All these years...who'd thunk it?

[LASur5r]

For those of you who took martial arts and thought they would use it in a real situation...was it as you trained and thought it would be or was the real deal a lot different than your training?

 

[gryphon]

I have found that real life is seldom like training. The best you can do is rely on your instincts and hope that your reactions are true.

 

[CWL]

I have found that it is the foundation to help you out of any situation, it best can help you settle your mind, remain calm, alert and be able to think when others around you may snap.

What I learned first & competed in (judo) was useless in the real world (people just refused to put on a Gi for me to grab), but I adapted and learned other arts such as Juijitsu, Hapkido, Wushu, and kickboxing to round out my training. You learn to use what is most useful in a real fight and drop those which are useless (like kicks above the waist).

What I have learned best is how to stay out of fights, something I didn't know until I had my my head split open by a kickboxer's spinning elbow in Thailand.