Are You Fit Enough To Protect Yourself or Your Family?
I hear it all the time, “real fights only last 60 seconds”.
To this, I say “Time is relative”.
OK this is cryptic I admit so let’s dig down to what I mean.
It doesn’t matter if you are old or young health and fitness are important and they form part of Defence Lab’s overall training and strategy and there is good reason for this because fitness is essential to self-defence, no matter what anyone tries to tell you.
Fitness and Weight are Two Different Things
The video below shows George Foreman aged 45 taking on Michael Moorer for the heavyweight championship of the world. What is shocking to see is that George does not have the ripped physique that we see these days on almost every source of media there is:
So if a slightly rotund George Foreman can win the heavyweight title what does this tell you?
Well it is fairly simple, fitness does not mean that you have a six pack, it has to be specific to what you are training for however inherent to this is a risk that you only train to fight for 60 seconds!!
Earlier I wrote that time is relative, and from this I refer to Albert Einsteins theory of relativity. Now I am no scientist but let me just break it down into self-defence terms. A fight where you are losing feels like it goes on for 10 minutes and not 60 seconds.
Now here is a fact that unless you have ever had a real fight you wouldnt know. When it comes to a real self defence situation your body undergoes huge changes, your heart will beat a lot faster and the adrenaline will flow. This ain’t sport!!
So if you can fight for 60 seconds in the Lab or gym and then you get tired. In the ‘street’ you will get tired after 10 seconds!
Why? Because real fighting is like a sprint and not a marathon!
Sprint Finish
The above video shows Usain Bolt- the fastest man on the planet winning a race in just under 10 seconds. Now look at the sheer energy expanded in this situation. Now that was just 10 seconds!!! Imagine sprinting hard for 60 seconds, because that is exactly what you would do in a ‘real fight’.
There is a mistaken belief out there that self defence training should be ‘easy’ because fights dont last long, but lets break this down into a real scenario.
No one Steps In To Help
Self defence situations tend to last 60 seconds or less because of a few things, firstly a bystander or third party steps in. Secondly one of the people land a serious strike causing injury and or one of the people involved is vastly more skilled than the other, be that due to natural or trained skill. The final part is that one of the participants is heavily intoxicated.
In these situations, fights can actually last between 3 to 10 seconds in my personal experience.
However, there exists another situation and this is quite frightening and I call it the ‘zero interference’ situation.
In this instance, no one lands a telling shot, both people are of high skill level, no one interferes and or you may end up in a grappling situation or even on the floor!
These situations are far more common than people think and it is here that you will be tested and it is your fitness that will help see you through when combined with good skills.
Imagine if you were walking home one night and you got attacked and you were on your own. The group attacking you will only stop when they want to!! Unless you can fight your way out of the situation. This is going to require stamina, and if you don’t have the stamina then you aren’t going to be able to last!!
Conclusion
When it comes to fitness and certainly the ability to survive and altercation no one is saying you have to be ‘ripped’ and as fit as a UFC fighter. However, you do need to certainly be able to last if you were attacked.
Fitness is specific so quite simply you will not develop the level of fitness you require if you aren’t getting down to the lab for training!
The moral of this post is simple- get down to your local lab or school to get training. Otherwise you may find the gas tank empty when it really ‘hits the fan’.
Take care and train hard.