A Question For Fighting Men (and Women)

Greetings, ATS!

I watched an action flick today in between cleaning chores, and now I have a question. It's actually a question I've wanted to know the answer to for quite some time. Since my last physical confrontation was many, many moons ago....my question is about fighting.

Okay. So I know Hollywood is bull. I get that. But in the action flicks, the hero (or heroine) constantly takes punch after kick after metal lamppost being swung over the head...and yet manages to get back up and keep on slugging.

Now my guess is a well placed kick or punch will pretty much end things, unlike what's seen in the movie. I'm pretty positive that if someone crunches your jaw with a lamppost, you're going down for the count. However, I decided to ask those folks who've actually been in a brawl....does Hollywood have it even close to right? Or does the adrenaline rush compensate so that you keep fighting, even after you're injured?

Looking forward to your answers!

I ran pubs when I was younger and I saw a lot of fights and it does depend, I have seen a guy take a cricket bat across the face get up and pummel the other guy to the ground with his head split open.
Adrenalin can do wonders I think.
Most fights are funny when you watch them back on the cctv, normally a couple of weak punches, a grapple and then It gets broken up.
The only time I have been knocked out was when a GF of mine found out I was being a naughty boy and she punched me in the face...stone cold knocked out and she was only about 6 stone lol.
I actually had a fight for the first time in about 20 years about two weeks ago, some prat was hitting his GF in a pub and I stood up to him, he was very drunk so I was lucky

reply to post by smyleegrl
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Most real fights or brawls last a very short time and usually it is not until afterwards and as you rightly point out that the andrenaline has stopped flowing that you realise you have taken any injury.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Well.. I'm not a fighter, I"m a lover

BUT.

I know for the seriously trained, taking 25 or 30 punches and kicks, as well as being struck by things means hardly anything to them. I think it's mostly to do with knowing how to take a hit.

OR

They have Iron Body Training.

ironpalmproductions.com...

That stuff is crazy.

~Tenth

reply to post by smyleegrl


I, personally, have never been in a physical fight.
Close, but no cookie.

Yet I have been around others that have been in one or 2.
And yes, when they get their butts kicked, they hurt for several days. Definitely can't run a marathon, if you know what I mean.

Only in H.W., after they get their butts whooped, can they run up 10 flights of stairs, jump from roof top to roof top, then jump off a 2 story roof, only to have to climb and scramble over a 8 ft. wall, more steps and jumping, bashing through windows, only to get a scratch.
--Yeah, right--

Oh one thing I have learnt though running pubs is never ever ever try and break up a fight between two women, I would gladly jump in to stop a fight between two men but no way women, they fight vicious and they can turn on those helping so used to let their friends or boyfriends sort it out.

It takes a while, but you build a tolerance to pain, and the more you get knocked out the harder is is to do. I have been knocked out multiple times, I have lost a lot of fights. doing this builds a resistance to it and after a while you dont feel anything in the actual fight. Then going to the military and getting training and having your stuff stomped in over and over.... you just learn to react, going down is not an option. Guys fighting over stupid things on the street or in a bar, well, those guys are not fighting under the same conditions as hand to hand in a combat situation where me going down means someone from my unit could die.

In closing, yes you can take an immense amount of damage and still stand back up and fight, there a key points to hit to take someone down immediately , I.E punch someone in the throat. But of course the movies do go a little far with it.

I train in Krav Maga and I can take a serious beating and still fight back. We're trained how to take a hit pretty well, and we strengthen our bones ans skin by repeatedly pounding them on a "stick man" or fighters tree, a hardened wood post with wooden appendages sticking out of it. Over time the bones calcify and skin calluses, which makes them thicken and harden to the point I can snap broom sticks across my forearms and not even blink let alone flinch. Also the top of the skull is the hardest part of the skeleton, we're trained to drop our chin to our chest and take punches to the top of the skull since it will break your opponents hands before it knocks you out. I personally have never been knocked unconscious. The closest I ever came was being struck square in the temple with a pair of brass knuckles and it stunned me for a second, made my vision go blurry and I had to slap my self upside the head and shake it off before I could continue the fight. It really all depends on a persons training and individual physiology. I have an extremely high pain tolerance from a head injury when I was 7 damaging my pain processing center of my brain. For me instead of hurting pain releases the endorphins that cause pleasure similar to an orgasm. So, yes some of it is accurate, especially when the "hero" is supposedly a life long bad ass.

Originally posted by smyleegrl
does Hollywood have it even close to right?

Yes in certain aspects because it's all about where you get hit and with how much force.

You can take a lamp post to a fatty part of your body to a degree,
but the moment it strikes something vital is where you become vulnerable to KO and ultimately death.

Or does the adrenaline rush compensate so that you keep fighting, even after you're injured?

Again it's all about maintaining your vitals, factors even as simple as blood pressure.
All dependent on the type of injury sustained, there is no definitive answer because of all the variables.

Using the lamp post example, you could sustain internal injuries, lacerations etc..
which won't kill you instantly but slowly over time.

Originally posted by smyleegrl
Greetings, ATS!

I watched an action flick today in between cleaning chores, and now I have a question. It's actually a question I've wanted to know the answer to for quite some time. Since my last physical confrontation was many, many moons ago....my question is about fighting.

Okay. So I know Hollywood is bull. I get that. But in the action flicks, the hero (or heroine) constantly takes punch after kick after metal lamppost being swung over the head...and yet manages to get back up and keep on slugging.

Now my guess is a well placed kick or punch will pretty much end things, unlike what's seen in the movie. I'm pretty positive that if someone crunches your jaw with a lamppost, you're going down for the count. However, I decided to ask those folks who've actually been in a brawl....does Hollywood have it even close to right? Or does the adrenaline rush compensate so that you keep fighting, even after you're injured?

Looking forward to your answers!

Well honestly that depends, on the person, some are tougher than others, the hit, as sometimes it looks alot worse than it is, and sheer luck.

I have only been knocked out once, but it was a beautiful hit. I didnt even know what happened until I woke up asking what had happened, and a shiner to show my shame for the next week.


I will say though, the movies are bull, one cannot be hit in the head with a crow bar 6 times and function...normaly, though it does happen somtimes.

So ya, 1 good hit, no matter the guy, and he will be out, though the same hit and same guy, just different day, and he may get right back up.....these things happen.

Technically i've never been in a fight, because i wasn't the one doing the attacking, though, i have been attacked multiple times, broken ribs, concussions etc, for me, it was Survival mode, not letting go of consciousnesses until they had gone

reply to post by smyleegrl


I've seen some brutal boxing matches where fighters get their teeth rattled and brains shaken and still rally to win. I guess if the body is used to it...

That, and some people are just built differently. I have done some pretty unbelievable things on an adrenaline rush. I've been in a handful of fights over the years (every single one of them, was sticking up for someone else or getting someone else out of danger). I have a really nasty right punch and right heel jab that has never really failed to knock someone out if I connect. So yeah...not like the movies.

But, in at least a couple of those fights, I was fighting more than one person. In the movies, they attack you one at a time. Not so in real life. When it was two guys, I KO'd both of them and took a few licks. When it was four guys, I KO'd one, but the other three did a pretty good number on me (two of them holding me while the other went at it), and I was eating and drinking through a straw for a week.

reply to post by smyleegrl


I worked in pubs and clubs for many years, and i've seen and been involved in countless fights and brawls, with 20+ people to 3-5 on 1. Sometimes its over quick with a few good shots, others were multiple blows or bottles. I saw a guy weighing no more then 60kg get king hit by a Tongan guy who was easily 120kgs and he stood there with no visible signs of damage. Ive been involved with fights against members of OMCG who are meant to be hard and nasty, and they've crumbled. It all depends on the person is built mentally and physically. And with some solid training to boot =)

I have an LEO friend (Law Enforcement Officer) who used to do amateur MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) as a hobby. I'm pretty sure even my right punch isn't going to phase him much.

Likewise, I'm assuming that most heroes in movies have some reason to be OTHER than the norm. Normally, the average Joe is going to be out of a fight with a really good hit. However, if the hero has combat training and has been in many fights over a lifetime, it is realistic that it will take more than a few hits to put them down. Still, serious injuries are going to hobble even a hero, and often (like after getting shot, with massive blood loss), the depictions are just ludicrous. In most cases, these folks would be howling in pain, or passed out from blood loss.

While I am not someone you would call a "fighter", I grew up with a guy that always had that reputation. One of the nicest people you could ever meet... just don't piss him off.

Anyway, he was involved in an incident at a bar in Pittsburgh back in the late 90s... and to this day, we still call him "kevlar"... long story short... words were exchanged, a gun was pulled and my friend was shot in the chest... but that's not where it ended. The .32 auto slug, after penetrating his denim jacket lodged in his left pectoral muscle... that really pissed him off. The shooter spent 2 weeks in the hospital before going to jail on attempted murder charges. Kevlar? Took one single stitch to close the wound after the slug was removed. Had a bruise the size of a serving platter.

I have seen this guy hit with damn near everything, and never once has it stopped him.