blackrock

I think aggression and intent can be some of the most powerful weapons in a fight. Although you have to use good judgement hesitation to use a damaging technique or fatal one may cost you your life.

Being willing to do whatever it takes and to do it with anger can be a huge advantage and can sway things in your favor against a larger attacker.

I think this is especially true for women defending themselves. If a woman is being attacked she should use every dirty fighting technique in the book and do it violently to save herself. IMO too many women shreak and curl up in a ball.

What do you guys think?

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parsec1982

I agree 100%!!! And with those I'll add Decisiveness, Determination & Heart....

For an example of intent watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oBvUd3df28

I have also seen footage of a gazelle being dragged into the water by an absolutely humongous crocodile. The gazelle struggled for what seemed like an eternity and then out of no were the crocodile let loose and the gazelle ran off. Now, none of this made sense until the camera zoomed in and showed that despite the utter power and devastating weapons of the croc this little gazelle was able to turn itself around and jab the crocodile RIGHT IN THE EYE, therefore saving his/her own life.

Similarly, I have seen skilled fighters have a heck of a time with much less skilled fighters out of the pure fact that the less skill fighter had heart or was more determined or had greater focus or was simply more decisive.

Parsec

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Funkasaur

That's called a kiai in shotokan. A warcry to show your aggression to an opponent, which might deter him from attack.

leeman17

Its not so much a way to show aggresion as it is a way to show your spirit. Kiai in Japanese means spirit shout. The kiai isnt really controlling the attacker mentaly to effect the body but more or less controlling the attackers spirit, you could interpret the translation of kiai as shouting at the attackers spirit. Also on a little side note intent does'nt have to involve a kiai or much movement it just have to involve this feeling, it is very hard to describe how to do it as it is one of many things that we must learn ourselves through training. However as we are all different some people actually have more of an ability to do this than others. This is far deeper than simply looking angry and shouting, it is more being able to turn that feeling on and off at will. Wat does everyone think?

Mike Brewer

After you've experimented with the idea of aggression and anger, try tranquility and cold calculation. You may find it even more useful.

Aggression and anger have their purposes, and they are infinitely more useful than fear and panic, but I think you'll find a common thread in most truly accomplished fighters is their ability to remain totally cool and collected under fire. It's a mentality that only comes with enough experience to build an honest and deserved confidence, but once it's there, it's one of the best, most useful mental tools I think anyone can have.

Garland

I'd say intent. Calm, calculated, murderous, surprising intent. Smile, or act scared...talk, stammer...and then midsentence slam their head into the fucking wall until they drop and then stomp and smash kicks into their face and neck. SPLAT!!!

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Komm Susser Todd.

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g-bells

Mindset, i believe is the most important

just my 2cents

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Mike Brewer

Yeah...

But what defines "correct mindset?"

g-bells

-Awareness
-ability to stay calm in adverse situations
-willingness to do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of your family and yourself
-ability to seek out avenues other than fighting if at all possible
- avoidance of bad ares/places/types of people

is that what you meant? Mr Brewer

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Mike Brewer

That's the stuff. Good answer, by the way.


The only thing I would add is "the will to prepare to win."

Everybody talks about the will to do whatever it takes, but they rarely seem to want to apply that to the "pre-game." Training yourself correctly - the preparation - is 90% of the fight.

g-bells

yes i did leave out that sorry i just assume that people who want to be good at what they do will put in the hard work to get there

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Mike Brewer

Well, that's because you're a rational, logical, reasonable human being. Most people, unfortunately I think, would rather sit around and wish than work hard.

But I'm about as cynical as they come.

ttruscott

What about persistence?

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Tom Yum

I agree with this. The pain of working hard and getting yourself past your comfort zone is greater than the pleasure of sitting around and wishing. People don't envision discomfort as part of the equation. Not saying that I've got this down, but I'd rather try to embrace it and do what I need to do rather than sit on the sidelines and mock those who get on the field.

You've got to work smart, too. For example I may be able to work really hard at maxing my bench press, but if it has very, very little to do with the environment one's training for its not smart work.

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warrior_artist

Confidence founded on solid, strong training. Think of how you feel when you spar someone you know in your heart you're better than. Maybe the new guy in class or a little brother. Your confidence exudes and you fight in a much better mental state. Now, think of how you feel when you fight someone you think is better than you and you're going to get your butt kicked. Do you think you fight just as good? Or maybe do you think you're as collected?

The calmest person in a gunfight is usually the one who will win. because he can keep himself in condition yellow or maybe red, and avoid going into black, into the fight or flight, he will control his breathing, his trigger control, his shots, and ultimately the fight.

Same goes in hand to hand. Aggression is important, but aggression isn't always just being the more angry guy. Letting anger get a hold of you could actually work against you. The phrase anger blinds is true. the last thing you want to become in a fight is a growling, grunting, angry beast that mauls and claws like an animal. Now, that may win some fights. But, you don't want to throw all your training out the window just to resort to your hindbrain's gross response.

You DO want to attack with intent, with purpose. You should be training this way. Far too often I hear and see guys training that say things like, well in a real fight I would hit this hard....blah...blah...blah. I say when you hit your punching bag, hit it 100%. As hard as you can. Try and kill it. I like the BOB bag for that. I can see the face and the body better and hit it hard, thinking this guy wants to hurt me. I won't let him.

An anecdotal story (many moons ago) in a training environment on break in front of my classmates while waiting for the instructors to return. I let into a BOB bag. Releasing some pent up frustration at a certain instructor and because I wanted to do something other than what was being taught. I ended up on top of the bag pounding the face into the mat. When I stood the bag back up, water leaked from his shorts. I thought, I just made BOB pee his pants. The class got a laugh out it, and I had to think of a quick way to hide the water before break was over.

You might not think about it, but there is a chance the guy you'll fight will pee his pants. I have had three guys I've fought actually pee their pants, and one guy defecate himself. It's because they went into condition black and went into fight or flight. Stress related heart rate jumped over 175bpm, the hindbrain took over, blood pooled from limbs, loss of bowel control and bladder control (unnecessary functions in fight or flight), the body dropped in a crouched stance, sometimes tunnel vision (side step to move out of his visual range), audio exclusion (inability to hear verbal commands), among others.

The point is if you can maintain mental control over yourself, odds are you will maintain physical control over your opponent. Let your training shine. Let it do it's business. You sit back and make command decisions about what it does.

When I taught martial arts I used to tell my students train to forget. Train it so well it's like walking. No one thinks about the mechanics of walking, but we can all do it naturally, almost like breathing. Train so that's how you fight.

I might have strayed off topic a bit, but I got carried away. I apologize if I hijacked this thread. I think it all relates to the topic of most powerful tool anyways.

WA