Defense Against The Bearhug

[still learning]

Hello, Bearhugs and being thrown right away...."yep".. this may be very hard to defend....except the fall. Hopefully you will be able to rise back up? (actully I prefer hand shakes)

Awareness is good... bearhug..not good. hug by you? ...OK

There is no hard rule if can or cannot defend against this...no two situtions will be the same....in the movies...they can....Aloha

 

[DavidCC]

When hugged from behind, if your arms are pinned above the elbow, we practice a technique where you dig your knuckles in between the bones of the hand, between the pinky and ring finger (but on the back of the hand). Even with arms pinned you can usually reach it. Extremely painful. However it appears to be a pain-compliance technique so it has its limitations...


However, this only works if you ahve a second or two to do it. If the attacker immediately picks you up to throw you, you might not be able to get this sunk in. But I think that is a different scenario. "What if you are picked up form behind and thrown" as opposed to "What if you are grabbed in a bear hug frm behind". The 2 scenarios are strongly related but different.

 

[Robert Lee]

resistive weight can be held better then relaxed weight considered dead weight One breath low lung and go limp then perhaps a head but and explosive resistance the person is caught off gaurd. But a strong person get a good grip fast. and lifts you off the ground Shin kicks yes but you end on the ground after. I was taught the best way to get out of an application is just prior to its end point Bear hug is before ful grip is applied You have a chance then to escape it or defend it before it has been completed. Takes some sensitivity training But its worth the time A strong person that gets a good bear hug on you can put you out. You can not breath well if your lungs can not expand well.

 

[Brad Dunne]

If the attacker immediately picks you up to throw you, (From DavidCC).
Hello, Bearhugs and being thrown right away...."yep".. this may be very hard to defend, (From still learning).

This is the rational I started my position with and most folks took exception. This is the type of brear hug technique that is undefendable against. If you've watched Pride, UFC, etc you may have seen one of the combatants picked up and dumped. These are guys that train everyday and are in top shape and they can't defend against it because there's NO TIME. Any time I have seen a bearhug used was either by the police/security to restrain someone. The other times was either someone was pounding on someone while he was being held in a bearhug - still no time to defend because the real attack is coming from another direction or as stated being dumped. Folks can train all they want to in a static position. Do the drop body weight thing, stomp the foot, knuckle pain compliance and so on, but in reality it's time and training that could be spent on something better IMO.

As for the awareness position, that's all well and good, but to get put into a bearhug in the first place means your awareness was lacking or your trying to grapple with someone who's either quicker and stronger and managed to get you into that position, from which it's doubtful that their just going to hold you there so you can attempt to do something.

As I stated before, it's easy to defend against something that your at least half way prepared for. Try this at your next training session. Have someone in the class, at some unexpected time in the class, come and grab you and dump you from the rear bearhug position. This is the crux of my positioning on this, it can't be defended against plain and simple.

 

[DavidCC]

If the attacker immediately picks you up to throw you, (From DavidCC).
Hello, Bearhugs and being thrown right away...."yep".. this may be very hard to defend, (From still learning).

This is the rational I started my position with and most folks took exception. This is the type of brear hug technique that is undefendable against. If you've watched Pride, UFC, etc you may have seen one of the combatants picked up and dumped. These are guys that train everyday and are in top shape and they can't defend against it because there's NO TIME.
[\QUOTE]

hooking the leg as described above will buy you some time, in my limited exeprience.

 

[FearlessFreep]

I think some confusion comes from the fact that the bearhug is being discussed like a punch. "Defense Against The Punch"...well what *kind* of punch. A jab, a hook, a straight punch, a hammer first, a...

A bearhug where someone grabs and holds you is a different attack than a bearhug that goes right into a throw is different then someone grabbing you.

The first (physical) line of defense is "don't let the person get your back", second line is "don't let them get a grip". If they get to that point then whether they hold, grab, or throw, it's now in a different area. A grab you can break, a drag you can break, a throw, well..at somepoint you may be just along for the ride. Like a hip throw, like a takedown, even like a punch, there may come a time in the attack where your defense has already failed at an earlier point and the best you can do is wince, try to survive the attack, and move on to your next move

I think Brad's only point is that on the "bearhug-and-throw" by the time you are in the grab it may already be too late and you're only hope is to survive the throw and move on. I think many other people are making the point that this is not the *only* kind of bearhug attack, and that it's possible to defend before you get to that point as well,but there seems to be a bit of ambiguity in what is really meant by a 'bearhug' that is causing a bit of confusion

 

[Robert Lee]

I guess a bear hug used to slam a person to the ground Does have a less defence option. then one used to hold and sqeeze. Either way best to excape before the hold is complete And we can train and train but when something happens Its that time only that you put it together or not. skill, and heart have to be used in a fight. And alot of heart sometimes out ways skill level. What happens fast has to be delt with fast At that time you do not think you just do.

 

[still learning]

Hello, One of the rules in martial arts is " he who can get the other person off balance will gain the advantage."

When you bearhug someone and take them off their feet....the person who is being lifted has no balance and is off guard. The attacker has the advantage here.

Now it you weight 100 lbs and lift a person who is 300lbs up..the 300 pounder may gain the advantage. Law of gravity may work here.

bottom line...he will get smash.....? ......doing some heavy thinking on this problem..........Aloha

 

[green meanie]

I've been in wrestling and ju jitsu a long time. Long enough that if someone comes up behind me and tries to grab me I automatically go into 'wrestling mode' and start fighting back until I realize what's going on. Regardless of where my attention is you can't pick me up and slam me fast enough without my auto-pilot kicking in along the way. I'll automatically start grapevining a leg before my toes leave the floor. It just takes a lot of time and a lot of practice to deeply ingrain these responses. Nobody said it was gonna happen quickly or easily but to say that there's no chance or no defense is just wrong. My two cents...

 

[shesulsa]

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[MJS]

As for the awareness position, that's all well and good, but to get put into a bearhug in the first place means your awareness was lacking or your trying to grapple with someone who's either quicker and stronger and managed to get you into that position, from which it's doubtful that their just going to hold you there so you can attempt to do something.

Thats what I'm talking about. Two things can be looked at. 1) Why did we allow this to happen? Lack of awareness. 2) As I said, the defense should begin as soon as the hands are felt. Waiting until you're being lifted up isn't the time to be thinking, "Hmmm...what am I gonna do now???"

As I stated before, it's easy to defend against something that your at least half way prepared for. Try this at your next training session. Have someone in the class, at some unexpected time in the class, come and grab you and dump you from the rear bearhug position. This is the crux of my positioning on this, it can't be defended against plain and simple.

As I said before, everyone trains differently. That being said, unless you've seen how everyone trains, I'd think that saying a defense is not possible would be incorrect.

Mike

 

[MJS]

I've been in wrestling and ju jitsu a long time. Long enough that if someone comes up behind me and tries to grab me I automatically go into 'wrestling mode' and start fighting back until I realize what's going on. Regardless of where my attention is you can't pick me up and slam me fast enough without my auto-pilot kicking in along the way. I'll automatically start grapevining a leg before my toes leave the floor. It just takes a lot of time and a lot of practice to deeply ingrain these responses. Nobody said it was gonna happen quickly or easily but to say that there's no chance or no defense is just wrong. My two cents...

Exactly!! This is why I'm a big advocate of adding in some grappling into my training. Personally, this is something that everyone should be doing.

Mike

 

[Brad Dunne]

green meanie
I've been in wrestling and ju jitsu a long time. Long enough that if someone comes up behind me and tries to grab me I automatically go into 'wrestling mode' and start fighting back until I realize what's going on. Regardless of where my attention is you can't pick me up and slam me fast enough without my auto-pilot kicking in along the way.

I'd like to offer the benefit of the doubt on this subject to your statement, but I've seen the opposite. It has nothing to do with the extent of someone's training or warrior mindset or anything else that may fit the situation. This particular technique being applied, a rear bearhug and slam is not defendable period. The reason.......There is no time to react. When one is grabbed from behind, the pull back and lift motion is less than a second, this includes the grab. Now if anyone thinks their that fast and can react in that time frame, then I'm sure we can get you a seat at the next Justice League awards dinner next to Wonder Woman. OK a little fun there, but don't take my word for it, go and do it or have it done to yourself. Ah!, but there is a caveat to this endeavor......it must be done with a realistic application, which means that you don't know it's coming. Also, the realism includes someone big enough to effectively lift you off the ground and slam you, for again this will be the type of person who will actually use the attack.

PS: PLEASE do it on the mat(s), if you decide to try it for yourself.

One must realize, that there are physical attacks in this world that are just not defendable against, even for a very trained person. Now put that statement into perspective for the average person who trains.

 

[green meanie]

That's fine, Brad. That's your opinion and you're entitled to it... and it's more than obvious at this point that nothing in this world is going to change it. However, my experiences in this area suggest otherwise. I have had real life experience in this situation on more than one occasion and what happened is exactly how I described it. And lord knows there's no shortage of people in this world who are more than capable of picking me up if I let them. So I'm sorry you've decided to dig in your heels on this one, you're missing an excellent opportunity to add a defense to your arsenal.

Regards,
green meanie

 

[MJS]

That's fine, Brad. That's your opinion and you're entitled to it... and it's more than obvious at this point that nothing in this world is going to change it. However, my experiences in this area suggest otherwise. I have had real life experience in this situation on more than one occasion and what happened is exactly how I described it. And lord knows there's no shortage of people in this world who are more than capable of picking me up if I let them. So I'm sorry you've decided to dig in your heels on this one, you're missing an excellent opportunity to add a defense to your arsenal.

Regards,
green meanie

From a grappling perspective, I'd be interested in hearing other methods of a counter. I know that you mentioned the grapevine of the legs.

Look forward to your reply.:ultracool

Mike

 

[RoninPimp]

Brad, you're speaking in absolutes. A physical confrontation is anything but. Your opinion is also opposite to mine and several others here based on our experiance. How do you explain that?

MJS, reaching through your own legs for one of the attackers is a possibility. So is gripping in a Kimura grip and using that to pry them off. Or a standing switch. Just about every throw or takedown found in any grappling style is possible if you're skilled enough.

The first rule is to get your hips away from his as hard and as quickly as possible. He needs to pull your hips tight to pick you up. Interupt that and you have a chance.

 

[MJS]

MJS, reaching through your own legs for one of the attackers is a possibility. So is gripping in a Kimura grip and using that to pry them off. A standing switch. Just about every throw or takedown found in any grappling style is possible if you're skilled enough.

Thanks for the reply! I have a few techniques that I can choose from. Reaching for their leg is one of them. Its been a while since I've done much rolling. Definately an area I don't want to neglect.

The first rule is to get your hips away from his as hard and as quickly as possible. He needs to pull your hips tight to pick you up. Interupt that and you have a chance.

Absolutely!! Going to be hard to get a lift if their hips are not near you.

Mike

 

[green meanie]

MJS, reaching through your own legs for one of the attackers is a possibility.

I've usually have my reservations about bending over and trying to pick up their leg. You're a little off-balance and at risk of being drove forward and into ground. But, I have hooked my foot behind theirs and used my leg to pull their leg ahead a bit and picked it up as they were falling back.

I've also reached through my legs for it and gone right into a knee bar off of it before. I guess I don't mind it as much when I'm doing it to myself.

So is gripping in a Kimura grip and using that to pry them off. Or a standing switch.

Or any combination of the two -the switch and the kimura work well together.

The first rule is to get your hips away from his as hard and as quickly as possible. He needs to pull your hips tight to pick you up. Interupt that and you have a chance.

Absolutely. An excellent point. Keep moving! Force him to keep having to draw you in -at the very least it buys you more time.

-gm

 

[Cryozombie]

Who is being attacked here....most likely either a child or a female. Do you think that they will either have enough time or power available to defend against this?.......Not likely.

Yeah, damn those poor fragile women, all too silly and helpless to protect themselves... locked in the kicthen barefoot and pregnant they should be... outside is full of big scary men who they cant stop...

 

[Ceicei]

Yeah, damn those poor fragile women, all too silly and helpless to protect themselves... locked in the kicthen barefoot and pregnant they should be... outside is full of big scary men who they cant stop...

You're funny.

- Ceicei