Lately, I’ve watched a few Youtube videos of a particular instructor who teaches Jeet Kune Do, the martial art that was created by Bruce Lee.
I actually like the instructor, and it is clear he is skilled in the art he teaches. However, it is also pretty clear he’s never been involved in a violent street fight where anything goes.
In the interest of being honest and forthcoming, neither have I. However, that is why I study the work of those who have real life experience. One of those people is Lee Morrison of Urban Combatives.
Anyhow, back to the topic at hand.
I mentioned that I don’t believe that this particular martial arts instructor has ever been involved in a violent street fight. Why?
Because he does not teach the principle of Mindset.
I realized immediately that this was the case when I was watching one particular video where he was demonstrating a knife fighting technique.
During that video he suggests that, when confronted by someone with a knife, you really don’t want to kill that person.
As a result, the technique he was demonstrating was only meant to inflict enough wounds to non-vital areas to get the attacker to think twice about continuing.
This is insane! And, this is one reason why people with some martial arts training often find themselves on the losing end of altercations with real street criminals. Being on that losing end means there is a strong possibility you are killed.
If you want to prevail in a violent street altercation, your Mindset must immediately shift to doing whatever it takes to END your assailant. If that means you must kill them, then so be it.
Real street violence is not a movie. There are no rules. You do not have choreographed, alternating strikes between the opponents.
Prevailing in a street fight is all about WINNING. And, if someone pulls out a knife on you, that means they are willing to KILL YOU to win!
Therefore, you must absolutely adopt that same mindset. If someone is willing to employ a deadly weapon on you to get whatever it is they want from you, then all bets are off. You must be willing to kill that person.
We all have this natural instinct to kill in an effort to preserve and protect. However, we have to dig deep down to access it, because it is rare for us normal people to employ it.
Criminals access this instinct more readily. They are used to the violence. That is the advantage they have over us. All we can do is train to deal with that violence, while they already have the experience of using it.
This is why the Principle of Mindset is the most important principle of combatives and self defense.
