If attacked, how important is it to control your anger?

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Forum
1

This is really interesting to me. Is it better to be angry if you’re involved in a street fight or is it more advantagous to keep a cool head?

This is a thread from over here

Look at the post made by Calibur. (Scroll down about a quarter of the way down in that thread)

quote:

Originally posted by shadow_WX
Just remember that when you actually do get into a fight, it’s not gonna be like as if you were in PRIDE FC or the UFC where there are rules, referees and standard procedures to ensure the safety of fighters. Don’t expect the other guy to fight fair so always be ready and alert to expect anything out of them at anytime. Also, don’t let your anger get the best of you because if it does, it will totally disort your sensibility and train of thought during the fight. All you’ll want to do is go out there swinging and shoving which will throw you off your guard and place your body in a dangerous situation.

Pride and UFC is a lot like real life.

The only differences between Pride and real life is you don’t have to worry about your opponents friends stomping on you, while you scuffle, and there is no referee to stop the beating when you get mounted.

This is ****ing me off.

Everyone keeps on saying “don’t get angry”, “keep a cool head”, “stay calm”. That is not going to win you a fight. Staying calm is good for staying out of trouble, but once you are in a fighting situation you need to let yourself go.

A little person can kill someone bigger than him, if he rages on him.

Staying calm only helps you when your about to be choked out or something. It has no place when your trading punches, or whatever else.

What’s going to happen if you get angry? How will your opponent take advantage of you? What, are you afraid of tripping over your shoe laces and hitting your head on a curb because your to mad to think straight?

When you’re in a fight, anger can be the best edge you have. The people who try to think clearly are the ones who wake up in a stretcher.

Try it, you’ll see.

C:

What mental state should people try to get themselves into if they get into a fight where their life is in great danger? A calm cool, methodical type of mental state or a really charged mental state with a lot of extra agression fueled by anger and what ever other stimuli is around when one finds themselves in such an altercation.

Is it possible to find a balance between agression and staying calm when you KNOW your life is in danger?

2

you can channel emotion without it consuming your ability to act correctly.

Training the breath and the emotions to not overcome you and rather to be able to regulate these things while still adhereing to the shere mechanics of the martial art is the aim of martial training.

It is the fight or flight theory that is dealt with. When both are neutralized, all there is is the moment at hand and the correct action to be taken. Without emotion muddling the action, the task can be done.

cheers

3

There is a big difference between the mental state you need to be in to fight, calm, and angry.

Calm is not it…although part of what you want from calm is the ability to reason and react naturally.

However, too “Calm” and you do not get the adrenalin required for the most basic fight or flight response.

Anger on the other hand tends to do one of three things to people. It may make them overreact to a situation. That is, they use deadly force when all that is needed is a simple push and walk away.

They also may respond to their anger by freezing. This is a combination of anger and fear ending up in inaction. The end result of this is obvious.

The thrid response of anger is the one that is bothersome. They get the adrenalin rush and all…but they lose reasoning ability and then have their anger used against them.

This and the overreaction are what is to be avoided and whey people say don’t get angry.

Maybe it would be better to say channel the anger into a perpared mental state and don’t let any emotion control what you do.

4

When I lose my temper, I can’t think straight, and my hands shake.

this is not the state I want to be in when it really counts.

5

This is a generalization based on my experiences, but people who are angry tend to try too hard, they even overestimate themselves in the process. How often does someone get ****ed off and say something like “I’m gonna kick your ass” as if you’re just gonna stand there and let them do it? I think that being angry can cause you to focus on what’s making you angry, instead of focusing on what you need to do to fix the situation. It kills your reaction time. I mean how often has anger helped you in dealing with your kids, a test in school, or any kind of relationship issue where you’re actually trying to FIX the problem? Chances are it hasn’t. It’s a distraction, a fighting mind should be free of distraction, a fighting body free of unecessary tension it’s as simple as that.

Keep a level head, a calm mind with the proper intent is a very powerful thing. Your senses and judgement aren’t compromised. You’re less likely to overcommit to a technique, less likely to fall into that oh so dangerous place of “not caring”, and most importantly you’re less likely to do more damage than is necessary for the individual situation, thereby protecting yourself from possible legal problems. Stay cool, boxers know this, NHB fighters know this, Wrestlers know this, and all potential fighters should know this.

But like everything else in this life there are exceptions to the rule.

kai

6

Let me add my two cents in:

I don’t drink i was at the bar with my cousins who where home from the army so i was sober

Last saturday night we went to a bar. Everything was cool until the end at last call. When a guy came up and pushed my friend and said come one ******* its time to leave. Well my friend pushed him and the whole place went ****en nuts. Well being sober i grabbed the first person close to me (not to hurt them just keep them back so we could leave). Well this guy (probably weighed about 220 i weigh about 130) got all ****ed and after i let go cause my buddies where out shoved me down. I thought alright Brad just calm down and leave.
Well he shoves me again and advances forward. So i throw a right hand and cut his eye pretty good. Well he stumbles/falls into me and knocks me over. He lands on top of me and hits me twice before i get a guard on him to control him. I hit him with three good shots and ****en swing into an armbar lol. Well through clear thinking (not drinking AND not losing my temper) i stopped after his elbow popped once and went back to guard. He went back to hit me again and i push kicked upward into his face and his buddies pulled him off. I got my hat and left the bar.

Now lets look here at some points.

A. Being a grappler i still got knocked over to my back. Not do to a take down but him stumbling/ me tripping over something in a tight space. But that never happens right lol.

B. What if i would have lost my cool. I would 1. ****ed up someone’s life possibly for the rest of it by breaking there arm. 2. I’d got in trouble/sued. 3. Nothing would have been solved except i beat up a drunk guy 4. i’d felt guilty afterwards but could never change it.

C. I should’ve walked away i was in a bad situation with being the only one left in hte bar my friends where all outside. IF his friends would have been involved i’d been ****ed. Fortunally i know i’m not multiple attacker proof like some. It was not very good situational examing by myself though i knew where the exits where.

My point is keeping rational saved a guy from losing a functional arm for months and a large law suit. But through live training and exoerience in getting hit situations i could think as clear as a walk in the park and the situation is what it is. Someone thought they kicked my ass and i’m smilin without a lawsuit/doctor bill. Later, Brad

7

Unimportant. If someone is trying to break you into little bits, you have better things to be doing with your time than fussing over whether you’re angry enough.

8

Here’s a thread from a few months ago about this: http://martial.best.vwh.net/forum/showthread.php?threadid=15233&perpage=15&highlight=anger&pagenumber=2

If you search, there are several

9

Originally posted by SevenStar
[B]Here’s a thread from a few months ago about this: http://martial.best.vwh.net/forum/showthread.php?threadid=15233&perpage=15&highlight=anger&pagenumber=2

If you search, there are several [/B]

Thanx SevenStar, I should have done a search in the first place but I guess I got a little carried away making the thread before thinking of doing some research on my own first.

Thanks for the comments folks :slight_smile:

10

I kinda found this interesting. Those SF kids sound ferocious.

Calibur is right about the ball kick thing. For one, it’s not the insta-fight ender people here about. Let me give you an example. In Raquet sports at school, we were on our two month tennis session. Some girl did a wicked serve, and I wasn’t paying a lot of attention (thinking about videogames, or girls or something, whatever). I kinda semi-tried to return it, but whatever I was thinking of was pretty important to me at the time (maybe lunch next period lol). Anyways, the raquet completely whiffed the ball, and I took a serv directly to my right nut. This was hilarious to all, even to me, and I thought “hey, I must have iron nuts!”

…This was for about five minutes until as I kept on playing, slowly a tremendous, dull, rolling pain crept up in my loins. It was like thunder was shaking in my testicles. I felt like throwing up, nausea and pain were mixing together. This was from a real fast serv that DIRECTLY scored on my right nut. Even when the pain started about five minutes later, in the heat of a fight I probably wouldn’t have noticed, or would’ve been able to continue fighting.

However, in actual fights I’ve had people kick at my nuts many times, and I don’t think anyone has ever directly kicked them, it’s REALLY hard to do unless the person doesn’t know they’re in a fight. So it’s hard to score a nut shot, and even then it’s not an instant fight ender, the pain in the nuts takes an incredibly long time to creep up on you.

(BTW, that night I spent writhing in pain in my bed, the thunder in my sack crescendoed to a typhoon. )

). But in any serious fight, you’re not thinking about spreading your seed anymore, but surviving. Fight or flight mode. So you can get smashed in the nuts and you’ll be standing, I guarantee, and the same goes for your opponent. Don’t get me wrong, it hurts and does damage, but it won’t be a one hit KO. Evolutionary reasoning here is: if I die I can’t procreate anyways. It’s all about priority.

Other reasons why (again mentioned above): it’s **** hard to hit especially in a real fight when the two fighters are on full defense and moving constantly. It’s easy to sneak in a lucky hit if no ones suspecting, not so in a fight. Trust me, the target is just tough to hit.

Also, hitting in the nuts is not incapacitating in any way. There’s just nothing vital there. Even if you smash the guy square in the nuts, the worst thing you do is end his ability to procreate. This in turn will if anything make him madder and try his **** hardest to end your life.

11

I haven’t read this thread yet but this is my take.

You want to keep a cool head, but that does not mean you can’t use your anger. But you must remain in control.

It takes years of discipline.
Stage 1 learn to control not suppress your emotions.
Stage 2 learn to harness and focus your emotions.

At not time should you lose control. You emotion is like any other weapon and can be used against you.

I a real street confrontation your emotional content can help you to be aggressive and relentless, but you must remain intelligent about your fighting, enviroment, and actions.

12

Sometimes i have to lose my temper, just to get some things done.

13

I haven’t read this thread yet but this is my take.

You want to keep a cool head, but that does not mean you can’t use your anger. But you must remain in control.

It takes years of discipline.
Stage 1 learn to control not suppress your emotions.
Stage 2 learn to harness and focus your emotions.

At not time should you lose control. You emotion is like any other weapon and can be used against you.

I a real street confrontation your emotional content can help you to be aggressive and relentless, but you must remain intelligent about your fighting, enviroment, and actions.

14

You fight as you train.

If you train to suppress your anger, that’s what’s going to happen to you in a real fight.

15

arf! arf!