Attacks vs Fist Fights & Posturing Part 1
Author: Richard Clear

What Constitutes an Attack

In the Martial Arts you hear and read about people who have
used their Martial Art to physically defend themselves in a real
situation. Often the defender could very easily have avoided the
entire situation but instead due to any number of circumstances
they ended up in a fight instead. I recently read an article by
Nev Sagiba related to this topic and decided to add my 2 cents
worth.

First of all, a physical attack is actually implemented when
someone is actually closing the distance towards you or those
you care about (or are in some way responsible for) and they are
on their way to strike, stab, grab, beat or otherwise
immediately hurt them or you Right NOW! For this to actually be
a physical attack they also must be close enough that within
seconds they can actually begin contact and the physical aspect
of the attack is imminent.

A person who throws their fists up and threatens to beat you up
is verbally attacking and physically posturing but not yet
physically attacking. A person who is upset and yelling is upset
or/and threatening and posturing is verbally attacking but not
yet physically attacking. A person swearing at you is verbally
attacking and posturing but not yet physically attacking. A
person who is busting things in the room or kicking your car is
posturing and attacking things but is not yet physically
attacking you.  You get the idea.

When I began learning martial arts a lot of what I learned
taught a person how to engage in a fight. Fortunately for me my
instructor was also very street-wise and taught me as much about
street fighting as he did about the arts. Part of his training
included the idea of getting out of there and using any unfair
advantage you could get to win a serious physical confrontation.
I also found that when I was threatened with a fist fight that I
did not just jump in there swinging away like a mad man but that
instead I had a tendency to utilize positioning and verbal
skills to try to deter my would be attacker. Due to attacks,
that I personally experienced, I also found that when I needed
to defend myself that techniques that would allow me to quickly
end a physical confrontation and get out of there were much more
important to me than being able to exchange a lot of punches and
kicks. This was partially due to the fact that even in school
yard fist fights the average fight involved multiple attackers
and if I got tangled up with someone the next thing I knew their
buddies were also all over me. My findings and understanding of
what happens in real situations eventually led me to Pentjak
Silat, Kun Tao and Kun Tao Silat as the arts that I needed to
deal with the harsh realities of surviving street encounters.

When a person attacks you verbally (yelling and threatening) or
non-verbally (such as waving their fists) then a response of
some kind is still called for. Generally speaking the response
is fairly simple. Either work to help end and bring an
acceptable solution/conclusion to the problem or simply remove
yourself from the situation by running or driving away.

To Be Continued In "Attacks Vs Fist Fights & Posturing Part 2"


About The Author: Self Defense Master of the Year 2007 USA
Martial Arts Hall of Fame Sigung(Senior Teacher-Red Sash)Old
Hand Shao lin and Internal Kung Fu Master Practitioner of KUNTAO
SILAT de Thouars Master Practitioner of Pentjak Silat Certified
Instructor of Russian Martial Art Systema as of may`03
http://ClearSilat.com