Common Mistakes

On behalf of this website, I have decided to put together a list of common mistakes and errors that are often made in self defense or fighting situations.

-Clenching fists
When you clench your fists very tightly, your reaction speed slows. And, so does your punching speed. So simply keep your fists slightly loose and relaxed. Not too much, just don't keep em' too tight. You want proof? Try punching air with a tightly clenched fist, then with a relaxed fist. I learned this from the USMC Martial Art program, and I thought this was worth mentioning.

-Opening Your Mouth
KO's are commonly a result of the brain jarring inside your head. So, think about it. If you have a loose jaw, and you get hit, you get not only impact, but also your mouth slamming shut, resulting in an extra jolt. If your mouth is closed when you get hit, you only have to deal with the impact. Besides, with a closed mouth you don't have the chance to bite your tounge in half. Also, keep your tounge at the top of your mouth, so it's out of the way.

-Letting Your Guard Down
A very common one. Never, ever, lower your guard. Keep your fists up, and your stance loose. Never look away, avoid getting distracted. Make sure to always keep alert until the fight is clearly over. Never before. Make sure to never stop moving, because if you keep bobbing and moving around, you will probably see a way to get out of the situation. This one is common and has disasterous effects.

-Elevating The Fight
This happens by one of the fighters biting, gouging eyes, and using techniques that have potential to maim your opponent. Now, I have been around fights long enough to know that if you keep it simple and don't try too make the situation worse than it has to be, the fight will end with bruises and black eyes. But if you start fighting wh the intention to maim, one of you will succeed. This usually results in death, serious injury, lawsuits, and other garbage that you really don't want to happen.

-Bringing a Weapon Into a Situation Where It Is Not Needed.
Men, it's okay to bring a knife into the situation when you get mugged. It's not okay to pull the blade when a idiot at the local bar calls your girlfriend a nasty name. If you do, here is what could happen. You could scare the guy and watch him run(most unlikely), you could get the knife tooken from you and be stabbed, you could have your opponent try to get the knife, and he could get cut. You could be sentanced with armed assault charges, you could get shot. It's better to just walk away.

There are much more, but these are the basics.
I did not copy and paste this, It was thought up and written by me.

I hope this knowledge benifits you all.

-All the best,
Saint

Are you sure the clenching fists one is a good idea? It might speed up your reaction time but surely there is more chance of injuring your hands / wrists? I know it hurts more hitting a heavy bag with loser hands but i'm not sure about a face lol

I have used that in a actual fight, and it didn't hurt or injure my hand. If you keep your fists relaxed, you'll be fine. You gotta keep your wrist tight, though.

ahh I see, will be giving it a go on the bags

I completely agree with keeping your hand loose your body relaxed.

But not for the hit it self. You keep the hand loose before and as you throw your punch or any hand strike. just before you make contact you tighten your hand and wrist.

Hooah!

And plus, I would much rather land a blow that could disable my opponent than hurt my fist.

-You don't land the blow, you get cut, KO'd, fractured bones, and a bunch of other stuff that's much worse than spraining a wrist, if you are not fast enough to react to the situation

-You land the hit to you're opponents face, either dazing him long enough to get away or to give him a prompt kick to the gut, or you KO him, and are able to escape with a sprained wrist.

So, which one is worse, a sprained wrist, or getting beat up so bad that you could get a serious injury?

Tis' my logic, gentlemen!

-Saint

True about the knuckles. If the stat I was give is right you have an 80% chance of breaking your hand if you hit someone in the jaw with your fist.

The best way to avoid this is when you something or someone is to followed this rule as it was given to me. "soft to hard " / "hard to soft". and before you say what is he talking about I will explain

Soft to Hard = your soft palm heel to there hard jaw damage done no broken hand.

Hard to Soft = your hard fist to there soft throat or solar plexus.

sorry about the whole long speech but I hope this helps everybody out there.

I guess it depends on the situation, if you hit somebody in the, say, stomach, then you should definately have a relaxed fist.. But I guess it all depends.
I will always have a relaxed (but not tightly clenched) fist, and a firm, because I have used this technique for a while now, and it's worked well for me, and it is taught and used by Marines.

Good debate by the way, it's healthy to debate every now and then.

-Saint

Very informative conversation this people, thanks a lot!