Obviously, you cannot become a skilled self-defense practitioner from a book, but any book on “total survival” would be incomplete without providing some basic physical self-defense information. In preparing this chapter, I sought the advice and help of some experienced martial arts practitioners. I wanted to show only those techniques that could easily be executed by a person of average age, build, and physical condition. It is certainly desirable for you to attend self-defense courses and even take up practical martial arts instruction. Such training requires constant maintenance and refresher courses to be effective. Most citizens face an assault situation with little or no training. Fortunately, most criminals are not trained martial arts experts. They are usually thugs who are looking for an easy target to harm or intimidate through brutal assault or restraint. They have the advantages of being accustomed to violence and having no misgivings about doing physical harm to another human being. They also have the advantage of choosing the place, direction, and method of the assault. Their first action will always be a bit faster than your reaction.
The one thing that the assailant is not expecting is instant and effective counteraction, followed by immediate disabling blows and kicks. If you are mentally prepared and have some basic moves programmed in your mind, you will go from denial to action fast enough to surprise the assailant and seize the initiative. In doing so, you have reversed the situation, but you cannot be content with just freeing yourself and waiting to see what he does next. You must disable the assailant while you still have a momentary advantage. If you hesitate, the situation is probably not going to end well for you. Put him down fast before he can recover.
The average citizen is usually repulsed by the idea of violence and doing harm to others. This gives the assailant the advantage of surprise and shock. The natural reaction to being grabbed is to pull away. The natural reaction to a knife or club assault is to turn and run, back away, or throw up your hands. The natural reaction to being choked is to try to pry the hands or arms away. The natural reaction to assault is to flail away with closed fists. None of these reactions will be effective in most cases.
The photographs that follow illustrate a few basic self-defense techniques that virtually anyone can implement. Looking at photos will not be enough to teach you these actions. Practicing with a partner until they become your new natural reactions and techniques is essential to true preparedness for this kind of situation. Of course, you must practice slowly step-by-step with care to avoid actual injury.
In no situation are my ten principles of survival more applicable than before and during a physical combat situation. They are reviewed here as applied to these situations:
1. Anticipate a combat situation before it occurs when possible. Body language or demeanor indicating that someone may become combative or an environment where an assault is possible should have you in a state of readiness.
2. Be aware of your surroundings and those within striking distance. Have a mental plan for action related to the potential assault.
3. Be there now by focusing on your counterattack actions rather than letting any pain, injuries, or concerns about doing harm to another person slow you down.
4. Staying calm is always hard to do. The adrenaline rush usually works in your favor in combat, but it can give you tunnel vision where you miss other threats or run when you need to fight.
5. Evaluate your situation as you go and make decisions. Is there more than one assailant here? Is help coming? Is the assailant disabled enough that you can run away without being caught or do you need to use more strikes and kicks to end the threat?
6. Doing the next right thing in combat means following through on the first action with a series of strikes, kicks, and stomps with all your energy to end this situation.
7. Taking control is the first thing you must do immediately. Once you start applying basic self-defense techniques, the assailant is in a reactive mode, and you have started to take control. In your mind you must already be thinking that you are going to turn the tables and hurt this person.
8. Have what you need in terms of self-confidence, knowledge of basic techniques, and, if possible, self-defense equipment, such as a knife, collapsible baton, or other weapon.
9. Using what you have is a very good rule in combat. Employing keys, pens, or handy objects to strike, stab, or cut is important. You can also push the assailant over objects or bash his head against a solid object or a wall.
10. Doing what is necessary applies even more so in violent combat situations. You must overcome all reservations about kicking genitals, gouging eyes, stabbing with a pen, smashing teeth, and other nasty actions. You are a good person, and you deserve to survive. The assailant is unworthy of any consideration or mercy. Apply every technique with your full energy and speed.
Of course, the eleventh principle is “never give up,” which is the most important of all the survival rules. In a combat situation, giving up means death or serious bodily injury. The techniques you try may not always work, or there may be multiple assailants. Lots of things can and probably will go wrong, but you keep moving and fighting. Giving up is not an option. Remember that combat situations seldom happen in nice, neat, open spaces. Walls, ledges, furniture, and other objects complicate the application of some techniques, but they can be used to your advantage if you keep your head and apply the ten principles.
An assault can start when the aggressor attempts to push the victim, usually into an object or into a location advantageous to him. You could be pushed over a ledge, into a room, or against a wall as the first phase of an attack. Letting yourself be pushed is never advisable. If you are standing with both feet side by side facing the opponent, you will get pushed over. You must brace yourself with one foot back and at a forty-five-degree angle to the front foot. You can now pin the assailant’s hand against your chest with one hand while leaning forward and bringing your arm down on his arm and twisting to push his trapped arm out and down. This will take him down while making it difficult for him to use his free arm against you. At this point, you are in a position to deliver a knee to the groin, an elbow to the face, a forearm to the face or neck, or to break the elbow by forcefully striking it from the rear while still holding the arm (see below).
A rear chokehold is a common method of assault. While there are many fancy and complex counters for this hold, most require that the defender be in good physical condition and at least moderately trained. The method shown here can be used by virtually anyone and is effective if delivered quickly and forcefully. You must stomp down as hard as possible on the top bridge of the assailant’s foot, and repeat until you are released. If you can get your foot higher, kick at the shins and then scrape down and stomp the foot. Best of all, if you can deliver a forceful kick to the assailant’s ankle, you can put him out of action. As soon as you are released, immediately kick at his knee or groin, and swing your elbow into his face. You can also forcefully bend back his finger or poke his eyes. These techniques are illustrated below.
Of course, it is best to avoid letting someone you don’t know get this close to you, but if you are getting choked, you must act immediately before you start to lose consciousness. The assailant clearly intends to kill you, and you cannot hesitate to implement brutal countermeasures. Moving in and bringing the arms up relieves the pressure on the throat while putting you in range to gouge the eyes with the thumbs. Gripping the side of the face with the fingers, dig your thumbs into his eyes, trying to pop them out of the sockets. The assailant will quickly lose interest in choking you. Now is the time for a groin kick or fist to the side of his head or neck. Put him down!
A good alternative to the eye gouge is to deliver a strong open-hand strike to the ear. This will rupture the eardrum and put the assailant out of the fight.
An assault often starts with the assailant grabbing the victim’s wrist. The expected reaction is for you to pull away. Rotating the arm out and down as shown below will break the assailant’s grip. You have opened him up for forearm and elbow strikes, as well as groin and knee joint kicks.
Having your body pinned down completely is probably the worst-case scenario in combat. You are on your back while the assailant has your arms pinned down with his legs, rendering you helpless to resist his blows and chokehold. As always, you need to act fast before you are beaten or choked to unconsciousness. Swing one leg over one of his legs as shown. Now rock and twist with all your strength in that direction, tipping the assailant over and reversing the situation. If done correctly and with force, you may break his ankle in the process. Quickly use a knee strike to the groin or kidneys while he is still surprised. The four images below illustrate these steps.
Assailants often use blunt objects—such as pipes, bats, or sticks—as weapons. The natural reaction to such an assault is to move back or to try to use the arm as a defense. Since the club has more force at the far end as it is swung, the best defense is to close the distance to the assailant and initiate your own attacks, as shown below. A forearm to the throat while stepping in to push the assailant over makes his club ineffective. As always, additional blows to the face and neck together with groin kicks can finish the job. The follow-up moves to this action are the same as for a knife defense. The four images below illustrate these actions.
Being attacked by someone wielding a knife is frightening. Obviously, if you have any kind of weapon of your own, you are fully justified in using it. A chair can be used as a shield. Throwing rocks or using a pipe or stick as a club can be effective. But if you are caught unarmed facing an attacker with a knife, even the best defense will probably result in your being cut. If you are then distracted by the blood and pain, you will receive more cuts or be stabbed to death. While trained combat and martial arts practitioners have multiple counters for knife attacks, the average person’s best chance (short of escape) is to step in close and fast, blocking the knife arm, and delivering disabling blows to the face and neck, and employing groin kicks.
Most knife assaults are from the underhand position, where the assailant holds the knife low, intending to make upward stabs to your abdomen. If you are pressed against the attacker, your vital organs are shielded by his body while you step inside to strike. Use your body to push him off balance while you deliver kicks and blows. Don’t let him up. Put him on the ground, stomp on a knee or wrist, and kick his head or face.
The same principles apply to overhead knife assaults, as shown below. In all cases, the striking arm must be on the same side as the assailant’s weapon (club or knife) to block it from effective use.
Having a handgun pointed at you is probably the most serious situation you can be in. Before initiating any aggressive disarming procedures, you need to assess your chances of being shot. In the case of robbery, carjacking, and attempted abduction, running away may be the best option. FBI statistics show that only 2 percent of victims are actually shot at if they run and only 5 percent of those are actually hit. Even if you are shot while running, you still have a fair chance of survival. If the assailant clearly intends to shoot you, then the risk of attempting to disarm him may be justified. There is always a considerable risk in initiating a gun-disarming technique, and it is to be considered a last resort if no other hope of surviving is available. In each case you want to push the gun into a position where it can’t be aimed at you and disable the attacker so that he either drops the gun or is effectively disabled.
Usually the assailant is behind you. In most cases he will be holding the weapon in his right hand, but you will be turning and stepping in and out of the line of fire regardless of what hand it’s in. Turning your body quickly to the outside has the gun pointing past you before the assailant can pull the trigger. If the gun is fired, you cannot let the sound disrupt your actions. You continue to rotate behind the assailant, using the inside foot to trip him as you force him off balance and down. Stomping on an ankle, kidney, and wrist, hold the gun before he can roll over. The following eight images demonstrate these steps.
A gun to your head provides an opportunity to counter because you know where the gun and the assailant are at the start. Again, rotating and moving inward puts the gun over your shoulder before the opponent can pull the trigger. Keep in mind that the gun may go off next to your ear. Next you can gouge his eyes or kick his groin hard.
Alternatively or as follow-up, you can step in and twist the assailant’s arm and fingers back and around to take him to the ground. Follow up immediately with disabling kicks.
The fist is generally a poor striking object. The hand has many fragile bones, and the fist spreads the force over six square inches. A fist strike may hurt someone, but it seldom puts him down in one blow. The elbow and forearm are far better weapons. The elbow is sharp and can be used inside, where fist blows are ineffective. An elbow to the face, neck, groin, or kidney will quickly end the fight. An elbow to the sternum can also disable. Such blows must be delivered with a hard, twisting motion to maximize effect. The outside surface of the forearm provides a hard and focused striking surface. As shown in the photos below, such a strike can be effective against the face, throat, and back of the neck. Open-hand slaps can be used for the neck and groin, as well. You must step through the triangle between the opponent’s legs as you deliver a strike to maximize the force.
Forearm blow to the side of neck
Forearm blow to the throat.
Elbow to sternum.
Open-hand strike to the throat.
Hit to the groin.
The legs are far stronger than the arms and can deliver much greater force. When delivering a kick, use the movement and weight of the entire body in the direction of the kick. Don’t kick at the target; kick through him. When using the knee to kick into the groin, kidney, or other point, use the body’s full weight behind the strike. When kicking the groin, attempt to lift the opponent.
Kick to the groin.
Knee to the face.
Stomp to the back.
Stomp to the ankle.
Stomp to the knee.
Knee to the back.