Hey guys,
Although I’ve never contributed to a discussion on the Combat forum, I’ve read most of the threads and logs for the last several months and have always been very impressed that, for the most part, the discussions stay objective and respectful and some great debates are generated.
My question is, why are bodyshots so seemingly underutilised. Especially on the street, they would seem to offer several advantages in a self-defense type scenario. In my experience (both giving and receiving them) a hard shot to the solar plexus often proves to be quite debilitating especially if the person you are fighting hasn’t done a ton of abdominal work.
It (solar plexus) provides a relatively large target that can still produce a spasm of the diaphragm even if the blow lands a couple inches high or low. The resulting spasm is an involuntary physical reflex which should still be operational even if the opponent is drunk/high (ie. doesn’t require a pain response to still be effective). Compared to the head, the abdomen is a relatively soft target so a bare fist should be less damaged from hitting it.
Finally, and, maybe most importantly in this day and age, the resulting “winding” while debilitating for 10-20 secs, almost never produces permanent or serious damage to the recipient. Thus, it should give you that separation time needed to quickly remove yourself from the situation (ie. run like hell in the other direction) without having serious legal repercussions.
Anyways, something I’ve thought about for the last little while that I’d like to get your input on. I know self-defense scenarios have been discussed ad nauseum on here so if you’re not interested, just ignore.