escaping a wrist grab

[turbo wrx]

Suppose someone stronger than you grabs a hold of your wrist or lower arm and has a tight grip. Can you suggest ways for a weaker person to escape this hold since, in this case, pulling away would be too difficult due to strength differences?

Thanks.

[cross]

You can find a topic that has some suggestions here:

http://www.karateforums.com/breaking-wrist-grabs-vt29421.html?highlight=wrist

My thoughts are has follows:

Tried out a few of the techniques suggested and found most were of little use when their was a strength disadvantage. Techniques like grabbing the thumb with your free hand and trying to pull it open are far 2 telegraphed and from trying it with my girlfriend i found she couldnt even bend my thumb when i let her get a proper grip on it. Other techniques that involve grabbing your own hand and trying to pull it out still rely on a fair amount of strength to be effective.

From my experience i would agree with those that mentioned distractions. And would add that the wrist grab should not be what your mainly focusing on. No matter how hard a person is grabbing your wrist, chances are its not going to hurt you beyond being irritating. For a wrist grab to acheive something there must be a follow up attached to it. This is what you need to focus on more than the grab itself. Are they going to punch you? Try to take you somewhere? Grab your shirt or throat? Etc.

To escape a wrist grab(in the rare event that you are wrist grabbed, woman and children who be likely to experience this), the methods i have tested to be effective are raising your free hand into half a passive stance (see pre fight posture thread in self defence section). This will put you in a better position to deal with their follow up. While your dealing with the veerbal that will obviously be involved, if you find you cant talk your way out and calm them down your hand is in a perfect position to palm strike to the chin from under their field of vision. This can lead to any number of follow ups depending on how the attacker reacts.

For those in law enforcement etc who legally are not allowed to strike. Ask yourself how likely it is for you to be wrist grabbed by someone. And what kind of follow up your likely to encounter. Most often the wrist grab will come and go quickly, and the follow up with be more important to deal with.

Not to mention most martial arts schools spend lots of time teaching how to deal with strikes before they land, yet when it comes to grabs you only learn to defend once your already grabbed. If its so possible to block a lighting fast strike before it lands, why cant you stop a less dangerous slower grab attempt before it lands. Or if you are going to work on how to get out of a grab why not work how to recover from a strike after you have been hit? I think there is a need for some consistency.

[bushido_man96]

Cross has some very good points. I second the distraction technique. Or better yet, and outright attack. They grab me, I punch them in the face. After all, if you have been grabbed, then you have essentially been assaulted; you have grounds for retaliation. Especially if you are smaller and weaker.

[swdw]

Not to mention most martial arts schools spend lots of time teaching how to deal with strikes before they land, yet when it comes to grabs you only learn to defend once your already grabbed. If its so possible to block a lighting fast strike before it lands, why cant you stop a less dangerous slower grab attempt before it lands. Or if you are going to work on how to get out of a grab why not work how to recover from a strike after you have been hit? I think there is a need for some consistency.

And that brings up another point. Why do so many schools teach you how to get out of a headlock, but never teach you how to prevent one?

Anyway, if you do some digging on youtube, I'm sure you'll find some examples. If you want to verify the efficacy of the moves, post the links here. Sorry, but personally, I don't have the time to dig them up.

There are simple wrist escapes that require speed and positioning but not strength. You wind up putting your entire body weight into the escape, which is why it works. They need to be taught, not written about, because there are very simple key components which are too easy to leave out w/o proper instruction. I've had my 11 year old students escape from a tight grab.

Cross is oh so correct on the idea of teaching someone to move as soon as they feel contact if surprised, or move when the opponent tries the grab if you see it coming. Learn to use your flinch response to keep from being grabbed. If grabbed, learn to use your initial attempt to evade to aid in the escape. You already have momentum built up.

Most schools teach a wrist escape with both people stationary and one person holding on. For a woman or kid being grabbed by the wrist, they will also be pulled towards the assailant. You need to practice escaping with first, the grabber standing and pulling. Once you get the idea, then you practice with the grabber moving towards or away from you while pulling.

[ravenzoom]

There are many different techniques to get out of a tight wrist grab. I'M sure you can find some on the net.

[Justin Treadaway]

Yeah there are a ton of ways to get out, but if you just want to get away always work against their thumb. But we are taught many many controls moves when people grab our wrist or arm. If someone grabs me I will break their wrist while throwing them on the ground. We have to learn 5 control moves for our first belt and multiple knife defenses as well.

[marie curie]

The one that is my go-to is to pull my arm toward me, through his thumb (much weaker than his fingers).

[Elky]

They grab me, I punch them in the face.

^^this^^

[cross]

They grab me, I punch them in the face.

^^this^^

I would much prefer a palm strike under the chin. Less telegraphed(under the line of vision), less chance of breaking hand, more chance of hurting the person, more options for follow ups.

[pegasi]

All of the others make very good points. It's easier to keep someone from getting a good grip on you than it is to break loose once they've got you, but you need to learn to handle both situations. We practice these in class regularly, since they're some of the most common things someone else will do... simply grab your arm, shirt, shoulder etc. So we learn how to counter those from the very beginning.