My instructor asked the class the other day, What is your first reaction when attacked? Since I have been lucky enough to not have been attacked in the street I didn't know what to say.
I began thinking, what are the techniques that I'm good at that will have the most effect in a life or death situation?
I came up with three techniques that I drilled on.

1. Get off the line, from the side kick low at his base.

2. Follow up with my pointy elbow using my hips to propel the attack to the head.

3. Then if needed the palm heal strike to finish.

This sounds so by the numbers. I guess I really want to know from you all is how to be fluid in our reactions to attack.
What are your bread and butter techniques that In a tight spot come to mind?

Thanks, Mark

Honestly? Breathing. Sounds stupid, but breath control helps you stay in control of your body (to a degree). Other than that, running away! I don't really have a "go to" move. That said, there are two pre-emptive strikes I always wanted to work on:

i) A low round kick to the leg/knee (as done in Muay Thai), demonstrated below:



ii) The punch "Double Hip" strike as demonstrated by Peter Consterdine. As Peter said, the best place to learn this particular sort of power generation would probably be Wing Chun or Xingyiquan, or the school of Karate Peter did (the name escapes me but I think the founder of the school was big in to the "double hip" punch).

Thanks Prizewriter. That power generation from the hips was most impressive. My Goju instructer has been drilling our class on power generation like that. Needless to say I have miles to go in this area. Being 6 ft 3 it is sometimes hard to get my weight underside. When I punch I have trouble locking down so that my punch is rooted to the floor. Practice, Practice,practice.
Now, if the attacker would be so kind as to step back a couple of feet I could do some kicking. That's probably not going to happen.
I will work on the breath control. I guess I need to find my Zen on this matter. Too often shallow breathing leads to trouble.
Thanks again, Mark

I wonder if your instructor's question wasn't so much about technique, as it was your psychological response.

I'd have to agree with fileboy2002.

Your mental reaction is far more important than what technique or set of techniques you think you might use. I assume the attack is a surprise, so when in the process do you even realize you are being attacked? The scenarios are infinite, so to begin to answer the question I think you would to establish the context.

Do you get sucker punched? Or does someone attempt to rob you? How often do people get physically attacked without some lead up. It happens, a friend of mine in college got punched off his bike by a drunk frat boy...(side note to drunk frat boys, if you are going to sucker punch a golden gloves boxer, you better knock him out or it's going to be a long night for you) but I digress.

For sake of the OP's question, lets say somebody has cornered you and decided they want to attack you (make up a reason how you got there) what is your reaction?

I would say, hands up, create space and evaluate your surroundings, is there an escape? If not, then blast them. I like the low round house, I like the jab cross here too. Stick the the basics and throw something you know and follow up fast, overwhelm them and create an opening to get away, making sure they are not interested in following you. I for one am a believer that if you force me into defending myself, I am bringing the house. I'm not going to wait around to figure out how easy or hard you fight. Take them out as fast as you can (there could be others) and then get out of dodge.

Above that though, if you truly practice self defense the odds of you ever having to throw any techniques are pretty slim. 99% of fights happen because the people in them made choices that led them there IMO.

Lead leg front thrust kick, sidestep, boxing blast, low round kick to the thigh, thai clinch and finish with knees. That's what I'll resort to if someone attacks me.

You probably are right. Being aware of your surroundings and mental toughness are key. It goes to show you that I tend to look at the physical techniques when The mental side as important.

Mark

Like most things, it all begins in your mind.