How far will pure strength and conditioning carry me in defending myself?

Question

I have no gyms in my area, I would want to find someone to spar and train with but there is no one willing. How far wil strength conditioning and sped take me in defending myslef. Like if I put all my effort into this instead of technique. I would use heavy bags, and all sorts of tools to achieve this.

Answer 1

Psychology is all you need to defend yourself. When an animal senses fear in you, it will attack you. Same with humans. For example: One night in Hollywood CA I was walking at night down a sidewalk. I passed up a younger timid looking guy on the way. The next thing I know three black guys are walking toward me. Instead of moving to the right and looking down or away, I walked strait down the middle of the sidewalk and with a slight smile looked the guys in the eye as we passed eachother. The next thing I know the timid guy I just passed was being atacked by the three black guys. Try it

Answer 2

As a third degree black belt in akido and a trained boxer i would say strength training and conditioning is all you need. If you have an adequate weight and are in peak condition for the endurance needed, you will be set. People are only needed to really practice moves upon which is required eventually, but to defend yourself all you really need is to require a knowledge of the body and become mentally tough. Any person of any shape can defend themself properly if necessary. Read up on techniques and martial arts such as Kali and Akido which are defense arts, you do not have to take these martial arts just read techniques and exercises. Everything is mental, so being aware of your environment and being able to control your body from panic or stress can become the perfect defensive tool. Keep yourself safe, and good luck brother.

Answer 3

good questiong...it depends on your build, endurance, energy level,  and other thingsas well as your opponents attributes...gl...i hope you find someone to spar with :D

Answer 4

If you freeze up or are outmaneuvered, its not going to help much at all. Try throwing on some hockey gloves and hockey helmets and going at it with a friend, see how you do.

Answer 5

How would you fair driving a formula 1 car in a race never having trained to do it. You can have the best car, but if you do not know how to drive it to it's full potential, a better more experienced driver with even a less fast car is probably going to beat you.

It's the same for fighting. I don't need a tremendous amount of physical conditioning and stamina if I can hit you very precisly to knock you out quickly.

My advice is that if you are worried, find something. You say there are no gym's in your area, and from some of your other questions and answers I have seen I am sure you mean a MMA gym. My question is what is wrong with a tarditional school if it is the only thing availible? I garuntee you that no matter how big and strong you are, if you don't know how to defedn yourself, and your opponent does, you are in big trouble. Luckily if you do have traditional schools in your area, you still should be safe, because most traditional schools teach their students to be respectful, not to look for a fight, and that fighting is a last resort.

If nothing else maybe that will make you feel better.

Answer 6

It will not take too far. BUt far enough to get you hurt.

Answer 7

The biggest factors in defending yourself are physical condition and fighting experience.  Sparring in a gym or punching a bag are no substitute for being in an actual fight, as a lot of it is mental, which people tend to neglect.  Think for example of a sharpshooter who can hit 100% on the shooting range but won't shoot a living being.

Now, I'm not suggesting you go out and get in fights, but don't neglect the mental preparation part of it.  Other than that just being physically fit will carry you a long way, as people also forget that a fight is not all attacking, half of it is taking hits and defending oneself, and being fit helps greatly there.

Answer 8

In defending yourself and putting no emphasis in technique I say you'd do well in defending yourself....if you planned on running (which is what you should do anyway). I think the advantage of your method would be the options it would give in you in escape.

Consider the scenarios

Guy who leverages a unfair advantage (gun, knife,gang):

This is something you should run from...no matter how strong you are. You conditioning will help you.

Guy who wants a fair fight?:

you can just run away from this too. even muscle your way out if your cornered.

OR

guy who wants to fight and you want to fight:

your strength and conditioning is only an advantage if your technical ability is the same as his. Eg. If hes much weaker and more technically sound...statistically you'll lose. Too many people make the mistake that conditioning and stregth play a major factor in a fight. I've personally witnessed that the factor skill plays in a fight is accountable to 80%. keep in mind that 10% more is luck. Leaving you with 10% strength and conditioning.  

Your method will carry you far...away from a fight. And i believe that is safest way to defend yourself.

Answer 9

I'm not sure about pure strength since this is useless if you do go up against someone stronger, but I can assure you that you can survive an attack on pure conditioning alone. I'm talking about a self defense situation of course and not a fight or match in the ring. I have experienced not being able to raise an arm to defend myself after 3 minutes of full contact randori against multiple opponents once and believe me, no matter how good your skills are, they're totally useless if you can't even lift an arm to parry an attack due to exhaustion. But I've seen unskilled lower belts run circles around higher belts and completely avoid attacks due to their better physical conditioning alone, of course once they stopped moving around and tried applying throws and locks on their nages, they got screwed, but as long as they were moving, evading and ducking for fear of getting hit or mobbed, they were doing just fine. So physical conditioning will take you far in a self defense situation. Just don't expect to go Bruce Lee on your attackers arses with it alone : P

Answer 10

Strength and conditioning is very important, but they are not the only variables in determining the outcome of a fight.

Keep in mind the last thing you want to do in a real fight is go punch for punch, kick for kick, with an opponent. The true purpose of any self defense program is to specifically end the fight as quickly, as aggressively, and as explosively as possible, and you need technique to do this.

Yes, strength and conditioning will help you endure the fight, however, if you are fighting for too long in a self defense situation, you already lost.

Answer 11

Strength and conditioning are important. You may only get one chance to deliver that power punch or kick in a fight. And if you want it to count it better have the meat behind it.

but.......

the most important thing in a fight is you brain. You want to have quick responses and the ability to make your decision in shortest time possible so that you can go for the kill or attempt to get out a hold. You want to strategize and learn from your apponent. Find his weaknesses and utilize them.

When you combine all aspects...strenghth, conditioning, speed, smarts you can defeat any apponent.

as for training you can find a buddy and spar even without equipment. just practice moves. takedowns. eye hand cordination etc.