07/12/2008 by Uncle.

I am going to deal with a series of moves which escalate in severity.

They are all what are called gross motor movements and these are things you can do instinctively.  Wrist locks and the like are complex motor movements.  The trouble is that when under stress or frightened your heart rate goes up really quickly and most people will hit 175 beats per minute in the the blink of an eyes.  The problem here is that the majority of people loose the ability to carry out complex movements at around 145 beats per minute.  Unless you are very fit, well trained and disciplined you wont even be able to put the keys into your car ignition at 145 bpm, so how the hell are you going to do some fancy jujitsu?

Now you need to stay calm and keep your breathing regular and controlled so that you can focus on what is happening.  This takes me back to why I dripped on about not dashing about and being too stressed.  If you weren’t stressed before you will be when in a confrontation.  Your heart will be pounding in your chest, your breathing will be shallow your tummy will feel tight because you are human.   It is fine to be scared but what you need to do is try to keep these physical reactions to your situation to a minimum.

Confidence will help with this.

The Finger Dart or Finger Jab

I mentioned the exclusion zone ie an arms length.

Now as soon as your aggressor comes in to the exclusion zone their intentions are probably not honourable and you are going to have to make them rethink.  Some people say that you hit first, hit fast hit hard, but I couldn’t possibly comment on that!

The Finger Dart or jab is one of the most basic tactics in defending yourself.

It is not intended to cause damage to your assailant but to stop disorient, and hopefully discourage further forward movement from an assailant.  By stopping him you have the chance to escape or to move forward and to deal with him.

So standing left side on hands across your lap The finger jab is just a quick “flick” or “Jab” to the face with your left hand.  You are trying to land this to the nose or eyes.  It doesn’t sound much, but nobody likes being flicked in the face and the other person will usually recoil out of your exclusion zone puts distance between you and them.

Another thing is that because you have now extended your left arm this pulls the left side of your body forward and naturally forces you to “blade” you body more (removing all your vital organs from frontal attack), and immediately puts you in an offensive state.

The attacker moves backwards and in reality you are going to follow him keeping that arms length distance.  If needs be jab him again.

Believe it or not, many times the Finger Dart is enough to stall even the most obnoxious gobby drunk in a social situation. Trust me, NOBODY likes being flicked in the face and becasue the Finger Dart is so fast, so instinctual, and so effective that you can chalk it up to an accidental reflex when the drunken yob is doubled over whining about how you poked him in the eye.

For a slightly more intense version of this a rolled up newspaper or magazine (ouch) is very effective.

In the sitautions we find ourselves in the Finger Jab is effective as it forcibly stops the attackers forward movement and allows you to begin your own move forward and barrage of attacks with other strikes which we will come on to.

The Kick

 Moving on from the finger dart or jab is the Front Kick or Whip Kick.

You might be able to get away with Finger Jabbing somebody who has come a bit too close by making some excuse of it being an accident or some kind of nervous twitch as they hold their eye in agony, but when you kick somebody there is no way on this earth that you can make such a claim and so the fight is on.

Luckily, the Front Kick is already second nature to you.

Simply lift up your leg and whack him in the shin, groin, leg, wherever (with gross motor technique, any target is a good target) with a natural, whipping motion.  Personally I go for the kness or shins.

When doing the kick it is importand that the blow is delivered downwars on your opponents centre line which will give you forward momentum. To get this right lift the left leg so the foot is about knee high extend the leg forwards sufficiently to hit your aggressors knee or leg  and stamp down in front of you.  By trying to describe this I am making it sound harder than it really is.

I must strees that it is important that you follow through the downwards movement so that you left foot finishes on the ground ahead of where you started and that you keep your left side on to them and do not be tempted at this stage to move your right side forward.  You need your right foot to be behind you for balance and to help propel you.

How often do people say about kneeing someone in the balls and they demonstrate by lifting their knee up so it goes forward and then back down to where it started from.  This leaves them, standing on one leg like a frigging stork.   Their balance is wrong and they are easy meat to be sent sprawling backwards by anyone who knows what they are doing.  You must avoid doing the same, every strike, kick and blow must take you forwards.

On its own on ekick  will not send some 6 foot six prop crashing to the deck, but that combined with the finger jab will stop the advance of somebody being a pest and will put you in the position of being able to take put the confrontation on your terms.

The Finger Jab  and Kick combination is only an opening gambit to to stop your opponent from advancing and open them up for you to escape or put him downwhich ever you feel happier with.  Personally I think  if they are down they are less of a continuing danger as they are less likely to come after you.

So there you go. If you’ve ever wanted to know what to do when someone enters your airspace and you need to send a stern message while keeping your attack options open, the Finger jab combined with Front Kicks need to become your best friend.

Practice these on your own or with a friend and colleague, but dont get carried away.   If you dont have a training partner practice the finger jab with your sahddow on the wall and the kick can be practised with anything.  Cahirs and walls are good enemies becasue they dont move and dont hit back.

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07/12/2008 by Uncle.

In the next few lessons I will tell you some very basic moves.  I am assuming you are right handed.  Obviously if you are left handed just swap where I say left for right.

If you end up in a physical confrontation the overriding objective is to move forward never backwards and to put your attacker backwards and onto the floor.  If he is on the floor you can do a number of things to ensure he wont get up or you can gracefully retire.

OK so despite our best efforts we find ourselves confronted by some bonehead who looks hell bent on causing trouble or stealing.

If you are being robbed the important thing to remember is that things are just that, things.  They can be replaced, but people can’t.  Be sensible damged pride and indignation mend quicker than injuries.  Trust me I really know what I am talking about here.

This is a flight or fight situation.  Flight is always the first option. If you can move to a safe area where there are other people and make as much noise as you can.  In other words always consider running away screaming.

I could tell you how to disarm a bloke with a knife and do this that and the other but I wont.

The reason I wont is that this is a very basic course and it will probably never happen.  If you run off screaming put yourself in the position of the mugger,  are going to run after someone who is screaming?  If your answer is yes then I strongly advise you do not think about becoming a career criminal.

Seriously its a bad situation being threatened with a knife.  If you cannot escape to a safe place then hand over your money.  Better to be a live coward than a dead hero.

Now I know there are a lot of people who are going to say you can do this and that and so and so, but the truth is that unless you practice those moves day in day out you will just get hurt or killed.  Remember the whole point of defence is to stay alive.  As I said damaged pride and dignity etc just doesn’t come into it.

In almost every situation ordinary people find themselves in,  there is a build up which starts with a confrontation followed by the  threat and lastly an attack.

There are two important  things in the initial stages of a confrontation.  Distance and Stance

DISTANCE

Keep distance between you and the aggressor.  An arms length is the minimum.  If you keep this distance no matter what threats they make they cannot actually hit you.  In order to attack they have to come towards you and into the exclusion zone, if they do that then they are in play.  The distance allows you to watch your agressor and gives you just that litle bit of extra time to react to their moves.

STANCE

For the most part you are going to use your left hand for the initial moves not your right.   The mistake most people make is that they lead with their right not the left.  Look at boxers, they all jab with their right and reserve the right hand for killer blows, as the right arm is stronger.

You need to move your feet and adjust your stance so that you are not stand square on but standing  left side on, with your arms across your abdomen and your hands together in front of your genitals.  A bit like a footballer in a wall facing a free kick, but you don’t have to pull the ridiculous face, in fact if you do it really won’t help the situation.

This stance is known as blading and refduces the target area for an attacker and will allow you to protect your vital organs and keep your hands and arms  free to  move so you can block and strike at the aggressor.  It will also allow you to keep your balance and to propel yourself forward when you engage them.

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