Self-Defense: Escaping Full Nelsons

Video Transcript

"Hi everybody I'm John Graden from the Martial Arts Teachers Association. This is a Defense Against a Full Nelson. I'm sure there's a lot of ways to do this. This is the one that through the years has worked best for me. Simple rule is this, I want to take away my opponent's balance and establish my own. Remember that, take away their balance and establish my own. Joining me is my friend Moss, he's going to put me in a deadly full nelson. Okay, number one, what is, the idea is he's pushing my head down, or maybe he's holding me while somebody else is beating me. That one's really nice to get a kick well. First thing I want to do though, is protect my neck. I want to interlock my fingers, and put them in my forehead. So now as he pushes down, I'm buying myself some time, I can still breath. From here, two quick steps to take his balance away. Watch this. First, I step to the left as my left, dropping my center gravity and I take the right leg behind him which, essentially takes his balance away, "hold on please", and establishes mine. From here, often, that's it, game over. Sometimes I want to follow up though, I can make a little more convincing for them. My name is John Graden. For more information, contact me at johngraden.com, thank you."