Street-Fighting-Techniques.info

On the face of it the game of chess might not seem to have very much in common with self-defense and street fighting. But don’t forget that the game was actually invented to help military commanders hone their strategy. And there is one particular aspect of chess that is highly relevant to a person ability to defend themselves against an attack in the street.

When you play chess you have to think at least a few moves ahead - its the only way you stand a chance of winning. In a fight it is slightly different, because you can’t (and shouldn’t try to) intellectually think through the possibilities in the way a chess player would, but still thinking ahead and holding possibities in mind is vitally important.

When it comes to actually defense -blocking, dodging and so on - anyone who has been in a real street fight will tell you that the hardest thing is not getting the techniques right, but being able to react quickly enough to use them at all. The single most effective way by far to increase your reaction time (and therefore increase your chances of winning a fight and of walking away unhurt) is to condition yourself to react automatically to your oppononets moves, so you are not wasting time thinking about what to do before you actually do it. That is why many martial arts classes devote so much time on repetative drills, designed to condition automatic responses.

A similar effect can also be created in the moment of an actual encounter, using a simple technique that anyone can useto good effect, but which requires a certain mental flexibility to fully master (sparring is a great way to develop this mastery). As you might of guessed from the first paragraph, it involved thinking one move ahead of your opponent.

Although there are hundreds of ways a person can attack you, and thousands of branching possibilities for how a fight can unfold, at any given moment in time during a confrontation there are usually only 2 or 3 main avenues of attack open (unless of course they have studied a martial art that specializes in unusual or deceptive attacks, but it is generally safe to discount such unlikely possiblities). As you both move around the possible attacks will constantly change, but they will always stsy at around this level (except at close range, where this techniue often breaks down). If you can hold these in mind, along with an appropriate response from each, then the instant they make a move you will be in a position to respond automatically without having to make a decision.

As I said, anyone can make use of this at the simplest level - thinking it they charge at me I’ll do X, if they start swinging punches I’ll do Y- to gain an advantage. But the real skill comes from observation. The more you can practice doing this the more you will be able to whittle down the number of possible attacks. Watching the shifting weight distribution on their feet, for example, can show you which side they can strike from without shifting slightly first, and whether they are capable of unleashing a kick at any given moment.

With a little practice, and a little flexibility of mind, this techniue can have a dramatic impact on the outcome of a fight.

For a mixed martial arts training drill designed to help improve your reaction speed click here

In ‘groin strikes part one’ I described the most efective kind of strike to use in close quarters combat; in this second part I want to look at a medium / long range technique. This technique is a combined block and counter-strike which I learned years ago as a teenager when I was studying Ninjutsu, and which has the beautifully poetic name of ‘monkey steals the peach’.

There are two main scenarios in which this technique is highly effective: 1) If you are in a long range (further than arms reach) stand-off and your opponent charges forwards with a punch. The reason yI’m being so specific with this in specifying long range is because a punch from medium or short range will reach you too quickly for most block and counter strike techniques, including this one. (see Classic Street Fighter: Kiss the Fist for an effective short range defense). 2) If your attacker steps forwards to grab hold of you, either by the shirt or the throut.

The following description assumes that you are right-handed, and should be simply reversed if you are left-handed. As soon as your attacker moves towards you step forwards with your left foot, bending your right leg so that you drop down onto your right knee. At the same time bring your left arm upwards with your forearm parallel to the ground. You should be aiming to knock the attack upwards over your head using your forearm at the same time as dropping down underneath it as you go down on one knee. At exactly the same time your right arm should swing out and then up into your atacker’s groin. You are aiming to make contact for this strike with the palm of your hand, specifically the ‘heel’ of the hand at the base of your thumb. Immediately as you make contact with the strike close your hand into a fist, grabbing and squeezing the testicles as hard as you can, and then rise up again, bringing your left foot back in line with your right foot and yanking your grabing hand back towards you.

This grabbing and yanking movement makes this a much more devastating technique than a simple strike, and is guaranteed to finish any fight if you get it right. A sharp and powerful yank can actually tear the scrotum (hence the name ‘monkey steals the peach’), so it should only be used if you are in serious danger and need to end a confrontation immediately at all costs.

I’ve been racking my brains over the past few days to think of a single technique that I would describe as being a classic street fighting move, as opposed to something from traditional martial arts or modern combat sports. It had to be something which couldn’t or wouldn’t be used in an MMA competition, and which you would be unlikely to see in a traditional class of something like karate or kung fu.

What I settled on in the end ticks all these boxes and highlights an important difference between real life self-defense situations and fighting with gloves in a ring or cage.

You might think, quite naturally really, that getting hit in the face is always a bad thing that you want to avoid. But once you are in a violent confrontation this might not always be the case. Here’s the basic principle: Knuckles are relatively small and intricate joints, which are more delicate than larger more solid bones, and include ligaments and tendons that can be damaged. Your forehead, on the other hand, is a large plate of solid bone whose sole purpose is to protect your body’s most vital organ - the brain. It’s just simple common sense that in any collision between a fist and a forehead the fist will always come off worst. More often than not a strong punch which hits the forehead will lead to a broken hand and only the mildest of bruises on the person being hit.

As anyone who has been in a sparring match or full contact confrontation will know, moving quickly enough to dodge or block a strike is much easier said than done. And this leads to what I think is the classic street fighting technique - headbutting a fist. It sounds crazy but it is actually one of the single most effective techniques around. If someone swings a punch towards your face it only takes a small movement to tuck your chin in and put your forehead down onto the oncoming fist, so if you have the balls to try it, it isn’t difficult to do. When it connects they will be hurt much worse than you will be, by moving forwards into their attack you gain the initiative and momentum and set yourself up for a counter-attack, and you will definitely get a 10 out of 10 for the surprise and intimidation factors.

The only refinement of this ‘kiss the fist’ technique is to make the headbutt diagonal so that rather than just stopping the fist with your head you make it glance off to the side. Very simple, very reliable, very effective and pure street fighter.