Proper 'street' clothing.

[RobinTKD]

Ok, so a friend of mine called me today, told me that on a trip to London he got attacked by multiple people, this guy has been studying Shotokan now for 4 years and is a brown belt (he tests for his black in July), i know from personal experience how skilled he is and how much power he has. His problem was that during the attack, these guys kept their distance and he said he couldn't kick properly because the jeans he was wearing restricted him from lifting his leg even 90 degrees. He said that he got away by pounding the back of one guys knee until he screamed then did a runner. But it raises the question for us Taekwondoin, as an art that does rely primarily on kicks, what would you wear in the street to prepare yourself if you were attacked? Personally i've always felt comfortable with my hands from years of Judo and boxing training, but what about the rest of you? Have you been attacked/got in a fight? Did you find your movement restricted?

 

[rlobrecht]

I would say that any kind of long pants, besides jeans, are probably loose enough for kicks to the body and chest. I don't see head kicks as being a good self defense kick.

At our dojang, we try to equally emphasize hands and feet. It is foot fist way after all.

Rick

 

[Thesemindz]

When I buy new clothes I always practice some basic kicks, punches, and stances in the changing room. I don't wear clothes I can't fight in. Period. Maybe that's obsessive, but it just seems sensible to me. Martial arts is a part of every aspect of my life. I will be wearing these clothes while I practice karate outside, in the living room, in the car. Why would I spend my whole life practicing a skill and then bind my arms and legs so that I can't use that skill in the extremely unlikely event that I may acutally have to?

I'm not crazy with it. I wore a tuxedo at my wedding, and a backpack in school, and sandals at the beach. I don't go around in combat fatigues at all times. I just get tuxedos that fit and backpacks I can slip around to use as weapons and sandals that buckle securely or slip off in case I need to fight suddenly. A second or two in the changing room when you're trying on a new pair of pants can prevent this from ever happening.


-Rob

 

[Manny]

I always wear my boots :ultracool jejejeje but seriusly in the streets I will use low kicks only , aimed to the shins,knees or lower tigh to keep the BG at bay and my hands using hand techs,blocks and some arm locks.

For kicking I will use always a lower kick.

Manny

 

[Thesemindz]

I always wear my boots :ultracool jejejeje but seriusly in the streets I will use low kicks only , aimed to the shins,knees or lower tigh to keep the BG at bay and my hands using hand techs,blocks and some arm locks.

For kicking I will use always a lower kick.

Manny

Hey man, in the right boots you can kick people all over the place. Pro wrestlers throw flying kicks and head kicks all the time without any trouble wearing boots. Because their boots lace up to the top securely and provide them plenty of stability.

The right boot is just another weapon. And with steel toes, or spiked heels, or heavy tred you can do a lot of nasty damage with a boot.


-Rob

 

[jda]

I always wear my boots :ultracool jejejeje but seriusly in the streets I will use low kicks only , aimed to the shins,knees or lower tigh to keep the BG at bay and my hands using hand techs,blocks and some arm locks.

For kicking I will use always a lower kick.

Manny

Thats what we teach as well, Manny. A kick to the crotch or the knee is much quicker and just as effective as a high kick. In a self defense situation, the only time I'd kick someone in the head is if they were already on their knees....or four feet tall!
Jim

 

[Manny]

Thats what we teach as well, Manny. A kick to the crotch or the knee is much quicker and just as effective as a high kick. In a self defense situation, the only time I'd kick someone in the head is if they were already on their knees....or four feet tall!
Jim

Yeah that's right! the low kick is very good to tell bad people.. Stay Away!!!, kicking to the head is not so easy to me, but kicking the gut for example is easy, a nasty kick to the bladder is very useful too, and yes my first target will be the bladder/crouch/testicles, my second target area will be th knee cap.

I like to use the palm strike to the face, the elbow to the solar plexus or the head/face/neck area and yes I favored the head kick when doing an arm lock and put the bad people on his knees.

Manny

 

[Fisk]

This was one of the first things I thought of . I remember seeing them in all of the martial arts magazines. I think that was around the mid eighties.

http://www.funlol.com/2456/Chuck_Norris_Pants!.html

 

[StudentCarl]

I don't want to sidetrack this, but before clothing for fighting I wonder whether it was clothing, behavior, lack of awareness, or something else that got him attacked. The best fight is the one you avoid altogether. Clothing is part of how you present yourself, not just something that helps or hinders your technique.

 

[granfire]

for you guys it's easy to be dressed to fight at all times...

We girls have to make more concessions to fashion when we have to appear in public.

 

[WC_lun]

I don't really think of fighting when I dress. Of course i usually dress for comfort rather than making my legs and butt look good

Just a diffierent perspective on the kicking thing. Rather than kicking at the crotch, bladder, knee, etc to cause damage, which can be an iffy propisition, try using low kicks at the shin and knee to distract. Also kciks to the knee and hip can do wonders for upsetting an attacker's balance, putting them in recovery mode, giving you time to follow up and finish the fight or just give you enough time to get the heck out of Dodge.

 

[puunui]

I would say that any kind of long pants, besides jeans, are probably loose enough for kicks to the body and chest. I don't see head kicks as being a good self defense kick.

I have a student who has been with me since he was twenty years old. When he turned 25 or 26 he went a little mental, quit training, divorced his wife who he was going out with since the seventh game, started going to bars and getting into trouble. Over a two year period, he got into at least 100 fights. He said his main weapon was spin hook kick to the head/jaw of his opponents, which is his favorite kick. He always wore loose pants and adidas shoes back then and did the kick in place, stepping forward, sliding back or jumping for taller opponents. He is 5'4". He said it didn't matter what the size or weight of the opponent was, the result was always the same, a knockout. He said he only lost one time, when he was so drunk he spin hook kicked a pole. He was never arrested and never went to jail for any of these fights. When he turned 30, he came back to training and told me what happened. He's back with his wife (got remarried), had another child, and now he runs his own club. He turns 40 this year.

 

[granfire]

I have a student who has been with me since he was twenty years old. When he turned 25 or 26 he went a little mental, quit training, divorced his wife who he was going out with since the seventh game, started going to bars and getting into trouble. Over a two year period, he got into at least 100 fights. He said his main weapon was spin hook kick to the head/jaw of his opponents, which is his favorite kick. He always wore loose pants and adidas shoes back then and did the kick in place, stepping forward, sliding back or jumping for taller opponents. He is 5'4". He said it didn't matter what the size or weight of the opponent was, the result was always the same, a knockout. He said he only lost one time, when he was so drunk he spin hook kicked a pole. He was never arrested and never went to jail for any of these fights. When he turned 30, he came back to training and told me what happened. He's back with his wife (got remarried), had another child, and now he runs his own club. He turns 40 this year.

I bet in a little black dress and high heel he would have gotten his tail kicked!

 

[puunui]

I bet in a little black dress and high heel he would have gotten his tail kicked!

Not if he didn't care if anyone could see his panties (or that he wasn't wearing panties) when he threw his spin hook kick....

 

[ralphmcpherson]

I certainly dont dress in preparation for a fight but I have found that since doing tkd I like to feel light on my feet and dont tend to wear any heavy footwear anymore. I wear my adidas kundos most places because it feels like Im barefoot even with shoes on. I can quite comfortably kick head height in most pants but have no intentions of kicking to the head in a real situation. I am a long distance runner and will back myself to out run most people, I will start to tire at around the 30klm mark (most average people would collapse in a heap at the 5klm mark) and I should be home by then. Physically standing there and fighting is my last option, bascically Id have to be cornered with no escape.

 

[RobinTKD]

My friend came round to my house last night, said he was wearing the same jeans as when he was attacked, so we did a few tests. He found that he could get his leg high enough with a front and side kick to make me start thinking about false teeth, but it lacked any power, he said that all his power was going into his knee to get the height and as the leg snapped out the jeans were already pushing it back down. I also relayed a few things that some of you have said, that kicking the back of the knee was probably the best thing to have done anyway, and low kicks work better in self defence, but he was still feeling a bit low about the whole thing. For someone who studies shotokan, he can kick ridiculously high, i'm 6.1" and he's about 5.7" but he can comfortably kick above my head going onto his toes, and when he spars, it always his little surprise manoeuvre.

I also asked him why he was attacked, he said he wasn't sure, he was just walking from one tube station to another, but i'm sure most people say that they didn't do anything to get attacked, and that he probably did.

 

[David43515]

The right boot is just another weapon. And with steel toes, or spiked heels, or heavy tred you can do a lot of nasty damage with a boot.


-Rob

The problem is, you`re right. In alot of states kicking someone in the head with a shod foot, especially boots, is considered Assault with a deadly weapon. Case law set the precident back in the days before anyone knew martial arts. Back then, if you were kicking a guy in the head he was probably already on the ground.

 

[tshadowchaser]

I am not going to answer what cloths I wear but I will say that I have my students practice in their street clothing often. I may not even tell them ahead of time that it will be that kind of practice until they arrive at class.
It has been embarrassing a few times for some, but if your going to wear clothing your going to fall out of on the street then you kind of have to expect it if your fighting in those clothes.
More than a few of the students have learned that they can not do what they think they can because of the clothing they wear. Others have figured out that what they wear holds little restriction when having to defend themselves.
And NO I do not let them retie their shoes or adjust their cloths once the sparring starts. No “let me take off my sandals”, Let me put something over this blouse/tank top”, etc.
If you can not defend yourself in what you wear then you need to not wear it or practice and find a way to defend yourself wearing that clothing

 

[ETinCYQX]

I make it a point to dress well all the time, personally. (As an instructor, I like to look good. ) What that means for MA is that while my kicks would suffer in a self defense situation, nothing stops me from using my hands. I work on my hands more than the average TKDin for that reason among others.

Another thing I'd look for is one of our HapKiDo style armbars, wrist locks, etc or an elbow across the bridge of the nose. If I thought I was fast enough, O Soto Gari. Or, if I wanted to be James Bond, Tomoe Nage.

 

[d1jinx]

i've always worn loose, baggy clothes. so never had any movement issues. I could never understand why MEN would wear tight *** jeans to begin with. no one want s to see your junk or how they stick to you curves....

and now these kids are wearing "SKINNY JEANS"....