Defense Against the Hair Grab

[algernon]

I have not seen hair pulled as a primary means of harming someone, but I have seen hair grabbed while punching the head.

[RichardZ]

Well, I guess on a rarity, I sseen hair grabbed to smash a head, like a wrestler, but the actoion was so fast and stopped, that I dont think a defense could be applied in any amount of time. But this was on one rare instance.

Edited November 4, 2009 by RichardZ

[sensei8]

Escaping from any and/or most hair grabs are...PAINFUL...but...once out...whew...that too [the pain] will pass. If you lose a handful of hair while escaping a hair grab, it's ok, you're out/free, now, run or/and counter.

Don't let the pain stop you from protecting yourself.

[ElShaft]

Shaving your head is the best defense against a hair grab surely ?

[sensei8]

Shaving your head is the best defense against a hair grab surely ?

Absolutely! Not everyone looks good bald.

[RichardZ]

Shaving your head is the best defense against a hair grab surely ?

Unless another type of hair is grabbed, chest, arm pits, ......

[Adonis]

I never cared for traditional methods of defense against Hair Grabs, Shirt grabs, shoulders, wrists and what not. I found to often it was done static at least at the dojo I was at and several others I have visited.

What I mean by static, is the person will do the grab but then stop and wait for the person to do the defense. I think this leads to a false sense of what goes on in those situations to the defender. More pushing pulling, lifting up type motions go into it. If trained that way it helps the defender more IMO.

Not sure if females would want to train the hair grab that way. As before the hair gets caught in the persons fingers, and be a painful ordeal for the person trying to escape, ever now and then just to deal with the resistence of the opponent would be good, not all the time or the women will be bald. LOL!

[KarateGeorge]

What I mean by static, is the person will do the grab but then stop and wait for the person to do the defense. I think this leads to a false sense of what goes on in those situations to the defender. More pushing pulling, lifting up type motions go into it. If trained that way it helps the defender more IMO.

Agreed. It seems like a times the defensive training against grabs is watered down.

The way we teach these techniques at my school is with beginners we do teach it in a static manner, so that they can learn the basic concepts of what to do. Once they reach an "intermediate" rank we start to remove some of the static portions of the self defense practice, and by the time you are testing for black belt, the gloves are off, so to speak. Not only are the "attackers" pushing and pulling you, we require the defender to not just break the grab, but to incorporate at least 3 additional strikes and a takedown into their defense.

[bushido_man96]

What I mean by static, is the person will do the grab but then stop and wait for the person to do the defense. I think this leads to a false sense of what goes on in those situations to the defender. More pushing pulling, lifting up type motions go into it. If trained that way it helps the defender more IMO.

Agreed. It seems like a times the defensive training against grabs is watered down.

The way we teach these techniques at my school is with beginners we do teach it in a static manner, so that they can learn the basic concepts of what to do. Once they reach an "intermediate" rank we start to remove some of the static portions of the self defense practice, and by the time you are testing for black belt, the gloves are off, so to speak. Not only are the "attackers" pushing and pulling you, we require the defender to not just break the grab, but to incorporate at least 3 additional strikes and a takedown into their defense.

I think that this is the way to go about it. Students need to know that it is really going to be a bear of a hold to break, and that it is going to hurt really bad, in all likelyhood. Adding realism to it will make the difference in training.

[RichardZ]

I never cared for traditional methods of defense against Hair Grabs, Shirt grabs, shoulders, wrists and what not. I found to often it was done static at least at the dojo I was at and several others I have visited.

What I mean by static, is the person will do the grab but then stop and wait for the person to do the defense. I think this leads to a false sense of what goes on in those situations to the defender. More pushing pulling, lifting up type motions go into it. If trained that way it helps the defender more IMO.

Not sure if females would want to train the hair grab that way. As before the hair gets caught in the persons fingers, and be a painful ordeal for the person trying to escape, ever now and then just to deal with the resistence of the opponent would be good, not all the time or the women will be bald. LOL!

Good post. This is perhaps the better ideal