VISIT OUR SHOP! Filipino Martial Arts: Stick and Dagger (DVD)

Levels of Violence - When You Should and Should NOT Defend Yourself

Author: Joshua Black
Date Posted: April 09, 2009

As a martial arts practitioner, hopefully you have received the training that the best defense to an attack is not be there at all. Of course there will be occasions when not being there is not an option, and I hope to clear that up in this article.

The first level of violence is an attack on personal pride, or the verbal assault. The "attacker" has done nothing more than bruise your ego, insult your family, or made you cry. Here, you have the opportunity to walk away and you defense here is to get over yourself. More fights and altercations are started this way than any other way, and if you are the one making the first move after someone calls you a name, it makes you the attacker, not the defender. Have more pride in yourself and just let it be.

The second level of violence is physical pushing or grabbing of the arm or wrist. The "attacker" still has not done anything to harm your person, so that you still do not need to do anything back. It may be a sting to the pride, especially if you are used to getting into fights at the drop of a hat, but again, you become the attacker if you are fighting as a result of someone pushing you.

The third level is that the person actually throws a punch at you. Here is where you need to start defending yourself. This can require a take-down of some kind and probably a counter attack to neutralize the fight, but you are nowhere near a position to need to put this person in the hospital.

The fourth level of violence is a choke-hold, where your health is now at risk. Here you will probably need to make sure that the attack will not come back at you again.

The fifth level if violence is with weapons. Here you life is at stake. If the attacker has made the first move, you need to do whatever it takes to defend your life, because this could mean the end of it if the person gets their way.

Remember that you never want to escalate the level of violence in an altercation, only neutralize it, either by not being there, or meeting like attack with like defense. If someone pushes you, you do not come back at them with a gun or a knife. If someone insults your mother, no matter how sweet she is, you do not punch them in the face.

If you need to punch someone and you want to develop fists that make the attacker feel as if they have been kicked by a mule, then you need makiwara training. A makiwara is the single, best training tool you can use to develop strong fists for bare knuckle applications. Makiwara training creates much tougher punching power than working with a soft bag and gloves.

-Joshua Black

About The Author

Joshua Black is an on-line infopreneur, author, and martial artist.
Mr. Black is the developer of the Ultimate Makiwara Creator, a how-to course that can be viewed at:
http://www.UltimateMakiwara.com

Article Source: JKD Street Combat - online collection of articles on self-defense.

Write an online review and share your thoughts with other readers!