ONE STEP AHEAD

Strong. Certain. Sovereign.

For the woman who owns her world.

OSA Training: Rear Strangles - Avoid Early. Escape Fast. 

 

Simple but super powerful principles that stop a strangle before it gets dangerous.

Why get strangled when you don’t have to?!  

 

Safety First

  • Do not apply strangles/chokes in home practice. No squeezing the breath out of someone or seeing if you can send them unconscious.
  • Please train with an emotionally mature training partner. No “seeing what it feels like.”
  • WE DO NOT ACTUALLY USE CHOKES OR STRANGLES IN ONLINE TRAINING. WE ONLY RECOMMEND CAREFUL ROLE-PLAY, WHICH IN ITSELF WILL HELP YOU A TONNE ANYWAY. Leave full-on strangulation to martial artists or when you have a trained coach present.  
  • Work slow, cooperative, and stop the moment anything feels off. If in doubt, only train with a qualified coach. 
  • You are training at your own risk and we cannot be held liable for actions you take. Please only use this as information/guidance and do not do anything that is not safe to do. This training is for educational purposes only.

 Video 1: The Principles of How to become Un-strangle-able  

(The Square Rule)

 

Video 2: Practice Strangle Avoidance and Escape

 

Video 3: Concluding Strangles

 

VIDEO NOTES: 

 

Avoid or get out of the square - at all costs.

  • A strangle needs your head/back aligned in the “square” behind you; if the back of your head isn’t in that box, it’s very hard to strangle you. Learn to keep your head out of the square. Do whatever it takes to keep your head out of there, or to get your head out of there should it ever be there.

Early Action Beats Deep Chokes

  • Turn to face early when you sense the arm reaching; create distance before anything locks. This single habit shuts down most attempts long before they’re a problem. You can only really be strangled if you are facing away from the person - so don't face away.

Turtle + Arm Control 

  • Turtle: chin down, neck short, shoulders shrugged high; you’re hiding your neck.
  • Two-hand control: catch the attacking arm and stop it getting tight/secured; don’t let the hands “connect.” Turtle + Arm Control

Then Duck-Under & Get Away

  • With the arm controlled and neck turtled, duck under / step to the side away from the square. When a gap appears: finish (palm heel/hammer/elbow), be loud, move.  

Bite and Fight and Get Out!

 PRACTICE

 

  • Solo (6 mins)

    • “Square finder”: mark a small square on a wall; stand facing away from it: practice moving your head out: left/right/down (turtle)/up-and-out.
    • 10 reps turtle fast (chin down + shoulders up), fight off the imaginary arm/s that come over, then relax and repeat.  
    • 10 reps: This time, escape from the square and the arm, then get into the Fence to fight, shout and run away.

    With Partner (gently and safely, 6 mins)
    (No pressure on the neck. The “attacker” places an arm shape only.)

    1.  Firstly you would have avoided them getting behind you. But failing that -
    2. Touch & Turtle: as soon as you feel an arm shape behind your shoulder, you turtle + bring both hands to the arm. 5 reps each side. This is a reaction drill. Your partner stands behind and you wait until you sense the arm coming round and then you act. PARTNER NOTE: to start with please do this slowly. We are building reaction and ability to react. This is not a test but a learning exercise. Also, don’t actually go round the neck. Thank you!
    3. Control & Step: This time, you didn’t manage to step away immediately and the arm has come further along. Now, you should have automatically turtled, so hold their arm and step away so you are out of their ability to strangle.
    4. Duck-Under: Again, you didn’t manage to react in time, so take control of their arm → duck under (move to their side) → create distance → Finish with a barrage of straights (palm heels) until you’re safe. 7 reps.
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Why This Matters 

 

Strangulation is a great fear for women, and understandably so as the data shows it to be quite a common thing in the most serious of situations. 

But it really is something that you can train to avoid.

The training is simple - but you have to TRAIN. You have to practice. And then the only person who can strangle you will be a ninja - so just avoid ninjas and you’ll be alright.  

Joking aside, take this seriously. These are the best concepts for strangle avoidance and I’ve used them thousands of times against trained fighters.

Do not underestimate the fact that these are super powerful techniques BUT do not also fall victim to nonchalance. These skills work, but you will have to fight for them.

The times that I was casual about it, because no one had strangled me for a while even though so many had tried, was the time my ego was coached a lesson as my tongue came out of my mouth and my face went blue and I was strangled hard because I had gotten a big head about not being strangle-able. So from there I had to pick up my ego from the ground and carry it more correctly. From there I learned that even with a massive load of skill, keep your ego in check, cos otherwise you will not be successful every time.  

These skills work - but don’t think just cos you know them, you can chill about them. You can’t. It’s called ‘a fight’ for a reason - cos you have to fight, mentally and physically. 

You should own the skills I have coached you but don’t also own my ego at those times when it needs to fly back to the ground!  

 

TOMORROW…  You can catch up on today's training, or read a chapter or rest. I'll let you know what you can do. Today, get that training done above. It's some of the best stuff you'll ever learn.