A lifetime ago, (for some readers) we practiced applying very intricate self defense applications against various punches, kicks and grabs.  My first karate teacher always reminded us that this was good fun, but that in real life we would revert to the most basic maneuvers to abruptly end an attack.

Yeah yeah, we murmured as we strove to get fancier, more spectacular applications under our belts and down cold.  I look back now and of course, as always, Sensei knew best.  Long gone are the days when I could quickly step left to block a right handed punch with my right arm, simultaneously grabbing it, while launching a leading leg hook kick, under ‘n over the trapped arm and to the head of my attacker, then quickly retracting it to a chambered position, and smashing him in the face with the instep of my foot with a round kick.  And all of that, without once letting go of the blocked arm, or dropping the kicking leg.

Last night as I worked on the wooden dummy, I looked at my attacker.  He threw the same right handed punch and what was my response?  It was elegant in it’s simplicity and powerful.  Let’s discuss it.  Pay attention because this is a very devastating, fight stopper!

I stood my ground calmly and lifted my left arm up and blocked or deflected the right hand punch while rotating my hips to my right side. This pushes the attacking arm away while turning your centerline 45* to the right. Then, I simply rotated my hips back to the left, continuing my left (blocking) arm’s clockwise motion, which now is guiding the attacking arm downward and leading it back to my left side / opponent’s right side.  As those hips rotate back to the left, the feet pivot with them and the body naturally torques back into the opponent and I launch a powerful palm strike with the heel of my right hand, to the left side of my attackers face.

Want to follow up?  No problem.  Simply continue pivoting your hips and feet while continuing to smash hard palm strikes to the face or rib cage of your attacker.

In all honesty, one extremely fast counterstrike like this should end hostilities. I personally teach to continue striking until the attacker is down or gone.  More is always better, when defending your life with your bare hands.  Read the 4th paragraph carefully a couple of times and practice with a friend, bag, dummy or a door jam.  You’ll begin to feel the extreme power and simplicity in this most basic of self defense applications – I promise!