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Introduction to Womens Self Defense
Your best primary weapon of self defense is an alert mind!
Possibly the best advice that any self-defense instructor or self-defense manual can give you is this:
Always be aware of the situation you are in, or one that could
possibly develop. For example, you may find yourself talking to a guy in a bar,
when you notice that he just said something that you find a little strange or
unusual. Normally you would just ignore it, not at least because in a situation like this you may want
the guy to be a nice guy, you may secretly and perhaps unconsciously wish that
this may be a pleasant experience. However, at this point, with a trained mind,
do NOT ignore these subtle warning signs. Your unconscious mind has picked up
on something and is warning you to be aware.
We all have these feelings every so often, but tend to ignore them, because
we're motivated by a force that is stronger than the one warning us of something
"not being right". In order to use our intuition to the benefit of our safety, we must practice to get into the habit of analysing and storing these
little bits of information that would normally just bypass the critical faculty
of the mind.
Imagine that you get further into a conversation and you'll pick up another
warning sign. Are you going to wait around for the third? If you do wait or
decide to ignore the early warning signs, you may wind up in a physically
threatening situation that you could have avoided it by listening to your
warning signs.
E.T.G. - Eyes Throat Groin. A simple system of physical self defense for women
ETG is synonymous to another popular acronym B.E.T. - Balls, Eyes, Throat. This
may sound a little crude, but keep in mind that in self defense there is nothing
polite, noble or politically correct. Effective self-defense techniques are
crude and gory, full stop. It's either you or him. Having said that, let's get
back to B.E.T.
No matter how big an attacker is, he has vulnerable spots that are hard to protect and
that are instantly disabling when attacked. These target areas include the eyes,
the throat and the testicles.
Imagine a guy 6'6" with shoulders so wide you wouldn't think he'd fit through
doors and huge muscles bulging out of his skin tight t-shirt. He openly
demonstrates that he lives in a gym and eats steroids for breakfast, lunch and
dinner. How could a little thing like you with no muscles to speak of fend off
an attack from such a huge monster?
It's as easy as E.T.G. - EYES, THROAT, GROIN!
Eyes, throat and groin are areas that can't be trained up or toughened up
through exercise. They are equally vulnerable in any male and thus present prime
targets for effective self defense techniques.
Although traditionally women are taught to first and foremost strike the attacker's groin, this may not be the best advice.
The eyes are a better target for a simple and effective attack than the groin. They can be easier
to reach and the effect is more predictable. Not only do strikes to the eyes
cause pain, the also cause the loss of eyesight, at least temporary if not
permanent, which is an absolute deterrent and can stop an attack with more
certainty than strikes to the groin. More about groin strikes later.
The throat is a very delicate area and even the lightest strike to the throat
will render your attacker helpless. A harder strike to the throat can collapse
the windpipe, preventing the attacker from breathing.
All males, no matter how big or small, have testicles that are extremely
sensitive to strikes. Thus the groin is always a soft target for you to attack.
The pain from a strike to the groin (be it a leg or knee kick or a hammerfist
strike) can be so severe that the attacker falls to the ground, unable to
continue his attack.
We mentioned caution when attacking the groin. This is because on one
hand, this is the most vulnerable area of the attacker that he is aware of. He
will expect resistance and attempts to strike his groin. Thus, his awareness
and/or skill may make it difficult or impossible to effectively strike his
groin. On the other hand, it has often been reported that attackers that are
drunk, on drugs, psychopathic or in a rage (or all of the above, if you're
unlucky) don't seem to show any reaction at all if their groin is attacked.
Instead. they just get more angry and fiercer in their attack! For this reason,
we advocate to focus on defensive techniques that the attacker cannot possible
ignore, such as strikes to the eyes and throat. A good decisive response to an attack would incorporate repeated strikes to all these
targets.
Elbows, Knees, Palm heels - effective weapons in close range
When you're attacked by a male intending to cause you physical harm, your fight
wont look like martial artists in a movie. It's going to be close up,
claustrophobic, and in your face. It's going to be utterly chaotic. You will
experience panic, as you're unable to move, breath, or even focus on anything.
This clearly is not a time where you figure out what kind of fancy Karate move
you're going to pull off next, even if you had years or traditional martial arts
training.
Thus, your very best weapon in close range are your elbows. Elbows are
good because they are all bone and very hard, which means you are unlikely to
hurt yourself when you use them for striking. Elbows can inflict dramatic damage
to you attacker without risk of injury to yourself. If you're being attacked by
a male larger than you, there are good chances that your freedom of motion is
severely restricted, and elbows may be all you've got anyway! Thus it makes
sense to practice elbow strikes in close quarter fighting.
Knees are also hard and require no special training to use. A good pull-in knee
strike to the groin or solar plexus can stop your attacker in his tracks. By
pull in I mean don't just thrust your knee at you attackers groin, but grab him
by the shoulders or hair and pull yourself and your knee into him, thus making
the impact much harder and more effective.
Palm heels are the primary weapons for striking the head. Unless you're a
trained martial artist, hitting with a closed fist will break the bones of your
hand and wrist and render you totally helpless. NEVER strike with a closed fist.
As an untrained female, you can break your own wrist even when you try to strike
your attacker in the ribs. Always use the palm heel instead!
With palm heel strikes, there is hardly any chance of injury because there is
nothing that can bend in any way. A good target for the palm heel strike is to
aim under the nose. This pushes the attackers head back, which makes him lose
balance and lessens his awareness of what's going on. The upturned fingers can
be used to simultaneously gauge the eyes, and once you've connected you can use
your fingers to tear away on whatever you get hold off as you retract your arm
for the next strike.
A double palm heel to the both ears at the same time will burst the ear drums
and cause your attacker to lose balance and hearing, allowing you to make your
escape.
This free excerpt is a preview of Terry Lyon's upcoming book "Women's Self-Defense: Realistic advice for the new millennium."
Terry Lyon, 4th Dan Karate Master and Women's Self-Defense Instructor
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