Hmmmm.
Well first i want to say that it sounds like there are a lot of armchair fighters on both side of this discussion on this one.
I have been in martial arts (and I include wrestling in that) for about 10 years now. I’ve studied a lot of styles including TKD, Karate, Wing Chun, Boxing, and Wrestling. I hold two black belts and have served my time in the ring.

I work a career that I have to fight about two times a week. On a good week none. On a bad week more. I’m not saying that I am better then anyone here but I have and do put most of the things I practice and learn into effect in a combat enviroment. I have to learn others and my mistakes in a get hurt or hurt enviroment and can honestly say I have had my butt handed to me and handed others to theirs.

So…
Is there a death touch. A vital nerve punch that will kill in an instant. Maybe but if that is your goal get a gun and a concealed carry permit cheaper faster. Are there areas in the body you can strike with force and cause a slow internal bleed out or lack of oxygen to the brain. Yep. And if you are trained enough to know those points and use those points to cause harm to an opponent have a very good defense attorney. Court sucks boys and girls, and jail sucks worse.

Fighting dosn’t break down to who has the hidden punch. Or who has the brutal strength to win it(although it helps), It doesn’t matter (no matter how many times your mom and dad told you so) how much heart you have.
Fighting is a combination of training long hard hours, hitting the gym, and no matter what style you practice sparring with a live partner at least 15 minutes for every hour you train.

From what I have been able to gather from a couple years of trying out pressure points in a physically reactive enviroment you should really have a good understanding of your basic strikes before you get into them with any real vigour. Understand how to trip up your opponent with faints and how people actually move in combat. If you cannot keep good footwork while in a real fight stop trying and train harder at footwork.

The majority of successful pressure point applications I have been able to perform that had a substantial impact on an opponent (besides the temple, the nose, the philtrum, and the back of the neck) were all while grappling. Usually when I couldn’t obtain mount fast or couldn’t lock a limb up fast enough so I resorted to short arm strikes from up close to a few areas I have trained with my sparring partners to hit.

Anyways thank you guys for the history lesson on pressure points. It was most informative but umm kinda not really useful other than a reference material.

I agree with both sides.
Yes a good wrestler is fierce opponent. Anyone who thinks of themselves as a decent fighter go ask around when the college team is practicing to see if anyone will spar with you (strikes and grappling) and be prepared to hurt and learn. Same goes for anyone who has access to a boxing gym. if you are persistant you will find fighters of other art forms who want to play.

And yes there is something to pressure points. (I strongly feel using a firm fist or possibly a spear hand is going to get you further than using your thumb or bunching your fingers.) It sucks to get hit in the temple for a reason.
Now go out buy yourself a Grays Anatomy and find out why. Then actually put a little effort forward and find out where else in the body has that many crossing nerve clusters and study them. Buy yourself pair of long sleeved shirts, get a marker and you and a friend butterfly spar counting points as usual but 2 points for a nerve center.

And to everyone who is just talking to talk. Come on people You will learn very little from a book. There is no perfect style. There is no super duper strike to win all others other then the Ford Focus attack. Get out there and practice. It is actually more fun to do than to talk about.

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