Self Defense Against Striking Moves - Kicks

I am Sundar J.

M. Brown with Joe Diamond's Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Today, we are discussing practical self defense. Another very common attack in the street is for my opponent to kick me. Usually, it is a wild kick. The opponent just lifts his leg and tries to throw out something close to my ribs or hip. So, when that happens, my move is this. Now, let us break this down step by step so you can see how to execute this defense. Generally, if a person is going to throw a kick on the street; we can simply have of training in throwing kicks. So, we need to be especially careful that we do not block inappropriately and catch a broken wrist or a broken leg. The best way to defend ourselves against the initial kick is to keep the elbows in tight to the ribs and the side where the kick is coming from, my hands pins down and the other hand catches like this. I also do not want to look standstill and absorb the full impact of the kick because that will be too painful. Even a light kick like that caused pain in my arm and ribs. So, what I want to do is track away in a slow circle and at least leave the kick so that when I catch it, I lessen its impact. So, again I am starting from the base position and as the opponent moves, I track away, one hand down and one hand up like this. Now, when I catch, I need to take my left hand which is the hand that I turned out and wrap it over until I can find my own firmly on this side. At this point and you will notice I am still in a base position, I have caught the leg securely and I am going to walk in a circle towards the leg in order to force the opponent to the ground. Again, I am in a base position. Now, I simply do this, maintaining this grip, the leg that I walked forward on, I step over next to my opponent's ribs and I am going to arch my back while squeezing my elbow tight against my body and look up. This bends the foot like this, backwards so that it ruptures the attacker's Achilles tendon. So, here we are in this position and the attacker is coming, I track away. Now, I wrap the foot until I can find my own forearm. To force the opponent to the ground, I walk towards him and push him down on the leg, maintaining a base position the entire time. I now step over my opponent with my leading leg until I put my foot next to his ribs, I squeeze my elbows tight; I arch my back and look up, one more time at regular speed.

In the next section, we will see how to defend ourselves against a striking weapon such as a bat or a pool cue.