Grabbing people and holding on to them is all we basically do in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Seriously, you can’t pull anything off, standing or on the ground, unless you have a connection with your opponent, and that connection mainly comes from our arms.
The David Heineman DVD we are looking at today claims to offer ways in which you can deal with grips and grabs. Introduction To Grab Attacks is an instructional mainly created to teach self-defense to people, but as such, holds material that can be of great use to competitive grapplers as well.
Key Takeaways
- A 4-part self-defense instructional covering how to deal with grabs.
- Contains 2 hours of material, most of which is not very useful for BJJ players.
- Interesting options concerning defensive grip fighting, especially from standing.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 6 out of 10.
GRAB ATTACKS DVD AVAILABLE HERE!!!
The BJJ Subject Everyone Hates Talking About
One of the most difficult subjects to teach in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is grip fighting. It reminds people of useless Aikido drills and is very boring to do. I agree with the boring part, but there is just no way to underestimate the importance of grip fighting tactics in BJJ.
In fact, all those Aikiido stuff that should work “when someone grabs you” actually do, just not in the way they’re presented in that particular martial art. In BJJ, we do pretty much the same when we strip grips off during grip fighting, we just do it without the dancing and the skirts.
Since there is no effective way of grappling without connecting to your opponent, winning the grip fight sets the stage for everything you’re about to do, or fail to do. Superior grips mean you can impose your game, while inferior ones mean you should focus on getting them off immediately, or pay the price.
Not many instructionals have captured the essence of grip fighting, and none have come up with a way to teach that students won’t find boring, and therefore, ineffective. Now, I decided to look at the Introduction To Grab Attacks: David Heineman DVD in the hope that a self-defense approach to grip fighting might hold the answer.
Stay Safe with David Heineman
David Heineman is a lifelong martial artist with a knack for practical self-defense. I say practical because every time I see self-defense being advertised my first instinct is to cringe and be very doubtful. As someone who has taught many self-defense classes to people with no experience, I can recognize BS from the cover itself.
David’s name is one I had heard before in grappling or MMA circles, so I was wary at first and did my deep dive. Heineman is a legit martial arts instructor, holding a black belt in BJJ since 2022, given to him by Mike Cimm. He has been training since 2013, on the back of decades of experience training in Muay Thai, boxing, and taekwondo, in which he holds a 5th-degree black belt.
During the pandemic, David created his brand called “Stay Safe Martia Arts” which he uses as a platform to get people interested in martial arts and learn self-defense. So, with his work rooted in self-defense, and a legit background, I decided to take a careful and critical look at the Introduction To Grab Attacks: David Heineman DVD.
Full David Heineman DVD Review: Grab Attacks
The Introduction To Grab Attacks instructional is a No-Gi DVD that covers self-defense strategies to deal with different grabs coming at you from all directions. It is spread over four parts, each covering a specific positional scenario, and lasts just under 2 hours.
Here is what we found during our detailed David Heineman DVD review:
Part 1 – Controlling the Torso
The first part of the Introduction to Grab Attacks DVD sees David focus on fundamentals of body positioning and connections that every grappler will instantly recognize. He begins by covering posture and inside control, crucial concepts in any aspect t of martial arts training.
Heineman moves on to specific methods of inside control next, covering overhooks, underhooks, and the importance of distance management. Several drills you’d see in a group for first-timers on the mats wrap this part of the DVD up.
Part 2 – Dealing with Grabs
The second portion of the David Heineman DVD goes over grabs you’d encounter in the street, with some of them applicable to BJJ, and others pretty useless. Hair grabs, for example, were a waste of a perfectly good chapter.
The various collar and wrist grabs David covers are more realistic and much more applicable to grappling. By covering a very aggressive aspect of gripping, David shares incredible content on how to quickly and efficiently dispose of dangerous grips.
The front headlock position and bear hugs also get some attention in this volume. Don’t waste your time with the bear hugs material.
Part 3 – Side Grabs
As unusual as side grabs sound in BJJ, you actually encounter them a lot. Arm Drags, Russian Ties, and side control are just a few examples of how people grab you from the side. While most of the things shown in this section are pretty general, there are a few very useful tips, especially in terms of grip management.
A few choke defenses also appear in this part, and they do not deliver. If there is one skill lacking with most people in BJJ (at least until they reach brown belt) is choke defense. Heneman attempts to cover choke defense in his Grab Attacks instructional but misses the mark completely. Nobody would escape a person who knows how to choke using those tactics.
Part 4 – Rear Grabs
The final part of the instructional is perhaps the most useful one for grapplers, outside of the deep analysis of the main concepts in the first one. As this David Heineman DVD draws to a conclusion, the focus is on rear grabs, mostly in standing exchanges.
Given the rising popularity of body locks, especially from the rear, the tactics he demonstrates are very useful in preventing people from ever getting to that position. The same old-school Gracie Jiu-Jitsu type methods can also work to fend off back attacks in grappling or MMA.
Smart Grip Fighting Wins Fights
The most important part of grip fighting in Jiu-Jitsu is intent. Unless you’re gripping with a clear purpose, you’re better off not gripping, especially with the Gi on. Simply holding on to someone is a great way of having that grip turned against you in a devastating fashion.
Next up, you have to address the opponent’s grips. Playing a negative grip fighting game refers to blocking the opponent’s grip tactics from providing them with a dominant position. In best-case scenarios, you block and redirect the grips, while in worst-case ones, you need to break and strip certain grips off as fast as possible.
The bottom line is that whether you’re looking to attack or defined, standing, in guard, or on top, or finish a submission, you need your grips. Try doing any of the things above (which is everything in BJJ) and you’ll find out it is literally impossible.
FULL DOWNLOAD: DAVID HEINEMAN GRAB ATTACKS DVD
Get Off Me!
This David Heineman DVD holds a few things that might come in handy (pun intended) during grip fighting in grappling or MMA instances. For the most part, it contains the same self-defense moves we’ve been seeing for decades in instruction. It’s not that they don’t work, it’s just that people need to train for decades to achieve proficiency.
Introduction To Grab Attacks might be a useful tool if you are lacking in the defensive grip department of your grappling game. it is an aggressive and very practical way of thinking about grip fighting and people grabbing you, which may at the very least, affect your mindset about the whole thing. The jury is still out on this one.
