My Experience of Being Attacked

This happened to me at a time when I was doing a lot of middle and long distance running.  It happened in the street one night not far from where I lived in Manchester. 

Now, even though I’ve been involved in a few fights I could hardly be described as a fearsome street fighter.  But this was the first and so far only time I’ve been attacked without warning.  The attack was completely unprovoked and I totally failed to see it coming.

Looking back, the first thought is that I should have been aware enough and spotted it on its way before it arrived.   But I didn’t. 

A Memory Blank

Looking back again, my first memory is that the attack began with a straight kick to the groin.  This makes me think that the groin isn’t necessarily the best target for an initial strike because instinctive reaction was enough for me to avoid it.

Then there is a complete gap in my memory because the next instant I was flat on my back, badly but not totally winded, with the lunatic on top of me trying to punch my head in.

Anyone who has been involved in ‘street’ fights or been a witness to street fights will know that most of them last only a few seconds.  They are not even remotely like sporting contests with a time schedule, rests and extended periods of maneuvering, testing each other out, and so on. 

Real fights are fast, frenzied, furious, brutal and messy.  Anything goes.  Typically, the attacker delivers one or two smashing blows, which knocks the stuffing out of the victim.  The aim of the attacker is to finish it fast, not to look good in a well-matched and fair sporting contest.

Good & Bad Luck

Fortunately for me, no weapons were involved.  The second piece of good luck was that I was fit and strong enough to avoid being beaten or hurt.  The bruising that came out later on my back probably came from wrestling on the ground. 

But the bad luck was that I wasn’t strong enough and didn’t have the fighting know-how to subdue or suppress the attacker.  The best result I could get was to neutralize the attack and get a stalemate.  I only wish that I knew then what I know now about ground escapes and fighting in general.

But in the event, a draw was the best I could get.  In the circumstances, that wasn’t too bad.  It could easily have turned out much nastier.  To put it another way, although the attacker had the advantage of surprise, he failed to finish me off. 

Fit For What?

But because he was unable to follow-up his surprise advantage and because I was unable to suppress him, the fight lasted much longer than the usual few seconds.  Naturally, I wasn’t able to time it exactly but would guess at around a minute. 

Thinking about it later, the thing that staggered me was that after this minute I was pretty well exhausted.  And this was at a time when I was supposed to be really fit for distance running and orienteering! 

My own immediate conclusion from this was that being fit for mid and long distance was great for mid and long distance running.  But that’s it. 

Another conclusion was that I needed more arm and upper body strength.  In other words, what I needed was better all-round conditioning.  And that’s how I got into weight training. 

Being Prepared Against The Sharks

Now we all know that sometimes sharks attack people.  Naturally, this can be frightening.  But if you spend a lot of time at the beach in Florida, Australia, Hawaii, South Africa or California you probably know there are a few simple rules that can help you avoid being attacked by sharks.

For example, avoid swimming:

If a shark does attack, Hello, Houston, you have a problem.  If possible, it’s best to fight by trying to strike the shark’s eyes, which are more sensitive than its nose.  Its gills are a good secondary target.  The aim is to show the shark that you are no pushover so it will leave you alone. 

More Deadly Than Sharks

Most shark attacks end quickly with a single bite or attempted bite.  Very few involve a deliberate or determined attempt to kill.  This seems to be because the shark has simply mistaken the surfer or swimmer for something else. 

In fact, statistics show that less than a third of attacks are fatal.  The number of fatalities worldwide each year from shark attacks barely reaches five (yes, five).  In fact, you have a far greater chance of being killed by bees.  Yet sharks are the scary ones. 

But by far the most serious and widespread danger to human life and limb comes from attacks by other humans.  As I found out the hard way, it doesn’t take a genius to see that just as a few basic rules can help minimize the danger from sharks, a similar set of rules on land can help to minimize the dangers from human sharks. 

But what do you do if you are attacked?

How To Prepare?

But there are a lot of possible lessons that could be drawn from an incident like this.  For example:

A Tough Task For You

Now, it immediately strikes me that his little list is really a heck of a lot to attend to and learn.  In fact, it sounds like it could easily become a full time occupation to get prepared for something that has a chance of never happening.

That’s why I never considered a switch to martial arts.  Instead, I decided to pay more attention to improving all-round strength rather than just running.  So, I didn’t drop everything to become a fighting expert.  Nor am I suggesting that you drop whatever you’re doing.

My point is that the incident encouraged me to take up more strength work.  In the first place, this meant weight training and using the fitness equipment and machines in the gym.  But eventually I twigged that building brawn wasn’t the same as all-round fitness.  This line of thought lead eventually to this site and The Fitnessblasting Manual. 

The Problem of Self-Defense Systems

Now even though the chances of being attacked are slim, they seem to be getting higher each year.  Therefore, it seems sensible to have at least some fighting savvy - just in case.  But where does a normal person find this? 

It seems to me that all the sites for self-defense or martial arts I’ve landed on are badly faulted by at least one and usually more of these problems:

Not everyone wants to devote years to learning hundreds of complex moves.  I especially don’t want to do that if they are seriously defective in a ‘live’ situation anyway.  Nor does everyone want to purchase weapons of ritual slaughter. 

A Sharp, Simple & Easily Learned System

What is needed is a basic and effective method that can be learned relatively easily by a normal person.  By that I mean a person who does not intend to devote his or her life to training several times a week for year after year.

Now, many of the authors of the hundreds of martial arts and self-defense texts are not ‘normal’ people at all in this sense.  They are former wrestling champions or karate champions, and so on.  They had an aptitude and developed it with years of dedicated training.  This is not what most of us are about to embark upon.   

Unworkable & Dangerous

But there’s another big problem with martial arts based self-defense systems.  A big, big problem is that there’s a world of difference between martial arts as competitive sports and a real fight.  Yet many of the authors of martial arts and self-defense books are totally ignorant of this. 

They are blind to the real-live impracticalities of their systems for a very simple reason: the reason is that they’ve never been in a real fight!

Interestingly, some of them admit as much.  So they usually include a story of the time someone gave them a mean look (on a subway, on the street, in a bar) that nearly got them into a fight.  Or they tell you how confident they are walking down dark, mean streets, and so on. 

More often, they have stories of someone else who did get into a real fight.  But in reality most of them have never been in a fight themselves.  As a result, they confuse their love of the skills and moves of their particular brand of martial arts with reality.  Yet, generally, their methods are unworkable, impractical and dangerous. 

But This Can’t Be True, Can It?

Now, this seems to defy conventional ‘knowledge’ doesn’t it?  Everyone knows, or thinks they know, that to be serious about self defense takes years of dedicated training. 

Almost every gym or martial arts dojo supports this. 

The mystique is reinforced by weird symbols, shouts, customs, costumes, names, chants, ranks, rules and rituals of a whole bunch of martial arts systems.

Yet the truth is, there is no mystery.  But having been indoctrinated with it for so long, it’s hard for some people to shake this notion off.  The forthcoming new eBook from faster-safer-fitness.com will help you shake it off.

Are You Fit For Fighting?

If you are ever in a position where you have to fight to protect yourself, it helps if you are fit and strong.  That’s exactly why The Fitnessblasting Manual is needed.

But just as sports need skills and tactics as well as fitness for success, it’s just the same with fighting.  In fact, no matter how fit you are, knowing what to do in a fight is critical.  That’s why you need fighting Know-how. 

So, pay a close watch here for the forthcoming new eBook from faster-safer-fitness.com on attacking back.

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