Fear on the streets?

I've always convinced myself that fear is the other guys problem ... he should be fearing me. Anyway, don't confuse fear from adrenaline or nerves. They're always present right before a fight. My leg used to always twitch right when a fight was about to go down.

And being 14, try not to get into too many fights. Train and spar. That's the ticket.

my head gets all tense before a fight is about to go down.. i dont know its weird.. lol

an ex-bouncer,martial artist,writer geezer call geoff thompson covers this kind of stuff well.in fact he covers all things to do with realism well.fear,adrenaline dump.etc etc.
Peter Consterdine also .
Marc 'animal' MacYoung has wise words too.
a guy called charles nelson too.
getting your state of mind right and your attitude in your head is often overlooked and important.
i remember once on a night out in one of my 'experiences',this guy started on me verbally and when i said i didnt want trouble ,his mate said 'he's scared'..probly my shakey voice,,,so it defo made me look easy......then it kicked off.

I pulled this out of some article:

Should you choose to engage in verbal de-escalation, you must have the spirit or will to carry it out properly. This is where you need to control your FEAR. If you think you cannot "win" against your aggressor, you are already defeated in the mind. This mean you'll have to fight both your fear and your aggressor, a very precarious situation.

once you accept the fact that you are in a dangerous situation, you need to override your fear. Stop thinking about your opponent ability to hurt you which might cause an overwhelming sense of fear and self doubt. Rather focus on what you can do to him. You should "objectify your opponent" so that he's reduced into only body parts which you can kick, strike, throw, break, choke etc. He is reduced to a groin, a thigh, a knee, an arm or a pair of eyes. Depending on the manner in which he approaches you, he will expose some vulnerable areas for you to attack.

Attack: you'll be able to attack your aggressor more effectively if you've successfully recognized the dangers and override your fear. Whether the aggressor attacks you first or you decide to strike pre-emptively, you must be fully committed to your attacks until he's no longer a threat. Don't just defend and block his attacks, strike him fast and hard on his vulnerable areas to disable his attacks instantly.

Overcoming fear is not the objective, channeling it is. I've always respected and feared my attacker in the street fights that I had. Even if I sized him up to not be much of a threat if I couldn't deesculated it I made myself fear him by post suggestion, "He must be armed or he wouldn't approach me like that". In this way I gave myself the adrealin/fear burst I needed to take him out quickly.

I learned this in heavy contact sparring that even a smaller, slower, less skilled opponent could overwhelm you if he fought with a will and aggression that you didn't expect. Back then a lot of these guys would spar on drugs that enhanced their performance or made them less concisous of pain (before they found that it damaged the manhood), some just wanted to win so badly that they phscyed themself out to whatever it took they'd do. You better be able to meet their challenge or be overwhelmed, dispite physical advantages or skill level if caught cold. Post suggestion or Channeling your Chi, fear/adrenlin, or respect or whatever to helps bring you to their level of combat readiness.

Fear is not a bad thing if you control/channel it.
IMHO.

As for blocking its been my experince if you block more then 4 times right after another you are in trouble (fighting defensively) waiting for one to land, you better use your foot work to get out of the way or go into a clinch quickly. If you are just blocking without countering him you are waiting for your KO. Nobodies thats good.

Again this just from my experinece doesn't have to be true in your case, some people you probably can block thier shots all day long. If thats the case why fight them?

i think its a state of mind too.
are you fighting to 'win' some imaginary thing...or for your life ,to survive.
their different things.
same when you train.....which do to train for?when your in front of the bag or whatever you do in training......
someone untrained ,cornered fighting for there life doing anything could do better than a trained person trying to 'win'.i try to get scared and imagine the fear ....then see what i can use like that.

Here is some advise I got a while ago that has helped me whenever a real fight presented itself to me, "The thought of being hit, is worse than actually being hit."
I've been hit afew times in my life (mainly by untrained thugs) and I believe this to be true.

For me, fear kicks in when I feel I can't possibly win when involved in a specific situation. That said, I know that I have only one shot at victory and I look for that opportunity until it appears. Hopefully, I haven't been beaten to a pulp by then but when it appears (and it usually does) I attack with 100% effort ... and then run like heck!!

However, when I feel I can't win, I'll always try to talk myself out of the problem and that usually works.

This is the thing that gets me.

#1 Don't get into street fights. Where are you people from? Harlem?

#2 Have Fear. Use your martial arts knowledge to block hits and get away.

You people need to get this:
Street fights aren't predictable. If you're not getting mobbed, then it's possible other guy may shoot or stab you if you win.


Don't be the big man who dies. Be the wise man who just lives.

ZINE: How did you guys overcome the fear and fight for the first time?

Arn: After a few months of group therapy I was able to discover a will and sense of self respect that left little to no room for submittion. Unwilling to pay its costs anymore, a self realization that little physical dammage I'd saved myself from by begging, wasn't worth the emotional bill that came with loosing face, AND that, read on every morsal of my being reppelling those who'd wish to victomise me.
At some point kid, the determination you'll find inside your heart to simply accept anything including death before submitting to the will of another, will keep the bullys away like nothing else ever did.

Ps. I am always afraid to an extent and I have been in dozens of "real" fights. >>

Arn: Fear, in fact can and has often been thge great nmotivator for success in battle. Fear can fuel u, give u strenght make you quicker.
It can even paralyze u if ur not carefuyl.;/

As long as I stay in the profession I am in-I do not believe they will.

All of my "real" world, street, whatever you want to call them
encounters have occurred at work after verbal(if given the chance) methods failed.

It is not boasting-if I was trying to boast I would state I have never had to resort to physically restraining a single person-they all responded and cooperated with verbal command.

Fear is a natural part of fighting. It is fear and the desire for survival that fires up your adrenaline. Now, once you realize that the new heightened sensation is a benefit not necessarily a detriment you have conquered one issue. The other issue is you need to train and SPAR. If you do not spar, get hit and hit you can kata til the cows come home and be a dead man. Realizing where the rush is coming from and having the tools to defend yourself equals confidence.

this might sound silly but the way i came to overcome my fear of a street fight was taking a really bad beating in my first ever fight, i ended up with broken ribs and a shattered eye socket, which was my own fault for stikin up for my friend absolutely poundin my opponent then making one silly move and the fight turned nasty in his favour. and ever since then i have never been scared wen bein confronted jumped whatever you can imagine i seemed to have come to terms with the fatc that i got about the worst you can get without the use of weapons and im not afraid to take a beatin, plus now i fight till the end neway im not sayin go out n lose u shudnt fight at all, but never think you are too good big n hard coz there is always someone better than you out there and they will find you.

Hay read this!!!

The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness.

hey
I agree with the sparring side of things it builds your confidence. Read the quote below!

The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness.

Hi. Training can make a person fitter stronger faster more skilled etc etc but then I think a person might want to train under pressure. This is a suggestion. If you have a specific good technique on the pads train it. Ask someone to give you mild verbal abuse while training it. Check whats going on in your head.Check your fear level. If that is fine go further with the verbal abuse technique training. Check what is going on in your head if its ok keep going. The end goal is for some one to be shouting swearing and being realy critical and your technique is still fine although you might be feeling scared.

The next step is have some one who can say punch or kick realy hard punch or kick the pads while you hold them.

Then you do your technique while they shout and swear.
If you feel scared while training then try to shout as you train. .

This is the start of mental conditioning.

Combine all this with sparring.

It goes further but wait untill you can handle the above before you go on to the next step. If you can then thats fine. The above is only a suggestion its up to you if you want to try it or not.