Taking into consideration health issues like Daibetes, Asthma, COPD, and Morbid Obeisity; is running away...?

I see several conflicting views here and I have to say that I have to agree with all of them, because they are all correct.

The important factor in people's decision to study a martial art is that coupled with various modalities of lifestyle modification, all those conditions can be reversed - completely.

I have seen it happen, and have helped a friend reverse his diabetes and overcome a nervous disorder in less than a year. He applied things I suggested to him and he was ecstatic after about 3 months. A year later, you could not tell that he was afflicted with anything. You should see him now at age 53. He doesn't train in martial arts, he does weight training.

People who train without using proper nutrition are depleting their bodies and not replenishing. The standard American diet is the worst diet in the world.

You're diet should include the full color spectrum in fruits and vegetables and meats in moderation. Wild Caught fish such as Salmon, which are high in Essential Fatty Acids are very beneficial.

People have to get over their being picky when it comes to food. The foods we are supposed to eat feed our cells. Processed foods do not.

Supplements are very important too. If you're not eating organically grown veggies you need to wash them properly and supplement, since they are depleted of nutrients.

Water! Forget the gatorade and crap like that. It's garbage. If you want to replace electrolites, juice - NOT BLEND, a whole watermelon - skin, seeds and all. This is also detoxifying.

Dump the coffee. It is excellent for you as an enema, as it causes the liver to release any poisons it collects.

Following a diet like this can lead to reversal of ANY disease.

So you won't have to worry about not being able to defend yourself because you have no strength to, due to having a body void of the things it needs to function.

It's more about tactics. The reason why learning how to fight battles from a book doesn't work, is because humans are unpredictable and just having a list of tactics to "use" isn't actually using tactics at all: it's just following something by rote and dictum.

Thus if the only action someone can come up with is "run away", then he isn't so much engaged in a tactical deliberation as he is forced to choose one and only one option. This means often times when that option no longer works, there is no contingency plan to fall back on. Whereas someone else with more options, can fight or run, and if fighting doesn't work, they can try running, and if running doesn't work, they can try fighting. But if they plan on fighting, they may choose not to run at all, to save on stamina. Or if they do run, they will only run to a tactically more beneficial place to fight, such as a narrow alleyway against melee gangs. The person with only one magic trick, won't be able to use anything else. Regardless of how much he needs it.

Part of what H2H training must accomplish to make it effective for everyone, not just martial arts that do it as a lifestyle choice, is to broaden the number of tactical options and improve the effectiveness of any particular tool in a person's toolbox. That means taking into account or bypassing entirely, the issue of fitness, size, strength, speed, etc.

Going back to the realm of war and away from the realm of sports or fitness, one does not need a large army to fight the most powerful military force on Earth. One just needs to find ways to hit the enemy where they cannot defend, and prevent their attacks from reaching. It's called cheating. Because if they didn't cheat, they would be found wiping the floor if they fought toe to toe with the greatest military force on Earth, when their own military force could be counted in tenths of percentages of the most powerful nation.

Too many people are stuck playing the game one way because the rules were always that way and they don't know any other way to fight a battle or a war. That's been a human tendency for awhile. Certain customs and standards develop over the years and become part of tradition, and thus hard to eradicate. Then something new comes on the horizon and the conservative factions don't like the change, even though they cannot discount the effectiveness of the new development.

Tactics is subordinate to strategy. Thus tactics must facilitate the strategic goal. If it does not, you need either a new strategy or a new tactic.

I had a friend back in the 1960's who was on the high school track team try to run away and was stabbed in the back several times before he got away and nearly didn't make it.

One of the reasons I started learning martial arts is for improving my health. Self defense is a side benefit, like the icing on the cake. I'm now a seasoned citizen and outrunning some street punk may be out of the question. I would prefer it yet it is not probable. To always rely on outrunning trouble is not a good strategy for self defense. Too many situations where your options to run would be limited. We have specialized in what we call "family self defense". Meaning that there are strategies and tactics for everyone regardless of age or condition. I firmly believe martial arts is for everyone.

Your question highlights one of the problems for people in general and what a study done by the DOJ back in the mid 80s pointed out. Basically the study results indicated that a person in shape and who did some type of working out three times per week or more fared better in street altercations and was generally injured and hurt less than someone that was not in shape. They were better able to physically defend themselves against their attacker if they had to as well as healed up more quickly later if hurt or injured in the process.

With each situation being different there is no right answer here. However what chance would someone not in shape have in trying to match themselves against someone on a physical level who was in shape somewhat. Would they fare any better by resisting or defending themselves than if they tried to run or extricate themselves from the situation?

Each situation being different and the circumstances of it there is no right answer but given the option those that might be infirm, out of shape, elderly, or physically challenged in some way would probably be better off by not staying and trying to go toe-to-toe with someone. This is why awareness and avoidance are so important and should always be stressed along with taking precautions to prevent such a situation in the first place. To not do so even if you are in shape and a tough, capable person is stupidity on your part and sooner or later you will find yourself in a situation that you might have later wished you had not been in.

Just cause someone has health issues doesn't mean that they should not be allowed to get fit or learn to defend themselves. Many people are born with diabetes or asthma. One of the best martial artists I know has type 1 diabetes. And I doubt a morbidy obese person could run away. Obesity can be fixed with a healthy diet and regular exercise and martial arts help with thatt. And if someone does have something serious that all the more reason for them to learn martial arts. Cuz they can't simply run away. They have to fight. Someone with asthma can't run easily so he has to stay and fight. Its not really good advise if someone can't physically run. They have to get in shape first.

Yes running away is still good advise. But if the attacker continues to chase you or you can't escape you need to know what to do to defend yourself. If you are in no shape to run or to defend yourself there are more options. You can have a large dog, preferably one that has been trained. You can get your CCW and carry a weapon. These are just a few options.

Edit:

I like Daoshi answer!!

I myself can't run away if I desire to today because of a car accident. I can no longer run or even walk too long or very far. Therefore I would be forced to do something other than run. There are places I can't take my guns or my dogs. But I'm equipped with the right knowledge to survive.

Edit2:

I know we teach out students to run away. But do we really expect them to do this? I don't believe we do. I can't recall ever running away since I began to learn martial arts other than one case. I was leaving a basketball game. I heard some guy having a disagreement. One pulled out a gun. I saw the fire exit the barrel of the gun. I ran with my wife and son. She was pregnant with our other son too. I took my body and used it as a shield between the direction of the gunfire and them. I'm grateful none f us were hit. We weren't the target, but were close to the action. I'm glad I was aware of what was going on and knew to get out of there. I got my family to a place where I thought they would be safe. I knew they could run long without being an easy target. I got them to place that they could hide until the police came. I was prepared to fight and give my life at this location if it became necessary.

They would need to do something explosive to get the self defence situation over as soon as possible.

I am a big man, 125kg, have insulin resistance and cannot run far due to plantar fasicitis in my feet and tendonitis in my ankles. So I train in Wing Chun. We train to explode and take our attacker/s down as soon as possible with the least amount of effort.

Fitness is important, that's why I'm now getting into shape.

Proper traditional martial arts like Kung Fu and Karate teach this.

I feel your pain. I've had asthma for 14 years now and have seen several doctors. The truth is, there is no known cure for asthma at the moment. But the symptoms can be prevented. It really depends on what causes your brother's asthma. Mine is usually dust and hot weather. But I think the universal method is using the control inhaler.

I cured my Asthma the natural way?

To get to the heart of your question, if someone is not healthy enough to run away, they're probably not healthy enough to fight off a determined human predator. It's probably why they were targeted in the first place.

With that said, there's more to escape and evasion than simply taking off in a sprint. Finding cover, using evasive movements, presenting obstacles, and other tools should be taught and utilized as well. I'm also of the opinion that making a "strategic withdraw" is better than simply "running away".

there is only so much you can do for some people to get in shape. some people are just prone not to be able to run.

i had one student when he trained he would keep his weight down, no exaggeration it was close to 800 lbs at his lightest he could have easily been a sumo, in fact that was our nick name for him. when he kept his training up he could 5 pushups, running for him wasn't an option he would not make it far.

granted this is an extreme case, although i did enjoy joint locks with him they were to say a challenge in the least.

getting in shape is important, but you need to work with in the physical means of the person, for various reasons some people will just not be able to run or at least run for an extended period of time.

one of the most important things is to know your self, understand your limitations, improve what you can, and work with or around the ones you cant.

edit:> to some extent i disagree with lex, a fight should last 10 secs if you train right, if you can hold off for that long you can fight.

if your looking to have a fight last as long as a boxing match then you need to be in shape