First off, there are three major misconceptions about the groin as a target.
The first is that a strike to the groin is ineffective against a female.
The truth is that striking the groin will injure both a male and female equally.
Secondly, although you are striking the groin, the groin itself is not the main target! The REAL target is the pelvic diaphragm.
Thirdly, almost everyone out there is striking the groin by going straight in.
Almost every martial arts or self-defense class I’ve seen has taught that “The” way to strike the groin is with a front snap kick but if you take anatomy and physics into consideration you’ll see that that isn’t very effective.
To get the greatest effect you should attack the groin from underneath and drive your strike upwards.
Now, as to whether the groin will “Work” every time as a target, the idea that any target will “Work” every time is ridiculous.
There are a lot of situations where effectively striking the groin is not an option the bladder is only a few inches above and it is almost always open.
The problem with striking the groin in a straight in angle is that, first off, the target is comparatively too small.
If you aim a few inches below the bellybutton and you punch or kick that area and follow all the way through with all of your bodyweight you will have sufficient force to injure the pelvic diaphragm even though you did not strike the groin.
A strike delivered in that manner but without the bodyweight will result in the person grabbing their groin and sticking their hips out, then often they’ll stumble a few steps before their legs give out on them and they fall to the ground in the fetal position.
As a kid I did my share of fighting and I was punched and kicked in the groin on many occasions and other then feeling like someone poked me in the spine with a pin for a second I was fine.
Kneeing someone in the groin is often moderately effective.
With a hard knee shot to the groin you can miss the groin completely but instead crack that small piece of cartilage and instantly take away their ability to walk, which is still good from your standpoint.
Another interesting fact about striking the groin is that it affects the respiratory system, which is why often people have problems breathing afterwards and also why when struck in the groin exhibit an involuntary reflex of opening the mouth and sticking their chins out.
The last little fun fact I’ll say about the groin is that you never ever want to hit someone in the groin while you’re standing directly in front of them.
Anyway, the instructor taught us to stand toe to toe and knee each other in the groin.
No sooner did he give that command and then tell us to begin again when I saw something out of the corner of my eye accompanied by the sound “Ahhh… Crack… Ahhh… F*!” What happened was the man, who was wearing a cup, kneed his partner, who wasn’t wearing a cup, in the groin causing him to let out an “Ahhh” sound, and then by reflex he quickly bent forwards… slamming his head into his partners face making a “Crack” sound, and then the guys nose broke, blood gushed out, and two of his teeth fell out causing him so say “Ahhh” then yell “F*!”. When struck in the groin two things happen: first, the pelvis is pushed backwards by the blow causing them to bend forwards.
So… if you hit someone in the groin with any real force their head is coming down and you better be standing off to the side or you’ll eat a nasty head-butt.
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