Always be ready to fight: extreme conditions
How to fight in extreme conditions
After seeing how to handle with the mental (read Always be ready to fight: the mind) and physical limitations (read Always be ready to fight: the body) typical of every self-defense situation, we continue with the condition in which we are absolutely less willing to fight: the one in which we are injured or ill.
Let’s imagine an aggression (already started or ready to start) where any request of help, any attempt of flee and negotiation have been ineffective (read Personal defense: the S.A.F.E. method) and the only option is to fight but for example:
- We’ve been hit hard during an earlier phase of the combat
- We have been caught during a period of recovery due to an injury
- We have been attacked while suffering an illness that partially limits our fighting capabilities
- …
Stressing another time the fact that in this kind of (extreme) conditions, chances to prevail decrease drastically (they are near to 0), the only thing left to us is to:
- Analyze the situation – Make a rapid assessment
- Access our latest resources – Ignore impediments and take action
- React quickly – Be fast, time is our biggest enemy
Analyze the situation
To correctly analyze the situation we must rapidly ask ourselves a few questions about us and the fighting scenario:
- What are we unable to use (hands, spatial intelligence, mobility, etc.)?
- What can we use effectively (limbs, weapons, etc.)?
- How can we isolate the source of discomfort (at least in part)?
- What advantage can we draw from the surrounding scenario to balance our “handicap” (terrain conformation, obstacles, etc.)?
- Which strategy / tactic / set of techniques can we proficiently and instantly use to prevail over the opponent (soft parts attacks, bone breakings, etc.)?
- Are we ready to act without scruple and with the utmost determination?
We are in a field at the limit of possible but, in these cases, the last glimmer of lucidity and energy could make the difference between life and death.
Access our latest resources
When the only alternative is to succumb, no matter how risky may be the possibilities within our reach (eg. it is better to lose an arm than to die), we must gather our last energies and react to the best of our psychophysical state.
As we said in the past articles of this guide, in a situation of this kind it is useful to adopt mental conditioning through emotional control (read How to use emotions in workout and combat) and anchoring (read Fighting and mind control: the anchors).
React quickly
Let’s now see some practical examples of reasoning (where the only alternative is death):
- We have a blurred vision, can we keep in touch with the opponent so that we do not lose his spatial position? Can we “restore” the disadvantage by eliminating the sources of light?
- We’re stuck on the ground, is there a way to make our opponent fall down? Making him stumble, subtracting his supporting plan (etc.)? Can we recover solid objects to throw?
- We have a broken ankle but we are still conscious, can we eliminate the limit imposed by the lack of balance and struggle on the ground (ending for example with a joint lock or a strangulation)?
- We have a fractured wrist, can we safely secure it to continue to combat? Are we able to withstand the pain to fight only with legs and the other arm?
- We have a small wound in the abdomen, can we finish the fight before losing consciousness? Is there an improvised weapon who can multiply our strength and increase the fighting distance at our advantage (read Ideal distance from the opponent during a fight)?
- We have the flu (fever and dizziness) and our balance is lost, can we move the fight to the ground or hold a stand on the opponent? Are we able to reach / grasp his vital points without having to spin empty blows?
- …
A note by Master Kongling – Let’s be clear, these are relatively silly examples: normally in similar conditions, our body and our mind leave us (feinting, stillness, inability to ignore pain, absence of spatial intelligence, etc.); this is what we can try to do in the eventual last few seconds of consciousness but in 90% of cases we will not succeed.
The real solution
In a serious self-defense context (read Martial art and self-defense: what are the differences?), it is important to say that:
- We do not have to wait to be in so hard contexts, prevention is the best possible solution (read )
- These “solutions” cannot be elaborated at the last moment (when the problem occurs), emotional stress and adrenaline will absolutely not allow us
We have to:
- Study techniques / tactics / strategies and plan our safety to always have an option to prevail (preparation)
- Train and simulate handicap situations in the normal daily workout and in special sessions (discipline)
- Learn to adapt the theory to practice as long as we are able to think, that moment just before the disaster “concretizes” (concentration)
In conclusion:
- It is obvious that talking about these things is very easy, execute them is another thing, it requires years of extremely high-quality training, cold blood, and a steel made willpower; the idea is that we must never lose ourselves, even in the most desperate conditions
- According to 6 Dragons Kung Fu’s teachings, our primary goal is not to face such level of exasperated scenarios but to train with the idea that even this can happen; this way we will face better (both physically both psychologically) the normal situations
In the next article of this series, we will expose a simple and quick reasoning method to be memorized and put into practice (a sum-up of all we’ve said).
In-depth articles
- Self-defense: 10 correct attitudes during a quarrel – How to avoid a quarrel becoming a physical confrontation
- Self-defense: how to behave – The two enemies we must face during a quarrel
Questions
Reply in the comments and share your experience:
- Have you ever felt the (horrible) sensation of being totally defenseless (even in daily life)?
Author: Master Kongling
Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.
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KungFuMaster
August 19, 2018 @ 2:16 am
Very extreme
Master Kongling
August 26, 2018 @ 5:21 pm
Of course, I wrote this series of articles after a request from a student but it is right to avoid censoring certain aspects of martial arts and self-defense just because they are too extreme.
These articles (like the ones related to the combat against multiple opponents [ https://www.6dragonskungfu.com/how-to-fight-with-more-than-one-opponent-at-the-same-time/ ] ) are created principally to get an idea of the complexity of the possible contexts and thus persuade practitioners to train better and better.
6DPractitioner
April 22, 2020 @ 9:59 pm
Yes, when I was a child
Master Kongling
April 25, 2020 @ 9:15 am
So you know what does it means