it has me worried that in fact my karate will be worthless on the streets.
I am 20 years old, I have lived outside of the country most of my life, in Africa, and I can tell you that the fact is not that maybe I might get in a fight, the fact is that I plan on going back there, it is like my 2nd home, and the fact is I WILL end up in that sort of situation, as I have at least 50 times been in a fight situation, none of which I really instigated, hard to believe in America, but in Africa it is another story, I have literally been walking and had people step out in front of my path and begin pushing me around, even when I move with friends, allot of times they are drunk, and it's not just being in a bad place at a bad time, it is everywhere, it's part of living there. Most people there actually know Taekwondo, or kick-boxing/boxing, they have many gyms and instructors of those type there, they really know hardly anything about karate. I need something effective that I will have real confidence that I can in fact fight and win.
I am worried that I will continue in Kenpo and I know the movies show that this stuff works, but I do not want to spend 10 years to learn how to make fancy moves or 20 years, however long, I am also aware that things depend on me, how much I put into it, that it is MY kenpo etc. But even so, we train with willing partners, we never actually have the contact with anyone like we would on the street, I myself had a recent eye opener, I went to see a friend of mine, who owns a financial institution, he knew I was in Karate, and we were in his office he turns around and jumps at me quickly, I could actually see him coming for a moment but I completely froze up, and all those moves and sets and forms and blocks and strikes and everything went right out the window, and as if he's fighting on the street, pushes me to the ground and lifts something up as if he's going to smash my head in, if that was on the street and he wasn't my friend, I would have been finished right there.
So maybe I don't have enough training, which is how I defended myself and my Kenpo, and my Kenpo instructor says that it doesn't matter, you will use what you know to defend yourself even if you are not black belt or what not. I know enough about fighting mostly getting beaten to the ground, to know that it happens so quickly usually you end up on the ground with no time to even think about stepping back into a stance, no time for a stance, just allot of confusion, grabbing fast punching noise and shear strength, big black guy grabbing you and throwing you to the ground.
I also am cross training as of recently, with Aikido, but allot of Aikido is so submissive on the behalf of the training partner, and in such slow motion, I'm almost convinced that they can't perform that type of Martial art on the street with an experienced street fighter.
Answer Hi Danny,
Your observations are correct. There is no quick way to learn how to fight effectively. If there is no 'meaningful' attacing practised in your dojo, you won't learn how to defend yourself from a real attack.
Some instructors bring reality to training by having the attacker attack strongly with 'habitual acts of violence' such as those commonly used in the street. These instructors prepare their students better for real situations than those who don't.
Unless you are kidding yourself, you will never feel that you can handle any situation no matter how hard you train. On the contrary, most people feel increasingly paranoid about getting into fights the more training they do. Avoid making the mistake of staying and fighting when you have an opportunity to avoid the fight just because you want to test your skill - this is a common way that martial artists get beaten up.
Keep training, and follow the basic principles of self defence - stay out of trouble. The 5th dan is less likely to get into a fight than the brown belt.
By the way, 'experienced' street fighters typically pick on weak prey and attack from behind. If you are able to stand up, turn around and stare them in the eye it can be enough. If they're still coming, one good technique will finish it.
If your teaining is genuinely realistic, eventually you will be able to trust in your skill and you will have no fear.
Happy training - James
