mad_dr

I'm not indestructable. I'll start with that...

I do kickboxing, have done for some time, have had my fair share of full-contact fighting and am pretty confident that I can look after myself in most on-the-street encounters, but I feel that I'm intelligent enough to realise that you can NEVER tell what the other person is going to do.

Sure you can pick up on certain characteristics in your opponent that can help you - for instance, as soon as you get to the 'interview' stage where aggression is imminent, you can tell how the guy/girl handles themselves. You can see if they're going to use fists, feet or a combination of the two (or 4, if you prefer), but what if they pull a weapon?

For that reason alone, I don't care if you think you're the 'hardest' person around: If someone's coming at you and you think you're in danger, the ONLY sensible thing to do is to try your very best to avoid a confrontation. RUN!

If you're grabbed from behind and have NO option to run, I guarantee that someone who has martial-arts experience will be more likely to come out better off. Because they're 'hard'? NO: because they understand what's going on and they KNOW what to do. Most untrained people (Despite what they claim!) will simply freeze because they have NO experience of how to cope with the Adrenaline or being threatened.

Anyone who claims to be a martial-artist but insists that they will choose to fight when they have ANY option to run, is either lying, incredibly naive or a poor martial-artist. Simple. People who learn a martial-art in order to be able to fight are missing the point. Those who learn a martial-art 'just in case' are prepared...

Brit_in_Japan

Whatever martial arts skills you may have, you have to have the room to use them and the wit to react instantly. You can always brush up on technique too. Here's a clip of some of the latest leading edge martial arts techniques

Clip

LG John

Again Tiggs I feel you've waded in and not read the whole thread in detail. At no point have I ever suggested that David did anything other than the 100% correct thing and at no point have I said I'd do any different. I'd probably hand over the £30 with the added bonus of wetting myself!

All I have ever done is attack the general allegation that martial arts are useless when it comes to defending yourself. I suppose the generation after generation after generation of people that have practised them are all wrong though

LG John

I'm amazed it took that long for that clip to appear - very funny