Knowing what weapon to use against which target is a crucial skill to have in a self defense conflict. When I talk about weapons I'm talking about parts of the body such as elbows, knees fists, fingers, etc. Knowing your weapons and targets is important because it is all too easy to break the bones in your hand or wind up using an ineffective self defense technique if you ignore this information.
The principle is quite simple; strike soft targets with hard weapons, and strike hard targets with harder weapons.
Getting to Know Your Self Defense Weapons and Targets:
Because the most effective self defense targets on the body tend to be soft you must understand which hard weapons (body parts) will cause the most damage. The best way to understand this is to use example targets. If you are attacked the major soft targets to strike are the eyes, throat, groin, and ears. These are all very sensitive areas of the body which require small amounts of force from a hard weapon (i.e. elbows, knees, fingers) to cause great pain. In many instances striking one or two of these targets in a row will distract any attacker long enough for you to escape to safety.
Before we move on I want to give some examples of what parts of the body to strike these soft targets with.
The eyes are almost always struck with the fingers (this is pretty straight forward). However what you may not realize is that you should strike them with your fingers is a loose position. The last thing you want to do is miss and jam a finger. Keep them loose, you aren't trying to destroy the eye. You simply want to distract him so you can strike again and escape.
The throat can be struck with number of weapons. One obvious choice is a fist, but the forearm is an even better choice and you don't run the risk of damaging your hand if you miss and strike the jaw. The groin can be struck with virtually any weapon and be effective. Some favorites are the knife hand, the knee, the palm (which allows a grab after the initial strike), and the foot. As you can see from these examples if you choose the right weapons the chances of you hurting yourself while delivering these strikes is very low. This is what you want.
Now for the second part of the principle: hit hard targets with harder weapons.
If there are no soft targets exposed on your attacker you will have to strike hard targets such as the skull or the back of the neck. For these situations your options are limited.
There are three parts of the body that are generally considered strong enough for these targets. First is the forearm/elbow, the second is the shin/knee, and the last is certain parts of the skull. The forearm/elbow and shin/knee are pretty straight forward. These parts of the body are sturdy enough to deliver a strike to the skull and not be damages in the process.
Using your own head as a self defense weapon is a little more complicated. If you head-butt your attacker with the wrong part of your head you will be injured in the process. Also you must target the face of your opponent not his forehead. Slamming your forehead into his will result in a lot of pain for both of you. So to make this self defense move effective you need to use the right part of your head to strike the right part of his.
The area of your head that should be used is the upper portion of the forehead right before the top of the head flattens out.
I hope you have found this article helpful. This principle should be a prime consideration in any self defense system, and you must internalize it if you want to become proficient in any self protection system. I find that many self defense instructors fail to explain this principle (although almost all follow it).
In my opinion you must understand the key principles of self defense in order to use it successfully in the real world. That's why I created the blog at Fightfast.com/blog where you can learn some really effective self defense techniques, learn why they are effective and what situations to use them in.
Stay Smart and Stay Safe,
Bob Pierce
Head Honcho, Fightfast.com
Bob Pierce is the President of Fightfast.com which specializes in providing its customers the practical knowledge and skills they need to keep themselves and their families safe. TRS the parent company of Fightfast.com has been a self defense industry leader since the early 1990s bringing costumers highly skilled instructors with real world self defense skills.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Pierce
No comments:
Post a Comment