When you are learning defences against grabs, and the offence of a grab, you have to grab like you mean it. Too many times I see grabs that are done specifically to allow the good guy to win. In this video lesson I explain why that holds your training back, and what to do about it.

It is for anyone who trains self-defence with a partner, and for instructors who want their students' grab defences to hold up outside the dojo.

Compliant Grabs Have Their Place

Let me be clear. A soft, cooperative grab is more than OK when you are first learning and experimenting with a technique. It lets you see the shape of the defence and get the movement right. It is also more than OK when you are teaching speed and power.

The problem is when training never moves on from that. If every grab you ever face is weak, badly placed and designed to let you win, you have no idea whether your defence works against a real one.

What a Proper Grab Looks Like

A real grab has intent behind it. The person means to hold you, pull you or control you, and they are ready for you to move. A proper grab in training should:

  • Be placed where a real attacker would grab
  • Have a firm grip with real intent
  • Be ready to follow if you move
  • Lead naturally into what the attacker would do next

Learning to grab properly also teaches you a lot about defending. When you know how a good grab feels from the inside, you know where its weaknesses are.

Building Up Safely

The answer is not to go from soft grabs to full resistance in one jump. That is how people get hurt and how techniques never get learned. Build it up in stages: slow and cooperative, then firm grips at slow speed, then a little more intent and movement, and only then something close to realistic.

Your partner is helping you learn, not trying to beat you. Train with control and a cooperative attitude even when the grab itself is firm. Keep any strikes in your defence light, especially near the head and neck.

For Coaches and Instructors

If you teach, watch the grabs in your class, not just the defences. A defence can only ever be as good as the attack it is practised against.

Take It Further

The Pressure Point Self Defense Course builds grab defences up from cooperative to realistic. If you want to teach this material yourself, take a look at the PPDT International Instructor Course.