Self Defense Martial Arts Techniques

[Gisberto Letter]

Theguillotine choke is one most used chokes in mixed martial arts, and it can be just as effective in self-defense scenarios. It can work as a blood or air choke depending on how the pressure is applied. A blood choke cuts off the oxygen supply to the brain, while an air choke restricts the movement of air through the windpipe.

One of the worst places you can ever find yourself during a fight is the mount bottom position. From here, an opponent can unload powerful punches and elbows on you, while your defensive options are limited. You generally never want to allow an opponent to mount you in a self-defense situation, but you might find yourself on the bottom if a fight hits the ground.

Knees and elbows are powerful strikes that can end a fight at any moment, and Muay Thai fighters typically do their best work in the clinch. Self-defense scenarios often end up in clinch situations, so you want to know how to control opponents in the clinch and bombard them with knees and elbows.

First of all the stances are ridiculous, for example the eagle stance is one of the worst stances I have ever seen, you basically stand on one leg in a squat position, why would anyone want to fight like that?The problem with the stances is that they require a lot of training just to be able to sit in the stance, they are very uncomfortable and waste a lot of energy for no particular reason.

Second, the other problem is that many moves require a lot of energy and in my opinion it's easy to miss, many moves are acrobatics essentially and I see no reason why to do this unless it's for a show.

Please note that I am not trying to insult Kung Fu practicioners but rather trying to understand how this can be useful. Also I am referring mostly to animal style Kung Fu and similar styles like wushu, shaolin Kung Fu etc. I am not referring to wing Chun and Jeet kune do, which I Know are very useful for self defense.

Kung fu is a rather large umbrella term that encompasses a wide range of styles, many of them with little in common. As you have already decided that some are useful, without more specificity it's sufficient to say that some kung fu is useful for self defense.

I don't think it's possible to give an answer to such a broad question, other than to say something along the lines ofIt can be, to the extent that...It trains on realistic, damage-inflicting strikes, with "realistic" indicating targeting realistic targets (e.g., knife hands to the neck are not open if the guy has his guard up), and not many (if any) high kicks or fancy spins. (I do ITF TKD, and wouldn't try such things in a real situation.)It builds strength.It does a lot of practicing and sparring against resisting opponents.It involves striking bags to build up "hitting hard" skills.It trains on footwork.It involves occasionally getting hit in the head or face so that you don't go down the first time that happens.

And what you're really asking is "is it useful for fighting", but that's only one small aspect of self-defense. Others are not placing yourself in sketchy situations, staying sober, being situationally aware, not arguing with other people, being agreeable to following friendly suggestions such as "get out of here right now or I'm'a kick your a**", recognizing body language indicating impending attacks, knowing how to place yourself so as to defend against strikes, and being able to run fast.

Knowing kung fu is one thing, applying it is something else. You have to recognise what to do when you are being attacked. There is no standard kung-fu: there are lots of different types that are all grouped together and called kung fu. There is no standards body for kung fu.

The purpose of a stance is for stability in a particular situation. The teacher may not always tell you - sometimes it is a secret that they will only divulge when you've been learning under them for 10 years. I was told a secret after 5 years. You just think "is that it?" Sometimes you need to mull over the secret, why it is a secret and what you did before you knew the secret.

A lot of what you learn in most martial arts is 1-2-1 close quarters fighting. What if you get multiple attackers? Can your brain think fast enough to handle 3 or 5? You always need to worry about the opponent's mate who is behind you. Alternatively line them up so you can handle one at a time.

Some of the techniques defy logic. It is normal to stay some distance from your opponent. Sometimes, you have to be brave enough to get closer to your opponent. If you get close enough, there is no space for either of you to do the kicks. You are down to hand, knee and elbow techniques but you have to be brave enough to get closer.

Some of the techniques are not only for defence, they are for maiming or killing your opponent. They are attacking you but are you mentally capable of applying the techniques you have learnt to maim or kill them. It is you or them but can you do it?

During practice sessions or when sparring, you do not follow through the moves. You normally stop at the critical point just before you hit your opponent. In an attack on yourself, you have to follow through but you've been practicing not following through for so long, can you follow through or will the fact that your opponent knows you could smash his nose be enough to make him stop?

All in all, while I wouldn't recommend a traditional art to someone primarily looking for self-defence, if you're interested in a traditional art, you can use it for self-defence as long as you find a school that is qualified and willing to train you that way and you're willing to do that training.

Acrobatics were useless in a fight, but built strength and elasticity of the body. That's something you always want to have in a fight. I dropped that part because frankly I was too fat and too old for this.

Traditional was flashy, sure, but I was able to kick old rusty garage doors shut, when guys larger than me, pumped with muscle mass, couldn't. Would I use this flashy kick in a real fight? No way! But it showed me that traditional flashy moves can have something in them. Also, traditional training built stamina. Uncomfortable stances and flashy moves require a lot of energy, especially when you begin (some of them became strangely comfortable later).

Utility part was like traditional, but distilled to stances, kicks and hits that are most useful. It wasn't really all that different from my wife's krav maga moves or my friends' kickboxing moves, honestly. It did save my butt a couple of times, and I didn't even needed to really hurt the other guy, and that's always nice if police ma be involved.

So, can kung fu be useful in self-defence? It always is, just to a different degree and in different ways. It is good to know what exactly your school offers under the term, and if it offers more than one variant, to choose which one(s) you want to train.

Having been to two different traditional Kung Fu schools, I'll say that an average person would not want to get into a fight with any of the more advanced students or masters, at least that I have met.So in a nutshell, the answer to the question "Is (training) Kung-Fu useful for self defence?" the answer is "Yes" if the alternative is not training at all.

Any serious Kung Fu training will start you off with basic stances, punches, kicks, blocks and whatnot. The animal forms are usually part of a later and more advanced regimen. You wouldn't want to go into the 'Eagle' stance you pointed out in a street fight, similarly to how you wouldn't want to go into an active war in the desert wearing your parade uniform.

Very few people on the planet can beat Georges St-Pierre, even today, in a real fight. 99.9999% of the couldn't even go the distance. But Jet Li, who is not a fighter, can go the distance. There's nothing GSP can do or try that Jet doesn't have a counter for, and Jet is probably a little faster. As long as Jet doesn't try to win, Jet can go, and therefore not lose. Jet can even probably go longer if he just defends, defends, defends, because he spends less energy.

(This is why Jet's portrayal of Wong Feihung is so great, even when the real Wong was Hung Gar. Jet's portrayal was of the gentle guy who could always go the distance and outlast, because he was so precise and flexible. That's why the action sequences still exceed almost everything we see today. And John Wick is good, but Keanu is still just an "advanced beginner", maybe "intermediate". And Jet got very rich, deservedly, from all that "eating bitter" to be that good. GSP's recent choreography is also better than almost everyone else. GSP once again reinforces his strengths in all aspects of the arts:)

The main function of traditional is to preserve the arts faithfully, while, ideally, continuing to advance them in every generation. The main function of competition is an Olympic sport, that can be judged technically, similar to mens and women's gymnastics. Both intersect with the film industry, as performing art has never been separate from martial art in Chinese history, so far as we know. One must study these arts to some depth to separate out the "medicine show" components from the practical martial techniques, which are not usually the things that "wow", but the little stuff in between.

Traditional martial arts are those where the Tradition of the martial art is important. This means that the martial artists like to actively keep things more or less as they are, including enjoying the cultural background/"coloring" (for example, rituals like bowing and using certain words or phrases in the originating language, even if nobody in the dojo talks that language naturally). Very often this aspect is more important than changing non-"working" techniques. Also, when the art does not include sparring, this is basically guaranteed, as there is no way to find out whether a technique actually works as advertised.

There is nothing wrong with all of that - we have many hobbies and activities where the tradition of doing it is very important, often much more important than improving the "performance" (whatever that may be). For example, some people enjoy shooting simple bows made by hand from a strip of wood much more than using a high tech modern bow which would be much more easy to actually hit the target with.

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