how do people head butt people without hurting themselves too?
In: Other
I did it 3 or 4 times as a kid, and it just seemed to hurt me less, maybe because I was the one doing it so expected the impact, or hit with a harder part of my skull. The one time it worked out poorly the other kid did it right back to me, doubling the energy of the impact. Glad I moved out of thinking that was a good idea.
Aim for the nose. Smash it.
Head butting is romanticized and minimized at the same time.
It’s rare that somebody defends against it, but it hurts. For you and hopefully more for them.
If you gotta headbutt, you gotta run. Aim for eyes, nuts, whatever. Run.
my go to move in teenage fights was to buckle arms with the other person and headbutt repeatedly. The way to avoid getting hurt yourself is to be aware of the other person’s incoming headbutt timing and move out of the way. If you are the one grappling and pulling them in, you are controlling the distance and can selectively let them pull away a little or pull them back in close. So what I’d do is when I’d see them start coming forward, I’d pull back with head and torso and avoid the blow, then pull them close when I’d come back in to headbutt myself. There’s a natural rhythm to it if you’ve been in enough fights.
1st headbutt: they find out what you’re doing.
2nd headbutt: they realize this is going to be ongoing and will have to fight back with headbutts since you’ve wrapped your arms under theirs.
3rd headbutt: When they come in to match your timing you sway back and avoid the majority of the blow. You start your headbutt just a little bit after they start theirs and their head is forward and stopped when you crash into it.
4th headbutt: They’re a little dizzy and reluctant to headbutt now, they aren’t able to coordinate and go full force into it. Because your headbutt is much stronger they are like the car that lost the car crash.
5th headbutt +: At this point, they are desperate to get away and stop the fight because they can’t collect themselves while you are landing headblows. The 5th headbutt basically finishes them off, and if you keep going past that it goes from “this may do permanent damage” to “this is definitely doing permanent damage, the only question is how much permanent damage am I willing to dish out and accept myself from repeated blows to the head?” I can’t think of a time I ever kept going after 5 for that reason, but I’ve had… maybe half a dozen fights like that when I was young so I’m pretty confident in the technique.
For an actual answer:
It depends on what part of your head you use to headbutt. You’re not headbutting with your forehead, but rather with the upper part of it as your forehead juuust starts to curve towards the top of your skull, if that makes sense. You should be able to feel it. Take the bottoms of your fingers, and start from the lower part of your forehead and move up until it starts to crown. That part of your head is the thickest and hardest part.
Now that we have the correct part of the head to use, you strike on soft locations on your target. Locations such as the nose, temple/ear, stomach, or groin. The nose in particular is most common since the structure of the nose is relatively weak comparted to the part of your skull you’re using to strike.
You avoid hurting yourself by ensuring you hit with the correct part of your head and bracing yourself against your opponent, such as grabbing the ears or shoulders. It may still hurt, especially if you hit the brow ridge instead of the nose, but if you hit with the correct part of your head, you will have done more damage to your opponent than yourself.
Source: Earned my Dan Bon from Soo Bahk Do years ago, they teach how to properly headbutt.
No one expects a headbutt. But to do it effectively hit the nose about an inch above where it begins. Once you fuck the shit out of the cartilage proceed the usual decking. Won a fair about of 6th st fights from this, though many say headbutts are cheap shots. I say if you’re in the streets anything goes.
You’re aiming for the nose, which is squishy and weak
You’re using the top of your skull which is very thick
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