Self Defense Escape from Holds - Grabbing

I am Sundar J.

M. Brown with Joe Diamond's Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Today, we are discussing practical self defense. In this segment, we are going to discuss how to defend yourself against the most common type of grab in the street - the single hand front grab. The goal of my opponent here is to do this. He grabs me and with his free hand, punches me. When my opponent does this, my move is this. Now, let us break this down so you can understand the move step by step. The first thing I want to do whenever I am in a self defense situation is assume what is called a base position. Essentially, to come into base, I wide my stance, soften my knees and drop my hips; so I increase my sense of balance. In this situation, because I am going to be hit in the face, I also want to raise both hands to protect myself. So, as soon as my opponent touches me, I drop into a base position and raise my hands. Now, I take my right hand and palm up; secure my opponent's hand to my chest by the wrist, like this. This remains in contact throughout the duration of the entire sequence. The punch is still a problem even if I am protecting my face. So, I want to step into my opponent to remove myself from punching range and I am going to be stepping at an angle over my right side. As I do, I am going to take my free hand, my left hand and slap the elbow up and out of the way, like this. That is step one. Step two is to step through with my right foot continuing the circular motion. Step three is to bend the waist to extract my head. You will notice that all the way through, I have stepped from a base position into another base position. So, in every moment in the sequence, I am in this balanced stance. Maintain contact here, I bend with the waist until I can extract my head. Now, I would slide my right arm up until I can grab my opponent's bicep, I maintain the grip here and I walk back in close to my opponent. Now, I am going to raise my right elbow and push the elbow of my opponent across his back.

Again, when my opponent grabs me with one hand and punched me with the other, I immediately drop in the base and raise my hand simultaneously. Now, I take my right hand and palm up, I secure the opponent's hand to my chest like this. Now, I step into my opponent at an angle to take myself out of punching range and to assist my motion, I use my free hand to slap the elbow up. Remember, that I am stepping from base into base, at all times. I now step through with my back foot also into a base position and you will notice that I have maintained my grips the entire time. I do not end up in a head lock here because it is very easy to bend up the waist and extract my head by backing out. As I do, I slided my hand inside my opponent's one so I can grab his bicep. I maintain my grip here on his elbow and I walk back in. Now, I am going to raise my right elbow and push his elbow across his back, one more time at full speed.

In this next segment, we are going to discuss how to defend yourself against a head lock.