MASTERING THE ART OF FOOT STOMPING

How to damage the foot of an attacker so he can’t chase you. Learn what parts make up the human foot, and then you will fully understand what you are doing. How to practice the stomp. Plus, increase speed and timing.

The following self-defense technique is a close combat move that, if used correctly, will:

·         break a bone or two and/or cause pain

·         immobilize an attacker

·         stop someone from chasing you.

If an attacker can’t stand up, he probably isn’t going to be very dangerous… right? He certainly can’t chase after you. So, Mastering the Art of Foot Stomping can be of great value! But before we break into the details of this technique, let’s examine the human foot.

The human body has 206 bones, 26 of these are located in the foot. There are 33 joints holding these bones together, and 20 muscles are used to move the bones around. Go to the following site and take a quick look at the picture of the bones in the human foot:

Sports Injury Clinic

The above information about the human foot, will give you a better understanding of what makes up the foot that you are about to learn how to damage.

It may help you to do this move more effectively if you see your enemy as a foot, rather than a human being. You may feel uncomfortable about hurting a person, but be quite happy to damage a foot – think about it!

The Foot Stomping Technique

1.        Start with your feet at shoulder width - stand normally.

2.        Pivot on the ball of your foot: Turn the left heel around so that the heel is pointing at the ball of your right foot (where your big toe meets your foot).

3.        Lift your right knee up to a horizontal position, and bend the toes up. At the same time, turn your body side-on to your attacker. Notice how easy and natural it feels after turning your heel first - your knee on the left leg doesn’t twist and strain.

4.        Now, with the blade of your right foot (the foot you’ve got swaying in the breeze), strike on the middle of your attacker’s kneecap.

5.        Continue down the shin, very fully contacting where their shin joins their foot.

Other points to remember:

·         Select the easiest or most convenient kneecap to strike.

·         The blade of your foot is the long outside part.

·         Use the middle of the blade, between your toe and your heel.

·         Shoes with a good hard solid heel and base will do the job, resulting in maximum damage.

When you carry out this technique successfully, you will graze and bruise the shin, then break a bone or two in your attacker's foot.

Increase speed and timing

If you suspect someone is about to attack you, you can get started early if you choose to apply this stomp technique. Get ready by doing steps one and two. From there, this technique is too fast for your attacker to do anything to stop it - surprise him. You will also have more time to plan for maximum effect.

Practice it

Put your shoes on and go out and find a pole or post. Imagine that the pole is your attacker’s leg and the ground that it goes into, is your attacker’s foot. Use a pole to practise this valuable self-defense technique.

Conclusion

As you have discovered, this foot stomp technique is easy to learn. It is effective because of the many and mostly delicate, easy to damage, bones that make up the human foot. You should aim to strike where their shin joins their foot. Go and find a pole to practise it on.

FOOT STOMPING FROM BEHIND

This technique has much the same steps as the "Foot Stomping" and the "Break the Knee Joint" techniques. Let’s start by going through the "Stomp" steps, just in case you haven’t read those articles yet:

The Foot Stomp Technique

1.      Start with your feet at shoulder width (stand normally).

2.      Pivot on the ball of your foot. Turn your left heel around, so that the heel is pointing at the ball of your right foot (where your big toe meets your foot).

3.      Lift the right knee up to a horizontal position and point the toes up. At the same time, turn your body side on to your attacker. Notice how easy and natural it feels after turning your heel first -- your knee on the left leg doesn’t twist.

4.      Now, with the blade of your right foot (the foot you’ve got swaying in the breeze), aim and then strike on the middle of the kneecap. Select the easiest or most convenient kneecap to strike. The blade of the foot is the long outside part. Use the middle of the blade, between the toe and the heel.

5.      Continue down the shin very fully contacting where their shin joins their foot.

6.      Give it all you’ve got!

Shoes with good hard solid heels and bases will help you cause maximum damage.

Put your shoes on and go find a street sign pole (or the like) to practice this on. Work on speed, accuracy, and as always, think about timing and surprise!

Let’s look at The Foot Stomp From Behind Technique

It’s difficult to see where your attacker has his feet, if you’re being held in a "bear-hug" (him behind you with his arms around your upper body and gripping his own wrists).

Or, maybe if he has you from behind in a headlock (one arm around your neck which is gripping his other wrist).

The trick to this is in good timing and in using your attacker's weight to your advantage, in two ways:

1.      Go with it! As your attacker grabs you, he may move you forward or backwards. As he does, you will move with him. If he pulls you back, you should not resist (much)… move back with him.

2.      Then lift your front leg at the knee and stomp hard, DAMNED hard, on his foot using his shin as a guide down to his foot, as explained above.

What happens is this: When you both move back (on the left foot for example), you step roughly where he had his foot. Then without having to look, you can judge where his right foot is, because it will be in line with your left foot. It’s a bit of a dance.

You never thought you’d be dancing with your attacker, did you? Just look at it as "Break Dancing."

If you’re standing still and you push your weight forward or pull back, your attacker will naturally resist by pushing forward or pulling back. At the same time you step, he steps just enough for you to judge where to strike. Don’t strike unless you are ready, you have a clear target (the knee) and you are balanced.

Being off balance will greatly reduce the striking power. If your timing is right and you pause for half a second to check your balance, you should catch your attacker off guard. You can't use too much force, so give it all you've got.

Make sure you contact the foot. This will absorb the shock for you. Use his shin as a guide down to his foot. Consider a direct hit to be where the foot meets the shin (lower leg). Even if you don’t break a bone, scoring a direct hit WILL slow your attacker down enough for you to exit the arena.

Please note that you can also use the "Fold the Knee Joint Technique." When you know where the target is, just make like a horse and lift your knee up in front of you, aim and kick back behind you, into the attacker’s knee.

A special thanks to Self-Defense Now for allowing us to use the above article! The Self-Defense Now website has all kinds of practical tips and techniques on self-defense. The Self-Defense Now website can be found by following this link: http://www.selfdefensenow.com