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LJ126 Practical Skills Primer #2 - Theory of Hand to Hand Combat
I've visited and read a few of the zombie survival sites online (all of which available from a Google search) and found that the overwhelming majority are written by people who are either martial artists or, in an ironic and extreme difference in skill level, written by people who have clearly never before been involved in a fist fight. While this is very commendable of them, it does make one question their credentials. As for the author of this article, I am by no means a bar-brawler but I've been in my fair share of altercations in which the gloves were proverbially off, and utilizing my experience in Judo and Shotokan, my philosophies regarding hand to hand combat have matured considerably.
The primary problem with the advise given by the martial arts experts on the topic of undead defense is that many popular martial arts have been modified for sporting and competition purposes only. While this doesn't render these techniques totally ineffective, it does seem to make them flashier and less combat-oriented, and also increases the difficulty in the performance of these techniques. Judo is a fine example; it's a sport. While many of the takedowns work against a live opponent, some have been made safer for the "uke", or recipient, while many other traditional Jujitsu techniques completely left out to increase the safety of the Judoka who are competing with one another. Even the MMA circuits have rules - obviously, shots to the groin, biting, eye-gouging, and weapons of opportunity aren't allowed, and these are valid self-defense principals against any real-life attacker.
This is not to say that there aren't sources out there that teach martial skills that you can use, but in my opinion, if your primary interest in learning a martial art is for improving your self defense skills, it might be more logical to invest into personal defense classes, as these are classes tailored for self defense. These skills must be practiced regularly, lest they be lost, rendering your training inadequate in the chance that these skills are needed. Learning a smaller number of simple-to-perform techniques also facilitates longer-term retention and is arguably more effective in certain situations.
On the topic of "28 Days Infected," also known as "Rager" type zombies, it is important to note that these zombies are actually still living, breathing humans. Most zombie survival experts theorize that these monstrosities derive their superhuman strength, stamina and constitution from an adrenaline-driven hypermetabolic state. They are, in essence, still human, and therefore still susceptible to pain compliance techniques and progressive damage to limbs and bodily organs.
A zombie should be considered as physically capable as the previous human that it was. Taking this into consideration, a zombie that was once a competitive Olympic-style power lifter will likely be physically much stronger than the average person. You should be capable of looking at a potential combatant zombie and assessing them as if you were facing them as a human. Remember, size and weight plus velocity equals power. A very dangerous and often ignored foe are zombies that were once overweight humans; an overweight human is typically very strong but tire easily... an overweight zombie is typically very strong and does not tire at all. Their weight makes them more difficult to bring down, though they may likely be slower moving than an average zombie.
Now, bear in mind that the situation is completely different when you've got a weapon and you're attempting to clean up a specific area, but that's the subject of another article. Offensive fighting is the way you should fight when you're armed.
There should be no other reason close and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the undead when escape is an option. Attempting to destroy a zombie with your hands alone is possible but highly improbable and poses a much greater risk because it will take time to do safely and all of your attention, which could allow more zombies to arrive before you finish the one you're tangling with! Without a weapon, elimination of a zombie is near impossible to do efficiently. Do not engage in unarmed, empty-hand combat with a zombie if it is avoidable, and only do so as a last resort. Otherwise you're only digging your own grave.
1) PUNCHING - BAD AGAINST ZOMBIES
First, I have a short exercise for you. Extend your dominant hand out as far in front of you as you can and point your fingers upwards toward the sky. Close all of your fingers except for your thumb as tightly as you can, squeezing and clenching your fingers as hard as you can. At this point, it should look like a sideways "thumbs-up." Now, turn the "thumbs up" and place your thumb firmly across the first to fingers of your hand, outside of your grasp.
This is called a fist, and you should avoid creating one when you're fighting zombies. Why, you say? Well, let me tell you what a fist does, and more importantly, does not do.
A fist concentrates all of your upper body strength and a portion of your body weight into one compact point. When it is propelled towards it's intended target, it acts much like the head of a hammer. It can break the more fragile bones on the human body, break skin and cause bleeding, and also cause contusions and bruising. It is very effective for fighting a creature that feels pain because it drives most of your body weight and upper body strength into the surface area of your knuckles. A powerful enough blow can cause a concussion and knock a person out by virtue of temporary (and not so temporary) brain damage. Most strikes from a fist are referred to as a "punch."
Punching does not deliver a blow powerful enough to cause the desired amount of brain damage to completely kill a zombie and it's not effective at knocking them down or pushing them away. In fact, while throwing a punch, you have completely opened your body up to attack and if you struck the zombie in the face, you just put your hand right next to that big mouth that we've been trying so very hard to avoid at all costs. However, if a punch is delivered properly and the person throwing the punch has enough strength it is possible that a given survivor could break the jaw of a zombie sufficiently to put their mouth out of commission. This is highly unlikely as the average person simply lacks the strength to deliver an incapacitating blow. This limits the effectiveness of a punch to almost useless.
2) KICKING - POSSIBLY GOOD?
After staring at the screen with the words "stand up with your feet flat on the floor" slightly to the left, I realized that there's no exercise for me to show you for a kick, well, not one that I can do here that would be executed properly. However, I did try my best; and honestly, if you need to me tell you how to kick you should probably not be reading this.
A kick works much the same way that a punch does, but it channels considerably more strength and much more of your body weight into the target. There are many different variations of kicks and the very confusing part is that some are effective and some are not. I am not going to address the more exotic kicks (flying jump kick, round house kick) because unless you're a martial artist, you're likely going to screw up part of the attack and either render it ineffective or hurt yourself attempting to perform or practice it. If you're interested in learning how to do those types of maneuvers look elsewhere online or seek professional training.
A kick that may prove useful is the one used by the military and police when kicking in an unsupported door as pictured above. It is a shoving motion with the foot in a straight line towards the target. It is directed at the center mass of the target and when used against a human or human-like opponent it is more like a very powerful shove than it is like a traditional kick. This shove could push a zombie far enough away from the path you need or push the zombie off it's feet completely. Also, because you are likely wearing some form of shoe, your foot is also much more protected from the all-important bite and is not anywhere near the zombie's mouth. The image to the right properly demonstrates a kick that can be useful against a zombie.
However, please bear in mind that most other variations of kicks are not effective when used against an undead opponent. Most kicks function like a punch and despite that much more power can be applied into it, a kick still lacks the power to destroy a human brain but if delivered properly can disturb the zombie's balance enough to make room to pass the zombie safely and escape.
3) THE "SHOVE" - THE SAFEST BET
Stand with your feet at your shoulder's width apart. Put both of your hands out, facing upwards like in the "fist" demonstration but do not ball your fists; leave your palms facing your imaginary human target. Pull both of your hands back as far you can, preferably to your shoulders. Now, suddenly, lean forward and push your arms as hard and quickly as you can to their furthest point. You've just successfully performed a shove!
A shove, mechanically speaking, works by taking the momentum of a given target and placing (preferably significantly) more weight against it, causing it to be moved in the "pushed" direction. Shoving and tripping is directly related to grappling, addressed later in this article.
The goal of a shove or push is to offset the balance of your enemy and hopefully take them off of their feet. There are many different variations of a shove and most martial arts incorporate some form of it. It is the most effective way to control the body mass and weight of your opponent. Shoving can be performed (though to a lesser degree and effect) with only one hand. It can also be used like a punch but should not be.
Controlling the body mass of an opponent is a both a defensive and offensive fighting method. You can start a fight by shoving the zombie or your sparring/training partner down, or you can wait for them to commit to an attack, dodge it and shove them in the direction that their attack was directing their body mass. This will increase the effectiveness of a shove tremendously. Some martial arts stress this over striking as an opponent that is on the ground cannot effectively defend against one that is standing. This is true with zombies as well.
4) GRAPPLING - USEFUL WHEN TRAINED
Grappling and wrestling is an age-old method of squeezing an opponent into a position that keeps them from performing a striking attack or pulling at their joints in such a way as to inflict pain, tear ligaments and break bones. Grappling can be extremely effective against a zombie if done carefully and when combined with a shove can allow for an easy escape. "Ground fighting" is a specialized form of grappling, in which the fight occurs when one or both fighters are off of their feet and on the ground!
It is especially important to keep in mind that the zombie is attempting to claw and scratch you, regardless of how you're going to attack. When grappling, it is especially important to avoid the mouth and hands of the zombie, and make sure that you do not press any of your wounds against the skin or bodily fluid from a zombie as you're going to basically be hugging them. If a zombie is on top of you, place both of your hands on the zombie's forehead and push it's mouth away from your skin. Grappling is not advised to be used against a zombie of greater size than you are, as its likely to be stronger than you are and you may not effectively restrain or constrict the opponent from movement. When coupled with a team member who has a weapon, grappling with a zombie can be a good way to keep it from attacking so that a killing blow can be administered. However, it should be only used as a last resort.
Also, know when too much is too much; prepare to run at the earliest opportunity!
The primary problem with the advise given by the martial arts experts on the topic of undead defense is that many popular martial arts have been modified for sporting and competition purposes only. While this doesn't render these techniques totally ineffective, it does seem to make them flashier and less combat-oriented, and also increases the difficulty in the performance of these techniques. Judo is a fine example; it's a sport. While many of the takedowns work against a live opponent, some have been made safer for the "uke", or recipient, while many other traditional Jujitsu techniques completely left out to increase the safety of the Judoka who are competing with one another. Even the MMA circuits have rules - obviously, shots to the groin, biting, eye-gouging, and weapons of opportunity aren't allowed, and these are valid self-defense principals against any real-life attacker.This is not to say that there aren't sources out there that teach martial skills that you can use, but in my opinion, if your primary interest in learning a martial art is for improving your self defense skills, it might be more logical to invest into personal defense classes, as these are classes tailored for self defense. These skills must be practiced regularly, lest they be lost, rendering your training inadequate in the chance that these skills are needed. Learning a smaller number of simple-to-perform techniques also facilitates longer-term retention and is arguably more effective in certain situations.
WHAT KIND OF ZOMBIES?
There are different possible kinds of undead or otherwise infected souls that may be encountered when the zombie apocalypse occurs. This guide is intended to discuss "George A. Romero" zombies, not "28 Days/Weeks Later" infected, as they're two completely different ball games, with different rules and procedures. For example, pain compliance may very well work against 28 Days "infectees" but it is totally worthless when applied to a "Romero" or "Solanum" zombie.On the topic of "28 Days Infected," also known as "Rager" type zombies, it is important to note that these zombies are actually still living, breathing humans. Most zombie survival experts theorize that these monstrosities derive their superhuman strength, stamina and constitution from an adrenaline-driven hypermetabolic state. They are, in essence, still human, and therefore still susceptible to pain compliance techniques and progressive damage to limbs and bodily organs.
KNOW YOUR ENEMY!
Before you can fight your undead enemy with you hands, you have to take some important facts about zombies into consideration. The fight is an uphill fight to begin with - they do not respond to pain or logic, shows of force or superior firepower, intimidation, and attrition equates to nothing to them. Their "fight or flight" mechanism will always choose "fight." They are not courageous, but fear is not something that computes into their cognitive equations; only the need to feed exists. Zombies are rotting corpses and their body is decomposing; a scratch from the nails of a zombie can (and likely will) cause a nasty infection and which could lead to your death. Their hands, teeth, and force by numbers are their primary weapons and all are fatal to you.A zombie should be considered as physically capable as the previous human that it was. Taking this into consideration, a zombie that was once a competitive Olympic-style power lifter will likely be physically much stronger than the average person. You should be capable of looking at a potential combatant zombie and assessing them as if you were facing them as a human. Remember, size and weight plus velocity equals power. A very dangerous and often ignored foe are zombies that were once overweight humans; an overweight human is typically very strong but tire easily... an overweight zombie is typically very strong and does not tire at all. Their weight makes them more difficult to bring down, though they may likely be slower moving than an average zombie.
FIGHT DEFENSIVELY
In order to effectively engage in combat with a zombie, one must understand the difference between offensive and defensive fighting. It makes no sense to attempt to land the first blow on a zombie because immediately after your attack, your guard will be down and the zombie will attack you. They don't attempt to dodge or block, they only know to bite. All the zombie has to do is scratch or bite you and it's game over for you. It makes much more sense to allow the zombie commit to the first maneuver. By deflecting or dodging this attack, you've created an opening that should allow you to escape.Now, bear in mind that the situation is completely different when you've got a weapon and you're attempting to clean up a specific area, but that's the subject of another article. Offensive fighting is the way you should fight when you're armed.
The primary objective of hand to hand combat with a zombie is escape!
There should be no other reason close and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the undead when escape is an option. Attempting to destroy a zombie with your hands alone is possible but highly improbable and poses a much greater risk because it will take time to do safely and all of your attention, which could allow more zombies to arrive before you finish the one you're tangling with! Without a weapon, elimination of a zombie is near impossible to do efficiently. Do not engage in unarmed, empty-hand combat with a zombie if it is avoidable, and only do so as a last resort. Otherwise you're only digging your own grave.
UNARMED TECHNIQUES
I have outlined a few different common hand-to-hand techniques and explained their usefulness (or lack thereof) below. Where possible, there are images. The first component of this section will be a table containing useful strikes and techniques, and a list of techniques to avoid. Below the chart will be a breakdown of some of the most common classes of attacks.| Range | Potentially Effective Unarmed Techniques Against Zombies | Potentially Ineffective When Applied Against Undead |
| Shortest C-Q Range | Elbow, forearm, and knee strikes, some large joint and head control techniques, shoving to create distance | Headbutting, gouging, biting, strikes to groin, volley punching |
| Intermediate C-Q Range | Low snap kicks and stomps to knee, shoving to create distance, tripping | Punching to any portion of body, pain compliance techniques, pressure point manipulation |
| Maximum C-Q Range | Thrust kicks to hips and abdomen, shoving to create distance, sprinting away from zombie | Closing to engage when flight is an option! |
1) PUNCHING - BAD AGAINST ZOMBIES
First, I have a short exercise for you. Extend your dominant hand out as far in front of you as you can and point your fingers upwards toward the sky. Close all of your fingers except for your thumb as tightly as you can, squeezing and clenching your fingers as hard as you can. At this point, it should look like a sideways "thumbs-up." Now, turn the "thumbs up" and place your thumb firmly across the first to fingers of your hand, outside of your grasp.
This is called a fist, and you should avoid creating one when you're fighting zombies. Why, you say? Well, let me tell you what a fist does, and more importantly, does not do.
A fist concentrates all of your upper body strength and a portion of your body weight into one compact point. When it is propelled towards it's intended target, it acts much like the head of a hammer. It can break the more fragile bones on the human body, break skin and cause bleeding, and also cause contusions and bruising. It is very effective for fighting a creature that feels pain because it drives most of your body weight and upper body strength into the surface area of your knuckles. A powerful enough blow can cause a concussion and knock a person out by virtue of temporary (and not so temporary) brain damage. Most strikes from a fist are referred to as a "punch."
Punching does not deliver a blow powerful enough to cause the desired amount of brain damage to completely kill a zombie and it's not effective at knocking them down or pushing them away. In fact, while throwing a punch, you have completely opened your body up to attack and if you struck the zombie in the face, you just put your hand right next to that big mouth that we've been trying so very hard to avoid at all costs. However, if a punch is delivered properly and the person throwing the punch has enough strength it is possible that a given survivor could break the jaw of a zombie sufficiently to put their mouth out of commission. This is highly unlikely as the average person simply lacks the strength to deliver an incapacitating blow. This limits the effectiveness of a punch to almost useless.
2) KICKING - POSSIBLY GOOD?After staring at the screen with the words "stand up with your feet flat on the floor" slightly to the left, I realized that there's no exercise for me to show you for a kick, well, not one that I can do here that would be executed properly. However, I did try my best; and honestly, if you need to me tell you how to kick you should probably not be reading this.
A kick works much the same way that a punch does, but it channels considerably more strength and much more of your body weight into the target. There are many different variations of kicks and the very confusing part is that some are effective and some are not. I am not going to address the more exotic kicks (flying jump kick, round house kick) because unless you're a martial artist, you're likely going to screw up part of the attack and either render it ineffective or hurt yourself attempting to perform or practice it. If you're interested in learning how to do those types of maneuvers look elsewhere online or seek professional training.
A kick that may prove useful is the one used by the military and police when kicking in an unsupported door as pictured above. It is a shoving motion with the foot in a straight line towards the target. It is directed at the center mass of the target and when used against a human or human-like opponent it is more like a very powerful shove than it is like a traditional kick. This shove could push a zombie far enough away from the path you need or push the zombie off it's feet completely. Also, because you are likely wearing some form of shoe, your foot is also much more protected from the all-important bite and is not anywhere near the zombie's mouth. The image to the right properly demonstrates a kick that can be useful against a zombie.
However, please bear in mind that most other variations of kicks are not effective when used against an undead opponent. Most kicks function like a punch and despite that much more power can be applied into it, a kick still lacks the power to destroy a human brain but if delivered properly can disturb the zombie's balance enough to make room to pass the zombie safely and escape.
3) THE "SHOVE" - THE SAFEST BETStand with your feet at your shoulder's width apart. Put both of your hands out, facing upwards like in the "fist" demonstration but do not ball your fists; leave your palms facing your imaginary human target. Pull both of your hands back as far you can, preferably to your shoulders. Now, suddenly, lean forward and push your arms as hard and quickly as you can to their furthest point. You've just successfully performed a shove!
A shove, mechanically speaking, works by taking the momentum of a given target and placing (preferably significantly) more weight against it, causing it to be moved in the "pushed" direction. Shoving and tripping is directly related to grappling, addressed later in this article.
The goal of a shove or push is to offset the balance of your enemy and hopefully take them off of their feet. There are many different variations of a shove and most martial arts incorporate some form of it. It is the most effective way to control the body mass and weight of your opponent. Shoving can be performed (though to a lesser degree and effect) with only one hand. It can also be used like a punch but should not be.
Controlling the body mass of an opponent is a both a defensive and offensive fighting method. You can start a fight by shoving the zombie or your sparring/training partner down, or you can wait for them to commit to an attack, dodge it and shove them in the direction that their attack was directing their body mass. This will increase the effectiveness of a shove tremendously. Some martial arts stress this over striking as an opponent that is on the ground cannot effectively defend against one that is standing. This is true with zombies as well.
4) GRAPPLING - USEFUL WHEN TRAINED
Grappling and wrestling is an age-old method of squeezing an opponent into a position that keeps them from performing a striking attack or pulling at their joints in such a way as to inflict pain, tear ligaments and break bones. Grappling can be extremely effective against a zombie if done carefully and when combined with a shove can allow for an easy escape. "Ground fighting" is a specialized form of grappling, in which the fight occurs when one or both fighters are off of their feet and on the ground!It is especially important to keep in mind that the zombie is attempting to claw and scratch you, regardless of how you're going to attack. When grappling, it is especially important to avoid the mouth and hands of the zombie, and make sure that you do not press any of your wounds against the skin or bodily fluid from a zombie as you're going to basically be hugging them. If a zombie is on top of you, place both of your hands on the zombie's forehead and push it's mouth away from your skin. Grappling is not advised to be used against a zombie of greater size than you are, as its likely to be stronger than you are and you may not effectively restrain or constrict the opponent from movement. When coupled with a team member who has a weapon, grappling with a zombie can be a good way to keep it from attacking so that a killing blow can be administered. However, it should be only used as a last resort.
CONCLUSION
Learning a martial art is a good thing because it prepares your body for the rigors of hand to hand combat by increasing your strength, durability, agility, combat tenacity and mindset. It will likely not teach you the basic values for fighting a zombie, but the above in one package more than outweighs this minor drawback. A good martial art to learn would be any that requires you to be very active and have a high endurance, such as boxing or Greco-Roman wrestling.
Also, know when too much is too much; prepare to run at the earliest opportunity!
 LJ26's Weapons and Practical Skills Corner by (LJ126) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at www.zombiesurvivalwiki.com. |
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