Common Sense Self-Defense By Elizabeth Scheibl

​On March 9th, I was not only present at Group Night; I was blessed with the opportunity to lead Group Night! As a black belt in karate and two-year taekwondo practitioner, I have a passion for martial arts and self-defense, so I was excited to work directly with the residents. The class I conducted had three basic components: Essential Techniques, Common Holds Used by Attackers, and Key Concepts. They are broken down below.

Essential Techniques
You’ve heard of most of these before, but that’s because they’re essential and effective.

• Elbows: THEY HURT. Remember the annoying boys you elbowed when they came up behind you in middle and grade school? Do the same with an attacker, but don’t be afraid to elbow him/her under the chin or across the face as well.
• Kicks: I could teach a whole class on this, but for the sake of brevity, I will say that the easiest and most effective kick is knee kick. Just bring your knee up into a sensitive spot, which works very well if your attacker is holding you close to him/her.
• Palm heel: The hard area at the bottom of your palm is its heel. Like the elbow, this can be used to strike a variety of soft spots. Remember to pull your fingers back!
• Feral Fighting: DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET AWAY. Yes, you can train your body to be a weapon through martial arts or self-defense classes, but you can also use common items like clipboards, books and magazines, scissors, and pens. If your life is being threatened, DO NOT HESITATE to inflict injury on your attacker’s eyes, ears, nose, throat, and groin (the groin, however, is not always the best area to go for, as an attacker can fight through the pain if he is extremely angry, drunk, or high).

​Common Techniques Used by Attackers
Another key component of self-defense is knowing how to defend against attacks that aggressors are likely to use.

• Headlock: If you can, turn your head to the side while grabbing your attacker’s arm. By turning your head, you are giving yourself more room to breathe and escape. Try to step behind your attacker, and DO WHATEVER IT TAKES from this point on until you get away.
• Wrist Grab: You can find several techniques to defend against on attacker grabbing one or both wrists on a variety of self-defense websites, but I will describe one simple but effective defense here. When your attacker grabs your wrist, struggle as though you are trying to get away, pulling in the opposite direction. Once you’ve pulled away as far as you possibly can, use your attacker’s momentum against him/her by lunging in the direction your attacker is pulling you. End the technique with a strike against your attacker (a palm heel to the nose would work especially well here).
• Bear hug: If your attacker grabs you from the front, try striking upwards using your hands (a palm heel underneath the chin, for example). If you are unable to move your hands, use your knees or try to stomp on your attacker’s foot. If all else fails, pinch sensitive areas (you don’t need a wide range of motion to pinch someone). If someone behind you has you in a bear hug, drop your weight and swing at him/her with your elbows. 

​Key Concepts
Now that you know what to do in order to defend yourself against an attacker, here’s an explanation of why it works.

• Momentum: If your attacker is pulling you in a certain direction, sometimes its better to use the force of your attacker pulling you to launch a counter attack, as described in a description of a wrist grab above.
• Leverage: Wrist locks are complicated to discuss in writing, so I didn’t incorporate them. However, they are all based on one thing: bending your attacker’s joints in directions they aren’t meant to go. For example, if someone grabbed you, and you loosened his/her grip by grabbing his/her fingers and pulling them backwards, you would be using this concept. If you study martial arts for any length of time, you will learn about this concept very, very quickly.
• Rotation: Use your range of motion to cause maximum damage to an attacker. See Elbows.
• Explosiveness: Surprise and stun your attacker by an explosion of kicks and blows. 

Group Night is held at New Beginnings.  Every Thursday, we meet as a group to discuss important life skills and educational topics.  Discussions are led by community volunteers and can cover a broad range of topics.

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