Disco,
I do a lot of entering drills with x stepping and angling, and these put you into an advantageous position quite naturally, when I say we do the entering drills I mean we "really" do them, every class we start with them and do them somewhat religiously so your rote movement becomes somewhat automatic,, it's like you end up on auto pilot and you are at the neck and head area angled off to the side before you know it,, but it does take some serious drilling,,, we don't actually do a preemptive strike most of the time, just a deflection or evasion technique or breakaway combined with the stepping,, and you seem to get their without too much effort... one thing I do for hand strength is add sand to different sized plastic bottles 1, and 2 liter bottles, duct tape the tops and squeeze them in every concievable way,,, builds your grip up big time,, really simulates the actual feel of a persons wrist, arm and neck,,,
Mike