How to Adapt When Weapons Fail: Martial Arts Training for Real-World Fights
- Mark Hatmaker
- Jul 16
- 3 min read
Before I get to the meat of today’s thought exercise for real-world fights, you’ll need to take a few inventories.
For the first inventory, list at least a dozen “designated weapons,” or devices that are carried and used primarily for self-protection. I'll get you started: firearm, folding knife, fixed-blade knife, Taser, pepper spray, tactical flashlight — feel free to continue the list.
Next, assume a complete absence of designated weapons and look to your environment for “improvised weapons.” Your top-12 list might include:
a ballpoint pen (for piercing or thrusting)
a coffee mug (for throwing, slap-launching or smashing)
a bedside electric clock (for smashing, throwing, cord whipping or cord garroting)
a soft drink in a plastic bottle (for throwing, slap-launching, or shaking and spraying)
a coffee table (for toppling or kick-shoving)
a salt shaker (for throwing, slap-launching or smashing)
You can finish it up.
Before moving to the next list, I have a quote from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations:
“In the application of your principles, you must be like the pancratiast, not like the gladiator, for the gladiator lets fall the sword which he uses and is killed, but the other always has his hand and needs to do nothing else than use it.”
