subject: Learn To Defend Yourself - Critical Suggestions For Escaping From Body Grabs And Bear Hugs [print this page] How important is it to you to learn how to defend yourself against real-world attackers? Contrary to popular belief, a real world attack, thrown at you by a real-world, 21st century attacker here in the West, is not going to look like some of the unbelievable things that you are likely to see in more than a handful of so-called self defense programs being offered to the unwary student.
If you're committed to developing the skills that will allow you to defend yourself and survive a real attack, then you should begin by learning to defend yourself against the most common attacks you are likely to encounter. One of these common attack scenarios involves your assailant grabbing your body, in order to restrain you, move you, or to control you.
Body grabs, including what many call "bear hugs," are often done by one aggressor in a multiple attacker situation. Other scenarios involve rape and other women's self defense situations, surprise attacks, or in situations where you might have misjudged your opponent's intentions and turned your back on him!
Escaping from a body grab is no easy task. But, there are things that you can do to make your job of escaping easier.
Of course, the specific techniques that you can apply in any given situation, will depend on exactly how your attacker is grabbing you. What that means is that, you will be able to do different things if your assailant is...
* Grabbing from the front, back, or side.
* Restraining your arms or your arms are free and he just has you around your torso
* Using a wall or other object or obstacle to assist in the restraint
* Holding you in place so that an accomplice can punch, grab, kick, or otherwise attack you
Here are a few critical suggestions for increasing your advantage and allowing you to effectively escape from a body grab - regardless of the specific details of the attack that you are dealing with. Your training should allow you to become very proficient at remembering and applying these tactics under pressure:
1) Your feet must be planted firmly on the ground. You must do something to cause the assailant who has you up off of one or both feet, to put you down so that you can act from a solid base. One suggestion is to suddenly go limp, so that he has to hold up your entire dead body weight.
2) Use effective resistance and tension. The first priority is in being able to breath, and to maintain a high oxygen intake. So, don't just go nuts, and start flailing around with no rhyme or reason. Tensing the muscles of, and using the joints of the shoulders and arms can prevent your attacker's crushing arms from damaging ribs and restricting your ability to breath.
3) Take advantage of every opportunity - no matter how small. If your assailant shifts or changes his grip in any way - you MUST move immediately to take advantage of his lack of control! If he makes the mistake of putting his face in front of yours while grabbing you from the front - slam your head in to his face.
4) Relax everything not needed for defense in the moment. Remember that self defense is not just the "cool technique that gets you out of there" thing. There are little moments throughout an altercation where you are "defending yourself." Especially if your assailant is bigger, stronger, or better skilled, you are going to have to have a really good trick up your sleeve. And one of those could include knowing about, and using something like the energy spikes and valleys that occur as the glycogen in your muscles is depleted and replenished during work. The trick is to be able to match your energy spikes with his "muscle burnout" (about every 7 seconds), so that you are the strongest when you explode into action - and he is at his weakest!
5) Keep your head! Be in the moment and don't rush things. If he's grabbing you in a body grab, there is a lot that he CAN'T do to you in that moment. Remember that! So... be patient. And, like a well-trained Ninja...
