As promised last week, this week's post is all about self defense. In a real life situation, years of karate lessons really aren't going to help. There will not be time to fall into a stance. Real life self defense is all about getting away from the situation you are in, and into a place of safety.
In a disaster situation, people become desperate, as I mentioned in last week's post. I'm not going to give an exhaustive list of self defense tips, I will just touch the tip of the iceberg, and hopefully pique your interest enough that you will pursue the subject further yourself.
The general idea is to break away from an attacker if they have a hold, and reach a place of safety, whether a car or a house or some similar area. First, do not panic. Decision making skills need to be at the highest possible point in such situations, and panicking will only cloud one's thinking. A heightened sense of awareness however, is a good thing to have. Punches are not going to be very effective against a lot of opponents, but elbows and knees are. Elbows and knees are so effective because the force of the blow is concentrated on a much smaller and essential sharper point, whereas punches are more blunt force. Punches leave bruises; elbows can actually leave cuts in soft tissue. Also, in a self defense situation, there is no such thing as fighting dirty. In a disaster situation, self defense could be life or death. Go for the eyes, nose and kidneys with quick strikes from the fingers or hands. Striking the crotch and groin area is effective on both men and women. Striking the knees is also very effective, and will also hinder the individual from following.
As I mentioned, these are just some brief tips. Youtube and the internet in general are both great sources of information for self defense. I hope I have interested some people enough to encourage them to do their own research. If there are any questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best.
One key point to remember, if you have not practiced a type of strike or martial art technique, don't ever try it in a real fight. Use what you know. A second note is that while the elbows and knees are sharper (and able to withstand a much greater force if used correctly), the distance between you and the target must be a fraction of the distance if you are using the fists and feet. Without practice, it would be wiser to use anything on the ground as a weapon. Worst case scenario is while trying a technique you have not used before, you cause yourself injuries that prevent you from defending yourself. Even swinging a fist around can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. If you try to hit someone who has an object they can use as a shield or you miss and hit a wall, you can easily break your fist (with poor judgment or uncontrolled emotions, it can happen). Any knowledgeable jujitsu user could take a poorly aimed punch and redirect the energy to send the puncher flying. Note, jujitsu is not guaranteed to keep you safe. If you don't know what you are doing, you will leave yourself defenseless or dislocate a joint by accident (that is, if your attacker doesn't land on you and break your bones to break his fall). The skill that you know is always stronger then the one that you don't know. No matter the martial art.
ReplyDeleteJust because it's interesting, here is a list of common martial arts and the skills they make use of.
Jujitsu: redirecting force, throws
Muay Thai: elbows and knees, strong attacks, (translates into "science of eight limbs")
Karate: many hand and foot striking techniques, many techniques rely on sudden impacts
Sambo: more brutal martial art, created to kill opponent
Bo Jutsu: uses a bo staff for longer ranged attacks, *a bo staff has a specific weight and length, not just any stick you find on the ground*
Boxing: heavily relies on footwork, quick successive blows to confuse enemy and heavy blows to incapacitate enemy
Wrestling: many holds, variety of techniques to unbalance attacker using low center of gravity, *many moves on TV don't work in real life, learn only from a professional*
And there are many more that I can't cover in a decent amount of time/space.
Yep this is all very true, and I should have mentioned, my suggestions were somewhat aimed at a situation where the victim was surprised and possibly already in close quarters. And again, I agree, the worst thing is to lose your head in such a situation and make a bad decision that could result in the injury or death of yourself or another person.
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