The title of this thread caught my eye. Being an "old guy" but one who still travels a lot internationally, I am from time to time faced with the usual assaults and muggings that are part of our world today.
I suppose I look like easy prey, an old grey haired foreigner, to the street punks.
I know I cannot turn back the clock 40 years, so I start a 30 second timer in my head. IF I have not won this engagement in that 30 seconds, I will loose...pretty good motivator to do what it takes. 40 years ago, I was an instructor in a dojo, in Korea Town (Los Angeles), my main clients were cops and hookers, both wanted the same training, how to put the maximum amount of pain on somebody, in the shortest time possible. (The cops wanted it without marks, the hookers did not care).
When I am faced with these situations, (and it seems it happens at least once a year), when I have done what I will do, I just walk away. There is absolutely no reason to stay and discusses the mess you left behind. In the case of multiple attackers, choose one and get him screaming, I have never had a situation, that the rest did not retreat out of my reach, rather than press the attack.
I try to attend a 2 day edge weapons class, or a Krav Maga refresher every year. (Boy does that remind me how old I am). But if you do not train, you are at a huge disadvantage, and if you cannot accept pain, your chances of walking away are cut 75%. I am a natural born competitor, so my reaction to anyone trying to make me submit is suck it up and win.
One of my favorite says used to be:
Sex and violence, you cannot enjoy one if you don't survive the other