Unarmed combat skills in SHTF

How many of you think unarmed combat skills/hand to hand combat skills would be useful in a SHTF situation? How many of you are doing that type of training?

Any sort of combat skills would be helpful. Plus you never know if someone might get the drop on you. Grabbing a gun is not always the best option. A good kick to the nuts or an arm bar might save your life.
 
Agreeable to keep something as a last resort. Guns are great, but when you run out of bullets, and your not carrying a hi point as a hammer, knowing how to use your hands is a great advantage
 
If I find myself in hand to hand combat, whether it's in a warzone, in SHTF, of walking to my car after a movie, something has gone bad wrong. I've missed something, plan went sour, I wasn't paying attention, something.

That said, it's better to have a tool and not need it than to need it and not have it. There are many advantages to that kind of training, even if you never actually get into a fist fight.

Bingo.
 
Of course hand to hand combat should always be a last resort. You should always in a combat situation use the most lethal force first then work down from there (knife etc..) before resorting to h2h. I was just curious how many had thought about it other than myself of course. The only time you would use a gun first is if you need to take them silently, but that is another topic of discussion. Thanks for all the great replies! Good to know so many people are like minded.
 
Basic hand to hand are in general skills are very important in this day and age but if I were rating mastery of hand to hand combat in a skills list for a SHTF scenario it would be quite low. Providing food and water for me and my own and all the skills that are needed to do that would be first. Seriously it is not going to go mad max out there. Rioting and looters sure. Hungry people sure. But roving hordes of barbarians or warlords or an organized group of people who are currently on welfare (I don't know why people think this) or even centralized gangs are not going to be a reality.

Back to your question basics for sure, mastery very low. Still there are no scenarios that I can think of where more fitness and discipline would not help.
 
^^Agreed, Krav Maga, Brazilian Jiu jitsu are great starters in my opinion

+1 on the Krav Maga. Not so much on the BJJ - IMO it's more sport oriented then is useful.

Just wondering though - How many of you have actually been in a real, no sh#t, fight for your life? Beating on some drunken putz or that fight back in high skrewl doesn't count.

Think the diff between anti-social (some drunken a-hole mouthing off) and a-social (a criminal who is trying to destroy you so he can take all your stuff and hump your corpse).
And I agree with the folks who said getting in shape is a good idea. It'd be sad to survive a 15 second confrontation with a sociopathic welfare-mutant and drop dead of a myocardial infarction.

Just my 2 cents.
 
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hand to hand is going to be more important than with a gun in my opinion. granted i'm not good at it but think about it logically, bullets will eventually run out....what's left, blades and sticks
 
I am a big believer in unarmed combat training. I'm a purple belt in BJJ, train Muay Thai, Judo and combatives training. I had my own school with my partner for the last couple of years, but we recently closed. People want to train where they feel good about how prepared they are. They don't want to see the reality. The vast majority of people, including police and military, are lacking the skills necessary to handle a moderately trained teenager. Much less a well trained adversary. We have trained SWAT teams and police for several years, and I'm amazed at how unprepared they are.

A couple of things about identifying quality training. I've made many of these mistakes, so hopefully it will keep you from doing the same.

Only train in arts that spar with fully resisting opponents. Do not buy into "this is too deadly to go live". That is bull.
Only train where the instructor spars with students. Unless the guy is 80 years old, he should be willing to go with anyone in the gym.
Do not train with someone with 5 or 10 blackbelts. Mastery of an art takes a lifetime. There are many instructors that treat blackbelts like trading cards. They give one to a guy in this art, and that guy, in turn, gives him a blackbelt in another art.
Do not buy into seminars. Many instructors only get their training at seminars. They do not train daily in the art they teach. Also, many people feel they can only go to seminars to get what they need. This goes back to live sparring, and taking the time to be proficient in an art.
Be wary of anyone that claims to have created a "system". This is a good indicator that they guy is there to make money and has a huge ego.
Research schools and instructors.
If you here "You beat me, but you did it wrong" walk away. You should be able to defend yourself from an untrained opponent, or an opponent that is trained in a different art.

PS. Krav Maga is mainly about making money. There are good schools, but a lot just use the name to make a dollar.

I train primarily no-gi BJJ. We don't keep score or time. Many schools ARE sport focused. I do combatives about once a week. I've backed off of Muay Thai because I'm not focusing on MMA.
 
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dont care if I win or lose... fights are fun!

that being said, I have no formal training but if you want to start a fight and I am with you... I got your back even if you are dead wrong.

ultimately for me... in a shtf scenario.. i will assume that law and order has broken down so I wont have to worry about escalation of force or the law... so in that specific scenario I would simply shoot any sketchy or threatening looking fool in the face and call it a day.
 
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