Aspies For Freedom

Not me, I am too unco-ordinated!

But my second son has a very successful WT school in Kent.

Where is 'around here'? If you give a vague area, someone on here might be able to help?

I've done a bit of Kung Fu, Taekwondo and Kick Boxing; and some Judo when I was little. I did okay but kept falling over .

I did capoeira for a while (probably spelled that incorrectly!) but had to stop because of ME. And I guess capoeira is not 100% a martial art anyway...

I'm looking at taking up jiu jitsu or tai kwon do (again, please, please excuse the appalling spelling!)

I did some karate in the past.

Would love to learn krav maga or systema though, but I don't know if there are any teachers near me.

I used to live on the East Sussex side of the border - Ticehurst. The family emigrated to Ireland over seven years ago, but our second son stayed and is now in Tonbridge. We (hubby and I) and our youngest two are temporarily in Australia. I would love more news of our old home!

I'm a practicioner of the "hit them as hard as humanly possible in a weak spot" style of fighting

It was developed for the Soviet Spetznaz.

I've never had to use it, funny isn't it ;p

Russians, Spirituality? bollocks

I remain adamant in my belief that Russians don't have souls =p

Calling the pigs on us weed smokers? isn't that...just wrong?

Or have I been missing something for 11 years?

I am in taekwondo right now. I try really hard, but I am in poor physical shape and have poor balance/coordination, so despite my endurance, I don't do very well. I do feel as if I am improving, and especially in my coordination.

I would really love to train in a martial art, but sadly we can't afford to go to any 'McDojos' around here (nobody really uses the real methods of training in America, do they?).  Though, in previous years I had learned some Taekwando.

I learned Savate and Tae Kwon Do. Tae Kwon Do was pretty fancy and Savate fairly simple and effective.
Yes I hate to admit it but it is everyone's responsibility to learn to defend themselves. (Yes I know I am agreeing with Yetti here. She has said something very true and pertinent to all of us)

I do not agree letting someone hit you first is best. Sure I have before and been worse off for it. I believe that in fighting or pre-fighting, you have to try to dominate your opponent. Scare *** out of them, psyche them out, knock them out, make them give up or make them submit.

Your opponent needs to feel completely overwhelmed and out-matched. If you achieve this you will not only win but you will promote an understanding in others that you are not an easy mark. Lose or have a hard win and people may see weakness. Though certainly at least fighting and losing is better than not retaliating at all.

A very strange thing that has happened a few times at pubs that I have never understood. There are times when you are insulted or affronted by a bloke with his mates. He is rude and you do ask him to "Step outside for a little talk" , the guy will then laugh and shake hands and defuse things and sometimes even get you over to yarn with his mates. It has occasionally happened to a few of my mates too. it may or may not be an Aussie thing I dunno.

The relevance here is that merely being willing to fight was enough to defuse the situation.

The end result should always be to be willing to defend yourself or retaliate without having to fight. If they apologise, submit, lose consciousness, have no means to defend themselves any more, or even like the knobs in the bar, laugh and shake hands don't pursue it. You don't want to be the bully and because you DON"T ACTUALLY want to fight. Swollen face, black eyes, cut and split knuckles, sore ribs, broken nose, teeth cuts on the inside of your gums are not fun. Fighting means there is a good chance you will get some of these on any given fight...especially if you let them hit you first.

I don't get into fights now and apart from the fact that I am too old, slow and out of shape, surpisingly the main reason is people presume I can handle myself. They sense I am relatively comfortable with myself pertaining to physical confrontation. I haven't been in a fight for at least a year and prior to that just a few a few years ago. I prefer that. When a work mate invited me out and informed people at work that I would have his back I was not chuffed nor insulted. As I say it is good to have people not start stuff with you from the outset.

I don’t think learning martial arts necessarily makes you a good fighter. I’ve known people who’ve studied for years to be affective fighters--but who are about as dangerous as a stick of celery.

The people who are really dangerous are those who have the ability to ‘loose it’--to get angry (unleash raw survival instinct).

Its always handy to know a few moves, to keep yourself fit and stay alert. But the best way to win any fight is just to ‘go at it’ hell for leather, give no quarter and hope you come out on top.

Out of the martial arts I’ve studied I found…

Kick boxing is the best for basic self defence.
Taekwondo and Judo are good as sports and for keep fit.
Kung Fu is an art form which can take a lifetime to master; but once you have you’ll be a highly affective fighter.

The best way to be Tigger Avoid confrontation but stand up for what you believe in....

I remember standing up for my little brother at school. He was being beaten up by a bigger boy in the toilets. Someone told me what was happening and so rushed to help. I said “leave my brother alone”…the bully released my brother--who promptly ran and locked himself in a toilet cubical--while I got beaten up instead llol