subject: Learn To Defend Yourself Against A Choke By Making Sure You Do This One Self Defense Move First! [print this page] Are you training to be able to defend yourself - to be able to survive an attack from a real-world assailant who will do anything to harm you? I don't mean, "are you taking self defense classes, reading self defense books, or watching self defense video clips on YouTube!" I don't mean, "are you training in a martial arts system," or "do you have a Black Belt."
And the reason I don't mean these things - the reason I didn't ask these questions is because...
I don't care if you do!
And, the reason that I don't care is because...
Your attacker won't care!
He won't care because either he has picked you out of a crowd and decided that he already has the advantage. So, let that be lesson 1: "If an attacker (not another "Bull" that you're trying to beat to prove who's tougher!) confronts you, you must assume that he or she has some kind of advantage that you don't know about and, that you are the underdog!
And, that's if you get a chance to see him approach and confront you!
Unlike fights where everyone has something to prove - very often self defense attacks are a complete surprise. What that means is that, before you even know you're being attacked, your assailant is already on you! When you are learning how to defend yourself against a real-world attacker, more than the number of techniques in your martial art or self defense system, you must learn the critical tactics and strategies that will prevent him from shutting you down right away!
This article focuses in on one of these critical, life-saving self defense moves to defend yourself against the brutal assailant who grabs you from behind in a life-threatening cross-arm choke hold. In the half-second before his arm clamps down and cuts off the oxygen to your brain, your ability to do one vital move could make the difference between being able to survive... and having everything go black!
The problem with this kind of attack is not just in the loss of consciousness that will occur if you gets the choke on you, but also...
* The fact that you can get your neck broken by a violent attacker who is shaking your body around, and...
* What he can and will do to you after you black out!
Again, it is absolutely critical that you stay focused, not just in the moment, but also to make sure that you are training to be able to execute a certain technique - a life-saving move - WITHOUT thinking about it!
And that move is to drop your chin - your jaw bone - to protect your throat before he can get his arm into that space!
Why?
To protect your airway!
If you cannot breathe, and your attacker gets a cross-arm choke on you...
...you will only have about 7 - 11 seconds of consciousness. And...
That's if you're not helping him by tensing up and expending a lot of energy fighting in the wrong direction.
"Yeah," I hear some people say all the time, " but can't I just..."
Remember, regardless of what techniques you have learned to get out of a choke hold like this, your first order of business - the most critical thing to do - before you do anything else is to...
Protect your airway, and make sure that you can get the life-saving oxygen that you will need for everything else!
