Hi, guys. This week’s technique review is about releases from chokes, particularly the one from the front. We will discuss the essence, the basics, some of the issues about timeline, the importance of the attacker, common mistakes, and actually some coaching techniques.

Brock, please. Brock is going to demonstrate with me this week’s training and lessons. The choke please. No, wait, don’t choke me, back off. Prevention, remember. He tries to choke, do whatever is needed to prevent. So, the idea is very simple. If I’m doing release, choke me release, choke me release, eventually what happens, I am expert in getting released and I’m also master in getting caught. So remember this.

So now he chokes me. Choke me. Ideally in this technique is the following: First of all, as I said, don’t let. If you already find yourself being choked, there can be different types of responses.

Let’s talk about the most panic fight response based off strong natural responses/reaction, which is this. Use hands to try to push away, arching backwards, and opening the mouth, raising the chin, these are all natural responses that are happening when your neck is being squeezed. Please remember that if I’m doing a massage on him, he would not have the response. We have to connect the natural response with the technique because beginning of it is based on the natural response. So the foundation of a basic technique is the natural response of the human being. So if that’s my natural response, it can be okay if he is choking me and I do like this … I managed. I was strong enough to do this sort of a bench press against Bach. But the question is would I do it against somebody twice as strong as him?

So, for example, push me away. Okay, one more time, push me away. He cannot push me away now. Why? I just simulate myself to be stronger. How? I just put my hands a bit tighter behind his neck. He couldn’t push me away. But if you are like this, yes, and don’t let me push you away, be stronger here. And now I cannot push him, but this I can easily do. So I could open him much easier than pushing him away. Also, this scraping, plucking action is good in other situations. Not of chokes. Not only the one from the front.

So overall we say like this: the last option in the natural response and in the time line is two hands release. So at the same time I’m doing that technique. A bit of stomping in place. Why? Because that’s natural response, raising on the heels is a natural response. So I’m doing this one. Also human being to kick with one leg then it will shift the weight. Takes long time. If they shift the weight by stomping in place, much better.

So strong action. Now I’ve seen mistakes. People try to be a bit more choreographed and they are raising the hands, don’t choke me please so I can talk to them, they are raising the hands like this. And they are putting the hands like this – show them a bit more – like this in the center. Definitely a mistake. Please remember, if you are making competition between the fingers and the lats, the big muscles of the back, who will win? Definitely the big muscles. So you need to raise hooks. Hooks has to penetrate to the center. So I’m penetrating to the center with hooks so the hooks are rising, not open hands rising to the center. From the center we hit backwards.

Also sometimes we see elbows at the level of the shoulders or even higher sometimes. Not good. Do you know why? Because now I am very much limited. I cannot move backwards anymore. If I lower just a little bit, look how much more I can move back. Look here, my shoulders have been locked. Stopped, I cannot move again. This is the end of my range of motion. But if I lower a little bit, not too much, about this, that’s correct.

What about sending down? Not possible. If you just put the hands, hold here a little bit, I do like this, but for nothing. Why? Because I’ve got shoulders. Not so wide, but I do have shoulders. So when I’m doing this down I’m sending his palms strongly on my shoulders. It will not help the release. I need to send his palms sideways. Sometimes you do this and you think, “Hey, look, my elbows are pointing downwards”, you may think like this. Yes, you’re right, they are point down, but because I’m tilted back. If I return, look at my angle. So definitely the angle is backwards, sending backwards, not downwards, backwards. Because I tilted, it looks a little bit like I’m sending my elbows down.

So overall we are saying like this. This is the opening section. You’re raising the hands with hooks. You are hitting from the center out. In order to gain maximum body defense, what do we do? It’s not if you- give me a straight strike. I do like … This is a body defense, moving the target. When the hands are on me, moving the target will not help. But if I hit and now I move back, yes, definitely. There was some sort, little bit of a body defense.

Except of this, the main thing of the body defense is strong – choke a little bit, choke – is making faces. Meaning, contracting the muscles in the neck. Raising the shoulders. These are techniques, these are the options, this thing. This motion is the one that is protecting the neck, especially in the beginning of the pressure, the beginning of the choke. Doing that one is definitely enlarging the neck, definitely contracting the muscles, more difficult for the attacker to create destructive pressure, and of course we have to do the release as soon as possible. So that’s as soon as possible.

So hand defense, two hooks. Striking out. This is the active defense. The dynamic defense, the main thing is these things – they’re not exactly dynamic defense, but that’s the principle in the thinking. And yes, a little bit moving backwards. Also moving backwards, if he’s not too close to me, it’s very reasonable for reaching better with the knee.

Overall, if the choke is very close, very tight, in this type of situation, sometimes even with the higher elbows, in this case the choke usually is stronger. Because he can apply more muscles and be stronger with his pressure. So in this case, two hands are not effective. I’ll explain why

Just do like this for a moment. In this case, if you can see, when I’m going out here, I’m very tight, very close. When I’m going out I’m sliding. So when I’m doing this action, because his arms are parallel to my shoulders, more or less, see my neck is here, parallel to my shoulders. Then if I’m doing two hands, it’s- the hand is … There’s an acute angle here and I will do it like this. There’s an acute angle, the more there’s a pressure pressing and taking his hands off my neck. I’m trying to, I’m not successful. Because I’m sliding down. So what’s the idea here? One hand release.

So one hand release has two options. One, if I am aggressive, if he chokes me, this one, very easy to understand. Could you make me like a swing of a 360? Like this type of behaving. What am I doing here? I’m doing that action. You could see one of the week’s review also on the 360. When we are doing this action, one hand going out, one hand going forward, in the choke release, here, we can do the same. So the more aggressive … If I’m in a panic, this happens. If I’m more aggressive, that’s the idea. So look what I was doing. I was sending one hand out with hook and the plucking action, and the other hand went in, forward. Practically a strike.

This is an option in the timeline if I’m more aggressive, excellent option. But it’s very early, a very strong attack, surprising the attacker, etc. If it’s very tight, that’s the only option I have left. It’s the only option I’ve got, one hand release, because two hands is not effective. I’m saying like this not effective, I have to do that one.

I need to create, not an acute angle, I need to create 90 degrees angle. Let’s show it like this. I need to create 90 degrees angle. When I created the 90 degrees angle, now I can move his hand away from me and at the same time, I’m striking. So if it’s long distance, ah, maybe second strike reasonably well. If it’s very tight, it’s not possible so, I’ll do this. I’ll hit the groin and then I would continue.

That is the essence of this release from a choke. Thank you so much.