Practice is essential for self-defense. Just like anything else you do the more your practice the better you will get at it. The first time you have to legitimately defend yourself against an attacker you will be thankful for the many hours of practice you put in to learn how to properly defend yourself. It may not be easy, but the more you do it the better you will get.
One of the best ways to practice is to use a martial arts heavy bag. You can pretend like the punching bag is a real person and hit it with some kicks and punches, as well as practice any other self-defense techniques you have been taught. Heavy bags are great training partners because you can hit them with powerful punches and kicks and they will never flinch or get upset like your training partners might. Below are some practice techniques to consider for self-defense when using a punching bag.
Kicks: You can aim kicks at all parts of the heavy bag, which will simulate a real world person. You can practice throwing a liver kick at the mid section. A good solid kick in this area can completely disarm an opponent and give you enough time to escape. You can also aim a little higher and hit them in the mid section. This can drop many opponents, which again will give you time to get away. If a man is attacking you can aim below the belt as this can cause excruciating pain.
Punches: You can practice throwing some head strikes. A good solid head strike can completely disrupt an attacker giving you valuable seconds to get out of the area. Another great tactic is to smash both hands against your attacker’s ears at the same time. This has the tendency to completely disorient people for several seconds. You can also use punches to aim at the gut, which can cause intense pain.
Ground tactics: Put the heavy bag on the ground and you can simulate an attack on the ground. Hit it with everything you got from punches, to kicks, to chokes and do your best to simulate an attack. You can even practice grabbing or attacking certain parts of the body.
These are just a few self -defense tactics you can use to defend yourself. There are several others you can try and we encourage you to check out the video below to learn more about good self-defense techniques. Definitely let us know if you have any questions.
