Your Body's Weapons

If you are like most people, you probably don’t carry a weapon in your back pocket (unless you have a concealed weapons permit). Fortunately, you don’t necessarily need a weapon to defend yourself. Your body is a marvelous creation with several built in weapons of its own.

Hands – Think about the ways an attacker might come at you. He can punch or slap you. He can grab you. Chances are that an attacker’s initial strike will involve his hands. Your hands can also be used to defend yourself. You can use them to block or to counter-attack. You can punch an attacker with your knuckles or strike with the bottom (heel) of your palm. You can strike with the blade of your hand (the famous karate chop). You can even use your fingers or wrists as effective weapons against an attacker. I will discuss some specific striking and blocking techniques in future posts.

Feet – Your legs are longer than your arms, so using your feet to defend yourself can give you greater reach and, in many cases, more power. This is especially true for women, who have a great deal more strength in their legs than in their arms. Your feet can help you reach targets such as the knees. Kicks can also help you keep attackers at a greater distance.

Knees – If an attacker has you stuck at close range (somewhere I hate to be), you can turn to your knees for help. You can knee an attacker in the groin, ribs, or even solar plexus if you can reach it. If you are lucky enough to hit a pressure point on your attacker’s thigh, a knee strike to that area can even deaden his leg and drop him to the ground. Knees are a great self-defense weapon. Research done by National Geographic found that knee strikes can generate the same force as a 30-mile-an-hour car crash. (If you have never watched National Geographic’s “Fight Science” I would highly recommend it.)

Elbows – The sharpest point on your body, your elbows make a fantastic close-range self-defense weapon. Striking your attacker in the temple or back of the skull can knock your attacker unconscious. Jabbing an elbow into his face will cause him to bleed (especially if you hit the nose) and may convince him to back off. At the very least, it can give you a moment to finish the fight or escape. 

Three Rules of Self Defense (Part 3)

Rule #3 – Remember the Consequences

You are the victim here, it’s true. Unfortunately you will still have to deal with the consequences of your actions. These may not always be legal consequences, especially if it was an obvious case of self defense, but you must ask yourself what you are willing to live with.

Consider this question from two different angles. First, can you live with the damage you are doing to another human being? The good news is that in many cases you will probably be able to defend yourself without doing any real lasting damage to your attacker. (Some attackers are shocked by resistance at all and will abandon attack once they realize their target isn’t weak.) A broken bone or three will heal, and if you’re lucky your attacker will be living happily behind bars. In some cases, however, it may take more to get yourself out of danger. Can you live with yourself if you kill your attacker? Remember that in some cases you may have to face legal consequences, such as jail time, for your actions.

Second, are you willing to live with the emotional scars, physical injury or even death that might result if you don’t defend yourself at all? In some situations, such as robbery, it might be more worth it to hand over your wallet. But what if your attacker’s plans are more sinister? What if his plans are rape, followed by murder? In these situations, you do have to make the choice; you or your attacker. Again, chances are you won’t have to do any lasting damage to escape (except in extreme circumstances), but are you willing to break a nose, a rib or a knee to defend yourself?

The Bottom Line: Even when we act in self-defense, we still have to suffer the consequences of our actions. You are the only one that can determine what actions you will need to take and how much force is needed. Remember this, however (I’ve said it before and I will probably say it again); you are worth defending.

Three Rules of Self Defense (Part 2)

Rule #2 – Choose Your Targets Wisely

It doesn’t matter how many times you hit your attacker in the shoulder. It probably won’t do you any good. There are certain areas of the body that are weak and easier to injure. These are your targets.

Groin – As a girl growing up, I was told over and over again to hit a male attacker in the groin. It is true that this is a weak area of the male body that can be very painful when hit. My advice, however, is never to choose this as your first target unless nothing else is available. Why? It might be painful, but a strike to the groin simply makes some men angry. It isn’t enough to distract or disable them. Others even enjoy the benefits of a delayed pain reaction, which won’t help you in the slightest. Feel free to target the groin, but please don’t go there first unless it is the only target within your reach.

Nose – What is a better target? The nose. It is made up of tiny bones that are highly breakable. The nose, when broken will bleed profusely. Your attacker’s eyes will also tear up, making it difficult for him to see.

Eyes – I hate to overuse Karate Kid quotes (okay I really don’t), but the evil sensei in Karate Kid Part III was correct when he said “a man can’t see he can’t fight.” The eyes are a target that you can reach even if your back is to your opponent. Rake your fingernails across them or dig your thumbs into them. It will hurt your attacker (a lot) and make it difficult for him to continue.

Knees – My favorite. Is that mean? Maybe, but as a woman I know that my legs are stronger than my arms, and my side kick can do a ton of damage to a fragile knee joint. This is also a target that is easy reached from almost any position. Remember that knees bend only one way. Use your heel to kick the knee in any other direction and it will crumble. The joint may break, or it may not, but chances are your attacker will go to the ground, giving you a chance to finish the fight or escape.

Throat – Be careful with this. It is a great target, but an incredibly dangerous one to go after. You can damage your attacker’s airway or even rupture an artery. Both of these can kill your attacker, which is why I personally recommend reserving this target for times when all else seems to fail. You can reduce the damage you do by striking at the jaw line, just behind the ear. This can be disabling to your attacker without completely killing him.

Solar Plexus – Have you ever had the wind knocked out of you? Chances are you have. Remember how badly it hurt? Striking your attacker’s solar plexus (that soft spot where the ribs meet at the bottom of the rib cage) can make it difficult for him to breath and give you a chance to disable him further or attempt an escape.

Those are a few of the most obvious and easy-to-reach targets available to you in a self-defense situation. There are certainly others. Fingers are small and easily breakable (a useful target if an attacker has a grip on you from behind, a situation which will certainly be covered in a future post). Elbows, like knees, only bend in a single direction. Strikes to the temples or jaw bones can be painful or disabling, and can even knock an attacker unconscious. The back of the neck at the base of the skull is also an option.

The Bottom Line: Don’t waste time on useless targets. You might leave a few bruises here and there, but you probably won’t disrupt your attacker enough to escape. Target sensitive parts of the body that will help you get out of the situation. You may not have all of the above targets available to you at once, and it will be up to you to see what options you do have. A good rule of thumb is this: go for whatever you can reach.

Three Rules of Self Defense (Part 1)

If you are ever attacked, there are three basic rules you should remember. Commit these rules to your deepest memories. You won’t have time to count them out on your fingers. Keep them in mind as you learn and practice self defense techniques. If you apply them to your practice, they will become second nature, and won’t fail you when you need them most.

Rule #1 – Respond Immediately: The Three Second Rule

A perfect defense lasts no more than three seconds. That seems like an amazingly short period of time, but remember that it only takes two or three moves to disable an attacker (unless you waste time on useless targets, but more about that later). You have to get started instantly. Never wait for your attacker to get a firm grip on you or to land a few strikes of his own. Act as soon as you feel that threatening touch or grab. Too many attacks are successful because the victim hesitates.

Your goal here is to take the attention off of yourself and redirect it to your attacker. When he attacks, counter-attack immediately with any strike (to any target) that comes to mind. Put him in pain. If he is thinking about his own pain he isn’t thinking about yours. This distraction may last no more than a second, so follow your initial counter-attack up with two or three more strikes to sensitive targets (see rule #2 to follow). Once your attacker has let go or is disabled, it’s time to high-tail it out of there. Call the cops as soon as you possibly can.

The Bottom Line: NEVER NEVER NEVER hesitate. This only gives your attacker more advantage and a chance to get you under control. Counter-attack and get out within three seconds if you can.

A Self Defense Mindset

You might think that a martial artist has an advantage when it comes to self-defense because she has greater knowledge of various ways to defend herself. That is, in part, true, but knowledge has less to do with it than you might think. If you were to learn just a few basic techniques, you would be just as capable as defending yourself as the black belt sitting next to you on the bus (you just might not look as fancy doing it). The real advantage that martial artists have over everybody else is that they have trained their minds to defend themselves.

One of the most common things a martial arts instructor will see in beginners is a tendency to freeze up whenever a strike comes their way. A white belt in a sparring match will simply cringe away from an attack, rather than blocking and counter-attacking. They are lucky this is a friendly match. Otherwise, they would probably have just taken a serious blow. The reason they do this is simple. Their brains have no prior experience with an attack. It can be scary to see that fist coming toward you, and your brain thinks “what is going on? What do I do?” They don’t respond because they can’t respond.

Unfortunately that is also why a lot of real life attacks are successful. The faster a victim responds to her attacker’s moves, the more likely she is to survive. I would encourage you to spend some time thinking about realistic attack scenarios. I’m not suggesting you become paranoid. All I’m asking is that you take note of potential dangers in your immediate area, and rehearse in your head a plan for escaping that danger. If you see a parked van, for example, try visualizing what you would do to escape, should someone reach out and try to pull you in.

No, this is not paranoia. When you visualize things in your head, your brain catalogues those images for use later on. In addition to their physical practice, many athletes will visualize their sport in their minds. This helps tell the brain what it needs to make the body do. If you have seen it in your mind, your body will respond accordingly. This is because your brain has already dealt with the situation.

If you were walking through the parking lot, and someone really did reach out of that van, you would not freeze up. Your mind thinks “I’ve done this before!” and allows you to respond accordingly. You don’t have to dwell on danger. You don’t have to be afraid of it. But it is definitely a good idea to think about the possibility of it. Spend some time rehearsing scenarios in your head. If you know ahead of time what you would do in a given situation, you will be much more likely to successfully defend yourself. It is important that you develop a mindset that will allow you to protect yourself and keep you from freezing up in dangerous situations.

"Best Defense, No Be There."

Mr. Miyagi, the famed sensei from the Karate Kid movies, may be fictional, but his words of wisdom contain very real truths. In the second movie, he teaches his student, Daniel, that the best defense is simply not to be in the way of the attack. This lesson can have a couple of applications. First, if someone tries to hit you, simply stepping out of the way can do you a world of good. It protects you from the strike, puts distance between you and your attacker, allows you a brief second to plan your next move, and gives you an opportunity to take over the advantage in the situation.

But I would like to think of the lesson in another context. The concept is simple. The most effective way to defend yourself is to keep yourself out of dangerous situations. To do this, you must increase your awareness. Pay careful attention to your surroundings. Walking with your head up and your eyes moving can do a lot to increase your safety. First, your apparent confidence makes you a less appealing target to would-be-attackers. Second, if you keep your mind focused on the world around you, rather than withdrawing into your own internal world, you will be able to see situations that might be dangerous.

You may, for example, want to avoid walking past a dark alleyway between buildings. Is there someone sitting in the van parked next to your car? Perhaps another entrance would be preferable to the mall door that is surrounding by a group of drug-doing-potential-gang-members. Keep your eyes open for anyone who looks “shady.” In a seminar on knife fighting, we were taught to watch a person’s hand for signs that he might be carrying a blade. Look for any telltale signs of aggression. Is someone following you too closely? Is the man coming toward you angling himself so as to pass much closer than necessary? Is his hand clenched around something?

If you see someone behaving suspiciously, avoid them. Even if you feel paranoid, crossing to the other side of the street can be a smart move. Trust your instincts. If someone gives you the creeps, create space between yourself and this person. Don’t wait to find out if you were just being paranoid. Make sure you use your other senses as well as your eyes. Sometimes you can hear an attacker coming before you see them.

Unfortunately I can’t cover all of the ways a situation might become dangerous. The trick is to keep your focus turned outward. Be aware of your surroundings and the dangers that might be present. If you don’t walk into a dangerous or violent situation, you won’t have to fight to defend yourself. Remember: “best defense, no be there.”

If She Can Do It...

I know you are anxious to learn some self-defense techniques, but I want to dedicate my first few posts to what I like to call the “self-defense mindset.” Believe it or not, your frame of mind has as much to do with your ability to defend yourself as your knowledge of technique. In fact, all the technique in the world will not save you if you are not mentally prepared to defend yourself.

There is a student at our school who is somewhat famous for her timidity and her tendency to scream during sparring matches. When she first started classes, she seemed strongly opposed to practicing, let along using, any of the techniques she was being taught. “I can’t do that” were some of her favorite words. It has been a couple of years now, and she has come a long way. Her screams are less frequent, and her memory and technique have improved ten-fold. But none of us really knew how far she had come until the day we first heard the story that would make its way around the school for weeks.

This student had, on earlier occasions, approached the senseis about a problem she was having at school. A bully was picking on her. We gave her tips; things she could try that would help her get rid of this guy without getting herself suspended. I think few people really imagined she would follow through on our advice.

One day the bully grabbed her from behind. Finally tired of the harassment, she reacted without thinking. She grabbed his hands, swung her foot behind his, pressed her hip into his, and stood up. As she shrugged his arms away from her, his feet came off the floor, and he ended up on his head in the middle of the hallway. (This is a favorite of mine, as it allows much smaller victims to drop large attackers to the ground, and it will be covered in a later post).

That was a turning point in that student’s training. She has now surpassed her siblings in our class and puts more effort and energy into everything she does. That sort of confidence is what martial arts is really about. It is about having the ability to defend yourself, but also about realizing that you are worth defending. All too often victims, women especially, suffer from the “I could never do that” syndrome. Their fear of hurting another person overrides their fear of being hurt themselves. I hear it again and again from women, young and old alike, who are just beginning karate. The other common phrase? “I can’t do that.” In order to defend yourself you must realize two things:

1.    You ARE capable of defending yourself, regardless of how strong an attacker is.

2.    You are WORTH defending. You did not ask to be attacked, and you must realize that your attacker means you serious harm. Are you more willing to lose your life, or to live with emotional and physical suffering, than to cause pain to an attacker? In many cases a simple resistance will force your attacker to back off. Chances are you won’t have to do any permanent damage. But you are the one that must decide what consequences you are willing to live with.

Another thing you must remember is that it is up to you to decide when it is appropriate to use self-defense techniques. You are the one that faces danger, and the only one who can determine how great that danger is. Regardless, please don’t hesitate to defend yourself if you are ever attacked. The most important thing is to respond immediately. Your life is valuable, and you can defend it!