I was attacked last night, and didn't know what to do!

Originally posted by bigcountry08

I have read up on mace and pepper spray and to me there's to many variables that can turn the stuff against you and end up blinding yourself.

Pepper spray gels or bear-spray style will produce a thick stream that wont blow back at you or create the dreaded pepper mist cloud.

The Kimber spray produces a thick stream. Only trouble is you get two shots and you're out.

It sucks to have these idiots in your neighborhood. With any luck they'll be hauled off before causing you any harm and before their home is wrecked bringing down your homes value or maybe they'll just die of their own volition.

I was able to wait out horrible neighbors on two separate occasions whose poor lifestyles resulted in their early deaths. Raging drunks are great for dying early. Helps when they have diabetes they arent watching. Dead within two years of moving in.

Originally posted by bigcountry08
reply to post by Domo1

 

I'm not a tough guy and I don't try and act like one, I mean I'm not some sissy weenie either I just wasn't brought up to be a chest puffer, and swing at anything that comes at you.

Nothing wrong with that sir.
Most people who act the big one are doing just that, acting.

Could you imagine living your life like those people, constantly switched on and in fear that somone will test your act.

What attack? Somebody came up behind you and stomped their feet on the ground and you consider this an attack? Why do you consider being startled as being equal to an attack?

reply to post by bigcountry08


If you can't take a class, get a buddy and practice ducking a punch or shove and going for the leg or legs if you can. Wrap it tight to your body, lift, turn and drop or slam.

As far as a controlling hold, if they're on their stomach, clamp their neck and squeeze a little. If on their back, keep your weight on them and plant a forearm on their throat.

I prefer to stop and talk at that point. Tell them you don't want to hurt anyone but you're close to losing it and can't guarantee you won't mess them up if it happens again.

I'm no expert but that has worked well for me. People don't usually defend that well.

As Suspiria said awareness is your first line of defense. Not only your ears but all your senses should be open especially when alone or in shady neighborhoods. Sensing trouble gives you the possibility of avoiding it. You are a good runner so you could run away from everything except a firearm so there's your first option. If fighting can't be avoided a CCW can even the odds when faced with multiple attackers.
Aside from firearms I believe Krav maga and Shotokan (karate) to be the most effective fighting forms, both utilizing knees and elbows for close attacks. Aikido is also very effective but as with all martial arts they take years to learn and master.
Walking away was the wisest move you could have made. Taking on one guy plus all his buddies would have been suicide.
If you can't avoid trouble use overwhelming force and every cheap shot available (throwing drink or dirt in their eyes, groin kicks, shin kicks, etc)

reply to post by bigcountry08


Your illustration of "I didn't know what to do" should give you and everyone else who likes playing "end of the world survivalist" in their minds a wake up call. World collapses, we have to rummage and work for our food and survival...pretty straightforward, right? Wrong. You can be the best bear grylls/survivor man/harry houdini out there but once your back is turned or something is out of your range of perception...you're vulnerable. Think about how many guns per capita there are within the US. Now, consider how gun happy people get when things "go wrong". Some people "live" for this moment. So, don't be surprised if one day you wake up wildly dehydrated and hungry and you venture towards a stream only to take a bullet in the back of the head...you didn't know it was the territory of another...and you had no possible clue that the shooter spotted you over 15 meters off without your knowledge.

So, to finalize the point: You can "know" what to do all you want, but your chances of survival are quite low in such a scenario.

As for what you can do now, in a safe society: Keep calm, consider any martial arts training you have involved yourself in, consider the number of assailants, consider weapon opportunities for the pack and yourself, consider escape opportunities, consider flashy yet intelligent distractions, consider opportunities for situation diffusement by way of legal or citizen aide, and most importantly of all consider talking or ignoring your way out of the situation.

Originally posted by bigcountry08
Thanks for all the support guys, on my way back afterwards I took out the headphones, it really shocked me how vulnerable it made me. I normally carry a defense flashlight and a pocket knife with me where ever I go, but it's kind of a pain while running, maybe I could get one of those necklace types. it's kind of funny though all of my coworkers give me a hard time about carrying a flashlight, but we have had about 3 blackouts now at work and each time they yell my name.

my only problem with taking classes is the money, with a wife and two kids 50 bucks a month is a huge deal.

Where do you live, if close I will train you!

I have made loud and clear that if anyone in my area messes with me that I will not back down even after an initial blow like you described. That happend to me, and I gave chase to that little punk, choked him out and called the police. There have been a few instances where I have opted out to just call the police, let them find these idiots and administer punishment. My mom put me in martial arts when I was a kid, and I progressed very rapidly through the years, when I learned that fighting was not organized I really excelled in defending myself. When I train others I make this known to them right away and during sparring sessions this is how they learn. Find an instructor who understands this and you will be trained the right way. Fighting is choas, but making sure what you issue forth matters is key. Rabbit punches never work, Bruce Lee made a good point when he tried to teach that making each blow count is what can make you the victor.

You can't control everything.
When I was like 15, someone on a bike punched me in my face while I was waiting for a bus and he laughed.

I didn't make a sound, only shaking my head in disbelief.

Scratched it off and took the buss. Maybe I should have runned after him and punched him, but IMO they ain't even worth your time and often they are with friends (they get ''tough''/stupid with friends arround).

Another situation when I was in a city with 3 friends going out at night, 4 guys came out of nowhere and wanted to fight for no reason!
Here I fought since it was either run or fight and somehow I ended alone with 1 guy anyways.
After wating for the perfect moment to hit him really hard he got scared and ran off. Then he came back with 2 friends.
I'm not stupid (I think), so then I did run off since the change me winning gets small then (my friends where not to be seen anywhere).

But just know you can't control everything, just worry when there is a need for it. It just ain worth it being on guard the whole time for basicly nothing. So forget it and just act the same as before.

Originally posted by bigcountry08
....my only problem with taking classes is the money, with a wife and two kids 50 bucks a month is a huge deal.

How big a deal will it be if their breadwinner and protector is laid up in the hospital .... or worse? You have to have priorities.

Not only will Bas Rutten teach you how to take a human out in a multitude of ways, he'll also show you how to be hiliarious. This video is the TOTAL PACKAGE!

Originally posted by bigcountry08
Last night I had my mind shaken to the core. As I was taking my nightly walk after my run, just minding my business enjoying a podcast of "Stuff You Should Know", some stupid half drunk thug kid ran up behind me and stomped as hard as he could. Startled me a little and ticked me off a lot, so I turned around sneered at him and walked away, while his buddies whooped and hollered for a minute or two at me.

Doesn't sound like you were attacked to me sounds like you were startled.

I think there is a huge difference between the two.

Situational awareness is worth way more to you than any martial arts class or a gun. The best way to protect yourself is to avoid the situations in which it would be required.

Walking around with one of your primary senses completely cut off so you can "jam" while running is a Darwin award in progress. Just put on a blindfold and go for broke.

Firstly, i am sorry for the incident in which you were involuntarily exposed to.

As many others have stated, you should not go wandering around with headphones/earphones etc. This goes for ANY time of the day. Morning, midday, nighttime, whenever. You can be attacked by anyone at any time.

As for taking up self defence classes, i would suggest either Krav Maga or Muay Thai. Krav Maga may be a better choice for you though, considering you are looking for survival/effective defence.

Krav Maga:



Muay Thai:

reply to post by bigcountry08


You weren't attacked, you were startled. That being said, the reason some sloppy drunk was able to do it was because you ignored the first rule of survival - be aware of your surroundings.

Originally posted by bigcountry08
Last night I had my mind shaken to the core. As I was taking my nightly walk after my run, just minding my business enjoying a podcast of "Stuff You Should Know", some stupid half drunk thug kid ran up behind me and stomped as hard as he could. Startled me a little and ticked me off a lot, so I turned around sneered at him and walked away, while his buddies whooped and hollered for a minute or two at me.

As I walked away I realized something, I never heard a thing until he was right there behind me. So he could basically have done anything to me and I would have been helpless. I like to think of myself as a prepared survivalist. I know most of the methods of creating fire, I know how to find/ gather water, I know basic trap making, and how to make basic tools and weapons out in the bush. I know basically everything I would ever need to survive in the wilderness except how to fight.

Sure I'm athletic, I run 20 miles a week, weight train 4 days a week, and do yoga 3 days. But I don't really know the first thing about fighting someone, I have only ever been in one fight in my life and that was in second grade so I don't really count it. I know a lot about pressure points, and the limitations of human joints, but I don't really know how to utilize it in combat.

So I was sitting on the couch last night after the incident trying to make it seem like the whole thing didn't bother me. Trying to think of what I would have done, and I came to the conclusion that I didn't know. I had no clue what I would have done if that guy had come up behind me and tripped me to the ground or just flat out kidney punched me. So I now realize that I need to do something about this. I need to know what to do in order to take down another human being.

edit on 31-8-2012 by bigcountry08 because: (no reason given)

Thats' funny, because I sort of have been in the same boat. I took martial arts when I was a kid but on the street none of that works hardly at all! Years later I was the victim of an attack. I was at a rec center just minding my own business when this stupid bratty kid hauls off and body checks me from behind. So I got mad at him, but he was just a teen so I didn't do anything back. Then later I'm in the lobby, again minding my own business. The kid went and got his dad and told his day that I assulted him. So his dad starts wrestling with me in the lobby. Only lasted maybe 5 minutes then some people broke it up. But FOOCCKK, I was tramatised for a month!!! Getting attacked twice for no reason what so ever! It was JUST NUTS!!!

It was only recently I sort of figured out a system. It works kind of like this.


....My Self Defense System:

Step 1) You try and run away. (the very best way to defend is to run)

Step 2) If you can't run then you have maybe 3 choices

a) This might work better for women, but you SCREAM. Like a loud scream will actually scare off someone as it will make then nervous

b) if there's no one around to hear you then depending on how far away the attacker is you look around and see if there's anything you can grab. Like if you see a rock on the street, a bottle, or a stick, you grab that. one hard blow with that and your attacker will be toast. Like a head blow will knock them out for sure. A blow to the body could break bone.

c) if you can't grab or get out a weapon, and you can't scream or run, then you don't fight, but you concentrate on doing a lethal strike. You don't fight per say. You just concentrate all your energy into "one powerful strike" that will end the fight. And this should basically never be used. It's a one in a million scenario. But knowing it could save your life....

This is an actual kung fu death blow. It you hit it right the attacker will be dead. (this sounds like a joke but it's real watch this) If that were directed at someone's eyes, they'd be dead.



The key to that hit is either to the eyes or to the throat. It actually could kill the person so don't mess with it!!! Your finger could go right into there brain, blind them, or else directed at the throat they'd choak to death. So don't try this. But it's just good to know that there are strange ways to defend yourself without knowing a lot of moves, and or training.

This is another blow that could even kill:



Again be careful with that. You could kill a person.

then there's the tried and true... ha ha...




So that's all you need 3 moves. #1 You use 2 fingers if you're going for the eyes. Or two fingers, pointer and middle held hard together to form one point and you go for the throat. This is actually a self defense system I devloped. I hope I never need to use it either. But one never knows in life. ha ha.

reply to post by r2d246


I didn't know poking things was a self defence system

Your podcast should've told you there were idiots coming for you as that is something YOU NEEDED TO KNOW But seriously. Just carry some Mace and some gloves for some fisty coughs. When you've got gloves, all you need to do is slug them Your probably a lot more fit then those guys so you could probably take the handicap.

It is a really sad commentary on the society we live in. We're quite similar. I too jog about 20 miles a week and weight-lift about four times a week, sometimes three.

I used to go jogging at night, which is best for me, until a drugged out person confronted me on two different occasions. My wife never liked me going at night, but since then I have avoided going jogging after 8:30. And when I do I now usually go with a friend so I'm not alone. We both work out together and jog at the same time so it works out. When my wife wants to go jogging we'll go even earlier.

Anyway you might want to think about not going at night. Riff-raff are out in full force then, no matter where you live.

Also I have an iphone, but I always leave my headphones off so I can listen to my surroundings. If your mp3 player has built-in speakers, that might also be a good idea to try. It doesn't sound as good, but being alert and being able to listen to everything around you is worth it in my opinion.

Originally posted by daaskapital
reply to post by r2d246

 

I didn't know poking things was a self defence system

Who knew right. ha ha I created a combo move it's like this:

1) Jab two fingers to the eyes the guy is blinded

2) you pull you hand back then return it with force with a palm strke to the nose

3) you pull it back again and a chop or thrust to the throat and or followed up with a kick to the groin, and the person is going down! lol at least you hope. If they don't, your basically screwed!

I live in one of the safest communities. I've never heard of anyone getting attacked or jumped while walking, but every time I go for a walk, even in daylight, I bring my handy little taser flashlight. I also never listen to music as it makes me feel too vulnerable and distracts from my awareness of my surroundings. My husband thinks I'm paranoid. It sucks, but you never know what could happen these days. I'm a weakling and I have no chance of fighting back, so my plan, if ever needed, is to taser the s*** out of my attacker and run like hell.