Side headlock escape from the ground

Kesa Gatame or "side control" is one of the traditional mat holds in Judo. It is a typical landing position from a throw or takedown. For our purpose you would most likely find yourself in this position from an attacker who has you in a side headlock and you both fall to the ground before you are able to escape the hold. In these video clips you will see variations of the defensive counters to the hold that we have covered in class. Notice that in one clip the attackers arm is around the fighters neck and in the next clip the arm is under the fighters arm and around his back. Keep in mind these clips show sport techniques for the escape. You don't see any fingers to the eyes or pulling the head back by the hair, knee strikes to the back or any other number of ways you can dirty up your counter attack to aid your escape from the hold. I will agree if you can perform the escape without the aid of the additional counter measures then you can build a confidence in your ability to escape this hold from most any attacker. But, you never want to forget that most likely this guy is going to be punching you, hitting you with some blunt object, or worse pulling out a knife. While there is always the likelihood that his buddy is going to be getting involved as well. So, what ever you need to do to get up as fast as possible you use it. Proficiency in foundational skills is very important but anything goes when you have someone laying on you with there arm around your neck and they have bad intentions. Don't get caught thinking technical when you should be thinking tactical. The only rule is...you go home as unscathed as possible.

Be Safe, Train Hard