Escaping a Devastating Head Lock With a Leg Hook
Imagine yourself walking down the street in a middle of the night. As a JiuJitsu practitioner, you’re probably confident enough that if someone tried to jump you, you’d at least be able to take an inexperienced fighter out, or even two. But, what if he holds you in a headlock, what now?
The answer to that question isn’t exactly that simple. Fact is, the headlock, even when used by a regular person, can be devastating, more so if the intent to injure or kill is there. It also doesn’t help that JiuJitsu doesn’t exactly place heavy emphasis on the head lock and escapes from it.
Why so? Well, it’s because Brazilian JiuJitsu doesn’t think much of the headlock in terms of a technical standpoint. For them, it’s flawed and it’s not something that’s hard to defend against.
For you, however, a headlock is devastating, especially since you don’t know what to do against it.
If such a thing should happen to you, then at least be prepared by reading below on how to escape a headlock with a leg hook.
- First of all, this escape is best used if your opponent has an exceptionally tight grip around your neck and has their head looking down on you.
- Given your opponent’s position, it’s highly likely that they’ll try to hit you a few times. Prevent that by using your left, or free hand, to grab hold of the biceps of your opponent’s free hand, which in this imaginary scenario would be their left.
- With your opponent not being able to attack momentarily, act quickly and hook their left leg using your left foot.
- If you’ve done everything correctly, then you should have enough leverage to turn onto your stomach and establish a solid base. If your opponent kept their legs wide apart, then that’s better as they may get stuck after your turn onto your stomach and you should be able to pull your head afterwards.
- If they did keep their legs apart, you should be on top now, though your opponent could still have a grip around your neck. Try to pressure your opponent by taking your right leg over them and putting it in front of their stomach, all the while making sure that you keep a solid base.
- To break your opponent’s hold, simply force your left forearm into their neck. You may also try holding your left wrist for added force or leverage. Also, try to apply pressure using your weight instead of strength to conserve energy.
- As your opponent releases the grip on your neck, immediately secure their arm for an arm-bar.
As you can see, application of this technique requires you to have basic knowledge of an arm-bar. Though, given that you’ve practiced JiuJitsu, chances are, you know a thing or two about arm-bars by now.
Do also keep in mind that this escape requires tons of practice before you can even think of pulling it off in real life. So, be patient and keep on practicing so that you get comfortable with all the little movements involved with this escape that could easily double as a reversal.
