Art of Manliness - Latest Comments in How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

TheIceman — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 22:10:09 -0000

Fairly good advice except for a couple of things:

1. If somebody throws a punch at you, don't move into/towards the punch as this will only maximize the impact. Move AWAY from the punch. Hence the saying in boxing 'roll with the punches'

2. If someone punches you in the stomach don't try and take it on your obliques, try take it in the middle of your guts. The oblique muscles are far weaker than the abdominals and will not absorb as much force. Taking a punch on the side can make you end up with painful rib damage or a incapacitating blow to the liver.

Source: I've had 9 Muaythai fights with a record of 6 wins and 3 losses. Also had quite a few street fights.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

jc — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 00:26:22 -0000

Best advice is to simply not frequent questionable drinking establishments. Any less than savory bar you should be with 2 to 3 buddies at a minimum. Too many knuckleheads thrive on outnumbering people when fighting and beating them senseless, or worse...to death. Especially over stupid stuff.

However that still leaves random public scuffles, whether it's at the mall or walking home down some dark street. It's not so much the issue of going toe to toe with one person, it's the lynch mob mentality these days with multiple assailants.

In most cases pepper spray is pretty effective at immobilizing a threat or two with proper aiming. At least when you are outnumbered or out powered that could just be your saving grace to get away.

KaBar makes a neat little knife that's wickedly pointy and about the size of a credit card. Perfect to conceal as a last resort slasher if it gets to the point of death or great bodily harm (ie: when you have 4 guys beating the crap out of you).

Of course, in America legally obtaining a permit to conceal a gun is another option. Argue all you want about it, but quite honestly I'd rather take my chances with the legal system than trying to fight off several drunken or high hoodlums who are likely assaulting someone for the fun of it with no cares about the repercussions or if I live or die.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

trisha — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 23:33:11 -0000

yeah so this girl at school is trying to fight me or something and I don't even know why. and today I sent some friends over to her house to get a couple things that she borrowed and hasn't returned (for two months). yeah I got my stuff back but my friends said that she told them that I was "going I get it SO bad tomorrow at school"

so now my pathetic weakling self is trying to learn how to fight.

any suggestions?

-trisha

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

sin — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 06:58:33 -0000

I'm a very average guy physically. Almost in bad shape, but 12 years ago I was in the army and was in very good shape (because I was paid to be, lol). Anyway long story short my most simple advice is to allways keep a mindset that you will not be KOd. I've been jumped a few times, and beat up kinda badly. But each time I kept talking shit to the 3-5 guys and at some point tgey just had to stop as apposed to killing me. I never got in a fight againts only one guy, but if I did I would kick him in the nuts, jump on him and hit him with wild swings like gorillas and chimpanzees do. Plain and simple. Im also willing to try my best to bite a hole in a person's face or bite a finger off. Just remember to tell the judge " I was so scared, I tried to get away but he wouldn't stop, I just reacted". This might turn your felony into a misdomenor.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Brandon R. — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 15:17:30 -0000

Here's the advice I gave my little bro should he find himself in a self-defense situation.

1. Kick the inside of the knee with your heel, driving the force downward and toward the outside of the knee (kicking "through" the knee, if you will).

2. Knee them in the groin, hard. Raise up on your toes slightly as you do, and again, drive the force through the target.

3. Punch them once or twice, hard and heavy, with downward force, on the jaw, nose, and eye area.

4. Find a corner. Ram their head into it.

5. If they haven't dropped yet, use a simple hip throw (pushing on their chest and head while tripping them with your leg, using your hip for leverage) to put them on the ground, then run away.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Ahmed — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 02:01:09 -0000

let your dark side work ... don't freak out
attack there head and legs ... the critical points nose ... neck .. eyes ...

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Clay — Sat, 02 Nov 2013 01:42:56 -0000

Uh, well....fights don't usually go down like that. I've seen a few of 'em in my time. You can also see thousands of live brawls on Youtube. From what I can tell it is usually the aggressive mean guy that tends to win. Shockingly, the big guys don't fare too well in all out brawls. They are strong but their bigness seems to slow them down. It's usually a quick, hard barrage of punches that ends a fight and it happens very quickly. These are not the recess fights at school when we were small and the punches did no damage, these are hard punches that can really hurt someone. It's usually the 160 to 170 pound athletic guy that tends to win most of them. People tend to lose fights because they are intimidated, or they stall. Don't stall. Once you know the fight is on and there is no way out, do not hesitate. Three or four quick punches to the face will usually put the guy on the ground. If you are not good at wrestling, keep moving. Do not let it go to the ground. People who go to the ground also go to the hospital.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

zuzi — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 09:19:27 -0000

@ the end of the day the dude that acts the craziest...will win. No one wants to deal with a maniac!

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Adam W — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 03:52:59 -0000

Nice website, just starting looking at it.

As for this article.... no one is going to learn how to fight from reading a webpage or the comment section.

If you want to learn how to fight, train to fight at a local Muay Thai, boxing, or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school. Spar hard. If you focus on grappling, then round it out with some striking. If you focus on striking round it out with some grappling. In 3 months, you'll be much better off than you are right now. In 12 months, that much better. A couple years, and you'll actually know a few things.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Ed — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 05:12:35 -0000

I disagree with a few things in this article.

For starters, I know punching is manly... but it is not the best way to hit someone. Instead of aiming punches at someone's head, there is a better technique. Open your strong hand so it is flat (like someone doing karate would). Keep your fingers together, but your thumb up.

With your arm bent, strike your opponent with the edge of your hand between somewhere between the knuckle of your pinky finger and your wrist. I stress that your arm be bent because it generates more force than a fully extended arm, and allows for rapid reflexes to hit again and again.

Aim these blows with the edge of your hand at your opponents extremities. If you are an average strength man, a blow with the edge of your hand onto the extended arm of an opponent has a very good likely-hood of fracturing and/or severely breaking their arm. This cannot be accomplished with a closed fist. The small point of a chop from a bent arm, though, does major damage to a small point (thus generating the pressure to break things).

This is why if you punch a wall you'll break your hand, yet karate guys can chop through wood and cement blocks. It is all about getting your blows down to the smallest area possible.

Also, re kicking.

Never kick straight forward unless you have a straight shot to a guys balls or head. Side to side kicks with your foot 4-10 inches off the ground, aimed at their shins are far more effective. Same principle as the punching: use the edge of the foot and gun for a fracture. Try to target their plant leg. If they have their weight on one foot, that leg is more likely to snap.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

codyc — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 16:06:23 -0000

Always keep the hand you hit weakest with by your face just in case they fake the punch so then you can parry it and hit them with your stronger hand

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Johnny — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 16:25:53 -0000

6'4, 96 kilos indestructo cleverguy here.
Alright, folks, i manage to easily avoid the fights most of the time but there was that one time when my joke got a little too personal. Guy was about 6'2 so it wasn't that kind of "UNFAIR" fight. Just he hit me first while i was waking up and thinking the possible solutions. Not that i have not tried talking sense into him before it. SO yes, it basically was my mistake, i don't see many people brave enough to face me 1 on 1, so it was kind of surprise attack really. He throws a punch, a rather weak one to my chin, it slides through, i do a step forward and accidently hook his neck with my arm, since then i did not know what the fuck was going on and even laughed a lot as far as i can remember because the situation seemed really funny to me. Second punch went into my skull, couldn't feel much but still. I did not sleep enough at times so i was hardly realising what's going on, tried to tear up the distance and talking sense into him once again, we put our arms onto each-others shoulders, so i remembered what the Clinch is and i wanted to proceeded to putting my knees as high as his chest repeteadly and with enough force to make him feel it but he interrupted me with his one and only successfull punch to the face as he freed one of his arms. After that he probably saw after looking into my eyes that i was laughing still, he finally started to talk sense once again, so i let him go, and we walked down the street together apologising. Good memory, i enjoyed the fight. The guy that hit me in the skull broke his 3 fingers. So, the question of the day is, how to make sudden fist to the face(or anything, really) wake you up instead of getting disoriented? Experience-only thing?

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Aaron — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 05:52:59 -0000

I'm 6'6 and about 115 kilos. I've got a second dan black belt in Shotokan karate and worked as a bouncer while at uni. Being a big guy and a bit of a jokester I've had many incidents of shoves, threats and general intimidation and am proud to say I've never been in a fight. The key parts of this article are the first three points, be alert, diffuse the situation and/or get out of there. Check your ego and keep it in your pants, the risks are too great. While working as a bouncer I saw many fights, two standout in my memory, a drunken kid who got sucker punched while out celebrating his 18th birthday and received permanent brain damage, and a drunken tussle between two guys I later learned were actually good mates that ended with one of them getting thrown down on top of a broken bottle, he died in hospital.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

John — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:04:17 -0000

I'm 6'3 300lbs, in pretty good shape for my size (can do plenty of pushups and work all day long outdoors). I've never once had a guy challenge me to anything other than a drinking contest. Most might say it's because of my size (which I'm not denying to some extent), but it's more to my demeanor and how I treat others. I've never had to be in a real fight in my life.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

beason — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:48:50 -0000

it's been years since i've had to fight. i agree with keeping the chin down. i would alway turn my left shoulder towards the person and hold my right hand up high so they could see it clearly. when they focused on the right i would throw the left and hit the right eye (twice), this normally resulted in a cut over the eye and the fight was all but over at that point .

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Gary — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:55:45 -0000

Fight or Flight...........Grab a handful of change from your pocket, throw it very forcefully at his face then drop kick him in the nuts and casually make your escape!

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Steve — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 01:13:03 -0000

Unless you really, really know what you're doing, DO NOT snap into some kind of karate/ninja fighting stance! That immediately ups the temperature of the situation and if you can't really do it, you're just going to look like an idiot while getting your ass kicked. Get far away or really close, as punches will either 1) not land or 2) won't have maximum impact if you close in. Forehead smash to the nose is usually a trump card, likewise, knee to the groin. Also, most street brawlers are not experts; getting punched is usually more frightening then deadly. Keep cool, he is probably not going to kill you with a couple punches. That said, get away as fast as possible.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

JB — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:53:07 -0000

I reserve two tactics for life threatening situations:
(1) karate chop to the throat-- a swift, hard blow across the adam's apple.
(2) fist or curled knuckles up the nose. These two will incapacitate if not kill.
As the author stated, make sure you are ready to fight.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Mycroft — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 16:28:29 -0000

Don't be afraid to fight dirty. Your assailant has the element of surprise, and you need every advantage you can find to counter his. As a wise man once said, "If you're in a fair fight, your tactics suck." Or something like that...

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

Ed Manley — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 16:11:16 -0000

Break a bottle and try to cut your opponent? That's your advice? After you get your ass kicked you get to go to jail. Then he'll sue you. Unless you truly believe that your life is on the line (it rarely is in a fistfight) that is some really bad advice.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

JayManPWR — Tue, 28 May 2013 10:25:03 -0000

Just like to had two things. First, normally, wannabe-street-figthing-douchebags don't know how to fight! So, they will unlikely throw direct punches at you (which are in fact the most effective punches), preffering showing-off how "rad" they are and throwing hook punches, which they pump from way behind them. It's then pretty easy to anticipate the punch and avoid it.
Second point, if your douche is using a weapon (baseball-bat, golf club, even a knife), the word of advice is "stay close to him". The only way such a weapon can be useful is if the attacker has room to swing it. So whenever someone tries to hit you with such armory, just ram him, stick to him, and punch and kick like you never punched and kicked before. And to quote my old self-defense teacher, "the best way to avoid a punch is to not be there when it comes!"

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

aki — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:14:48 -0000

a knee to the abdomen, a hard hook to the jaw is enough.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

David Chauca — Sat, 25 May 2013 04:18:01 -0000

move your head towards a punch to make it hurt less or miss? seems legit.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

scaman — Fri, 24 May 2013 06:48:28 -0000

Here are the mistakes most guys make that get them hurt (or killed):

#1: You train with someone who doesn’t fight regularly. Of, worse, a black belt who has never actually hit another person save his own hide. (That’s about 99.99% of the black belt “teachers” out there.)

#2: You train for years in a style that doesn’t actually work in the real world. Hospitals are filled with guys who confidently dropped into their fancy stance at the start of the fight … and ended up on the ground a second later gettingg the crap stomped out of them.

#3: You never learn even the basics of the “fighter’s mindset”… that special vicious way of thinking that actually turns you from a mild-mannered human into a lethal beast in the blink of an eye.

Re: How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps

staci — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:32:11 -0000

i love the part about ponyboy the outsiders are my fav movie it really sends a message tht just b/c someone doesnt have as much money as u dont mean there less than a person as u are