When an attacker approaches you from the front or you have little space between the opponent and yourself, the best way you can defend yourself is to throw them off balance. Follow these pictures to see how you can do this.

1. An opponent close to you will instinctively grab at your clothes as shown in picture 1.

2. Swing a leg behind the opponent’s knee against the calf while grabbing the opponent’s clothing as shown in picture 2. Move your body forward, instead of backward, to pull on your leg from behind the opponent’s knee toward you. This swift movement will cause the opponent to lose balance as the hooked leg loses footing, therefore causing the opponent to fall backward. You will have the advantage of pushing the opponent toward the ground. This will be easier if you use the attacker’s leg that is closest to you. Picture 2 shows that his right leg is the closest.

3. Grabbing the opponent’s clothes and thrust the upper body of the opponent to the ground at the same time your leg is pulling the opponent’s hooked leg towards you to make the opponent to fall backward. This technique is the same as tripping someone.

This technique will be easier to perform if you use both your hands and legs while moving your body weight forward at the same time.

You can also hook your leg onto both of the opponent’s legs if the gap between the opponent’s feet is tight.

By Seo Gyo-sun (selfdefense777@gmail.com)

Seo Gyo-sun, an internationally certified Taekwondo Grand Master, judge and coach, holds a B.A. in taekwondo from Kyung Hee University. ― Ed.