The Jab For Self Defence

  The first punch you learn in any form of boxing or stand up combat sports, the jab is a quick and sometimes underestimated weapon. For the most part, the jab is thought of as a "feeler" punch used mainly to judge your distance and break your opponents rhythm in order to set up a secondary attack. The jab is also handy for keeping your opponent at bay when they attempt to press forward and lay down a barrage of strikes. The main critique of the jab is that it's not considered to be a strike that causes a great amount of damage and it's rarely the fight ending punch. There are examples of the jab being used to create a tremendous amount of damage, keep the opponent at a distance, and allow the fighter to reset and continue to implement their game plan through out the fight. One of the best  examples of this would be Georges St. Pierre vs Josh Koscheck 2, it was a five round fight that St. Pierre dominated completely through the use of the jab and footwork. There are also examples of the jab actually being the fight ending punch when set up correctly, such as Anderson Silva knocking out Forrest Griffin with a jab catching Forrest while he rushing in with an attack.  However, these examples have been implemented by the worlds best full contact fighters, in an arena that is governed by rules, rounds, and time limits. The outside world is a little different, and in a life or death self defence situation you might not have time to through multiple jabs or take your time at all.

 What the jab lacks in power it makes up for in speed, and luckily we make this strike more damaging and suited for a self defence situation? Due to the jab being so simple to learn, easy to execute, and (with a little practice) very accurate it's the perfect weapon for a self defence situation if one small alteration is used, opening the fingers and turning the jab into a finger jab. A simple finger jab to the eyes is an incredibly quick and effective technique for turning the tide of any fight and protecting yourself against anyone, including larger and stronger opponents. For obvious reasons, the finger jab to the eyes is banned in combat sports, it can cause long lasting or permanent damage to the eyes or even blind the opponent. However, there are times when a fighter gets poked in the eyes, and intentional or not, it causes them to reel back and completely breaks their rhythm and concentration. If a simple technique works that well on the strongest, highly trained, professional fighters, than it will work in real life. It's hard to fight when you can't see! 

                                  

         (Check out 6:26 into the clip and see how Anthony Johnson reacts to the eye poke!)

 The finger jab can be thrown from a non-threatening position, and with the fingers splayed it's rather easy for them to reach the attackers eyes requiring some degree of aim but nothing too extreme, and the use of the fingers also increase your reach. Try to keep the fingers out yet slightly relaxed, this will help avoid any injury to your fingers when attempting to strike. Try training the finger jab the same way you would the jab, on mitts, the heavy bag, shadow boxing, or on moving hanging targets. Try jabbing and moving, doubling up your jab,  or following up with secondary attacks. You could also try jabbing while moving backwards, leaping forwards, from very close range or from further out. Remember to train so that you're just lightly touching the mitts and bag so you can avoid injuring your fingers. These finger jabs can be thrown out in the form of a "tiger claw" hitting the attacker with your palm and then following up with a clawing motion as your pulling back, this causes an initial hit and follows up with an eye gouge on the recoil. It's important to train both styles and become comfortable with each. Toy around with them and get a feel for both. It will take time to learn the right ranges, and how to get comfortable throwing the finger jab keeping a "soft pressure" through the fingers. The finger jab is also meant to be followed up with secondary attacks so after you have become comfortable with the finger jab itself it's important to drill follow up combinations. The goal is to become so comfortable with the technique and a follow up combinations that it is simply second nature.  

- Tim