Packing a Punch With Your Fight Scene Without Punching or Kicking (FightWrite™)

In fighting, a strike is a direct, percussive blow delivered with any part of the body. Punches and kicks are both examples of strikes and are what most people think of when strikes are mentioned in relation to fights. While both punches and kicks are incredibly productive in fights on and off the page, they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to striking in fighting. In this post with FightWrite™ on the WD blog, we are going to look at some strikes, other than punches and kicks, that can pack a wallop in your fight scene.

(Fight Tips for the New Year (FightWrite™))

All of the strikes in this post will be examined in the context of active fighting. We will not consider the strikes as performed on a compromised opponent who cannot productively defend, such as one who has been knocked out or rendered immobile from injury. Some of these strikes, when delivered to a downed and/or compromised opponent, can be lethal.

We will start with strikes delivered with the head and make our way down to the feet. I will also list the types of injuries you can achieve with the strike as well as well how bloody it is. (For the information on how flowing blood impacts a fight, see this post.) Lastly, I will also note how a character can use each strike.

As benign as a headbutt may seem, it can be a devastating blow. In fact, headbutts are illegal in all combat sports except Leithwe, a Burmese fighting style. Delivered to the face, a headbutt can break orbital and cheek bones, the structure of the nose, and knock out teeth. The blow could also cause lacerations, or tears, to boney areas of the face deeply enough that blood would coat the area below the wound and drip.

The areas of the head that makes contact in the headbutt are the thickest portions of the skull: the frontal eminences. These rounded prominences on either side of the forehead, sometimes called horns, are the areas best suited to deliver and absorb the force of the strike. If the center of the forehead makes contact, rather than the frontal eminences, the fighter runs the risk of knocking their own self out, which might be a humorous addition to a story.

To deliver the headbutt, your character will tuck their chin then drive their upper body forward. At no point should they move the neck back and forth. Ideally, your character would grab their opponent and pull them into the headbutt. This is a great strike for characters who are close to the face of their opponent. Maybe the villain is talking in the face of the hero, divulging their evil plans. Then, whammo! The hero headbutts the villain like a billy goat.

Bend your arm and feel how sharp the point of your elbow is. That little knob can deliver a shockingly forceful blow and is hearty enough that it is unlikely to break. The elbow strike can be delivered at many angles in both a forward and backward trajectory. 

Elbow strikes can easily lacerate boney areas of the face and cause enough bleeding to coat the area under the laceration and drip. Elbow strikes are excellent for characters who need to spare their hands because of occupation or disability. Elbow strikes are also great for characters who want to hide visible evidence that they have been in a fight. Bruises and scrapes on the elbow are easier to hide than fight injuries on the hand. So, if your character is in a fight in prison, when the guard walks by to check hands to see who was involved in the fight, your elbowing character’s hands will be clear.

The palm strike delivers force with the palm with the hand flexed. In other words, the hand is positioned as though pushing something. Palm strikes tend to have the most force when delivered directly forward.

Palm strikes are preferred in self-defense scenarios as the strike spares the bones of the hand. The prime target of the palm strike is the nose and can cause it to bleed enough to coat the mouth and chin and drip.

(There is a rumor that a palm strike delivered to the nose can shove the nose bone into the skull and kill the recipient. Not so. The bone of the nose is less than a quarter of what sticks out on our face and is attached to the skull. The rest of what we see is cartilage. That said, a broken nose is a real problem in a fight. Read this post.)

To deliver an open-palm strike, your character will first cup their hand firmly as if they are holding water in their palm. The wrist should be kept straight so that the arm, from the elbow to the fingertips, is one piece. The striker would deliver the strike with the cup of the hand.  

The strike is delivered similar to a hook punch but has greater reach. If you aren’t familiar with a hook punch, the tactical slap is delivered in the same way you swing a tennis racket. Because of the curve in the path of the slap, it gets around defenses surprisingly well. Targets for the slap are the face, jaw, and neck. If either of the latter are hit with enough force, the strike can knock out the opponent. If the strike lands on the ear, it can rupture the ear drum which is both painful and deafening. Ruptured ear drums can also bleed a little or drain fluid, both of which subside quickly.

An open palm strike to the face is not likely to knock out an opponent, but it will absolutely get into the opponent’s head. This tactical slap, known in MMA as the “Stockton Slap,” courtesy the Stockton born Diaz brothers, is humiliating. I cannot stress that enough. The flagrant display of disrespect can psychologically throw off an opponent and rile their emotions. An emotional opponent is more likely to be reckless.  

This strike generally doesn’t cause bleeding outside of the ruptured ear drum. It is great for characters who don’t want to punch or want to extend the reach of their strike. It’s also useful for characters who want to assert dominance or humiliate others. The open palm strike can also cause a loud slapping sound which is a great sensory addition to the scene.

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The knee strike, simply called a “knee” in fighting, is a close-quarters strike that can be landed on any part of the body. It is especially productive when landed on the midsection or head. When the opponent is grabbed and brought down to the strike of the knee, it is known as an “assisted knee.”

Knees are useful when two characters are grabbing each other and tussling. It is also easily delivered to a character who is already leaning down. For example, a knee can be delivered when a character is lunging in to grab another character around the waist. 

When landed anywhere on the head and face, a knee can cause a concussion and/or laceration. The laceration can coat the area below the wound with blood. It can be enough blood to drip. A knee delivered to the head can also knock someone out. A knee to the thigh can cause the leg to go numb.

Knees to the groin…(sigh). In a self-defense situation, I wouldn’t throw a knee to the groin as a primary means of damage. When adrenaline is high, the pain response is diminished. So, yes, it might hurt but I wouldn’t count on it hurting enough to incapacitate an attacker. I say that as a 15-year veteran of combat sports, including Muay Thai and jiujitsu.

A knee to the groin is more productive as a means of bringing the head down. If you have a short character and they want to the bring a taller fighter’s chin down, have the shorter character throw a knee to their opponent’s groin. The taller fighter would lean forward instinctively in defense which would bring their chin more available to the shorter character.

A foot stomp brings the heal straight down onto the top of the opponent’s foot. It is called a foot stomp because the stomp is directed toward the opponent’s foot, not because it is a stomp delivered by the foot. In MMA, foot stomps happen when the fighters are grappling from standing and not moving around the mat. The stomp can break the opposing fighter’s foot, but I have not once seen that happen. It is generally used to cause the targeted fighter to change their stance or move.

Foot stomps, especially if the striker is wearing heavy shoes and the target is not, will break the bones of the foot. It’s also useful if the striker is wearing sharp high heels. The high heel can lacerate the targeted foot and maybe break a bone. Even without a laceration or break, the heel stomp will cause terrible pain which could hinder the target from using their foot efficiently. Would they be able to run? Sure. Would they be able to run quickly and smoothly immediately? Doubtful.

I hope this post gives you a few ideas for your fight scene. This is by no means an exhaustive list of strikes outside of punches and kicks. For references on techniques not mentioned here, as well as the types of attacks and injuries that occur with street fights, check out my Writer’s Digest book, Fight Write.

Until the next round with FightWrite™ on the WD Blog, get blood on your pages! And, if you are struggling to get blood on your pages, make an appointment with me through Writer’s Digest. Together we will make your fight scenes the best they can be. We will confer before the appointment then meet via Zoom. You will get a transcript of what we cover in the meeting and, if you like, the video as well.