Krav Maga Tactical Survival. Gershon Ben Keren

few opportunities to make an attack of their own.

      Drive through with your hammer-fist strike, stepping forward as you do. With your attacker bent over, the back of the neck is a good target to aim for. As you strike, pull your left hand back so that it can be used to make another strike.

      Once again, bring the rear foot forward and make another eye strike or cradle-strike while setting up your hammer-fist strike.

      This process can be repeated over and over again. You don’t have to alternate every hammer-fist with an eye/throat strike; it may be more effective to throw several hammer-fist strikes and only use the eye/throat strike as a way to move them back if they aren’t moving fast enough in response to your hammer-fists, causing you to get jammed up. As soon as it is safe to do so, disengage. If you end up forcing your assailant into a wall or similar where they don’t have an opportunity to disengage, they will be forced to come back at you fighting. It is rarely a good idea to stay too long attacking an assailant in such a position.

      Horizontal/Outward Hammer-Fist Strikes

      Hammer-fists can be thrown at virtually any angle, due to the ability of the forearm and shoulder to rotate and present the bottom of the fist in many directions. There are, of course, certain directions from which more power can be generated than others. One direction in which an immense amount of power can be generated is outward, away from the body. If this is coupled with the hips turning and/or a step out, so that the hips can be opened and the bodyweight transferred, then the entire movement of the body can be applied to the strike.

      The outward hammer-fist strike comes into its own when your assailant tries to move out of the way of your linear striking. If an assailant is moving backward against someone cycling hammer-fists, they will soon realize that moving backward in a straight line only sees them remaining in the path of the onslaught, and that it would be better/safer if they moved to the side—offline and out of the line of fire. If you are attacking with momentum, it may be that as they move to your side, you initially continue moving forward. Your goal should now be to change direction while still striking, using something like a horizontal hammer-fist strike. You won’t want to turn and then resume your striking, as this would create time and space for the assailant to recover and possibly initiate their own attack.

      Just because you have a plan doesn’t mean that your attacker will cooperate with it by reacting in the way you predict (or possibly the only manner in which you’ve trained). If you only train for one outcome, you will be surprised and caught flat-footed when your assailant doesn’t respond as you expected. It may be that as you rain hammer-fist strikes down on your assailant, they will manage to step off to one side in order to avoid further strikes.

      As soon as the target changes direction, so must your attacks—this is necessary in order to keep your assailant under pressure, not giving them any time or space to launch a counterattack against you. Immediately pull your arm across your body, and prepare to extend it horizontally toward your assailant.

      Turn with your body and hips to unwind your strike into your attacker—you can use your back muscles to assist with this turning action. Shift your weight from your left foot to your right in order to help get your bodyweight into the strike.

      Strike your attacker’s face or neck, connecting with the bottom of your fist, and drive through the strike.

      The horizontal hammer-fist can be used effectively when you recognize that an assailant is coming toward you from the side or rear. One of the assumptions you should always work from is that your primary assailant is not alone; that they have friends and third parties who can come and assist them. This means that while you are dealing with an attacker who is in front of you, another can approach from the side, or from behind you. (This is one of the reasons you should move and scan, so that you have a 360-degree field of vision and know what is happening in your environment.) If you detect movement coming toward you, you should assume that it is hostile, as people generally move away from fights unless they have an interest in them. If it is a friend of yours coming to assist you, it’s hard luck for them; in a fast-paced, dynamic conflict, you may not have time to make a full assessment of whether the movement belongs to someone coming to help you—and the only safe assumption is that it doesn’t. If you are in a group where people might want to assist you in the case of a physical confrontation, plan with them beforehand the best way to do this.

      Not all situations will involve single attackers, and it may not be evident who in the environment is an attacker, and who is not. In this situation, you are dealing with an aggressive individual who you are pretty sure is intending to attack you. Put your hands up in a placating manner as you try and de-escalate the situation, but also be ready to defend yourself. You may be aware of another person in the environment, but may not have enough time and space to move away from them.

      The aggressor in front of you suddenly starts to move toward you. Your de-escalation stance, with hands raised, has prepared you to move to make an eye strike in order to set up your hammer-fist strikes. At this point, the second person has not indicated whether or not they are going to get involved.

      Your eye strike and first hammer-fist strike have caused your initial assailant to back away; however, as you were launching your assault on them, you realize that the second person has begun to move toward you.

      You don’t have the time to work out whether they are coming to assist you or attack you, and your only safe option is to assume the latter. Because they are moving toward you, and your other attacker is moving away, the second person should now become your primary target. Bring your right hand across your body in preparation for delivering a horizontal hammer-fist.

      Step toward them and deliver a hammer-fist into their neck or the side of their face.

      Once you have struck them, immediately turn back toward your original assailant. If they haven’t already started to move toward you, they are likely to now. Use the follow-through motion of your strike to set yourself up to make a downward hammer-fist strike.

      Step toward your first attacker and start to deliver downward hammer-fist strikes against them. Keep driving forward and delivering strikes so that you have dealt with them before the second attacker recovers. In multiple-assailant situations, you should try to take one attacker out at a time, rather than dividing your efforts and attention among them.

      Forearm Strikes

      The forearm can also be used as an effective striking tool, in a similar fashion to the horizontal hammer-fist. Although it is a slower-moving strike, it requires less accuracy, as is has a much larger striking