If you and your opponent are squaring off face-to-face then it's sort of an equal situation. From here he can swing at you and you can swing at him... He can try to tackle you, and you can try to clinch him. To paraphrase the old song, at this point anything he can do, hopefully you can do better! But we don't want it to be a fair fight. Ideally you should set up a … [Read more...]
How to Make Sure Your Martial Art Will Work in the Street
You may train in a martial art, but will your techniques really work in the street, in real life, against a real attacker? This is a question a lot of martial artists wrestle with... No matter what martial art you are learning, there are countless techniques you will be trying to master and then combine to serve various purposes. It can be overwhelming, and even once you … [Read more...]
Why the Mount is So Devastating in a Streetfight
It's absolutely devastating to be on the bottom of mount in a street fight. First of all the guy on top has the power of gravity behind the strikes, making them much more powerful. This can turn just a regular punch to your face into an absolute BOMB! Secondly, the guy on top can rotate his upper body to increase the power of the strikes. Just like hip rotation is the key … [Read more...]
The Myth of the Deadly Groin Attack
There's a persistent myth in self defense training about the groin strike that goes something like this: "Kick the guy in the balls and the fight is over. "It's the one kick wonder. Women especially are often directed to aim for this target as though it's a magic fight ender. It's not, and you are actually putting yourself at risk if you don't realise … [Read more...]
What Knuckles Should You Punch with Barehanded?
Want to start an argument between two martial artists? Ask them which knuckles you should punch with? The fundamental issues here are generating power and mitigating the risk of breaking your hand if you hit a hard bony part of your opponent. I shot a video on this exact topic, so give it a watch and then scroll down where I've included additional … [Read more...]
Two Methods to Make a Really Strong Fist
Boxing when your hand is shielded by wraps and gloves is one thing. All that protection on your hands distributes the force across your entire hand, stabilises your wrist and safeguards the small bones of your hands. But hitting someone in the head with your bare fist in the street is quite another matter... When your unprotected fist meets an unpadded skull there's … [Read more...]
The Pre-Emptive Strike in Self Defense
Let’s say you’re in a situation where some big dude is in your face, yelling, screaming, and getting angrier by the second. If things keep on going the way that they’re going then it looks like you’re going to be in a serious fight any second… Here’s the question: should you launch a pre-emptive Pearl Harbor style attack on this guy, taking him out before he actually … [Read more...]
How to Knock Someone Out
Knocking someone out is an art, not a science. You have to get just the right combination of strike, angle, target and timing for it to work. Plus some people are just a lot tougher than others... You might clip one person with a glancing blow and have them go down instantaneously, lights out. But then, another time, you might hit someone else square on the jaw with … [Read more...]
Death After the Knockout (or Beware the Second Hit)
In other articles and videos I've talked about the best ways to knock somebody out. And there’s an old tough guy saying that goes something like this… “If we fight there are only going to be three hits: I hit you, you hit the ground, and the ambulance hits 60.” While that’s a funny thing to growl out in a droll John Wayne accent it also brings up a deadly serious … [Read more...]
The Many Areas of Self Defense
Imagine you're in the stereotypical self defense situation: you're walking down a dark street, someone lunges out from a dark alley and grabs you. Responding quickly you break his grips, kick his legs out from under him, and knock him out with a punch from knee mount. This is a situation where your striking and grappling abilities made the difference. Had you not known … [Read more...]