STREET FIGHTING TIPS
Below are street fighting tips on how to survive a street fight. For the purpose of this page, street fighting means any violent and criminal acts committed against a man or woman.
In order to avoid a street fight or safeguard your person, you need to have the 3D effect: Detect, Defuse and Defend. Ironically, the last component Defend, ie. learning self defense or street fighting techniques is the easiest to do. Detect and Defuse are actually independent components by themselves. The only link is that if you failed to detect, you'll need to defuse and if you failed again, you'll need to defend. And things will escalate real fast in any street fight. Therefore it makes sense to learn the first 2 components (Detect and Defuse) really well to minimize the need to defend, ie. to fight. street fighting tips, street fighting tips, street fighting tips, street fighting tips
Here are some useful street fighting tips covering the 3D skills, inspired by Tony Blauer's PDR and SPEAR:
1. DETECT - this is more than maintaining awareness and vigilance especially in risky or fringe areas (where no one will come to your assistance within 20 seconds if you scream for help). It includes our posture, stride, dressing style, actions and words. We need to careful of the company we keep and the places we go. In other words, we need to constantly detect if we are making any wrong choices that might lead to a street fight.
2. DEFUSE - You've tried your best to detect any potential problems that might expose you to a street fight but still some bullies or criminals decide to pick on you as their victim. As long as you are more than arm length distance (grabbing/tackling distance) and are still talking with the aggressor, there's a chance you can defuse the situation. But you must quickly decide whether to engage in verbal de-escalation or to commit pre-emptive strikes. For more details on how to gauge if an attack is imminent, read this excellent article by Darren Laur. Should you choose to engage in verbal de-escalation, you must have the spirit or will to carry it out properly. This is where you need to control your FEAR. If you think you cannot "win" against your aggressor, you are already defeated in the mind. This mean you'll have to fight both your fear and your aggressor, a very precarious situation. In general, you can defuse a potentially violent situation by verbally indicating: In general, you can defuse a potentially violent situation by verbally indicating: you won't be an easy prey or you know how to defend yourself, others or the police are aware of what is going on and help is on the way, and lastly, make him think that violence is totally unnecessary.
3. DEFEND - This is the last part and probably happens when you failed or ignored the first 2 components. This is where we will require the skills from our martial arts training. When things become physical, every street fighting techniques must be effective. You must be fully committed to defend yourself from harm and attack your assailant non-stop, there is no room for hesitation. This is especially relevant in self defense for woman since most women think the harm will stop if they comply, do not escalate the violence, or waited too long before they fight back. Every self defense class for woman should teach fully committed street fighting techniques under stressful scenarios. To win, you must do MORE and HARDER than whatever your assailant did to you: escalate violence to him till he stops or submits, and in the case of a person trying to kill you, till he no longer have the physical capability to do so. If you certain that the aggressor wants to harm you instead of rob you, then use pre-emtive strikes and don't stop till you are certain he is disabled. Attack with an offensive mind, ie. don't wait for him to attack first. This does NOT mean that you kill every person who touches you without your consent. It means to use every street fighting techniques you know to end the altercation instantly. The longer a violent act continue, the more dangerous it is for you. street fighting tips, street fighting tips, street fighting tips, street fighting tips I advocate learning to ROAR should a street fight happens. ROAR stands for Recognize, Override, Attack and Run. Here is the explanation on how to ROAR when caught in a street fight:
Recognize: due the psychological factor of the general population who are not predisposed to violence or crime, most people will experience extreme fear, denial and hesitation when confronted with any threat of violence. Therefore, you must recognize that you are in danger and accept the fact that you'll probably have to fight your way out in order to minimize harm to your person. Once you fully accept the fact that a street fight might happen any moment, your denial will be subdued and you can then proceed to defuse the situation calmly before it escalate to a physical altercation.
Override: once you accept the fact that you are in a dangerous situation, you need to override your fear. Stop thinking about your opponent ability to hurt you which might cause an overwhelming sense of fear and self doubt. Rather focus on what you can do to him. You should "objectify your opponent" so that he's reduced into only body parts which you can kick, strike, throw, break, choke etc. He is reduced to a groin, a thigh, a knee, an arm or a pair of eyes. Depending on the manner in which he approaches you, he will expose some vulnerable areas for you to attack.
Attack: you'll be able to attack your aggressor more effectively if you've successfully recognized the dangers and override your fear. Whether the aggressor attacks you first or you decide to strike pre-emptively, you must be fully committed to your attacks until he's no longer a threat. Don't just defend and block his attacks, strike him fast and hard on his vulnerable areas to disable his attacks instantly.
Run: this does not only mean running away from the assailant. It could also include calling the police or other people to come to your assistance and prevent any further violations on your person. It's much better to run only when you are certain you've disabled him sufficiently from at least being able to chase you. In summary, move away so that you are no longer within his reach or threat of harm. street fighting tips, street fighting tips, street fighting tips, street fighting tips Should you need to fight, I recommend you have 3 familiar repertoire of attacks (combos) standing by. There should be a different objective for each repertoire.
1. Distract, Stun, Destroy Limbs, Close Quarter Attacks and KO.
2. Distract, Stun, Throw or Takedown, Restrain, Submit, Choke.
3. Distract, Stun, Blind or Destroy Limbs and Run. Please note that in all situations we need to distract and stun the attacker to allow smooth execution of our street fighting techniques depending on the severity of the situation. The situation dictates the objective (restrain, submit, hurt, KO) which in turn determine the techniques to use. By distracting and stunning your assailant, you will gain some time to choose your techniques so that you do not bear the full repercussion of the law once the altercation has ended. I believed in "less is more", ie. having a few effective techniques for many situations. Then we train realistically so that we can really execute them in real life.
A very important point to note is the law. There are legal implications in everything you do. Most people say there are no rules in a street fight. Well, in my humble opinion, there are clear rules which we must obey: and that is the law of the land. Therefore, we must have at least a minimum understanding of the law in our respective country so that we do not break it when defending ourselves or our loved ones from harm. I always advocate only "reasonable force". You cannot kill a person for just touching you without your consent and expect no repercussion from the law. So all the notes above must be read with this point (know and obey the law) in mind.
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