The headlock; one of the most common holds in the streets
One of the popular techniques used by street fighters is the headlock. That said, to be able to defend yourself from a headlock, is like anything else in life, it needs to be practiced. So, go ahead and discover a useful self defense exercise against a headlock.
While it might seem pretty straight forward, it’s actually harder than it looks to escape a headlock if you don’t know how.
If you can’t manage to get out of the headlock, you might end up in serious trouble, giving your opponent the opportunity to seriously injure you.
Obviously, the best way is to prevent the headlock from ever happening by being aware of your attacker’s movements and stopping it before it actually gets locked in.
An important thing to remember against a headlock is your footwork. You want to move a circular motion.
Basically, you don’t want to stay stationary and not move. Because, it you stand still, you can easily be put in a headlock.
By moving, you’ll make it much more difficult for your opponent to get you in a headlock.
Here’s a great Headlock Self Defense Drill:
The best thing to do against a headlock is to jam the movement of your opponent while he’s trying to put you in a that compromising position.
Furthermore, you want to push your attacker away with your arms.
By using your arms to block your attacker from getting closer, you can prevent the headlock from happening.
If you’re attacker does reach you, you’ll need to slip as fast as possible and try to establish chest to back to favor you in this altercation.
This is what the headlock self defense drill is all about.
By clinching your attacker, you can easily sneak your head underneath his arm and from there you can grab his hair, do a neck crank, eye gouge, bicep pop.
The number of self defense moves are limitless.
That should work fine, and your strikes should be assertive to eliminate the threat…
But since things are not always perfect in a street fight, you need to also learn how to get out of the actual headlock itself.
==> Here’s how to get out of a headlock
I hope you enjoyed this portion of self defense and that this article was helpful for you.
In my opinion, it’s a great self defense exercise against a headlock, since it forces you to work in close quarter.
Practice makes perfect
The important thing to remember for this self-defense drill is that timing and speed are crucial.
The biggest difference with this technique is that contrary to other self-defense techniques, this one requires you to be closer to your attacker.
Additionally, it requires a lot of balance and strength to be able to maneuver around your attacker.
Make sure to practice it with a training partner and give us a feedback on how it went 😉
I really hope you enjoyed this article on how to do an effective headlock self defense drill.
Finally, to learn more on self defense, make sure to subscribe to the Code Red Defense Newsletter.
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Stay safe and always be aware of your surroundings when walking alone at night.
Cheers,
Patrick Viana
Code Red Defense – Self Defense Tips