The Most Dangerous Opponent is NOT a Human Being – It is the Concrete Jungle

Contrary to popular belief, the most dangerous element in any street fight or self-defense situation is not going to be that of a human being. Instead, the most dangerous element in a realistic self-defense situation is going to be that of your environment.

Take some time to imagine a movie fight scene with people flying through windows, opponents using chairs to smash over their targets back and people falling down the stairs and onto the floor.  This all looks great on the silver screen, but in real life, they do not use sugar glass to hit you over the head with a beer bottle.

On the set of a movie, all of the actors and stuntmen are protected with hidden padding under their clothing. The tables and chairs are designed to break and often made of balsa wood or rubber.  The floors all have padding too and everything is designed to be as safe as a kids playground. This is not the case in the real world.

If your opponent was to throw you to the ground - that ground becomes the most dangerous item in that scenario. If you are knocked into a counter, thrown into a glass window or pushed over a table, you will have to deal with the fact that these objects fight back in a way that is hard to defend against.

Consider that in the bathroom people often slip and fall backwards and hit the back of their head on the bathtub or counter and are often killed instantly. This accident is one of the most common household deaths. The same goes in the real world (in or out of the home) and we need to learn to protect ourselves against the environment if we are to truly understand realistic self-defense.

Once you are aware that your environment is the most dangerous part of the self-defense situation, you can then move on to learning techniques of self-protection against your environment. For most martial artists, training will start with basic rolls and falls. By learning to roll if you learn and rebound from the ground.  By learning to fall, you learn how to take the least amount of damage as possible.

Once you have mastered rolling and falling you will want to focus on improving your agility in an environment with obstacles. This type of training requires you to play a stunt man/woman and pad up. You will also want to create an environment that is typical to many of the locations you might be in if a situation did occur – for example, in the bank, school, coffee shop, office or even on the street. You will need to set up elements that represent dangerous obstacles in your environment.  However, these elements should be SAFE to fall or roll over. Consider using items designed for playgrounds – or protect tables with pillows and thick padding.

With some practice and professionally guided training, you can be well on your way to feeling safe even in the most arduous of environments.

Photo Credits: chibij918

Originally posted 2010-04-03 03:44:07.

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bathtub, beer bottle, contrary to popular belief, falling down the stairs, fight scene, glass window, kids playground, martial artists, opponent, opponents, padding, real world, realistic self defense, self defense situation, self protection, silver screen, street fight, stuntmen, sugar glass, tables and chairs

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Martial Arts, Survival Skills

Posted by Martial Arts Karate Kung Fu on January 15, 2012 in Martial Arts, Survival Skills. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.