Let me ask you a question, if the odds are against you already in a self-defense attack, why would you aggravate things more by increasing your disadvantage? I mean, you’d have to be nuts to hurt yourself, and help your attacker – to be an accomplice to your own ass-kicking… right?
This article is about avoiding doing just that. In it, I share with you the number one reason why I avoid teaching my students to use a standard clenched fist when striking your assailant’s face in a self-defense street attack. And, I’m going to give you 4 strikes that are much better for getting the results you want, without the same risk of damage in the process!
But first, let me share with you the number one reason that you’d have to be crazy to punch someone in the face with a clenched fist.
Ready?
Because you’ll probably damage your own hand in the process.
Don’t believe me? How can this be so? After all, isn’t that what everyone does?
For the most part, the answer is “Yes.” But, at what price?
Look at the boxers and other fighters who get into fights outside of the ring. Do you know what happens, even if they win? What happens is that most of them…
End up with broken hands, fingers, or wrists in the process.
Not very smart.
And the reason that this happens is because it’s almost impossible to punch a human being in the face without making impact with the chisel-like “processes” or ridges on the frontal, facial, part of the skull. In fact, it’s impossible to punch someone in the face with a standard clenched fist – from the eye brow ridge down to the jaw, and from the edge of the eyes across the face to each side – without making contact with one of these chisel-like ridges.
So, now what?
The “now what” is…
What if I could show you how to punch an assailant in the face – to get the same kind of mind-rocking effect that only a head-shot gives you (more in fact) – without risking the breaking of your hand, fingers, or wrist in the process?
Would you be interested?
Somehow, I knew you would.
So, instead of trying to figure out how to hit someone with the same “caveman-style” punch that everyone else is using – regardless of the consequences – let’s look at 4 alternate “fists” that will do more with less energy…
AND… that will not trade off a broken hand for whatever damage you do manage to get in the process.
- 1) Palm-heel strike – By using the base of the palm – the solid part of the palm that is in alignment with the firearm bones, you get the battering-ram like power without the need to worry about your wrist folding, or breaking the smaller bones of your fingers when they collide with the facial bones. In fact, like most of the fists that I’m sharing with you today, it actually fits right in-between the problem areas that I am constantly warning my students about!
- 2) Thumb-drive strike – The tip of the thumb can deliver amazing power and damage to the thinner bones in front of the sinus cavities, as well as everywhere else on the face. By making a standard fist, and then pressing the middle joint of the thumb down on top of the folded index finger, you know have the capability of taking the power generated by the mass of the larger clenched fist, and concentrating it into a much smaller point.
- 3) Knife-hand strike – Also know conventionally as the “karate chop” or “judo-chop,” the knife-hand strike concentrates the striking force along the outer-edge of the palm. Again, just like the palm-heel strike, the narrow nature of this “fist” allows it to slip easily between and into the bone surfaces behind the face that everyone else focuses on.
- 4) Forearm strike – What most people think of as a tool merely for blocking, the real self-defense expert sees as a clubbing weapon. The forearm – especially the ulnar bone (the bone on the outside edge of the forearm) – can cause even the most determined attacker to drop in his tracks.
Of course it is.
Just remember that fighting, even self-defense, holds the risk that you could be severely damaged. But, your training should not cause you to hurt yourself! And, especially when it comes to defending yourself, the idea is to “fight smarter – not harder!”