If someone is actually a very good martial artist, then no, you won't see the kick - it will be as fast as most of us could punch. The "problem", is that very good martial artists are far less likely to attack you then your normal person - if you attack them, you get what you deserve Its also worth pointing out very good martial artists are extremely rare indeed. I was certainly never one and the only people I've met who would fall into that category were professional competition winners.
I agree with others, if you want to practice for a fight - make sure you can run 10 miles without stopping - thats all you need to know
No Nonsense Self Defense - Reliable information for dangerous situations
As I've said before somewhere else, well worth reading everything that's on there (though it does have an American bias)
Basically your friend's coming at the problem backwards. It's like coming to Ceroc on the frist day and wanting to learn aerials.
Rule No 1 - Accept that if you actually have to fight, someone may die.
Go away and think about that for a week
Rule No 2 - See Rule No 1.
In reality you can see most trouble coming if you know what to look for. It's really hard to go from mellow to "I WANT TO KILL YOU!" in a heartbeat. People work themselves up. There's observable patterns they tend to follow. This gives you time to get out of dodge or interupt the patterns
I would highly recommend
Safe in the Street - Blackwell Online
and
Amazon.co.uk: Violence, Blunders and Fractured Jaws: Advanced Awareness Techniques and Street Etiquette: Books: Marc MacYoung
He needs to get to the point where saying "But what if this situation happened, then I'd have to fight" - just isn't acceptable.
Then he learns to fight. Learning to fight is not learning an art
My advice would be to look for women only defence classes taught by women. It's one thing to tell a group of young guys "Oh, yeah, just do a roundhouse it'll work fine". It's another entirely if you or someone you know has been abused, raped etc and you know that what you're teaching could very well make the difference between these women surviving or being scarred for life. Like all things, he'll need to look in a few places. Then convince her to teach him. It's worth it though.
Sadly the majority of guys teaching women's self defence need to be taken out and shot repeatedly - though if he can find someone who several of the above women teachers all recommend, he's probably struck gold.
Defending other people is not taught in the majority of martial arts. There's good reasons Police and Bodyguards come in groups (usually armed groups at that).
If he really has no other choice, then he has to understand that he's risking killing or being killed no matter what the art. A lot of martial art fights degenerate really quickly in schoolground scraps regardless.
As a reference point, when asked how good I am at martial arts, I usually answer "I'm still breathing". He needs to get to the point where that makes sense.
Just to clarify an important point - I'm really not that fond of the "Nike Defence". It's a good way to express a different way of thinking rather than the "Stand there and fight" but,
it really sucks if either you or the person you're with are
"older"
out of shape
nursing dancing injuries
wearing heels, tight skirts etc
pregnant etc
It also sucks deeply if
you're boxed in
you don't know the layout of the area
the ground is treacherous for running, especially at night
they can run faster than you and are wearing trainers
These tend to be the scenarios people suggest as "Well what about this? I'd have to fight then right? I can't run away and leave them to beat up my pregnant girlfriend"
What I really dislike about it is that it is that if you need to run. it means you've really screwed up the whole awareness thing before hand.
What you should be doing is walking away before it's even occurred to the other person / people that they want to hurt you. Do it properly and you won't even appear on their radar. Running away tends to give people all sorts of ideas you really don't want that type of people to be having."This is where we run, right?'
'Where we walk, nonchantly, calmy, and er..'
'Fast?'
'You pick things up quickly don't you?"
Eric and Rincewind - "Eric"
This may involve simply not going to certain places at certain times. It may mean crossing the road so you don't walk past the entrance to the pub or taking a longer route so you don't go near it at all. It may mean if you do go to certain places, you pay attention to what's going on and when if things start to develop you go then, everyone goes, no discussion. Not after one more drink etc.
"Best defence, don't get hit" - Mr Miyagi
It's really hard to hit someone who's five miles away
Quite!
However, some people are far more 'street aware' than others - and some of us have far more 'selective' vision than others (some have photographic memories, others have great peripheral vision, others can spot a cake shop at 800 yards etc). So is what you're advocating something that can be learned by everyone?
I've yet to meet a person who wanted to learn it but couldn't. The Safe in the Street video I linked to gives really good clear explanations. It'd probably take a month or so playing around with the concepts it get it down, but it takes time to learn any new skill. Once you know what you're looking for it tends to stick out. Peripheral vision is useful, but basically there's nothing stopping you from moving your head around and going "Oh look, there's a railing between the entrance to the pub and the road, and it's chucking out time. So if someone came out of there looking for trouble, I'm going to be boxed in. Hmm better cross over the road then." A really simple game is "if I wanted to hurt someone, how could I do it here?" - you begin to realise the options are a lot more limited than you might think.
My nephew does Muay Thai which is a type of kick boxing. Not only is he really good, but the ethos behind the 'art' seems to be as well. First and foremost it appears to be taught as a defensive martial art (good really seeing as he's only 6!), but can easily turn into a far more aggressive (sp?) discipline if required.
Requires an impressive level of fitness, jumping ability and speed...all of which are worked upon throughout the classes.
The instructor stands about 5'6", is Korean (I think?) and must weigh about 8 1/2 stone wet through...but when you see him in action...
...the shear fact he can jump higher than he stands impresses me!
From my perspective, (and I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to fighting - if you can be), i don't think you can beat a good kick to the nuts, a head butt or a volley of extremely fast punches to the mid section, culminating at the head. If you can't run away, always get the first one in...and then run...and don't get caught..
Under Par...if you're reading this...erm...it's not James, it's someone completely different
JB (not)
If your friend wants to defend then Karate is the only choice.
If your friend wants to attack then the chouce would have to be kickboxing.
However
If your friend is in the situation where he needs to react, it takes a very cool head and only if you have been trained well and long can your teaching be of benifit. Mostley instinct will take over and you run or street fight.
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