The most important thing you need to know is distance.
I personally call it K.O-distance.
It's such a short range that it's impossible to dodge if you're not ready.
Which usually happens when people exchange words and then simply walk towards eachother until their head touches.
From there, it's the one who punches first who will win, 95% of the times.
What I do is I push them away or back away as soon as they are closing in.
Don't let them come near that K.O-zone.
If they keep insisting on pushing and so forth, I take my stance - showing I'm ready to fight rather than sucker-punching them :)
simple solution. if you don't have the intention to get into an altercation, don't call anyone an ********. just let it go.
when i had this one fight i didnt hesitate.
doing tht will get u hurt amen
Yesterday, my friend got into an altercation with a stranger that left him with a split lip, which took 7 stitches to fix. Not to mention, it left him with emotional scars for a long time to come.
Basically, my friend (gonna call him Joe so that I don't have to write "my friend" over and over) was riding his bike to work, when this motorist almost caused him to crash his bike by rolling down his window and shouting at him for no reason. When Joe caught up with he guy at the stop light, he called the driver an asshole. Words were exchanged. The guy gets out of his car. Joe gets off his bike. More words are exchanged. And next thing Joe knows, he is knocked down in the street, his lip bleeding profusely, the guy getting back into his car while his girlfriend was laughing from the passenger seat. The guy wished him a good day and drove off.
Joe isn't very tall, but strong, and has some wrestling and MMA experience. When I spoke on the phone with him today, and he told me the story, which you just read above in condensed form, he mentioned that while they were standing face to face and maddogging one another and exchanging words, he though of all the things he could do (kick him in the nuts, punch him in the face, take him down, etc.) but he did not do any of them. He froze because he "did not want to hit the guy." And that got him a split lip.
Sorry for writing all this crap, but this story has started me thinking. Although I have a bit of experience in Muay Thai (no actual fights, just training and light sparring), I think I would react the same way in this situation. On a "logical" level, I'd know how to knock him out with an elbow, but I don't think I would actually do it. I think I would also hesitate.
My question is, is there any way to change this mindset and "know when to strike"? How does one overcome this "barrier"? It's obviously a psychological thing, but I wonder if it's about instinct, or whether the psychological ability to defend oneself can be learned.
I would like to be able to defend myself and those I care about; as of this moment, I don't think I have the (mental ?) ability to do so. Does Krav Maga perhaps provide training in this? Any books or links maybe?Any advice you might have on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
