Stance

Your stance should not be a fighting stance or any other stance from your martial art. A martial arts stance is often too wide, exposing the groin and placing the knees forward, which makes them vulnerable to attack. Stand naturally, with one foot slightly turned in front of the other to protect the groin. The hands can be raised but should not make a fist; instead, use open hands with the palms facing away from you. This non-aggressive posture (also known as a ‘fence’^[1]) should be used when someone has entered your personal space – within 1 metre. Any movements you make in this posture should be done slowly so as not to surprise or antagonise the attacker.

What to hit with

You have now reached the point where there is no other option than to go physical, and you have overcome the adrenal effects/freeze and now must deliver a response.

The overriding consideration that you should have is not to injure yourself while performing a physical technique.

This will therefore exclude the following techniques:

1. Punches to hard, bony areas, such as the head, should be avoided. Unless you are heavily conditioned, you are likely to break a bone in your hand or wrist. Even professional boxers have broken their hands in out-of-ring incidents.
2. Kicks above the waist. This requires flexibility, as well as a good surface for your supporting foot. Doing high, fancy kicks on beer-soaked floors or an icy pavement is going to put you on your back.

The parts of your body that you can safely impact are:

1. Palm heel on hand.
2. Use the edge of the hand for either a chop or a hammer fist, ensuring that the part nearest the wrist strikes and not the fingers.
3. Forearm – the ulna bone side (outer).
4. Point of Elbow.
5. Knee.
6. Heel/sole of foot.
7. Shin

The headbutt is preferred or shunned depending on whom you ask.

It can be effective, but you need to strike the opponent’s face with your forehead, not strike their forehead. The disadvantage is that you are risking your primary weapon (your brain), which may become concussed if you use it wrong, and as a result, you both may fall down. Apparently this technique is rarely used in the USA but is more common in the UK and Europe. This is probably why more US-based self-defence organisations and individuals tend to give them a negative rating.

The initial attack should rely on speed, and then you follow up with power.

An almost universal initial speed attack is to thrust your fingers towards the attacker’s eyes. If this makes any sort of contact with the eye, it will almost always render the assailant helpless. No one can toughen up his or her eyes to resist scraping or poking. You may get a flinch response that lets you follow up quickly with a powerful technique, even if you don’t make contact. Like the groin, attacking the eyes also invokes a reflex reaction, making it difficult to actually make contact. It also signifies your serious intention to defend yourself, potentially elevating the intensity of any confrontation.

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^[1] A term and concept developed by Geoff Thompson