How To Do A Headlock (Side, Front or Rear)

This page provides details on how to do a headlock. It looks at front, side and rear headlocks. With a headlock, an attacker has wrapped his arm around your neck and can choke you by pulling his arm tight against your throat with his other arm. This is a dangerous position and you should quickly try to counter this technique. Therefore, you should also visit our section on Headlock Escapes.

Students should learn to properly apply this technique in order for their partners to practice effective headlock escapes. However, all grappling techniques should be supervised by a trained instructor in order to avoid injury.

Technique Instructions for the standing headlock

• First you will need to get in a position where he does not control your arms.
• Preferably with the arm going around his head (strong arm) in a dominant collar tie position and the other arm holding his/her triceps.
• To initiate the headlock step across his body with the leg that on the same side as your "strong arm" and throw your hips into your opponent.
• Take the arm that was in the collar tie and throw it around your opponents head. The back of his/her neck should be on your bicep.
• Keep a tight grip on his triceps with the other hand and try to pull it across your body.
• If you executed the footwork properly your opponent should be "loaded up" behind your hips.
• Rotate your shoulders aggressively towards your opponents head and he/she should be thrown over your hips.
• Make sure once you are on the ground to keep your feet away from your opponents or they could reverse it on you.