When you’re in a confrontation, you only have a few seconds and a few moves to try before the fight may be decided. Before an attacker has gained full control of you, you must do everything you can—conserving as much energy as possible—to inflict injury so you can get away. (This is no time to be civil. In a physical confrontation that calls for self-defense, it’s hurt or be hurt.) So aim for the parts of the body where you can do the most damage easily: the eyes, nose, ears, neck, groin, knee, and legs.
Learn about the body’s very vulnerable areas:
These are commonly known as pressure points. The points include the eyes, the groin, the shins, etc. In general, things to consider include:
• Use kicks that use the wide of your foot for the shins (if you know them) as they will make it harder to miss.
• Pull your foot back quickly when kicking to the groin so your foot won’t be caught. The nose is easily broken with any strike.
Striking the flat of the forehead forces the head back with little resistance and will actually rock the brain within the skull, causing a concussion, or worse.
Beginners should use the heel of their palm, rather than a fist. The same holds true to the back of the skull, just below the horizontal ridge. (The front has one too, above the flat.) The ridges are strong enough to be used as weapons in their own right, so avoid them.
Temples 1:
The temples are the thinnest part of the cranium, so a good blow here (one-knuckle punch is ideal) can cause concussion, hemorrhaging, or even death. Do not actually strike a training partner with this move.
Temples 2:
When this area is hit, the victim may be rendered unconscious, in some cases dead. This can be achieved using a “phoenix eye” punch which involves extending the index finger (search online for an image). Do not attempt to use this punch unless you are in genuine danger
Under the jaw:
Grab the neck on the front and reach under the jaw. Squeeze while pressing upward. Equally effective if not more, is lifting the head up and jabbing with curled fingers into the Adam’s apple with a quick strike. This will incapacitate your opponent immediately and cease further confrontation.
TMJ:
Support the head with one hand. With the other, follow the jawline to the highest point, just under the ear, where it meets the bump in your skull. Apply pressure inward and upward towards your ear. This is painful and makes speaking very difficult. If possible, a person will try to move away from it, hence the supporting hand. A single-knuckle punch (the second middle finger knuckle) to this spot could dislocate the jaw.
Look for the collar bone.
located, jab your fingers behind bone and force to the ground (this needs to be performed within about 1/4 second in an actual assault).
The easiest way to strike is probably with a knife hand (karate chop) turned upside down.
A fist will have trouble fitting between the jaw and collarbone. You can also grab and squeeze the throat, and even give it a good yank to dislocate it and make breathing impossible. That is, of course, quite lethal and should be used only as a last resort when there is no other alternative.
Sternum:
Strike with a single-knuckle to the bone in the middle of the chest. It has no muscle and never much fat, so it is very vulnerable, and if struck properly can break in two down the middle. You can also strike the pectorals like this. EDIT: Breaking the sternum can cause a punctured lung or worse. Be very careful with this and do not practice on friends.
Love handles:
Place your hand flat on the side of the abdomen, between the ribs and hips. Roll your fingers in toward your palms. Do not pinch. Pinching does next to nothing. This will work on any body type.
Solar plexus:
This is a bundle of nerves deep within the center of the abdomen, thought to be responsible for the physical feelings of deep emotions. By striking the area just below the sternum, where the ribs join on the front of the abdomen, you affect this bundle of nerves and cause the diaphragm (breathing muscle) to contract violently. This is “knocking the wind out” of someone. It’s a very easy target. This can be countered by flexing the abs quickly at the time of impact, which is accomplished by breathing out or yelling (kiai).
Ribs:
The ribs have very little covering, regardless of the body type, and only thin muscle between them. To break them, raise the arm to extend them, reducing their ability to reinforce each other, and step towards them when you strike. A palm-down knife hand works very well for this. Uppercuts also work for this as they seem to be designed to get right up under the arm, which is what you’re aiming for. The rib areas protected by the muscles of the chest or back will not be easily broken, if at all. The lowest ribs connect only to the spine and so are especially vulnerable to breaking.
Forearm/crevice:
The crevice of your forearm is made entirely of muscles and tendons, so there’s lots to work with. Grab the elbow with your thumb on top. Place your fingers on the back of the elbow for a good grip. squeeze the tip of your thumb toward the tips of your index or middle finger. You have to reinforce the thumb with your fingers, or you’ll lose leverage. Press the thumb into the middle of the crevice, into either side of the crevice, or into the lump on the outer forearm formed when you make a fist (the brachioradialis). Experiment with this one. It can be rather tricky.
Back of the hand:
If you are grabbed, look directly at the hand of your assailant, and with either a regular or single-knuckle punch, strike the bones in the back of the hand. When practicing with a partner, give it one good shot, so you’re not doing it all day. It only hurts for a minute
Pinch the fingers for a simple defense.
When punches are thrown, catch one in your arm pit and lock down tight. Grab the upper inner part of the elbow joint––this needs to be done fast. Pinch down hard one finger on each side. This causes excruciating pain and will make your opponent’s arm feel like it’s breaking.
Feet:
Look down at the foot, and using your heel, raise your knee as high as you can, and stomp on the arch of the foot as hard as you can. Because of its structure, it can easily be broken. Do not strike the toes. It will hurt, but you certainly won’t break anything. Try each with light pressure and see which hurts more
Neck/sleeper:
This is another more obvious pressure point but is very complicated in application. Get behind your assailant and wrap one arm around his neck, using your radius (forearm bone), apply pressure to the external carotid artery (just to the side of the throat where you feel your pulse beating), slowly lowering them to the ground as you do so. You can increase the pressure by pulling your arm toward you with the other arm, and breathing in as you do, puffing up your chest. You can also place the hand of the squeezing arm in the elbow of the other arm and push the head/neck forward with that other arm. If they show no signs of weakening a sharp blow to the back of the head will disorientate them giving you a chance to run.
To counter: Turn your head toward the elbow. The crevice will not press on your throat, and you will be able to breath. Circulation will still be a problem, so you must be quick. Grab the elbow with the closest hand and use the pressure point there. This will loosen their grip, but they will likely not give up. Combine pulling down with biting, foot-stomping, head-butting, eye-gouging, bringing your heel to their groin, shin-kicking, rib-elbowing (turn your hips), hair-pulling, and anything else you can come up with.
Bear in mind that speed is key in a fight.
If you’re stuck fumbling with a pressure point, you’re going to get knocked in the head. Practice often, practice safely. Practice as if you were in a real fight. Start slow, and get the placement down. Then, use all the intensity and speed that you can. You fight how you practice, so if you’re practicing slow or sloppy, that’s how you’ll fight, and you probably won’t last long.
If your focus is on speed, breathe normally (Bak Mei Kung Fu). Your arms can move faster than your lungs. While controlled breathing etc. may provide power, it sacrifices the speed of your arms.
Always look directly at your target. If your eyes aren’t there, your focus isn’t. Chances are, your opponent is distracted by ones watching or “egging” him on and not maintaining their focus on you. If they take their eyes off of you, that is an invitation to end the confrontation.
Hone your techniques. Key things to bear in mind when practicing include:
Use the tips of your fingers and thumbs for techniques using either. This works like a needle, focusing all the force into the very tip of your finger/thumb, multiplying the pressure per square inch (psi). You wouldn’t sew with the side of a needle, would you?
Keep your knees bent, at least a little, at all times. More so when doing techniques. This gives you stability and power. Locked knees must be unlocked for you to move, increasing your reaction time. If you’re standing straight up, you’re like an upright piece of wood, ready to be pushed right over.
Move your weight toward the direction you’re putting pressure. If you’re pressing down, bend your knees. If you’re pushing forward, step that way or turn your hips towards it.
For greater force when punching, vision the target spot to be slightly further than the real one. (not recommended for training except with the use of a punch pad).
When striking, twist your hipswith it. This is a building block of martial arts. It starts your weight moving and is more often than not the source of power in techniques.
Practice the recoil. When striking, once you’ve made contact, pull back quickly. It’s almost like bouncing off of what you hit, except you want to recoil quickly enough to prevent the energy you’re putting into the target from coming back into your body part. This keeps the energy in the target and causes more damage, especially in bones. This will increase the chance of breaking bones and reduce the chance of the enemy simply grabbing your foot or hand.
Yell. In martial arts (Japanese, anyway), this is known as a kiai. It must come from your diaphragm, truly releasing your inner power. It gives you confidence and startles your attacker. By flexing your abs for it, it also protects your solar plexus. This kiai can be the difference between pressure points working or not.