Self defense instructors hear some variant on this question all the time: "Of all the self defense tactics you know, which one is the most effective?" Extensive research into hundreds of answers from hundreds of instructors have led to two self defense tactics that cropped up over and over again. Both appear in almost every self defense syllabus from street fighting to military self defense manuals to Jeet Kune Do and even some schools of Aikido. Both of them are somewhat obvious once you hear them, but things you might not actually do unless you know how effective they can be.
The Number One Self Defense Tactic Worldwide: Let The Eyes Have It!
It's that simple. Attack the eyes. There are such a wide variety of ways to do it, it's silly to try to break down the list -- but the reasons to try it are profound. One of the editors of Blackbelt Magazine likes to refer to the eyes as "the off button", because simply touching one eye creates such a strong reaction on the part of the target that it causes massive openings for all forms of attack. The result is almost always a fight that ends in an immediate and brutal fashion.
Of all of the various eye attack techniques out there, one deserves special mention. Body mechanics experts have examined the movements required to perform more than two hundred different strikes, and have concluded that this attack is structurally one of the fastest that the human body is capable of performing. It's called "the backhand slap".
Yep. Without tensing your hand (i.e. let your fingers remain slightly bent), aim a slightly downward backhanded slap at your enemy's face with the middle knuckles of your indexand middle fingers aimed at the eye socket. The natural curve of your fingers will carry those knuckles right past the eyebrow ridge and the cheek ridge, and they will slam into the eyeball with a startling amount of force. The result is always a massive flinch and several seconds of blinking -- and often, tearing up or reflexively closing the eye for a second or more as well. That's plenty of time to follow up that rapid attack with whatever other self defense tactics you can execute.
Number Two of the Self Defense Tactics In The World: Stop Running!
Everyone always says that the best way to defend yourself is to get away from your attacker. That's very true, but they go on to imply that 'getting away' means 'running away' -- and that's a lot less true. Think about it -- if you're actually being chased by a criminal, you're likely not as good at running has he is. He's spent years running from cops, other criminals, and victims who happened to be armed with 'military self defense tools' (i.e. a 9mm handgun). You probably haven't.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't start running, though. Apply the attack to the eyes, and start running; start running earnestly. You never know, you might get away. But if you don't, it's time to engage in the second of our self defense tactics: the duck and tuck. You have to be brave to do this, but it's worth it. Simply wait until your pursuer is right on top of you, literally about to grab you, and veer right, then immediately fall left. Your opponent will trip over you and fall on his face -- his momentum and his lean forward to grab you guarantee it.
Then, pop up, give him a hard kick in the head or stomp on the knee, and start running again. Your escape is virtually assured; even if he can get up and give chase, the likelihood that he would after getting eye slapped, tripped, and stomped on is pretty slim. He's a predator of opportunity, after all.
And it's that simple -- two schoolyard tricks you've probably either used or had used on you, resurrected in adult life because they work so well. The two self defense tactics agreed upon by hundreds of self defense instructors as 'the most effective' -- relearn them, and hope you never have to use them.
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