Punches to the body are just as effective as aiming for your attacker’s head. In fact you could say destroy the body and the head will follow and drop. A well placed punch to the body can instantly drop a person or wear them down. Here is a simple guide to body punching.
In this week’s video we follow on in our series of videos examining how to protect your personal space in a street confrontation. We examine how to effectively punch someone so that they double over helplessly. How to deliver the punch and why it is so effective. As always please watch the video in conjunction with this article.
The Effects of Hitting the Body
Effective targeting of the Body is often over looked in Self Defence and to some degree in competitive fighting as more people are focused on spectacular one punch knock outs to the jaw. A well placed punch to the body can drop a person, by disrupting their breathing pattern, while making it hard to move.
Ending a fight with a body punch is possible when you hit the areas such as the solar plexus, the rib cage around the liver, or the pubic bone. All of which have the effect of buckling the legs of your attacker, forcing them to double over, and catching their breath. Having said that, hitting the solar plexus region has a devastating effect on a person’s ability to draw breath, it literally doubles the guy over as they fall to the ground.
How and When to Punch to the Body
Punching at close quarters requires short distance power, which in Wing Chun is the ability to generate power through contracting the body. As Wing Chun is a close quarter form of Martial Arts training it’s a standard practice to focus on delivering an immense amount of force over a short space. However, to end a fight with Short Distance Power its worthwhile distracting your attacker first to develop a punch to incapacitate that person. This is especially true in situations in which someone is standing in front of you (see 3 Things You Must Do to Fight Fear & Intimidation in a Fight).
When someone squares off against you in an argument or a fight they are vulnerable to a short distance punch to the Solar Plexus. Partly because the distance is close quarter, but also because the punch is simply out of sight, people just don’t see it coming. In this instant you can literally knock someone out with one punch.
In this week’s ‘how to fight’ video we look at a simple method of distracting your attacker in self defence and then using a short distance punch to disable your attacker in self defence. It’s highly effective, but we suggest that you practice hitting with one punch over a short distance to develop knock out power. Forget Bruce Lee’s Wing Chun method; just bring your training into the modern age to fight real bad guys.
Short distance punches (also known as the 1 inch punch made famous by Bruce Lee) have a devastating effect of dropping people to their knees and ending the fight in seconds. Master how to fight at close range and knock someone out with one punch by following these simple steps when someone is standing in your face threatening you. This is only for Self Defence. Please don’t use this idea against an innocent victim.
Final Tips
Be aware that the body is well protected by the elbows, so pick the moment when the person extents their arms away from their body. This may often mean then they are pointing, reaching, or even punching. Of course, countering a punch with a body shot is a skill, but hitting a person when they are reaching or moving your arms away is more achievable for those with little or no experience. Lastly, hitting the body may often lead you exposed to a counter punch to your head. Therefore, it is important to punch and cover.
Remember there is more to learning how to fight. You must learn how to punch, how to move well if you want to end a fight quickly. Better yet learn a martial art, or a good form of self defence, and most importantly build your fitness. After all, if all fails then you can run very fast from any fight. Contact us for information on the range of beginner’s courses we have in various martial arts that we offer here.
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