Best Self Defense Techniques

Self Defense Techniques are, for the most part, very basic natural movements. If we can distinguish martial arts techniques from self defense in any way, it’s in the selection of relevant techniques. Martial arts training is incredibly vast and designed to prepare the dedicated practitioner for freedom of thought and movement in all walks of life, including self defense.

Self defense training on the other hand is quite narrow, and focuses on very basic movements that will suffice in the majority of situations. Techniques should be matched to specific functions, each movement designed to break down the opponent with as little effort as possible. They should also be techniques that require little training and little technique to be effective, as the fight or flight response that spikes during situations of extreme stress pretty much makes all fine motor skills impossible.

When your heart rate is beating above 140 beats per minute and your blood is rushing from your brain to fuel your muscles for action, you’re not in a position execute complicated or precise techniques. You are only able to execute techniques that use gross motor movements. So in narrowing down our essential self defense techniques we know we need those with power, speed, and simplicity.

In this post we’ll cover what I believe are the 5 essential self defense techniques using the arms. When I teach these techniques to beginners they can usually perform all five of them well enough the first night so as to have the tools they need to defend themselves. Naturally, the other elements of fighting like perception, reaction, and timing have yet to be developed, but the basic self defense techniques can be learned well enough in one night so as to be applicable in a real life situation.

The first of the five best self defense techniques is an eye scrape or finger spear. This is a very simple technique, comprised of a simple flick of the arms and fanning of the fingers into an adversaries eyes. This is not a three stooges two finger eye poke, though that may work too, it’s a very quick finger flick just trying to touch the eyeballs. When the eyeballs are touched the eyelids close and the eyes water making it difficult for that person to see for a few seconds. With this time you can take the upper hand.

The second of the five best self defense techniques is a palm heal strike. This can be delivered to the attacker’s nose if you are about the same height or to his chin in an upward motion if he is taller. A strike to the nose will also cause the eyes to water. A strike to the chin will push the head back and force the attacker to stumble back on his heels. This strike can be delivered repeatedly until the aggressor has given up.

The third of the five best self defense techniques is an elbow strike to the side of the nose, eye socket, the temple, the ear, the cheek bone, or the side of the neck. In truth, this tool is so powerful it doesn’t require the same accuracy as the two above in order to be effective. This strike, made popular by Thai boxing, uses the entire body to deliver one of the most powerful strikes the human body is capable of. And the elbow is a strong and durable tool, unlikely to break on impact.

The fourth of the five best self defense techniques is an ear box. This again is not delivered with two hands as in the old kung fu films. It’s delivered with one hand in a very direct circular motion. What I mean by direct and circular is this technique does not need to come from a guard. It can come directly from a relaxed standing position to the attacker’s ear. If performed with a relaxed and lightly cupped hand this will force air into the attacker’s ear, and when the compression is released the eardrum will explode. The ear is also the source of our equilibrium, so when the ear is attacked, a persons balance is shaken. Don’t try this at home.

The fifth of the five best self defense techniques is a strike to the groin with the forearm.
This is a very broad swinging motion, where the fist either swings straight up between the opponent’s legs, or circles behind your back in a big motion and then circles upward between the attacker’s legs. This needs little explanation because we all know what happens when someone gets hit in the balls. This should be delivered with the part of the forearm just above the wrist and should be driven up as if trying to swing all the way up to the head.

These five self defense techniques are really all one needs to effectively defend themselves, assuming they have reached a level of competency with them so as to be able to connect with proper targets and use them in combination without too much forethought. Training beyond this point adds a great deal of sophistication to ones arsenal, but you should never stray too far from the basics. These techniques come first but that doesn’t make them any less valuable. Each one of them is devastating and together these self defense techniques provide a complete system to break down an adversary by capitalizing on his natural weaknesses.