When Push Comes to Shove – Using Self-Defense for a Physical Altercation That WASN’T Your Fault
Let’s pretend that you’re sitting at a restaurant and all of a sudden a drunken individual bumps into your table. And instead of apologizing, he starts blabbering about how he’s going to “teach you a lesson”. Then, he takes a swing. What should you do now? Using Self-Defense for a physical altercation that wasn’t your fault means that you’ll have to consider a few things, which we’ll be discussing below.
Step #1: Read the Situation
First and foremost, read the situation. Is the opponent larger than you? Has he or she been drinking excessive amounts of alcohol? More importantly, are they alone? Before you can devise a self-defense protocol, you first need to understand what you’re dealing with.
Step #2: Devise a Plan
If the opponent is bigger than you then it might be a good idea to get into the fight in the first place. However, if you’re forced to fight, then you’ll need to immediately think of a plan. Are you going to try and take them down first? Or are you going to wait for them to attack and use a defensive movie to take them down? Are you fighting on grass or on cement? If it’s the latter then it’s probably best to avoid getting taken down since you won’t want to be on your back while on the cement (even if your guard is pretty effective).
Step #3: Executive What You Know
This isn’t time to get creative or perform a move that you’re not 100% familiar with. This is the time to use only what you’ve practiced at your training facility. If you practice, and train hard, most of these moves will probably be second nature. This is good because it means that you’ll be able to control the fight without really thinking about it, which will allow you to be aware of other things (like whether or not the attacker has friends who are going to get involved).
Conclusion
Above anything, try not to do any permanent damage to the attacker. If you break any of their bones then you’ll be the one who looks like the bad guy (and you’ll most likely face legal issues). Avoid all of these hassles by simply gaining a dominant position and warning the attacker that if they don’t stop that you’ll need to choke them out.