DO YOU THROW YOUR OPPONENT LIKE A PRO?

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Martial arts techniques come in many shapes and sizes. There are empty-hand techniques during which the practitioner does not have a weapon. Theses generally involve strikes, kicks and grappling techniques. There are techniques for various weapons—knife, stick, blunt and other edged weapons. There are also disarming and self-defense techniques during which the practitioner is specifically trying to overcome an aggressor.

Martial arts techniques also can include “softer” techniques, like breathing exercises, chi-disruption techniques and meditation.

Chokes

Chokes—which also are called chokeholds or strangleholds—are grappling holds applied to an opponent or attacker’s neck that can cause unconsciousness or death. They are commonly used in combative sports, close-quarters and hand-to-hand combat, law enforcement, martial arts and self-defense.

In classic films, the villain or monster wraps his powerful hands around his victim’s neck and squeezes the life out of him. In reality, chokes require less physical power and use either leverage or an opponent’s clothing to making breathing difficult, cut blood flow to the brain or both.

There are two main categories of chokes. Air chokes (also called tracheal chokes) compress the upper-airway passages, causing a powerful gag response, pain and suffocation. Blood chokes (sleeper holds) pinch the carotid arteries and jugular veins (main brain blood vessels), cutting off blood circulation to the brain and quickly rendering a person unconscious.

Commonly used chokes in close-quarters combat and combat sports are the anaconda choke, arm triangle, gogoplata, guillotine choke, rear-naked choke, triangle choke and the Peruvian necktie. Losing a UFC fight with a sub-par performance also could be considered a choke.

Joint Locks

Joint locks manipulate wrists, elbows, knees, etc., beyond their normal range of motion in order to break or dislocate bones, injure muscles, tear tendons or rip ligaments. These grappling techniques, used in martial arts such as chin na, jujutsu, judo and Brazilianjiu-jitsu, force an opponent/attacker into a submissive, nonthreatening position.

Arm locks, such as the armbar, elbow lock, key lock, juji gatame (cross-arm lock) and shoulder lock, attempt to hyperextend, hyper-rotate or hyperflex the elbow and/or shoulder. Leg locks, such as the ankle lock, heel hook and kneebar, aim to disable the hip, knee or ankle. Small-joint manipulations twist the toes and fingers. Wrist locks rotate, supinate, pronate, hyperflex or hyperextend an opponent’s wrist. Spinal locks, including the neck crank, can opener, cattle catch, crucifix neck crank, twister and spine crank, are the most dangerous of the joint locks.

Compressions locks (also known as “muscle slicers” or “crushers”) are a subcategory for all five joint-lock types. They squeeze or squash muscles onto the bone, causing excruciating pain.

Kicks

Kicks are strikes that involve the legs, knees, feet or toes. Depending on the intention of the practitioner, his power and/or speed, simple kicks, like the front, side, back or roundhouse kick, can generally be performed one of two ways. First, the practitioner can deliver the kick with a quick snap of the knee and hips. Second, he can deliver it with a powerful hip thrust in which he locks his knees to deliver a focused straight-leg kick.

Advanced kicks require better balance, speed and flair on the part of the practitioner for successful delivery. These kicks include the ax, butterfly, calf, crescent, flying, hook, jumping, multiple in which the same foot kicks many times, spinning with half- or full-body rotation, jumping spin kicks with up to three body rotations in midair, and vertical kicks. These kicks also can be delivered in combinations with each other.

Besides being used as offensive weapons, some styles employ kicks to push back an opponent or to block and/or deflect an attacker’s strikes.

Until Asian martial arts became mainstream in Europe and North America in the 1970s, kicking during fights was considered cowardly. This misperception came about because of American and British attitudes in World War I and II toward French savate practitioners. Because French savateurs kicked, anyone who kicked during a fight was considered weak. Fortunately, times have changed.

Strikes

Characterized as a physical hit with any part of the body or an inanimate object, strikes are meant to cause pain, injury or death to an opponent. For martial artists, striking usually involves hitting with the legs or arms. For the legs, the practitioner strikes with his foot or knees. He also can stomp. For the arms, the practitioner uses his elbows, wrists, fists or fingers in a variety of ways.

Finger strikes can be executed by individual fingers or in combination for soft-tissue and vital strikes. Sometimes the practitioner will hold his hand in a clawlike grasp to rip at flesh or grab at soft tissues and vital points.

Closed-hand techniques include punches and hammerfist strikes. Various open-hand strikes like the spearhand target soft-tissue areas. Open-hand strikes like the knifehand, chop, cupped hand and palm strike instead attempt to bludgeon larger areas with powerful hits.

Depending on the martial art, the head, shoulders, butt and hips also can be used for striking an opponent.

Throws/Takedowns

In the past, throws were commonly associated with judo and takedowns with wrestling. However, with the spread of martial arts into mainstream America and the rise of mixed martial arts, throws and takedowns have become synonymous with most martial-arts-influenced combative sports like Brazilian jiu-jitsu, judo, jujutsu, sambo, shuai jiao, sumo and wrestling.

Takedowns refer to when a practitioner off-balances his opponent to take him to the ground. The practitioner aims to gain control of his opponent through a takedown maneuver by landing in a position of power when both combatants end up on the ground.
Commonly used techniques include leg trips (or leg sweeps) and a wide variety of single- and double-leg takedowns.

Throws refer to when a practitioner off-balances his opponent to throw him to the ground. The practitioner typically remains on his feet during throws. Commonly practiced throws in martial arts include leg throws like reaps and trips, sacrifice throws and shoulder throws.

Weapon Techniques

Martial arts weapon techniques refer to nonballistic weapons. Historically, the earliest known weapons were simple clubs (wood, bone, stone); the individuals with clubs discovered they had an advantage over their unarmed adversaries. This led to armed conflicts in which both parties carried weapons. With both opponents armed, it became necessary to develop weapon techniques to defeat the opponent—small differences in technique and timing could spell the difference between life and death. The various archaeological ages (Stone, Bronze and Iron) ushered in weapons that were increasingly intricate, efficient, sharp and deadly. More complex weapons often required more advanced training methods: thus the arms race was on.

As martial arts weapons evolved, so did defensive tactics. Specific defensive weapon techniques included blocks, parries, using an object (i.e., shields) and, of course, running.

Offensive tactics were devised based on whether a weapon was bladed/pointy (swords, knives, daggers, axes, pole arms and maces), nonbladed (simple clubs, hammers, pole arms) or projectile (hand-thrown and device-assisted missile weapons). Offensive maneuvers mostly centered on out-swinging, -thrusting, -slicing, -poking, -clubbing, -bludgeoning, -slashing, -twirling and -shooting your opponent. Many of these striking techniques resembled empty-hand movements, thus inspiring the philosophy that weapons are an extension of the hand.

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