April 23

How to Knock Out an Attacker with Your Weakest Hand- Video Included

4  comments

Hi and once again welcome to the blog of the self defence expert.com. If you are reading this then you are reading the words of Andrew Holland. Fast becoming recognised as a leading self defence expert. This post will tell you how it is possible to knock out a person with your weaker hand and also using only a slap. Trust me its very cool and should only be used in self defence situations. If you like this head over to my site and sign up for my updates and newsletters. Major things happening, so keep informed via my email list. Just visit the self defence expert.com and sign up.

Anyway, Its been a busy few weeks with lots of projects and I have even been heard across the UK on BBC Radio 2 to 6 million listerners. This of course was a major leap in establishing my views and instruction to a wider audience. To celebrate this I thought I would give a sort of free gift. Well its actually an old video I recorded on you tube but I never really it promoted much. Its quite hefty and 11 minutes long but you can skip to about the 3.50 minute mark where the technique begins. However I think it would be better to give you a full explanation of the reasoning behind the technique so I have written this post.

The Lead Left Power Slap

Firstly a bit of history.

Slapping was something only girls were allowed to do. Or at least that’s what everyone was told when I was growing up. If a boy slapped someone they were told “only girls slap” (In fact looking back they did have access to a great range of self defence skills including eye gouging and hair pulling). This viewpoint was almost universally held by everyone including teachers and parents, boys had to hit with a closed fist! They were the unofficial rules of society. That was until something changed, someone broke the mould and made it not just OK to slap but stated it is actually far more useful than punching with a closed fist.

Now I don’t actually know who first started teaching slapping as a self defence skill, however I first heard of it from Peter Consterdine on his Powerstrike video. Suddenly it became OK for large doormen and security people to slap so I credit Peter for making the technique popular.For those that don’t know and are reading this post to gain some basic self defence information. Peter Consterdine is one of the the founders of the British Combat Association and is a Karate and security expert.

So, the story goes that Peter produced a video called Power Strike and in it he taught what he called the power slap. Essentially it was just a slap using a very unique hip movement he had come up with called ‘the double hip’ which generated more power in a single shot. However it was the sheer genius of the use of a slap over a punch that seemed to have evaded people for years.

The Slap is perhaps the most underused weapon in modern martial arts today. It doesn’t feature in most self defence or martial arts syllabus yet the devastating power it can yield is simply amazing. Lets examine the slap over a traditional punch.

Punch- Its powerful as a closed fist becomes a weapon. Just as if you were holding a brick the fist in essence becomes its own solid object which your can throw. This follows Newtons laws of force in that Mass x Acceleration = Force. The fist becomes the mass which you accelerate and you then have force. The punch is also compact, its small yet is fast. It is truly devastating. So we have a pretty compelling argument for using the fist.

Then again let’s look at the major down side. It Breaks easily. The hand is fragile and was designed to grasp and not punch and as a result they often break in circumstances which has become known as the boxers fracture. Basically when you strike with a closed fist the pressure starts to pass from the knuckles down the metacarpals of the hand. The metacarpals can snap during this process. Boxers avoid this by wrapping their hands to make sure the bones can’t spread much and this stops them breaking.

Slap- So lets have a look at the slap. The plus points are:

It is a large object but is easily moved. The open hand position does have a bit of air drag but not enough to reduce much speed. The same rules of force apply to the open hand as they do the closed fist so force will certainly be generated. The open hand is actually large so the chances of missing the target are reduced. The major difference however is that the hand is unlikely to break as it is open and the pressure caused by the punch doesn’t exist with the slap. So the slap looks cool so far. Lets take a look of my favourite slap in action.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVsloCJDYjE?rel=0]

That is one of the best slaps ever seen on tape. The person gets knocked out cold and shows the sheer power of the open handed technique.

Now the slap isn’t anything new however some time ago I started to work with the idea of the lead left power slap. The main reason behind this was that I wanted to be able to use my strongest hand should the first attack fail. If you notice from the video above the slap lands so if it hadn’t worked he would have had to ‘re load’ his power hand to fire another punch. This would of course lead to an opportunity for counter attack. I was looking for a powerful weapon that I could use that allowed me to to still have my power hand in reserve. This would be especially useful if faced with multiple opponents.

Power Hand

For those that don’t know. I call my strongest hand my power hand. For me this is my right hand and like a boxer would I stand with my weaker foot forward and my right foot a half step backwards. This is because of various reasons however my stronger side punch will have greater distance to travel and thus picking up more acceleration making the punch actually stronger. As it is my most dominant side I have greater muscular control and dexterity over the strike/side and this means it is likely to land on target. Of course the opposite is true, my weaker hand leads and as such it is nearer the target and that is less likely to miss as I need less control. Now before I have Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do’s fans hunting me I appreciate there is another counter argument to this as well. A lot of people argue that having the weaker hand at the rear is better allowing the stronger hand to be closer to the target. There are good and bad points to both arguments. I actually can strike from either stance but prefer the original boxers rules. Anyone unsure of how hard a boxer hits then take a look at the video

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEkZWxJ9OLY?rel=0]

OK That was just a bit of light entertainment but you get the idea. Boxers hit hard. So I will keep with the boxing stance as I know it works for me. So I refer to the power hand as the one furthest away from the opponent.

The Lead Power slap is therefore going to be delivered with your weaker hand. In my case the left but its easy to reverse the instructions for left handed people so they can use their right.

The Technique

Most of us know that there is something in life called the startle flinch reflex in which if someone was to throw something at you then you will elicit one of a range of responses. It could be moving your hands across your face or ducking etc, there are many variations of responses however it does happen. As such it is likely that if you throw a strike the opponent will make some kind of defensive action. Now whether this is successful largely depends on what happens before your throw your strike but lest say that you are simply standing and a person walks up to you and isnt happy that you looked at him (yes this goes on still)

“What you looking at” He says

“Nothing, I was just looking your way. I didn’t mean anything by it” You reply

the conversation goes down hill from here with various insults and threats and the male is clearly looking to hurt you.

Now without thinking about it the opponent has his body language set up ready to attack you. His right hand is pulled backward with a glass in his hand and this isn’t something you can really duck. If you think about it. Planning on blocking or ducking an attack by a person holding a glass is a risky strategy. Therefore the power slap presents a great opportunity for a pre emptive strike.

So at this moment you decide to launch a pre emptive strike and choose the power slap. In particular the left lead power slap.

Your hand hooks out of the field of vision of the target. He has his hand backwards and down so you have a clear path to the side of his face. Your left hand is closer to the opponent thus reducing the chances of you missing and because you are closer it also increases the speed of the attack.

You strike lands but the startle flinch reflex of the person has fired and as such you haven’t landed completely flushed. He is very dazed but still standing and with a glass in his hand. However because we have used the lead left power slap your strongest weapon (your right hook or straight) is ready to let go. Which you do and of course the end result is that the person is either out cold or dazed enough for you to escape the situation.

The alternative slap would have been the standard power slap. Which of course could have worked and possibly would have knocked out the opponent as well. It is a really great technique however it is usually fired further away from the opponent and as such distance increases reaction time. The left hook in boxing is so devastating because the opponent rarely sees it. It is delivered out of the field of vision. In self defence situations you will experience a flood of adrenaline through your body and an effect of that is tunnel vision. However don’t forget, the opponent has that same issue so the effects of any strike out of the field of vision are increased.

The below video explains and demonstrates the technique with me showing it. It is pure raw footage I was going to use to promote an on line video service which I never actually produced but the actual technique is quite useful. The good stuff starts at around the 3.50 mark. It is a great technique which I hope you enjoy and find interesting.

Any way keep safe and have a good weekend.

Andrew Holland

The Self Defence Expert.com

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wBytpkt0J0?rel=0]


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  1. Is it fine to insert part of this on my personal website if I post a reference point to this web page?

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