyone can plan ahead for all situations, however. You must instead constantly learn, as well as use strategy, adaptability, and heart to your advantage, in a fight or life itself.

The author lives in Lake City, South Carolina, where he also teaches at his Wado ryu Karate school. For more information about Karate and the martial arts, please visit the Johnston Karate Homepage or the Johnston Karate Online Community.

Share This

Sometimes in my street-fighting martial arts classes…I will purposely put two people who don’t like each other (or even hate each other) together during sparring sessions.

In some cases, when I really want them to make progress, I’ll encourage them to tease, taunt and even verbally abuse each other.

Why do I do this?

Is it because I’m some kind of jerk who gets a rise out watching people yell at one another?

Not at all.

I do this because making people train in emotionally-charged situations like this is one of the single best ways to teach them how to control their emotions and keep their priorities straight.

You see, in a real fight on the street, you are going be exposed to a level of emotional intensity that you simply will not feel anywhere else. Anywhere.

And so, if you can learn how to distance yourself from your anger, your fear and your frustration — by training yourself how to block it out while sparring in an emotionally-charged situation — then your chances of walking away from a real fight in one piece go up dramatically.

And you should do the same thing when you spar and train. Taunt and tease each other. Call each other names. Push each other’s hot buttons.

Just make sure you do NOT do this without a third person present to mediate things, especially if either of you lacks self control.

In fact, be very careful with this. Because if either (or worse, both) of you have deep hostility towards each other, then you could end up going much farther than sparring.

So like anything — especially when it comes to training how to fight — use common sense.

Sifu Matt Numrich is one of only a few instructors in the world with Full Certification in Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do, and also the Filipino Martial Arts. His students include everyone from Federal Air Marshals and military elites to small children and 65-year old ladies. Matt also offers free weekly street-fighting lessons by email at http://jkdondvd.com

Share This

Can you imagine Bruce Lee with a gun?

Me neither.

Truth is, there’s very little about Bruce Lee’s view on guns. He was more focused on using his body, other weapons, and his mind to win and dominate fights.

But here’s the rub:

If you want to give yourself the highest chance of survival in a violent situation you should at least familiarize yourself with the basics of firearms. Even if you are someone who doesn’t want to have a gun, use a gun or even look at a gun.

Why?

Because — and this happens all the time to people who never thought it would — you never know when you will have to use a neighbor’s, or one that you’ve just wrestled out of the hands of an attacker.

This is a very common scenario, actually. You just never know when you are going to be thrust into a situation where you will have to use someone else’s firearm to save your own life.

For example…

Imagine you are fighting some thug and you manage to disarm him. He gets up and pulls a long, blood stained knife and starts coming at you.. You have the gun pointed at him and have maybe five seconds to use it.

Do you know where the safety is on it? Do you know how to quickly turn off the safety if it is on? Is the gun cocked? Are there any bullets in it? If so how many? Do you know how to check?

For some people, these are simple questions. For others — especially people who are deathly afraid of guns, or hate them and have never really considered they may need to use one some day — these are just a few things to consider learning about.

Sifu Matt Numrich is one of only a few instructors with Full Certification in Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do, and also the Filipino Martial Arts. His students include everyone from Federal Air Marshals and military elitesto small children and 65-year old ladies. Matt also offers free weekly street-fighting lessons by email at http://jkdondvd.com.

Share This