What to take? What to do?

[ronrei]

How should I train to be ready?

I was carjacked/attacked and was beat to a pulp by a few people and although I had some background in wing chun,jkd and karate the one thing I was never trained for was a real encounter, which I am not sure if any traditional arts do really prepare you if they dont cover the psyche aspect.

When one is attacked they (well atleast I did) experience an adrenaline dump, my hearing was off, my strength was gone, everything felt like slow motion, I was haking so bad I couldnt even move, could not think, tunnel vision, etc.

Although my training was limited we never did scenarios and never full speed/padded sparred which may of helped me.

I have learned about combatives/rbsd but nothing local so I am limited to videos, books and hopefully seminars here and there so I am left training on my own.

So my question is how should I train and should I join a boxing/mma gym or to atleast experience being hit.

I am 38, not in the best shape right now which I know I have to work on with conditioning, etc but how can I train and in what if anything.

I am seeing that there are three different directions:

1: Train in scenarios/under stress using basic moves/drills.
2: Train to be calm as an aikido person told me (although I dont know if this is real or just mystic traditional talk)
3: Train MMA, get hit and use to fighting, thus relieving any stress induced problems in a real encounter, however matching up with someone is different than being attacked, and I also wander if boxing/thai, etc is even effective for self defense, it's power based and has weight classes so not sure if its practical for someone small like myself against a bigger person, however the fact of being hit and learning solid basic tools (i.e. the jab) and so on has to have its merits for the street.

6 Schools Local to me:

MMA Gym: MMA,Hocks CQC, JKD, Muay Thai, Boxing, Shooto/ Sambo. (offers the most, but the furthest, about an hour away)

Traditional wing chun (william cheung branch) also protekt/ cdt tactics, he seemed very well versed (over the phone) about the adrenaline dump, and insists they train under stress and do some scenario work.

Kokikai aikido

Combat hapkido

Krav Maga

Kung fu Kwoon: Tai chi, Baqua, xingyi, Praying Mantis.

[Maxx]

If you are looking to be as prepared as possible, I would suggest looking into systems that not only give you tools but also helps to really condition the mental and emotional aspects of a potential encounter. Probably the best person to go to would be Tony Blauer of Blauer Tactical Systems.

While I don't know him personally, I've met a few of his instructors in the past and have read quite a bit about him. He specializes in the actual psychology of fighting. From what I understand a lot of his training is scenario based, but I would imagine that it's light years ahead of everyone else due to the fact that he works with various corporate and law enforcement organizations.

His web site is here: http://www.tonyblauer.com/

You might want to think about contacting him or checking out his site to see if maybe he has a certified instructor close to your area.

[ronrei]

Maxx: good stuff!

I am also familiar with geoff, senshido and the like and I guess my question is how should I train?

Locally there isnt much RBSD , NONE!

Most people I talk to dont even know what an A dump is.

So My choices locally are slim when it comes to RBSD but I feel training in something to get me active/in shape and build confidence and get hit is important, but what?

I did more research and have narrowed it down to these schools:

http://www.pamausa.com

http://www.xtremefreestyle.com

http://www.charles-nelson-defense.com

http://abseconmartialarts.com

http://www.pmaschools.com/kennettsquare/index.cfm?page=15

I checked out the tradional schools and well...not impressed.

I want to train for the street, something I can use till I am old, few techniques, etc.

Which of these schools do you think would not interupt my goals?

Thanks

[m_calingo]

It's one thing to train in the martial arts and have to deal with a one-on-one in a street encounter. It's another thing altogether when you are dealing with multiple attackers.

Out in the street, the defender is always at a disadvantage because the attacker (mugger/carjacker, etc.) can determine when to attack, who to attack and has the advantage in numbers or weapon(s).

If you get surrounded, even if you successfully knock out BG#1 with a palm heel to the chin, BG#2 can still sneak up behind you to introduce a lead pipe to the back of the head, or a shiv to your kidney. Even if BG#2 doesn't have a pipe or shiv, all he needs to do is pull you down so BG#3 can stomp on your head. It's not really a good situation to be in.

Honestly, unless you're Bruce Lee reincarnated, was there anything you could have done in that situation, alone, and unarmed, with any of the martial arts you mentioned?

Situational awareness becomes more important in this kind of scenario than sheer ability in MA. If you see two, three, or more shady looking characters hanging around your car, and it's the only car on that side of the parking lot really late at night, that may be a red flag right there.

If you are going to follow up with further instruction in the arts, I suggest you pose this question to your potential teacher: what would he (she) do if in the same situation? The one who gives you the best answer, the one that you would be able to do if faced with the same conditions again, may be your new martial arts instructor.

[Garland]

Go with Tucci and McCann...splurge on both...seriously...do both gyms. I don't care if you have to do some degrading things for the money...just do it.

[7r14ngL3Ch0k3]

............... :d

[ronrei]

Thanks guys...yea it is becoming clear where I should go and what I should train for.

But the most important is the mental stuff because when in an adrenaline dump you will not fight with complicated techniques and forget most of your training and fight like an animal.

So my training I think will involve mainly:

Drills, Scenarios, exercises that will invoke the a-dump, conditioning, basic moves that I can have a chance at having muscle memory with, etc.

My only concern with agressive/combat arts was what happens when I am older (already in late 30's) so I checked out some traditional schools around me with soft styles where they claim they use the bad guys power, so I was intriqued (sp?), but after going there, it just doesnt sit well with me, aikido was pretty impressive but not realistic (too dead, cooperative), but the answers I got to my questions were a joke and to top it off while saerching more about aikido online I found this site:

http://www.aikidoaustralia.com/

I mean c'mon aikido-yoga....what a joke,

No offense I realize others take arts for spiritual reasons, hanging out, budo and all that but for combat barely anyone in aikido has or even wants that mindset it seems, it is a shame they consider their style "martial" at all.

To each his own, but I know under stress from my experience and others along with reading on rbsd forums that only basic instictive moves work when under stress/a dump and only way to beat a bigger and stronger guy is dirty fighting, I cant see going power to power like mma or boxing (That is why there is weight classes right?) and I cant see in anyway doing a complicated aikido move , and no way in hell if they are not charging at you like they do in the dojo.

I also found about about Carl Cestari and Damian Ross in NJ, They are pretty far from me (few hours) but hear good things.

[bdipab]

Avoid Tucci like the plague - prime example of a mcdojo.

I'd look into trying to get instruction from cestari or one of his crew.
Also www.sayockali.com or www.atienzakali.com (they do mass attack drills). Or if you can make it to NY (closest instructor I know) Floro Fighting Systems is great. If you're looking for training as far as hitting/getting hit - more alive training - join a boxing/muay thai gym is also an option (but you will get hit in the above schools as well - it's important to get you're bell rung once in a while I suppose). FMA's are great - but look for a quality instructor and you will get the type of training you're looking for.

[ronrei]

Funny you say that I went to his kwoon and um, no thanks, total ego driven place for rich rich people who look at him like he is a god, no thanks, his prices are crazy, his classes have way to many people in them and yes a mcdojo it is.

I am not doubting his abilites and I blieve he loves what he does and is good, but he is more of a business man cashing in on the rich princeton crowd imho.

I also got the same vibe at krav maga.

Gonna look into some cestari training, maybe the guy teaching the charles nelson system and probably join mccanns fight gym which is only 50 a month and they train 2 1/2 hours versus 1 hour like everywhere else, they cover it all, also was checking ouy silat geni gayong, ever hear of this, looks pretty intense but tradional, guy says they teach outside at apark for practical resons, ??.

[EmptyneSs]

go to a good muay thai school. it will get you in shape fast, it will get you used to getting hit and it will increase your speed and reflexes greatly. im not saying muay thai is best art ever or its all you need, but its a great art to start out with and has tons of benefits in terms of sd.

[Tant01]

The first thing is already done. You've DECIDED not to be a victim again.

Good on you!