Black Jack,
I’ll buy that.
Hardly disabling (usually), but certainly has distraction potential and watery eyes are just another advantage for you 
Besides which, the palm strike doesn’t suck.
ewallace and blackjack
Please tell me you guys have decided on a course of action other than medical school.
The sternum is the flat bone in the center of the chest connected to the first 7 pairs of ribs by cartilage. It’s not the solar plexus and it’s not the diaphragm. If you are aware of this and simply speaking imprecisely, great but you really aren’t answering the guy’s question. If not, learn something new every day.
Please tell me you guys have decided on a course of action other than medical school.
What are you talking about? I just got done performing a triple bypass surgery on my own hand. You have no idea what you are saying. The sternum is located in between the second and third toe on your left foot. I just had a myocardioinfarction and it itched really bad.
Yeah like I said I always think of the solar plexus when I hear sternum. Not sure why. I have learned something today.
I agree, when I think of sternum as a target zone I really am I just thinking about that main frontal area, not the bone itself, a target which I would find wastefull anyway.
But thanks for making things clear.
Sternal rubs are what they use medically to see if a person is really unconscious/unresponsive because of all the nerves that lie right on top of it. Try it for yourself, take your knuckles and rub up and down…it hurts.
Will this end the fight? No, I’m not saying that…BUT if you have some ******* that’s talking smack it’s a nice opening move to hit them there with a vertical fist so only the two knuckles hit. Because 1) It causes alot of pain 2) It’s center area to their breathing and you can knock the wind out of them very easily. 3) It will cause some disctance between the two of you. THEN you would go into other techniques to finish it off.
It’s like using the leg kick, I have hit people there and dropped them and they thought I broke their leg because they hadn’t felt that type of pain before. Same theory here, it’s unexpected and people aren’t used to the type of pain the strike causes so it buys you extra time.
And the #1 target areas are
The four arteries that supply the brain with oxygen rich blood are the finest targets of all. On your acupuncture dummy they are ??? 
Methods of attack include pressure and strikes.
Strikes will render your opponent unconscious as soon as the 2nd of four is disabled. If the arteries are seriously damaged death will result. You must strike both arteries within ten seconds of one another or seriously damage the first.
Myriad strangles will simultaneous cut the carotids. A properly applied strangle will result in unconsciousness in three seconds. Death comes in 20 to 40 seconds. Your opponent will generally stay out for three times the amount of time you hold the strangle. Hold the strangle for 10 seconds and he should stay out for 30 seconds and so on. Drugs and alcohol change the time frames.
These are the only target areas that always end an empty hand fight.
Body Structure is Key
From my personal experience, body structure is key to deploying proper tactics in a fight with targeting in mind.
Big boned men who weigh over 200 pounds or men that are short and stalky who still have a large bone structure and meat mass are hard to attack in the area of floating ribs and collar bones. They should be attacked in more vital areas like the bone structure around the eye sockets, bridge of nose, ear drums, eye balls, testicles, knee caps and throat.
Men with small bone structures can be attacked in the collar bone or floating rib and sturnum area more readily and easily. When you asses an opponent, within seconds you must determine his bone structure type and meat mass. Then decide on target deployment and stick to the plan.
If I am up against a monster (I am only 160 lbs) I focus on the vital weaknesses of his bone structure in areas that will cause most immediate damage as mentioned in first paragraph. I will also use my teeth as primary attacking weaponry if he gets a hold of me. Ah the taste of raw flesh - pretty much freaks them out and surpases most pain thresholds and they scream like babies.
Just my two nickles of wisdom from street fights I have had.
That’s odd. I’ve found that the floating ribs are one of the vulnerable spots on even men with alot of fat and/or muscle. It’s also an area that alot of people leave undefended, unlike all the other spots mentioned here. And boy does it hurt getting smacked there. Plus they’re ideal targets to attack from the outside, again unlike the others.
The main places that have worked for me are right under the mandibal, the nose, the solar plexus and the floating ribs (most guys flare their elbows out to the side, even many “trained” fighters).
Oh yeah, after boxing for a wee bit I learned not to aim for the center of the face but the throat at least with jabs. The head can move quite a bit.
I’ve broken both of my collar bones. One I did myself during a really hard cross country foot race. I was so tired I ducked my head and ran for the finish line, right into a tree. Broke my colar bone.
It does, indeed, pretty much debilitate the arm. I have never done it, but I have actually whitnessed a broken collar bone as the result of a hand strike. But I have seen ALLOT more not break. It seems to me that the collar bone has a bit of flexibility in it, making it resistant to breaks. Now, if I’ve got a club or a bat, you bet your sweet bippy I can break your collar bone and I think it’s a fine target.
As far as the ribs, great targets. From experience, I can tell you broken ribs hurt like a b!tch. The previous comment about it hurting to breath is right on. It hurts to do anything. It can take the fight right out of someone.
As far as rupturing a rib throught he lungs, that usually only happens when a rib is broken in the back. Which, BTW, I have also done (motorcycle wreck), and it feels likeyour body is collapsing on itself. Hook to the front ribs with your back hand and then hook to the ribs with your front hand. Great effect.
Oh, and I would never have really considered the hip itself as a good target. But I saw (and heard) a hip bone broken in a real fight and have since considered it a difficult but valuable target. Instant effect.
JWT