Attacks vs Fist Fights & Posturing Part 1

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”

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