Does your teacher teach you to grab weapons?

[Hand Sword]

Yes! Unless you pack (gun or knife) the enviroment has to be your best friend. Train yourself, while walking, to pick out things you could use. Eventually you'll get creative and this will help prepare you if it goes down.

 

[ManOfVirtues]

I have always been taught, from a young age, to pay attention to the aggressor. if he has a weapon, you find a weapon (or just take his).

Its hard for anyone to stab/shoot/maim you, when they are trying not to bleed to death.

 

[Jonathan]

When I was with the Marines, we were trained to utilize 'weapons of opportunity'- anything you can grab and swing, poke, smack, smash, or stab your opponent with.

The idea is not necessarily to kill the opponent- just to keep them from killing you.

 

[ManOfVirtues]

The idea is not necessarily to kill the opponent- just to keep them from killing you.

I dont think I could of said it better myself

 

[ginshun]

anything can and should be used as a weapon if the situation calls for it.

 

[matt.m]

In Moo Sul Kwan Hapkido we learn cane and knife defense techniques. However, pop always said "If you can use a trash can lid and don't, then it is your fault."

 

[jazzmasta25]

Yes we are taught to use weapons of opportunity if one presents itself. However, if a weapon is dropped or forced out of the opponent's hand we never struggle for it, and instead focus on attacking the opponent as the go for the weapon.

 

[Ceicei]

Something sort of related to the subject:
I love watching different TV shows and movies with Sammo Hung, Bruce Lee, and Jackie Chan and see their creativity with their choices of weapons. Although these men are in choreographed fights, they do give ideas of how different objects and things around them could be used as weapons. It does give us a broader view of just grabbing at a moment's notice whatever is available and converting these into weapons.

My school did try to incorporate this into a few trainings. There would be some common stuff spread around the floor, on tables, and chairs. Whatever object the instructor points out, we explain either verbally or demonstrate, what we can do with it without hesitation or a lot of thought. The most common, of course, was to throw, but he wanted us to think "outside the box" of other things that could be done besides just throwing.

There was a tournament I watched a few years ago with a black belt demonstrating in a kata how a regular line phone (yeah, one of these wired telephones) could be used as a weapon in various ways. Very intriguing but probably not quite as useful nowadays considering wired phones are slowly disappearing.

- Ceicei

 

[Zeal]

While anything and everything can clearly become a weapon, the most important part of martial arts is not to fight. That is why we train. The greatest of martial artists are able to, most of the time, discourage aggresors from combat. And to answer your question more directly, seeking opportunity is very important when in a dangerous opportunity. It all depends on the circumstance.

 

[KenpoTex]

...the most important part of martial arts is not to fight. That is why we train. The greatest of martial artists are able to, most of the time, discourage aggresors from combat.

I disagree...The reason we train is so we CAN fight. Now obviously our training should include topics such as awareness, verbal deescalation, etc. to help us avoid or prevent confrontations. However, you don't really have to study martial-arts to learn those things.
If you're going to train, the main focus should be on those times when we couldn't avoid the fight. At that point, our goal should be to neutralize the threat in the most efficient and effective manner possible.

regarding the original question, yes I train and teach people to use improvised weapons/weapons of opportunity. However, I feel that it's better to carry my own rather than hoping that there will be something laying around.

 

[tellner]

the most important part of martial arts is not to fight. That is why we train. The greatest of martial artists are able to, most of the time, discourage aggresors from combat. And to answer your question more directly, seeking opportunity is very important when in a dangerous opportunity. It all depends on the circumstance.

That is a very common idea. While it may not be completely divorced from reality it has pawned the wedding ring, moved out and is dating other ontological precepts.

If you want to get etymological the "martial" arts are the arts of Mars, deity of war and conflict. That means fighting.

Martial arts from the agonistic like Boxing or Olympic TKD to the comprehensive military systems are entirely about being able to prevail in a fight of one sort or another. It might be in the sporting arena. It might be on a battlefield. It's still a fight, and the whole point is to come out the other side with what you want and keeping the opponent(s) from taking a resource of some sort from you.

Most traditions have some sort of code of conduct if only to protect themselves from the neighbors and society at large or to maintain military discipline. Part of it is usually along the lines of "Don't do things which are likely to bring on hordes of peasants with pitchforks and torches" or "Dont' get in fights unless there's a good reason" where "good reason" could be anything from "Only to defend the life of the Emperor" or "Someone has thrown five bucks down on the table".

You don't have to dress up in funny clothes, wave swords around and learn bits and pieces of a foreign language to learn how not to fight. It's really simple. You just don't fight.

The reason that The Great Masters™ tend not to have to fight is that they're good at it. They can usually see it coming a mile away or give off a vibe that says "If I bothered to think about it at all I wouldn't consider you a threat. Now bugger off or I will hurt you very badly" without swaggering. Their ability to deter is based on the perception on the part of the intended audience that they really are that dangerous.

This is the sort of thing that you might be able to fake. But if you do you are in serious danger of letting your mouth write a check that your butt can't cash. Someone might not believe the bluff or might decide that the threat you pose isn't as great as what he wants from you. If that's the case you're screwed.

Bob Orlando said it very nicely "A warrior may choose pacifism. Others are condemned to it."