SELF-DEFENSE TECHNIQUES

Here are some things that I practice. All of these techniques were taken from the lower belt level
ranks in Mr. Ed Parker’s American Kenpo curriculum. I have never formally studied American
Kenpo, but have practiced a “harder” more karate like variant of Kenpo since 1978. An excellent
resource for Kenpo Techniques is Brian’s Kenpo page which is located at ww.bakerfamily4.net.
I like these basic techniques sequences as they are extremely adaptable to a wide range of
circumstances. While they are not what I personally learned coming up in the ranks, they are
very similar and in all aspects better than what I learned. Which is why I chose them.

These five techniques are what I would call basic old school hard style 1960's karate/kung fu
defenses. As such, most of them feature hard style forearm blocks as their first move. I will be
the first to admit that hitting is better than blocking. This is why a beginning student should first
learn Shanghai Combatives basics first (Fairbairn and O’Neill), practice those moves in
combination, and then segue way into these defenses.

As outlined in his series of books, Infinite Insights into Kenpo, Mr. Parker would teach a self-
defense technique first in what he would call the ideal phase. Ideal in that the defense was taught
against a very specific attack. After learning and practicing the technique in the most perfect
situation, then the student was encouraged to experiment and determine how what he or she
learned could be used in other circumstances. This is not a new concept and has been a part of
the most effective arts for years. It epitomizes the concept of “less is more”. When I was learning
we called it “freelancing” or “making shit up as you go along”. A more accurate modern term
would perhaps be extrapolation. If you feel more comfortable using open hand parries as opposed
to hard style blocks, work them that way. Conversely, if you are more comfortable with punches
rather than palm strikes, use those, and vice versa. Can’t get behind the whole blocking thing,
consider the forearm a strike as opposed to a block, or eliminate the block all together and roll
with your preferred interceptive strike. Borrowing a page from our Filipino brothers, all of these
combinations can be done with a knife or a stick (or a hatchet) in one or both hands, in forward
or reverse grips (don’t know that I would use the hatchet in a reverse grip, but you could). Some
variations will work better than others, use your imagination. Keep in mind,however, that the
only technique that shuts the attacker’s centerline down is Glancing Lance, so you need to be
mindful of this. At the end of the techniques are some suggestions to help the practitioner learn to
apply what is listed in various different scenarios.

I would close with this. There is nothing new here, all of the movements used below appear in
every art which utilizes punching and kicking. Mr. Parker put these together, I have given you my
versions of them. These are techniques that I think merge well the WWII Combative methods of
W.E. Fairbairn, Pat “Dermot” O’Neill as well as being similar to those methods advocated by
Mr. Bradley J. Steiner. I have never had the opportunity to apply any of them in a real life, only
in solo practice. I have used Mr. Parker’s names for the techniques. If you search on YouTube,
there are many videos demonstrating the techniques, some better than others, but all can give you

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 insight on the applied movements. Any mistakes or inaccuracies made in this document are
solely my own, and no reflection on any of the above named individuals. I hope you find this
information helpful.

1. Sword and Hammer Defense against a grab on your right shoulder.

Ideally, the attacker is facing the same direction as you, so his left hand is grabbing your right
shoulder. Your left hand pins the attackers hand on your shoulder as you step to the right with
your right foot into a Horse Stance while doing a right backward Edge of Hand blow (chop) to
the attacker’s throat/neck. Drop your weight and circle your hand down and into the attacker’s
groin with a Right Back Hammerfist, retract your right hand to your left ear and deliver a second
Edge of Hand blow to the attacker’s head/neck region. If you can get your right foot up to his
closest foot, you may be able to execute an Equal and Opposite Sweep with the Edge of Hand
blow. (Your hand and foot are moving in opposite directions at the same time.) In the off chance
your attacker grabs your right shoulder with his right hand (you and he are facing opposite
directions, you still work this sequence. You can either work on his back side using the technique
as is, or hit him in front by using ridgehands or reverse hammerfists. I believe this technique has a
Fairbairn flavor to it.

2. Delayed Sword Defense against any kind of high gate attack.

Mr. Parker teaches this against a right hand lapel grab, but it really is multi-faceted and can be
used against almost anything coming at your face. The attacker grabs your left lapel with his right
hand, step back with your left foot and deliver an inward forearm block to his arm (your palm is
inward facing you). The stepping back and inward block tends to throw the attacker off balance.
After the block, execute a right front snap kick to the groin, as you are setting your foot down
deliver a right Edge of Hand blow to either his neck or head. There are a multitude of follow-ups
you can do at this point, If you are familiar with Kenpo, after the Edge of Hand blow you can
flow right into the technique known as Five Swords. You can double the block up against a strong
inward circular strike or do a right inward forearm block with a left downward forearm block to
defend against a roundhouse kick, you can convert the block into an inward palm parry (high), you
can use a low inward palm parry (ala O’Neill) to defend against a middle gate attack to your mid-
section or groin. The versatility of this sequence is so good, I could pretty much build you a
fighting system based on it alone.

3. Thrusting Salute Defense against a right punch or right kick.

Mr. Parker only teaches the low version of this technique, I use two versions. Thrusting Salute
High is a defense against a punch, Thrusting Salute Low is a defense against a groin kick. The
techniques in the sequence remain the same, but the order in which they are executed and the
angle of the block changes depending upon the attack.

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High Against a right inward circular punch. Either step forward with your left foot into the
attack or step back away from it with your right foot. You should practice it both ways.
Execute a left outward forearm block (palm down), immediately follow that with a right
Tiger’s Claw, Palm Heel, or a Chin-Jab depending upon the range to the attacker’s face.
Follow up with a right front kick to the groin. If you are in tight, change the kick to a knee
lift.

Low Against a right front kick to your groin. Step back with your right foot while executing a
left downward forearm block to deflect the kick. Execute a right front snap kick to your
opponent’s groin, set down in front, execute a right Tiger’s Claw, Palm Heel, or Chin-Jab
to the attacker’s face. Again if you are in close quarters, change the kick to a knee.

Thrusting Salute is kind of like Karate 101. I think it is very similar to some of Mr. Steiner’s
methods.

4. Glancing Dagger Defense against a right front knife thrust to the mid-section

Step back with your right foot while hollowing out your mid-section. Execute a right downward
circular Edge of Hand blow to the outside of the attacker’s forearm to redirect the knife with a
simultaneous a left outward palm parry to his elbow. Ideally both of these movements are
delivered at the same time, the EOH redirects the knife thrust, the palm hits the attacker’s elbow
together. If the palm parry doesn’t hit the elbow, that’s ok, your positioning it for further action.
As soon as the knife is moved offline, execute a right front snap kick to the attacker’s groin. Set
your kicking foot down in front. Execute a right Tiger’s Claw to the attacker’s face. Step forward
with your left foot and strike the attacker’s face with a left backhand EOH blow. If you can pull it
off, place your left foot behind the attacker’s right foot while throwing the left chop. If you have
been able to place your foot there, you can execute an equal and opposite sweep. Please note that
your are not trying to grab or control the attacker’s hand holding the knife in any shape, form or
fashion, so you have to move fast while at the same time trying to keep track of the knife. I like to
bring the right hand back down after the Tiger’s Claw and try to grab the attacker’s right wrist to
control it. You may or may not be able to do this. Instead of stepping back with your right foot,
you may try stepping with the left foot to either 9:00, 10:00 or 11:00 while hollowing out your
mid-section. This technique was listed in Mr. Parker’s first book: Kenpo Karate: Law of the Fist
and Empty hand first published in 1960. Since then he has changed the initial deflection from a
right hand fingers down chop/EOH blow to a fingers up outside EOH parry.

5. Calming the Storm Defense Against a Right High Gate Attack

Depending upon range, either step forward with your right foot, or step back with your left. Either
way you want to end up with your right foot forward, as you step, block the attack with a left
outward forearm block (palm down) while simultaneously hitting the attacker in the face with a
right vertical punch. Pivot on your right foot to the right so that you are facing the attacker square
on. Deliver a left vertical punch to the attacker’s face as you turn.

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While you are punching with the left hand, bring your right down to guard the centerline. Pivot
your left side counter clockwise twisting back into a horse stance (so that your right side is facing
the attacker once again) while executing a right backfist strike to the attacker’s right ribs, retract
the backfist and bring it up to your left ear as you execute a right front snap kick to the groin,
finish with a right back horizontal hammerfist strike to the jaw that goes all the way through from
one side to another. I’m generally not a big fan of backfisting someone in the ribs, I don’t think it
does a lot of damage, but in this instance it fits well and you are getting some torque on it with
your body pivot. A variation on that part is that you can pull the backfist all the way through from
left to right when you hit the ribs, if you do that verison, I generally use a left upward backfist to
the face after the kick as the finishing move. I think this technique has a Wing Chun feel to it,
primarily based on the vertical punches.

After learning the above listed techniques as they are described, you should experiment with them
using the following scenarios.

1. Some sort of grabbing attack: single hand, double hand, or a specific lock, hold or hug.

2. Against a punch: straight, hooking, uppercut, backhand, and combinations.

3. Against a kick: knee-lift, front, side, back, round, hook, crescent, reverse crescent,
spinning, etc.

4. Against a stick attack: forehand, backhand, straight thrust, up, down, baton length, cane
length, staff length.

5. Against a knife attack: straight thrust, forehand slash, backhand slash, downward stab,
upward stab, sewing machine stab.

6. Against a handgun attack: held in one hand, two hands, front, side back, touching you/not
touching you.

8. Executing the combination as an offensive combination by either removing the block/parry

9. The defender converts the sequence into a weapons combination by using a baton or knife
in one or both hands while defending.