Algernon
contactless khhv
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How to Win in a Fight, and Run: Decision Making
Basic things I recommend, but are common sense:
Training for a fight is different then body building. This is a little obvious since in a fight, kicks and punches must be explosive to hurt someone.
Power & Strength
An example of a beginner fighting workout routine would be...
Conditioning
Your body uses plenty of energy systems, if you use this forum frequently I'm sure you have worked out and know a little bit about them, so I'll skip over them.
Conditioning is the process of building your bodies strength to whatever it is you are doing, for example in Muay Thai they do pain conditioning by using leg rollers to kill their nerves, allowing for less painful fights. I'll be focusing on energy-based conditioning, which increases endurance.
Some recommended conditioning:
Adding this in, bu there are reasons to learn beyond self-defense, such as...
Power & Strength
An example of a beginner fighting workout routine would be...
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
Not sure if it was necessary, but I added in gifs of some of the workouts, clicking on the image it should be labeled its workout name. (Might not be)
- 3x5 Squat
- 3x5 Bench Press
- 3x5 Rows
Wednesday
- 3x3 Deadlift
- 3x5 Military Press
- 3x10 Chinups 3 sets of 10, add weight if necessary.
Friday
- 3x10 Step-Ups
- 3x5 Push Press or Incline Press or Dips
- 5x3 Power Clean or Power Snatches
Not sure if it was necessary, but I added in gifs of some of the workouts, clicking on the image it should be labeled its workout name. (Might not be)
Conditioning
Your body uses plenty of energy systems, if you use this forum frequently I'm sure you have worked out and know a little bit about them, so I'll skip over them.
Conditioning is the process of building your bodies strength to whatever it is you are doing, for example in Muay Thai they do pain conditioning by using leg rollers to kill their nerves, allowing for less painful fights. I'll be focusing on energy-based conditioning, which increases endurance.
Some recommended conditioning:
- Swimming
- Rowing
- Tennis
- Cycling
Adding this in, bu there are reasons to learn beyond self-defense, such as...
- In social circles, like school fights, it can be a way to gain status.
- It is one of the most satisfying ways to be healthy since you train multiple goals at once.
- Gaining confidence knowing you are stronger then others and could defeat them could potentially lower your inhib and make you more NT.
Learn How to Fight (techniques and basics)
Firstly, in order to learn how to fight, you learn different martial arts. Martial arts are split into multiple categories, Striking, Grappling, Weapons, and Mixed. It is more important to learn one striking and one grappling, since this will give you a good ability to wrestle and hit others, allowing for greater range in areas.
So, which martial arts should you learn?
I'd recommend Muay Thai as the best striking and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as the best grappling, learning these two will allow for you to have the greatest variety in your ability to fight, in my opinion.
If you decide to learn how to fight with a weapon, it seems Arnis is the best weapon martial art (I wont really get into swords since the chance you find a sword or bring one out in public is low).
Now, you know what to learn, but how do you actively learn these?
The easiest way is simply signing up for a gym. But since you are on this guide, you probably do not want to learn with others. Learning alone is significantly harder, but it can be done.
Simple guides to learning alone:
Training kicks, punches, knees and elbows, know your different strikes and when to use them.
Punches
This is a very high-level example of arm strikes, straight punch forward, small step forward, knees well bent. When you are throwing jabs, this video shows you what your goal is. There are more specialized jabs beyond this that are dependent on the circumstance, however this is a beginner guide.
Kicks
I'd say the most important kick to learn is the leg kick, and its defense.
Other kicks are more easily reacted to and harder to learn for others, so at a beginner level, which fights usually are, the leg kick is the most commonly seen.
An example of a leg kick, kicking the calf.
An example of a defense, by turning the shin in. This will hurt both legs, which is why it's recommended to condition your legs from pain.
Beyond this, there are medium and high kicks, however they are at a more intermediate level.
There is also a move that is usually illegal in the UFC, where you strike by stomping on the knee of the other person, attempting to force their knee to bend, although I do not know this move too well, it is worth looking into.
Elbows
Some elbows you should learn for muay thai are:
Uppercut Elbow:
As shown in the photo, you quickly get close to your target by taking a step, and then (you should be in the boxing pose, where your arms are guarding your face and high up), drive your elbow up into the chin.
Hook Elbow:
For some reason its annoyingly difficult to find photos of this, so describing it in words:
Set up: Stand up, keep your fist on your pec, then turn your elbow from being on your hip to infront of your neck. (Essentially, you are slashing your elbow across your opponents face).
It should come up and in, this way its less predictable and goes faster without time to predict, making a stronger strike.
Knees
Knees can hurt a lot in close range due to how hard the knee is, but they are very risky due to having to get so close, usually only possible in clinches, I'll briefly speak on one though.
Front Knee:
This is done by taking a quick step into the opponents space and quickly driving the opposite legs knee (step foreward with left foot? then drive the right knee up) into the face of the opponent, this move is hard to pull off in a real fight but if you can, it hurts a lot.
Punches
This is a very high-level example of arm strikes, straight punch forward, small step forward, knees well bent. When you are throwing jabs, this video shows you what your goal is. There are more specialized jabs beyond this that are dependent on the circumstance, however this is a beginner guide.
Kicks
I'd say the most important kick to learn is the leg kick, and its defense.
Other kicks are more easily reacted to and harder to learn for others, so at a beginner level, which fights usually are, the leg kick is the most commonly seen.
An example of a leg kick, kicking the calf.
An example of a defense, by turning the shin in. This will hurt both legs, which is why it's recommended to condition your legs from pain.
Beyond this, there are medium and high kicks, however they are at a more intermediate level.
There is also a move that is usually illegal in the UFC, where you strike by stomping on the knee of the other person, attempting to force their knee to bend, although I do not know this move too well, it is worth looking into.
Elbows
Some elbows you should learn for muay thai are:
Uppercut Elbow:
As shown in the photo, you quickly get close to your target by taking a step, and then (you should be in the boxing pose, where your arms are guarding your face and high up), drive your elbow up into the chin.
Hook Elbow:
For some reason its annoyingly difficult to find photos of this, so describing it in words:
Set up: Stand up, keep your fist on your pec, then turn your elbow from being on your hip to infront of your neck. (Essentially, you are slashing your elbow across your opponents face).
It should come up and in, this way its less predictable and goes faster without time to predict, making a stronger strike.
Knees
Knees can hurt a lot in close range due to how hard the knee is, but they are very risky due to having to get so close, usually only possible in clinches, I'll briefly speak on one though.
Front Knee:
This is done by taking a quick step into the opponents space and quickly driving the opposite legs knee (step foreward with left foot? then drive the right knee up) into the face of the opponent, this move is hard to pull off in a real fight but if you can, it hurts a lot.
At home, you can try to learn BJJ, but it really will be hard, I'd recommend either training dummies or partners (you can buy then online, but it's much more expensive and less effective then just going to a gym or hiring someone/a friend).
Positions
Guards
On these I am assuming you are in a bad spot, otherwise if you are looking at this from the dominant position, your goal is to stop the opponent from using these escapes and use one of the submissions.
This is probably the most well-known part of grappling as a whole, someone is on their back while the other is ontop.
Mount
The person on the bottom is on their back, the person on the top is facing them, this is one of the best positions (ontop), or worst positions (on bottom) you can be in. It is still possible to escape though, shown in this video.
Controls
Skip to 50 seconds to see the escape.
An example of the back control being broken out of.
Submissions
Positions
Guards
On these I am assuming you are in a bad spot, otherwise if you are looking at this from the dominant position, your goal is to stop the opponent from using these escapes and use one of the submissions.
This is probably the most well-known part of grappling as a whole, someone is on their back while the other is ontop.
- Open Guard - Remain aggressive and keep attacking. An example of open guard is shown below, it is somewhat of an open position since all it means is that your legs are not locked.
- Close Guard - Keep your elbows inside the thighs and push up on them to try and create an opening. Below is an example of a closed guard, where both legs are locked in place.
Mount
The person on the bottom is on their back, the person on the top is facing them, this is one of the best positions (ontop), or worst positions (on bottom) you can be in. It is still possible to escape though, shown in this video.
Controls
- Side Control - It is pretty similar to the mount, but instead of being ontop, the top person is leaning/facing over the persons side (so hip to hip on the bottom person is about where neck to waist for the top person is).
Skip to 50 seconds to see the escape.
- Back Control - Unlike before, now both are grabbing each other but now both are facing in the same direction, both have their backs facing the same way. The goal here is (usually) to try and break out and face your opponent.
An example of the back control being broken out of.
Submissions
- Armbar - The goal is to isolate their arm and then put pressure enough to damage it and get the other person to back out. A lot of photos of this online vary due different positions being able to do this.
- Triangle Choke - Wrap your legs around their neck and one arm, attempting to choke them out by cutting off blood. (This one is one of the most effective submissions, important to learn).
- Rear Naked Choke - Put your elbow on their neck, control the rest of their body and choke with your elbow.
- Kimura - Grab their arm, trap the wrist behind their back, pulling their shoulder. Kimura is somewhat hard to learn, but it works in almost any position.
After learning all this, continue to practice and learn more, use a punching bag, record your strikes and attempt to compare them with professionals. Lastly, try to get someone to at least hit you so you can learn the defense, and not just the offense.
How to fight in different scenarios with your new knowledge
(Hand to hand of someone with equal stature):
This is pretty much the standard fighting advice, use BJJ and Muay Thai as I suggested, you will learn after training you are either better at Muay Thai or BJJ, attempt to settle with striking first if you are better at it, if you are winning continue with striking and if you begin losing attempt to settle into grappling to see if you have a chance or run.
(Other person has a weapon, equal fight):
No hope of winning, unless you are able to get the weapon out of their hand, you should run. If you are unable to run, and you learned Eskrima or Arnis (weapon martial arts), maybe theres a chance, but I am not too good with weapons, so I can't speak too well.
(If the other person is taller):
Then standard advice is take them down to the ground with grappling or attempt to use leg strikes, jabs are hard to see aswell, so those 3 will be your main tools, still you are fighting at a disadvantage and must know more about fighting then the opponent.
When you get into a dangerous scenario, you will have to run. But how do you train to run faster?
I'll be going through this quickly since theres a lot more research here by just searching up track and field training routine.
Firstly, you should prioritize training for short distance running. This is because you will be training for strong kicks and explosive legs anyways, if you train long distance the two don't entirely cancel out but gains are weaker then they could be.
So for legs, the goal is similar to Usain Bolt while also coexisting with your fight training, so we mainly will focus on the actual running.
As you can see in this photo, he runs with a straight line through him while keeping a forward lean to push him forward, this is standard practice when running.
Follow up with breathwork as well, when running it is recommended to take light breaths and not large breaths.
I'll be going through this quickly since theres a lot more research here by just searching up track and field training routine.
Firstly, you should prioritize training for short distance running. This is because you will be training for strong kicks and explosive legs anyways, if you train long distance the two don't entirely cancel out but gains are weaker then they could be.
So for legs, the goal is similar to Usain Bolt while also coexisting with your fight training, so we mainly will focus on the actual running.
As you can see in this photo, he runs with a straight line through him while keeping a forward lean to push him forward, this is standard practice when running.
Follow up with breathwork as well, when running it is recommended to take light breaths and not large breaths.
Conclusion
While everything on here is valid, at the end of the day, practicing with others will be more effective since you learn both offensive and defensive methods in fighting better.
