Do you train for hand-to-hand?

[NE450No2]

I am retired, after 30+ years on the job. I do not go to places where I am likely to find trouble, like bars or bad parts of town, etc.
I do not start trouble.

With as much "meaness" at there is around now, I do not plan, especially at my age, to engage in "fighting".

So all of my current training, is in the area of not to be "touched".
ie. Challange before they are with in "touching" distance. Step back, if it is safe to do so... Display if necessary.
Allow them to back off... If they don't, do not allow them to "touch".

And if "touched", to disengage, immediately, and go to the gun, and get them off of me.

 

[TJ1225]

I am 60, in excellent physical health, but have suffered a number of injuries over the years from working the streets and hard physical training to include hand to hand. Many of those injuries have resulted in arthritis so I am banged up a bit. I am a realist, putting my ego aside I choose to exercise vigorously on a regular basis to remain fit and healthy. I now stay away from the hand to hand stuff for fear of injury.

 

[silver armadillo]

Ok ,,,,, just wanted to throw something out there for thought. I too am a senior citizen and though I carry CHL I am limited on how fast my pistol can be brought up and used. So I have purchased a switchblade knife, actually several , which is now legal in our state as of last year. I carry it on my chest in a vest. I have practiced with opening it and without doubt it is half the time to open than to draw my chl carry. You might want to check your knife laws and see if you can carry one of the many new and finely made switchblades so as to equal the field. The knife is only my first quick line of defense and then the pistol if I have the time. I have practiced and the knife drawn is faster by far. Hopefully I will be backing up and trying to defuse the situation , giving me more time to draw my weapon also.

By the way ,,, I too do not go to bars or the bad parts of town , but as in my other post on use of force from personal experience , you never know when a situation can arise. Bad guys are everywhere and it is up to each one of us to learn our defense capabilities and to practice and utilize whatever we can. Just a thought for some of our seniors of which I am glad I am also one of and thankful that I have been able to protect myself with force , but not having to use deadly force . This world has gotten more deadly, not safer and us seniors are the preferred targets. Yes , I may be disabled but I am not totally defenseless. My safety is my choice, not someone elses.


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[Win94ae]

I've been a kickboxer, and a student of martial arts all my life. Firearms are just an extension of that self defence training, just like being aware of my surroundings, and being able to flee.

Oh; I am 57, I still run, lift weights, and beat on the heavy bag.

 

[Jack Flash]

- I've seen the aftermath of hundreds of hand to hand encounters. Not one of them was a "Let's trade punches like gentlemen till one of us cries uncle". It's been no holds barred, no rules, kick him in the goodies, claw his eyes out, try and kill him. ...

I agree. No gentlemanly rules for me.


Almost every thread about old movies mentions the quote from The Shootist where J.B. Books (John Wayne) said:
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."


I may have felt the same when I was younger, but now I have winnowed it down to "I won't be laid a hand on."


If someone does this, he can follow the Marquess of Queensbury Rules if he wants to, my rules will be derived from Le Marquis de Sade.

 

[Muss Muggins]

My standard response for 30 years when somebody bucked up at me: "I'm not saying that I'm not going to the hospital, but you're definitely going . . . "

 

[Ranger514]

If you're young and you want to go hand to hand with me, you'll lose. I don't have to meet you with equal force, because I fight to win.

 

[kenv1950]

I’m 48, I hold a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and I doubt very seriously I could go toe to toe with a reasonably fit twentysomething but whether or not I’m going to fight hand to hand may not be my choice, if someone jumps me I’m at least going to have to fight until I can get my gun out.

I try to keep myself fit and am currently looking into studying a soft style such as Aikido where I don’t have to worry about pulling off a double back flip reverse hurricane kick.

Never fear . no matter how old you are what you learned in the martial arts even thought you think you forgot it it will come back instinctively, the bad guys are just brainless thugs . I'm 67 and trained for years. Dang, hope i'm right , if not the model 60 is close by

 

[The Big D]

Previously noted.

If someone insists they fight me someone will go to the hospital...someone will also go to jail. Sure hope it's not me.

That said, it will take a whole lot of bad things to happen before a 'fight' occurs.

But as noted a couple years ago in this very thread, not all confrontations have to involve a gun.

If I shot everyone who took a poke at me there would be a lot less folks walking the planet.

Be safe.

 

[Sayoc01]

Sometimes....no matter how hard you try.....someone wants to take advantage of "old"guys! Once I walked away!! One time I didn't walk!!I'm 73....train & carry a blade & a model 60!
Jim

 

[patrickd]

When I was a young man living at the DMZ in Korea I trained daily. Now I'm an old man. Too old for fistfights, so those inclined to start a fight with me take heed...
"NEVER pick a fight with an old man. If he's too old to fight, he'll just KILL YOU.."

 

[Jack Flash]

"Old dogs bite."

 

[kip_j]

I'm 62, arthritic with prosthetic hips and rods in my back. I use an aluminum cane with a strap around my wrist. If necessary, this will be used to fend off any attacker until I can access my concealed weapon, which will then be used because of the "disparity of force".

I feel situational awareness will make this unlikely. I certainly do not allow myself to get into the same situations that I did 40 years ago. Avoidance is key.

I'm 61 and in good health, but have never trained or practiced martial arts.

Having said that, the best defense is a good defense, if I may so blatently invert the phrase and have ALWAYS had excellent situational awareness and use it every time I carry. My wife, on the other hand, has ZERO awareness so I do double duty on her behalf.

I think 'situational awareness' is an instrinsic mentality as much as it is a learned one and practicing it is only beneficial if one is going to internalize it's message.

 

[shouldazagged]

Three-year-old thread.

Since I first posted on it, I'm now seventy-nine, on oxygen, and walk very painfully with a cane. I'm much less able to survive a hand-to-hand encounter than I was three years ago.

Defense is what the steel cane and my gun are for if it comes to that.

 

[crazyphil]

You must train for hand to hand combat.
Even if you are carrying a gun, the attacker is not going to stand there
waiting for you to get your gun.
You must train to be in a state of MUSHIN (pronounced moo-sheen)
which means instantaneous reaction without thought.
Is there a "best" training? I believe as early and young as possible
one should get involved in many martial arts. Wrestling, boxing, etc.
Usually one gets some training if in the military.
But there is no training as good as experience.
Go to a college town. Preferably where there are also a lot of cowboys,
oil field workers, biker gangs, (you get the idea).
Then find the wildest nightclub you can and get a job as a bouncer.
After 3 or 4 years of getting "involved" every weekend, you will
start to reach that state of "mushin".

I was in line at a McDonalds and some guy started yapping at me,
with some threatening words, about cutting in line. He invited me
outside. I very calmly told his wife to call 911 and ask for an
ambulance, and told her he was going to need it. She grabbed him
by the arm and drug him out. (I think he was on something).

 

[Bpx4st]

If you have to fight someone, fight dirty, fight to win. Standing there are trading punches with someone who is younger, faster, and has more endurance then you is a fools game.

Frankly, if I am armed, and in a situation I cant walk away from, and I think someone has a reasonable chance of jumping me and winning, I am going to draw my weapon beforehand. I am not going to risk being disarmed, and my weapon being used on me or some other innocent person.

Larry

I think Larry hits the nail on the head. I'll be 62 next month & I'm not in my prime fighting condition. I have one knee replaced, the other one needs it, a hip replaced & ditto, a heart condition & congestive heart failure. I can't run or wrestle to a draw...but I can throat punch; eye gouge; block & punch; bite...& all without any conpunction to "go easy" on the attacker. Plus, I have a .357 to even the odds.
In TN, age & health is taken into consideration as far as drawing earlier than a much younger defender might, PLUS, we have a no retreat law & a non-retalitory protection from lawsuits from attacker (if they survive) or from family...IF...you can articulate that you felt your life or well being was in iminent danger. And as the saying goes, be the first to call 911 & identify yourself & the situation. Hopefully, I'll still be alive to do that but it won't be because I didn't try.

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[Whitwabit]

I am retired, after 30+ years on the job. I do not go to places where I am likely to find trouble, like bars or bad parts of town, etc.
I do not start trouble.

With as much "meaness" at there is around now, I do not plan, especially at my age, to engage in "fighting".

So all of my current training, is in the area of not to be "touched".
ie. Challange before they are with in "touching" distance. Step back, if it is safe to do so... Display if necessary.
Allow them to back off... If they don't, do not allow them to "touch".

And if "touched", to disengage, immediately, and go to the gun, and get them off of me.

Forced retirement for me after 16 years of not working due to a severe back injury .. to look at me you would not know anything was wrong .. but I can't do any type of fighting or even running away is out of the question ..

So I have become super observant of my surroundings any time I am out of my home safe zone .. and with that my wife has also .. we are a team in everything we do ..

For instance if I am pumping gas she is watching the area 360 degrees .. if anyone starts to approach our 25 foot safe zone she alerts me even if I am looking that direction .. nothing is taken for granted .. one of our phones is always set to video camera mode .. activating it gets us a movie and sound of anything that we would need to record .. without fumbling around for a minute trying to set it up to record ..

Be observant and stay safe !!

So far its worked for us ..

 

[MCorps0311]

At 67 years of age,I only train my trigger finger, to the trigger of a firearm.My God have mercy on your soul.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Forced retirement for me after 16 years of not working due to a severe back injury .. to look at me you would not know anything was wrong .. but I can't do any type of fighting or even running away is out of the question ..

So I have become super observant of my surroundings any time I am out of my home safe zone .. and with that my wife has also .. we are a team in everything we do ..

For instance if I am pumping gas she is watching the area 360 degrees .. if anyone starts to approach our 25 foot safe zone she alerts me even if I am looking that direction .. nothing is taken for granted .. one of our phones is always set to video camera mode .. activating it gets us a movie and sound of anything that we would need to record .. without fumbling around for a minute trying to set it up to record ..

Be observant and stay safe !!

So far its worked for us ..

I could not live my life in that condition . . .

 

[ISCS Yoda]

I took around 14 or 16 years of martial arts training. Two different schools; lots of parallels. Kung fu, jiu jitsu, hopkido (sp?), & similar. The older I got the harder it became to do all of the complex exercises and I tore my rotator cuff some years back doing combat rolls. So I no longer train for hand to hand combat. If it comes to that what will be will be but I'm very careful about my personal space because my preference is to have room to draw my weapon.

Then, again, I practice the color code rules of safety adopted by Col. Jeff Cooper so I'm mostly pretty much aware of who is near me and what they appear to be doing.