PRESENTING STREET COMBAT AIKIDO TECHNIQUES THAT WILL GREATLY IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF SURVIVING AN ATTACK.

You need to decide if you want your self-defense skills to be just ok, good, very good, or devastating. When trouble comes our way the calm cool way we practice our techniques in private goes right out the window due to adrenalin and stress brought on by a violent situation. Wait until you are extremely sufficient at one technique before going on to the next one or else you'll be kidding yourself concerning your actual skill level. After you incorporate these ten techniques in your muscle memory you'll only need to practice them once a week for fifteen minutes to remain prepared to defend yourself instantly. Remember: Hard practice makes for easier combat.

Our first technique demonstrates how to: 1) Avoid getting grabbed 2) Put you attacker down hard and 3) Escape. Don't be deceived by the simplicity of this first technique. It is extremely effective and produces a potentially devastating fall. The pattern for this method will be used in techniques that will follow. When your attacker attempts to grab or does grab you, you will move your arms up in a circular motion which will deflect the grab or break his hold on you. As you move your arms you will trap his foot by stepping on his foot with your foot as you push him hard under the chin. With a hard push he will most-likely hit the back of his head on the ground, giving you time to escape.

This next technique involves a block, redirection and roundhouse kick. We will combine the three to create a disabling effect on the attacker. When someone comes at you, as intimidating as they might look physically, they are usually going to use their hands to control you. An X-block is designed to redirect or capture and control an assailant's wrist/arm by redirecting the forward energy of his reach/punch. Throwing your hands up in such a way that, although not touching, one wrist crosses the other with your left hand slightly out front. Should he reach or punch at you, your hands will be in such a position that his wrist/arm will enter the center of the X you've created with your arms. You will redirect his arm with a flinging motion as you slightly turn your shoulders in the same direction. At this point you will bring your right leg up for a roundhouse kick to either the inside or outside of the closest knee. If for any reason your aren't able to kick you can step on his closest foot and push/strike. If your are a very small person it is likely that your kick won't do enough damage to take him down, so instead, employee the foot trap that you learned in the first technique and push him down. You are not learning to stand and fight, but to disable and escape further harm.

The first two techniques are very important in that their movements will be a factor in most of the other techniques. Instead of learning ten techniques for ten different attacks, we have incorporated basically the same moves in all of the defenses.
Our third technique involves your attacker throwing a hard punch that enters your X-block as such speed that your closer to his upper arm. This powerful punch gets him too close to you to get off a roundhouse kick. Instead, you execute a shorter redirection of his arm and deliver an elbow to his ribs and throw him away from you.

In our dojo we have three rules. The first is safety. The second is safety. And yes, you guessed it, the third is safety. I often see students going over their moves in slow motion. over and over again. Striking or kicking at their opponent, coming near but not actually touching them. They are working on control, accuracy and muscle memory. When it's for real and you need to add speed and power you will.
The fourth technique demonstrates blocking a right cross or hook punch. When the punch is thrown, block by chopping down on his arm just below the bicep with a knife hand and grab his arm. Throw a back-fist with your other hand to put him off guard. Then immediately slide your hand down his arm to his wrist as you step behind his ankle with your right foot. Then with your free hand push down hard into the bend of his arm as you turn to your left and throw him.

You will undoubtedly come across several techniques in our instruction that you will choose to add on to your ten major techniques. Our advice is that you become excellent at performing ten to twenty techniques, rather than to know fifty and just be mediocre executing them. It may take only several minutes to learn a technique but it takes a couple hours of practice each week on all that you've learned to eventually master the moves so that they come naturally without having to think about them.
Your fifth technique is an arm bar and throw from an X-block. When your attacker attempts to strike, push or grab, you perform an X-block and grab his wrist with your left hand. You then bring your right leg around and quickly step behind his arm placing the forearm of your right arm behind his elbow. Then push his arm down locking it and you step behind his ankle with your right foot. Next, put your right hand under his chin and throw him backward. (In the video the student is moved to give you a better view of the throw)

Now that you've learned the standing arm bar, you can get into that technique from a same hand grab, two hand grab and cross hand grab by performing the X-block after the grab. When your wrist is grabbed from his hand closest to your wrist, you will move the wrist from your other hand under his wrist forming an X with your wrists. Grab his wrist with the hand that you placed under his wrist and rotate his wrist upward and forward as you step in beside him and execute the arm bar the same way you did in the last video. If both wrists are grabbed, move your right wrist under his right wrist and rotate his wrist upward and forward as you step in beside him executing the arm bar. If he does a cross hand grab, place your other wrist under the hand grabbed lifting and turning as you push up and over into the arm bar.

Our next technique is an arm lock with a backward throw. Your attacker throws a straight punch, perform an X-block, grab his wrist and bring the back of your left hand over to the bend in his arm and push his elbow down while you step next to him and turn, bringing his wrist over the top of your head, then bending his arm over his shoulder and take him down. You can follow your attacker down to the ground, as we did in the video, and keep his arm locked or you can simply throw him backward by throwing his wrist toward the floor and letting go before he lands.

When your attacker attempts to choke you, grab his wrist with your right hand and encircle both of his arms under your armpit with your left arm , which will trap his arms. Elbow him under the chin with your left elbow and step over in front of him with your left foot and throw him by turning your body to your right.

When someone grabs your shirt or jacket, take your right hand and grab the back of his hand. Rotate his hand so that the edge of his little finger is horizontal and then rotate your arm pit over his wrist and quickly go down on one knee. After he is down beside you, put your left hand on his elbow and swing him toward your left knee, causing him to stretch out, face down in front of you. Lift his arm, put your left hand on his elbow to steady his arm and push the back of his hand down so that his fingers pointing down to his back.

Another technique used to defend against a punch is a backward throw. When your attacker throws a punch. Capture his arm with an X-block. Grab his wrist with your right hand then move your left hand to the back of his neck and pull him down in front of you. Next, put your right arm to his throat under his chin, making sure that his adam's apple is in the bend of your arm. Now, move your left hand down to the small of his back and push hard as you bring his head up with your right arm. As his head comes up point your elbow skyward and step through with your right foot and throw him by pointing your index finger to the ground.

When someone throws a straight right or attempts to push you. Use your forearms to block his punch and use your left hand to travel under his armpit as you deliver a backfist behind his ear. Slide his wrist up and behind your neck. Put your right hand on the back of his neck and with both arms pull him downward as you knee him in the stomach with your right knee then immediately strike him to the face with your left knee in order to bring his body upward again. Position your left leg between his legs and as you bend forward, throw mostly with the right hand that on his neck.

When an opponent throws a left jab followed by a right hook, slap his on coming jab with your right hand and trap that left with your left as you step to your right. When he throws the right your left will offer an automatic block. You counter with a reverse punch to the head.