Everyone needs to learn self-defense techniques so they can protect themselves during their life.
I took my daughter to train with me in MMA so she at least has some fighting skills. My daughter is a really good puncher and did really well in the class.
She is no MMA pro fighter but I just wanted her to learn enough to fight back if she is attacked. She only needs to hit the throat or kick the guy in the groin so she can run away.
The key to self-defense is to do enough damage to get away from an attacker. It is not to sit there and exchange punches or kicks until one of you gets knocked out or taps out.
What is the best self-defense technique a woman can use? The throat punch gives a woman the best chance to escape because you are trying to collapse the attacker’s windpipe to cause them to have trouble breathing.
You should use this if you are attacked and yes if you collapse their windpipe enough they will die.
If you are in fear for your life then you must do what it takes to stop the attacker and save yourself.
We know the throat punch is the number one technique we think you should learn but what other techniques are effective against an attacker?
Groin Kick
I know you hear this all the time but it is effective to stop an attacker.
You can check out the video to see how we do this kick. The technique if you practice it can be super quick and have a ton of power. You want fast and powerful when kicking a guy who is attacking you in the groin.
You can do the kick two ways which we show you in the video. The first way is standing in a normal position and just kicking from where you are standing. The other is foot replacement where you are in a fighting stance and you replace the front foot with the rear foot at the same time kicking the guy in the groin.
Hard to explain but the video below shows you how I do it.
Eye Gouge
I know this sounds horrible to stick your fingers or thumbs as far into a man’s eye socket as you can but this is what you have to do.
You are at war with the person trying to hurt you and they will hurt you so get mad and do what you need to do to win. This means hurting him before he hurts you.
The key here is to have your body not freeze when attacked but react to the attacker. Your reaction needs to be swift and brutal where you are the one attacking to hurt him so you can get away.
Weapons for Self-Defense
This is a self-defense technique and I feel it is the best option for every female on the planet. You need to carry a weapon with you at all times. That is ok if you want to stick to non-lethal weapons like pepper spray or a stun gun.
I carry pepper spray with me everywhere and I am a highly trained fighter.
You are probably asking why I would carry pepper spray when I can stop almost any attack against me. The reason is it is easy and effective so it prevents me from getting hurt.
I can raise the spray press a button and shoot the attacker in the face then walk away. I end up not getting punched, stabbed, or worse.
I suggest you check state and local laws before buying and carrying pepper spray.
If your city and state permit it then you should carry pepper spray with you at all times.
Here is a list of the most common non-lethal and lethal self-defense weapons. I added a link to each one if you wanted to check out the price or buy it.
- Pepper spray
- Bear pepper spray
- Lipstick pepper spray
- Pepper spray gun
- Pepper Gel
- Stun guns
- Stun flashlight
- Lipstick stun gun
- Taser gun
- Tactical flashlight
- Self-defense knives
- Personal alarms
- Self-defense key chains
- Tactical striking pens
- Kubotan
- Kuba-Kickz plastic knuckles
- App on phone emergency and tracker: bSafe and Life360
Carrying a weapon is a self-defense technique because you have to know how to use the weapon in a self-defense situation.
Throat punch
We discussed that the throat punch is the number one thing we recommend doing if you are in fear for your life. This punch to the throat is not always the easiest to do so you have to at least do some practicing.
You will see in the video below how to hit the throat of our punching dummy. We review the best ways to do it and how to do it. Just a little practice doing this technique could save your life one day.
Ear hit
You want to cup your hand and hit the opponent as hard as you can in the ear. This should disrupt their equilibrium causing their balance to be off. Hopefully, you hit them hard enough that they fall down. Once they fall then you can get out of the bad situation.
If you can hit hard enough you could rupture their eardrum. If you hit them in the ear and they do not go down then continue fighting back going after the groin, eyes, throat, or nose.
Kick to the knee
I blew my knee out last year and it really did not take much for my ACL to tear. This is the same thing you want to do when you kick the knee. You need to kick in a way that will break the kneecap or tear the ACL.
This is probably one of the harder techniques because you really need to know how to kick. If you have taken martial arts before and are good at kicking then you need to learn this kick. If you are not good at kicking then you need to get good to use this technique or just use one of the other techniques.
Strike to the chin
You can knock a person out with a strong punch or elbow to the chin. The problem with just using this is some guy’s chins are rock solid. This means they are almost impossible to knock out with a chin punch.
The thing with trying to knock someone out with a punch to the jaw or chin is you have to hit the chin just right and hit it hard.
If you are just starting then this may be a difficult move. That does not mean you shouldn’t try because you may just hit them in the right place on the chin and they go down. You may actually be aiming for the throat and hitting their chin. Remember everything is on the table when you are attacked so do whatever it takes to win.
Elbow strikes to the chin are really powerful. If you can train in the proper way to do an elbow strike it will help you if you are ever attacked.
Knee strikes
I love Muay Thai knee strikes and this technique can hurt you. You need to clasp to gain control of your attacker and then use the knee strike to hit the groin or stomach. You really want to hit hard so you can knock the wind out of the attacker, break ribs or damage the groin.
The knee can do all types of damage when done right.
Check out the knee strikes in the Muay Thai fighting match below. You will see just how powerful these strikes are when delivered to an opponent.
Another awesome thing about these strikes is you can do multiple strikes in a row. You can just keep doing the knee until they go down.
Punch to the stomach or solar plexus
You really need to know how to punch to make this work. A really good punch to the gut or solar plexus may have enough force to knock the attacker down.
Remember you are just trying to get away from them not stand around and trade punches with each other.
A punch to the stomach or solar plexus needs to be set up in a fight. You may throw two jabs at the chin then change your level to throw a punch to the stomach.
Changing the level of punches from high to low or low to high makes it easier to hit your target.
Guillotine choke
You can use this either standing up or on the ground. You will have to position yourself to be able to do this choke on a person attacking you.
This is an advanced self-defense technique that you will need to train in to get really good at doing.
There are several chokes that you can learn when training in martial arts. Make sure you train hard to get good at choke moves. A choke technique may save your life one day.
Beginner in self-defense
If you are a beginner then I want you to focus on throat punches, eye gouges, groin kicks, ear hits, and using pepper spray.
This is what you need to get good at before training in the other techniques. You will want to practice the kicks and punches to get good at them so they are almost second nature.
Take the free online training we offer or go to a local self-defense class to really get these techniques mastered.
I know using pepper spray and eye-gouging is tough to practice but you can do it. You will want to get familiar with the spray canister and go out in the backyard to shoot the spray a couple of times.
This is tough but you may want to just stick your face into the mist just for a second to see how it feels.
Try to practice the eye gouge on a dummy punching like I have or just do it on a guy you know but don’t gouge. You can go through the motions to get a good feel for how to do it.
Advanced self-defense
You can use the knee kick, elbow strike, solar plexus punch, guillotine choke, and punch to the chin if you are more advanced at fighting.
These techniques are much harder to get to work and require some longer training to become good enough to execute in an attack.
I am not saying you should not try them. What I am saying is the chance of success with these techniques is lower when fighting for your life.
The more training and techniques you have in your arsenal the better chances you have to get away safely.
Conclusion
You have learned some great self-defense techniques that will need you to do some training. The advanced self-defense moves will require more training.
You can learn online on our site how to fight back against attackers. The other thing is to join a local martial arts gym that teaches self-defense.
If you have a local school that teaches Jiu-Jitsu that would be our first recommendation if you do not want to train online.
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