Women's Self-Defense: Getting Out of Headlocks

Series Summary

Self-defense classes have become flooded with Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) moves in recent years. MMA has gained in popularity since the first Ultimate Fighting Championship won by Royce Gracie. MMA fighters have historically trained in a specific martial art such as Muay Thai Boxing or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu before combining the techniques; however, recently students have begun to train specifically for MMA with other students and a variety of trainers. MMA is great for practical fighting and in self-defense situations. A wide range of techniques can be taught to those who want to stay safe, giving them the wisdom of many styles of traditional martial arts. In this free video series, a martial arts instructor demonstrates a number of self-defense techniques for women to get out of different attacks. Some of the moves include getting out of headlocks, bear hugs, arm grabs, knife attacks, punches and takedowns, among others. With these self-defense tips, women should feel safer and more confident when they are alone or in unfamiliar areas.

Video Transcript

"Hi this is Todd Shawn Tei, chief instructor of California Academy of Martial Arts located in Burbank, California at kungfuwingchung.com. Today we are going to cover womens' self defense. We are going to start off with the headlock. Someone grabs you in a headlock, grab the arm, drop down, elbows, kick, strike. Now we are going to slow it down. First thing, grab the arms, second you drop your weight into a horse stance which forces the person down, then you go into some strikes: elbows, kick the knee, turn, bring the knee up to the elbow and strike behind the knee. Again. Good. The first thing you do is you grab the arm with both of your arms and you drop your weight down into the horse stance, right away it forces the person down and that is a hard position for them to maintain their hold. Then you go into some strikes but you still leave one hand holding the arm. Striking with elbows, turning your hips into the strikes. Then you strike like a donkey kick into the knee and then bring out the arm, break the elbow with the knee and strike to the kneecap or behind the knee. That is how you get out of a headlock."