Easy Self-defense Techniques

Self-defense is a real concern for many people. While martial arts schools abound, many traditional martial arts schools cater to the young and fit. The jumping, spinning back kicks of tae kwo ndo and karate and the brutal punishment required to learn to box demand the resilience of youth and strength. For the frail and elderly, as well as the nonathletic, something simpler and easier is necessary to protect yourself from physical assault. Fortunately, something has been developed and available for over 60 years.

The Chin Jab

William Fairbairn, an officer of the Shanghai constabulary in the 1920s, developed a program for defeating the local warrior gangs in that city. Reputed at the time as the world’s most dangerous city, the constabulary was involved in over 600 shootings a year, as well as uncounted numbers of unarmed combat encounters. Shanghai’s police force needed something that could be easily learned by it’s officers in a hurry but would still be effective enough to defeat the young kung-fu fighters that made up the city’s gangs.
Later working as a member of the British military intelligence apparatus, Fairbairn developed the hand-to-hand self-defense training program for the secretive Office of Strategic Service (OSS) and the British Commandos, where he wrote the classic self-defense treatise “Get Tough.” Fairbairn’s methods focused on the chin-jab. The chin-jab was simply a strike to the chin of an assailant, using the heel of the hand. This was much simpler to learn than traditional boxing blows, could be used at arm’s length or as an escape from a grab and could be effective even for the daintiest OSS female operative against a large, muscular German soldier.

The Knife

Rex Applegate was an American Army officer attached to the OSS at the same time Fairbairn was instructing there. Learning from the British officer, Fairbairn adapted the techniques to the American mindset. His evolved methods were used by Army Rangers, the First Special Services Force and elements of the Marine Corps. One of the first lessons Applegate taught to his students was that if they were in an unarmed fight with an attacker, they had messed up. He advocated the use of the fighting knife as the easiest and surest self-defense method.
For the easy self-defense use of the fighting knife, Applegate advocated a simple hammer grip with the blade coming out the thumb side of the fist. He explains in his book “Kill or Get Killed” that simple stabbing attacks to the throat and abdomen region have the highest chance of successfully stopping an assailant.

The Purring Kick

Today, the Applegate and Fairbairn legacies are carried on by a former U.S. Marine officer named Kelly McCann. The owner and chief instructor of the Crucible training organization, McCann trains government agents, military personnel and civilians. McCann uses the same methods of unarmed and knife self-defense that Applegate and Fairbairn espoused, combined with the latest cutting-edge tools and weapons. One of McCann’s signature self-defense techniques is the easy shin kick with the inside edge of your boot or shoe. Called a purring kick, this technique is ideal for maintaining space between you and an assailant. It is also effective for breaking holds in order to escape. By driving the inside edge of your shoe or boot into the opponent’s shin, you are able to easily follow it up by driving your heel straight down into his instep, causing excruciating pain because the bones of the foot are easily broken.