The MASTERCLASS gives key information on how to optimise a Krav Maga strike or technique.
This MASTERCLASS covers the HEADLOCK FROM THE SIDE ON THE GROUND, a situation you can find yourself in following a headlock from the side standing up (SEE: MASTERCLASS: HEADLOCK FROM THE SIDE) if the assailant brings you down to the floor to attack you further from there.
With a slight misnomer (the initial attack is more likely to take place from behind you, with the attacker ending up on your side only once you’re head-locked) and being a more ‘innocent favourite’ from many young people’s school years, the head lock from the side is one of the first defences taught in many Krav Maga schools.
Aimed to either control you, maybe for further attacks, possibly even involving a secondary attacker, or as a flowing prelude to take you down to the floor by a trained martial artist, the attack is something requiring an immediate response, especially as it involves constriction of the neck. If brought to the floor, this also indicates a more skilled attacker, elevating your ability to respond further.
Your response can therefore be appropriately severe (as you will discover).
Once brought to the floor, you will find yourself in a position with your back down on the ground and the attacker on your side with their forearm behind your neck, bicep squeezing your side neck and, most likely, other hand pulling a tight grip around your full neck area, restricting your breathing.
Picture: The position you‘ll find yourself in a headlock from the side on the ground.
The initial strike to the rear or side of your neck and the hard landing will also likely have had a significant physical impact on you, if done violently.
From this position, if you haven’t been able during the takedown to place your near-attacker hand up between your heads and gouge their eyes (ideally the far eye from you for better grip, impact and control), do this immediately once on the floor. (SEE MASTERCLASS: HEADLOCK FROM THE SIDE how to do this).
Seek to put your fingers as deeply into their eyes as possible. If the attacker is hiding their head, you’ll need to use other means to get their head up to reach the face, such as pulling hair back (use the area up from the forehead), twisting ears, shouting really loud into the ear (very painful), biting the nearby pectoral muscle or hitting the back of the head or liver/kidney areas. The eye gouging, using your finger tips (not the front area of your fingers), is crucial to this defence.
Picture: eye gouging is essential in this defence.
As soon as the (far) eye is reached, start pressing the eye/face backwards as if you want to place it onto your abdomen.
Commencing this motion, start moving your legs away to place these in a direct opposite line to the attacker’s leg direction to create space for the head to land onto the ground, away from your abdomen.
Picture: Start moving your legs to the opposite direction of the attacker’s legs as you push their head towards your abdomen area.
As you move the head and legs, twist the attacker’s head away from you by gouging the eyes in this direction, forcing their face towards the ground.
Picture: Force their face onto the ground by twisting it away from your through eye gouging. Line your legs up to create space for it to land on the floor.
When you’ve completed these motions, quickly switch your feet position to put your rear foot in front. This enables you to push forward much more easily. With your legs, push forward as you press your body down and onto the attacker’s back with one hand still gouging the eye and one hand on their upper body. It’s essential to keep your body mass firmly onto them as you then do a ‘push up’ away from their body with the eye-gouging hand now on their head and the other hand still on their upper body. Keep your knees off the floor when doing this.
Picture: Put all your body mass onto the attacker as you stand up or start delivering further strikes.
If you need to strike during this movement, the back of the neck and the liver (if the attack was done with the right arm originally) will be exposed. Standing up you can also quickly stomp on their ankle area (lower Achilles’ tendon) to break it. In extreme circumstances (disparity of force, multiple attacker, male-on-female attacks) stomping on the head may be mitigated, but it’s not recommended if you can escape the situation at this point.
Continue with attacks if you can’t escape or quickly remove yourself from the situation and run away.
Sounds raw and brutal? A headlock from the side on the ground is a potential lethal force attack as it contains a choking motion from a skilled attacker. Your reaction can be significant in return.