Jumping into “The Pit”? Should be a riot. You are definitely right to prepare.
When I was training, one of my buddies took the opportunity to combine business with pleasure and train with an competitive NHB team when his job took him out to Vegas. He floored me with tales of the crazy shit they did. I remember he said at one point they were all running around carrying those plastic stackable patio chairs. And then they’d put them down, climb up and down off of them, jump over them and stuff. Crazy!
This guy was in tremendous shape, and a phenomenal grappler, and those boys totally kicked his ass in both conditioning and technique.
When you get back, how about tossing up a thread to tell us old has-beens how much fun you had?
The Pit it is! The “Pitmasta” is a Grandmaster in my primary self defense art, Kajukenbo. My instructor went to a Pit seminar there a couple of months ago and came back with some crazy stories similar to your buddy’s, pushing wheelbarrows with your bodyweight in rocks up a hill, volleyball with medicine balls, etc. There was some barfing. It sounded like fun so I’m tagging along as humble student this time. I’ll be glad to put up a thread.
Oh to be young and stupid again (as opposed to old and decrepit, but still stupid!)
One of my favorite training sessions was an escrima weekend in Wisconsin. One night they had the students would walk one at a time through an unlit wooded area with padded sticks, while the instructors would don armor, hide behind trees and jump out and whale on the students with rolled up newspapers. What a riot!
One of my favorite bars in town happens to be one of the worst dive bars in town, but I’ve never really had a problem there.
And definitely not one of my proudest moments, but I have held wielded a broken bottle in my past, among other things. I’m kind of a suburban pussy these days, but if it’s gonna go down anyway, I think I can hold my own.
This is why I never throw the first punch. It’s self-defense if the other person throws the first punch – those girls at the football game in high school learned that the hard way.
See, that’s the problem. What do you think losing a fight means? I personally know people who have been permanantly maimed and disfigured in fights. I like having both of my eyes, both of my testicles, both of my kidneys, and all of my teeth. I know people who lost those things in brawls or suffered injuries like skull fractures. People are also killed in fights from time to time. I’d rather face a court case than be maimed or killed.
Hm. I’ve only been in one bar fight, but quite a few vacant lot and parking lot fights. Do those count?
Anyway, I’m handy. I’ve lost one fight, several were broken up (thankfully), and the others I was the one still standing. But I’m big and it doesn’t hurt much when I get hit, so it’s not so much skill as it is endurance. I don’t like for-real fighting (sparring and tournaments are a different matter), and while it doesn’t hurt when I’m getting hit, it sure as hell does afterwards, and I’m just not into pain, y’know?
I was rather proud of myself in the bar fight, though. He decked me, I shoved him back and said, “Let me take off my glasses at least, asshole!” He looked puzzled, I reached up to take them off, and while he was watching my hands I kicked him in the shin. Then I stood on his foot (at 300#, this is more painful than it sounds), wrapped him up, and was sitting on his back with his arm cranked up high when the police arrived.
Turns out he had a record and apparently liked getting into fights; they carted him off and the bartender bought me a drink. Good times, after the adrenaline wore off.
I might be very handy but I couldn’t guess how. I fought off two armed assailants considered extremely dangerous by the Boston DA in 1999. They had just gotten out of prison and both the police and DA considered it just a matter of time before they went back in. The judicial system followed me closely for the next two years and even located me out of the blue when I moved 40 miles away. One got 3 years maximum security and the other 5 years. I just acted on impulse and hit as hard as I could as they tried to secure me from behind.
When I was in high school, a true Crips gang member gave me a place to meet him for a fight after school. I tried to gather up as many people as I could but only a grand total of three would back me. I arrived terrified at this spot in the woods only to see about 20 black gang members standing in a circle with my target in the middle. I knew what I had to do and just walked right up to him and threw the hardest punch that I could. I missed completely. He grabbed and I grabbed and we collapsed on the ground to wrestle. I was always good at that type of wrestling so it worked out well for the 15 - 20 seconds that it went on. Then, the circle began to collapse and I started being kicked and my brave friends started to scream in terror.
At that moment, the Sheriff’s Department charged from the woods halting the whole thing and making arrests. Turns out, the Crips had guns, pipes, knives, and everything else conceivable. One of my female friends had made a call to them and they took it very seriously with a stakeout. That was a fight that was destined to end in death or serious injury based on some past events that we won’t go into. The next day, I was still shaken up and I got called into the principles office. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me. The principle and football coach were there and they said that they just wanted to tell me how proud they were of me. I was just a skinny shy kid up until that point.
In short, I hate fighting but my track record is good and my stature is bigger than most people. I also have a bad tempter and an extreme tendency not to back down. I might be good on your team.
Blackbelt in Shorin Ryu Karate, trained in Judo since I was 14, competed in local and state tournaments since I was 14, never placed higher than 3rd, and I have come to the conclusion that I absolutely cannot take a punch. Someone can breathe on me and it will knock me out.
I have a theory that your usefulness in fights is directly proportional to the number of brothers you grew up with. Birth order isn’t relevant. You just kind of learn where to hold your head so as not to get hit (hint: near joints) and such.
It really depends on who swings first. I mean, am I in a chair and get whalloped? Probably can’t get out of that. Standing against a guy my height? Easier. My method basically involves pushing and swinging AS HARD AS I CAN, and remembering that where the head/ear/nose goes, the body follows.
I think you have something there. Me and my next youngest brother beat the ever living fuck out of each other every second that we were together. He was three years younger than me but almost the same size. It was an ongoing joke among adults that knew my family. I don’t see him much these days because we live 2000 miles apart but the second we lock eyes even in our 30’s, we instantly try to figure out if each of us is going for more offense or more defense. God, I would kill just to pound his ex-Marine ass into the furniture one more time but that is deemed socially unacceptable especially around the kids.
Because of that, I always knew how to wrestle although my high school didn’t have a wrestling team. I was a skinny kid but I had a standing bet with people that I could get them in a headlock and tap their forehead to the floor within ten seconds. I never lost although I never attempted the biggest of the big guys. It was a sweet source of income though.
Unfortunately I do know empirically that I’m quite useful in a fight. I infinitely prefer not to have them, but I’ve been beaten enough to know that I’ll heal and that pain is transitory. I’m not afraid to get physical, and being female, tall, well muscled and very coordinated along with having that berserker/don’t feel pain when angry thing I’m fairly formidable. I’ve fought guys much bigger than I to a standstill and have been responsible for a couple of emergency room trips when I finally got tired of taking shit from a guy and gave as good as I got. I’m wicked fast, know my leverage and I’m not afraid to use a handy utensil to extend my reach and multiply my damage potential. I’m also pretty good at first aid for afterward.
Fighting sucks but getting beat down without fighting back sucks a whole lot more!
Sporting good-time fights? Not very good since I’d spoil the fun by breaking bones and maiming people. I don’t fight for fun, I fight to win. Nasty fight? Pretty useful.
I’m probably not in as good condition as pravnik and haven’t done as much hard training as him, and none of it recently. I’m not particularly big, though I’m stronger and faster than the average guy. I, thankfully, haven’t been in a real fight in a long time so I’m probably not as handy as I used to be. On the other hand, I have done martial arts of one kind or another for about half my life and have been in life-threatening situations before, so I know what happens when it’s real, immediate, and serious.
As others said, it’s a bad idea to even be in the place. If you’re in a situation where a fight is inevitable, to put it baldly, you fucked up. No matter how much training you do and how prepared you are, fights are bad, bad news. Someone is going to the hospital, someone might even die, and even if you “win” your life could be affected. I’m gratified to see that most of the people in this thread with martial arts experience have expressed pretty much the same views that I have on fighting; it’s very good idea to know how and be good at it, but it’s a better idea to never have to use the knowledge and training.
I’ve had pretty extensive self-defense and offense training at work. However, I have never had to use any of it in a real setting, so I honestly don’t know. I’m not very strong, but I do believe that in a fight the guy who fights fair is going to lose, so I don’t intend to pull any punches so to speak. Put me somewhere in the 70% range.
I used to be a “bouncer”. I put that in quotes, because it was a small bar in a small town, and we knew virtually everybody who came in by name and favorite drink. I broke up plenty of fights, but didn’t have to take any punches. I hate getting hit in the face. My last fight was about a year and a half ago, six (of them) on four, and we pretty much owned them. I lost my flip flop, though.
I wrestled in high school (folkstyle and Greco), and have played rugby for about six years. One on one, I’d be able to get just about anybody to ground, and more than likely end up on top. I’ve had the best success simply subduing, while protecting myself from getting hurt. Most of my skills are tuned to one on one, though, so I’m not sure how two on one or worse would go over.
It sounded like fun so I’m tagging along as humble student this time. I’ll be glad to put up a thread.