Self-Defense Actions

Within the attack ranges, you may use two major types of attacks:

• Linear. Linear attacks travel in straight lines from point of origin to point of contact, such as a downward club or knife attack, front kick, side kick, reverse punch, and uppercut. All upward attacks, downward attacks, and thrusts are linear attacks. 
• Circular. Circular attacks travel in arcs from point of origin to point of impact, such as a roundhouse kick, turning kick, crescent kick, knife hand strike, and hook punch. 

The direction of evasion depends on each of the above factors. The most important thing to remember about evading is timing, when to evade. If you evade too soon, your attacker may alter the attack and hit you anyway. If you evade too late, then you may get hit before you can move. The key to evading is to move at the last possible moment before the attack can make contact.

Blocking

Effective blocking is most often combined with an evasive movement. Thus, stepping to the side of a punch and pushing it away is better than either standing still and pushing it away or just stepping to the side. Blocks may also be used as attacks. A forceful forearm block against a punching arm may injure the attacker enough to convince him or her to stop attacking. A scooping block against a front kick may be used to throw the attacker on his or her back.