Self Defense - Come Along #4

S

tep by step, come along #4 is probably the easiest to learn of the five come alongs.

I learned to apply the technique via an approach from the opponent’s rear. I still teach it that way. One…two…three…and a wicked amount of pressure hits the opponent’s wrist.

Once learned though, I encourage students to initiate this technique from all directions and all angles. Come alongs are like any form of self defense weapon – they have to be adaptable to the fluid needs of combat.

Let’s start…

1.  Approach from the back on the opponent’s right side. You may strike or push the side of his head with your left hand while grasping his right wrist with your right hand.

However, this may be unnecessary if your approach is a total surprise to your opponent or if the opponent is semi-compliant.

2.  Reach between the side of his or her torso with your left arm and begin bending his or her arm in toward you as Sensei VanExan is doing to Sensei Langevin’s arm above.

At this point Langevin’s right elbow is being forced back against VanExan’s torso. VanExan starts to apply pressure to Langevin’s bent wrist.

3.  VanExan’s adds his left hand to the pressure on Langevin’s wrist. At this point, VanExan is still moving forward which means that the momentum of his entire body weight is being pressed against Langevin’s elbow.

Langevin’s arm is in a de facto vice grip – incoming pressure comes from two different directions, the elbow and the wrist. The pain is excruciating. 

(Goju Ryu Karate practitioners and all of the southern Hakka Kung Fu folks…you know those short power movements when you push the chest and abdomen forward hard and fast?...it’s applicable here, very much so).

The same ending from the side 

A close up

As I said at the beginning, once properly learned begin to use the technique- slowly at first - in a variety of situations. Some examples –

1.  An opponent grabs your lapel from the front. Strike or knee him in the groin. Grasp his right wrist with your right hand, turning clockwise so that your left arm slides in between his torso and his right arm.

2.  A man grasps a woman’s hair from the back with his right hand. She presses down on top of his hand while stomping several times on his right foot and striking his groin backward with a left hammer fist. Like the defender in #1 above, she turns clockwise and moves into the come along.

3.  A man commits an unwanted advance by placing his right arm around a woman’s shoulder on a bus. She slaps downward and back against his groin with her left hand while grasping his right hand. She slips under and away from his arm and starts to initiate the come along.

I’d like to thank Sensei Langevin and Sensei VanExan for demonstrating this come along. Both are professional instructors with many years of experience. If readers are interested in learning from two highly qualified and truly caring instructors both at a class and a seminar level, please do not hesitate to contact them.

VanExan Training Services can be reached at dsvanexan@xplornet.ca. Terry Langevin Educational Systems can be reached at 2terrylangevin@gmail.com

See also: 

Come Along #1

Come Along #2

Come Along #3