In the last article in this series, “Don’t Be Prey,” we looked at what you do to lower your chances of being the victim of a violent crime. Now we will see how you can handle a situation that turns violent and survive. This will not be your standard mace approach to facing, raping, whistling and yelling. NOT! A street attack is a melee battle and, like CQB for our army, it follows three rules: speed, surprise, and action violence. (Action violence consists of delivering a purposeful blow in such a way and with enough force to surprise, stun, and monetarily overwhelm your attacker initially) to be able to handle the first rule using your speed and nearly eliminate the second. If you haven’t read it, check out the link at the bottom of the article to read the first part of this three-part series. Because you see, if you know the attack is coming, you can be ready and therefore launch your attack in the first possible second. This tactic is called intercepting and it is the key to the survival of any street encounter, whether you are facing one or a myriad of attackers.

Intercepting is not only critical to your survival, it is the key to Jeet Kune Do. Jeet Kune Do is Bruce Lee’s art and concepts for dealing with a fight. As a Jeet Kune Do instructor for 16 years, I can attest to its effectiveness. Now I know what you are thinking, of course you would say that, it is your job. It may be true, but I’m not the only one who thinks so. Black Belt magazine, a world leader in martial arts publications, has featured JKD in its 2012 and 2013 Hall of Fame issues. They called the JKD Matrix the best fighting system the world will ever know and said that JKD is the best way to maximize your chances of getting out of a massive attack alive. If intercepting is the key theme of JKD and JKD is so praised as a method of self-preservation that intercepting is the most important aspect of anyone’s survival strategy.

Now that we have established the importance of intercepting, there is only one question left. What the hell is he intercepting ?! I’m so glad you asked. Intercept is an ability that allows you to catch / block your opponents attack or hit when they start their attack and hit before it lands. That may seem a bit puzzling, so let me explain. Let’s look at a basic direct attack for this illustration. If your attacker is in front of you and begins to push forward in an aggressive manner, you can use the plane of your lead foot and, placing it along your knee or shin, stop his forward motion. This is an interception. I will give you two other examples. If he stands in front and pulls his arm back to “charge” a punch and you immediately shoot your hand out and punch him in the nose (we use a vertical fist called Da for this) or stick your fingers in his eyes which is an interception. Lastly, if he throws his punch and you were unable to strike preemptively, you can shift your weight and hips at a 45-degree angle to the outside of his punch and throw the Da or the aforementioned finger prick at the elbow to follow. hitting your nose or eyes. . This is another form of interception. As you can see, they stop their movement and allow you to use Speed, Surprise, and Action Violence to first hit your attacker.

There are many forms of interceptions, some are aggressive strikes, some are simultaneous blocks or catches with one hand while striking with the other, and some are performed with the low line (kicks and knees). There are Destructions for both the attacker’s hands and feet / legs. The important thing is that you intercept the attack and stop the attacker’s aggression while taking the first hit for yourself. You can even use any number of kicks to stop the movement and then follow up with a quick punch to the face or a finger punch to the eyes. A kick performed in this manner is called a Jeet Tek (interception kick). Later I will write an article detailing various Jeet Teks and how they are made.

Now that we understand the concept of interception, I want to see your main targets when you hit and kick for the interception. Remember this is your first strike, you need it to be fast and momentarily stun, shock and stop your attacker on their assault. To help you remember the goals, we used the mnemonic device: Escape for safety (eyes, throat, groin, shins). These goals represent the simplest, most effective, and easiest-to-achieve goals out there. Let’s take a moment and look at each one and I think you’ll see that these goals take advantage of the Speed, Surprise, and Action Violence we’ve been referring to. Yes, I know we started by saying that your attacker operates this way just like ours and all other military personnel, but the truth is that every violent physical encounter in a Melee Battle scenario operates this way. Once you detect the approaching attacker, you can change course using these principles yourself and even if they fall on you, most of the time it is possible that while they grab, pull, push, lift or carry you to the ground. , you can use these principles to turn the tide and flee safely or scale as needed to finish the fight and survive.

The first target I want to look at is the eyes. These soft little spheres located on either side of the nose are beautifully designed and positioned for a self-preservation setting. They are actually part of a parasympathetic nervous response to each other and also to the nose. This means that it doesn’t matter if you hold your fingers together and hit one eye or spread your fingers to get both eyes, you will get the same response. Once hit, both eyes will close and water and the hands will normally go to the face. Once this happens, they cannot see you, nor are they attacking / grabbing you. This reaction is valid for hitting the nose with the aforementioned Da or an open blow with the hand slightly tilted back where the palm is placed and the blow is delivered. This movement is called the heel strike with the palm. Any of these three targets hit in the manner I just listed will cause the attacker to stop, close their eyes, and grab onto the face. This is your golden opportunity to flee or intensify the fight to deactivate your attacker for a longer period. You choose the second option if you find yourself in a place where fleeing would not be possible, either because there is nowhere to run or because there is no possibility of running far enough in that brief moment of shock due to the violence of the action to escape.

The next target we want to look at is the throat. This is a good target, but also a dangerous one. There are hits that can be sent to this target that will stun and temporarily disable your attacker and there are hits that can be sent to this target that can kill or kill the attacker. The options for hitting this target are as follows: 1) a hand hit where the thumb separates from the index finger and hits the web of the hand between the index finger and the thumb. This move will only stun your attacker and make him cough and gasp for breath. Typically, they will grab their throat with one or both hands. Your running window here is very small, so make it count. Usually when I show this move I just suggest running towards a nearby cop, security guard, or a nearby business or home. If that’s not an option, I recommend climbing. 2) A punch (vertical delivered at a 45 degree angle or a “normal” horizontal punch like a boxer’s jab). This move can stun or, if done with enough force, seriously kill / injure your attacker, so judge the situation and determine the proper force that is needed to land this blow. For example, if you meet one on one, a softer hit to stun and run or track would be sufficient, however if you are in a massive attack scenario, you may want to hit harder and seriously injure or even kill him. . quickly move on to the next person. 3) If you are close enough, you can use your elbow. This is a powerful punch that is part of a quick throat kill that we teach and that I won’t go into in an article.

Next on the list is the groin. This is hit in several ways: 1) A front leg front kick that hits with the top of the foot, 2) A Savate style kick (Savate is a French kicking art) in which the aforementioned front kick is executed. , except this time the toes are pointing up and hitting the testicles, 3) A spoon kick, in which the front kick is thrown and at the end of the kick the toes are pointing up , hooked behind the groin and the foot is pulled back. 4) Knee to groin. This is best done when you can grab the attacker at one of two points: a) the shoulders or b) directly above the elbows grabbing the triceps of each arm. This will allow you to draw them towards you and maintain what is known as 3-point balance as you lean back and perform the knee strike. 5) You can lower your elevation quickly by lowering your weight and bending your knees, keeping your back straight, and hitting your groin with the top of your hand. This movement is called a groin slap. This move is best performed if the attacker has turned onto his side and is holding onto his shoulder. 6) Grab and squeeze the groin. This is done if he is approached from behind, especially if he is grabbed in some way. These are by no means all of the strikes that can be applied to the groin, but they are several of the most common and easy to implement strikes, especially if you have had little to no prior training.

The last target I want to look at is the pimple. This hard bone is just below, between the knee and the ankle. You can attack the shin from the front with the sole of the foot with a front kick. From the side by turning the body and then lifting the leg and striking outwards. I recommend turning the body instead of the traditional buddy that is done by turning the opposite foot 45 degrees. The reason I recommend this is because if for some reason your leg gets caught or stuck when accelerating, the energy would go to your knee allowing you to simply bend your leg for balance and fast tracking instead of your hip not doing it. makes. bending over and causes you to lose your balance and be at the mercy of your attacker for as long as you have that leg. You can also give a back kick to the shin if the attacker is behind you. This works if you notice him and throw the kick early or if he’s caught you. This kick can even be given if he is picking you up off the ground. The most important thing to remember about kicking the shin is to follow through with a quick, energetic push after making contact, as this will increase the pain and, if done correctly, can break the shin.

After hitting any of these targets, you need to assess the situation and see if a flight is an option. If so, take it. If not, then you must fight. Now remember how I said that the 3 keys were Speed, Surprise and Action Violence. Action violence is the ability to deliver a first blow with force, as defined at the beginning of this article. However, if you can’t run and you must keep fighting. It must go from speed, surprise, and action violence to what we call “asymmetric violence.” What is “asymmetric violence” and how to successfully fight to survive when flight is not an option, will be the subject of the last of these three articles.

“Link to the Don’t Be Prey article: http://ezinearticles.com/?Dont-Be-Prey&id=8329994