Have you ever had to USE martial arts??

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It's been years since I took martial arts, but I did find the knowledge of it useful. I also learned I'm more agile-styled in combat (being slender and small) so I know most weapons no matter how ancient (knives, swords, etc). I'd like a sword, but I guess it wouldn't have much use.
I also don't like foil swords or wrestling.

Martial arts is not about deriving satisfaction from the pain of others.

Bullsnot. No matter what martial art I've studied, every class was all about causing pain to the less experienced students, and then deriding the victims for complaining, until the students toughened up and learned to never complain. All of that crap about "honor" and "ethics" was just a smoke screen to keep the parents happy.

Krav Maga, by the way, is not your typical "Martial Art", where religion and philosophy co-mingle and produce results that are more for tournament performances that real combat situations. Krav Maga instruction focuses on real-world situations. It's extremely efficient and brutal attacks and counter-attacks - derived from street-fighting skills - make it a formidable force against even seasoned karatakas. Whereas Tae Kwon Do may have dozens of moves and several katas, Krav Maga has fewer moves, and those are designed to break through an opponent's defenses quickly and crush their ability to attack.

The wife-beater I took down had been a Golden-Gloves boxer in high school, and he never passed up the chance to demonstrate on the weaker kids just how good he was. Taking him down was rewarding for more than just stopping a wife-beater - it was also rewarding for the fact that all of his previous victims had been avenged, and no longer had to deal with knowing they might run into him again.

Yeah, I feel good about it. So what? I'd gladly do it again, if I had to. And no amount of moralizing about "Honor in Combat" is ever going to change that.

Perhaps the real reason you felt good is because the hard work you put into training and practice helped defend someone? Getting pleasure from breaking a person's knee and watching them writhe in pain seems pretty sadistic.

It's only sadistic if you don't have a reason for doing it. When I beat the living crap out of my ex husband, who had literally beat my ass every day of our marriage and who had cheated on me constantly, emotionally abused me and stole everything he could from me, I felt absolutely great and enjoyed seeing him in pain for a change. When it's been you laying on the ground crying and bleeding it goes a long way towards making you feel good about putting your ex-tormentor on the ground. Hell, I'd enjoy doing that to him again today.

I wouldn't enjoy doing that to somebody who hadn't done something to deserve it or hurt me or mine, but the feeling is very different when you are giving somebody who has hurt you or your family or close friends. Very different.

I studied Tae Kwon Do and Karate for many years. It was really good for me but I almost never had to use it, and when I did, it was sort of anti-climactic. I should point out that I am tall and strong, though now also fat. In any case, I can punch or kick hard enough quite easily.

On one occasion, an apparently intoxicated man was looking for trouble and decided to harass me and my wife. I had been studying self-defense along with a form of Chung Do Kwan for a number of years, so when I saw that this guy was really looking for a fight, I immediately fell into my training: I adopted the "ready stance" that I had practice many times before: balanced, hands in a seemingly neutral position but placed out in front of the chest, not obviously threatening, but ready to block or jab as needed. I seized up the man for vulnerabilities: what was open? Solar Plexus? Throat? Kneecaps? Insteps? Temples? Eyes? "Can I help you?" I said. He suddenly took another look and reconsidered. Then he said "never mind" and walked off.

Was that using martial arts? Perhaps knowing that I had stunned my instructor with a single kick to the head gave me confidence that I would not otherwise have had. I think before I was trained I would have been afraid of that man and he would have been able to use that fear to push me around. Instead I was able to respond with confidence. Of course, there was always the chance he had a weapon, you never know. In any case, that was one of just two times that I have had to use that training outside of a dojo. My instructor said that was the best outcome in every case.

I was not coordinated and thought I would be very bad. When I was a white belt, I would often have to think twice about which was left or right when we practicing forms. But the progressive structure of the belt system and form groups was really good for me and I achieved things I never thought I would be able to do. I learned to hyperfocus on forms and that helped. I entered tournaments a number of times and won second place in sparring against competitors from other schools and the US Army and thrid place in forms. The trophies and medals I have from those events mark the only success I ever had at any athletic pursuit.

The other thing was that I really enjoyed those classes. Perhaps it was that I was able to be with my instructors and fellow students and the focus on the work was something we all understood that meant I was never awkward there.

Anyway, it was a joy. I think the gradual building of skills over many months and years really helped my motor skills and proprioception.

My instructors in Tae Kwon Do were never sadists and if that sort of thing was going among the other students, I was blissfully ignorant of it. When I cross trained in Seido karate, I did see some of the sadism and power games Fnord described. The people in my Brooklyn-based Tae Kwon Do Chung Do Kwan school were not like that at all.

I fear more the marital arts.

I studied Tae Kwon Do and Karate for many years. It was really good for me but I almost never had to use it, and when I did, it was sort of anti-climactic. I should point out that I am tall and strong, though now also fat. In any case, I can punch or kick hard enough quite easily.

On one occasion, an apparently intoxicated man was looking for trouble and decided to harass me and my wife. I had been studying self-defense along with a form of Chung Do Kwan for a number of years, so when I saw that this guy was really looking for a fight, I immediately fell into my training: I adopted the "ready stance" that I had practice many times before: balanced, hands in a seemingly neutral position but placed out in front of the chest, not obviously threatening, but ready to block or jab as needed. I seized up the man for vulnerabilities: what was open? Solar Plexus? Throat? Kneecaps? Insteps? Temples? Eyes? "Can I help you?" I said. He suddenly took another look and reconsidered. Then he said "never mind" and walked off.

Was that using martial arts? Perhaps knowing that I had stunned my instructor with a single kick to the head gave me confidence that I would not otherwise have had. I think before I was trained I would have been afraid of that man and he would have been able to use that fear to push me around. Instead I was able to respond with confidence. Of course, there was always the chance he had a weapon, you never know. In any case, that was one of just two times that I have had to use that training outside of a dojo. My instructor said that was the best outcome in every case.

While we studied a particular set of pre-WTF/ITF forms, for self defense we had an "anything that works" philosophy, and drew on elements from Hap Ki Do, Tai Chi, Boxing and Jiu Jitsu as appropriate. The general idea was to hurt the attacker enough to stop him from hurting you and ensure that you could get away.

I was not coordinated when I started and thought I would be very bad. When I was a white belt, I would often have to think twice about which was left or right when we practicing forms. But the progressive structure of the belt system and form groups was really good for me and I achieved things I never thought I would be able to do. I learned to hyperfocus on forms and that helped. I entered tournaments a number of times and won second place in sparring against competitors from other schools and the US Army and thrid place in forms. The trophies and medals I have from those events mark the only success I ever had at any athletic pursuit.

The other thing was that I really enjoyed those classes. Perhaps it was that I was able to be with my instructors and fellow students and the focus on the work was something we all understood that meant I was never awkward there.

Anyway, it was a joy. I think the gradual building of skills over many months and years really helped my motor skills and proprioception.

My instructors in Tae Kwon Do were never sadists and if that sort of thing was going among the other students, I was blissfully ignorant of it. When I cross trained in Seido karate, I did see some of the sadism and power games Fnord described. The people in my Brooklyn-based Tae Kwon Do Chung Do Kwan school were not like that at all.

EXACTLY. Once you've known the pain of being bullied, and watching your own father break your sister's nose for nothing more "threatening" than rolling her eyes, THEN you will know the joy and satisfaction of beating the living snot out of a man who just punched his wife for making an off-hand remark.

No one at that party had much more to say to the police than "He had it coming", so I never faced charges ... only a lot of idle threats and trash-talk from the man who is now out on parole and walks with a cane.

Eh, I've taken Filipino martial arts, which are pretty nasty with a lot of focus on breaking joints and using edged weapons, but the last guy who physically threatened me was too busy running from the .45 I pointed at him to give me an opportunity to try them out. Surprisingly, firearms are excellent for avoiding fights.

Very true, however don't ever pull a gun on somebody who you aren't fully prepared to shoot. They may call your bluff.

I don't have a gun because my husband is afraid of them, but I've found that a baseball bat is extremely effective in just about any fight, except when the other person has a gun) and it works against those with martial arts training as well.

What really gets me is when people who have absolutely no clue how to fight and who have never been in a fight except to get beat up when they are jumped, carry or grab a knife thinking that will protect them against someone who knows how to fight. Unless they get very lucky, it's not going to do anything. Also, they probably won't be anywhere near as forceful as they need to be with it, so they will end up just pissing the other person off worse and getting it taken away and used against them.

Learning to fight is an important skill even though it's one you hope you will never use. I didn't learn until I was a teenager and I wish I had learned younger because I used to get beat up a lot. Parents who prevent their kids from fighting back because they are against the idea of fighting, or worse because they are afraid their kid will be hurt, do a great disservice to their child. Even if you never, ever use it knowing how to fight gives you confidence because you won't always be so afraid to speak up because you are worried somebody will beat you up. Ironically, the more confident you are, the less often you have to prove it.

Once I went to a college bar, that I didn't enter for at least two years. One of the "patrons" started cracking jokes and tried making me pay for his tab.
I calming said "you should really learn how 2STFU."

A few hours later, I went outside to smoke and expected to get jumped. As I was smoking, I heard footsteps coming up of me.

As I turned around, I swung. My hand broke on this person's face. There was another and I hit him in the throat. That's the definition of self defense. I had to holdback the thought of stomping.
A few years later, the evacuate any build that we may randomly share.

Oh, believe me, it wasn't a bluff, safety off and round in the chamber, but he ran, and shooting him in the back would have been unsporting, to say nothing of illegal. It's amusing in retrospect, I'm shocked at how smooth my draw was and how I just naturally swept the safety off bringing it up, I mean my hands acted well ahead of my brain on that one, and the guy went from belligerent and threatening to running/cowering in fear in about .001 seconds, but at the time it sucked, I got the shakes right afterwards, and felt sick for days over it. I still would have shot him if I had to, but I'm glad I didn't, and who knows what would have happened if I'd had to lay hands on him, that could have turned out a lot worse than the shakes for me and a new pair of drawers for him.



Actually, bat type weapons were one of the first thing I learned to disarm when I took panantukan, you duck inside the swing and wrap an arm around the bat like a snake encircling a staff, it's all leverage from there. I'd still rather just shoot someone swinging a bat at me, but it's not a weapon I particularly fear. Now a cheap smokeshop katana painted flat black and sharpened on a belt sander, that's a bit scary, since you can't see it coming in the dark and the damage it can do is pretty catastrophic. Good for killing people, not so good for running them off though.



Absolutely true, people who are armed and/or trained give of a distinctly different vibe than your average civilian, and predatory types pick up on it right away; it's the amateur idiots who don't have the survival instincts to recognize danger that you have to worry about, and it's them I've had problems with. I mean, a guy that engages in criminality professionally will recognize that the person who doesn't appear impressed with his act but also creates distance and frees their dominant hand is not worth the trouble, while a drunk fratboy looking to impress his friends doesn't understand what he's seeing and will push until something happens.

I learned to fight to avoid fighting. My master incorporated taoist philosophy into his lessons.

You cannot always avoid fighting but being ready to fight effectively can help you to avoid a fight.
This is true armed or unarmed, as Dox47's account makes clear.

You have the advantage of size, Adamantium!

I have the advantage of elusiveness