If you or your family were physically attacked, would you be able to defend yourself and them? And when we say “defend,” we don’t mean with guns or a weapon. Would you be able to utilize self-defense or defense of your family with your bear hands?

Anyone can learn how to pick up and shoot a gun. But far fewer people have the knowledge or skills of how to defend themselves with their bare hands. In this article, we will learn about some basic self-defense techniques that don’t involve the use of any material weapons.

Best Self-Defense Technique: Avoiding A Self-Defense Situation

The best self-defense technique is easily to avoid a situation where you would even need to defend yourself. Those who would seek to inflict harm on you or your family do so because they have a clear goal in mind. Maybe you have something that is valuable to them and they see that you are vulnerable.

Regardless of the attacker’s reason for wanting to inflict harm on you, you can potentially avoid having to come into physical conflict with them by being fully aware of their surroundings. Stick to areas that seem to be less dangerous and avoid dark alleys.

If someone does approach you and has announced an intention of inflicting harm on you, you can still try to defuse the situation by speaking with them. If they demand your money, one option would be to calmly hand over your wallet and allow them to get away. Remember that whatever money, information, or credit cards you have in your wallet is not worth your life. Hopefully though, you’ll be able to talk the attacker out of it without having to fight AND without having to hand over anything.

But if the aggressor then indeed does physically attack you, you will have no choice but to fight. And you better fight to win.

How To Make A Fist

A solid fist and a strong arm enable you to deliver heavy blows to an opponent in self-defense. Never enclose your thumb in your fingers or cross your fingers in any way shape or form. Instead, bend your knuckles in and set your thumb over your first two fingers. Your wrists should be held straight, not curved.

When punching somebody in self-defense, you will deal the most damage if you hit them with the knuckles on your index and middle fingers. These two knuckles are the largest ones, they are tougher than your other knuckles, and not only will they inflict the most damage on an opponent, but they can also sustain the most damage on your part too.

When you strike somebody with your fists, you want to strike them as hard as possible so that you can bring the fight to an end as soon as possible. To this end, you need to use more strength than just your arm and wrist when you punch. You need to use the force of as much of your body as possible. Rotate your body at the hip so that your fist carries the force of your entire upper body into the opponent.

Places To Attack

Your goal in self-defense is to bring the fight to an end as soon as possible.  To this end, there are specific areas where you should aim to strike on your opponent’s body and defend on your own.  Once such area is the eyes.  Poking or gouging the eyes with your knuckles or your fingers could be a fight stopper, because it inflicts a lot of pain on the opponent and also hinders their vision, giving you plenty of time to either escape or end the fight with another blow.  Another prime attack point should be the neck.  A strike to the throat in particular can knock the wind out of an opponent.

How To Get Out Of A Bear Hug

A bear hug is defined as an attack move where someone grabs you from behind and holds your arms against your sides. A bear hug can be a fight stopper in a self-defense situation if you are up against two or more attackers; one attack can grab you with the bear hung maneuver, leaving you nearly defenseless against other attackers who could then strike your face and stomach with a multitude of blows. This is why if you are ever caught in a bear hug, you need to get out of it as soon as possible.

If you are caught in a bear hug, drop your body down towards the ground as much as possible, so that your opponent has much difficulty in holding you up. Gravity is on your side.

Once you have moved your body down to the ground, your opponent’s grip over you will naturally weaken. This gives you a few seconds of opportunity to strike your opponent in the sensitive parts of their body with your elbow, open palm, elbows, and head. You can slam the back of your head into their face, slam an open palm or elbow against their groin, or raise your foot and slam it against their knee.

Continue to hammer your opponent in this manner to weaken them as much as possible until they let go. If you get low enough to the ground, you could possibly pick up some dirt in your fist and then fling it behind you into your opponent’s eyes. Their natural reaction would be to let go and get the dirt out. Or, if there is a wall or heavy object nearby, you can leverage your weight against them and then run backwards to slam them into the wall.

It is very much possible to escape a bear hug. Don’t stop resisting until you get out of it, and once you do, continue to strike your opponent in the vulnerable parts of their body until the fight is over and you have won. In the art of self-defense, fight to win, and if there are too many opponents so that winning outright is not a realistic option, fight to give yourself an opportunity to escape.