The Heavy Hand of Reality Part 1, click here.
Combat sports share some skill sets and attributes with self-defense combatives, but they aren’t across the boards interchangeable. Contrary to what some classical stylists will tell you, you can’t develop street fighting—self-defense—competencies by practicing forms or sparring in point tournaments. You just can’t. They are different arenas that happen to share a few overlaps, but they are decidedly different animals. The closest you’ll come in the martial sports world would MMA and that still isn’t the same skill set. Why? There are rules. In a street fight, rules don’t exist. There are no rounds, no bell, no referee, no ring judges, and no ring doctor. There isn’t even a ring (or Octagon).
There’s another huge, significant difference. In a sporting contest, whether Kung Fu, Boxing, Judo, Sanda or whatever, you know well ahead of time that you will be in a fight, where that fight will be, what time it will be and who you will be fighting. You will have prepared extensively ahead of time. You may have watched video of your opponent’s other fights over and over. In a real fight out on the street, you won’t know any of those things. It will just happen, maybe with a little glimmer of a warning or maybe out of the blue with virtually no warning. You won’t be wearing hand wraps, won’t have on your protective cup and won’t know the first thing about your opponent’s capabilities.
Street fights are convulsively and haphazardly multiphasic. They don’t just involve standup striking or ground grappling. Contrary to what you might see in the movies, street fights typically don’t involve joint locks. The only “manipulation” will be your attacker’s vice-like grip on your wrist, clothing, upper arm or throat. Kicks, if thrown, are low, short, and choppy if not outright stomps. The standing clinch-range grappling portion, if you can even call it that, will likely be a grab to hold you for a punch or possibly a side headlock followed by a flurry of crude, upward hooking punches to the face. Crude doesn’t equate to ineffective. Violence of action can often win the day.
Punches will not be the fluid symphony of jabs, crosses, uppercuts, and hooks seen in boxing or Sanda matches. There won’t be any gloves to hide behind. Unless you’re up against Donnie Yen, you probably won’t see expert trapping and straight blast punching. Elbows and knees will be flying and there’s likely to be a headbutt thrown into the mix. There may be biting and gouging. Knives and guns are optional. Maybe a nice aluminum ball bat, a screwdriver, claw hammer or an ice pick. Real fights are mayhem and Murphy’s Law always applies. Always.
The ground portion won’t look like the “rolling” you did at the gym with your Shuai Jiao or Jiu-jitsu buddies. When you slam into the hard, unforgiving pavement there will be broken glass, quite possibly feces, beer cans and other rubbish instead of a mat. Unless you’ve practiced for hard surface takedowns, your double or single leg takedown will likely come with skinned knees and elbows. Your opponent won’t have on a thick garment for you to grasp and you won’t have a mouthpiece to protect that expensive dental work. If you haven’t trained specifically for it, it will be as alien as the surface of mars.
I am not saying that training safeguards should be discarded, and training conducted without common sense protective measures and equipment. That said, failing to acknowledge the environmental hazards and unchained brutality of street encounters and ignoring how changes may be needed regarding how you may fight in those circumstances does your art a disservice. If that willful blindness sends you or a loved one to the emergency room, it does you and your family a serious disservice, too.
Okay, we’ve laid out some of the horrible and demoralizing realities of the street altercation. Now what? Do you need to be a hardcore Sanda fighter or MMA fighter to survive a street dust-up? Nope. You can be a twice-a-week practitioner of just about any martial discipline and, with the proper guidance and curriculum, insert street fighting proficiencies into your existing training. This will involve scenario training to familiarize the practitioner with likely situations and allow the practitioner to develop his or her go-to street techniques and strategies.
Your studio may focus on demonstrative Wushu or traditional Long Fist. No matter. You can blend street-relevancy into just about any existing format. Maybe your institution focuses on Taijiquan, Hsing-I or Baguazhang and most of your kwoon-mates are seniors. No worries—sensible, age-appropriate adaptation will be key here.
Before proceeding, let’s address something that has been a hot topic of discussion amongst martial artists for decades; Bruce Lee spoke on it as well. Being hit for real by a human fist, elbow, knee, or foot can be a brutal wakeup call for someone who hasn’t ever trained contact sparring. Bruce Lee likened trying to learn to fight without contact to trying to learn to swim without getting wet. He was 100% right. No argument. Period. Here is where some combat sports practitioners will have an advantage. Sanda fighters and boxers are accustomed to absorbing blows. They know how to efficiently shield themselves and deliver telling blows while being hit. Shuai Jiao fighters, Mongolian wrestlers, BJJ practitioners, Sanda and MMA fighters all have a similar advantage borne of experience with the realities of full speed, all-out engagements against a fully resisting opponent. If you don’t engage in some form of contact free sparring, you may have a real shock when that first blow lands. Not trying to be demoralizing or funny; just trying to keep it real.
Once you’ve studied the nature of assaults occurring in your area from mainstream media and social media sources and determined what you’re up against, then you can formulate what defensive techniques would be the best choices to maximize success. The demographics of your student body will also play a role in how you train, especially if you are an internal school with a significant number of elderly practitioners.
From my experiences out on the street from my law enforcement background, I know these things to be true: Simple is best. Nothing fancy. Try to stay clear of complex, fine motor mechanics—stick with gross motor-based movements as they will serve you best under stress. Avoid high kicks, spinning movements and anything that compromises balance and stability. Looking pretty isn’t your goal. Complicated joint locking maneuvers are also to be avoided as precise hand placements and joint alignments will be difficult to achieve in the chaos of a violent assault. Chin Na definitely has its place, but it must be practiced against a moving, resisting opponent to develop street-level proficiency. Compliant training partners won’t do you any good.
If I had to suggest two competencies that would form a good base for those wanting to increase their street survivability, I would say this: Learn basic boxing and basic ground survival. To those base skills I would add elbows and knees.
By basic boxing, I mean jabs, crosses, straight leads, uppercuts, hooks and overhand punches in addition to your repertoire of traditional punching methods. Sanda, MMA and Muay Thai fighters use them for a reason.
By basic ground survival, I am talking about how to fall without bashing the back of your head on the pavement or breaking a hip—how to assume the guard position—how to smother your opponent’s ability to punch—how to protect your head and neck and ultimately how to get back up on your feet. Cross training in Shuai Jiao would be an option, but, like western wrestling and judo, it may be a bit robust for older folks. However, training in some form of ground survival is essential, even if simplified.
I would highly recommend adhering to Bruce Lee’s famous statement— “Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”
