I am a bit dubious about this. I've been kicked in the pelvis at least a couple of times in training, which would've been a lot harder than the guy's palm. It can hurt, sure, because your muscles are not really worked on as much in the lower abdomen (i.e. sit-ups tend to strengthen the upper abdomen). But, I've not heard of someone being crippled by a blow here, or there would be certainly fewer students in my class.

I'll try to find out more about this and if it is possible... but in any case, I wouldn't recommend relying on any single strike to disable an attacker. Headbutts to the face, elbows, hammer-fisted strikes are quite strong and don't require the ability to punch with your knuckles. The point is to go hard and keep at it, since even a kick to the groin may not necessarily drop a guy if he's pissed off enough.

^ ^ Agreed.

The best self-defense advice I ever got was from a black belt in Karate I met when I was thinking about going to the Naval Academy in Annapolis. His advice?

Always run.

I thought he was joking at first until he lifted up his shirt and showed me the six-inch scar he had going across his abdomen. That was his souvenir from a time when he decided to stick around and use his martial arts skills to teach the attacker a lesson. Turns out his opponent had a hidden knife. The black belt still put the guy down, but came within a fraction of an inch of not walking away from that one.

Most of the time, being aware of your environment will keep you out of trouble, and the times that it doesn't you should be able to get away without engaging. Macho pride causes a lot of needless altercations. Pretty much the only time I will engage someone is if I'm intervening to protect someone else. Otherwise, if the punks want my wallet they can have it. I always carry less than $100 and I can replace all my credit cards pretty easily. It's not worth dying over--and make no mistake, every time you engage you're risking getting taken out by a lucky punch, a hidden weapon, or the guy's buddy that happens to walk around the corner just as you think you're about to finish the job.

For those times when you absolutely can't run, I think BoneyD's advice is sound. For most untrained people, a bare-knuckle punch is simply a surefire way to accidentally break their own fingers or wrist.

Yes after couple years of martial arts and continuing, I still run like hell when I'm scared.

BUT (See below)

You cant run from an attack from behind. The point of this attack is to get you when you are unaware. If you have any survival instinct at all, you can tell the attack is comming, an instant before it comes. this is nature giving you a chance to survive. Most attacks from behind are aimed for getting your wallet, but this puts you and the attack in a strange situation. Most humans when attacked from behind will try to run and struggle. With a little training this attack can be the easiest to defeat.

Best thing to do is stay calm, and let him have every thing you have. Soft tissue targets are excellent, Nose, Kidneys, Throat, underarms, crotch, inside knee, and all of this cool stuff. You will always get a chance at some soft target. The crotch is the most sensitive on any one, and is therefore the best target at all times.

Never ever do any sort of ju jitsu, wrestling, pins or any holds for that matter. This isn't MMA cage fighting, this is for real, and the enemy doesn't fight by the rules. The moment you go to the ground you are dead, his partners in crime will come up and stomp a mud hole on you. Most of these muggers work in groups, and carry weapons.

I agree, this is no "Internet tough guy" talk, self-defense is not about prize fighting or male dominatinon scuffle, it's about surviving an attack. Hit a crippling point and RUN like hell.
It may be a vicious attack but it's pretty easy to bash in a knee or break a toe or even whack a groin, and it makes pursuit pretty unlikely, giving you, a presumably poor runner, a decisive headstart.

>> ^SDGundamX:
For most untrained people, a bare-knuckle punch is simply a surefire way to accidentally break their own fingers or wrist.


Believe it, people. I mean it, seriously - DO BELIEVE IT, because it really happens. I didn't believe it until I broke both my arms in a single confrontation.

Hand or arm injuries from bare-knuckle punches mostly result from impact with the skull, right?

What part of your arms broke, EDD?

Remember kids: The best tactical move is that in which the most is gained with a minimum of loss.

Punch em in the balls. I've never seen a guy take a blow there and not keel over. Or like NordlichReiter said - go for the throat. If you can land a blow on his throat, it will most likely stun him. Kidneys are hard to reach and don't really do well at bringing a guy down. Grab him if you need to - like a hug - and pull him into you knee.

Basically - run if you need to, but if you can't, fight dirty.

>> ^MarineGunrock:
Remember kids: The best tactical move is that in which the most is gained with a minimum of loss.
Punch em in the balls. I've never seen a guy take a blow there and not keel over[...]
Basically - run if you need to, but if you can't, fight dirty.


The groin is a good target, but you can't rely on it disabling someone every time. I practice a martial art, I rarely wear a cup, and I've taken plenty of nut shots. After the match I'll pretty much invariably want to vomit, but while I'm out there it's pretty possible to shrug it off and keep going, depending on how into it I am.

Of course, it's a function of exactly where and how and how hard you hit, too (some shots are harder to ignore than others). So, if you're going to go for a groin shot, I think you want to do the best you can to really grind them upward into the body (ow).

Still, running's the best option, and hitting something sensitive might give you the couple of seconds you need to get a head start (if you need it).

Since we're talking about one-hit take-downs, one that actually took me out in fight back in middle school is slapping both palms against your opponent's ears (for instance, in a situation where they grab you by the shirt-front). It hurts like hell, knocks their equilibrium completely off-balance, and can rupture the eardrums if done hard enough. If you don't believe me, try it very lightly against your own ears. Magnify that feeling by 100x an you'll have some idea of why I went straight down and could barely walk for a few minutes.

^Yep, that can definitely rupture eardrums. Note that that can also be permanently debilitating, so as relatively benign as clapping somebody's ears may seem, don't do it to your buddy when you're messing around.

*dead

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