Personal Defense
attackers at some point squared up
and literally gave me their groin as a
target. The kick I used was a simple
rising kick with my shin into the
groin. In each I was astounded that
the strike worked as well as it did as
if felt from my end that I had barely
hit with much force at all.
Front Thrust Kick –Although I have
not personally executed a front
thrust kick in a real altercation, I
have seen it used with good success.
Many fights close to a clinch where
kicks are impractical, but if before
the combatants close to a clinch
the defender can use a strong front
thrusting kick to the pelvic area it
can protect distance and even take
the fight out of the attacker.
This is especially important in a
gang attack where you do not want
to lose the critical distance needed
to hit and move.
The wide world of youtube gives us
an unprecedented view into what
happens in real world attacks with
real people both untrained and
trained. Two common factors I see
from youtube that directly apply
here are:
1 – fighters when fully adrenal70
Dojo Digest • April 2014
ized tend to go head hunting with
fists and often lose any concept of
stance, causing them to square up
with their feet.
This often presents the groin well,
but due to #2 - tunnel vision kicks
in causing the defender to focus on
the head target and lose site of the
groin as a potential target.
We want to provide our students
the muscle memory to hit a target
absolutely full force while stimulating the amygdala in a safe and controlled environment.
Since we do as we train, I feel that
training the front kick against pads
or better yet a padded attacker full
force in scenarios is paramount.
And very importantly we have to
give our students the permission to
provide a strike to the groin which
many consider a forbidden target.
There are no rules in a real attack,
only who survives. The front kick to
the groin can be a very quick show
stopper if applied with accuracy and
force. At the very least it’s another
tool in our toolbox to perhaps help
us survive another day.