Self defense with a MA partner

DWx · Black Belt

I was practicing with my sister and it occurred to me that although I could probably block a TKD or MA attack, blocking a general attack from an aggressor would be completely different. Its not that I don't know how necessarily, but the only people I ever practice self defense against is other MAists. You tell them to throw a punch at you and they still throw it in a MA way. To some extent there are nearly always features of the "proper" punch and even though you ask them to just randomnly attack you any kick or strike or takedown will be done in an MA fashion.

So how effective is it to learn self defense when practising against a martial artist?

I have virtually no real self defense experience and it concerns me that I have no idea how I am going to react to an unwieldly fist that could seem to be thrown almost erratically. Through my training I am fairly good at recognising the signals of an attack but these are signals from an MAist and you kinda know the path their fist or foot will travel.
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Throwdown0850 · Brown Belt

get a friend that is willing and have him or her put on boxing gloves and have them try to hit you, not hard, but enough to make contact.. tell them to hit "realistically", and you try to block..
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NewEnglands_KyoSa · Pre-Black Belt

the only real way to practice what you're saying you want to practice is follow throwdown's idea and get a training partner and just do it, or go to a school that would offer that. there's so much theory and physics behind the actual dynamics of a real fight that you'd be best off trying to find classes that would do that. my kempo school is great for dealing with real life scenarios. don't give up what you're doing, but find something to supplement your needs.
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cross · Black Belt

Rateh · Red Belt

We do a few "street style" one-steps where the person throws a haymaker. The hardest part is being the one throwing the haymaker, for most of the students (who have been training for a year or more at this point), the instructor has to go over how exactly you throw a haymaker (because the students tend to fall back on their training of how to punch).

I do agree though that a good way is to find a training partner who is not a MA. I would also say get your instructors advice, they may know more then they are teaching on the subject.
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DWx · Black Belt

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

I think that getting someone who is not an MAist to throw attacks at you is a great way to train from time to time. We see this at times when we spar low ranks, whose technique may not be quite up to snuff. We expect techniques to come in a certain way, but when there is something about it that we as higher ranks see as "wrong," it may contact us, because we are used to defending against it the "right" way. It is important to not get into this mindset too much.
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cross · Black Belt

Regardless of if its martial arts or self defense my approach to defense is similar, in principle anyway.

Rather than focusing on defending against specific techniques i look more-so at the direction of the attack in relation to the centerline.

For hand techniques they can basically go straight down the centerline(jabs, crosses etc), around it(hooks, haymakers, hammerfists etc), or rise along it(uppercuts). So that means you really only need 3 different defensive motions to cover basically all hand strikes. This is a slight over simplification, but you get the idea.

So to me regardless of if its a technically correct hook, or a swinging haymaker the defense is the same, and if anything the haymaker is easier to defend against because its generally more telegraphed and has a wider arc.

shujika · Yellow Belt

The manner we train is “similar” to the above, except we (as a rule) are not as concerned with the specific technique being “thrown” at us (I.E. hook, straight, uppercut, reaching to grab etc.). (in training) we're concentrating on what “we” are doing as the self-defense motion with a “general” disregard for the attacking technique (does this sound as confusing to anyone else as it does to me? As I read it. LOL). For beginners especially, it's too common to try to “focus” on the assaulter's fist, hence, they “sit” and wait for the fist to “come” to them (in theory, so they can block, capture, redirect etc.) and wind up getting “hit”and are unable to initiate their “defense” to begin with. If the defender focuses on their own “defensive” motion (when the aggressor first begins their assault), they wind up striking the aggressor before the attack can actually be initiated (I.E. during the “cocking”of the strike). For this reason we have the uke “vary” their attack manner, occasionally “winding” the punch, or turn it into a wide sweep (hay maker, or even a “slap” ) with the express point being to continue their planned defensive motion to completion.
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Tiger1962 · Black Belt

Besides practicing with your martial arts partner you could have a willing friend or family member pretend that they were going to attack you or mug you - think up of a few real life scenarios and what you would do if "such and such" situation occurred. You do have to take into consideration that your partner doesn't know martial arts and that you could seriously hurt them if for example you got them into a wrist lock or something else. In real life, that is what you want to do to protect yourself but when you're practicing with a "good guy" you gotta also be careful.

Think of probable situations - i.e. someone coming at you, instead of actually body slamming your practice partner onto the floor.
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