Karate in real life?

Question

a karate black belt is being surrounded in an alley. would he use his karate training to survive or go natural and start fighting like the cave men used to. this is really minda a question of if karate training helps in real life

please explain your awnser

also please refrain from the "well the karate guy is smarter then to get in that situation" or "hill talk his way out, fightings a last resort" just pretend he appeared thier and thiers nothing he can do

Answer 1

Learn karate and you'll answer your questions.and one thing,i don't believe that 20 persons will attack and karate will not help? that's not true! it really helps a lot if your a black belt already....... just, not making you believe the first one who answer your question because he insults Funakoshi Gichin......... have a nice day.

Answer 2

Of course he was use his karate training for self defense. It takes 1000's hours of training to become a black belt, its not something you can suddenly forget. At that level it comes to you as naturally as walking. The chances are he wouldn't panic anyway because he would have confidence in his ability. Well, surrounded by four guys in an alley his chances of winning probably aren't great, but I'm sure he would at least try and use his karate skills to bring a few of them down.

Answer 3

This is why I do not allow sport-type sparring in my class.

The only kumite my students do is against multiple attacks and not prearranged.

Free sparring is unrealistic.

When you have multiple attackers coming all at once, you develop instinct that will save you from this type of scenario.

I don't talk my way out of it - I talk my way into it. I start talking to distract an attacker the he gets hit with three strikes simultaneously.

Like Laoshr (my Teacher) says: "it like one gun shoot three bullet".

Answer 4

yes it will help if they are equally ur size! and weight! your pretty much done if they are taller stronger and heavier than you thats BS size does matter.

Answer 5

Surrounded by how many, I mean if its 20 dudes then no karate will help you..

What if you say 4 guys then the question remains, I mean it would depend on their ages and size, what if they had knifes .. Too many ifs and buts to give an answer to that...

Answer 6

First off, it depends on how well the person has trained -- regardless of style. If they have been training right their entire martial arts career (against resisting partners, with hard sparring, etc), then the techniques will have been beaten into said blackbelt over a series of years. As such, it is unlikely that his training will go out the window when he's struck by a massive surge of adrenaline.

Secondly, if the karateka or his dojo are very interested in self defense, they've probably practiced some multiple opponent drills. That will probably come in handy.

Ultimately, its doubtful that one man can defeat 4 serious attackers. But would defeating them necessarily be the karateka's goal? I would think that he would be attempting to escape rather than incapacitating all four assailants -- which is probably an easier task.

Long story short, if taught right, Karate (like any martial art) will give you tools that can allow you to beat down another person, should things come to that. Is a guarantee that a skilled karateka could manage that in every situation? No. But here's a question for you; would you rather be surrounded by four guys and have some good techniques and sparring experience, or would you rather 'swing like a caveman?'

EDIT: by escaping, I mean incapacitating one or two long enough to get by one of them and THEN running.

Answer 7

Hi,

Check out whether it help or not. Thank you.

Yes, Karate can, and should, be directly taken out of forms to be used in real combat. In fact, this was how karate techniques developed. At first there were no techniques. Combatants fought freely, like what untrained persons do today.

Gradually over many centuries those who had to fight frequently discovered that certain manners of fighting were advantageous. Throughout many centuries karate masters, i.e. specially trained people who were good at real life fighting, stylized these advantageous manners of fighting into karate forms. At the same time throughout many centuries these masters of real fighting also developed various methods to train force and other combat skills to enhance their fighting efficiency.

Please remember that throughout the centuries karate was meant for real life fighting. It was never meant as a competitive sport with safety rules, or a demonstrative art to please spectators. Karate was meant for real life fighting where the outcome was not trophies or price money, but often life or death. Karate exponents diligently practiced and religiously used their kungfu forms in real life combat not because the forms looked nice or the forms identified them to certain styles, but because the darate forms gave them the best chance to stay alive.

Just some common sense will make one realize that if traditional kungfu forms with appropriate stances were not effective for fighting, karate exponents in the past would not have spent so much time and effort training them. If bouncing about and throwing punches and high kicks as in Western Boxing and Kickboxing were most effective for real life combat, the kungfu exponents would have diligently practiced and religiously used bouncing about, throwing punches and high kicks instead.

Then, why in today’s free sparring do those who bounce about and use punches and kicks as in Western Boxing and Kickboxing generally beat those who use traditional kungfu forms? It is because the latter have never been trained to use kungfu forms for free sparring. The kungfu forms which would be an asset for those who are properly trained, become a liability for those who are untrained.

If karate was effective, why didn’t people in the West in the past practiced karate for fighting? In my opinion the main reason was connected with the Shaolin Temple in China. Before the Shaolin Temple, ways of fighting were haphazard, similar to present day butting, wrestling, boxing and kicking, or what is often called freestyle fighting. There were no proper systems or styles. Since the Shaolin Temple, ways of fighting first became institutionalized into particular styles, with systematic and coherent development over many centuries, first at the Shaolin Temple, then all over China. The West did not have this history of institutionalized fighting arts.

Sifu N.Khup

Answer 8

It depends upon the karate guy.  

If he's never been in any type of violent physical confrontation outside of a training hall, he's likely to start flailing at first. Then throw some kicks and strikes in.  If there are less than four people,  he may handle the situation like it is a small circle self-defense drill.

If he's from a rough area or has been in a few fights, he may pick up something in the alley and use it on them.  Or, he may do his best to destroy the leader of the pack, thereby discouraging the others.

You see, it all depends upon the skill level of the practitioner.  The higher ranking and more combative the black belt, the more pain the attackers are going to be in.  

Some people will freeze because that is in their nature.  They, for whatever reason, cannot handle a violent episode.  Other people will be dangerous even without martial arts training because they have a violent mindset or they have had to do a lot of fighting in their life for one reason or another.  

The last time I was surrounded by three people, I screamed at them and got in their faces.  I was in a very bad mood at the time.  It shocked them so bad they abandoned their attack.  I will admit that I was probably lucky, as I am also a big dude.  They may have been prepared for big or crazy, but did not want to deal with big AND crazy.

Now you may not want to deal with the reality that the karate guy should be smart enough not to be in tha t situation, but there is an element of truth to that.  When I got surrounded by 3 bums, it was because I was being stupid, angry and not paying attention.  I literally let anger cloud my judgement.  Some martial arts practitioners develop more awareness and will see something odd and avoid the alley.  Had I avoided the alley and walked an extra two minutes instead of being lazy and taking a short-cut through an alley at night, I would have been fine.

Answer 9

Yes and no. There are too many what I call depends in this question.

Depends #1 How realistic was the training.

Depends #2 The kind of physical shape is the black belt in.

Depends #3 Most important. The reason he is surrounded in an alley. This may have bearing on the mental state.

Depends #4 None of us really knows how we will react in a situation like that till it happens.

We know from experience that all things equal a trained person has an advantage over an untrained one. We also know we fight much like we train. If the training is not testing your physical edge and mental edge than your likely hood of losing it is greater.

As the soldier said no one knows what it is like till they see the elephant.

Answer 10

Well, starting with your last statement first... It all depends on the school you train at wether or not you are building real skill or a false sense of security. There are many...many schools out there with unqualified instructors teaching fraudulent styles. Learning these styles and this false sense of security, the karate ka will be overconfident in the street and behave as though they were in the dojo. Unfortunately attitude and awareness in the street for life is very different than attitude in the dojo.

Honest self defense training will prepare the individual for their unpleasant encounters. There are a few ways of doing this. The most common in traditional martial arts is that over several years the karate ka changes their normal instinctual reactions to those of the specified system. Another method is training the individual to harness their instinctual reactions and learn to use and control them, and eventually build upon that base with added techniques.

A karate student is not "smarter" than a nonpractitioner. Intelligence lies within the individual whomever they may be. Now there is a difference in handling hand to hand combat situations, but it really lies with the individual who is used to that type of combative situation. So hypothetically, a street thug who has been fighting all the time will be able to handle the situation mentally as well as a police officer, an MMA player, or a TMA. Their skill levels will very but the mental aspects of fight or flight will be roughly the same.

So, if you research as many places as possible, their instructors, methodology, and student mentality... You will be able to find a place to practice self defence with the confidence you're getting what you want. You have to train your mind as much if not more than you train your body, in order to keep your wits about you in times of need.

I've personally been studying for 18 years and will tell you from my experience that I no longer act like a "caveman" when having to defend myself.

Answer 11

If he uses his training or goes with the primal rage instint of surviving, it depends on how much will you have to survive, everyone gets hit in an all out fight. there is no training that makes one person superior or better. If you have your black belt you have not mastered the martial arts you have completed your training of the basics, various katas, possably weapons. and many hours of conditioning your mind and body. But with all of this. it doesn't mean the martial artist will win. Without going in circles. Basically you win if you don't mess up first, And you survive if you get lucky. Training just helps you keep up physically.

Answer 12

Obviously you setup a question to make Karate look useless, so clearly you have an agenda.

That being said, no martial art, Karate, Krav Maga, BJJ, Muay Thai, etc. is going to be effective against more than 3 or 4 un armed attackers.  PERIOD!!!!

Against a single armed attacker even more problematic.  With this threat you really have to understand distance, various weapons: Knives vs. gun, angles, body language, etc.

Karate is certainly more effective than dumb caveman fighting and just as effective as most other martial arts.

Now go troll some where else!!!!

Answer 13

Fighting like a cave man; hummmmmmm.  Fighting is like an inconvenience really and a well trained, experienced martial artist will keep his head and use what-ever they can to survive if they have developed their mental and physical skills and abilities to a high level.  Unfortunately in this day of diploma mills and mediocre instructors many martial artists don't quite develop their skills to that level so I understand the reason for the question.  Karate training does help in real life situations but not everyone develops those skills to that level or goes to a place that has high standards and goes the extra mile to instill those abilities and skill in their students.

Answer 14

He'd use a technique to defend himself.

Answer 15

Well if I where him

I would first haha avoid conflict!

nah I'm JK with you.

But If I where really him, I would prolly start running to a open gap, as they followed I would try and run down another alley that would be tight to get out of so I could fight them one on one and each one fall's another one comes.

Or I would run and look back as they started getting out of breath I would turn doing my most powerful knockdown technique on the first one in line, then running again.

in worst case scenario I  would go for the groin and pick up weapon's like peices of wood on the street or anything.

But if they surrounded me like no backing down, I would put my back towards the weakest part of the circle and look straight ahead so I could see the three sides of strong people.

Prolly turn and deck the weak one in the nose and run like h**l.

Answer 16

I have a 1st black belt and I rarely if ever use it outside of the dojo, when I fight I don't use it,

BTW having a blackbelt doesn't mean you have super powers or anything, it means you have mastered a way of fighting, but doesn't mean you can use it good enough in a fight to win.

Answer 17

A properly trained and experienced Martial Artist's "natural" tendency would be to use what s/he's been training in for so long.  It doesn't make sense to think the person would disregard all the things they've been practicing and start throwing wild haymakers.

Answer 18

A black belt should know the risks of walking through an alley and should avoid it.  Anyway, I believe if someone is trained realistically then they will fight realistically.  Unfortunately most karate black belts that I've met aren't trained realistically,  and the best they would do is get beaten up in a situation like that.

Answer 19

Obviously if he has had sufficent training he will put it to use. Fighting is natural instinct. If he has trained hard enough to make it instinct, he will use it.

Answer 20

Karate in real life is called 'Karate-jitsu'.

In practice it is called 'Karate-do'

Answer 21

This is one of those misunderstood portions of martial arts. When you train, you're training your body to move in certain ways in response to different stimuli (attacks). This means that the training, over time, becomes part of the natural response. In a way, everything a martial artist does is influenced by his training.

Now, unless he's trained in multiple attackers, there'll be an element of a problem within his fighting (he'll probably be focusing on one attacker at a time). But overall, his training will supplement his natural instincts.

So, is it going to help? Yes, if he's trained properly. What you do in the dojo isn't what you do on the streets, but it does help.

Answer 22

Once again ignorance runs rampent in this section.

bob shark - I take it you don't realize that in many Okinawin karate's self defense against grabs is very commen.

skullkid- Obviously you know nothing about true karate. All the motions in your CQC came from martial arts, they just removed the tradition. Grab hold of a competent karate-ka, one that trains right, then tell me it is not effective.

As for an answer to the question--- Yes, if he has a legitimate black belt from a good school the self defense he does will be a part of him, and happen without concous thought, because of having practiced it 1000's of times. he will definetly use his karate, especially if he has done training for multiple attackers.

Not to say he will win, because there are too many variables as mentioned above. Size and fighting experiance of the 4 guys, have they ever fought side by side. If not they are probably going to be getting in each others way.

No style out there will garuntee you to survive against 4 attackers, but honestly I would rather have my karate then  resort to being a cave man. karate would actually be a better choice then another style that is very popular on here that relies on ground technique.

Answer 23

He SHOULD use his karate training.  Don't know if he will though, it depends on the person.  If I was in an alley, four guys surround me, they intend to hurt me, there is little I or anyone would be able to do.  My technique and instincts would come from my training, but push comes to shove...I wouldn't hesitate to drop a brick on someones head to survive a full on assault, if my life depended on it.

I personally don't see why so many expect a person who trains in Martial Arts to fold under pressure.  Would you ask the same question about a boxer?  We all hold boxers in such high regard and they only train a handful of punching techniques and footwork.  I will give you that Traditional Martial Arts sort of attracts the Dungeons and Dragons crowd.  And this demographic assumes that if they show up they will be taught something out of a Japanimation cartoon.  Those people aside if you want to train and put in hard work most, if not all, martial arts will give you more self defense skill than you had before.

As far as you request to refrain from the "Karate guy talks his way out of fights" response...It is infact something that is taught in most dojos.  I feel, personally, that because I train I am liberated from the "ya wanna go outside" mentality.  I can talk my way out of things because there is another option.

Answer 24

Why ever would he not use his Karate training?  As if he could turn it off.  You cant turn off real training.  It becomes part of you.

Answer 25

A karate guy , surrounded in an alley, would be best to try to escape and not fight.

The Karate guy cannot win over a group, As soon as one person Grabs the karate guy as they all move in quickly, He is defenseless and the boots and fists of many,  win.

Answer 26

Well, since the karate dude is being outnumbered  he can't go all Bruce Lee style since it's a streetfight. What could help you in such a situation is CQC close-quarters-combat, or Systema (similar to cqc). A lot of ways to disarm and neutralize one or more opponents in these genres of fighting. Mere karate wouln't help in my opinion.