Foot Grab: Spinning Outward (Round Kick)

This technique is used when the attacker succeeds in catching the defender’s foot and twists it outward.

Starting Position: The defender is lying on her back. The attacker is standing up, grabbing the defender’s foot.

When you feel the attacker spin you, go with the motion. Do NOT resist it. Instead, spin faster than the attacker’s movement. At the same time, throw a round kick in the general vicinity of his wrists.

Spin through, and end up in a groundfighting position.

Tips: The spin will do most of the work for you. The kick is simply insurance. The kick may also be delivered to the face if the attacker is close enough.

Foot Grab: Spinning Inward (Heel Kick)

Starting Position: The defender is lying on her back. The attacker is standing up, grabbing the defender’s foot.

When you feel the attacker spin you, go with the motion; do NOT resist it. Instead, spin faster than the attacker’s movement. At the same time, bring your leg around in a chopping/swinging motion, leading with your heel. Although the angle is different, the motion is exactly like the motion made to strip the hand off your ankle in an earlier technique.

Continue spinning through and end up in a groundfighting position.

Green belt

Green belt overview

For us, Green Belt represents the beginning of real mastery of the system. When we test people for advancement to the next belt level, Green Belt is where people start to fail. It is certainly possible to fail a Yellow or Orange Belt test, but as long as the students can fight through the stress, show aggressiveness, and perform techniques adequately, they should pass Yellow and Orange.

Green Belt is where you need to bring it all together: You must deal with the stress, be aggressive, AND execute techniques sharply and cleanly. Expect to train for at least nine months at this level, assuming a minimum of two training sessions a week.

The material in this section includes the following.

Combatives

Among the combative techniques covered in this section are headbutts. Green Belt also introduces more traditional martial arts kicks such as slap kick and heel kick. Although we don’t stress these kicks nor emphasize them for street situations, we do believe these techniques improve our self- defense abilities. The kicks encourage flexibility as well as help us learn to defend against these types of attacks. Also, while you should always stick with the simplest and most powerful strikes, these kicks will help you feel that you can at least deliver some kind of attack from any angle during the fight.

Defenses and Self-Defense

Hair grab defenses are introduced at this level, and Inside and Outside Defenses are featured more fully here. Outside Defenses against Punches are made against attacks coming from outside our hand position. Although wide attacks (such as the attacks given in 360° Defenses) and even short attacks that travel from the outside inward (such as hook punches) are common attacks to defend, they are not the only ones.

Sometimes the defender’s hands are out of position (for example, the left hand is down) when a straight-line attack approaches. If your hands were up, you’d give a regular Inside Defense. But if your hands are down, the most efficient way to defend is to move your hand from the center of your

body toward the outside (hence the name). Also, even if your hands were up, sometimes a straight- line attack can come in from an angle (for example, a straight punch coming in from the side), making an Inside Defense difficult. In this case, the shortest movement is an Outside Defense. This section covers both situations: 1) the defender’s hands are down, due to error or fatigue; and 2) the attack comes from an angle outside the defender’s correctly positioned hands. In either case, the principle behind the techniques (indeed, all the techniques) can be summarized this way: Make the shortest possible movement that defends the attack.

Falls and Rolls

Rolls are important for an overall understanding of self-defense scenarios. During combat, while retreating from a fight or while advancing to help a third party, the defender may trip over an obstacle or be tripped by an opponent. Because we want to get off the ground as quickly as possible, a roll offers the most immediate solution when there is no immediate danger to address.

Groundfighting

This section picks up where Orange Belt left off. Here you’ll increase the number of techniques in your groundfighting repertoire.

Combatives

Forward Headbutt

This strike is delivered to a close target directly in front of you, such as an opponent when both of you are standing; or during grappling.

Starting Position: Stand facing your opponent, nearly chest to chest. Grab your opponent’s head, either by the ears or sides of the hair, for extra control and power.

Keeping your neck stiff and your jaw tightly closed, drive your head forward using your legs and upper body. The striking surface is the top of your forehead, right at the hairline. The target should be the attacker’s nose, cheekbone, etc.

Tips: The target should always be somewhere below the opponent’s eyebrows, preferably the nose.

It’s not necessary to grab your opponent’s head. If you do grab the head, be sure to lift his

chin slightly; do not pull his chin down. If you do, you make strike his skull and injure yourself.