How to Fight Back
Sometimes all the prevention in the world won’t stop an assault.
If you are assaulted or harassed, get loud and push back.
Yell, “What are you doing? Get away from me!” Or, “If you don’t leave me alone I’Il call the police!” Or, for the sake of simplicity, “Back off!”
Attackers do not like to be noticed, they don’t like noise, and they understand what they’re doing is wrong not to mention unlawful, and will often run if they are confronted.
If this doesn’t work, you are going to have to get physical.
Some of the physical hotspots for derailing an attack are as follows:
- The eyes: Gouging, poking, or scratching causes intense pain and interferes with vision.
- The nose: If you are attached from the front, you can use a palm-heel strike, or you can give the infamous Glasgow Kiss — or headbutt. Your head is thick and bony from either the front or the back, and nasal bones are not.
- The neck: You can strike for the windpipe, but an attacker often takes a stance that brings the head down like a boxer’s. If you can hit the vagus nerve on the side of the neck below the ear, the pain can be incapacitating or even knock your assailant out.
- The solar plexus: Slam an elbow into this point and you will knock the wind out of your attacker at the very least.
- The groin: Self-explanatory, and very vulnerable to knees, kicks, punches and head butts.
- The knee: Knees are vulnerable to a variety of kicks that can cause either severe pain or even a grade three sprain. Kicking hard to either side can cause tears to the meniscus or ACL, and a hard downward kick can dislocate the kneecap. You can co this even if attacked from behind.
- The foot: Stomp on it, the toes or the arch are good targets that you can hit with your heel if assaulted from behind.
Use the hardest parts of your body to do the most damage to the most vulnerable parts of your attacker.
You can use your head, your elbows, your knees, the heel of your palm, and your heels to deliver maximum ouch that can give you enough time to break loose and run before your attacker can recover.
There are other things you can do, such as stabbing with a key or a pen, throwing hot coffee, even pulling hair, but one of the most important things you can do is make a lot of noise.
And it’s not as easy as it sounds.
It’s an instinct to freeze when we’re in danger. Hold very still. Be very quiet.
Fighting back and yelling are two things that we have to learn how to do, and override the instincts we are born with.
Teach yourself to yell!
Teach your children to yell and kick and holler if someone tries to attack them. You may also want to invest in a small electronic noisemaker that fits in a purse or pocket.
It takes a lot of effort to yell and fight, but by pulling that pin, you can blast the area with high decibel unmistakable noise.
If it doesn’t bring people running, it will certainly have your assailant heading for the hills.
Learn and Live
Ideally, self-defense should be taught in a live learning setting.
Nothing gives confidence such an essential boost like throwing your instructor, or executing a perfect hit to the solar plexus.
Real-time and face to face instruction can’t be replaced with internet tutorials, no matter how well produced.
For real-time instruction, call Park’s and start learning how martial arts can help defend and protect your life and the lives you love.
