I’ve been thinking about martial arts and how really it is useful these days since a lot of places will have criminals hiding firearms or in the U.S. some states have conceal carry.
Whilst it contains discipline and it is enjoyable to train in a club for, say Karate, I just think it might not be that useful in places where firearms are commonly held, all it really takes is for someone to take safety off, aim, pew pew and that’s it.
I suppose I probably get this thinking from kung fu where it’s seen more of an art form then actually being a serious bone breaking form of combat
When faced with a firearm or a knife, any self respecting martial artist will tell you the one technique that will save your life.
Running the fuck away and or taking cover.
When it comes to hand to hand combat, understanding the dynamics of how to protect yourself and control the opposer like in Jiu Jitsu is very useful and can also potentially save your life.
But no, if they have a weapon of any kind, get the fuck out of there.
Agreed. Good instructors tell you to run if you can, and teach you to fight if you have to.
If you have a history of getting into fights, then yes it’s useful. Otherwise you’ll basically never use it. However there are plenty of benefits even if you never use it.
- Strength
- Flexibility
- Knowing that you’re going to get hurt even if you win the fight
- Etc
Exactly. Martial arts will make you live longer, not because you can kick ass in a fight, but because it is generally a great way to maintain cardiovascular health.
If need to train for an unarmed fight, I’d personally suggest the 400m sprint.
What is the “meme” of the 400m sprint (best MA discipline btw), I’ve seen it popping up everywhere the past couple of weeks haha
I begun judo a few weeks ago. The teacher was clear: it may not be useful in actual fight, but we don’t fight often in.the real life. But it’s great for.your body, spirit and it will teach you how to fall without hurting you. And these things are way more useful than self defense.
The best physical training I ever had were: judo and working in the dish room of my college dining hall where the floor was always wet and slimy with food. Between the two of them, I never slipped again. When I saw an ice covered stairway or slope, I could go shooting down it with confidence I’d stay on my feet. Between the slippery floor while carrying breakables and knowing how to fall, falling was just not an issue.
Of course now I want me some of that “youth” back
I got up to judo brown belt as a teen and it has saved my ass countless times. Not in fights, but in silly ass falls. Having good instincts when falling is a lifesaver.
I had a few bike crashes: 2 times breaking the same collarbone + some head trauma. All of it could have been avoided by knowing how to fall, head first is bad, elbow first is bad and also chin first is bad. After learning how to fall I should also learn how to use a bike maybe 😅
All of it could have been avoided by knowing how to fall
That is so damn true.
I’m a downhill biker but I learned a bunch of combatives in the army so I know how to fall really well. My friends are always surprised when I walk away from a crash that should have broken something and all I have is a scratch on my shoulder.
My secret is just go limp. Tensing up is when you hurt yourself in a fall.
Gods yes. Just the falls I’ve taken since becoming disabled that I prevented injury because I know how to fall safely would make the time spent training worth it.
I’m no expert, but I think basically unless it’s a one on one with someone who’s unarmed, and maybe inexperienced, it won’t help much. Every good instructor would tell you to give them what they want, or maybe run away if they only have a knife.
It taught me meditation and self-control. It made exercise desirable as an activity.
But for self-defense, many martial arts do teach techniques for disarming opponents. The range within a gun loses effectiveness against a trained, unarmed opponent is actually larger than you think. Not to mention that muggers tend to avoid “harder” marks like those in good shape or who move like fighters.
who move like fighters.
This is a big one. People who know how to fight can pretty easily identify other people who know how to fight. Just knowing how to fight will keep you out of a lot of fights.
Various militaries will train soldiers in some form of close quarters combat. All of them will say the best this training will do is buy time for someone with a weapon to come in and finish the job.
I feel like I read somewhere that if you can’t run away the best thing to do if in arms’ reach is run into them as fast as possible. Fuck trying to hit anyone in the jaw with a punch, just run into them, knock them over and keep running. Third best thing (eg they have a knife) is to continually evade without even trying to retaliate as it’s a lot easier to keep dodging out the way than it is to attack and they’ll tire quicker.
definitely don’t run towards them if they have a knife though. although I wouldnt know what to do against a knife wielding attacker if I couldnt run away in general
The old addage is “nobody wins a knife fight”. Only solution is to disarm them and you are 99% going to get cut. Just gotta believe you won’t get cut bad enough to stop you from stopping them
The old addage is “nobody wins a knife fight”
One guy loses on the pavement, the other guy loses in the ambulance
useful for what? when I was doing martial arts I was in the best shape of my life. as far as fighting? Fuck no.
Useful for what?
As a kind of joke, look at these senior citizen doing tai chi in the park, while many 80 years old can’t walk without a cane. Looks like pretty useful.
Judo or Aïkido will teach you how to fall, which may save you a visit to the ER if you slip on the street, and pretty useful again.
It’s also a fun way to exercise and stay in shape, so again, it’s useful
op mentioned the context is situations where firearms are used. so pretty sure they meant useful as a self defense method and not useful as a way of exercise
Get good enough and just dodge the bullets
That was some hilarious bullet dodging
Aside from how problematic the film is, I loved this as a kid!
Cool. Gun kata before Equilibrium.
tai chi in the park, while many 80 years old can’t walk without a cane.
As an aside, get someone to show you what they’re really doing when they’re doing Tai Chi. The muscle memory they learn is - when sped up - brutal and painful to others. It’s great how they hide it in a dancy movement class for blue-haired park-goers.
I’ve also met Fumio Demura at a seminar, and he comes across as just an old guy who wants to go fishing when he’s not teaching us to be damaging – so while they may look old and slow, there’s more going on.
Yeah people who don’t practice Tai Chi usually don’t realize that most of those movements they’re doing out there are slowed and exaggerated joint locks and throws. It is a combat training routine used as exercise.
Let’s be honest, most people who learn Tai chi as an exercise also don’t realize that it’s joint locks and throws.
Break falls are the only skill I’ve kept from my martial arts training, but it’s literally the most useful one.
It’s a sport. It’s not meaningfully more useful than other sports.
If you want something that’s genuinely useful in a confrontation, give up the fantasy of beating people up. Every time you fight you run a very real risk of incurring permanent harm or worse. Instead, sign up for track and learn and practice how to run away really fast.
TLDR: fighting not good. Not fighting, good.
With 6 months of brazilian jiujitsu training you’ll win an unexperienced person bigger than you at wrestling virtually every single time. You may still get punched in the face, stabbed or shot but if you need to go hands on with someone it absolutely is better to know BJJ / MMA / wrestling than not.
It’s incredibly useful for fitness and overall health. It’s also very useful for self defense. You will get hit way harder in the dojo than you ever will on the street, and learning to take a punch is a big part of fighting. I trained in martial arts for several years when I was younger. One time at a punk concert someone twice my size took a swing at my face, and I slipped the punch and knocked him out before I even realized I was in a fight. The training works. It’s also great for self-confidence. Lastly, guns aren’t as prevalent as you think they are.
Edit: if you want the training to be more about actual self defense and less about fitness and art, then be sure to pick a style that focuses on combat. Jeet Kun Do, MMA school, Brazilian Jujitsu, Kick Boxing, Western Boxing, and Western Wrestling are all very applicable in real fights. Shotokan Karate is okay in most fights, and better than ground focused styles like BJJ, wrestling, or MMA, against multiple opponents, but less effective against a single opponent. Although, you should really try running first if you have to fight multiple people at once, unless you’re a badass through and through. I watched my 2nd degree Shotokan black belt friend knock 3 dudes out once in the span of about 2 seconds, but he has trained since he was like 6 years old and is a multiple time champion fighter. Most people can’t do that.
Getting to black sash in northern Shaolin is a personal challenge. It’s great excercise, good community, gets me out of the house.
6 years in and 2 forms away from black. I’m almost there
I’m not certain, given your use case. As someone with a deep passion for martial arts (judo > Jiu Jitsu > Aikido > Tai Chi), I would say while they can be useful in certain situations (even tai chi chuan, which is certainly the most inner one). Self defense classes with actual teaching about fighting a guy with a knife/gun would be more suited, maybe.
It’s pretty useful for looking cool.
