"Without hand fighting skills, you are just a walking holster"

I don't think much has changed, other than that it is easier to find more reality based training now.

 

Age defeats us all. There is a vast difference between twenty something and seventy something.

 

My dad was an mp for 15 years. His last duty station was was Lackland Air Force base as an instructor and in the summer time I got to go to work with him. So I learned some Akedo, pressure points, pat downs, and hand cuffing when I was way young. Along with that came the responsibility speech. He drilled the fact that I am responsible for my own safety so be aware of my surroundings. Plus I had access to his entire library of books on self defense, case studies of both civilian and officer involved shootings, and one of my all time favorites The book on handgun stopping power. My dad did his best to ensure his boys respected the law and had the capability to protect not only our selves but those who were not able to.

If you are going to carry a firearm to defend your self and love ones it is also your responsibility to learn the other things that go with it.

 

Well class starts in 20 minutes.

Will report back... if I live through it

 

Yes, there is inherent risk in ground fighting, and what you described is one of them. There is also 1 constant that can't be mitigated- GRAVITY. A fighter on the street may end up on the ground before he/she even realizes that there is a fight in progress, and yes, there may be multiple attackers at any time. The only option is to use whatever tools are available in your tool box. It is infinitely difficult to engage more than 1 attacker, regardless of if the single fighter is standing up or on the ground- which is where he/she will likely end up sooner or later. At that point, the defender is just doing his/her best and probably hoping to make a good account in a situation that will most likely end bad. It is what it is.
As far as the sport of MMA - besides the rules which apply, there are several ways to get a "win": 1- knockout 2- tapout (initiated by a fighter when a choke or submission is experienced) 3- stoppage (the corner/coach, referee, med personnel, or opponent indicates he/she is "done"). In an actual FIGHT, each fighter is doing whatever he/she needs to do to crush his/her opponent (within the rules). In any situation where it is "time to stop", it is the ref's duty to physically restrain the victor from inflicting further damage on the loser- this includes physically pulling the victor away from the defeated opponent, protecting the defeated with his own body, etc. Once MMA fighters "get in the zone", it can be difficult to "get the genie back in the bottle", and the fighters have no responsibility to stop until the ref intervenes in some way. Think of 2 pit bulls fighting. Unlike boxing, a MMA fight doesn't end when someone is on the floor. In TRAINING, it isn't practical or possible to go this hard most of the time, and it is also counterproductive in most cases. For one thing, fighters would be way too damaged to continue to compete, and no one wants to hurt their training partners. It would also be impossible to develop and improve fighters who are constantly being injured. So I'm not trying to get a knockout with my partner in the gym. If I can hit or kick you with reduced power, I can certainly hit or kick you at full power. Full force is reserved for pads, bags, etc. And when I am applying a choke, armbar, etc. in training, I am looking for the "tap" so I can stop hurting you and we can reset.
How does all of this apply on the street? Simply put, SOMEONE is probably going to get hurt really bad, or worse.

 

Thanks...that was what I was curious about.

 

Yep, sometimes there is "that guy". MOST of the time, "that guy" is relatively inexperienced, nervous, and incapable of "dialing back". So they will "amp up", especially against a superior/more experienced partner. In MMA, this is mostly an issue that comes up in stand up/striking. The golden rule is to not hit your partner in training harder than you want to get hit back, so with coaching and "payback", these issues tend to be self-correcting in a good gym. There are also those who are "gym bullies" and will go harder than necessary on less skilled training partners. This does absolutely nothing to help the less experienced fighter, and undermines the instructor and the reputation of the school. When students like this don't heed the directions to pump the brakes, a good instructor will either have "that guy" train for a bit with a much more superior fighter (enforcer) or tell "that guy" to find another fight club or back yard to train in. Either way, gym bullies won't last long in a good school. I sent one packing myself about a year ago.

 

How did it go?

 

Well I didn't die. It was 3+ hours of physical activity in total, so no big deal.

Bjj is fun and I'm definitely better at it than mauy thai. I think this is because of a little bit of wrestling experience.

The techniques I was trying to learn were pretty technical but fun. For mauy thai, I worked the bag the whole time. Learned about hooks, knees, kicks, punch, elbow, movement and combos. I have me some sensitive shins, turns out.
The strikes are very technical in nature and balance, distance are all things I need to get much more familiar with.

I actually did pretty good when it came time to"roll" in BJJ. My only problem was that I didn't know anything about my goals or what I was trying to do, but I did good job keeping my opponent from doing what he wanted to do.

In wrestling you try to get him on his back, in BJJ, that's precisely where he wants to be.


I'll be going back.

The plan for me, at this time, is to pursue the jiujitsu and kick the bag afterward to build up my shins a bit.

Not a whole lot of point to mauy thai if you have sissy shins, and i certainly have sissy shins LOL

 

Everybody has sissy shins, until they don't. Gotta work on them just like any other body part. I haven't done any Muay Thai in 15 years but my shins still look beat to crap.

 

Some of us only ever first thought of carrying a gun when we became disabled. I have trouble just sitting upright; not much strength left over for pawing jabs or getting underhooks or whatever.

If my firearms instructor told me that I needed to train kung fu or else be considered a fool, I’d ask for a refund. I’ll get my “jitz” watching Submission Underground, and leave fighting to the pros.

 

Good question. In my area just a few miles from our home, at 3:00 in the afternoon on a major street, a woman was pulled from her Audi Q5, beaten, and had her purse, cellphone, and car stolen. When interviewed she explained she had pepper spray and extensive training in the martial arts none of which was valuable because of the suddenness of the attack by four urban youths aged 13-15.

The best defense is awareness giving yourself time to react.
Extra mags may also be a good thought.

 

I'm in no hurry, just something I want to address.

Watching the instructor kick a bag... that's some power that would be good to tap into if need be

 

This is a given.

Always at least on extra

 

I don't know about the shins. I trained with an instructor who'd fought as a pro in Thailand, and he said blocking kicks never stopped hurting but that you just kind of got used to it. I never fought without shin guards so couldn't really say, myself.

 

oh, just a side note.

I ran into the guy I talked to on the phone. He's not an instructor.

He strikes me as someone fairly new (year or two maybe?) he's in his early 20's I think. Some of the comments he made makes me think that this sport is the entirety of his identity. He was "afraid to speak up and confront people" before he discovered the sport.


We get to talking and he wanted to know how long it took for someone to deploy a firearm.

I told him we shoot for under 2 seconds from a concealed position. sometimes a little slower, sometimes a little faster.

"2 seconds? That's really fast."
I shrugged.
"some shooters are getting a round on target in under 1"

He seemed to ease up on the attitude a bit in person.

 

I do recall there being a mindset that the instructor/sifu/Sensei was held in reverence, and that only the teachings of that person were worth learning. Could be an impressionable young man parroting something he'd heard in class. Doubt he made it up himself (no offense to our younger audience). That he was impressed with the idea of a gun drawn from concealment could be deployed in 2 seconds or so is a good sign. Most of the guys I trained with woulda replied "I can deliver a lot of hurt in a lot less time"
I never stayed in it long enough to get the brainwashing

 

Grit your teeth and work a rolling pin over your shins HARD, daily.

 

Yep. Fighting- any kind of fighting- is serious business that can result in permanent repercussions of some type or another. As a totally and permanently disabled individual (I have paperwork from the federal government that states this) who is over 1/2 a century old who stands only 5'6", and doesn't even weigh 170, and with no standing in the martial arts world, I'll take my chances and keep my lawyer on speed dial.

 

Perhaps off course, but I've pondered whether someone with any degree of martial arts training would face a higher level of scrutiny in the event they defended themself with a firearm. Especially if they were attacked with something less than a firearm.
I took a pretty severe beating several years ago, when I was at my best. 3 on 1 can tend to go that way, especially when you didn't see the other 2 coming. I pretty much lost interest in going toe to toe with anyone after that.

 

IDK about the extra scrutiny. As you mentioned things can go south pretty fast.

as someone who is... economy sized... I have no interest in going toe to toe with anyone either.

But we don't always get to pick, thus the training.

bonus is getting in better shape and being part of (contributing to some day) another community.