tough, even imprecise ones like grabbing a wrist or hooking a leg can be problematic unless you’re highly trained. If you try to get too fancy or precise, you will dramatically hurt your chances for success.
However, gross motor movements, especially those that target vital areas of the adversary’s body, work pretty well. Applications on the street just don’t work the same as they do in the training hall, in part because you are fighting an adversary who’s doing his all-out best to defeat you. It’s tough enough to get in a few solid blows without getting thumped yourself; don’t compound the mistake by trying the wrong thing.
Avoid Going to the Ground
Now an army is exposed to six several calamities, not arising from natural causes, but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are:…(3) collapse…
When the fight comes, always endeavor to chase the enemy around to your left side. Chase him towards awkward places and try to keep him with his back to awkward places. When the enemy gets into an inconvenient position, do not let him look around, but conscientiously chase him around and pin him down.
Avoid going to the ground in a fight. The ground is where you can easily get stomped, kicked, and maimed, if not outright killed. If you land on the ground, get up as fast as you can. Grapplers will tell you that submission techniques, or “ground and pound,” are great means to end a fight. They are absolutely correct, in the tournament ring. On the street however, they are flat-out wrong.
Going to the ground in a real fight puts you in a position where your adversary can easily stomp a mud-hole in you. Even if he chooses not to do so or drops down with you to grapple, his buddies will most likely put the boots to you. Or his girlfriend will. Either way, you are in dire straits; the ground is a very bad place to be.
Going to the ground in a real fight puts you in a position where your adversary and/or his friends can stomp a mud-hole in you. It’s a very precarious place to be.
Sitting in a bar one day Wilder watched a conversation between two men at an adjoining table grow in intensity. As they argued, these men sat side by side, turned slightly toward each other. One of them was wearing a white t-shirt. Without any telegraphing of his intensions, white t-shirt guy suddenly reached up behind the other man’s head and grabbed a wad of hair. Grip secured, he stood up and jerked the other guy down to the floor.
In the one deft motion, the other guy went down hard. Mr. T-shirt spread both hands out, supporting his weight between two tables, and swiftly kicked the other guy six or seven times in the face. Before anyone could react, he launched himself forward and ran from the bar.
The elapsed time for the entire fight was, perhaps, four or five seconds. By the time it was over, the other guy probably needed serious dental work and definitely needed stitches. This is a good example of the how going to the ground will get you stomped.
And if you think you want to be doing the stomping, like white t-shirt guy, listen up. One of our students came into the
The only people who can safely go to the ground in a real fight are police officers, security personnel, and other people who work in highly trained, well-coordinated teams. For most civilians, it’s an invitation to a boot party with you as the guest of honor.
The kid who did the kicking, oh, he had been in trouble before, in and out of juvenile detention several times in his young life. This particular fight happened just after his eighteenth birthday, however, so his reality shifted a bit. Suddenly he faced aggravated assault charges; cooling his heels with other incarcerated adults until his trial. He enjoyed Thanks-giving, Christmas, and New Years in jail. He not only missed his high school graduation but also faced a five- to seven-year prison term. Try to get a decent job with no high school diploma, or rent an apartment after you have checked the yes box that is on every apartment rental application where it asks, “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?”
Working stadium security, Kane has helped break up hundreds of fights. In his experience, combatants tend to go to the ground about 30 percent of the time, not counting situations where one person falls and the other stands over him while continuing to attack like white t-shirt guy or felony student have done. The most severe injuries he has seen occurred when two guys became enjoined in a wrestling contest and then one or the other’s friends weighed into the battle. Kicks to the head are brutal. They are vicious, bloody, and extremely dangerous. You really do not want to be the recipient of one.
Ever seen the victim of a Berkeley stomp? That’s when a guy, usually someone who pops off verbally to the wrong person, is shoved up against a curb with his mouth wrapped around the cement. He is then kicked in the head, fracturing the jaw and knocking out his teeth. It’s ugly. Perhaps not quite as bad as having your eyeball popped out from the force of a blow, but ugly enough that it is clearly something you will want to avoid.
Submission grappling works great in the ring, but not so well on the street. If you are on the ground, you are vulnerable. You can easily get stomped, kicked, and seriously messed up by your adversary. If you become tied up while wrestling, your opponent’s friends might put the boots to you as well. Unless you are a skilled professional working with an experienced team, the ground is a dangerous place to be, one best avoided if at all possible.
The only people who can safely go to the ground in a real fight are police officers, security personnel, and other people who work in highly trained, well coordinated teams. As one or more officers take down, control, and restrain the subject, the rest secure the perimeter so that they will not be overly vulnerable during the process. Unless you are a skilled professional working with an experienced team, the ground is a dangerous place to be, one best avoided if at all possible.
Don’t Let the Other Guy Get Behind You
When you leave your own country behind, and take your army across neighborhood territory, you find yourself on critical ground. When there are means of communication on all four sides, the ground is one of intersecting highways.
Stand in the sun; that is, take up an attitude with the sun behind you. If the situation does not allow this, you must try to keep the sun on your right side. In buildings, you must stand with the entrance behind you or to your right. Make sure that your rear is unobstructed, and that there is free space on your left, your right side being occupied with your sword attitude.
