Proactive Strikes to Pressure Points

Honed via drills & sparring with protective gear

Strikes to Pressure Points – a closer look

These are the sharpest, most debilitating strikes attacking major pressure points.

Save these moves for when you really need them, as a last resort, when de-escalation is no longer viable and serious injury seems unavoidable, because these moves are liable to leave someone permanently disabled, and if you use them unnecessarily you can end up with a lengthy prison sentence and/or be eternally haunted by guilt.

Bruce Lee demonstrating a reaching finger jab

Biu Jee 標指 (finger jab to eyes)

Lin Wan Kune 连环拳 (chain punches to nose)

Jik Tek 直踢 (Kin Geri) (straight kick to nuts)

Primary and Secondary targets

Bruce Lee doing Jik Tek on a Heavy Bag

The eyes and the nuts are the main external pressure points on a man’s body, because they cause the most pain under the least pressure and stand the most chance of stopping someone via pain compliance.

If one takes priority, it would be the eyes since they also govern the ability to see, and this goes beyond pain compliance – it massively reduces their ability to fight due to loss of vision – due to loss of eye function.

Secondary pressure point targets include the nose, throat, side of neck, temple, solar plexus, etc. These offer a mixture of pain compliance and functional stoppage too. For example, striking the nose or throat can affect breathing.

Don’t rely on pain compliance

Don’t expect pain compliance to always work perfectly – being high on drugs or adrenaline can deaden the pain receptors – so combine these strikes with mechanical control, to cover all bases.

  1. Start with psychology – it’s often possible to avoid a fight before it starts.
  2. Fall back on physical mechanics, doing only what’s really needed, to avoid unnecessary escalation.
  3. Then fall back on the most dangerous pressure point strikes as an absolute last resort.