1.The rear naked choke
This is whereby the attacker comes from behind you and slips his arm around your neck, and with the other arm presses the back of your head thus applying pressure to your neck. This kind of choke only gives you a few seconds to react to it before your attacker can ease into it and choke you to death. The first thing that taekwondo teaches you to defend yourself against the rear naked choke is to stop the attackers arm before it goes all the way around your neck. However, chances are you will not have enough time to react because you will likely not see his arm going for your neck. Therefore, the best way to defend yourself is to deal with his other hand which is applying pressure to the back of your head. With your hand, you will reach up behind the head and try to pry his arm off your head by grabbing his fingers and pulling his arm down. His body will begin turning and you will be able to use your other hand to double the pressure on his hand. His shoulder will not be able to resist the pressure of both your hands. Use this opportunity to move up with the bicep and pull him down to the ground. You will now be in a dominant position and have a chance to escape.
2.The front choke
An attacker may decide to wrap his fingers around your neck and try to choke you. In taekwondo, the best self defense technique would be to thrust your hands up from in-between his arms to free yourself. Follow this up by grabbing his shoulders and driving your knee up his groin. The good thing with the front choke hold is that the attacker's vital parts are exposed. That is, the eyes, throat, face, groin, toes, etc. You can use this to your advantage by straining these parts with your fist or leg as hard as you can.
3.The back choke
An attacker may decide to use his fingers to choke you from behind. The first thing that you should do is to forcefully rip his fingers from your neck. The aim is to break his fingers. Take a step forward and deliver a back kick to his solar plexus or to his groin. This kick resembles a donkey kicking back.
How Effective Is Taekwondo For Self-Defence?
Many martial arts experts believe that taekwondo is the least effective when it comes to self-defence. However, one thing that people forget is that the art originated in Korea where the military soldiers used it as a form of self-defence. The demonstrations seen in the Olympics don't really demonstrate the origins of the art. The following techniques justify why taekwondo is a good form of self-defence against attackers:
1.The linear technique
This is a technique that consists of mainly head butts, kicks, punches, etc which can be used if your attacker comes out of nowhere. If learnt properly, a blow to the head with a single kick can momentarily incapacitate your attacker and give you time to get away.
2.The circular technique
This is a good self defense technique especially for women in the event that their attacker is stronger than they are. It mainly focuses on intercepting or redirecting the attacker's force against them.
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