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Bellman Communications.
Selected Target Areas For Self-Defense
Written By
Professor David A. Bellman
It is a hot humid night and you are walking toward your car parked in an underground parking complex. You hear a sound and quickly turn around to catch a glimpse of a large man rushing toward you, intent on causing you severe bodily harm. You are faced with an immediate decision: Do you kick the attacker directly to the thigh and break his leg, or do you strike him on the collarbone and shatter the collarbone, immobilizing his arm? Does it really matter which defense you choose?
The answer is yes, it makes a great difference. Anatomically, to break a man's thigh would take approximately 1,600 pounds of pressure. To break the collarbone of an average size man takes approximately 16 pounds of pressure. That's a big difference when your life depends on the decision you make.
It's not as important how hard you hit or kick an attacker that matters most, it's where you hit or kick him that really counts.
Choosing a target carefully could be the difference between a successful defense of a violent physical attack, or a week in the hospital.
The hollow of the throat is an excellent choice to either strike or apply pressure. By pressing with the index and middle finger against this vital part of the body, a smaller attacker can easily force a stronger attacker to move away or let go of a hold. By pressing in and downward, it can cause the attacker to fall to the floor. By pressing straight into the throat, the assailant will be forced to move back, away from you.
Instead of applying pressure to the hollow of the throat to move an attacker away from you, a defender can thrust his fingers into the hollow of the throat and cause severe damage to the wind pipe.
An effective defense can also be a horizontal chop to the throat itself. As has already been mentioned, the throat is extremely sensitive. A blow such as a chop to the throat can be extremely deadly.
Another excellent target are the knees. You can achieve the best results by attacking the knee from the side, opposed to straight on. Unlike the thigh, which takes 1,600 pounds of pressure to break, the knee takes approximately 15 pounds of pressure to break. Since the knees are used to support the upper portion of the body, by taking out the knees, you can destroy the foundation of the assailants balance. Knee damage can be permanent and devestating.
The face offers us many more opportunities. The nose is easy to break, causes watering of the eyes and is very painful. In the center of the side of the jaw is a sensitive region which is easy to break with a downward type of blow.
The eyes are another sensitive area to attack. You can poke your fingers into the eyes or rake the front or back of your fingers across the eyes. If you have keys in your hand, they can be poked into the eyes or raked across the eyes as a defense.
The temple is another extremely sensitive area of the head. A medium-light blow to this region will stun an attacker, and a harder blow can case much more severe damage. One reason that the temple is such an effective region is it's close proximity to the brain.
Another extremely effective blow is called a double insanity blow which is done by cupping your hands and popping the cupped hands over your assailant's ears. This will cause an implosion of the eardrums which can cause permanent hearing loss.
Every woman, from the time they were a young girl, knows about attacking a male in the groin. To injure a man, the defender must strike the male underneath the testicles driving them up into his stomach. The groin can be squeezed, struck, slapped or kicked. The groin can be attacked from the front, the rear, or from the back.
The ribs are still another sensitive area of the body. You can extend your middle knuckle and drive it in between your assailant's ribs. To enhance the pain and damage caused by the blow, try twisting your extended knuckle as you strike the point between the ribs.
When attacking the vital points on the human body, there are two types of strikes:
* Surface Strike
* Point Strike
A Surface Strike is a strike done with a large surface such as a knee, forearm or a fist. Even though you can generate a great deal of power with a Surface Strike, the damage tends to be diminished by the large surface area of the striking mechanism making contact with the target area.
A Point Strike is a type of strike using a smaller and more condensed area of the body to strike with. This may include a middle knuckle strike, finger pokes to sensitive areas of the body such as the eyes or throat, a strike with the tip of the elbow or the ball of the foot. A Point Strike concentrates the damage to a smaller, more condensed area of the body and causes much more severe damage than a Surface Strike.
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The Valley Jujitsu School:
The VALLEY JUJITSU SCHOOL is located in Northridge, CA, in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. The VALLEY JUJITSU SCHOOL was established in 1993 and offers the MUSHIN RYU JUJITSU system. The program is self-defense oriented.
LOCATION:
VALLEY JUJITSU SCHOOL
8240 Louise Avenue (at Roscoe)
Northridge, CA 91325
Telephone: (818) 882-7022
Email:
valleyjujitsu@aol.com
