Comments on: Two good ways to avoid a fight http://www.martialwhat.com/two-good-ways-to-avoid-a-fight/ What, how and about martial arts Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:22:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: massimo http://www.martialwhat.com/two-good-ways-to-avoid-a-fight/comment-page-1/#comment-758 massimo Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:09:20 +0000 http://www.martialwhat.com/?p=226#comment-758 @andrew you made my day :-) @andrew you made my day :-)

]]> By: Andrew Gillham http://www.martialwhat.com/two-good-ways-to-avoid-a-fight/comment-page-1/#comment-757 Andrew Gillham Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:03:47 +0000 http://www.martialwhat.com/?p=226#comment-757 Something happened to me this morning that made me think back to this post all be it more than two years ago. I was riding my bike to work down Cromwell road and a van overtook me so close that his wing mirror clipped my elbow. This is typical of some large vehicle drivers who never seem to appreciated the size of their vehicles and don't leave the legally required 1m minimum space for cyclists on the road. What happened next was much more unusual. I'm guessing in his mind, the driver must have decided that I had reached out and hit him, so his next move was to try and run me off the road against the parked cars. Clearly he was not adverse to using his vehicle as a weapon so after three near misses I decided to stop and confront him if necessary. He got out of his van and walked towards me saying "what's your problem?" and then without waiting for my response punched me in the chest. I was obviously taken by surprise, my first reaction was to stabilise my posture and raise my hands into a guard like position, but without making any fists as I did not want to cause any further aggression if possible. So I am now standing proud at least 30-40cm taller than him, completely unmoved and not bothered by his attack. Whatever response he was expecting this was clearly not it. My posture was calculated and confident. I'm guessing that this was not the first time that he has engaged in such intimidating behaviour but my response had clearly perturbed him. I looked him straight in the eye and saw all the aggression he had started with had turned to fear. At this point he quickly turned around and got back in his van (muttering something about me being a tw@), alleviating the need for any further exchange of ideas. I think this is another example of the benefit of martial arts training. Due to the confidence in my own ability to protect my personal safety I did not feel that a response, or indeed any kind of reaction was necessary at this point which I think clearly served to diffuse the situation. Had I reacted in any other way the outcome would have been at the very lest a big inconvenience and probably a lot worse than that. When recounting this story to my (male) colleges the reaction is invariably "I would have hit him back" but I do not feel that would have been justified. Perhaps if he had had the training required to make it into a worthwhile venture and under the right controlled circumstances it could have been entertaining but it was clearly not the time or the place and in any case, I would have been late for work. Something happened to me this morning that made me think back to this post all be it more than two years ago. I was riding my bike to work down Cromwell road and a van overtook me so close that his wing mirror clipped my elbow. This is typical of some large vehicle drivers who never seem to appreciated the size of their vehicles and don’t leave the legally required 1m minimum space for cyclists on the road. What happened next was much more unusual. I’m guessing in his mind, the driver must have decided that I had reached out and hit him, so his next move was to try and run me off the road against the parked cars. Clearly he was not adverse to using his vehicle as a weapon so after three near misses I decided to stop and confront him if necessary. He got out of his van and walked towards me saying “what’s your problem?” and then without waiting for my response punched me in the chest. I was obviously taken by surprise, my first reaction was to stabilise my posture and raise my hands into a guard like position, but without making any fists as I did not want to cause any further aggression if possible.

So I am now standing proud at least 30-40cm taller than him, completely unmoved and not bothered by his attack. Whatever response he was expecting this was clearly not it. My posture was calculated and confident. I’m guessing that this was not the first time that he has engaged in such intimidating behaviour but my response had clearly perturbed him. I looked him straight in the eye and saw all the aggression he had started with had turned to fear. At this point he quickly turned around and got back in his van (muttering something about me being a tw@), alleviating the need for any further exchange of ideas.

I think this is another example of the benefit of martial arts training. Due to the confidence in my own ability to protect my personal safety I did not feel that a response, or indeed any kind of reaction was necessary at this point which I think clearly served to diffuse the situation. Had I reacted in any other way the outcome would have been at the very lest a big inconvenience and probably a lot worse than that. When recounting this story to my (male) colleges the reaction is invariably “I would have hit him back” but I do not feel that would have been justified. Perhaps if he had had the training required to make it into a worthwhile venture and under the right controlled circumstances it could have been entertaining but it was clearly not the time or the place and in any case, I would have been late for work.

]]> By: Road Rage and lack of common sense :: Martial What? http://www.martialwhat.com/two-good-ways-to-avoid-a-fight/comment-page-1/#comment-577 Road Rage and lack of common sense :: Martial What? Sat, 16 Apr 2011 23:16:15 +0000 http://www.martialwhat.com/?p=226#comment-577 [...] I even like to believe there have been good reasons for this to happen but once more I am convinced, as I wrote recently, that a bit of common sense sometime would avoid lots of [...] [...] I even like to believe there have been good reasons for this to happen but once more I am convinced, as I wrote recently, that a bit of common sense sometime would avoid lots of [...]

]]> By: massimo http://www.martialwhat.com/two-good-ways-to-avoid-a-fight/comment-page-1/#comment-479 massimo Fri, 24 Sep 2010 01:14:32 +0000 http://www.martialwhat.com/?p=226#comment-479 @andrea great example Andrea, thanks for sharing @andrea great example Andrea, thanks for sharing

]]> By: Andrea http://www.martialwhat.com/two-good-ways-to-avoid-a-fight/comment-page-1/#comment-478 Andrea Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:02:21 +0000 http://www.martialwhat.com/?p=226#comment-478 And me? I was in a pub having lot of fun in good company, after leaving my beer on the window I went out to smoke and I caught a small guy drinking my beer and coming out saying: "If you wanna fight...". I was with an attactive blonde on my side and and very nice friends on the other site, did I have to ruin my evening for thas idiot? And me? I was in a pub having lot of fun in good company, after leaving my beer on the window I went out to smoke and I caught a small guy drinking my beer and coming out saying: “If you wanna fight…”.

I was with an attactive blonde on my side and and very nice friends on the other site, did I have to ruin my evening for thas idiot?

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