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robertlee · 10-18-2002, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bri Thai
OK, we all know that some of them can, but nowhere near as many as should be able to. In another thread it was pointed out that street fighters can "take" most martial artists, and I agree.

Just being a member of some martial arts school is nowhere near enough to make you a good fighter. In fact the opposite is true. And this was especially true before the advent of MMA tournaments, where "Paper Tigers" were exposed by the score.

Here are the reasons why :-

1. People expect the local Karate/Kung Fu/Whatever class to make them invincible. They prattle up and down the dojo punching thin air, and increasingly convince themselves that it is "working". Never mind that your Aunty Gladys could easily manage alongside you..... You are studying the mystical martial arts! You can't lose.......

2. Many people do not study what happens BEFORE a fight even starts. There are many factors involving both psychological and strategic, eg fear control as well as awareness/conflict management training etc. No, they go to the class, do physical techniques only, and expect to win. The Dojo is a VERY controlled environment. The street is totally uncontrolled. Not taking account of this can get you killed.

3. Rules. Many arts are sports based, and these have rules. What other way could it be if you want to spar and compete? But those very rules make you ineffective. How many Boxers can't block kicks? And how many miss golden kicking opportunities? The same holds true for any technique outside the rules of your chosen art. Why go for a complicated submission when you could have beaten him around the chops? Because that is the way you train and, in the heat of the moment, that is what you will naturally do. But it won't work, as he will have his fingers in your eyes and his teeth in your gonads. Ouch! And cross training isn't enough, because even there the most effective techniques are not trained.

4. Reality. The streetfighter lives with reality every day. If he can't win he is no longer a street fighter, so only the strongest and the best survive. And he is nasty too. He doesn't give a shit about you or your family or anything beyond getting what he wants, from you. But all you have to do to survive the dojo is stay in it for an hour or so every few days. Good or bad you are still there.

5. Surprise and evil intent. He will do anything to you in order to win, but you nice folk will think twice before really hurting him. And who can blame you? You could get in alot of trouble by putting him on a slab. You nice folk aren't used to jail, unlike Mr Streetfighter. You will be wandering around with your head in the clouds, thinking about your lovely girlfriend or whatever. He will be waiting in the shadows, and will pounce on you before you even know what is happening..........Bang Stab Kick. The streetfighter wins again.

And there you have it. Your training will make you over confident. Much of it will be ineffective for a real fight and will actually go against you. You are almost totally unprepared, and it will be like lambs to the slaughter.

The solution? Look at the above points and make serious efforts to put them right. Change and adapt your training, or you will be the next Paper Tiger to become a fur rug.

Fond regards!

anybody can fight how well they can depends on being able to think under stress take a punch kick ect, in the dojo kwoon training hall of various schools training is controled to the training of that chosen style most often building conditioned responce to a controled application a street fight has no rules no set pattern that may be why some ma practitioners fail in street situations a personal development needs to be added to there trainig curriculum no to people are alike the same tools wont work as well for each person a street fighter has to to have heart also as well as any good fighter or the pain will weaken his structure quickly a good figter needs a small but useful amount of tools to complete his needs and a strong will to survive this will take him futher in a fight situation we often forget the streets when we have been in a martial art class for a while to train for the the streets one should not forget the type of attacks the street fighter is or may use and keep that in reality training or personal training develop more self awareness learn to control his fears and most important try to not end up in the situation that wold allow for the need to have to fight any though some places it is more likly then not to happen and sometimes running is the answer to even good street fighters have done the same at times