Who ever thought they could use kung fu then got beat up?

[GoldenFist]

Hey has anyone ever thought they could use their kung fu well enough a street fight, then failed miserably? About a few years ago, I was walking home and got beat up by a few black kids, I thought I could round house or maybe crescent kick them in the face, but I was just tackled to the ground and stomped on. Anyone have any stories?

[doug maverick]

rule number one never kick above your waste in a real fight. what kind of kung fu do you do. if its wushu walk away now.

[GoldenFist]

I do a mixture of my own jeet kune do and taekwon do.

[niro]

Nope, when you've trained somewhat in a martial art and then get into a real street fight its totally different, your training doesnt come to mind it jus watever happens.

Of course if your highly disciplined in the martial arts you've been training in then you probably could use pure martial arts for a fight lol

[Cesare]

I've heard quite a few stories about people who did some sort of martial arts and who got beaten up in real fight because they overestimated their actual efficiency in an actual combat.
I guess you were pretty lucky, GoldenFist. I heard about a girl (though I can't really confirm the authenticity of the story) who got herself killed because she thought she could confront a group of street thugs and walk out of it alive and sound. What makes it even sadder (and somehow bizarrely funny, actually) is the fact that she derived most of her confidence from the fact that she had done some historical swordplay. *rolleyes* Stupid girl...:-/

[KUNG FU BOB]

Hey GF, welcome to the forum!:D

There's a great thread started by my buddy Chinatown Kid that you should check out, called "What's your style" that has a lot of interesting and vastly varied information from all different practitioners of a plethora of styles. I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it:
http://www.kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5132

I remember when I first started training, I was showing off some of my kicks to a buddy, and he rushed me and took me down. Then he started slap fighting me while I was pinned and saying "Are you gonna kick me now? Well, are you?" So then I began wrestling a bit. Just when I thought I was getting pretty solid, I met an Aikido teacher. I asked him how he would counter a tackle type of attack, and he showed me. I thought "Geez, everytime I think I'm learning enough to have the upper hand in an average street fight, I find out how lacking my skills really are!"

The truth is, without a lot of training in practical application, and intense sparring, you'll never be even close to ready for a full-on street attack. The level of brutality that humans are capable of is truly astounding. Be sure to train your brain as much as your muscles, and remember: You're only as good as your opponent isn't.

[The Dragon]

"Boards don't hit back"- Mr. Lee, to O'harrah, in Enter The Dragon

:D

[shaolin drunkard]

It`s so different from training and sparring in gym where are rules.No prepared for dirty tricks like kicks to the nuts,headbutts,opponent grabbing from hair and then rapid punch to face,even biting and using any object available to throw/strike at you.

False confidence to his own ability is as bad as no confidence.I guess many practitioners particularly with little training have fantasy can stop attacker with sidekick to the chest,spinning backfist to head or swiftly sweep his legs.

Escaping is better choice than fighting.Even if you win and it was clearly self defence you might still get into trouble with law.

[The Amazing Psycho Per]

The purpose of martial arts training is not to fight. It's a training to unite body and spirit in a quest of enlightment. You're supposed to study martial arts to pursue the Dao, Tao or Do and find the way to unite you're Qi with the universe and then become an accomplished man. Violence is a never ending cycle.

That was my thought of the day.;)

[KUNG FU BOB]

True. Even if you have mad skills, all it takes is one guy throwing a rock at your head!

Real life combat should only be used in life and death situations. Even if you win, fighting is never a good thing.

[venom10463]

I was about 11 or 12. I had tried using martial arts I learned from watching Kung fu movies (yeah I know) one time in a fight, sadly it didn't go as I'd planned. I went for a side kick and he managed to catch my leg. While still holding onto my leg he pushed me against a fence. (thank god the fence was there) While up against the fence... I started punching him in his face to free my leg. He finally gave in and let my leg go, which I then proceeded to grab him and throw him against the fence. After holding him down for about 15 mins because I was tired and didn't want to fight in the first place. An adult finally intervened and broke up the fight.

There are no rules in a street fight, it's pretty sad some people don't know what a fair fight is these days. They have to resort to all kinds of malicious things to act big or hard in front of they friends. I try to stay away from fighting these days. To many people are carrying things I don't want touching my face or body.

[Markgway]

Purists will balk at me saying this but if some fucker confronts you and is intent on doing serious damage the best thing to do is stick your thumb in their eye. If an opponent can't see you he can't hit you and the pain would be so instantly agonising that they wouldn't be able to think straight giving you time to either run or kick fuck out of them.

[niro]

"Boards don't hit back"- Mr. Lee, to O'harrah, in Enter The Dragon

:D

That was the line of thinking i took up (not cos of that quote lol) after couple years doing karate...i felt the association i went to had become all about the money, we hardly ever used any bags to practice on , etc. So i thought whats the point, it will be useless in real situations

Purists will balk at me saying this but if some fucker confronts you and is intent on doing serious damage the best thing to do is stick your thumb in their eye. If an opponent can't see you he can't hit you and the pain would be so instantly agonising that they wouldn't be able to think straight giving you time to either run or kick fuck out of them.

damn straight man, if someone is trying to harm me then i dont care i will aim for the balls

[lillippa328]

How does Wing Chun hold up in a real life fight?

[Atherton]

When I was younger I studied an Okinawan Style in a dojo with a bunch of other kids and teenagers. I was horrible at being a disciplined martial arts. I was always a little smaller and was totally scarred of getting my butt kicked. So when sparring time came, I did whatever it took to win and the teachers as well as some of the other parents were not happy about it. In a way I saw the limitations of this system (for myself anyway), I soon left and never really pursued physical martial arts again. During that time I'd like to think I'd gained some sort of respect from the other students even the older and bigger ones thought twice about underestimating me.

Fighting is rarely needed in normal life. Walk away if you can, you don't have to prove anything to anybody. But when real danger comes always be ready. If you want to survive be willing to do whatever the other guy cannot. You may have to dig deep within yourself to find this and I think studying martial arts can help you find this. I'd like to think I'm ready and my methods are still pretty much the same. I'm prepared to accept any consequences for my actions.

[silver hermit]

kicks above the waist have to be set up it can't be your first strike. two blows to the gut is enough to set up any attack take my word for it

[Markgway]

I think you'd need to be Donnie Yen-fast for a kick to the head to work as an initial move. Otherwise you just get your leg grabbed and there's nothing much you can do about it except wait to get kicked in the balls.

[Ziyad]

When I was younger I studied an Okinawan Style in a dojo with a bunch of other kids and teenagers. I was horrible at being a disciplined martial arts. I was always a little smaller and was totally scarred of getting my butt kicked. So when sparring time came, I did whatever it took to win and the teachers as well as some of the other parents were not happy about it. In a way I saw the limitations of this system (for myself anyway), I soon left and never really pursued physical martial arts again. During that time I'd like to think I'd gained some sort of respect from the other students even the older and bigger ones thought twice about underestimating me.

Fighting is rarely needed in normal life. Walk away if you can, you don't have to prove anything to anybody. But when real danger comes always be ready. If you want to survive be willing to do whatever the other guy cannot. You may have to dig deep within yourself to find this and I think studying martial arts can help you find this. I'd like to think I'm ready and my methods are still pretty much the same. I'm prepared to accept any consequences for my actions.

You instinctively got fighting better than your teacher did. It's the reason why I prefer not to teach kids: they don't have control over their own destiny yet, so your have to work with the parents AND the students which is a lot harder.

I always look for that fighting spark when I teach someone. If you can't tap into that pure viciousness, you'll never be an effective streetfighter for that one or twice in a life time threatening situation.

[fabhui]

Purists will balk at me saying this but if some fucker confronts you and is intent on doing serious damage the best thing to do is stick your thumb in their eye. If an opponent can't see you he can't hit you and the pain would be so instantly agonising that they wouldn't be able to think straight giving you time to either run or kick fuck out of them.

You have got it nailed!....You need a handful of stopping techniques that can be used against anybody in any situation!
It's simple if what you do is based on 3 things 1) The human body and how it works, 2) The laws of physics and 3) Common sense.

Simple doesn't mean easy though and to do the above requires hundreds of thousands of repitions of basic useable techniques which most people don't want to do and are not able to do. The majority of people would prefer to learn a new lock every week instead of drilling the basics over and over and over! Then they wonder why when it kicks off outside the chippy they end up getting battered!

[crazedjustice888]

Haven't really ever done that, but I can lend my info to real time fighting.

In a real fight there are no rules. People say oh, its a fair fight, then you have to have rules for it to be fair. A lot of you have nailed it as to what is needed to fight and to win. Also, the best fight is the fight you are not in. You win every fight your not in. However, when the time comes, and you or a loved one is threatened, you need to stand up for them or yourself. If you have too, the crotch is the perfect target. The eyes, the nose, the throat. All of those are wonderful ideas and targets.

My dad asked me one day what I would do to my opponent if they attacked me with my family or alone. I told him this.

If my opponent has a gun, then I won't do anything, nothing is worth my life or that of my families. If a man came at me with a knife, I would have to assess the situation first. If a man is unarmed, then I will use my experience. The good thing that happened to me in Germany while I lived there, was that I got to use my Hung Gar in real time against a couple guys. I smashed a guys rotatory cuff, I used my finger strength for clawing and cut into one of their biceps, and another I closed their windpipe, but let go, don't worry I didn't kill anyone. LOL!!!!!

When I was in those fights, I realized that you have to do what you need to, to go home. A Hung Gar sifu named Sharif Bey told me this. So many of today's martial arts teach you to just fight, what you are learning is teaching you to go home to your family. You have to be willing to do anything and everything to avoid the confrontation first. However, if you can't, then its you or him. I would rather be the guy that said, yeah, I had to kick him in the balls, and got home to the wife and kids, then the one that said, man...I sure wish he fought fairly, while laying in a hospital bed.

Sorry for the sermon everybody. Back to what you were doing..LOL

[The Dragon]

Look, it always looks better on screen. That's why it's called choreography. Real life isn't rehearsed. Someone at anytime can do something you're unprepared for-like returning with a pistol and blasting! These are the times we're living in. If you're thinking of fighting for real, you need to be pepared to go all the way-meaning 'til either you, or, the other poor slob is DEAD. Are you prepared to take on the responsibility of what comes with that? Train, keep your fitness, and leave the fighting to those UFC/Toughman/dudes who get paid for your entertainment. Then put on a Shaw film and enjoy how great it can look on film.

[Yi-Long]

rule number one never kick above your waste in a real fight. what kind of kung fu do you do. if its wushu walk away now.


I used high kicks in real fights plenty of times. Never worked against me. In fact, it makes the rest of the people pretty hesitant to attack you when you just kicked their standing buddy straight in the face with a high kick which no-one saw coming.

If you CAN'T kick, yeah, I agree kicking above the waist would be a mistake, but I can kick pretty damn high and fast, so when I'm in a fight I'll use it. Even as an opener. Most opponents dont even expect that anyway, never see it coming, and the fight is usually over before it really started.

[Chinatown Kid]

I used high kicks in real fights plenty of times. Never worked against me. In fact, it makes the rest of the people pretty hesitant to attack you when you just kicked their standing buddy straight in the face with a high kick which no-one saw coming.

If you CAN'T kick, yeah, I agree kicking above the waist would be a mistake, but I can kick pretty damn high and fast, so when I'm in a fight I'll use it. Even as an opener. Most opponents dont even expect that anyway, never see it coming, and the fight is usually over before it really started.

I believe that's the first time I've ever agreed with you Yi Long lol. ;)

It all depends on how good a person is, some people can make certain techniques work, others can't. It reflects back more on the skill of a person than the style.

[lillippa328]

So...does any1 know about Wing Chun in a real fight?

[kungfusamurai]

There are so many factors that can determine whether a fight comes out in your favour. But the best thing to do is just to run away. You win a fight by living to breath another day. You also have to think about the consequences when you get into a confrontation: It may not end with this guy, because if he's in a gang, his buddies will come after you; you could get permanently injured or killed; if you mess with the wrong guy and you seriously hurt or kill them, like the son of an influential person in the community, your live could be turned into a living hell.

I liked watching kung fu movies, and sometimes I pretended to act them out to friends as a kid. But when I got jumped one time (I think it was a half-serious attack), I reverted to the grappling skills I pretty much learned from fighting with my siblings, and wrestled the guy down and held him until he gave up. That was the end of that. But if I see a group of guys who look like trouble, if I can, I just walk down a different street or just mind my own business and give them a wide berth. You never know if someone is packing a gun or a knife.

Pretending you're Bruce Lee to a bunch of punks could end up fast tracking you to a face to face meeting with your idol, in the afterlife.

KFS

[bamboo spear]

I got roughed up in junior high a little, but since I started martial arts I haven't had an altercation, which I'm gracious for.

[fabhui]

So...does any1 know about Wing Chun in a real fight?

It's not about a particular style, it's about how you train that makes what you do work!

[Jiu-Jitsu-Dragon]

Purists will balk at me saying this but if some fucker confronts you and is intent on doing serious damage the best thing to do is stick your thumb in their eye. If an opponent can't see you he can't hit you and the pain would be so instantly agonising that they wouldn't be able to think straight giving you time to either run or kick fuck out of them.

When I was in the marine corp. bootcamp this was the first self defense technique they suggested (ofcourse we were training for life and death situations)
I remember when I first started training in MMA (10 years ago) I kept wondering when the spinning backfists and roundhouse kicks and karate chops were gonna come and my trainer finally said "listen that stuff just isn't effective on an opponent that is expecting a fight" Ever since I have been hooked on Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu and I can say with all honesty It is relatively effective in street fight scenarios

[GoldenFist]

Truthfully, when I got my ass kicked in Junior High, was thinking of jackie chan style. I did the wrong thing and didn't want to hit the kid because I didn't know him, but truthfully it really doesn't matter if I knew him or martial arts, I just needed to fight back.

- GoldenFist