Street Effective

[sgtmac_46]

Well I teach an art based on being street effective and I define a street effective art as having;
1. A base in reality dealing with real tactics first hand.
Thats more then MA techniques but understanding the tactics of criminals, criminal probing methods & dealing with psychological factors involved in street culture. There also needs to be a clear definition of the 3 type of violence; fighting, self-defense & streetfighting (or if you prefer social violence, criminal violence & combat).

2. Has to deal with all 4 ranges in fighting technques.
Weapons range, Striking Range, Infighting Range & Grappling Range as deal with the 5 most realistic weapons to the street culture; handguns, knives, chains & sticks, and their improvised forms.

3. Scenario Training:
Training that uses similuated real world conditions; tight confines such as elevator or spaces between cars, multiple attackers, street cloths, role playing the social interaction to the encounter, break contact and escape & evasion drills.

4. Must Deal with Psychological Factors:
Simple disciptions of human behavioral traits, telling actions & means to deter both criminal & social violence.

5. Must have some First Aid Training:
Yeah needs to have some means of dealing with & treating injuries.

6. Cannot Use Flaud & Out of Context "Cookie Cutter" Self-Defense Docturine:
One of the biggest issues I see with Street Effective claims is the use of cookie cutter ideologies; such as the Gray Man Concept or the color codes of awareness which are entirely out of context. Most of all cannot preach the "fight unfairly docturine" of SD theory; most criminals are a) trained or training to harm you in their own anti-social ways, b) are stacking the deck in their favor from the get go and c) are often highly skilled in the context of their criminal activity. The unskilled criminal is the biggest and most deadly myth in Self-Defense.

Thats just me...

That's exactly right. The emphasize your point, criminals have 'training'.......much of it informal, much of it gained on the street. They know how to fight from actually fighting, and those that have been to jail learn skills from other criminals there as jail is kind of a finishing school for criminal behavior.

Mostly criminals learn victim selection, and won't generally choose someone to victimize unless they BELIEVE they have an advantage.

 

[MJS]

Well I teach an art based on being street effective and I define a street effective art as having;
1. A base in reality dealing with real tactics first hand.
Thats more then MA techniques but understanding the tactics of criminals, criminal probing methods & dealing with psychological factors involved in street culture. There also needs to be a clear definition of the 3 type of violence; fighting, self-defense & streetfighting (or if you prefer social violence, criminal violence & combat).

2. Has to deal with all 4 ranges in fighting technques.
Weapons range, Striking Range, Infighting Range & Grappling Range as deal with the 5 most realistic weapons to the street culture; handguns, knives, chains & sticks, and their improvised forms.

3. Scenario Training:
Training that uses similuated real world conditions; tight confines such as elevator or spaces between cars, multiple attackers, street cloths, role playing the social interaction to the encounter, break contact and escape & evasion drills.

4. Must Deal with Psychological Factors:
Simple disciptions of human behavioral traits, telling actions & means to deter both criminal & social violence.

5. Must have some First Aid Training:
Yeah needs to have some means of dealing with & treating injuries.

6. Cannot Use Flaud & Out of Context "Cookie Cutter" Self-Defense Docturine:
One of the biggest issues I see with Street Effective claims is the use of cookie cutter ideologies; such as the Gray Man Concept or the color codes of awareness which are entirely out of context. Most of all cannot preach the "fight unfairly docturine" of SD theory; most criminals are a) trained or training to harm you in their own anti-social ways, b) are stacking the deck in their favor from the get go and c) are often highly skilled in the context of their criminal activity. The unskilled criminal is the biggest and most deadly myth in Self-Defense.

Thats just me...

Nice post. Just wanted to comment on a few things.

3) IMHO, I think this is very important, but often overlooked. Done properly, it puts the person in the right mindset to deal with a situation, and offers a more in-depth training experience than the typical 1 on 1 dojo attack.

4) Again, something very important but overlooked. I like to break it down to the before, during and after. Many schools only teach the during, meaning, I'm being attacked, this is how I deal with it. Situation dealt with, now its over. But what about the verbal defusing, as well as dealing with the aftermath? Rory Millers book is a great read and talks about this very thing.

5) Always a plus to have some basic knowledge.

 

[Chris Parker]

Hey Draven,

The only thing I would bring to your list is a clear definition of a "skilled attacker". For example, I believe most attackers (street fighter/predators) are highly skilled at what they do, I just wouldn't class them as trained. By that I am refering to formal training, breeding predicted habits and patterns of action. The great benefit of training (in a martial art) is that it can help you realise how to generate a lot of power in a balanced, safe way, but it leads to defined methods of movement. Without it, strikes can be off-balanced, and over committed, big, wide and wild actions (but not necessarily).

The street fighter, on the other hand, is not trained in this way, for the most part. Their "training", as sgtmac_46 said, is in experience. They are experienced in hurting people, know what works, and have no problems in doing it again. This will also lend itself to patterns of action, but not those immediately recognisable from a martial art class. What makes them so dangerous is not a huge repertiore of techniques, it is the absolute willingness to hurt you, and the experience to know that they can.

So the idea of "unskilled" is definately wrong, but the idea of "untrained" is still valid. The thing to remember is that untrained is far from safe, easy, or not dangerous. It just means that a self defence class/instructor/school will need to take into account what form the most likely violence will take. And that will not be a highly technical ground game with attempted kimuras and americanas, and constant escapes and counters. It's not going to be that type of "skill". And if you train for that type of skill exclusively, you are training against the wrong opponent. Instead, train for the skill you will come up against, committed determined attacks, with the idea of hurting you quickly and thoroughly. That will change the way the attacks happen, the way the attackers attack and respond, and the way the defences will need to be worked. You won't come across a classical gyaku tsuki, but a sudden rear right hook from conversational distance, now that is pretty standard (and plenty dangerous).

Gotta agree with MJS in terms of dealing with the before and after of the psychological effects as well. If you can't handle the before, you will get far too easily caught out by the during, so it needs to be covered. As well, it will give you the opportunity to avoid the situation if possible, or to hit first as required. As far as after, well that can be just as bad as the during in some ways. With the adrenaline dump, you can get caught by a secondary wave, or have the attack restart during the endorphin rush that follows (which is very dangerous in and of itself). The other thing to deal with is the possible involvement of law enforcement, and giving a highly emotional, adrenalised answer can often work to your detriment. A complete self defence schooling needs to cover the complete experience.

 

[Draven]

There is a good but here I'm gonna address some key things here, then move away from that.

The only thing I would bring to your list is a clear definition of a "skilled attacker". For example, I believe most attackers (street fighter/predators) are highly skilled at what they do, I just wouldn't class them as trained. By that I am refering to formal training, breeding predicted habits and patterns of action.

While your someone what right here, your also dead wrong about the training issue. I use the term dead wrong because assuming less then formal training is a bad mistake. Thats especially true here in the US & you could be 100% for Oz.

There are several Prision martial arts based of Boxing, Wrestling, Karate, Judo, Rex Applegate's Hand-to-Hand combatives & many more source material. For example the Leftist-Black-Seperationist Gang the Black Guerrilla Family invented a martial art they called 52 Blocks to teach their "soldiers" discipline and handle themselves. This was orgional based off of "dirty boixng" & African martial arts. It was then later altered by Viet Nam era hand-to-hand combatives.

Because of that the Aryan Brotherhood came out with Jail House Rock, which was based in Applegate's hand to hand system, Karate & Judo. Since the Anti-war movement and rise in drug activity during the 60s & 70s various groups from Outlaw Motor Cycle Gangs to Racist/Socialist Groups have been influenced by combatives and military tactics. This is especially common among the organized gangs in the Prison system. The process has been repeated and repeated.

The street fighter, on the other hand, is not trained in this way, for the most part. Their "training", as sgtmac_46 said, is in experience. They are experienced in hurting people, know what works, and have no problems in doing it again. This will also lend itself to patterns of action, but not those immediately recognisable from a martial art class. What makes them so dangerous is not a huge repertiore of techniques, it is the absolute willingness to hurt you, and the experience to know that they can.

Allot of street fighters get formal training either under the organized crime system (which does include gangs) or in military service. I've known a few people to wrestle in high school to learn to grapple or learned boxing. More so, if you look at the period of the American History before conscription ended in 1973 and with the Civil Rights Movement beginning in 1955. The communist party;which later inlfuenced civil rights extremist movement in 1960s with the Black Panther Party & several spin off groups, began in 1919 and subscribed to the Maxist ideology of a people's army and a people's revolution.

America has a long history of military & political influence over the crime in this country. The assumption of an unskilled or untrained fighter is often limited to high school aged punk kids.

The other thing to deal with is the possible involvement of law enforcement, and giving a highly emotional, adrenalised answer can often work to your detriment. A complete self defence schooling needs to cover the complete experience.

Thats something I try not to offer any suggestions on since I'm not a lawyer and offering any legal advise can get me sued.

 

[Stonecold]

To be street effective you have to keep your wits about you, street thugs prey on the weak, and your fear.
Be aware of what's happening around you.
Pick your battles, stay away from troubled areas ( unless you are looking for trouble ). If you have to go there be very aware & ready to go.
Fight to survive, use everything you have. Don't get tunnel vision ( breath )
when in trouble your body does what it knows best, so you have to keep calm, keep your head, watch out for panic
Train to hit hard, and accurately, be in the best shape you can be, you can fight harder longer or run if you have to. You will recover faster if you take a beating.
Be confident but don't be a ********
Strive to be comfortable with stand up & ground fighting, know when to best use each. If you go to ground beware of others putting the boot's to you ect...
train as hard as you can. You only get out what you put in !! There is no magic style. It all comes down to the fight in you & the luck of the draw...

Fight harder live longer Stone Cold

 

[Omar B]

Well said Stonecold. The lion's share of SD is actually situational awareness. Women are attacked all the time by one type of predator or another on the subway at night all the time. I always tell everyone I know, visitors to the city, tourists, what have you, to ride at the front of the train, near the conductor. You know how many times I've seen people by themselves sitting in a train car ... it's like locking yourself in a cage.

I also have a friend who got raped because she's constantly on this 'it's a free country I can go where I want" trip. Got attacked walking through an alley (shortcut) on a Friday night while drunk in Boston. That cones back to situational awareness, don't get drunk outside your home, walk in well trafficked, well lit areas ... one could go on.