Don't be a nerd - no practicing in public

by Mike

This story about MMA fighter Chris Leben choking a dude unconscious in jail (and not under the conditions that you'd expect) illustrates something important:

You’d think that being a professional fighter might paint a target on his back, but Leben encountered more curiosity from his fellow inmates than anything else. They wanted him to show them some moves. Happy to oblige, he once demonstrated a choke on an inmate while 20 others watched.

“I told the guys it’s a blood choke, so you don’t have to squeeze hard,” he said. “So I was just kind of choking him with one arm while he’s standing up. And I told him just tap when you start to feel like you’re going to pass out. Well, he didn’t tap, and at the time I’m going wow, this guy’s pretty tough, I’m surprised he hasn’t tapped yet. He just drops to the floor in the cell.

“Now I’m standing there with 20 prisoners around and they’re freaking out. This guy’s laying there, snoring like crazy. I’m like ‘it’s all right, it’s all right,’ then I realize they have cameras in here. I’ve just choked this guy out in jail – I could get in trouble for this. I kept telling them, ‘he’s fine, he’s fine,’ and it took this guy a minute to wake up. Finally he woke up and we had a laugh, and luckily I didn’t get in any trouble for it.”

He's also lucky he didn't get hurt the guy or killed by his buddies.

The-important-thing-that-shouldn't-need-to-be-said: Don't be an idiot and be practice your skillz on random people. This isn't necessarily a "your art is sacred and you need to show it the utmost respect" deal so much as it is, "don't be recreationally practicing techniques designed to hurt people on people who don't know what you're doing, let alone what _they're_ doing and under conditions that aren't conducive for safety."

Doing stupid things in public to show off for your friends is bad enough - but at least if the only potential victim is a lamppost, you aren't going to hurt anyone but yourself. Practicing techniques on other people means that if someone gets hurt, it's likely to be someone else.

It's important to remember that martial arts involve a highly developed system of movement, both for getting other people into trouble and yourself out of trouble (i.e. attacks and defense). People who aren't familiar with these principles or techniques will panic and/or move in ways you don't expect, which could mean right into injury.

In the end, it's all about common sense. However, as Coach Mills used to like to say, "common sense ain't so common." Don't be stupid, save your training and practice for the gym and self-defense. Showing off for your buddies is never a good beginning for anything.

CC-licensed photo by konch.