Hey all, Thought folks might enjoy this. This article contains a self defense style (as opposed to 'sport fighting') approach for getting out of ground and pound situations. http://www.cqcmagazine.com/2005-fall/ground-pound-escape/index.htm So what are your thoughts and comments? - Matt
Sorry to say that i didn't particulalrly like either of the techniques shown. The first one was ok but it assumes that the person you are trying to get of you wll comply with the pain of having his hair pulled and doesn't remove the ability to post with the hand or elbow. The second method I actually like less than the first, it pulls the guy down and in close but then it shows the guy being eye gouged with both hands. Whats stopping him from sitting up away from this? It's surely an instinctive response and again you can see that the guy can still easily post his hands.
I agree if you want to use a eye gouge then wrap one arm around the persons head. Then force your thumb into the inside corner of the eye of the eye. Once all the way in try to hook the eye by bending your thumb. Then go for a good bridge and power roll.
Or just bridge and roll maybe? It just seems that from an inferior position your first thought should be getting out of that position, save all the eye gouging for when you aren't directly pitting it against someones fists coming down on you. Edit: Incidentally, has anyone else found that screwing your eyes up tight and being squirmy makes it very hard to actually do any meaningfull damage with an eye gouge?
yes - but while you're squirming, your attention on maintaining the mount, etc, is often weakened. The aim of this SD move is to get away, not blind your opponent.
The first technique relies on your opponent having enough hair to grab and reacting to the pain of having his hair pulled rather than simply trying to fight through it. I've had my hair pulled hard and it hurts, but not so much that it would cause me to lose a highly dominant position. The second technique is probably okay as a move of desperation, but a move that aims to escape would be better. If I go for my opponent's eyes, he could just as easily swipe my hands off then hit me. If we want to play with eye gouges, the guy on top has the advantage anyway, since the bottom man's head would be driven into the ground and not up where the pressure can be relieved. Also... What?
This is why you wrap one arm around their head. To keep it in position so you can get your thumb in there good. The times that I know that this was used it seamed to work fairly well. You just must be committed to jamming that thumb in there and getting a hook on that eye. By the way no permanent damage was done in the times I know about.
Not very good advice. He approaches the right answer, but definetly doesn't have it. Pulling your opponent in close when you're on bottom is a great idea, it limits their ability to attack, and is the first step on reversing a rotten situation. But hair pulling? If he even has enough to pull, it's unlikely it would cause him to comply. I've had my hair pulled in fights and other than giving my opponent some leverage on my head (which CAN be useful, but isn't well used in this article) it didn't phase me. The adrenaline was flowing, and a pain as minor as getting my hair pulled in no way distracted me from the goal of beating my opponent's face in. I agree with Oldshadow the second technique is misapplied, the idea he states of holding your opponent's head still makes about 100 times more sense. The problem with even that is it still leaves you on the ground, and doesn't advance you toward what your goal should be in a self defense scenario- getting to your feet and getting the heck out of there. I hate to say it, but the standard bridge (upa) and elbow escapes go much further toward this goal in a more direct manner. I'd peronally only use the eye gouge if it were in comination with the bridge escape, I don't want to be rolling around on the ground in an uncontrolled evironment. Situations like the one depicted in this article is why I believe the positional strategy and sweeps within BJJ are actually more useful for self defense than the submission by and large. But, since they aren't as dramatic or flashy (and far harder to recognize by the uninitiated), they don't get as much attention.
I'm thinking bridge and roll or bridge and shrimp (or prawn depending on where you're from) would be the most effective. I saw one escape on lockflow which was interesting but probably too technical for self defense: http://www.lockflow.com/article_view.php?id=278
Mr. Hockheim often writes what become controversial articles for Black Belt Magazine too. I've always found his approach to tactical self-defense to be spot-on right up to the point of executing his techniques. He breaks down the situation correctly, but his counters just never seem to be the easiest or most effective. This particular set again, come close and just misses. Hair pulling can be effective, especially the way he demonstrates it with a push-pull right on edge of the crown of the head. My father used to pull my hair at that spot to get me to listen and I can remember just how much it hurt to this day. But not everyone has hair as even he prattles on about, which to me, means a true self-defense practitioner with limited training time, attempting to build instinctive muscle-memory responses, should avoid hair techniques. Instead they should focus on techniques that work on everyone, such as the eye technique he shows next. Yes there are "better" ways to eye gouge, but what he shows will work and work well. My biggest concern is that while correctly expressing the need to get up and away, he seems to think those magic techniques will get a larger man to just roll off so the person on the bottom can get up. Very few people are just going to roll off unless you poke their eye out. The guy on the bottom is going to have to bridge-n-roll, and do so violently. When he does, he will end up in that top position, or in the 'guard' if you like. Maybe he doesn't want to stay there for "more wrestling" as Mr. Hockheim puts it, but that's where he's going to end up out of necessity. The good thing is very few people will wrap their legs around you BJJ style and try to hold you there; most will be busy trying to get up themselves. Mr. Hockheim would be better served by teaching follow up techniques from that rolled over position, such as an elbow to the femoral artery nerve cluster or an elementary leg sweep, that will keep an assailant grounded while the defender gets away.
Great responses. They reflect some of what I thought about this technique. As DCombatives puts it, there seems to be a good base here, but some problematic execution along the way. - Matt
