Fight or flight in retrospect.

[zuhane]

Hey everyone. I've probably just never bothered to tell anyone this, but I'm a black belt in Taekwondo which I've trained in for
7 years. I've also done lots of training in Kali, Escrima, Feng-Shou, boxing, Jujitsu and also go to the gym 3-4 times a week. I'm
a very placid and non-violent person, but I train constantly at my club, striving to be the best at my martial art. I'm in pretty damn
good physical condition and can beat most members of my club in sparring matches, or even beat multiple people at once.

However, I went out clubbing tonight with friends. I'd had a little bit to drink, but still had my wits about me. Some guy mouthed off at
me because my hair isn't reminiscent of a prison convict with 1 GCSE, so for once in my life, I decided to mouth off back at him. But yeah,
this kind of resulted in him chasing me all the way down a street. I was in absolute shock and terror after I shouted it. I'm glad I'm safe and okay,
and I'm glad my cardio's good, but do you ever wish you could redo something? It's especially annoying considering I've won over 6 trophies and
been placed in the top 14 competition in my club out of 200 people and been told by all my friends that I could smash anyone's face off if I
wanted to.

I'm just sat here now, shaking. It's a horrible feeling, and I wish I could have taught the scumbag an agonizing lesson.

[TyDrace]

You do know that is has been proven, in multiple studies not just one, that knowing martial arts has nothing to do with having being able to stand up for yourself in such a situation? Your competition is that, a competition. It's not a real fight, it's not real stress. During your contest you can hold your own because you know what to expect, you know how they can fight. And worst of all, there are rules. Out there are no rules. You don't know if that guy has a knife or a gun or how he can fight. Your mind just enters a flight mode.

Point is, don't get worked up about it, it's natural instinct.

[Archem]

He's right, you know. You did the smart thing by not trying to assert your might.

[zuhane]

Yeah, my friends were all saying that he could have been carrying a knife, could have known some nasty people, could
have been a linebacker. Still, only certain aspects of my martial arts are competition-based. Wing-chun is has been adapted for
street fights and disposing of people quickly. But yeah, it's the whole 'real life' factor that sets in.

[Moosetroop11]

In your situation I like to think that I would have fought, but I really have no idea :p I'd just love to do it.

[zuhane]

At least I'm alive and can continue to work on RPGs and talk to you lot! Seriously, how **** and empty would
these forums be without me?













Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

[HackersTotalMassLaser]

AAAWWWW YEEAAAAAAAH!

[Prpl_Mage]

Question, do you get all adrenaline filled while exercising your art or do you remain calm? Because that's kinda what differs the most. In one case you get pumped up and remain so while in the other you keep your cool and do what you've been taught.
Sure your muscle memory will still work if it actually lead to a fight. But being in that pressured situation compared to the ambitious competition makes a lot of difference.

End of the line, never get into a fight you don't know that you can win. Fighting each other with honour and sportsmanship is not the same as brawling it out with some drunk in the street. He might just dwell on it and retaliate at some point.

[lonewolf]

its all ways wise to walk a way and see a new day

you may of had the cop's on your back
for giving the  a hole a good kicking
then you get a bad name for your self

so i say you did the best thing at the end of the day
and that was to walk a way

[DragonBlaze]

Fighting should be reserved for when you absolutely need to use it.

Though you probably would have won, it probably wouldn't have been worth it. At the very least you would have gotten kicked out of the club, the cops probably would have shown up, he may have gotten a lucky hit on you, and like you guys said, he could have had a weapon.

It would have felt awesome beating the **** out of him, but you did the smart thing, and this way, you don't spend the night in jail. Save your fight for when you need it like if a friend is in danger.

[Prpl_Mage]

We should bring back duels to society. You feel wronged, challenge the guy to a duel and meet up at a ring and brawl it out. One of you win and the other have to apologize.

[TyDrace]

I love how some of you expect him to actually win without a doubt. Martial arts =/= fighting.

[zuhane]

The Scandinavian knows what he is saying. Let us all do it in the old ways of the vikings and nothing will go wrong.

Oh and, Zuhane? You're way more badass than I thought you'd be.

Black belt and guitar player? Yeah boi!

[DragonBlaze]

I love how some of you expect him to actually win without a doubt. Martial arts =/= fighting.

Martial Arts: (noun) Various sports or skills, mainly of Japanese origin, that originated as forms of self-defense or attack, such as judo, karate, and kendo.

Correct, martial arts != fighting, but you train many of the same skills that are required to be a good fighter. You learn how to find openings in your opponents defense, you learn how to strike fast and hard, you learn how to defend against your opponents attack, you train your reflexes, etc. There's a reason that UFC and professional MMA fighters mostly all have black belts in various forms of martial arts, and it's because the skills they learned from those disciplines transfer to real fights. 

And when I know nothing about person A, and one of the few things I know about person B is that they are a black belt in a form of martial arts, the odds from the current information suggest B would have the advantage .

[the dark tower]

Well, in a real fight you could have every advantage and still lose. There's way more factors than who the better fighter is, such as luck. That's a big one. You could be winning and then knock him next to an object that can be used as a deadly weapon, and thus you lose. I doubt it's as easy to disarm someone in real life as it is in a martial arts class when you know it's coming and you're expecting it.

What you should do is go start fights regularly and get used to the feeling lol Well, you shouldn't do that, but getting used to the environment, situations and unpredictability of a real fight could be useful I guess.

The terror and instinct to flee is mostly because of an unfamiliar situation I think.