Atemi

Atemi, the art of striking the body's vulnerable points and nerve centers, is only taught in a few martial arts nowadays.

With the modern emphasis on Sports and looking good for the Olympics, Atemi is not given the attention it deserves in a true martial art.

All martial artists, warriors and soldiers throughout thousands of years have had to pay close attention on what places are effective when hit, and which ones don't work. That's Atemi.

End even in the movie Troy you see the Greek hero, Achilles, who was magically protected and couldn't be hurt by spears or arrows. His only vulnerable spot was his heel, where his mother had held him as a baby and dunked him in the magic waters to protect him.

So his enemies find out about the one vulnerable spot on his whole body and they shoot him with a poisoned arrow. Even thousands of years after Troy, we still talk about someone's weak spot as their Achilles heel.

Atemi is real. And it pays to know where to strike if you have to. There's no point in tiring yourself out and making the other guy even angrier. You may have to use an Atemi to finish the fight.

The only difficulty with relying on Atemi is that it's really hard - almost if not impossible - to hit those vital spots on a moving target. And, especially if he's laying into you at the same time.