Most powerful Tool

[blackrock]

I think aggression and intent can be some of the most powerful weapons in a fight. Although you have to use good judgement hesitation to use a damaging technique or fatal one may cost you your life.

Being willing to do whatever it takes and to do it with anger can be a huge advantage and can sway things in your favor against a larger attacker.

I think this is especially true for women defending themselves. If a woman is being attacked she should use every dirty fighting technique in the book and do it violently to save herself. IMO too many women shreak and curl up in a ball.

What do you guys think?

[parsec1982]

Powerful Weapons....

I agree 100%!!! And with those I'll add Decisiveness, Determination & Heart....

For an example of intent watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oBvUd3df28

I have also seen footage of a gazelle being dragged into the water by an absolutely humongous crocodile. The gazelle struggled for what seemed like an eternity and then out of no were the crocodile let loose and the gazelle ran off. Now, none of this made sense until the camera zoomed in and showed that despite the utter power and devastating weapons of the croc this little gazelle was able to turn itself around and jab the crocodile RIGHT IN THE EYE, therefore saving his/her own life.

Similarly, I have seen skilled fighters have a heck of a time with much less skilled fighters out of the pure fact that the less skill fighter had heart or was more determined or had greater focus or was simply more decisive.

Parsec

[Funkasaur]

That's called a kiai in shotokan. A warcry to show your aggression to an opponent, which might deter him from attack.

[leeman17]

Its not so much a way to show aggresion as it is a way to show your spirit. Kiai in Japanese means spirit shout. The kiai isnt really controlling the attacker mentaly to effect the body but more or less controlling the attackers spirit, you could interpret the translation of kiai as shouting at the attackers spirit. Also on a little side note intent does'nt have to involve a kiai or much movement it just have to involve this feeling, it is very hard to describe how to do it as it is one of many things that we must learn ourselves through training. However as we are all different some people actually have more of an ability to do this than others. This is far deeper than simply looking angry and shouting, it is more being able to turn that feeling on and off at will. Wat does everyone think?

[Garland]

I'd say intent. Calm, calculated, murderous, surprising intent. Smile, or act scared...talk, stammer...and then midsentence slam their head into the fucking wall until they drop and then stomp and smash kicks into their face and neck. SPLAT!!!

[g-bells]

Mindset, i believe is the most important

just my 2cents

[g-bells]

Yeah...

But what defines "correct mindset?"

-Awareness
-ability to stay calm in adverse situations
-willingness to do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of your family and yourself
-ability to seek out avenues other than fighting if at all possible
- avoidance of bad ares/places/types of people

is that what you meant? Mr Brewer

[g-bells]

That's the stuff. Good answer, by the way.


The only thing I would add is "the will to prepare to win."

Everybody talks about the will to do whatever it takes, but they rarely seem to want to apply that to the "pre-game." Training yourself correctly - the preparation - is 90% of the fight.

yes i did leave out that sorry i just assume that people who want to be good at what they do will put in the hard work to get there

[ttruscott]

What about persistence?

[Tom Yum]

Well, that's because you're a rational, logical, reasonable human being. Most people, unfortunately I think, would rather sit around and wish than work hard.

I agree with this. The pain of working hard and getting yourself past your comfort zone is greater than the pleasure of sitting around and wishing. People don't envision discomfort as part of the equation. Not saying that I've got this down, but I'd rather try to embrace it and do what I need to do rather than sit on the sidelines and mock those who get on the field.

You've got to work smart, too. For example I may be able to work really hard at maxing my bench press, but if it has very, very little to do with the environment one's training for its not smart work.

[warrior_artist]

Confidence founded on solid, strong training. Think of how you feel when you spar someone you know in your heart you're better than. Maybe the new guy in class or a little brother. Your confidence exudes and you fight in a much better mental state. Now, think of how you feel when you fight someone you think is better than you and you're going to get your butt kicked. Do you think you fight just as good? Or maybe do you think you're as collected?

The calmest person in a gunfight is usually the one who will win. because he can keep himself in condition yellow or maybe red, and avoid going into black, into the fight or flight, he will control his breathing, his trigger control, his shots, and ultimately the fight.

Same goes in hand to hand. Aggression is important, but aggression isn't always just being the more angry guy. Letting anger get a hold of you could actually work against you. The phrase anger blinds is true. the last thing you want to become in a fight is a growling, grunting, angry beast that mauls and claws like an animal. Now, that may win some fights. But, you don't want to throw all your training out the window just to resort to your hindbrain's gross response.

You DO want to attack with intent, with purpose. You should be training this way. Far too often I hear and see guys training that say things like, well in a real fight I would hit this hard....blah...blah...blah. I say when you hit your punching bag, hit it 100%. As hard as you can. Try and kill it. I like the BOB bag for that. I can see the face and the body better and hit it hard, thinking this guy wants to hurt me. I won't let him.

An anecdotal story (many moons ago) in a training environment on break in front of my classmates while waiting for the instructors to return. I let into a BOB bag. Releasing some pent up frustration at a certain instructor and because I wanted to do something other than what was being taught. I ended up on top of the bag pounding the face into the mat. When I stood the bag back up, water leaked from his shorts. I thought, I just made BOB pee his pants. The class got a laugh out it, and I had to think of a quick way to hide the water before break was over.

You might not think about it, but there is a chance the guy you'll fight will pee his pants. I have had three guys I've fought actually pee their pants, and one guy defecate himself. It's because they went into condition black and went into fight or flight. Stress related heart rate jumped over 175bpm, the hindbrain took over, blood pooled from limbs, loss of bowel control and bladder control (unnecessary functions in fight or flight), the body dropped in a crouched stance, sometimes tunnel vision (side step to move out of his visual range), audio exclusion (inability to hear verbal commands), among others.

The point is if you can maintain mental control over yourself, odds are you will maintain physical control over your opponent. Let your training shine. Let it do it's business. You sit back and make command decisions about what it does.

When I taught martial arts I used to tell my students train to forget. Train it so well it's like walking. No one thinks about the mechanics of walking, but we can all do it naturally, almost like breathing. Train so that's how you fight.

I might have strayed off topic a bit, but I got carried away. I apologize if I hijacked this thread. I think it all relates to the topic of most powerful tool anyways.

WA

[gavin]

when i am put in that situation when i just go bang* all sorts of fucked up uncontrollable shit happens. my eyes glaze over my face goes red and i actually get tunnel vision.all of a sudden thirty men with guns wouldnt stop me and im a machine tredging through anything infront of me with one word in mind KILL! then when i have "won" people will be screaming telling me to stop etc and i'll look and see i have dissabled the threat.then all of a sudden i calm and im starving so the very next thing i do is go eat lol. i have been pretty upset when ive goten arrested and wind up with the shit they give ya.

this is all a load of chemical reactions inside me. i just see it as the way im piped up. are you guys saying its possible to switch in to this gear all of a sudden?

with training as i grew up i came to a point where me and everyone thaught i had got a controll of my temper but that wasnt so! what i had done is pushed back the point at which i did flip. this is a terrible thing. this caused me to be a fanny and take alot more flack than i should. its meant that for a couple years i felt insecure and weak and always wondered what happened to the old me. for that couple years i went iwthout fighting ya see and then i got in a scrape that i couldnt run away from bang* here the old me again. i beat **** out the twat and from then on i where buzzing about having that extra gear to shift in to. i knew it where still in me to flip like that and since have tried to find a way of doing it on demand. i personally dont think this is possible now. but would be an awesome thing. also when i have flipped the little i know. ie how to land a punch i have done naturally. i can still use my legs to walk when i turn likethis so if i trained myself propperly then do you realy think it would all go out the window??

[Guest]

Gavin, you strike me as either completely full of shit or deeply troubled.

I'll go with both.

Isn't this the guy who couldn't understand why he kept getting into so many fights??...

[Ghost]

when i am put in that situation when i just go bang* all sorts of fucked up uncontrollable shit happens. my eyes glaze over my face goes red and i actually get tunnel vision.all of a sudden thirty men with guns wouldnt stop me....

Taking a dump in the morning?

[Wolfeye589]

I'm glad you brought up the gunfighter scenario. I believe it was Bat Masterson that once said the three most important things a gunfighter needs is Deliberation, Accuracy, then speed; In that order. I think the same applies to all combat. Keeping calm and "Taking your time in a hurry" is crucial.