In self defense you need at least some submissions in your arsenal. Breaking someone's arm or putting them to sleep with a choke is often a much more effective (and safer) strategy than standing in front of the guy and trading haymakers. Now when it comes to submissions you have thousands of options: armlocks, chokes, wrist locks, neck cranks, face crushes etc. But … [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...]
How to Spot a Knife Attack Before It Happens
Some dude gets in your face. You're bigger, stronger, and (probably) better trained than your opponent. No problem, you think to yourself. I can take this guy. You parry his first strike, close the distance, and move in ready to drop him. He lands a couple of blows to your ribs, but they aren’t terribly hard. You knee him and he drops, which is when you notice the blood … [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...]
Too Deadly to Spar?
When it comes to self defense, we’ve all heard guys talking about the devastating, “deadly” techniques that are illegal in combat sports. These guys are pretty sure that while they might get schooled on the mats when they have to follow sport rules, but in a real fight, they would certainly win. Of course, because these “deadly” techniques can’t ever actually be tested in … [Read more...]
Defanging the Snake – a Critical Concept in the Filipino Martial Arts
I'm not saying that you need to be able to twirl double nunchucks or anything, but if you're interested in self defense then it's definitely a good idea to learn a little bit about weapons. (Most of the people you run into will have NO idea of what they're doing with weapons, so even a little knowledge will go a long way.) When it comes to handheld weapons like sticks, … [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...]
The Most Important Jiu-Jitsu Move for Self Defense
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of moves in jiu-jitsu. So many ways to attack, sweep, choke, lock, throw and submit. But there's one move (or, more correctly, combination of moves) that is more important than all the other offensive moves when it comes to self defense. It's one of my bread and butter moves on the mat... Almost every jiu-jitsu guy I know who has … [Read more...]
A Killer Car and a Horrifying Lack of Awareness
Here's a real-life situation that I came across in my newsfeed recently. A Porshe and a BMW collide on the street, and the male driver of the Porshe storms out of his car. He circles the BMW while yelling at the female driver... He bangs on her hood with his hands... Then he tries to force open her doors open... Threatening behaviours all round. Next he goes to check … [Read more...]
Self Defense Against a Lapel Grab
Today we're going to talk about self defense vs a lapel grab, a classic problem that every martial arts student needs several solutions to. Notice I said 'several solutions', and that's because any one technique can never be equally applicable to all situations. If a crazed serial killer is coming after you with a hatchet then morally (and, in most places, … [Read more...]
How to Survive a Flurry of Punches
There are lots of techniques out there to defend against a single punch or kick. Personally that reminds me of the old-fashioned one-step sparring in Karate; stilted, mechanical, and completely unrealistic. The sad reality is that if someone is sufficiently motivated to attack you then they're probably NOT just going to throw a single punch. And if they've done … [Read more...]