| The best way to protect yourself is to avoid a | | | | attacker sees you going for it. |
| fight altogether, but what happens when you are | | | | 5. Strike their groin! Yes, it's cliché. Yes, it's |
| forced into a fight? You may need to protect | | | | "cheap". Yes, it's very effective. A punch, a kick, |
| yourself through the use of force. Keep in mind | | | | or a weapon of some kind can all work well. It |
| that the ultimate goal is not to beat up your | | | | can even be effective against females, just not |
| assailant, but to escape from them. These are 10 | | | | as effective. Keep in mind, though, that you may |
| great methods for striking your assailant in a way | | | | need to use more of an upward motion in your |
| that will disable them long enough for you to | | | | strike if your attacker is female. However, it is |
| escape, with or without a weapon, so that your | | | | true that, statistically speaking, more attackers |
| attempts at self defense will be successful. | | | | are male than female, so it's relatively unlikely that |
| 1. Stomp on their foot! This particular technique is | | | | you'll need to worry about that. |
| often available when many of the others are not. | | | | 6. Hit them in the neck! Necks are very sensitive, |
| The downside is that it's not nearly as effective | | | | especially the front of the neck. Striking someone |
| as many of the others, but stomping on their | | | | there will cause them to feel like they are being |
| foot can give you the opportunity to use a more | | | | choked for several seconds, along with the pain |
| effective technique so that you can safely run | | | | of being hit in general. Keep in mind, though, that if |
| away. | | | | you hit TOO hard, you could crush their trachea |
| 2. Kick their knees! Like most of these techniques, | | | | and actually kill them. This is unlikely, though, |
| this will hurt! But more than that, it will make it | | | | because it really takes a lot of force to do that. |
| harder for them to chase you when you run | | | | 7. Gouge their eyes! This is one of the most |
| away. It's generally hard to see this attack | | | | effective methods for disorienting someone. By |
| coming, making it quite effective. | | | | simply jabbing your finger(s) into their eye(s), you |
| 3. Box their ears! By cupping your hand slightly | | | | will cause a lot of pain, their eyes will tear up, |
| and smacking their ear (or ears), you can cause | | | | they will be disoriented, and their vision will go |
| what is essentially a VERY loud noise VERY close | | | | blurry for several very valuable seconds, giving |
| to their ear. This can cause intense pain, and can | | | | you time to run. This technique can also cause |
| even cause permanent damage if you manage to | | | | permanent damage depending on how hard you |
| break their eardrum. Either way, intense pain in | | | | jab their eyes, how long your fingernails are, and |
| that particular area will disorient your attacker, | | | | exactly what part of the eye you hit. |
| giving you ample time to get away. | | | | 8. Do a combo! It may sound silly when phrased |
| 4. Hit their solar plexus! You might have no idea | | | | like that, but doing two or three of these attacks |
| what a solar plexus is, but that's ok, I'm about to | | | | in rapid succession can increase your chance of |
| explain it. It's an area that's just a little bit above | | | | success and give you more time to escape. |
| the stomach and directly below the rib cage. | | | | However, don't let it tempt you to stand there |
| Follow the bottom edges of your rib cage until | | | | and wail on them. It's always better to do only |
| you get to the highest part. There should be a | | | | what you need to do and then run. Be careful |
| little bone sticking down right there. You can either | | | | with these self defense techniques, especially in |
| hit that bone or hit just barely below it. There is a | | | | the way that you practice them. Many of them |
| fairly large collection of nerves there that, when | | | | can cause permanent damage, and a couple even |
| hit directly, can cause intense pain and create the | | | | have the potential to kill somebody, so don't just |
| same effect as "knocking the wind out of them", | | | | try them on your friends to see how well they |
| so they will have a hard time breathing. If you | | | | work. |
| break that bone, it will be even more painful. This | | | | Try them on a non-living target if you feel the |
| will likely stop any attacker in their tracks. The | | | | need to practice them, but otherwise, save them |
| downside is that you have a fairly small area to | | | | for an emergency! |
| hit, and it's an area that is easily guarded if the | | | | |