Mainly in the 70’s and 80’s action movies, a hand to hand fight included, some of the time, a move by one of the actors that involved him rolling on his back, lifting his opponent with his leg.
Now, this is NOT a judo kick, but you might say it’s pretty close. This move is called “Tomoe-Nage”, a Circle Throws in Japanese. It was not one of my favorites, but I used it sometimes when the situation or the conditions required.
I would like to linger on the “Situation required” part.
There are times when your opponent is bigger, higher and stronger than you. When he/she tries to push you, there is little chance that you’d be able to hold or push him back, simply due to the sheer mass that you are lacking. Trying to do so, Â trying to tackle this head on, will have you end up on your face, or on your back, aching.
One option is to run. Just turn your back to the attacker and flee. This is usually the best option for you, and I am not the first to think of that. Sun Tzu, the famous Chinese general, in his book “The Art of War”, clearly stated the conditions for this kind of tactics. It is not a cowardly move, it’s being pragmatic. There is no sense in going head to head with someone that you know you are going to lose.
A second option would be moving aside from the line of the attack. I will discuss this in another post.
Another option, is to move in the direction of your attacker: if he/she pushes you, you grab him by his sleeves, or shirt, lean back, easily drop on your behind, and then your back, all this time using your leg to push your opponent away from you, not releasing him from your grip.
It’s physics. The momentum and energy of your attacker are used against him/her and will have him/her flying beyond you and onto his/her back.
Taking this to real life experiences: usually, you are not in control of things (which is an illusion of its own). How many times do you remember being in this type of situation? When you think you are bullied by someone or something? It does not have to be physical “bullying”, just a something or things that you feel put the kind of pressure on you that makes you feel close to breaking?
Trying to do a “Tomoe-Nage” type of move might be a good move for you to consider in those times. don’t fight it, just let it pass above you.
This might be considered as politics or manipulation, but I prefer “smart”.
