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MARIO FURLAN ON SELF-DEFENSE
As said from the beginning, it is my intention to bring to the Blog explanations of what real combat is like by collecting testimonies from those who experience the street and its dangers.
I am therefore very pleased to be able to add another important testimony to the Blog.
An article/interview that fascinated me a lot for its practicality from the very first lines.
Mario Furlan a name that in Italy does not need much introduction…but the Blog is aimed at an international audience so a quick introduction follows, for more information I recommend looking at Wikipedia or his website.
I had the pleasure of meeting and training with Mario in Milan during one of the seminars with GM Richard Bustillo.
Mario is the founder of City Angels, a “multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-religious” street volunteer association of emergency assistance to the needy, drug addicts and victims or potential victims of violence.
Mario is a Krav Maga and Jeet Kune Do instructor, and based on his experience he came up with the Wilding
Wilding
In reading the introduction of Mario Furlan’s personal site I immediately found some common points with my way of thinking and thus with my Blog.
Mario’s personal site in the description of the Wilding reads:
After years of experience with City Angels in the most dangerous areas of many other Italian cities, I realized that what is taught in the gym is often far from the reality on the street. Because in a real situation, when you are under stress, it is impossible to remember the moves learned in the gym. Unless they turn out to be instinctive, spontaneous. And they are not at the same time simple, effective and decisive. Moreover, in the gym you hardly learn prevention, which is instead fundamental
That is why I created, in 2010, Wilding, instinctive and wild self-defense (from the English “wild”) to teach real and proven self-defense based on experience.
Wilding is an instinctive self-defense technique ideally designed for the defense of the volunteers of the City Angels association, who carry out their work unarmed even in the most dangerous areas of the metropolis.
Wilding is based on the combination of the 2P: psychology and prevention.
The concept is to develop assertiveness and personal self-esteem, so as to avoid a victim attitude that unwittingly sends the signal that one can be attacked with impunity
It is now also taught to women, weaker persons, security personnel, and, in accordance with the administrations.
I therefore approached Mario to learn more about his views on Self-Defense.
Effectiveness of Self-Defense
Mario you know martial arts and self-defense and you know the main concepts to be taught to those who have to make daily use of them. You with your Angels have a way to experience the street in a “dangerous” city like Milan.
I would like to know your views on what self-defense really is versus what is generally taught in gyms. What makes an effective self-defense class?
In gyms you are generally taught a whole series of techniques, of moves.
After the gym you go home all happy because you say today I learned five new techniques.
The issue though is that the gym is one thing, the street is another.
Learning too many techniques can be counterproductive, because in the moment of need maybe you are unconsciously thinking, now what should I do? Which of the hundred techniques I know should I use? Sometimes less is better.
It’s helpful to learn the simplest techniques, the ones that are the most effective without messing around with too many techniques.
What is especially missing in gyms is the adrenaline, the stress, what happens on the road.
The nice clean techniques you do in the gym on the road generally don’t work. Why? Because fear takes over and then “gross motor skills”.
You can’t do the clean stuff, the clean techniques. Street fighting is dirty fighting, not nice technical fighting as it is in the gym.
What makes an effective self-defense course?
Therefore, what makes an effective self-defense course according to Mario Furlan is to
- to focus a lot on the psychological aspect, trying to avoid the physical confrontation that is always a defeat even if you win.
- get the students used to acting and reacting under stress.
- teaching fewer techniques, especially the simpler and easier ones that can be used even when you are panicking.
Self-defense, the most suitable martial art
Recent years have seen the emergence of several self-defense courses that originate from various martial styles.
Do you think there is one martial art more suitable for self-defense than others? Why?
As far as martial arts are concerned, Krav Maga is probably the best or at least among the best because it is constantly updated, it is not something that goes back centuries, and it is quite simple to use as far as the physical part is concerned.
I also really like Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee tried to make self-defense flexible, not plastered in technique.
I don’t like martial arts that you do like that, that proceed by patterns; form, technique is another thing you don’t need it for self-defense, it can serve for personal culture.
Combat sports
I think combat sports are particularly effective, they get you used to taking and giving beatings. If you’ve never been used to taking a punch, and throwing it, the moment someone were to give it to you, your brain goes into overdrive. So physical contact, which normally there isn’t in martial arts but there is in combat sports is very effective.
In terms of combat sports in my opinion the most effective is MMA because it’s the most comprehensive, standing combat, ground combat, there’s a little bit of everything.
A point of view that reminds us of what other guests of the Blog had also told us such as Master Clod, Master Greco, Sifu Marcelo
Athletic preparation
Does athletic training matter ?
Absolutely Yes.
It’s so important because when there’s a confrontation in a few seconds, especially if it’s a ground fight, I’ve experienced it, the energy is drained, it’s sucked up, you get winded, so it’s very important to have aerobic preparation, to have breath, to have explosive speed, power and speed also to be able to run fast.
I recommend for self-defense to learn to run the 200 meters quickly. More is not needed, but if you can run, sprint, that is very useful.
And then it is important to train the core.
The abdominals as we know are for twisting the torso of the body to have more power in your shots, train your balance and train your grip.
When you have to grab someone, pull a thumb in the eye, block a wrist whose hand has a knife, having a strong firm grip is also very important.
Psychology Preparation
Is psychological preparation important?
As I said before, it is fundamental.
Both the physical one and the psychological one and the technical one are very important, but if I had to choose one of the three, hard choice, I would say the psychological preparation.
Being able to stay as calm as possible, clear-headed in moments of stress, because if your brain goes haywire you can be physically very prepared, technically very good, but all of that is of little use.
Self-defense, techniques
What are the main techniques to know?
The main techniques to know are the simple ones, I recommend striking with the hands, palm to chin, palm to nose, thumb in the eyes, C-hand to the throat, especially techniques with what I call our main weapon which is the part of the arm from the fingertips to the elbow.
That’s our main artillery because that’s the part of the body we can use most easily.
It’s okay to use the head for headbutts, it’s also okay to use the knees, the kicks, but they’re harder to use, they come less spontaneously, and then when I throw a kick I stay off balance, I’m on one leg, so I recommend using low kicks and strong stomps on the feet.
Self-defense, the role of ground fighting
Ground fighting, Is it important to know it?
YES, because a number of fights end on the ground, so you have to know how to fall without getting hurt.
When you fall try to drag the other person with you and possibly fall on top of him.
The goal is to get back up on your feet as fast as possible but while you are on the ground you have to know how to survive considering that being on the ground is so dangerous, if you are on the ground and the other person is standing he may want to use your head like a soccer.
Self-defense, defense against a knife
People are often taught stabbing defense techniques as if it were simple and not dangerous, but in reality the risk of getting injured is high.
What do you recommend doing if the attacker is armed with a knife?
A smile escaped to Mario.
I, Mario says, have taken several courses on this, some frankly proposing bizarre techniques that were of little use in reality.
What I recommend is to try to keep your distance as much as you can, so use objects around you as weapons or to distance your opponent, a chair, a table, a car. Try not to go near someone who has a knife.
If you can get rocks on the ground, gravel, something, anything in your hand throw it in his face and in extreme cases even more than concentrating on the hand that has the knife, which is a hand that can move very fast, try to hurt him as much as possible by concentrating on hitting his face and throat, the most vulnerable points on his body.
The street experience
Can you briefly relate your experience based on what you have the misfortune to see with the City Angeles
I happened a few times to be threatened with knives, broken bottles and sticks.
I never had any particular consequences because we always managed to handle the situation well precisely because of the psychological aspect
Also, as I advise in self-defense classes, if you see that the person is aggressive go away as fast as you can.
When we go to help the homeless and they verbally attack us it’s not like we stay there with them. We walk away and of course without turning our backs because always good to have the opponent in front of us.
Self-defense, tips
In conclusion, I would like to ask you, some rules/suggestions for knowing how to defend yourself and handle dangerous situations and/or aggression on the street.
Avoid 2D, as I call them: to convey Weakness and to be Distracted (in Italian Debolezza e Distratto)
Thugs are looking for Weak people, physically weak but even weaker psychologically, who can therefore be overwhelmed easily. Besides, if you are also distracted you do not realize what is going on next to you.
One exercise I recommend in classes is to go around, observe the people around you. If you were a. criminal, who would you rob, assault, pickpocket? Would you mug, why and when?
This is a good exercise to put yourself in the mind of a criminal, and if you can think the way a criminal does you can also protect yourself better.
Conclusion
As this chat with Mario began I was immediately fascinated by the form it had taken, in a straightforward manner he answered my questions with simple concepts of someone who does not deal with the subject only with theory but of someone who lives it daily.
Yes because for the last thirty years Mario with his City Angels has been living the big Italian cities in its most dangerous areas often facing not simple situations.
In this interesting interview full of useful and practical advice Mario brought to our attention two interesting concepts.
The first one that of our main artillery and in particular that our main weapon is the part of the arm from the fingertips to the elbow.
The second is the concept of 2Ds, avoid conveying Weakness and being Distracted.
Again we have emphasized the importance of taking real courses in self-defense or rather going into combat sports. But above all, I think a key aspect, which encapsulates the purpose of my blog, is not to neglect psychological preparation.
Good psychological preparation makes more of a difference in real combat than any technique you might know. Obviously it’s not easy to teach in standard courses since most people are looking for a self-defense course to learn how to defend themselves, but then you have to be careful not to scare people too much, not to put them under too much psychophysical stress because if not they will run away from the course.
A warm thank you to Mario for his availability.
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