One fighting move that’s been used both on the playground during many kids’ childhoods and in very real fights as adults on the street is the headlock. This frightening and often incapacitating technique can turn the tide in a fight, either for the better or for the worse for you. If you learn how to escape a headlock, you could find yourself in a superior situation to end the fight quickly.

In a worst-case scenario, it can even morph into a very serious breath-stopping choke or cause severe head or neck trauma. But as secure a headlock may feel to the one in its vise-like grip, there are several countermeasures to both remove the attacker’s strangulating arm and deal out some damage of your own in the process. From the obvious to the unorthodox, here are several options to help you escape from the sometimes cowardly but always dangerous headlock. 

Escape A Headlock by Doing This

The most obvious way not to be affected by a headlock is to avoid it from happening to you. Yes, easier said than done, but by being aware of individuals around you at all times and keeping your distance during a real-life scuffle, you can escape from being locked within someone’s muscle-tightened arm. 

To accomplish this, always keep your hands up and be on alert to dodge any incoming grabs from your attacker. They need to close the gap between the two of you, and it’s your job to prevent this. Also, incorporate synced footwork. This means that as your attacker moves in, you move out with the same step pattern. This will keep them just out of arm’s reach while still allowing you to be in range to strike, kick, or secure an appendage or finger for a possible joint-locking technique. 

Beware of the Choke

Nothing is guaranteed during a fight; your attacker may have closed the gap and achieved the hold. Although your gut instinct to escape the headlock may be to muscle out of it, trust me, it isn’t. You need to protect your neck from possible strangulation and ultimately being choked out. The headlock may be their ultimate goal if your attacker has only minimal or very basic fighting skills. 

If they have any sort of training or have luck on their side and their arm positions itself into the correct placement to cause a choke (either respiratory or vascular), then you could be taken out of the fight (as in put “to sleep”) relatively quickly. To combat this, immediately drop your chin to your chest. This will prevent your attacker’s arm from sliding under your neck and squeezing and prevent your air path from being restricted. 

To counter a vascular choke (this type of choke prevents blood from reaching the brain, causing unconsciousness), shift your head slightly so the side of your neck (where the carotid artery and jugular veins are present) is shifted away from the point of pressure from your attacker’s arm. This needs to be done quickly as a vascular choke if performed correctly or even by accident, will cause unconsciousness within fifteen or twenty seconds. 

Head Control

The old saying goes, if you control the head you control the body, and this you need to take very seriously. Once an attacker has you by your head, they can control your movements, whether they intend to ram your head into a wall, lift you upward (into a guillotine choke), or tackle you to the ground. 

Your objective as soon as you feel the attacker’s arm around your neck is to drop your center. This means that you need to bend your knees, widen your stance, and become low and stable with your feet flatly planted on the ground. Don’t be rigid, as in all your muscles tensed, but instead become “dead” weight, which will make moving you about very difficult for your foe. Additionally, this position will be perfect for launching a counterattack (did you really think he would escape your defensive techniques?)

Take Advantage Of The Situation

You may wonder how you have the advantage if a not-so-nice person is squeezing your neck. Well, the answer is simple. You have all your arms and legs free, but your attacker has one or both arms occupied; thus, he is at a disadvantage. 

There are numerous ways to escape a headlock once your neck is protected, your center is dropped, and you’re firmly grounded. One way would be to use your closest arm to your attacker and lift it up and over their head (which should be close to your shoulder. From there, use your index and middle fingers to dig into your foe’s eye sockets, and while pressing inward, pull their head back. 

The pain from the eye gouge, mixed with the movement of the head, should make the head-locking thug release you. This move should be quick and sharp to surprise your foe and make them instinctively let you go. Another quick-release option, again utilizing your free hand that’s closest to the attacker, is to grab his groin (and squeeze) or, if unreachable, squeeze to apply a pressure point to the flesh just above their inside knee. 

Keep in mind when I use the word squeeze, it’s not truly a simple squeeze, but rather what’s called a camel bite, where you essentially use your fingertips to grind into the attacker’s skin. This causes a sudden, electric-like shock to the attacker’s body. All these counterattack techniques should be performed quickly and all-out, meaning no ineffective, second-guessing, or non-committed applications. It’s all or nothing here. 

Let the fingers Do the Walking

Finally, it all fails, either due to the attacker’s physical size or your lack of applying enough pain or force where needed. You can always try for the fingers of your foe’s locked hand. Since his hand will be well within reach of both of your hands, you can target his digits. Use one or both of your hands to peel away one finger (yes, one), preferably the index or middle, to give you the best grip. Then, quickly jerk it back as if you want it to touch the back of his hand. This will do one of three things: either give him intense pain, dislocate the finger from the joint, or break the bone. No matter which, it should make him release your head from his lock. 

Practice How to Escape the Headlock

Just reading about counter-techniques for a headlock won’t help you, not at all. In order to become natural and comfortable with numerous self-defense moves, you need to first find a competent martial arts or self-defense school and, second, practice, practice, and practice some more. 

Very few scenarios work exactly like a book or video presents them. You must know how to adjust on the fly and switch up if one technique fails. But, after you do put in your time and sweat, you’ll be ready to tackle the infamous headlock and teach your attacker a lesson that they really did choose the wrong “helpless” victim!