Clothing Grabs

I first started working door/nightclub security when I was 18. I was a student, and a guy at the Judo club I used to train at got me the job. I'd never thought about doing security work before but the need for money - and it was paid in cash - convinced me that this was an easy job to do that didn't conflict with my university/course work. My first job was at a club called the Golden Monkey, which was burnt down (arson) a few years after I started working this job. I mention this only to give you a rough idea of the types of place(s) I initially started working at. 

In those days all I had was my Judo skills and training (no Krav Maga etc), and Judo isn't in and of itself a great system of self-defense; it teaches you how to throw, takedown and control people whilst standing and on the ground, but it doesn't have a blocking or striking system - and whilst traditionalists may disagree with me, I believe the one self-defense kata the system contains is so basic and specific that it is effectively useless, from a self-defense perspective. However, in saying this, Judo does  teach a student some very effective fighting skills, along with its throws and takedowns e.g. how to use clothing, how to keep a level head when being thrown around, how to stay on your feet at all costs etc. One of the key skills that Judo taught me for security work was the importance of using clothing as a weapon. 

I remember, all too vividly, my first one-on-one conflict, that saw me being rescued by two larger colleagues, and realizing that unless someone had a jacket or coat on I was next to useless. That experience taught me that the first thing I should do when asking someone to leave the premises was to hand them their coat/jacket - this was the North of England where having a Cloakroom established a place as being a cut above the rest - even if the bathroom floors were permanently coated in vomit. A drunk person with a coat on was easy pickings; my success rate in dealing with unruly patrons rose considerably when I handed them their coat and could use their clothing to control them (it also marked me out as a polite and basically a good guy - which meant I avoided many potential conflicts). 

Many martial artists/self-defense practitioners feel invaded if their clothing is grabbed or see it as a dirty tactic i.e. this doesn't measure up to the way they practice. If I was to organize violence on a timeline I would say that most fights are precede by some form of verbal interaction, the next by pushing and grabbing, and the next by actual an actual assault e.g. punching and kicking etc. If you don't know how to handle/deal with clothing grabs, you will have to escalate a dispute, where somebody grabs you (and sometimes they regret doing this as soon as they've done it) to an all out fight very quickly i.e. simply hit them when they grab you; as you won't have any other options - and if they have friends with them, or they're a work colleague or family member who has simply had a few too many to drink, this may not be the best/most effective option available to you.           

One of the great principles Judo taught me was the idea of who controls who. We immediately think that when someone grabs us they are taking control. Not true. When somebody grabs me either one hand or two-handed, it tell me they aren't ready to attack, and/or that they're setting up an attack but not actually making one e.g. a person who grabs me with one hand may use the other to punch me, somebody who grabs me with two may try and head-butt me etc. The grab is either to intimidate me or facilitate an attack, in and of itself it will cause me no harm. When somebody grabs me they join to me; when I move they move etc. I actually control them. If they are holding me and I step back they have to follow my movement or let go i.e. I control them. 

Learning how to move with someone who grabs you is a key self-defense/fighting skill. It's one of the reasons that training in a GI will improve your combat skills. However simply understanding that when somebody grabs you, you can control that person will allow you to switch your mindset from prey to predator in the shortest amount of time. The class on Saturday hopefully brought out some of these ideas.