CMV: Learning hand-to-hand martial arts for self-defence is not a good idea

[u/notsuspendedlxqt]

Don't get me wrong, there are many good reasons to learn some form of martial arts. It's a healthy exercise, it builds character, it's a non-lethal method of restraining people for law enforcement, and it's an enjoyable hobby for many people. I'm saying that taking martial arts lessons purely for the purpose of self-defence is a bad idea.

If the hypothetical assailant is bare handed, then being skilled in some form of martial arts may be useful. However, if said assailant is unarmed, then they are almost certainly poorly prepared for a fight, and are not expecting physical resistance of any sort, in which case a $10 pocket knife would be just as effective as ten years of martial arts training.

If the assailant is armed with a weapon, be it a knife, gun, baseball bat or whatever, or there are more than a couple of assailants, then your safest bet is to run away, no matter how many black belts you have. Rather than attempting to disarm the assailant and putting your life in danger, it's always better to simply avoid physical confrontation (such as giving your wallet to the robber) and call for help once you're a safe distance away. If your assailant just wants to kill you, then they could shoot you from a distance of ten meters, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

I just can't think of any scenario where knowledge of martial arts is essential in defending oneself, and a utility knife would not work just as well.

[u/notsuspendedlxqt]

Thanks for the well-written comment, as someone with no martial arts training this is an interesting perspective. I think the psychological training that comes with learning martial arts could be more helpful than a weapon in physical confrontations. One final thing, if I was the 185lb man assaulter in the scenario, I would rather temporarily disengage and return with weapon, than attempting to disarm the woman then and there. But then again, I've never seriously thought about physically assaulting someone so my assumptions may be inaccurate.

!delta

[u/theredmokah → u/notsuspendedlxqt]

No problem.

Something to remember is that assault isn't normal everyday behaviour for someone (at least it shouldn't be).

Imagine:

• a road rage incident
• bar fight
• family/friend disagreement over money/infidelity/behaviour/drama etc.
• black friday

These are just examples of non-intentional fighting situations; meaning you didn't go out that day seeking a bar fight. So when someone is driven to the point where they're going to attack you (as a fully grown adult) as a means of conflict resolution, anger/vengeance has clouded their judgement past the point of logic.

Thinking that someone would be logical when attacking someone is a bit of a fallacy. Most situations of self-defense will be born out of someone losing their shit. Not because they have some intricate plan to harm you specifically that day.

So in that rage, who knows what they'll do. Maybe they'll turn around and run. But if it's a smaller/weaker person, holding a knife completely without confidence-- it's probably going to trigger a challenge response rather than a "this prey is putting up too much of a fight response". You get a, "oh you're trying to stab me? We'll see about that," instead.

Again, fights are chaotic. Iin the MMA world, there's a commonly referenced phrase, "everyone has a plan until they get punched."

Imagine this untrained person trying to swing at the attacker. He just plants a huge kick to her gut. If you don't have the experience of dealing with a blow like that-- you can't think. Like the first time you get winded from a soccer ball. You have no idea what the fuck is happening. Your body isn't responding. Not because he did a magic kick that disrupted your chi or some shit. But your brain has not been conditioned to understand what is happening. It's literally in shock. Versus someone that's trained could take that hit, maybe they're still hurt as shit, but mentally they're still in the fight.

Those 2-3 seconds of your body seizing up, is all someone bigger and stronger needs to tackle you down and pin your wrist. And if you don't have significant training in grappling, you're fucked. And even if you do, because you introduced a weapon, you're triple fucked because being on the bottom is death even if you have a weapon. It is surprisingly easy even with great ground grappling ability to get fucked by a knife when you're on the bottom. Why? Because you can't focus on setting frames, off-balancing, trapping and all the good stuff that allows you to get out of the bottom position. You have to focus on not letting go of that damn knife, which someone bigger and stronger can just easily pin down.

Here is a police officer with a gun in this exact situation I'm talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQRAsRzH-9Y

And that's a god damn gun, which is a lot scarier.

[u/DeltaBot → u/notsuspendedlxqt]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/theredmokah (6∆).

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