I HATE that. That's almost like saying "ladies, keep a condom in the purse in case someone tries to rape you"
I am sure that plucking someone's eye out works too... unfortunately, pulling off such fine motor skill self defense movements isn't as easy as many people think. If the poster had said "kick 'em in the nuts" I wouldn't have had the same reaction because the nuts are a pretty large target area and the movement skills required are gross motor skills that really don't even have to be trained to accomplish. The throat, by comparison, is a fairly small target located between the chin and the collar bone. Unless your assailant is standing with his chin up in the air, squared up to you with his hands by his side, not moving, landing a strike to the throat ain't gonna be quite so easy. Even if you do get past the hands, and chin against your moving target, with your knife hand (since a fist is just going to make it much harder to hit such a small target), striking the throat cleanly isn't a given. Nope, I'll stick to my assessment made much earlier in this thread that when it comes to striking in a self defense situation/street fight, your best odds are with basic straight line punches down the middle (i.e., jab/cross combinations) since most attackers tend to throw haymakers/sloppy looping hooks. Keep your chin down, hands up, turn so you present a small target, throw straight short punches, and don't over-extend. Frankly, if you do just those things, and do them well, you are probably able to win the striking portion of any one-on-one non-weapon altercation you are likely to encounter something like 90% of the time. A good jab is worth WAY more than a dozen throat strikes/eye gouges/hurticanes.
Red....I think that as he says "when you can't carry" do something other than cower on the floor like a 4 yr old is valid...
I have to assume that the throat shot proponents are talking about it as an opening gambit while an aggressor is relatively stationary and not already engaged in combat. In that usage it has a not-unreasonable chance. But I'll typically stick with a boxing combo and if they're still conscious flow into a throw for brutally simple self defense.
I suppose a shot to the throat is more applicable with the head back. If I was gonna go for that myself it'd have to be one someone with a good head of hair that I could yank back first. In that instance you're looking at collapsing the trachea and going for a fatal blow not to mention the amount of risk you'd be taking in tying up one of your primary weapons and leaving your opponent potentially with full use of both of theirs among the main dangers.
A Wing Chun style finger thrust, 'Bil Gi', to the throat is very achievable. It's every bit as fast as your jab and makes it easy to attack from unusual angles, getting around and or under the chin. If I had cause to use such a risky technique, not risky in that I think I would miss, but rather, risky in that the law doesn't look to kindly on deliberate blows to such vulnerable areas...............that would be my choice. In saying all that. If I could do that, then I could just as easily snot em in the face and set up a hammer fist to the jaw, drop them on their ass! Edit - Hammerfist because since busting my hand throwing an overhand right, I prefer not to hit bone with bone anymore if I can help it.
Fair enough, as a first strike weapon, I could see a throat strike being useful. However... I think this sums up why a throat strike, even if reasonably achievable, ain't the best idea in a fight. This is why, as I have written before, in using BJJ on the street, I would always choose a choke over a joint lock. If I sink a choke, he's asleep in under 5 seconds, and when he comes to, other than perhaps some pee in his pants, there are no marks or permanent damage and he can complain the the law all he wants, but he'll have nothing to show them. If I put an arm-bar on someone I have to be prepared to break the arm, and if I do that, it will not look good for me of the police are called.
Amen to that bro. My philosophy is yin and yang. What is hard, I hit with something soft (usually palm). I broke many fingers learning that lesson when my parents transplanted my pasty honky a-- in the ghetto as a kid. This is an issue of physics. When two hard objects meet, the denser of the two wins. The way I figure it is this; Boxers (in my opinion) are the best punchers in the world. What is the number one injury to a boxer? Broken hands/fingers/wrists. If they cannot do it, then I cannot do it.
In the end, I can't really say what works - I can only say what works for me. I have been very fortunate to have ended several aggressive encounters with throat strikes. Usually a finger jab or dragon mouth strike but one time I pulled on a bicep strike - that was kind of cool and it looked like an accident.
I have to agree with you on that. Although my primary striking choices are boxing combos without regard for bone-on-bone, I have had the benefit of torturous conditioning when I was young (and dumb as a brick) and conditioning in moderation now (and becoming moderately wise through torturous experience). So my "luck" with not breaking any bones in my hands from blasting guys in the face and head probably has a lot to do with that.
On the subject of breaking stuff, I thought I might have finally broken my nose for the first time ever last week -- not from getting punched or anything, but rather from horrendous form when warming up in the snatch at 6 a.m. Apparently, I was not quite awake yet and my wife awoke to hear a steady stream of curses from me because I smashed my nose into the bar when ducking under during the "third pull" of the snatch. A lot of blood and my nose still hurts a week later, but no break. I am still not sure how I have made it age 42 without ever breaking my rather large prominent Jewish nose given the number of times it has been hit (either by another person or, in this case, flying metal objects).
Wow! Probably because no part of a human body, even conditioned, can compare to a steel bar driving into a small focused (and sensitive) area! At least you were lucky in that you didn't drop the bar on any part of your body after getting popped...
Eh, I have a lot of practice missing lifts so my body pretty much instinctively knows how to get the hell out of the way once I know I've missed a lift. The other day a woman who I regularly see walking her dog in the morning while I am training asked me how my nose was doing. I had no recollection of seeing her on the morning of the incident, but apparently she saw the whole thing and was somewhat amazed that I didn't break anything and that I went right back to lifting after it happened, with blood pouring out of my nose. I can only imagine what I looked (and sounded) like. I didn't realize how sore my nose still was until my 10 month old son grabbed a hold of it earlier today.
And that's what needs to change. We should target laws that prevent means of self defence and turn them over so that we have more options and more at our disposal, rather than just accept it as is and try to find ways around.
the fisrt defense is to not be there. yuo must always be aware of yourself and your suroundings. Dont make youself look like a victim, keep your head up, and make eye contact with those around you. most thugs are looking for an easy victim.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE "FIGHT" SCENES!!! When I was a bouncer. My favorite thing to do was talk to the drunks that wanted to fight. First was to "cater" to the ego alittle. They either discuss their "badassery" and point out they didn't need to "swat a bug". Or confuse the hell out them if they were drunk enough. Either way I would point out how there good time would be ruined if a fight broke out and the cops had to come. "Come on dude. If you fight now. Then you won't be able to drink anymore when you get arrested." If they were with a lady friend. It was way easier. "BRO! You get in trouble. Then you spend the night with a bunch of dudes in a drunk tank. Which means you can't screw your girlfriend." One poolhall had a ton of regulars that would go in and out to smoke pot or whatever. Ironically, even though they would get stupid. They respected their favorite watering hole enough to not bring that inside. I used to say this to them: "HEY!! Good thing you came in!!" Drunky- "Why's that??" Me-"Well, you just left. So, You just missed you. But, you told me to tell you to stick around until you got back. You had to talk to you about something." Usual answer-"????.......okay man. You win. I done drinking for the night." I loved doing that. After the first month of "testing the new guy". I didn't have any fighting (outside of a couple close ones) for the rest of the year and a half I was there. When in a "no talky" self defense situation though. It always depends on the aggressor. Otherwise, like mentioned before-Mindset, Awareness, etc.
1. Check your ego at the door (preferably the door of your house as you leave). 2. Always remain sober enough to fight. 3. Always have an exit strategy; two is better. 4. An avoided confrontation hurts no one (providing you adhered to point 1). 5. If all else fails, 'the best defence is a good offence' is cliche for a reason. Situational awareness has been flogged to death in this thread and in my book is less of a 'tip' and more a good practice that should be so ingrained you're not even conscious of it.
