Headbutts can be brutal in a self-defense situation. If you have ever seen one of the YouTube clips of soccer players delivering the illegal move in a heated game, you know just how fast and powerful they can be. Here is one such clip. Notice how easy, quick and effective the headbutt is.
Soccer Headbutt
While it is never acceptable to do something like this during an athletic competition, headbutts can be a very useful tool in your self-defense arsenal. Learning how to properly execute one, and practicing the technique will allow you to perform one when you need it.
Tips On How To Execute A Headbutt
Here are a couple of tips on executing this devastating weapon for self-defense. You can deliver the headbutt with either the forehead or back of skull when someone is behind you.
When headbutting from the front, be sure to use your forehead and not the top of your head. The technique is not like when a football player spears his opponent with the top of the head. You also don’t want to whip your neck back and forth. Keep your head steady and drive your forehead into your attackers face by thrusting forward with your legs and body. You can increase the force of this blow and the damage it causes by grabbing the back of your attacker’s head and pulling it into your thrusting forehead. Slam into the bridge of his nose if possible. The nose is easy to break and it is very painful.
The back headbutt is done when someone is grabbing you from the back. Lean forward and drive your head back as hard as you can, using your body and not just neck if possible. Put all your body weight into the move. Again, the nose is a great target to aim for.
Headbutt Training On The Heavy Bag
Warning!!! Use caution when practicing headbutts, especially on a heavy bag. It can be very easy to hurt yourself. Both neck and head injuries can occur when striking something with your head. While we want to train hard, we don’t want to injure our necks or give ourselves a concussion. Both of these can be serious, so please train smart and be careful with this technique.
Here is what Phil Giles has to say about Head Butts in his book Street Tough:
If there is one street boxing weapon that is overlooked by countless fighting art practitioners, it is the head butt. The head butt has come to be very much an English and Scottish tool of combat. Go to any bar in Liverpool or Newcastle on a Saturday night and watch the action.
The head butt is a powerful blow that can cause severe damage to the opponent, even from individuals who do not train or practice the move. So just think what you can achieve with dedicated scientific practice! Though not a punch per se, this is one of the big guns in street fighting and self-defense. It is a close-range weapon, and the impact area should be the top of your head, not your forehead as often thought (a misconception derived from our exposure to soccer).
The head butt can be utilized as a preemptive attack or in combination with punches. It can also be inserted as a half-beat shot in between other actions. It is especially useful when in action against an opponent armed with a knife or pistol. As far as street fighting goes, it is and should be considered one of the best (if not the premier) close-quarter weapons.
To generate explosive power with the head butt, you will have to utilize leg strength. The secret of head-butting comes from the potential energy stored in the legs (particularly when wound back like a spring and then released).
Lean back over your rear foot, bending your knee. You are now coiled up and ready to deliver the butt. Drive off your rear leg while simultaneously dropping your head forward. Drive through your target (your opponent’s face) and recover to a fighting position. Ensure that you keep your mouth closed and neck braced on impact; otherwise, you could hurt your own neck. Be ready to deliver a second and even a third head butt in succession, depending on the circumstances of the melee.
Hitting an opponent with a head butt will cause maximum damage and disorientation. Be careful when training with your partner because you will be closer than you actually think, since the top of your head is four to five inches closer to the target than your eyes, which are the reference point.
For realistic impact training, modify an old motorcycle helmet or use the heavy bag or small maize ball. Above all, you must train for full contact. This is a weapon you will still be able to use when you are in your 70s, provided you are prepared to put the work in now.
Medical note: Many of my colleagues who practice realistic fighting methods have criticized full-contact training of the head butt based on the medical implications of banging your head. In theory, they are right – yes, there is the possibility of causing a degree of brain damage, but hey, we are practicing full-contact street fighting here. Don’t we also throw punches at each other during training, and don’t we get whacked a bit during sparring sessions? Of course we do; it’s the name of the game. I do not advocate that you repeatedly bang your head against solid objects, but during your training sessions, a couple of three-minute full-contact rounds against a heavy bag or a motorcycle helmet won’t do you any more harm than any other time you get a bang in the head.
Again, the head butt is a premier street-fighting method that should be practiced and used at every opportunity. This tool has been responsible for dropping countless aggressors like bulls at a slaughterhouse. Even untrained people have great success with the head butt, so just think about the potential of this tool once you have given it some thought and development. This is by far your biggest street-fighting gun!
– Phil Giles
Street Tough: Hard-Core, Anything Goes Street Fighting Fundamentals