Self Defense Moves that Work
Self defense moves should be very simple and basic body movements. Many martial arts systems complicate the matter by creating sequential and fine motor movements that look pretty but have little practicality. And this is because they fail to observe the body’s natural response to stressful situations.
The best self defense moves observe and work with the fight or flight response, the body’s natural self defense mechanism which empowers us to fight or flee. It also increases our speed, power, and tolerance for pain. But it comes at a price. When our body is flooded with adrenaline, our vision narrows, our body trembles, and our ability to perform fine and complex motor movements diminishes. And surprise surprise, most self defense moves are fine or complex motor skills.
Despite this startling fact, there are self defense moves which are actually enhanced under high stress situations, gross motor skills. Gross motor movements are movements which replicate compound muscle movements like pushing, pulling, lifting, squatting, and throwing. These kinds of movements actually become stronger and faster. These motions are also so simple and basic that a novice can learn most of them in a single class.
Furthermore, it makes sense that if you are in this state of high stress, then your adversary may be as well. It’s important then to select self defense moves which are not only gross body movements, but also inhibit your opponent’s ability to fight. These are moves which attack the eyes to inhibit sight, the ears to inhibit balance and equilibrium, the throat to inhibit breathing, the neck to inhibit oxygen to the brain, and a direct and forceful palm strike to the nose, solar plexus and other vital targets. Another valuable target is the groin, and that needs little explanation.
Self defense moves which meet both of these criteria, being gross motor skills as well as attacking vital targets are the eye scrape, the palm heal strike, the ear box, the elbow strike, and the upward groin strike. Notice here I don’t include a fist strike, and that’s because it is quite easy to break your hand on an opponents skull if you hand is not well conditioned. The rest of these techniques are powerful, durable, versatile, and are unlikely to result in personal injury during the process of striking another.
The best way to practice these self defense moves is in full contact fashion on focus mitts with an experienced trainer. Obviously these techniques can maim or kill someone, so practicing them with any kind of power in a sparring match wouldn’t be wise. But if these moves are trained at full speed and full contact the trainee will learn to strike accurately, powerfully, and to ignore the sting of contact and keep fighting. Many martial arts systems practiced controlled fighting and no contact sparring. And while this is great for technique development, it also develops a lot of bad habits that will hinder ones chances of successful self defense. So stick to self defense moves that work, and practice them at max intensity.
Tags: Self Defense Moves
