Hi, I'm Herb Johnson, and I can teach any man or woman
how to escape from common holds.
By following our simple step-by-step illustrations, you can learn how to escape from any common
hold and without learning to punch or kick, and without becoming a professional athlete.
By following our simple 3R theory, which is relax, remember, and respond, you can escape
from any hold possible.
We do this by teaching you how to off-balance your opponent by grabbing or pressing or striking
into different pain points or pressure points.
One of the most important aspects of this self-defense is you must have a willing partner.
You need someone that you can trust because there's a lot of pain that can be demonstrated
when you're executing these movements, so you have to have a partner that's willing
to work with you and a partner that you can trust.
We use what we call a tap-out system.
When a person has applied enough pain or sufficient pain, you simply tap yourself or you tap them
to give them the cue that you have had enough pain at that time.
To demonstrate this, let me give you one movement.
If we're going directly into the eye in this position, as soon as she feels sufficient
pain, she's going to tap out.
Now, I'd like for you to do the same thing.
As soon as she feels enough pain, she's going to tap out.
This is a very important aspect to keep you from injuring your partner without knowing
that you're injuring them.
Plus, the very second that you injure your partner, you've usually lost them as a partner.
Right now, we're teaching you how to attack different parts of the nervous system.
The nerves run by bony sockets or many times they are covered by muscle sheath.
I would like to mention that as you're pressing, you must use the tips of the finger, not the
pad of the finger.
You must use the very, very tip and the direction is very important.
Now, the first one, you're striking directly into the eye or pressing directly into the
eye.
Notice how my fingertip goes directly into the eye, right into the center and presses.
Now, the next one is directly above that, only the direction is different.
You do not press inward.
You have to get underneath, getting a hold of that nerve and pressing upward this time
so the angle is straight up with the next one in this position.
The next one is right in the center of the nose.
You look at the nose here, here, here and you get right in the center of the nose and
then this time the direction of the press is straight inward.
So I put my press in this position and press straight inward.
The next one, it comes right down the underneath inside the jawbone so the direction has to
be at a slightly outward angle.
You get your finger underneath in this direction and I press in this direction this time.
So your finger goes here and you press this direction.
A lot of people will make the mistake of pressing inward here and it doesn't work as efficiently.
You have to get that nerve and press it against the jawbone by pressing outward.
Then the next one is right behind the ear in this position and you have to push upward
and inward as if you're trying to put your finger right in the middle of their skull
in this position and you press up and inward.
Now on the neck we're going to cover three major points.
The first one follows the strand of nerve straight down the neck into the front of the
body in this position.
You take a small pinch with the fingers toward each other and grab that bundle of nerves
and squeeze.
The second one is a bigger pinch and this time you put your fingers back.
There's a strand of nerves that go right behind the ear and down across the shoulder into
the back and you're going to put your fingers into that bundle of nerves.
Your thumb across into the throat and then with a big pinch squeezing with your finger
and your thumbs going towards each other in this manner.
Then the next one you're taking just the point of your finger in this position putting it
right here you actually look for the clavicle or the collarbone and right above the collarbone
there's a soft point or a soft spot in this position and you press downward at an angle
pushing toward the center of the body in this manner or on the same thing on the other side
in this position right here.
Again, it's like halfway through the clavicle or collarbone.
You go from the center and about two inches over and you'll find this soft spot right
here and you just press straight inward.
The next area we're going to work on is the arm starting with a group that comes directly
through the armpit.
The armpit is full of nerve.
It's a massive nerve center that goes down in the arm and the armpit is deliberately
covering that group of exposed nerves.
So if you can get that arm up in the air and press in the armpit anywhere in the armpit
it's extremely vulnerable.
Then straight down the bicep right between the bicep there's a set of nerves that are
covered by the muscle and you get between the muscle and press it into the bone in this
position.
The next one is right on the inside of the arm in this position right here and again
you press toward the center of the arm right in the bend about halfway between right here
in this position.
The next one is the radial nerve.
The radial nerve comes from the elbow down across the top side of the hand but again
it's covered by this muscle so you have to separate the muscle or move that muscle over
by pushing inward slightly and then pressing straight down on that radial nerve.
Now right down between the fingers there's nerves that run right down between the fingers
that control the fingers.
So you isolate or you get your fingers right between the bones, find a nerve and then press
it into the bone in this position or also in the thumb between the thumb and the index
finger.
So grab in this position and press in this direction.
Okay now the legs very much like the arms are extremely vulnerable and they have a lot
of nerve centers that travel through them.
There's a spot right here where the leg starts to bend in this position.
There's an extreme weak spot right there.
There's a bundle of nerves if you strike it or knee it it's going to be injured.
Then straight down in the center of the muscle, the center of the muscle here and the outside
of the muscle here if you knee it or strike this.
Then right on the inside of the leg right near the groin in this position there's a
point here and you've got to strike at an upward angle.
Then right on top of the knees in this position striking at an angle across the knee this
direction or an angle across the knee in this direction will cause the knee joint to collapse.
So straight up or down the shin and anything on top of the foot in this position any type
of strike striking straight down on top of the foot.
So far we've taught you how to attack the nervous system by pressing in the different
nerve points.
At this time we're going to teach you how to attack the skeletal and muscle system by
showing you how to manipulate with wrist locks or arm locks or arm bars.
When attacking with wrist locks or arm locks you're attacking the skeletal and muscular
system and you always want to twist or manipulate the joint in the direction it was not intended
to go.
To give you an example with the first wrist lock.
To teach you this if the person's got their hand palm up and you can reach across and
grab the thumb in this manner then you simply twist it to the outside.
We're showing the opposite view again you're grabbing in this direction and twisting in
this manner.
Now I'll show you the reverse of that if you had his hand turn palm down in this manner
you reach across the top grabbing the little finger side and then turn his hand palm out
and palm up in this direction and then push his fingertips so that they point toward him
as you pull his wrist toward you and then you put just a little bit more twist into
it.
So the same thing from the opposite side with the palm down you reach across grab the little
finger side turn it palm up and then from right here you push his fingers toward him
and twist a little bit more.
Now also there are finger grabs if you try to bend the finger straight back you don't
have nearly enough pressure or you can't create nearly the effect instead you want to take
his finger at a 45 degree angle either this direction or 45 degree angle this direction
it creates more effect it creates more pain.
So you're going to lock his finger with this finger and then I'm going to push either this
direction or I'm going to push in a 45 in this direction but I do not push it straight
back in this manner I either push at a 45 here or a 45 here and again you lock it with
the other finger in this manner.
It doesn't matter which finger you get a hold of I can get a hold of any finger and do it
exactly the same way okay and you're going to aim in a finger lock.
Now an arm bar is where you're actually locking the elbow straight and then trying to hyper
extend the elbow there's many different ways to lock that arm straight you can lock it
against your body in this position you can lock it against your shoulder in this position
or you can hold his hand palm down and just lay on it in this position okay.
Now I'll show you a couple of other little wrist locks that a person might use if a person
starts to push at you you actually grab his fingers in this position you take this hand
and reach across laying your wrist across his wrist grabbing your own wrist in a figure
four and then just turn it in this direction okay do that one again please you just grab
the hand put your hand here and then lock right against in this position.
So that is if somebody is shoving at you if somebody is using their finger like shaking
at you now you go to that finger lock I can do exactly the same thing by reaching up and
grabbing that finger and if I want to I can just control him just with the finger in this
position if I like but if you want to do more then you put your hand right back in the same
position and you got him in a lock in this position.
Up to this point we've shown you how to off balance and set up your opponent by striking
or gouging or poking into different nerve centers or pressure points and we've also
shown you some wrist locks and arm bars.
At this point we want to go into showing you exactly how to escape from the movement.
Anytime you escape from movement you want to use your entire body against a weakness
of your opponent and when we demonstrate the front choke hold you're going to see exactly
what we're talking about.
The common mistake when a person is grabbed with any type of a frontal attack or like
a choke hold in this manner is they want to use their strength against their opponent's
strength in this case trying to drive straight up into the arms now if his arms are as strong
as mine and I try to drive straight up there's no way I'm going to break that hold so instead
I want to use the strength of my entire body against his weakness.
Well if a person grabs you in this position the major weakness that they have at this
point is in the wrist so you want to attack that wrist with your entire body so from this
point all he has to do is raise his arms straight in the air and then spin against that weakness
or spin against that wrist joint.
Showing you the same thing from the opposite side you just raise the arm and spin right
against the wrist joint.
It's impossible for a person to maintain that hold when a person spins on you.
Since you're here why don't you go ahead and grab her in a front choke and just raise
the arm and spin.
Okay a little more resistance okay okay good let's go on to the lapel grab.
The lapel grabs my grabs you in this position he reaches up and grabs the lapel now instead
of me trying to take your hand away or try to bend your wrist I'm going to use my entire
body to bend your wrist.
My final outcome is to get you in this wrist lock okay but how I'm going to get you there
it's impossible for me just to twist your wrist with my strength against your strength
but instead you lock their hand against your body and then you take your entire body turning
that wrist and then lean right into that same wrist lock.
Now if I could back away and show exactly how I've got that wrist his wrist is in the
same position as I demonstrated before.
I'm going to show it from the other side from here I reach across I lock his hand to my
body with both hands I take my elbow go right over top of him in this position then lean
back okay.
Now moving down to the wrist grabs person grabs your wrist he grabs my wrist in this
position one of the easiest ways out of it is to reach across and grab your own palm
and I'm going to drive my elbow toward his elbow as I pull my palm out of his grab.
So from this position I do this type of a movement now if a person is about your own
same strength you can get out of it just with that movement but if a person is much stronger
than you are you might have to grab this hand and pull out in this position you come across
and do this this time.
First of all try to get out of it with just one hand by driving your elbow in that's
it drive the elbow in and pull your hand away okay do the same thing with this side drive
the elbow in that's it drive the elbow into his elbow.
Now to make it easier for yourself when he grabs just reach across and grab your own
palm and pull your palm away as you drive the elbow in that's it good again please
same thing other side good okay good.
Now a person grabs the cross wrist grabs across this time instead of grabbing in this position
pulling out you want to grab across the top of their hand in this position going across
their thumb as you pull it across and you do it exactly the same way just by grabbing
my hand and pulling it across in this manner grab across I reach across grab my own palm
and pull away okay I should do this one grab them cross grab that's it just grab your own
hand pull it away okay good.
Now a person grabs both wrists they grab both wrists in this position you're going to put
both of your hands together in this position push straight down bring your hands up to
your chest and then when you turn your body toward him it easily breaks that grab you
do it in one motion from here step in twist and turn okay now let me do it slow put the
hands together step in pull the hands together and turn right against his wrist okay now
we're moving to the front bear hug as a person grabs you in this position okay if they've
got if your arms are free you've got all kinds of weapons to strike with the most difficult
bear hug to get out of is the one where your arms are tied down okay because he grabs me
and my arms are free I got all kinds of things that I can strike him with I got all kinds
of weapons that I can strike him with okay but if he grabs me with my arms tied down
it makes it a bit different one of the easiest things a person can do when their arms are
tied down is to reach right down between the legs and get a little hunk of skin and just
pinch and twist and it takes almost nothing to loosen the person up let me demonstrate
this like from right here if I just reach down and grab a little bit of skin and twist
that's all you need with this type of movement whether it's a front bear hug or whether it's
a rear bear hug anytime you slide your hand down here get that little hunk of skin and
just twist that skin it's extremely painful and again that sets up the movement but it
doesn't get you out of the bear hug yet or another way of getting out of the bear hug
naturally you can knee into the thigh you can knee up into the groin and then from right
here you step behind the person to trip them and you're going to take them down in this
manner okay so Mrs. Myers would like for you to do that so he grabs she's going to loosen
him up somehow and then step behind him and trip him a side headlock so my grabs you from
a side headlock in this position one of the easiest ways of getting out of the side headlock
first you loose them up first as always you might strike to the groin this hand is going
to go underneath the leg this hand is going to slide right up the shoulder and reach across
and grab his nose or grab his chin now I suggest reaching across and grabbing his nose remember
there's a pressure point on the nose that I showed you earlier I like to reach up and
put my pressure point put my thumb finger right on that pressure point to pull back
on his nose but you can also pull back on the chin you can grab the hair and pull back
on the hair and all you're going to do is pull back on the head as you block this leg
or lift this leg so from here I can step back and just lay down to this position just take
your glasses off okay grab so again I go strike to loosen him up this hand goes here this
hand comes up to this position and all I have to do is take a step back and pull his head
back as his head comes back his body follows again I like to reach up and put my thumb
my finger right there in that pressure point but that is not necessary you can go across
the chin or you can reach up and grab the hair and pull back now moving around behind
the person the person grabs you from behind in this manner they have to have their fingers
around in front of you it's impossible for a person to grab you from behind without exposing
their fingers okay so when Mr. Morgan grabs from behind he's got to use those fingers
now I can do several different things if you remember this nerve point right here if I
got the ability I can get that thumb right up and hit that nerve point and his hands
will open up for me okay that's one way another way is I can reach down and work on a finger
and I can get one of his fingers loose once I get that finger loose now I can just peel
him right away from me remember how earlier I showed you the finger grabs once I get a
finger loose I can just peel him right off of me and right here I am in control okay
so this is some of the ways that you might get out of a rear bear hug as soon as that
person grabs again you can go into the pressure point here or you can work on a finger and
get a finger free now the way he's got his hands right now is difficult for me to work
a finger free but I can still reach back to this position and grab a hunk of skin and
twist to set him up okay now to show you how to escape from this one of the easiest ways
of escaping is simply step behind the person and then spin your upper body into him okay
so from here he grabs I might reach back and pinch I might reach back and smack and then
I'm going to step behind him and spin with my elbow toward him do it the opposite direction
he grabs once again I might open his hand here I might strike here I might pinch here
I step behind and take my elbow into it now the person grabs you from a rear choke hold
once again for him to grab with the rear choke hold he has to have his fingers around in
front of me so I can work on those fingers I can get a finger free if I can get a finger
free once again I can pull him right away from me or just peel him right off of me if
I cannot get one of those fingers free as he's really strong and I can't I can't reach
up there and get that finger now to get myself some air I'm going to pull down his arm momentarily
and then I'm going to turn my chin toward his elbow so that I can get some air okay
so I can actually breathe now I want to change this side headlock I want to change this rear
choke hold to a side headlock and I can do that by hanging onto this arm and then from
right here turning my head toward his body in this position now I already know how to
get out of the side headlock so I just go smash and escape from that side headlock so
one of the easiest ways of escaping from a rear choke hold is to again reach up and grab
the wrist here grab the elbow in this position I'm going to pull down on the wrist I'm going
to push up on the elbow as I step behind him in this in this position now from right here
I'm in the side headlock and now go smash and escape from the side headlock woman might
find themselves in a situation where a guy might grab her put his arm around her waist
and try to walk her in this position or he might let her put her arm around him in this
position or he might come up and slide his arm around her in this position and each one
of them there's a little bit different ways of escaping from it if I hold her arm in front
of me in this position remember you always want to use a scissor zing effect if I grab
her and try to make her walk and I'm holding this arm now she wants to step behind me very
much like we did with a full nelson and the rear bear hug and when she steps behind she's
going to drive with that elbow to off balance the opponent or the attacker if the attacker
lets them put their arm around them in this position again using that scissor zing effect
since the arm is behind me her leg now must come in front of me so as we're walking she's
going to bring the leg around in front of me grab my elbow and pull me around in this
position okay but if I make the mistake of sliding my arm underneath hers in this direction
all she's going to do is take this arm and grab her belly button and then spin against
my elbow joint using it as an arm lock or an arm break and this is the this is the one
that is the most painful okay in this position another way to get to that position if I would
hold her in this position if she just swing her arm around now she's right back into that
position okay so again to cover those again if a guy grabs you in this position you want
to use that scissor zing effect the arms in front the leg has to go behind if I let her
get the arm behind her leg comes in front and then if I make the mistake of putting
my arm between hers she's going to grab her own belly button and spin against my elbow
joint now also less violent attacks is where a person might just grab your hand and try
to walk with you in this position person just grabs your hand and tries to walk it depends
on whether your hand is on top or on bottom which direction you should go now if my hand
if if my hand is on top I will step back and put them into what we showed you earlier as
being this wrist lock only you're going to be using both hands to put them in the wrist
lock okay so if I would happen to grab her and walk with her and her hand is on top all
she's going to do is grab my hand from the bottom and step back putting me into this
wrist lock you have to keep the hand lower than the shoulder if you raise it above the
shoulder you actually take away the wrist lock it has to stay as low as possible you're
going to take their palm and lay it into the floor okay so again if I would grab her and
leave her hand her with the upper hand as we as we start to walk with it in this position
she just steps back and puts me in a wrist lock now if the hand is on top in this position
it changes so if the hand is on top now you have to reach across lift the elbow up in
this position walk around underneath it and you got them in a wrist lock in this position
okay in fact let me demonstrate this with Mr. Morgan then he can come back from right
here if his hand is on top or if my if his hand is on top and my hand is on the bottom
I want to lift the arm straight up walk underneath the elbow and holding his elbow up in this
position I got him in a wrist lock okay but if his hand is on bottom and mine is on top
then I want to reach across in this position and step straight back okay so if I have the
upper hand I'm going to step back and drive his palm to the floor if I have the lower
hand I'm going to reach across and grab his hand lift his hand straight up in the air
walk underneath it and put him in a wrist lock in this position this time I'd like
to restate the 3R theory the 3Rs are not reading writing and arithmetic the 3Rs are relax remember
and respond now to go a bit further to relax there's several different ways of relaxing
under attack situations the very second that you grab you're going to become tense and
uptight in order to relax there's several different ways you can breathe you can take
deep breaths another way is to whisper to yourself relax relax once you start to relax
your brain starts to take over and you start to remember you'll remember the things that
you worked on in this tape you'll remember the different pressure points you'll remember
the different wrist locks you'll remember the way you've worked on escaping from different
types of attacks after you remember then you react when you react you react with 100 percent
efficiency and you always react when you got some chance of getting help you never wait
till somebody's got you isolated or secluded where you cannot get assistance you always
react when you've got chance of assistance always remember to be courteous with your
partner a lot of these movements can cause severe pain remember the tap out theory as
soon as you've pressed enough that you've created pain remember that your partner is
going to tap out to remind you that that's enough so again be gentle be courteous to
your partner and do not hurt each other remember this is a self defense so remember to practice
carefully and if you're ever attacked relax think about what you're going to do and react
you can escape.