Learn Pressure Point Fighting

Many people associate pressure point fighting with esoteric oriental martial arts schools and the use of the same kind of chi life energy that traditional chinese medicine systems such as accupuncture are based on. Although that can be an exciting proposition for some people, others are put off the whole idea of learning pressure point fighting for self defense by the supernatural connotations of talking about 'chi' energy.

But regardless of your opinion about chi and traditional chinese philosophy pressure point fighting can be an extremely effective martial arts skill to learn for self defense purposes. At its most basic level a 'pressure point' is simply an are of the body that is more sensitive to the application of pressure than other areas, and learning enough about the body to be able to target the weak points just seems like common sense to me.

When I was first learning martial arts I was always told that you should do everything that you possibly can to avoid violence. You should certainly never start a fight yourself, if someone else is becoming violent with you then you should do everything you can to calm them and talk them down, and if it is at all possible then the best thing to do is to just get out of there. But if you do all these things and someone still crosses that line in the sand and starts a fight that you cannot avoid, either with you or someone you are with that deserves your protection, then you should be thinking only of ending the fight as quickoly as possible. That means being as nasty and viscious as you need to be, without worrying about the damage you might do to them. There is no point thinking about being honourable when there is even the remotest chance of you or someone you care about being seriously hurt or killed by a criminal - so you should fight dirty. That is what pressure point fighting is all about; it is about dirty fighting - gouging the eyes, striking the groin, and attacking other weak points such as the throut, kidneys, nose, and so on.

Ideally you should go to a decent quality martial arts class. But you can also learn about how to use the bodies weak points - the pressure points - against an attacker when you are fighting them by getting books and / or dvds. For some recommendations about where you can learn more from reliable sources take a look at this article on pressure point fighting, which also includes some videos and explanations of some top techniques that you can use.