When it comes to a streetfight situation and you need self defense techniques against a threat, which would you choose to use: your fist or your elbow?

Let’s assume your brain can process the incredible amount of sensory information rocketing your way as well as govern the enormous fear response wracking your biology at that second, and allow you enough time to decide which is better.

It’s easy isn’t it? We’ve all seen it a hundred times in movies and on T.V… Bring out the old, reliable fist and swing round into someone’s face and WHAM! down they go…passer-bys burst into spontaneous applause, young ladies swoon, the piano player starts up again etc. Anyone would think the fists were the answer… I did… I tried it once when someone tried to mug me in New York – I broke my third metacarpal and one of the bones in my third finger – on the back of the guys head -  and then he got away.

It was actually quite painful when the adrenaline subsided. This was before I had had much training in any martial arts system and I reacted out of sheer panic and threw some punches just hoping that one might land somewhere useful.

In my opinion, and talking to others in the self defense teaching world, the fist is pretty ineffective when it comes to being an offensive weapon. It can be quite handy for the soft flesh of someone’s belly or their side but it will crumple, due to all those little bones, if you hit it against something hard. Have you seen boxers before a fight bandage their hands up tightly inside their gloves?

Much more powerful as a short range self defense technique is an elbow strike. You can swing your elbow forwards and backwards, up and down, aiming for quite a number of bodily targets. There are no soft bones to crack upon impact and the power that comes driving through from the shoulder and torso twist can be awesome. Using your elbow can be like using a heavy stick or baton – it is incredibly powerful.

If you are interested in self defence or hand to hand combat then you should give serious time to learning to strike with the elbow – they are two of your most effective weapons in your arsenal.