0112 – Unarmed Self-Defense Tools: Your Hands

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Other than our minds, the thing that distinguishes humans from most other creatures is our hands.  It is the opposable thumbs of primates that allows us to use tools so effectively and this has allowed us to make the forward leaps we have throughout the generations.  At times of violence, however, we may find ourselves without tools.  It is then we may choose to fight using our hands as weapons.

Positioning of Hands

  • Guard Position
  • Allows our hands to do anything
  • Allows for surprise

Strikes With Hands

  • Palm Strike
    • Hand open
    • Fingers Up
    • Strike with the meaty portion of the hand where the palm meets the wrist.
    • Can be delivered alternating, left or right handed.
    • Thrown with the hand, the arm, the shoulders, the torso and the weight shift of the lower body.
  • Target is typically the head
    • The head is the control center of the body
    • Trauma to the head can literally shut the attacker down
    • We strike with the whole weight of our body against the relatively small mass of the head.
    • We strike to hit the opposite side of the head through the center of mass of the near side of the head.
  • Hammer Fist
    • Hand closed
    • Strike with the meaty part of the pinky finger edge of the hand
    • Like a hammer
  • Targets
    • The head if the attacker is to either side
    • The thigh if the attacker is to the rear
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