So those are actually both things I've tried, and I like the nose bleed idea.
I wanted a baseball bat and bruising (the bruise slowly appearing is a good idea), but couldn't get it to look and feel right.
Same for grunts, I couldn't get it to work. It just sounded weird, I couldn't really find goods sounds for it, and was kinda annoying more than anything.
I'll keep these in mind though. Maybe I can come up with something better a second time around.