Question for self-defense oriented martial artists?

I'd actually have striking techniques as secondary methods, if killing was the primary goal. Strangulations and neck breaks (cranks) found in grappling are more guaranteed than simply hitting someone.

If you hit someone hard enough in an organ, it can bleed out and cause death. Such organs include the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, bladder, and brain. Major arteries, such as the femoral artery in the legs or the aorta can also cause death if they rupture. However, some of these take minutes to bleed out, and in a self defense situation, that still gives them enough time to kill you first.

Basically, you have to deprive the brain of oxygen to kill someone. You can do this by cutting off their air (smothering them or collapsing their breathing system), causing massive blood loss due to organ or vascular trauma, or by causing their nervous system to shut down, usually by severing the spinal cord at the upper (C1-C3, I think) vertabrae. You can also just hit the head hard enough to eventually turn the brain into oatmeal, but generally, killing someone with strikes takes time and effort. A simple knockout shot is enough to gain escape for a self-defense situation.

It's funny how people do bring up killing in traditional styles. It's not generally taught to students for quite some time, and not just for the obvious reasons. The mentality has to be there, but so does the necessary skill. When I was studying Taekwondo and Shotokan there was a particular move at the end of a form where you twist your hands from one side of the body to the other while shifting stance. We would joke and play like that it was a neck break, which in application in could be, but more realistically it was a foot/ankle break. A lot of application can easily switch to a lethal. You just have to know how.

Strikes to certain areas on the head and on the face can be lethal, but the best areas to target are places on the neck and not just the throat, either, but the spine, too. Possum mentioned the solar plexus, which most people don't realize can be lethal if you learn your strikes. There are other certain ares, such as one place in between two certain rib-bones, that have lethal potential. Anything beyond that borderlines dim-mak/kyusho methods of killing.

I think OC Bujinkan pretty much laid out how traditional arts are to go about the matter and subject in which killing an opponent is to be dealt with. The traditional arts are to be about self control. Killing, unless 100% necessary, is not controlling yourself very well.

The simplest way to kill someone with strikes is repeated and severe trauma to the head. Once you knock the person out, if you repeatedly stomp/soccer kick their head, you may kill them. But there is a way of striking a person on the chest where, if you do it right, you can cause the heart to stop. See the videos in the links. Theoretically, the impact on the chest causes a distress signal to be emitted from the heart to the brain. The brain then sends signals to the heart to slow down and eventually stop. This kind of impact sometimes happens accidentally in hockey and lacrosse, so we know it can happen.

Pretty much blows to the skull that can lead to severe fractures or create hemorrhaging of the brain, blows to the temple, etc are deemed as crippling/lethal blows. That also includes ones that target the neck and spine.

A blow to the area of the chest over the heart can lead to ventricular fibrillation and death, a condition known as commotio cordis. The trouble with commotio cordis is that it is rather rare in that it needs to be done at precisely over the right area and the right moment of the cardiac cycle of the heart. However, any stress placed on the heart can increase this window of opportunity and allow commotio cordis to happen. That means any athletic activities or strenuous exercise and this explains why commotio cordis occurs more readily in sports.

Any strike to the head, particularly the face, or solar plexus, have high potential to kill. If they don't kill, they'll render the victim prone for a secondary strike that is lethal (albeit generally illegal).

But, a simple side-kick, knifehand, palm heel, punch, elbow, or knee to the spine or neck would be lethal, or at the least, be paralyzing.

In taekwondo, for instance, we don't teach killing techniques, only techniques needed to neutralize an opponent - some of which can be lethal. An example is the throat strike in Koryo poomsae. We teach it because it's in the form, but we also teach that to use it you must do so expecting to kill. If you don't feel the situation merits killing your opponent, then don't use it.

It's not specifically about killing your attacker, though throat attacks, internal bleeding, repeated cranial trauma, and forced arrhythmia are a few possible ways to end a fight. These are low-level techniques – It's easy to kill an opponent, but every action having an equal and opposite reaction, we should assume that the death of the individual will result in reprisal.

Other low- to mid-level techniques ("game enders") are breaks to the joints or bones of the legs. Stomping through the knee will prevent him from standing. Breaking the femur toward the inside of the thigh can have... a significant effect.

For us, the highest level strategies involve psychology. Appearing calm and steady while he's gassed with multiple broken small joints, forcing a restraint then purposefully injuring yourself to make a point ("If he's willing to do that to himself, what will he do to me?"), appearing untouchable (think aikido – continuously deflecting and redirecting the attack to disrupt and maintain an imbalance in the attacker)... In other words, convincing him it's in his best interests to give up. It's something you have to see to believe, but it's also something that you can't always do... For example, with multiple attackers, the highest level strategy is to perform slow and excruciating low- to mid-level strategies against the leader (preserve the greatest amount of life possible).

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Killing is easy; letting the enemy walk away unharmed and genuinely afraid is the hard part.

There are too many ways to kill. It isn't that difficult to kill physically, but you BETTER have the mindset! To avoid killing is the real trick. Many have died by accident. A bouncer in a town near where I used to live got into a fight outside the bar where he worked. He was lean, tall and flexable, with about a year of TKD training. He thought it would look "cool" to deliver a roundhouse kick to the guy's head. Guy was dead when he hit the ground. That was several years ago, and buddy is still in jail (2nd degree murder!) for his one moment of "cool". Leave the killing to gangsters and soldiers!

Put sufficient penetrating force on target and injury or death will occur. I'm bound by traditions of a closed system to not discuss the particulars of techniques, applications, and concepts. However, it really is as simple as hitting the target accurately with enough PSI in a small enough impact point (surface area). The very difficult part is practicing and perfecting those applications in training. The only truly effective way to progress skills in those techniques is by fighting in H2H combat. Not many people live a lifestyle that allows them to perfect their skills under live conditions. I used to live that lifestyle. I don't any longer. I can tell a difference in my level of ability. I'm more technically proficient but I can tell the fighting skills have eroded over time.