Liver Shot

**Fighting Cephalopod** · Posted On: 9/14/2007 11:05pm

Bas in terms of actual accomplishments was never more than a middle-of-the-road fighter, but he became an awesome trainer, clearly had excellent striking skills (helped by truly retarded natural power) and according to people I know who've rolled with him in the past few years, has become black belt level or close to it on the ground.

None of which has anything to do with the fact that liver shots are extremely effective in pretty much all full-contact venues and Cracky is trolling.

To the OP - whenever you throw a punch or kick, you should be exhaling hard, which both helps regulate your breathing and also tightens your abs, helping to guard against counter shots like that one. Other than that, the only real advice is "try not to get hit like that" - one thing to keep in mind is to try and use footwork to attack at angles. Don't just stand in front of the guy and throw a kick; step out at an angle and throw it, or throw it while you're circling. This kind of thing makes it more difficult to counter.

**Donkey_Fizzle** · Posted On: 9/16/2007 6:20am

Let me hit you in the liver Cracky... I mean since your not a noob and all... you should be imune. Right????

OP comment: Core stregnth is escential and it will help take the edge of body shots. As well as improve your overal striking power. Proper breathing as Fatherdog stated is also a key issue. Being an elusive target is also another good point. If you work angles, use footwork and move the other guy has to keep up in order to land solid, grounded and well aimed shots. I am a huge fan of changing level with my strikes and not just going for head shots like a lot of guys do. Body shots take there toll and makes the guy have to wonder about where your going to hit next and keeping the guy on the defensive. But the fact of the matter is that if a guy drills you right on the button at just the right time you are going to get pretty familiar with the canvas.

**Herosandwich** · Posted On: 9/17/2007 12:47pm

Fatherdog,

Your right about the angles. I have a very bad habit of throwing leg kicks where I'm standing straight up. I spent a number of years doing Shotokan and all the bad habits from there aren't going away too quickly. I get yelled at for it quite a bit in the gym, and I only throw my body into it when I'm concentrating on doing it. This being my first full contact fight, I wasn't concentrating on technique... back to gym. I'm going to keep doing more leg kicks until it comes naturally and I do it without thinking about it.

That and thousands of sit-ups/leg lifts. My next goal is to last 3 rounds. Eventually, my goal will be to win, but who knows when that'll be.

**0351nurse** · Posted On: 3/20/2010 3:42pm

I have asked my anatomy and physiology professor and some doctors about the liver shot. It is very vascular, a lot of blood goes in and out of the liver. Enough so a hit there can disrupt the blood flow of the whole body. Since the blood carries oxygen through the body it is possible to cause decreased or loss of consciousness by interrupting the blood flow to the brain. Not as effective as a choke but possible and even likely. There are also a lot of nerves there, which is why it hurts so freaking bad to get kicked or punched there.

To protect it I guess more muscles over your core will provide some better armor. I'd say that foot work, different angles, and changing the position of your arm when you kick or hit so you can cover it would be good too.

**gregaquaman** · Posted On: 3/20/2010 4:20pm

strangley enough this is one case where you can scream "do grappling" and have some point.
where I don't claim to be immune to body shots by any means I have been far more resistant than most of my kickboxing friends and I believe that is just through having fat people fall on me.
well I suppose you could just get fat people to fall on you but grappling is more fun.

**MMAMickey** · Posted On: 3/20/2010 7:27pm

So is more abdominal muscle a legitimate way of protecting yourself from bodyshots? I've never had a problem with them personally but thats probably to do with the fact that I'm pretty short, so people probably find it hard to land a hard bodyshot.