Front Kick/Straight Punch

Starting Position: Left-leg-forward fighting stance.

Deliver a regular front kick to the groin. Recoil your right (kicking) foot.

As your right foot lands, use your right hand to deliver a straight punch to the face or throat.

Defenses

360° Defense (Outside Defense)

This exercise serves as a basic introduction to outside defenses, including defenses against hooks, punches, and knife attacks. 360° Defense is a reflexive exercise based on the body’s instinctive reactions. The defense is performed with the fingers extended. This is a relatively instinctive (reflexive) movement, which makes it quick; extending your fingers adds a few inches to the defense.

Starting Position: Neutral (passive) stance, hands up at shoulder/face level. With all these defense positions, make the movement quickly and then recoil.

Position 1: With your elbow bent 90°, raise your forearm above and slightly in front of your head to defend against an attack coming straight down.

Position 2: With your elbow bent 90°, raise your arm at an angle (like the roof of a house—about 30°) to defend against an attack at 45°.

Position 3: Starting with your elbow bent 90°, send your forearm out parallel with the floor (with both arms it would look like horizontal goalposts) to defend against an attack coming directly from the side.

Position 4: Bring your elbow (bent 90°) in tight to your body to defend against an upward attack to your ribs. Angle your forearm slightly outward and contract your abs.

Position 5: With your elbow bent 90°, point your fingers down to defend against an upward attack to your ribs. This is the exact opposite of Position #3.

Position 6: Starting with your elbow bent 90°, lower your arm at a 30° angle to defend against a rising attack to your body. Be sure to bend at your waist, not at your knees.

Position 7: Starting with your elbow bent 90°, lower your forearm below and slightly in front of your chest to defend against a rising attack to the center of your body. Be sure to bend at your waist, not at your knees.

Tips: Defend using the blade of your arm. Put weight behind the defense. Defend from wrist to wrist.

Your partner should attack with very straight arms. While this would be unlikely in a street attack, it makes an excellent training method both for the defense and to develop vision.

Look at the center of your partner’s chest and use peripheral vision to see all attacks—if you turn your head to focus on one attack, you will not see an attack coming from the other side.

Attackers should begin slowly, one attack at a time, and increase speed as defending improves.

Inside Defense against Straight Punch

Inside Defense is made against straight punches to the face or throat. Unlike 360° Defense, which is a “stopping” defense, Inside Defenses are “redirecting” defenses. They redirect the attack away from its intended target. Defend with the same-side (mirror) hand. No “cross blocking.” For example, if an attacker punches with the left hand, you defend with your right.

Starting Position: Left-leg-forward fighting stance, hands up and slightly less than shoulder-width apart.

As an attacker moves toward you with a straight punch, bring your defending hand forward and inward, pushing against the attacker’s arm with the center of your palm. Your palm should slide along the attacker’s arm. Move from just inside your shoulder inward toward your line of sight. At the same time, make a small head defense to the outside to give yourself some extra space in case your hand defense didn’t succeed.

Tips: Defend with your palm, but if you misread the height of the punch, you can also defend with your wrist or forearm (see Inside Defense against Straight Punch Low, page 57).