There's a good chance that you know someone who's been mugged, beaten up or even killed for the simplest reasons  It could be because they're driving a new car  It can also be because they're wearing new shoes  Worse, it could be you or someone very close to you.

You're probably sick and tired of being helpless  Who wouldn't be if faced with the situation that you were in? You stared death in the place and luckily, you lived to tell a tale about it  But you do have to stay for two weeks in the hospital because of broken bones and you're probably scared to your wits  Should you stop living, or should you learn how to fight back?

Knowing a few hand to hand combat moves can help you be ready to defend yourself in the future  With them, you can now fight back! But if you're just going to learn a few moves, you have to choose the most effective techniques  These are the moves that have saved a lot of people in the past and they're proven to be very effective  So these are the top 5 moves that you can learn:

1. Takedowns

Takedowns are one of the most effective moves that you can do if you're on the defensive or even on the offensive  You can take down your opponent and that will give you the chance to run  If needed, it will also open a lot of opportunities for you to strike  An example of a takedown is the leg takedown  You're going to grab hold of one or two legs and you're going to pull them towards you as you use your upper body (shoulders, chest) to push his body towards the opposite direction.

Another form of takedown is the leg sweep  This is very effective because there's the element of surprise  If someone grabs you by your shoulder, you can grab back and place your foot behind his foot as you push him towards the ground  He'll trip on your foot and he will come a-crashing to the ground.

2. Combination moves

This is not really a single move but these are the moves that work so well together that they can be considered as one  These moves are usually a combination of a grab and a strike  A good example is popularly used by women when attacked  If you're grabbed upfront by your attacker, you grab him right back followed by a swift knee to the groin  The grab is done to direct his focus on your arms so your knee is free to strike  You can basically do the same just by grabbing on to your attacker's collar and deliver a knee strike to the things, stomach or even the head if you can pull his head downwards to meet your knee's upward motion.

3. Disarms

In the real world, attackers usually have some sort of weapons  So you have to know how to disarm them to at least be on even grounds  The favorite weapons are guns and knives so you may want to learn how to disarm an attacker with these weapons.

Let's say that you have a gun pointing at you  Raise your hands to about shoulder level as if you're saying that you surrender and you don't want to fight  The first thing that you need to do is to get out of the way while disarming the assailant  There are a lot of ways on how you can do so  A popular and effective way is to slide to the left while you grab his right arm with your left hand  You're going to use your forearm to apply pressure on the side of the gun as you push it towards the assailant  This unnatural position will lead to him letting go of the gun.

There are a lot of ways on disarming knives  A good way to do it is by effective parrying  As he thrust his hand forward with his knife, you can get out of the way but still be on the insides of his forearm  You're going to deliver a quick strike to his forearm where his pulse is and that can release his grip  Wrist locks are also very effective in disarming knives.

4. Slaps

Slaps are not only for women  Men can use them effectively as well  But remember to cup your hand slightly because that's going to cause more damage  The cupped area will produce some sort of sonic boom which is very helpful especially if you're going to slap your attacker on his ear  The slap can damage his ear and he'll be disoriented so you can make your next move.

5. Death strikes