• Use the hand you write with.
• Make a fist with your thumb outside, not tucked inside. If it’s tucked inside your fist, when you punch someone, you might break your thumb. The thumb goes across your fingers, not on the side.
• Don’t be like in the movies—don’t aim for the face. Face punches don’t usually stop people, and you can miss when they duck their head or break your hand on their jaw. If you want to get away quickly, or end a fight, aim for the chest, or the ribs. If you really want to do some damage, e.g., you’re being attacked, aim for the throat, which will make it hard for your attacker to breathe for a hot minute.
• When you punch, you want to aim and hit with your first two knuckles. Not the flats of your fingers, and not your ring or pinky knuckles, which can break more easily. You can use your weight, if you’re on your feet, to add wallop, and spring into a punch with your feet and torso.
Useful information, esp. if you haven’t taken self defense.
I reblogged this once before to add this and I’ll do it again…
keep your wrist straight.
You can also risk breaking your wrist if you allow it to bend. I actually can’t believe this isn’t in there.
Other good pointers:
- if your attacker is male, go for his junk - especially if he’s wearing loose pants. There’s no sportsmanship when it comes to assault so fuck them balls UP
- punching pretty much ANYWHERE in the face is going to actually hurt you a LOT (just think - you’re punching your bones into their bones and ow). If you’re going for the face, my suggestion is to strick upwards with your palm.
see that meaty portion highlighted in red? There’s a lot of muscle and fat right there which makes it excellent for striking. Hold your hand as shown and aim for the nose or chin (though I’ve been told in extreme circumstances, doing this to the nose can be fatal but I’ve never really heard if this is true or not) and just aim upwards
- other delicate areas:
- the shin (hurts like a bitch if you kick it right - also, you can hit this spot if you’re being held in a choke-hold and if your attacker has to move in order to stop you from kicking him, he’ll have to angle his body so as to expose his stomach and crotch to the wild spastic jabbings of your elbows)
- the solar plexus (either jab while holding your hand in a sort of spear position or use your elbows - unless you’re super strong, your punch probably won’t wind your attacker. Your elbow or a spear hand will, however)
Originally in (most) martial arts, you hit the solar plexus because it supposedly contained an important chakra. Now we know that it actually also contains like a bunch of necessary organs that are exposed just below your ribs and is also (roughly) where your diaphragm lives so getting punched there is not pleasant.
- the clavicle (from experience, getting hit in your clavicle HURTS LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER. If you strike downwards with your knuckles, the person might just cry. Like I did.)
- the ear (this is probably the best place to punch besides the throat. It’s all cartilage so it probably won’t hurt you all that much and most people will be like “DUDE YOU PUNCHED ME IN THE EAR WHAT THE HELL”)
- the kidneys (this is harder to hit without training but if you somehow get your attacker’s back to face you, try to hit’em in the kidneys. Again, from experience, this FUCKING HURTS. You can’t really hit the kidneys from the front with any effect but from the back it is super painful)
- if you’re held in a choke-hold, try turning your head so the forearm isn’t pressed into your throat. If you can position yourself right, you can sort of force your chin into the crook of the elbow, making you able to still receive (limited) oxygen and provide time for you to kick some shins or elbow some spleens and shit
-Also, remember that a guy’s junk is not an off-button. Don’t think that you can rely on a swift kick to the balls to immediately incapacitate him in an emergency. Adrenaline and anger can keep somebody going for a long time even through extreme pain, and if you expect to end a fight with a single groin-attack you might be caught off-guard when he doesn’t drop. Certainly go for it if you get the chance, but keep hitting him until the fight is over.
-Draw blood if you can, especially if you can draw it from the face or the eyes. Blood in the eyes is not just a good way to impair your attacker’s vision, it’s also a really good way to freak them out and let them know that they might be getting more than they bargained for by picking a fight with you.
-Elbows and knees are really powerful weapons. Elbows are very sharp and very strong and if you are in close-range they are often more effective than trying to throw a punch.
-Yelling and shouting makes you scary.
Nothing much to add to this, it’s pretty much all there. So. Reblog. Oh, also, it’s really easy to break a nose - go for the eyes too. All it takes to avoid a shot to the throat is tucking your chin.
Also, that part about the ear - don’t punch. An open hand over the ear hurts a lot.If you’re able to get both your hands free, I’ve heard that clapping your open hands over both of someone’s ears will disorient them for a few seconds. I’ve never seen it done, but considering how important the inner ear is for things like balance, it makes sense that fucking with that would mess somebody up.
your elbow and kneecaps are the strongest bone in your body so even if you dont have any fighting training or arent very strong you can rely on a good elbow jab to do some hefty damage
if you are throwing punches the strongest way is to pull your arm back and punch straight forward like a pinball machine. dont waste your arms momentum by swinging wide.
notice how his arm twists and the wrist stays straight. this will help you not break your arm
if you dont have any fighting training your legs might be stronger than your arms, especially if youre a woman since thats where you probably naturally grow the most muscle. Its easy to get hung up on throwing punches when youre scared but remember your legs are strong- you probably use your legs and walk around more than you punch people right? a good kick will allow you to attack from further away than using your knees and elbows but they can also be easy to block so be quick. the easiest kick to land is the side kick. stand perpendicular to your opponent with your strongest leg facing them. lift your leg up and then kick straight out aiming for their torso.
land the kick with the flat of your foot not your toes
if your attacker gets you on the ground DO NOT try to stand up and run away. roll as far as you can in one move then immediately jump to your feet. you can roll much faster than you can stand up so get out of arms reach before trying to stand and run away. and unless they study martial arts they probably wont expect you to start rolling around on the floor so you might put them off for a second and buy yourself that little bit of time
first priority is always to run the fuck away but if you get a chance while youre up close and personal try and mark the attackers face somehow. scratch their cheek, bite off their ear, stab them in the eye, whatever. hopefully it will startle them and give you a chance to escape but the goal is to mark them so that you can give the police an identifying characteristic to hunt the son of a bitch down with. bonus points if its something they have to go to the hospital for and can be caught and apprehended there. but remember, this is ONLY if you get the chance. dont stick around to mark the guy if you cant do it without risking yourself.
Another thing to think about is how people would try to attack you. Punching is mainly a front-on reaction to an attack. If someone were to grab you from behind and pin your arms, you cant really punch.
If someone does do that, drop yourself down into a stable, almost squatting position, curve your back out and tuck your head in. This will make it harder for someone to hold onto you or pick you up. (Plank of wood vs. a yoga ball).
Then try -sounds dumb but just do it- bending over and knocking them back with your bum while jerking your arms forward (it’s easier to move them forward then out to the side in that kind of a grip).
If they still manage to hold onto you, try anything to unbalance them or get them to release you. This can be biting, elbowing to the torso, backfist into the groin, curling into a ball and throwing yourself downward, or slipping one of your feet behind their’s and trip them (if you feel like you can get your arms free. The bad thing about this is that they might take you with them. If that’s the case, put all your strength into making the fall hurt, and try to elbow them in the solar plexus to knock the wind out of them, and tuck in your head so you dont connect with their chin).
One thing that might NOT be a good idea is to jump up and headbutt them. It depends on whoever’s got you, if they’re strong enough, they may just end up picking you up. In addition, their energy is coming toward you, making it harder to make an efficient movement against the momentum they built up.
If it doesn’t see like they’d be able to carry you off, then tripping them or even kicking them in the knees might work, but it’s important for you to be balanced and hard to manipulate.
Other easy kicks to add to the previous:
Push kick
Roundhouse
And for your back, back kick
Also, another good place to get to, (if you’re being held by your throat and hands are somewhat free) its really painful to get pinched in your triceps area (the underside of your upper arm, by the armpit). Its you pinch hard enough, and twist, you could even rip some nerves and muscles. (Trust me, hurts like a huge fucking bitch). Even if it sounds grotesque, all is fair in assault, do whatever you can to escape your attacker.
You guys have literally wrote a mini-novel on how proper self defense is carried out… i think I’m a bit frightened of my fellow tumblr users…
(Source: am-buh)
