Under attack, where's the first point you aim at?

I voted “Can I try running away again?”. An unprovoked attack usually means the attacker is under the influence. Probably his reaction time is going to be sluggish, so keep an eye out for a chance to run through him.

Barring that, I’d have to take advantage of my unusually long reach and get him before he can reach me. I’d probably go for the larynx. Attacks to the eyes are problematic since practically everyone has reflexes ingrained to protect them.

But really, that’s all just academic. In reality, it would depend on the situation. The mental condition of the attacker. His size and skill. The availability of improvised weaponry. If it’s a theft, how attached I’m feeling to my wallet at the time. There’s too many variables to know exactly what I’d do in that situation.

None of the poll results really fit for me. As a non-fighter, I don’t see me making a precision strike. Something like an optional jab followed by hook to the head / face.

My answer: all or any of the above. Well, probably not the solar plexus - it’s a small target surrounded by muscle.

Better answer: I’m going to read his attack and block and strike appropriately. My karate training says to not get hit. My self-defense aspect focuses on multiple strikes to overwhelm the opponent long enough to stop their aggression and then get away.

Personally, I like a knee shot as they approach. They’re focused on punching you with a big haymaker, so use legs (they’re longer, they’ll connect first) and kick low where they aren’t looking. Followup as needed to get free.

Alternately, block the punch in a way that keeps you clear of the shot, and immediately strike. That’s likely to be a windshield-wiper block followed by palmstrike to face, strike to throat, knee to groin, then kick to knee. That’s my most practiced routine.

I do like the idea to redirect them into hard objects. They punch and hit wall instead of face, they aren’t going to want to punch again.

Nut shots can be completely disabling. We were self defense training and one guy didn’t pull his shot, hit another in the nuts. He was on the ground for a couple minutes.

However, it was pointed out that most boys quickly learn to protect the jewels, it becomes a reflex. You make a move and the leg comes over, the hips twist, the hands may drop. So the key to a successful nut shot is distraction.

Alternately, when I first started karate, I was sparring a guy and caught a shot to the kidney. I tell you now it was absolutely as disabling as any nut shot I’ve ever had. Took the air out of my lungs and left me immobilized. I crumpled to the floor without even a whimper and was stuck there for at least a minute. Never had that happen since, but that one time made an impression on me.

High school wrestling is a martial art. Grappling is combat.

Precision strikes are for suckers. Adrenaline makes precision a challenge, moving targets make them more difficult. That’s why I wouldn’t go for the solar plexus. The advantage of most of the targets listed in the OP is that they are effective targets that take little training to be useful.

A quick kick to the knee doesn’t take much finesse. Side kick, front kick, whatever. Catch them with their foot on the ground, you don’t even have to hit the knee, a hard thrust on the thigh can hyperextend their joint enough to make them gimpy. Ever bashed your shin? Your kick is low, you still hit the shin bone, that is still effective, even if only as a distraction for followup.

And I prefer palmstrikes over punches. An uppercut palmstrike towards the face can catch either the nose or the chin, and either way will do effective work. Followed by an elbow dropped on the throat for good measure.

Woman :smiley:
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I had something very similar to that happen to me in 1999 except it was two guys with knives. One of them walked straight into me just outside my Boston apartment one night on an otherwise deserted street. That stopped me just enough for the other one to try to secure me by hands from behind. My very large younger brother used to try that same move all the time when we were teenagers and I know how to get out of it almost instantly. I broke free and and punched one of them straight in the nose (it turned out later that I broke it).

They were stunned and about to fight back but they had on hooded sweatshirts so I just grabbed the top of it on the other guy and just yanked as hard as I could off to the side and down. That was enough to get him seriously off balance so I just started running. I was in good shape at the time so I was gone before they even knew what happened. The total time for the attack and breakaway was just a few seconds. I ran around to a locked back entrance to my apartment building and was safely inside less than 30 seconds after it was over.

It turned out that they were very bad people who had just gotten out of prison and were expected to be an almost sure bet for re offending so the police had no problem catching them later that night but only after they had already committed several other violent crimes much more successfully than mine. They went straight back to jail and then prison.

I wouldn’t normally try to hit someone in the face if I had time to think about it. It is too easy to miss and isn’t usually devastating enough. My preferred strategy would be to drop them to the ground in a head-lock and simultaneously choke them and bite as much flesh off I could reach. If it comes down to one of those situations, I need them dead, unconscious or mortally wounded as quickly as possible as long as they are a potential threat to me.

Redirecting the head is a surprisingly effective technique for knocking them off balance or just controlling them in general. A guy I know took bodyguard training from the Secret Service. (He said they don’t teach you to redirect the weapon away, they teach you to redirect the weapon at yourself rather than your client. :eek: ) He took some other self defense training programs as well. One technique he discussed was if someone grabs you by the neck to choke you, push their forehead back and away. It’s hard to keep holding in front when your balance is shifted back. He said a non-damaging attack is important in some situations because you could be liable for injury in a lawsuit. Stopping the attack without injuring the other person unnecessarily is useful. I say situations vary enough there may be times when an attack is not serious enough to warrant busting them up, but serious enough you want to stop it - i.e. a drunk brother-in-law getting rowdy but probably not meaning you serious harm. But any serious attack calls for serious defense.

A punch to the teeth, jaw, cheekbone, or forehead is probably going to mess up your hand as much as it messes up their face. Unless you get a good coldcock on them, it won’t stop a determined attacker, just anger them. It’s also possible they duck their head and you impact their skull - less pleasant for you than them. A nose strike has the advantage of making their eyes water and makes it hard to focus on you. Eye strikes make it hard to find you when you move.

Relying on any one strike to be the end of the attack is risky. Sequential strikes to several targets is the most effective way to ensure you survive and get away relatively unharmed.

My preferred strategy is avoid going to the ground. It’s a lot harder for me to get back up, and if there are multiple attackers, that puts me at a disadvantage. I realize for grapplers, being on the ground can be a benefit. Not as much for me. Groundfighting is a different game than strikes and kicks. I’ve trained a little, but not enough I want to rely on it as my primary.

However, I met a guy who said he was jumped by two guys down on Galveston Island late at night. He grabbed the first guy, took him to the ground and busted his arm, then jumped up for the second guy. The second guy backed off - he didn’t need that. So YMM definitely vary.

With a handle like Irishman, I would have bet you to go with a Belfast Kiss…:smiley: