In this video from the online self defense course “Martial Studies: Use of Clothing”, discover how to subtly mask your strikes and counterattacks with pieces of clothing.
Make a good use of pieces of clothing
First of all, don’t forget that this is an exercise, a demonstration, but that in the street, your attacker will have his two hands available.
He is bothering me with the only hand he has left. I’m going to catch him and I’m going to fight. Even now, chances are this will discourage your attacker.
“Let it go” – “leave me alone” This can dissuade. But this is possible if your attacker is the same or even lighter than you. With someone bigger, stronger, there’s a good chance it won’t turn out the way you thought it would.
Now I would like to show you how to use pieces of clothing to discreetly inflict one or two strikes. Nice, isn’t it?
It’s all about hiding your strikes with clothing. Thus, as a victim, the situation will not turn against you, and you will not become the aggressor regarding potential witnesses, or even regarding the Law…
Of course, visually, it looks less “oaf”, it is less impressive. But, concretely, even if you can’t see it, you’ll take the blow. You will hit and destabilize your attacker without it looking like a fight. Even if “in aggression mode” we are conditioned to make large gestures, that’s the point.
Let’s consider that you grab your attacker’s clothing, pull and watch their reaction. Since you are pulling the clothing towards you, you are also pulling him towards you. The goal is to push him back in the opposite direction, while striking him discreetly! You move him a little, you strike him, no one sees or notices anything. Do you understand? To do this, you will use the palm of your hand – or even your fist – until you knock him out! But, again, visually it looks like you only pushed him. Do you get it?
Mask your strikes
Other alternatives.
“Contract your abs” – This is nasty, I tell him ‘contract your abs’ and hit him in the chest” – And then he’s like “WTF you’re an asshole!”.
This is an example. In this video, we learn how to hide your strikes through clothing. But, if we’re looking to be more subtle, you can also fake a punch to the stomach, abs, etc., and finally inflict a neck or chest strike on your opponent. See what I mean? Whether it works or not, my point is to try to cover things up, okay?
“Who has an old shirt?” In this case, your abuser is wearing a t-shirt. It’s a different textile but it’s the same idea.
“You fight, and you come back”. In this example, I use my fingers to press down on my opponent’s throat. Here I did it gently, with my fingers stretched out so as not to hurt him and so that he would follow the movement. But if we analyze the technique more closely, my fingers are tight and slightly curved in a fork shape. You can also use your phalanges. Visually, it looks like fighting, you can tell I’m hitting him so, regarding the Law, I’m the aggressor, not the victim. Now you draw the opponent to you – “Sir, calm down…” – and inflict a fork to the throat. You can also twist a little to have more impact. But be careful, this is the throat, it’s very dangerous! Do you get it?
So, to sum up: take, grab the textile, work it and get a reaction from the person! “I only pushed him, I didn’t hit him…”, but no one can see it.
