Читать книгу Krav Maga Tactical Survival - Гершон Бен Керен - Страница 7

PART I

Striking

The majority of violent situations you will find yourself in will occur face-to-face (Panim-a-Panim), regardless of whether you are dealing with a sexual assailant, a mugger, or a drunk in a bar. This means that in most situations, your solutions will involve striking (preferably preemptively) to a greater or lesser degree, and so you should therefore learn to strike hard and accurately.

If you look at what you are attempting to do in a violent altercation, 80 to 90 percent of it will be to try to deliver pain and concussive force through striking, with the goal of emotionally and physically debilitating your assailant so that they are either unable or unwilling to continue the fight. To this end, your striking should be conducted as an all-out assault against them, to be carried out with full emotion and aggression. It should look very different from the way that you spar—sparring is something you do with a partner; real-life striking is something you do against an assailant.

Your striking will be given its power and potency through your aggression and your emotion; a poorly executed strike delivered with full emotion and aggression will be more effective than a technically perfect one that lacks any emotional commitment.

Upper-Body Combatives

Many people who practice punching on focus mitts are surprised when they’re not able to generate the same type of power when striking the head with bare knuckles. The same will often be experienced by individuals who train/spar wearing gloves—the bigger the gloves they wear, the more difficult they will find the transition. When you strike a focus mitt, you are hitting a flat surface, so you are able to hit it square on and deliver driving force through the target. Gloves create the same effect by “flattening” the striking surface and spreading the force into the target. When you punch bare-knuckled to the head, you are rarely striking a flat surface—especially if you are striking someone who is directly in front of you. If, on the other hand, you move to the side of the person and strike, you can present the face as a flatter surface, and you can deliver greater concussive, damaging force. The effect of punching a face positioned directly in front of you is that your punches will often “roll” off the target. The risk of this increases if the head moves with the initial impact of your strike. This is why, if you are going to deliver straight punches, positioning yourself before striking is so important.

When you practice on striking surfaces that offer you a flat target, you can generate and focus power relatively easily. This is the purpose of such training aids. The problem is that in real-life altercations, where you are aiming strikes at the face/head, and other targets, you aren’t striking a flat surface, so it isn’t always possible to focus your power in the same way.

When you strike the face/head you are punching a spherical surface rather than a flat one. This may result in your fist rolling off the target rather than driving through it. It is also worth noting that a human head isn’t fixed; it is able to rotate on the neck, which may also cause your punch to roll off the target.

If you move to the side and strike the face/head at an angle, you will be striking a flatter surface than you would be if you were face on. This means you will be able to deliver driving force into the target. This is one reason you need to position yourself correctly before you deliver a punch.

It is not always possible to get into such a position, so it is worth having other striking tools that can be delivered when directly facing your assailant.

Because of this, it is good to have other striking options/tools in your arsenal that can often be more effective at delivering force into an irregularly shaped target such as the face/head.

Thumb Strike to Eyes

A thumb strike to the eyes is a very effective initial strike for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it doesn’t require a great deal of force to be effective, which means that you can throw it without having to first get your body aligned and into a position from which it can deliver real power. In the first moments of a fight, being able to do something that will disrupt your attacker is essential, as once an assailant gets some momentum and a rhythm to their assault, even relatively simple punches and strikes can be difficult to defend against. If you can interrupt your attacker’s momentum and flow at the outset, they will find it difficult to put a series of strikes together. Getting a thumb into one of their eyes is a great way to do this, as it will prevent them from moving forward into you and will allow you to move into them, taking the role of attacker from them and assuming it for yourself.

There are few strikes that are as simple and as effective as eye strikes—and one of the simplest ways to deliver an eye strike is to use the thumb. Simply moving your hand toward your attacker’s face at speed will usually result in them closing their eyes, which means that even if your aim isn’t good you will have caused them to pause/hesitate, allowing you the opportunity to follow up with other attacks/assaults.

If you aim your palm at someone’s face and stick the thumb out, it will find one of your attacker’s eyes. Once you have made contact, simply drive your thumb into their eye socket with all of your strength. Don’t try to measure the force you use; simply push into their eye as hard as you can. This is not a subtle technique. It is a great opening attack, as it doesn’t require much accuracy or force to be effective.

Eye strikes are painful—you are aiming to drive your thumb as far into your assailant’s eye socket as possible—there are no half-measures when it comes to dealing with violence. They are also disruptive: if you can affect your attacker’s vision, you will be depriving them of one of the tools they would be using in order to attack you. Even after the initial pain subsides, the eye(s) will be watering, making it difficult for your assailant to see you.

Another reason eye strikes are effective is that the type of pain they elicit is hard to gear yourself up for. When we become adrenalized and ready to fight, we switch on various “pain management” systems, because we expect to get punched, kicked, hit, etc. If your attacker is fully adrenalized and highly aggressive, they may not initially feel or experience the actual pain that a blunt-trauma strike such as a punch should deliver. In my time working in the security industry I have been hit with beer bottles, pool balls, and similar objects, and have been able to continue fighting, only to experience the true pain of these strikes after the event. Sticking a thumb into an eye bypasses these pain-management systems and “wakes” your assailant up to the sensation of pain, within the fight.

Palm-Heels to Nose

Palm-heel strikes are extremely underestimated, and for some reason tend to only get taught as a second-class type of strike to the closed fist. Yet the palm-heel strike is highly effective, and should be part of everyone’s toolkit. In my belief, it is wrong to rank the effectiveness of strikes against each other; it is more practical and useful to look on them as different tools, which are used to accomplish different goals and solve different problems. The open-palm strike should not be compared to a closed-fist punch and looked on as the “poor man’s” alternative to it; rather, it should be looked on as a standalone strike with its own advantages and disadvantages.

I often see the palm-heel strike taught with the hand being a very rigid unit, with the fingers pulled back and the palm exposed as a relatively “flat” striking unit that should be targeted against the chin in order to both deliver concussive force and direct the head back, akin to a closed-fist punch. While this can be an effective way of striking, I prefer to deliver the palm-heel strike with the hand being looser, and in more of a “cupping” fashion that wraps around the face, both obscuring vision (masking the face) and pushing upward against the nose—directing the head back, in preparation for harder, more concussive strikes.

Delivered in this way, as a “softer” strike against the nose, the fingers and thumb can also be driven into the eyes, making for a more disruptive strike.

There are many different ways to deliver a palm-heel strike, and all are valid; they simply accomplish different things. A rigid palm-heel strike to the face will not deliver as much concussive force as a punch, but it is less likely to damage the knuckles and bones of the hand.

By throwing a palm-heel strike against the chin, you are able to move your attacker’s head back, disrupting their balance and thus creating opportunities for further attacks.

You can also use the palm-heel strike in a less rigid fashion, with the idea of quickly getting a hand/strike into your attacker’s face so that their vision is obscured. Quickly getting a strike or hand into your attacker’s face, whether your thumb hits their eye or not, is an easy way to disrupt an assailant’s attack, and set up your own.

Cradle-Strike to Throat

The throat is a target that doesn’t move. An assailant can turn their head away, moving the eyes as a target; however, the throat and neck stay in place, meaning that they are always available to be attacked. Striking the throat causes shock and pain (it’s an unexpected pain), and can result in serious trauma; it can cause the internal cartilage of the trachea to collapse, resulting in difficulty breathing. A hard strike will also cause a degree of swelling around the throat, which will further affect breathing. This is one of the reasons why, in a fight, you should keep your chin tucked down so that the throat is protected (keeping your chin down will also direct your face downward, making you less vulnerable to a head-butt).

There are three soft and vulnerable targets that don’t require any force for a strike to be effective: these are the eyes, throat, and groin. Sometimes the eyes are not an effective target because an attacker turns their face away to avoid being hit there. It doesn’t matter how far a person turns their face/eyes away, however, the throat/neck will usually remain available. The best way to attack the throat is in an upward direction.

When you strike the throat, hit it hard. Your goal is to cause trauma and swelling to the throat so that your attacker’s breathing is impaired. An attacker who can’t breathe properly will not be able to fight effectively.

The throat can still be a target even if your attacker turns their face away, which would make an eye strike difficult/impossible. The throat can be a difficult target for an attacker to defend—unless they keep their chin tucked to their chest at all times.

The Initial Strike as a Range/Distance Finder

Your initial strike can be used as a tactile “marker” to set up further strikes. In a dynamic, fast-moving situation where there are many changes in movement, punches and strikes often won’t land because the distance and position between the striking unit (e.g., the fist), and the target (e.g., the face), change as the punch/strike is being delivered. By not retracting the initial strike—such as the thumb to your assailant’s eye(s)—you can not only control their head (the target), but also give yourself another tool for judging distance/range. You just have to deliver the second strike roughly where your first hand is, as it’s already on the target. Using this method of zoning in on your targets makes it almost impossible to miss with your subsequent strikes. As long as you keep your hand on their eyes, you will always know where to hit, regardless of whether they move in to you, pull away, turn their head, etc.

When your attacker is backing away quickly, it can be difficult to judge range effectively. In such situations, you can use your eye strike as a range finder to make sure that your other strikes land with full force. As you move toward your attacker, make an eye strike with your left hand.

Rather than retract the strike, keep your hand pressed into your attacker’s face as you set up a power strike. If your attacker tries to move toward you, your hand in their face will prevent them from doing so; if they continue to move back, or adjust their position, you will be able to feel their movement and follow them.

Keep your hand glued to your assailant as you strike them, so that you can keep delivering multiple power strikes against them. If your hand is on the target area, remove it as you strike with the other hand.

The Krav Maga Yashir system works off the continuum: Disrupt, Damage, Destroy, and Disengage. This means that your first goal is to disrupt your attacker (something that can be accomplished by an easy-to-deliver “soft” strike to the eyes or throat) before going on to damage and destroy them with concussive/forceful blows (“hard” strikes).

Hammer-Fists

The hammer-fist is one of the most versatile striking tools that you have, as it can be delivered at multiple angles, and uses the bottom of the fist as the striking surface. In this fashion the relatively delicate bone structure of the hand is protected by the adipose tissue, meaning that it is unlikely that any damage to the hand will be sustained when using this type of strike—something you are always at risk of when punching with a closed fist.

To strike with a closed fist without risking injury to the hand, it is wise to condition your hands. If you always wear wraps and/or gloves when you train, you may develop bad habits with your striking, such as not closing your fist fully on impact, etc. These bad habits could see you injuring your hands in a real-life confrontation; for example, if your assailant should duck their head, you may end up striking the skull rather than the face, and if your hand/fist is not properly conditioned for this type of potential impact, it is likely that you’ll damage it, as there would have been no consequence for this in a glove.

With the hammer-fist strike, you are making impact with the bottom of the fist. The fist is still tightened on impact, but instead of striking with the knuckles (which can also bruise quite easily), you are striking with the tightened soft tissue at the base of the fist, which doesn’t damage easily; this protects the relatively fragile bones of the hand.

Downward/Forward Hammer-Fist

This strike derives its power from the dropping of the hand, assisted by the body, onto whatever target has been selected. It can be delivered straight down, against a target such as the back of your assailant’s neck (if they are bent over), or it can be angled straight into an attacker’s face if they are standing/facing you.

In real-life situations there is no time to get into a “fighting stance.” If you try to do so, you will have both wasted time and informed your aggressor of your intentions. However, to practice hammer-fists, and understand how they work, a fighting stance is a good position to start from. In reality, your “fighting stance” is one that adheres to certain principles: weight distributed 50/50 between the feet, head over shoulders, shoulders over hips, feet on opposite corners of a rectangle, etc.

Turn the heel of your front foot outward (away from the centerline of your body), so that your body turns. At the same time, pull the elbow of your rear hand directly upward. The reason for the turning motion is that when you go to make your strike, you can “unwind” your body, to deliver more power into the strike.

Once your elbow has reached its maximum height, start to extend your arm. As you reach upward with your hand, raise your weight off your front foot, transferring it to the rear—your front leg should hold about 30 percent of your weight; your rear, 70 percent. This will allow you to move weight forward as you deploy your hammer-fist, adding power to the strike.

Once your arm is fully extended, your weight transferred, and your body fully bladed, you will be ready to make the strike. Although it may seem that this process takes a long time, when all the movements are done simultaneously, it will be extremely fast.

Start to unwind your body, and shift your weight forward (your right hip should be pushing forward into the strike), as you bring your fist down. You should have the feeling of the body pushing your hand forward and down.

As you deliver the strike, start to bend the knees and sink your weight in order to add more power to your strike.

Rather than “bouncing” the strike off the target, drive through it, and prepare to raise the elbow again, in a cyclical fashion, to deliver another strike. Another advantage hammer-fist strikes have over straight punches is that it is much easier to move forward throwing multiple hammer-fist strikes than it is to move forward throwing full-force straight punches.

This is an extremely powerful strike, which sees your extended arm, held overhead, crash downward (and sometimes forward) into the intended target (nose, back of head/neck, clavicle, etc.). The same strike can be made while holding a pen, flashlight, etc., so that all the force of the strike is concentrated through a harder and much more focused striking surface.

If you can find a solid object, such as a pen, a flashlight, a mobile phone, etc., you can use this to focus the power of your hammer-fist strike. Simply hold the object in your hand—with your thumb over the top to prevent it slipping when it makes impact—and deliver a hammer-fist strike against your assailant. If you aim for the chest, make sure you rip/scrape the object down the body after it has landed, in order to cause maximum trauma.

It may seem that the extension of the arm overhead is a little contrived, even theatrical, and more befitting of a martial-arts technique than one that should be used in a real-life situation. After all, do you really have time to extend the arm that high when dealing with an aggressor who is coming at you with full force and full speed? The real answer is no; however, in training we should enlarge and exaggerate our movements, making them as big as possible, for one simple reason: under stress and adrenaline, our movements shrink and become contracted. If we try to train our techniques as we think we would execute them in reality, it is likely that when we are called upon to use them in a real-life confrontation where we are adrenalized/stressed, they will be too small, and will not contain enough power to be effective.

When you train, you should look to make movements—however exaggerated—that will deliver the maximum amount of power and energy possible, with the awareness that adrenaline may well cause them to shrink and become less powerful.

Cycling Hammer-Fist Strikes

Striking combinations, from a self-defense perspective, do not have to be complex; in fact, there is no reason to throw a myriad of different strikes at your assailant if repeating the same strike over and over again is effective. Because the strike and recoil of the downward or vertical hammer-fist are circular in nature, the hand/fist can easily be pulled back up, ready to make another strike, without there having to be a break in the movement of the arm. This means you can land multiple hammer-fist strikes in quick succession, without giving your assailant an opportunity to attack/counterattack.

By moving forward, and, if necessary, using your left hand to push/strike your attacker’s face (in order for it to be in place for your next strike) you should be able to land a large number of powerful strikes using just a hammer-fist.

Combining Eye/Throat Strikes and Range-Finders with Hammer-Fists

While a good eye or throat strike is effective at disrupting an attacker, at some point you will need to deliver forceful concussive strikes that will start to cause extreme pain and trauma to your assailant. A good follow-up strike to these strikes is to use the hammer-fist in a cyclical fashion to repeatedly beat down on your attacker. This may not seem like a particularly sophisticated solution; however, it is a simple and effective one that sees you laying down a lot of firepower in an aggressive and determined manner. If you can strike in such a way that there are few spaces and gaps between your strikes, it will be almost impossible for your assailant to launch any assault of their own. Your goal is not to fight your attacker, but to assault them with an all-out blitz that they are unable to cope with. Simplicity and aggression are often better friends than sophistication, where violence is concerned.

Eye strikes are good first strikes, as they don’t need to be well placed or delivered with force to have an effect. Unfortunately, they don’t deliver concussive force, which is necessary to cause your assailant the type of pain and trauma that will make them want to disengage from the fight. As you throw the eye strike, start to bring up the elbow of your rear hand in preparation for delivering a hammer-fist strike.

The eye strike will provide cover for the time it takes to raise the arm up to make a strong hammer-fist strike.

This time, instead of simply turning and dropping your weight, turn and step forward to bring your bodyweight into the strike.

Drive through with your hammer-fist. As you start cycling it through to throw another, start to move your left hand forward.

Your left hand can do one of several things: it can make an eye strike or a cradle-strike to the throat, or it can act as a range finder for your next strike. Bring your rear leg forward so that you are ready to step forward when you make your next hammer-fist strike.

Your goal is to keep your assailant moving backward as you overwhelm them with strikes. While they are moving backward and defending themselves, they will have few opportunities to make an attack of their own.

Drive through with your hammer-fist strike, stepping forward as you do. With your attacker bent over, the back of the neck is a good target to aim for. As you strike, pull your left hand back so that it can be used to make another strike.

Once again, bring the rear foot forward and make another eye strike or cradle-strike while setting up your hammer-fist strike.

This process can be repeated over and over again. You don’t have to alternate every hammer-fist with an eye/throat strike; it may be more effective to throw several hammer-fist strikes and only use the eye/throat strike as a way to move them back if they aren’t moving fast enough in response to your hammer-fists, causing you to get jammed up. As soon as it is safe to do so, disengage. If you end up forcing your assailant into a wall or similar where they don’t have an opportunity to disengage, they will be forced to come back at you fighting. It is rarely a good idea to stay too long attacking an assailant in such a position.

Horizontal/Outward Hammer-Fist Strikes

Hammer-fists can be thrown at virtually any angle, due to the ability of the forearm and shoulder to rotate and present the bottom of the fist in many directions. There are, of course, certain directions from which more power can be generated than others. One direction in which an immense amount of power can be generated is outward, away from the body. If this is coupled with the hips turning and/or a step out, so that the hips can be opened and the bodyweight transferred, then the entire movement of the body can be applied to the strike.

The outward hammer-fist strike comes into its own when your assailant tries to move out of the way of your linear striking. If an assailant is moving backward against someone cycling hammer-fists, they will soon realize that moving backward in a straight line only sees them remaining in the path of the onslaught, and that it would be better/safer if they moved to the side—offline and out of the line of fire. If you are attacking with momentum, it may be that as they move to your side, you initially continue moving forward. Your goal should now be to change direction while still striking, using something like a horizontal hammer-fist strike. You won’t want to turn and then resume your striking, as this would create time and space for the assailant to recover and possibly initiate their own attack.

Just because you have a plan doesn’t mean that your attacker will cooperate with it by reacting in the way you predict (or possibly the only manner in which you’ve trained). If you only train for one outcome, you will be surprised and caught flat-footed when your assailant doesn’t respond as you expected. It may be that as you rain hammer-fist strikes down on your assailant, they will manage to step off to one side in order to avoid further strikes.

As soon as the target changes direction, so must your attacks—this is necessary in order to keep your assailant under pressure, not giving them any time or space to launch a counterattack against you. Immediately pull your arm across your body, and prepare to extend it horizontally toward your assailant.

Turn with your body and hips to unwind your strike into your attacker—you can use your back muscles to assist with this turning action. Shift your weight from your left foot to your right in order to help get your bodyweight into the strike.

Strike your attacker’s face or neck, connecting with the bottom of your fist, and drive through the strike.

The horizontal hammer-fist can be used effectively when you recognize that an assailant is coming toward you from the side or rear. One of the assumptions you should always work from is that your primary assailant is not alone; that they have friends and third parties who can come and assist them. This means that while you are dealing with an attacker who is in front of you, another can approach from the side, or from behind you. (This is one of the reasons you should move and scan, so that you have a 360-degree field of vision and know what is happening in your environment.) If you detect movement coming toward you, you should assume that it is hostile, as people generally move away from fights unless they have an interest in them. If it is a friend of yours coming to assist you, it’s hard luck for them; in a fast-paced, dynamic conflict, you may not have time to make a full assessment of whether the movement belongs to someone coming to help you—and the only safe assumption is that it doesn’t. If you are in a group where people might want to assist you in the case of a physical confrontation, plan with them beforehand the best way to do this.

Not all situations will involve single attackers, and it may not be evident who in the environment is an attacker, and who is not. In this situation, you are dealing with an aggressive individual who you are pretty sure is intending to attack you. Put your hands up in a placating manner as you try and de-escalate the situation, but also be ready to defend yourself. You may be aware of another person in the environment, but may not have enough time and space to move away from them.

The aggressor in front of you suddenly starts to move toward you. Your de-escalation stance, with hands raised, has prepared you to move to make an eye strike in order to set up your hammer-fist strikes. At this point, the second person has not indicated whether or not they are going to get involved.

Your eye strike and first hammer-fist strike have caused your initial assailant to back away; however, as you were launching your assault on them, you realize that the second person has begun to move toward you.

You don’t have the time to work out whether they are coming to assist you or attack you, and your only safe option is to assume the latter. Because they are moving toward you, and your other attacker is moving away, the second person should now become your primary target. Bring your right hand across your body in preparation for delivering a horizontal hammer-fist.

Step toward them and deliver a hammer-fist into their neck or the side of their face.

Once you have struck them, immediately turn back toward your original assailant. If they haven’t already started to move toward you, they are likely to now. Use the follow-through motion of your strike to set yourself up to make a downward hammer-fist strike.

Step toward your first attacker and start to deliver downward hammer-fist strikes against them. Keep driving forward and delivering strikes so that you have dealt with them before the second attacker recovers. In multiple-assailant situations, you should try to take one attacker out at a time, rather than dividing your efforts and attention among them.

Forearm Strikes

The forearm can also be used as an effective striking tool, in a similar fashion to the horizontal hammer-fist. Although it is a slower-moving strike, it requires less accuracy, as is has a much larger striking surface—and it has the advantage of bringing the whole weight of the arm to bear. It can also be used at a closer range, making it an effective tool for creating space. A forearm strike works extremely well when it is brought down at a 45-degree angle against the neck and throat. You may also end up connecting with the forearm by chance if an attacker moves toward you as you are throwing a hammer-fist strike against them.

Forearm strikes against the neck are extremely powerful; they can be delivered with such force that it feels like the head is being torn off the body. Wind the arm around/across your body as if you were going to make a hammer-fist strike; of course, you will be much closer to your assailant when you are striking with the forearm.

Unwind the strike, aiming your outer forearm at your assailant’s neck. Power should come from the turning action of your hips, coupled with the pulling action of your back muscles. It should be the body moving the arm, not the other way around.

Strike at a 45-degree angle, hitting downward into the base of the neck.

Keep transferring your weight into the strike and driving through your target. With a solid, driving strike you should be able to knock your attacker to the ground.

Hook Punches and Slicing/Circular Elbow Strikes

The toughest striking tools you have on your body are your elbows, knees, and head; and at some point you will be looking to move into an effective range to use these. (In reality, most fights either start at this range or soon close distance to it.)

Most people fail to make contact with circular elbow strikes because they underestimate how close they need to be to the target (their aggressor’s head), and either miss completely or lean forward to make sure that they connect. When throwing any strike, the head should remain over the shoulders, and the shoulders should stay over the hips. If your body leans forward, not only will your balance be compromised, but you won’t be able to fully utilize the power of the back muscles, which should help turn the torso and power the strike.

It is harder to get the timing and distance right with a circular strike than it is with strikes and punches that are directed forward. It is easier to judge distance and timing when your strike is traveling in a straight line, as opposed to a strike that travels in an arc, because the point at which that arc intersects the target has to be calculated. It is worth noting this, because in any physical confrontation you will want to keep things as simple as possible, and circular strikes—especially those delivered with the forward arm/hand—can be difficult to pull off successfully in a dynamic situation.

The power of the circular elbow strike comes from the hips and torso, rather than from the arm and shoulder; however, not a great deal of power needs to be generated for the strike to be successful. If the elbow can make impact and then drag across the face, digging into flesh and cutting skin, it will be an extremely effective strike, generating a lot of pain. One of the big myths about cutting the flesh/skin of the face is that you can cause a great deal of blood to run into the eyes, and so affect your aggressor’s vision. This really only happens in a prolonged fight, after the effects of the adrenal fight/flight response have worn off. This is because when a person becomes adrenalized, the blood moves from the surface skin and peripheries to the larger muscles. This means that in the first 15 seconds or so of the fight (and most fights are shorter than this), there isn’t a great quantity of blood in the forehead.

Rear Slicing Elbow

If you are facing an aggressive individual who has yet to launch an attack, you should adopt a de-escalation/interview stance. Your head should be over your shoulders, with your shoulders over your hips (i.e., you are upright, rather than bent forward or backward). Your hands should be out in front of you, controlling range and distance in a placating, non-aggressive manner. This is a good stance from which to launch many different attacks without giving your intentions away to an aggressor.

To throw a rear slicing elbow strike, first turn your left hip inward as you pull your arm back to make the strike. You should also shift some of your weight onto your back foot so that you can transfer it forward when you make the strike.

Start to pull your left hip back and drive your right hip forward as you turn at the waist to start bringing the elbow forward.

Start to roll the elbow over so that it can cut down at a 45-degree angle, as you drive your right hip forward and shift your weight toward the target.

When you make the strike, continue to drive through the target, rather than recoiling it—from here, you will also be in a good position to deliver a horizontal hammer-fist strike with your right arm.

You should be looking to cut across your assailant’s face at a 45-degree angle, driving your strike into them and downward.

Forward Slicing Elbow

Assume a neutral but prepared stance, with your hands out in front of you. Position your feet on opposite corners of a rectangle, with your weight distributed evenly. This is a non-threatening, non-challenging stance that also displays confidence and self-assurance due to your upright posture.

Turn your forward hip in and pivot on the toes of your front foot. At the same time, pull your forward hand toward your chest and swing your elbow out.

Keep turning to bring your elbow into the target. As you do this, raise your other hand up to protect your head. You should still be looking ahead at your assailant.

Don’t immediately recoil the strike on impact, but continue to drive through with your elbow. From here, you could swing your left arm back toward your assailant, using a hammer-fist or forearm strike.

When you are striking someone with a series of blows, you need to be able to work their response(s) into your strikes. It is unlikely, for example, that their head—the target—will remain in the same place, especially if you are effective in your striking: some people will duck; some will try to close distance with you to clinch and cover; others will move back, etc. This is the dynamic nature of a fight, and you must be able to adapt and alter your strikes based on your assailant’s movements and responses. It may be that as you go to launch a forward slicing elbow, your aggressor has already moved back as a result of to your previous strike. This means you must be able to make this strike on the move, rather than from a static position. Being able to strike powerfully and with effect while moving is something that many people in the self-defense community neglect in their training, thinking it is something that is only applicable in combat sports such as Boxing, Muay Thai, and MMA. Being able to strike with power while moving, however, is an essential fighting skill that you will need to train in order to be effective in real-life confrontations.

Assume your interview/de-escalation stance: hands out in front, feet on opposite corners of a rectangle, weight distributed 50/50, head over shoulders, shoulders over hips. Obviously, in addition to being used as an initial attack as shown here, this and all the other strikes described can be used as part of an attacking combination.

Move forward toward the target by pushing off explosively from your back foot, and stepping with your forward foot. Start to bring your forward hand to your chest and raise the elbow. Your rear hand should come up to guard your head as you do this.

As you step and bring the elbow out, start to turn your body by turning your foot inward and rotating your torso. This will ensure that your weight is behind the strike.

Keep turning your body so that it is bladed/turned sideways to your attacker. Your weight should still be shifting forward at this point.

As your elbow connects, you should be positioned sideways to your attacker, and your weight should have been transferred into the strike.

Continue swinging/cutting through the target with your elbow and bring your rear foot forward—your weight transfer should naturally pull it with you. From here you can turn back out, either throwing a rear elbow strike with your back hand or a forearm/hammer-fist strike with your left arm. Even if you connect solidly with the target, don’t assume the fight is now finished—your attacker may be drugged, adrenalized, etc., making them somewhat impervious to pain.

Hook Punches

Given the choice, you should look to throw elbow strikes to the head, rather than hook punches. Both are thrown from the same range, and the elbow is a much more devastating striking implement than the fist. However, there may be times when it is impossible to make a good connection with an elbow, making the hook punch a better tool to go with. One example would be when an assailant starts to cover their head with a high guard. In such a situation, your circular elbow strikes will not be able to make contact with your assailant’s head, as they will be stopped by your assailant’s arms. This means you will need a strike that is able to get behind their guard and reach the target. This is something that the hook punch is designed to do.

If a person has their hands up and is guarding their head, throwing circular elbow strikes is likely to be ineffective. It may be better to use a hook punch to get around your attacker’s guard.

Rather than striking with the elbow, bring an arm up and prepare to make a hook punch around your attacker’s guard.

Start to turn your torso just as you would when making a slicing elbow strike; the body movement for both these circular attacks is the same. Bring your arm up—it should have a 90-degree bend at the elbow to get around the arm of your attacker. Your hand should now be positioned to move behind your attacker’s guard.

Keeping the arm in this position, continue to turn your torso to bring your fist toward your attacker’s chin.

As you connect, start to extend the arm, driving your fist through the target. Don’t keep turning the body beyond this point, as you risk turning away from your attacker and giving them your back.

The hook punch is delivered in much the same fashion as the slicing elbow. The body movement is exactly the same: the heel raises, the elbow comes up, the hips turn, and the torso twists. Instead of the elbow slicing, however, the fist is used to punch across the body into the attacker’s head. The only real circular motion of the hook punch is made by the body turning; the arm itself extends in almost a straight line across the body, like a jab that is delivered sideways. It is the turning of the body that makes the arm motion appear circular.

Hook punches work best as one of a combination of strikes; however, for the purpose of clearly illustrating the technique, it will be demonstrated from the interview/de-escalation stance.

Pull your arm back and make a loose fist. Don’t clench your fist tightly at this time, as this would tense the muscles of your arm and slow down its movement.

Imagine that you have a piece of string that runs from your elbow and attaches to your heel. As you raise your elbow it pulls your heel up, so that you can pivot on the ball of the foot. This will allow you to drive your hip into the strike.

Keep turning your body, with the arm bent at the elbow. At this point, all of the power should be generated by the turn of the body.

As your fist connects with the target, stop your body turn and start to extend your arm; think of it as making a jab punch across your body. This will allow you to drive your fist through the target without having to keep turning, which would expose your back to your assailant.

Once you have extended the arm, recoil it and start to pull your body back by sharply pulling your right hip backward.

By continuing to pull the hip back, you should end up back in the position you started from.

If the arm itself were to make a circular motion, rather than be moved by the body, two things would happen. For one, the punch would hit the target at an angle and force would be transmitted in several directions; for a strike to have maximum power, all the force should be directed into and through the target in a straight line. The other problem with the arm moving in a circular fashion is that if you miss, it will pull your body around, exposing your back to your attacker. If the body turns enough to put power into a “sideways” jab, but isn’t pulled around by the arm in a circular fashion, the hips will stay square and facing your assailant.

When you throw a hook punch, don’t swing your punch and/or turn your body too far. If you fail to connect with the punch, you will end up in a vulnerable position. If your attacker pulls their head back from your strike, the momentum of your swing will see your fist travel past them—something that would not have happened had you extended the arm, jabbing it out across your body.

As you continue to turn, your back will now be exposed toward your attacker and your hands will not be in a position where they could be used to cover/block/protect you.

Your assailant will now be able to launch their own attack, striking vulnerable targets such as the back of your neck.

If your back is turned to your assailant, they will be able to drive into you, delivering strike after strike, before you can reorient yourself to respond.

I have been involved in many, many discussions concerning the orientation of the fist when throwing a hook punch; e.g., should the thumb be up (vertical fist), or should it be facing toward you (horizontal fist), etc.

If the fist is turned over so that the thumb is pointing toward you, you will generate more power. The rotation caused by such a movement engages the muscles of the shoulder to a greater degree than if no rotation had occurred. The issue, however, is that the larger knuckles, which you want to strike with, are now closer to you than to your assailant. If you are accurate with your hook punches, and your timing is good enough that your attacker isn’t able to pull their head away from the punch to any degree, this won’t be a problem.

If you strike with the thumb up, you will lose some power, but it is unlikely you will end up connecting with anything but the larger knuckles.

However, if your attacker flinches, or your range control isn’t perfect, you will probably connect with your weaker knuckles, and if you hit the skull, they may break. The irony of punching is that the harder you punch, the more likely you are to injure your hand.

The only issue to be aware of when punching this way is that, although you are connecting with the largest knuckles, you may run the risk of damaging your wrist if your fist isn’t clenched tightly and your wrist fixed and locked.

Although it’s an interesting theoretical debate, when it actually comes down to it, the way you orient your fist doesn’t really matter; each position has its pros and cons, and at the end of the day, the hand position probably only accounts for 5 percent of the final strike. The most important part of any punch is the way the body works as a unit to create power. If you are looking to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your punching, it would be better to concentrate on this, rather than getting caught up in the nuances around the orientation of the fist.

At the end of the day, the orientation of the fist should, in most cases, be affected by your level of proficiency in throwing the strike. If you believe you have the control and range to ensure that you can connect with the larger knuckles, rotating the fist and engaging the shoulder muscles will give your strike more power. Another consideration is whether or not you are carrying a weapon. If your primary tool of self-defense is a firearm, baton, pepper spray, etc., the risk of breaking a knuckle probably isn’t worth it. If you break a bone in your hand during this process so that you are unable to draw/use these tools, then the strike will have failed to achieve its purpose in creating the time, space and distance to allow you to get to them.

If your assailant is effectively using a high guard to protect their head (possibly even against your hook punches), you may want to get them to drop their hands so that this target is exposed. Do not be fooled into thinking that because someone is acting in a defensive manner they are beaten/finished, or that you have the advantage. It may be that they are simply waiting for an opportunity to pull out a weapon and change the odds of the fight.

One way to get your assailant to lower their guard and drop their hands is to start attacking the body. Be aware that it is possible to condition the body to take a high degree of pain, so you may need to strike the same target several times in order to have an effect. If you can land your strikes to the kidneys, you will elicit a flinch response that makes your aggressor crunch up in such a way that the arms will drop down to protect the body. It can be difficult to strike so accurately in a dynamic context, though, and heavy clothing, such as a coat, can mitigate some of the effects of your strikes. However, if you repeatedly strike in roughly the same place, putting the full weight of your body into the strike, your assailant will be forced to start defending this area. As soon as the assailant’s hands drop and you recoil your strike, you should turn your attention to the head.

If your attacker is protecting their head well, and has a high and tight guard, it may be difficult to get an elbow—or even a hook punch—in.

One way that you may be able to get your assailant to drop their guard and open themselves up is to throw low punches/hooks at their body. To try to protect from these, they will need to lower their hands, which will make their head available as a target.

Although they have blocked your low hook, their head is now exposed.

Pull your punch back by recoiling your hip, so that you are now in a position to deliver a hook (or slicing elbow strike) to your assailant’s head.

Push your hip forward, raise the elbow and the heel, and make a hook strike to the head.

With your attacker’s guard opened up and their head vulnerable, you can start to deliver further strikes to this target.

Although body shots are generally not the most effective type of strike (unless you are extremely accurate and able to target specific areas such as the liver) in a short conflict (lasting less than 10 seconds), they are useful for setting up other strikes and diverting an assailant’s attention away from other areas. In longer-lasting incidents, body shots will end up tiring and exhausting an unconditioned assailant, and can be extremely effective at slowing them down. This is especially true if the person you are assaulting does not know how to control their breathing when they are punched.

Even if a person is guarding their face or head, making it difficult to throw elbow strikes at it, you don’t necessarily have to use hook punches to get around their guard. A very simple solution is to use one hand to hook around and clear their blocking arms so that you are able to strike them.

Another simple way to open a person’s guard up…

…is to grab the wrist of one of the arms (it is often easier to grab their left arm with your left hand, and vice versa) and pull the arm down to expose the head.

This will allow you to throw elbow strikes and/or similar attacks toward your assailant’s face.

If there is space between your assailant’s arms, you could also come through the middle of their guard with a slicing uppercut elbow.

Assume your de-escalation/interview stance.

Step/slide forward with your left foot, turning your hand in, and start to raise your elbow. Your rear hand should start to pull back in order to come back and guard your head.

Keep raising the elbow in a circular fashion toward the target.

Once it hits, continue to drive it upward, while at the same time pulling your hand back behind your head.

In this and the next photograph, you can see how the body turns inward to add power to the strike.

If you were square-on to your aggressor, your elbow will have now come directly to your assailant’s center line; i.e., directly between their guard.

By continuing the upward arc of the elbow after it has connected, you will cause the head to be driven backward, and the elbow will be scraped upward into your assailant’s face.

Combining Hook Punches with Hammer-Fist Strikes

The outward hammer-fist can also be thrown as a second strike after a hook punch or slicing elbow—it works especially well if either of these short-range strikes have missed—either because your attacker pulled their head back, or because you misjudged the range and distance (something which can easily happen in a dynamic situation).

If your assailant moves their head back to avoid one of these strikes, immediately turn your body back and extend the arm, throwing a horizontal outward hammer-fist at your attacker’s head or neck. It is probably best to err on the side of caution and strike a little deeper than might be necessary to reach the target. This way, you will at least make contact with your forearm if your attacker pulls their head away again.

As you throw your hook punch, your attacker may pull their head back to avoid it.

If you have already committed to the strike, your hook punch will miss. So long as you don’t swing the punch wildly, your attacker won’t have the opportunity to attack your back.

Bring your arm back across your body in order to deliver a hammer-fist or forearm strike.

Transferring your weight forward and taking a step forward will move you toward your attacker. As you do this, unwind your arm from around you to deliver either a forearm strike or a hammer-fist strike, depending on the range.

Even if your attacker has their hands held up to guard their head, the power generated by your body unwinding and moving forward is likely to crash straight through them, hitting the target regardless.

Continue to drive your strike into your attacker as if you are trying to use it to cut off their head.

This should see them concussed, with their balance severely compromised. From here, you can either disengage or continue to deliver strikes until your attacker is no longer able to continue fighting, emotionally and/or physically.

It may be that you connect with the hook, and this moves the person’s head back, which sets up the hammer-fist strike. If you strike in this rhythm, with both strikes occurring in quick succession, you may knock your assailant out, as the brain will receive a “double shake,” being quickly moved one way and then the other. It is worth pointing out that knocking your assailant out is something that may happen in the course of striking, rather than something that you should aim to do. If you spend your time chasing/looking for an opening that will allow you the chance to knock your aggressor out, you will be wasting time that could have been spent delivering multiple strikes, which might have totally overwhelmed them and caused them to emotionally crumble, removing them from the fight much earlier. During your blitzing assault on your assailant, you may “get lucky” and physically knock them out, but don’t waste your time looking for that one opportunity. You should lay down your strikes like a machine gunner, not a sniper.

Defending Against Punches with a Punch

One of the foundational principles of Krav Maga is that attack should follow defense at the earliest opportunity. One way to do this is to combine an attack with a defensive movement, such as using the same punch to both attack your assailant and at the same time defend against their punch. This particular technique works well against a circular punch when you are already in the fight. If you are “sucker punched” and taken by surprise, your natural reflexes will take over and you will perform a 360 defense; i.e., you will end up flinching, and bring your arm up to block.

You should only ever attempt to defend a punch with a punch when you are sure that your attacker doesn’t have a knife, broken bottle, or other such implement in their hand. The trick to being successful with this is to ignore the punch that is being thrown by your aggressor, as the movement will draw both your attention and your strike away from its intended target and toward your assailant’s attack. Instead, all of your focus should be on executing your own punch, and letting the movement of your arm perform a blocking action.

As your assailant begins to throw a circular punch toward you, start to raise your elbow upward while at the same time driving your fist forward toward your attacker’s face.

Keep raising the elbow up as you deliver the punch forward. Your fist will be corkscrewing round so that thumb is pointing toward the ground, rather than up.

Continue this rotation of the fist so that the elbow is lifted high. This means that your attacker’s strike will be blocked by your punching arm.

Continue to extend your arm and drive your fist into and through your attacker’s face. You can then follow up on this, using your left arm to deliver further strikes.

Be aware that this is not a “power” punch as such, because you will be connecting with the smaller, weaker knuckles of the hand—you should instead think of it as a “jabbing” punch that interrupts your attacker’s assault and rhythm, and allows you the opportunity to set up further strikes of your own.

Other Attacking Tools

Biting

A real-life fight is a dirty thing, and as such, nothing can ever be ruled out. If you are fighting for survival—and this is the only reason you should be fighting—everything and anything should be used. This includes biting. Although we don’t possess the jaw and bite strength of a Rottweiler or a pit bull, biting can be an effective tool for us to use. It is worth pointing out that clothing can often render biting ineffectual, so it should never be seen as a silver bullet, though it definitely does have its time and place.

Biting works very well for small children who are being abducted or pulled away by an adult assailant. A child should try to grab their attacker’s arm with both hands to steady themselves, and then bite into it. As soon as they feel the grip loosen, they should move to get away/disengage. Understand that although this type of assault—a stranger trying to kidnap a child, for whatever purposes—is what we fear most, it is not the most likely way for an adult to get a child to go with them. Children need to be educated in identifying the grooming process that adult predators use, as well as learning physical self-defense techniques.

Biting is an effective tool for two basic reasons: firstly, a person who is bitten instinctively pulls away from the bite, making it a great way to create space to move/escape when held in a lock or control. Secondly, it sends a clear message to your attacker as to where your head space is, and what you are prepared to do in order to survive the fight—being bitten is something an attacker probably didn’t expect when they decided to assault you.

If you are dealing with a multiple-assailant situation in which you want to send a clear message to the group—one that says they are not going to have an easy time dealing with you—biting the primary aggressor, and moving them so that they are between you and the others, can be an effective strategy. If those less-committed members of the group witness the most aggressive and determined member bleeding and in extreme pain, they will be less likely to want to involve themselves in the fight.

If you find yourself in a situation where you have no disengagement options and are dealing with multiple assailants, you should first see if de-escalation or acquiescing to your aggressors’ demands (handing your wallet over if it’s a mugging, etc.) will work as a solution. If your attackers seem committed to violence—i.e., they stay after you give them what they want, they continue to be verbally aggressive, etc., you will need to take decisive action.

Grab the attacker who is nearest to you—one hand grabbing the back of their head, the other their chin—and move rapidly and aggressively toward them. It is likely that the assailant nearest to you is the primary aggressor, and the other person(s) with them secondary aggressors who may or may not be motivated to get involved. They may simply be members of the group who will join in if necessary, but will not want to initiate an assault.

Turn your attacker’s head so that their nose is in line with your mouth. Once those who are less motivated understand what is happening and what you are about to do, they may well back away, as they now know what the cost of involvement may be.

When you bite the nose, get a good grip on it (don’t seal your mouth around it, though, for health and safety reasons), and while still holding the head, rip it from side to side. This may seem barbaric, but you will want to cause your assailant as much pain as possible. Ideally, you want everyone else in the group to hear your attacker’s screams and shouts so that they hesitate to get involved. Still holding/biting your attacker, maneuver yourself to a position from which you can disengage.

When you bite, you should aim to “nip” at your assailant’s exposed or unprotected flesh (i.e., that covered by a T-shirt or another type of clothing with sufficiently thin material), rather than making deep bites. Nipping and then pulling/ripping the flesh with the teeth causes much more acute pain than simply making a deep bite. Another advantage of nipping is that the mouth rarely forms an airtight seal around the flesh; this means that most blood-borne diseases such as HIV and hepatitis will present less of a risk.

Another reason “full” bites are inadvisable is that they can end up allowing your aggressor to take advantage of the relative weakness of your jaw. A good example of this would be a rear strangle situation, where it might at first glance seem a good idea to bite the attacking arm.

The problem arises when the attacker, rather than pulling away from the bite, pulls into it, extending and painfully opening the jaw, to the point where the bite no longer troubles them and they have control of your head—and therefore your body and movement.

When an attacker pulls back violently, they move their arm backward toward your back teeth, where you have no leverage, and your bite will be ineffective. Having your jaw forced open in this way is extremely painful.

Head-Butts

The skull is extremely thick in certain places, and with the head comprising of about 8 percent of total bodyweight, using this area of the body to strike can be extremely effective. The toughest part of the skull is at the top of the forehead, at the hairline, and this is the area you want to direct toward your assailant’s face/bridge of the nose (soft target areas).

There are two basic ways to deliver the head-butt. The simplest way is to “lock” the neck and simply drive your forehead into your attacker’s face. The other involves swinging your head forward, toward your assailant’s face. When swinging the forehead down, try not to just swing from the neck, but swing from the middle of your back as you push your head forward.

Driving Head-Butt

I have been head-butted twice in my life; on both occasions I was knocked unconscious, and I can still recall the exact pain I felt. In most cases, we are quick to forget extreme pain, but for some reason, I can still remember exactly what it feels like to be struck this way. One of the easiest ways to deliver a head-butt is to grab your attacker’s clothing and aim the top of your forehead toward your attacker’s face.

Take a step forward, pushing your attacker back while lowering yourself. When they are unbalanced, they are not in a good position to defend themselves.

Strike with the top of your skull (normally around the front hairline) toward your attacker’s nose, crushing it against your skull. Take this opportunity to drag your rear foot forward, so that you are in a good position to deal with their attacks and/or make your own further attacks.

The same head-butt can be delivered to an attacker’s chest or upper-body in order to open them up and disrupt their balance.

Swinging Head-Butt

Take hold of your assailant’s clothing and pull your head back. Rather than driving your head forward with the neck locked, swing your head toward your attacker.

You should aim to connect the solid, bony part of your skull—around the top of the forehead/hair-line—with the bridge of your attacker’s nose.

Lower-Body Combatives

Front Kick with Glisha

When you strike someone, whether it’s a punch or a kick, you will ideally want them to either be rooted in place or moving onto your strike. This is why it isn’t enough to just be able to punch and kick with power; you must also be able to control your assailant’s movement so that your strikes produce an effect. If you kick someone as they are moving back, a lot of your power will go into pushing your attacker backward, adding to their movement rather than being absorbed by them. This may be your intention; however, if you want to inflict pain and damage on them, it will not be effective to kick them as they are moving backward.

Kicks can be delivered at close range, but they will generally be more effective at long range. Many systems will break down their techniques by range, saying that there is a kicking range, a punching range, a grappling range, etc. In reality, this is not the case, as a grappler can shoot in and tackle you from what would normally be considered outside of kicking range, and if you are dealing with a skilled Karateka from a style such as Kyokushin, they will be able to round-kick your head when you are in “grappling” range. The notion that different types of techniques are restricted by range is an erroneous one. That said, certain types of techniques are easier to deploy at particular ranges, and the front thrust kick is one that works best from distance, when an attacker is moving toward you, onto your kick.

The issue affecting the use of this kick is that most fights in reality start extremely close, denying you an easy opportunity to deploy such a kick. However, there are situations (albeit rare), where assailants do come at you from distance, as well as times when you can create the distance (more common) that will allow you to make such a kick.

If you have the space and time to back away from an assailant, you should. Getting to safety should be your number one priority in any situation. There are, of course, times when there is space between you and an attacker, but not enough space to be able to move away safely. In such situations, your better option may be to engage and take away the timing of your assailant’s attack. In such cases, take a step forward toward them to start your movement into the kick.

As you do this, transfer your weight onto your left leg and start to bring your right leg through in preparation for launching a thrusting kick.

As you raise your knee up, slide on the foot of your supporting leg. This will transfer your weight forward, adding momentum to the kick. You shouldn’t hop or jump, but instead slide the foot forward as part of your forward movement, making sure it stays in contact with the ground.

What gives the kick its potency is the timing. You want to still be moving forward as your foot impacts into your assailant; however, at the moment you extend your leg and drive/push into your attacker, you will need to root the supporting leg so as to have a solid platform to drive off from. The closer you are to your assailant when you connect with them, the deeper you can drive your kick.

Once you make contact, root your supporting leg and extend your kick, driving your assailant back. By turning the foot so that your toes are pointing to the side, rather than at your assailant, you will drive your hip a few more inches toward your attacker, adding to the thrust of the kick.