Releases from Hair Grabs or Pulls P5 -Training Syllabus

When the attacker is approaching you, sending his hand towards you, defend and counterattack as needed, as you see fit. Remember, you can’t really know what the attacker wants, to grab you, to punch, to hit you in the eyes, so prevent him from grabbing you. You can defend and move away. You can defend and counterattack with strikes and kicks. You can even make some sort of threats with punches in the air.

Release from a hair grab from the front with a leverage on the wrist, most suitable at the early phase of the grab, before there’s a pull and where there’s not much other dangers. With two palms, strike on the opponent’s back of the hand. Firmly press the opponent’s hand towards your head. Bend your head and tuck your chin. Press it against your chest. Bend the whole body forward. When the body’s more or less horizontal, start stepping backwards with small steps. This will bring the opponents down on his stomach. While creating the leverage, your elbows should be low. Your forearms, arms, and elbows are protecting your head from the different directions. To enable a strong lock on the wrist of the opponent, emphasize pressing his heel of the hand to your forehead or head, your chin to your chest, and body goes down. When you are stepping backwards, you’re dragging the opponent forward and flatten him on his stomach.

Defending a hair pull from the front. Here, it is a dangerous situation. The opponent grabbed your hair, he’s pulling you down towards his knee or towards a punch. Accept being pulled, initiate and advance forward. At the same time, with one forearm, block the opponent’s knee or other attack, and first counterattack to the groin. Continue with other counterattacks, especially high towards the head. Your forearm defense should be with the area a bit closer towards your elbow. Your forearm defense should be middle of the thigh of the opponent, maybe closer to his knee, not towards his thigh. The attacker may be pulling you with one hand or with two, does not matter, you should do the same technique. When you are low, it’s very comfortable to attack to the groin with an open hand, sort of a whip attack under the forearm of your other hand. From attacking low, switch to attacking high. It will be most efficient. Remember that this technique includes bursting forward towards the attacker. Take the initiative from him. Bursting forward will distract the attacker’s attack. However, you should try and identify as much as possible which attack he’s doing. If the attacker is striking, defend his strike and counterattack. Do it all as efficient as you can.

Defending a hair pull from the side. You couldn’t prevent the attacker from grabbing your hair from the side. He’s pulling you towards the ground or towards his body. It is a dangerous situation, as the attacker is also attacking with the knee. Burst forward towards the attacker. You can do it with the close leg or with the far leg, all depends on the timing and the way that you have been pulled, and naturally on your balance. Initiate also an advance towards the attacker. Burst towards him. One hand should be blocking the attack, whatever attack it is, and the other hand should be striking. Because you are low, you have been pulled down, strike first towards the groin. Continue with more counterattacks as needed and then finish the situation.

Defending a hair pull from the rear. The attacker is grabbing and pulling your hair from behind. It is a dangerous situation. The attacker also has the intention of either dropping you to the ground or striking you. Turn as early as you can, and burst as fast as you can towards the opponent. Try to eliminate his initial attack, his initial intention. With one forearm, you either block a knee or a strike that the opponent is sending towards you. And with the other hand, start striking towards the most vulnerable and closest points. Bursting towards the opponent takes the initiative from him. Bursting forward means also definitely a kind of a body defense. Blocking a knee kick should be done with the area closer to your elbow. This will prevent the forearm defense from collapsing. As you have been pulled and you are low, usually the first reasonable counterattack should be to the groin. After that, punch high. When you are erect, naturally, you can strike with different strikes and with more kicks. Do as many counterattacks as you need, and then finish the situation by scanning, moving away from danger zone, assisting others, et cetera.