Bad self-defense techniques
Intro
There are a lot of “master” and self-defense “experts” around; some legitimate, some not. Either way, they may be teaching potentially bad techniques to use in self-defense situations. The techniques may be effective in some situations, but the potential is there for the techniques to fail, and for you to get injured or killed. Here are a few of the techniques.
Crescent kick
Crescent kick defense against anything is iffy but is especially risky against a firearm attack or especially against a knife attack. In this technique, the attacker is standing with the knife arm extended toward your midsection. To defend, you use a lead leg inside-to-outside crescent kick to knock the arm away so you may step inside with a stunning blow, or grab the arm and use some other technique to control the knife arm. The side and ankle of the vertically held foot of the kick is the striking surface and the target is the attacker’s wrist.
This is a very risky technique. If you hit the knife with your ankle or leg you will get cut, maybe enough to cripple you. If the knife arm is held closer to the attacker’s body, it will not be knocked away and may be pulled back and thrust forward very quickly. The target is a small area and you are striking with a small area. If the kick misses and the attacker steps inside the kick, your entire torso will be exposed to the knife.
If the weapon is a firearm and it is kicked to the side, the attacker will probably pull the trigger. The bullet will strike whatever or whoever is in that direction. If the kick misses, the bullet will probably strike you.
Any technique that uses the legs as a defense against a weapon is risky, it’s too slow and awkward. Against weapons, use avoidance, and then use arms and hands for defense; they are quicker, offer more control, and are more versatile.
X block
In this technique, the arms are crossed and extended either in a downward direction to stop a rising kick, or in an upward direction to stop a downward strike of an arm or a bludgeon. Then, with a rotation of the hands, the leg, arm, or bludgeon is grabbed and twisted into a take-down or a lock.
Since both arms and hands are involved in the technique, both types of application leave your head and torso vulnerable to kicks or counterattacks. To stop a bludgeon with minimum damage to your arms, the arms must be rotated quickly and allowed to slide apart at contact to spread and absorb the force of the blow. This involves a lot of positioning, movement, and timing. Any mistake may result in both arms being crippled.
Do not use two-armed or two-handed techniques against attackers unless the opponent is weakened, and you can protect yourself adequately.
Overhead upper block
In this technique, the forearm is rotated upward to deflect an ax kick, a downward strike with an arm, or a downward blow with a bludgeon. When used against an arm, the blocking forearm must snap around before contact is made to help prevent its injury, and the forearm must have a downward angle so the attacking arm will slide outward and be deflected away from your body. When used against an ax kick, the arm will not be strong enough to deflect or stop the force of the power of the kick. And the arm or shoulder may be injured enough to take you out of the action, and the kick will still probably reach its target. When used against a bludgeon, no matter how well the block is performed, the blocking forearm will be injured, probably enough to take it out of action.
The target of a downward attack is either the head, which is vital to protect, or to a collarbone, which if fractured will make that side’s arm useless. Both targets are vital to protect and the effectiveness of an overhead upper block is iffy at best. The best defense against a downward attack is avoidance, either by moving to the sides and possibly using a pushing block with a hand, by rushing inside the attack with a counterattack, or by quickly backing up out of range of the attack.
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