The attacker grabs your clothes or your hair from behind and pulls you back and down into his or her strike or knee kick. What should your first reaction be when you feel a grab from behind?
Why squat down when grabbed from behind?
No matter if you are grabbed by the hair or by the clothes you should first squat down. The movement feels like a dive. It will protect you from receiving the full force of the strike to the head or knee kick to your back. It will nullify the backward and downward pull on your trunk or your head if you are pulled by your hair. It does not matter if you are grabbed with both hands or with one hand. It does not matter with which hand — you should always squat down.
It does not matter which hand strikes you or which leg kicks you. You are surprised from behind and you do not have time to look or to feel how you are grabbed and what is coming next because the strike may be already on its way. Only after getting in a deep squat can you concern yourself with breaking the attacker’s grip.
On the video Basic Instincts of Self-Defense you can see how such attacks look and why any other way of reacting will get you hurt. On this video, Pawel Nastula, judo world champion and 1996 Olympic champion, will also demonstrate how to counter such attacks and subdue the attacker.
Recommended reading:
Self-Defense Tip #24 — Realistic Defenses vs. Phony Defenses: Grappling Attacks
Self-defense tip from Thomas Kurz, co-author of Basic Instincts of Self-Defense and author of Science of Sports Training, Stretching Scientifically, and Flexibility Express.
Self-Defense Moves
To learn how your natural reactions can instantly defeat any unarmed attack, see the video Basic Instincts of Self-Defense.
Defend Against Weapons
To learn how the typical street weapons (club, knife, razor) are used by an experienced streetfighter and how to practice with them, see the video Self-Defense: Tools of Attack — Club, Hatchet, Blackjack, Knife, Straight Razor.
Mental Toughness
To learn mental techniques that let you calmly face any threat and act rationally in the heat of a fight, click here.
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