The best move towards self defense will always be making your immediate environment safe to live in. Avoiding possible points of attack and living in a safe neighborhood is a primary requirement for your safety and that of the people around you. Taking preventive measures when your mind intuitively points to some impending danger is only sensible. Never wish trouble away, rather take active steps towards keeping yourself out of trouble. Nevertheless, when you can’t move out of an unsafe place or situation and you are forced to rise up to your defenses then you need to have the ability to do so effectively.

One disadvantage with many martial arts programs is that they are designed as competition-oriented skills rather than as self defense skills. The best self defense moves you can learn must always be able to:

1. Inflict damage to various points of pressure in the attacker’s body during a street fight
2. Put your mental calmness in total control at the moment of attack

These two requirements for effective self defense are usually not incorporated in many of the martial arts programs of these days. But you can still sign up for such a desired program for the sake of your physical fitness. However, besides that, you need to integrate drills from different cultures for a more unpredictable style of self defense. Self defense moves required in a street fight are nothing like what you see in the movies. In a real experience, like in case of a street brawl, you must become the victim turned into an aggressor if at all you are going to get the better of your attacker.

Another important facet of self defense is avoiding being over confident. Never try to do things outside your scope. Being over confident might end up working against you. Once again, forget the movies. If it is possible to run or escape an attack do so for that will be the most sensible thing to do.

Let it be the last resolve to fight an attacker. If you fight let it be a fight for your life and not for your pride. Use the quickest self defense technique and or a readily available weapon to cripple your attacker. The essence is to strike fast and hard before your attacker gets defensive. In the process you can call out for help or run away from the scene if possible. You should also keep your mind open so that when you run the direction you take should be towards safety.

The most effective self defense moves will always aim for the groin, the eyes, the knees, the throat, the neck and the nostrils. These are weakest points in the body and can easily decapitate an attacker.

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.