Have you fought in street?

[Aunty Ichigeki]

I read a good book written by Sue Lytollis, a NZ woman, on the subject of self defence (I've been searching for a GOOD book on self defence for a long time!). She maintained men who attack women have a fantasy of how the situation will go. They attack - woman screams & flails at them ineffectually with their tiny fists, there are tears & begging. She recommends messing with the fantasy as early on as possible by being loud & assertive & not showing how scared you are. Your story fits this theory nicely.

[eamoncramb]

you should of kia'd sienshin they probaly would of shit them selves lol

[helenosch]

Loud and assertive... remember my old sempai told me the best defense as a woman in the street is a really really loud kiai

[boldbhoy]

I fought in street many, many times before karate. Most of the fights were pathetic with maybe 5% of blows actually connecting. All streetfights I seen or were involved in were no holds barred- very dirty fighting.
There is a phrase in UK " Glasgow kiss" this is a headbutt, to the nose preferably and as hard as you can, and usually as unexpected as poss!!
Almost all were when under the influence of at least alcohol.
I stopped drinking in January 1994, and surprise,surprise... I've not came anywhere near violence since.
Since taking up Kyokushin I now know that I need never be involved again!

[blackshield]

it is not always your choice whether you are involved in a violent confrontation - in fact I would say that if you are a normal person that doesn't go looking for trouble it is NEVER your choice. I have never been in a serious altercation since taking up martial arts in a more 'serious' manner, which i am thankful for. Many people say the same, and put it down to a higher moral standing - but the truth is that I never looked for fights before either...

There was an interesting study a while ago on street violence where researchers took a load of violent offenders in a prison (muggers - thugs etc) and showed them video footage (cctv) of people walking along the street - but only from the waist down - all the offenders picked the same people as targets from the footage (but non of them could explain why they made those choices other than instinct - apparently it is down to subconious body language - and a sense of confidence in the way you move and walk... perhaps this could go a long way to explaining why people who practice martial arts seem to relate stories of 'never getting bothered' since they started training... maybe there new confidence is reflected in there walk...

[boldbhoy]

Very interesting. I also heard before about a posture theory particularly keeping your chest out.
Can anyone expand on this? Pardon the pun please.

[Aunty Ichigeki]

I saw a similar thing on TV recently. It was in the UK. They used two violent offenders who were now involved in training self defence. They didn't even show them real bodies but put sensors on the real people so the offenders could detect their posture & movement on a screen. They instantly picked out one poor chap who had already been the victim of several muggings. They spent a few hours training him how to improve his posture & showed the same style footage to another group of violent offenders. The second group didn't pick this guy as their preferred target. If anyone knows who is teaching this stuff I'd be interested to read more or catch a seminar.

[bushido spirit]

After training for over a year you should be fit enough to run away from a confrontation which should be everyones first and fundamental line of defence
cant agree more, thoght i had to face a fight with a bully it was fast lool 2 mawashi jodans , n after he fell down i had my stamina rush nd ran away lool
tho am not a kind of guys who alway pick a fight i like nagotiating nd belive it or not most of the times i convence them

[Satori]

Originally Posted by bushido spirit

tho am not a kind of guys who alway pick a fight i like nagotiating nd belive it or not most of the times i convence them

Then I hope you never try to console someone, only to find they are... inconsolable

[powerof0ne]

When I was a bouncer and worked the door I had a few altercations..but 9 times out of 10 I was able to talk the situation away instead of fight. Right out of highschool I worked loss prevention(catching shoplifters)and had a few unavoidable fights. One was in a very bad part of my hometown(hilltop)and a shoplifter I stopped outside for a box of twinkies decided to start punching me when I had a flak jacket on. I closed the gap and did a muay thai clinch and fell on top of him to take him down to the ground. While on the ground I saw two other males run up that I thought were his friends and were going to start fighting me. No, it was the other way around, they loved that store because of a produce manager that everyone loved that died recently at the time and kept saying "you don't steal from bill's store" and to put it lightly beat the crap out of the guy. I didn't do anything to stop them because the guy was resisting and trying to get away and I was a dumb 18 y/o kid that shouldn't have been working that job to begin with. I've been in a few other situations that involved guns but I'm not trying to glamorize getting into fights because *knock on wood* I'm still here, due to luck or whatever..not because I'm a bad ass.
In my opinion, you can avoid most situations if you don't put yourself in risky situations to begin with(house parties where there are a lot of people you don't know is risky), bad parts of town where crime is high, and high risk jobs. I don't really count being a kid and getting in fights at school as a "street fight". Have I used Karate or Muay Thai when I fight? Yes but I've also used common sense that involved me football tackling people to the ground just as often.

[Sonik]

Whn there's a knife involved one of the things i say to my firends is: stay away if you can. You don't know who he is. But if yoy have no choice but to confront him you have two options: 1) pretend you're cooperating and give him what he wants and then strike him from behind hard (knee on the backspin or go for a cervical lock from behind and call the cops; 2) try to take the knife away from him.

In my life i've had 3 experiences with knife attacks.
The first one i was 12 years old and they were like 15 guys (from 12 to 15 years of age). They wanted revenge because i hd beaten one of them. I stood up (because in the school i was in there's no other option) but they managed to grab me and punch me and then threatened me with a knife.
The second one was a mug attempt. 3 guys although one was very coward so that would make 2. One of them had a knife and and told me to give my wallet away. I pretende i was gonna give it to him and when he looked down i hit him with a huge uppercut and and destroyed his nose. I continued to punch him without caring about the other guy who was trying to grab me. When kicked me from behind and turned to him and started punching him but was not much of opposition either. he was just trying to take other guy away from there. I was really nervous because that happened near my place and even when i knew they were scarred and still went after them and punished one of them with a few punches in the head and the back.
The third time was against a group of 7 guys (gypsies who near the place where i used to live untill a couple years ago) who started messing with my sister and a friend of mine. When i saw this situation i started walking fast towards them to take them away from there but the gipsies kept after us and when one of them touched my sister i felt i had no choice but to strike him which i did but the other ones striked back. And these guys came to me with everything they had (small bricks, bottles, construction wood staffs and a knife). I managed to take the knife away from the guy who had /trying to play Karate but got my hand cut although it was just superficial. While i punching one or two of them the other were attacking me form behind. I know i got hit with a street brock in the troat and also a few times in the head. Luckily my sister and my friend managed to get inside a building and we locked ourselves in there with a gypsie (which i was holding) but afterwards he managed to get away because there was no light in the building.
When the cops showed up they ran away. None of them was caught and even f they were i'm not sure that would do anything unless they were all above 16 years old.

After all this the result was i got my head broken in two spots and lot of hematoms. I think i only managed to stand up because of the adrenaline (and because i have a hard head lol).
Now at the time i was only 15 and didn't train in martial arts. That was one of the episodes that lead me into search for an effective martial art and eventually got hooked up with Kyokushin Karate and later Kickboxing and Ju-jutsu.
With the martial arts training i received i managed to calm down and to not respond agressively everytime an asshole tries to provoke me or assault. And now i'll be getting to waht some of you said already in here. The way you walk and they way you look other in the face is very important. It's like you said, body language is indeed a factor that helps you stay away. The mind is alo very important. When you're confornted you must let your opponent know just by the look of your eyes that you can kill him if you have too. Another thing i began doing when poeple ask me for the changes is stoped answering with my voice. Instead i just i just give them the no with with my finger in a very calm way and keep walking as if they were nothing.

However this becomes more difficult when you're facing more than one opponent. And even more difficult to me is to stop a fight when it already started with a lotta people involved in it. I think the best optin there is to gab the ones you care about and try to un away with them from out of there.

[goldberg2310]

osu,

best thing:

ESCAPE!

training for more than 20 years kyokushin i will tell you one thing: if there is a street fight and you lost your mind (i lost my mind) the aggressor will be killed...that´s it!

this situation is full of stress - for most of the guys, trained or untrained. i have seen it many times at my job.

rembember sosai...

[TakatomiMonsta]

I got into a fight once outside a bar over something stupid. I tried to avoid a confrontation but drunken people are hard to deal with. The guy was just being really abusive while me and some friends were lining up to get in to the bar. He pushed my mate and so I stepped between them and told him to f*** off. He just swung a big punch at me that clipped my chin so I felt justified in retaliating. It was lame though as a big group of people formed a circle and started cheering and stuff (felt like a complete idiot). I gave him two gedan mawashi geri's that put the kybosh on his movement then I just basically said "this is ridiculous, I'll keep hitting you if you want but how about calling this finished before the cops come?". I think he'd had enough and so limped off. I just felt really stupid and so went home. Had the shakes a bit afterward though which was weird.
Street fighting is lame.
Osu

[andy83]

Unfortunately yes I did.
The strange thing is that if there wasn't someone who stopped me, I will continued so far in beated him.
That's wrong.

[DKKC]

I've had fights on the street both before and after i started Kyokushin. Have to say, training has calmed me down (if that's ever possible!)

[i0z]

I don't train in kyokushin, I'm a self trained martial artist but I also had fought before and after i started training in MA and I agree with DKKC training calmed me also

[Dent]

Caveat: I'm older, grayer, and hopefully at least a little wiser than when I was out every Friday and Saturday. I don't consider a punch up a crime though. Young men need to test themselves, and a few fists and feet flying is a fairly harmless way to go about it. I'm not advocating permanent injury, but wounds heal, and chicks dig scars. ;-)

So, yes, more than a few, and I'm sure that if not for training, I wouldn't be walking so well anymore. Why? Fighting spirit. When you're half way through a good kicking, and still keeping your own, suddenly a change comes over your attacker/s.

Maybe they're tired, or you just took their best shot, or you landed a knock of your own. From there it's only time before they run or hit the deck.

Look, fighting in the street isn't ideal, and those older folk like me wouldn't want our kids to be scrapping like that, but I wouldn't take away that past from myself either. It's part of who I was, and that's part of who I am now.

Don't go searching for it, but if it comes looking for you, be sure you can handle yourself.

Osu!

[ori51]

i love street fights
i think it is the ultimate proof of skill
first of all
you dont pick on someone that is double ur height/ weight/ or strength
no matter how good u are
but i think that a street fight is one of the highest showing of skill
you win some u loose some
its all good

[seienchin]

Originally Posted by ori51

you win some u loose some
its all good

It's not all good if you are dead! The problem with street fighting is just that - it is street fighting -no rules, no holds barred.

My friend (and training partner)'s brother-in-law was stabbed and died when he tried to intervene in a street brawl. His attempt to intervene was laudable, and he should be remembered forever for this act of courage. However, a street fight can have tragic ends. Run first, fight if only not possible or ethical to run.

[Kansetsu]

I've been in a lot of fights, and i've witnessed a lot. Like Seienchin said...NO Rules. If you start with rules, then it's not a fight, it's just a sparring match. I've been in brawls, i've been in mass fights with 10+ people, i've seen whole mess else. In street fights, you use whatever is around you, and anything goes. Eye gouges, bites, scratches etc. You rarely fight one person, and most of the times, the trouble makers have some kind of a weapon.

Like Seienchin, i've lost several friends in street / gang fights....it's not fun.

Luckily i haven't been in any kind of fighting ever since i stopped bouncing 7 years ago...But like some of you said...there are times when you CAN'T just walk away...then it's go time, and it's time to know what you are really made of....