Warm up: Clinch free form.
Looking for double underhooks keeping sound body form.
Takedown sets ups.
Looked at double hip, single hip, single leg and double leg. Proceeded to chain them all together then from striking range. Entering on his lead punch and following it back.
The key learning points for me tonight regarding the set ups was head and chest pressure: the head needs to stay in the centre of the belly and lower chest; the elbows need to squeeze together to avoid gaps for defense; apply chest pressure when as a point of contact; avoid putting the head under the arm pits.
Small gloves ground work:
From the knees clinch up and do not allow to be put on your back. Make them tired and fight for it.
I went with a variety of lads with different pressure and skill sets. An enjoyable and tough drill.
Passing or escaping when in bottom control.
Sweeping or sub'ing from bottom control.
Then it moved into to strikes being allowed. A little scary but I feel like I am becoming more confident in delivering strikes from the ground. Being hit does not bother e too much on the ground. My mental obstacle is knowing how much energy to put into the strikes. Matt gave me some great advice, as well as an ass kicking, go the same level as your partner and do not be to shy to say if it needs to go down a level.
Free form sparring.
Starting standing with fast but light strikes then working the clinch, takedown and fighting from the ground.
Again I started with Matt guiding me. Gave me some simple yet obvious tips (keeps eyes on him, move laterally when being attacked) that helped me greatly. He landed a nice kick to my knee cap which is currently limiting my ability to negotiate stairs. 3 hours after receiving said lump.
The stand up is still making me very nervous and tense. That is why I love it.
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Week 3: Head and bicep suppression
Looked at it from:
standing
side control
side attack (knee on belly(
centre control
reverse side control
standing
bottom control.
The keys that I picked up were around the use of the head. It is this that manipulates their arm to position under their jaw line. Essentially the head needs to move 2 ways. Towards his face to trap the arm then down to get it into final position. I made the error of using the palms to help the arm. When using the head it just feels like you are in more control and finer adjustments can be made. Keeping head pressure against theirs is also important.
The language and labelling of techniques within the Pro Mai syllabus:
Lee explained to the class why the techniques within Pro Mai do not have the same generic terms terms across MMA such as kimura, mount, anaconda etc. He could I gues have gone down the Eddie Bravo route and upgraded names. Instead he has chosen to name techniques exactly represent what is happening. This will hopefully ensure a better awareness of what you are doing to him and how from a biomechanical point of view, rather than x or y technique. It seemed bizarre to me at first but now after musing it, it is much more logical. Yes it may not be as exotic as running thunder hand or omoplate but I reckon it is evolution of the martial arts. We are now in the 21st century and do not need to rely on the glories of past masters or bullshit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJr2BdUTYkU&feature=related
MMA shows us what works and what is honest
Sparring.
Freeform on the ground with strikes. Scary times as i went with several seniors. I managed to hold my own on the ground and have some good spells of control but the hits came in quite hard. Was a shock to the system and also stood to remind me that I need to hit too. I did when in control start to throw hits. Even small one get people’s hands to move. So I need to look to hit on the nose to get the arms up to get the submission. More fear and trepidation next week...
standing
side control
side attack (knee on belly(
centre control
reverse side control
standing
bottom control.
The keys that I picked up were around the use of the head. It is this that manipulates their arm to position under their jaw line. Essentially the head needs to move 2 ways. Towards his face to trap the arm then down to get it into final position. I made the error of using the palms to help the arm. When using the head it just feels like you are in more control and finer adjustments can be made. Keeping head pressure against theirs is also important.
The language and labelling of techniques within the Pro Mai syllabus:
Lee explained to the class why the techniques within Pro Mai do not have the same generic terms terms across MMA such as kimura, mount, anaconda etc. He could I gues have gone down the Eddie Bravo route and upgraded names. Instead he has chosen to name techniques exactly represent what is happening. This will hopefully ensure a better awareness of what you are doing to him and how from a biomechanical point of view, rather than x or y technique. It seemed bizarre to me at first but now after musing it, it is much more logical. Yes it may not be as exotic as running thunder hand or omoplate but I reckon it is evolution of the martial arts. We are now in the 21st century and do not need to rely on the glories of past masters or bullshit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJr2BdUTYkU&feature=related
MMA shows us what works and what is honest
Sparring.
Freeform on the ground with strikes. Scary times as i went with several seniors. I managed to hold my own on the ground and have some good spells of control but the hits came in quite hard. Was a shock to the system and also stood to remind me that I need to hit too. I did when in control start to throw hits. Even small one get people’s hands to move. So I need to look to hit on the nose to get the arms up to get the submission. More fear and trepidation next week...
Friday, 9 September 2011
Week 2: Lifts and getting to the outside.
Decided to change the content of the blog from technique details to more of a reflection of the session.
We covered:
Standing clinch drill:
Head control
Neck control
Shoulder control (underhook)
Arm control (overhook)
Both sides then Switch sides
Learning points I picked up from here was about 3 points of pressure contact at all times. A new concept to my ears.
Take downs: front body clinch
Body lift (chest to chest)
Double hip capture
Single hip capture
Single leg capture
Side body clinch double hip
Double leg (head in middle)
Pass to side control
The learning from these lifts we looked at was to do with my head and spine. Lee repeatedly emphasised a strong positive spine and for these to be as effective and efficient you need to get under their hips. The point of these moves is to disrupt their base by taking the feet off the floor. When, on the rare occasion the links of the chain connected, it felt simple and effortless. Mostly it felt a little cumbersome and awkward.
From standing:
Passing bottom attack pull opponents leg straight and pass to the outside into side control
Free form grappling with strikes
Felt a little nervous as the call was made as I have not just striking with grappling before. My first spar was with Alan and we just focussed on grappling. It was a fun roll and there were lots of positional changes and a wide variety of sub attempts. The second roll was with Lee. He felt very strong and gave no space and worked very slowly but methodically for position and ultimately a pair of submissions. He also threw lots of strikes to my none. In a post spar chat he said that this is something I need to start to do. When throwing strikes it will cause the opponent to move and thus set up more opportunities for the sub or striking finish. I talked about my strategic preference to fight from my back. In MMA this is a poor strategy. Lee instructed that if that is the preference, make them getting you to your back so tiring for them, that once they get you there they are knackered. My ground strategy needs to be to get dominant positions and not to easily give my back to the floor.
Free form standing to any take down position-with out completing the take down
When the call was made to switch ends of the hall I became very nervous and struggled a little to get the big gloves and shin pads on. I went up with Charlie who is one of the more senior lads at the club. He gave me some excellent tips and advice. ON reflection I might have actually enjoyed it!!
We covered:
Standing clinch drill:
Head control
Neck control
Shoulder control (underhook)
Arm control (overhook)
Both sides then Switch sides
Learning points I picked up from here was about 3 points of pressure contact at all times. A new concept to my ears.
Take downs: front body clinch
Body lift (chest to chest)
Double hip capture
Single hip capture
Single leg capture
Side body clinch double hip
Double leg (head in middle)
Pass to side control
The learning from these lifts we looked at was to do with my head and spine. Lee repeatedly emphasised a strong positive spine and for these to be as effective and efficient you need to get under their hips. The point of these moves is to disrupt their base by taking the feet off the floor. When, on the rare occasion the links of the chain connected, it felt simple and effortless. Mostly it felt a little cumbersome and awkward.
From standing:
Passing bottom attack pull opponents leg straight and pass to the outside into side control
Free form grappling with strikes
Felt a little nervous as the call was made as I have not just striking with grappling before. My first spar was with Alan and we just focussed on grappling. It was a fun roll and there were lots of positional changes and a wide variety of sub attempts. The second roll was with Lee. He felt very strong and gave no space and worked very slowly but methodically for position and ultimately a pair of submissions. He also threw lots of strikes to my none. In a post spar chat he said that this is something I need to start to do. When throwing strikes it will cause the opponent to move and thus set up more opportunities for the sub or striking finish. I talked about my strategic preference to fight from my back. In MMA this is a poor strategy. Lee instructed that if that is the preference, make them getting you to your back so tiring for them, that once they get you there they are knackered. My ground strategy needs to be to get dominant positions and not to easily give my back to the floor.
Free form standing to any take down position-with out completing the take down
When the call was made to switch ends of the hall I became very nervous and struggled a little to get the big gloves and shin pads on. I went up with Charlie who is one of the more senior lads at the club. He gave me some excellent tips and advice. ON reflection I might have actually enjoyed it!!
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Week 1: Head control
DISCLAIMER... All that follows in this blog is through my eyes. Any errors in technique are all mine and will be edited and refined as I progress
Tonight was my first session at Pro Mai MMA. For pretty much all of the day I was nervously going through the session I knew nothing about in my head. I had mentioned to Steph several times my feelings and was very reassuring, supportive and calming. When I got there only a few people were in the hall. One guy introduced himself and made me feel very comfortable and welcomed and the nerves disappeared. I guess being a new person you always feel a sense of dread as you know you are bottom of the ladder and few people want to train with newbies as they are an unknown quantity.
Warm up: Very similar to a Jits warm up in that consisted of movement to increase core heat. A nice change was the lack of intense exercise. That is for my own time. We then made a circle and started shadow boxing (hands and feet) with the insertion of the calls jump, sprawl, burpee and shoot.
DOUBLE LEG TAKEDOWN DRILLING:
Main focus was posture, something that I need to be frequently aware of and thus adjusting. Hips back, short arms, elbows in, spine concave head tucked in but chin up. When shooting for the TD keep looking up and squeeze ear to the hip of opponent. This will ensure you are harder to be head controlled. Once in hold step around and stand as you lift, posted leg side, and turn (away from the posted leg). This was something of a real learning curve for me as the subtle details I had not heard before. Perhaps doing Jts by a Brazilian, details were lost in translation. Things at Pro Mai feel more detailed and technical than I have learned before.
CONCEPT: HEAD CONTROL.
STANDING:
If the opponent gets lazy with his clinch, get it to the centre of your chest with proper wrestling posture. Hips and feet away. If you need to move forward to apply pressure to his posture take small steps as this will prevent the leg being caught. The clinch grip (one arm along neck, other under arm pit) meets at the centre of his chest. Clasp fingers to ensure the elbows are in tight and the head control comes from the elbows.
TAKEDOWN 1:
Give him forward pressure (action – reaction) he should push back into you. As he does sprawl down to complete the takedown. The pressure on his back from your chest will ensure this completion.
TAKEDOWN 2:
From head control release a hold but keep elbows in, swim an arm out to clasp the top of one of the shoulders. Using a scissor action turn his head and spine. The hand on the shoulder becomes the top hand. Keep the pressure through your chest and drive him down towards your foot. Step out and complete the takedown. I did get very confused with the completion as my feet were all over the place.
INNER FOREARM CHOKE FROM STANDING:
Lee talked briefly between chokes and suppressions. Chokes are against the front of the throat and cut off the air to the brain whereas suppression cut of the blood supply to the brain. The target here is just either side of the throat and not the sides of the neck as I previously believed.
Keeping chest pressure throw the arm up and over his head deeply inserting the forearm across his throat. Keep him in close and tight to the ribs. Clasp the throat arm with other hand at the wrist, palms facing in and 90 degree angle. This does require some elbow flexibility. Stack the non choking hand on top of his shoulder. This will help to lift and secure the choke. I did find this motion very hard.
HEAD CONTROL FROM BOTTOM CONTROL
ESCAPE:
From guard, wrap the head as you sit up and get vertical. This is key. Then post the hand out behind you and scoop same side leg as posted arm out. Maintain pressure through your chest as you sprawl the legs out.
INNER FOREAEM CHOKE:
Get vertical and wrap the head, close the guard and the choke.
SWEEP:
Post up and grab at the elbow on the triceps as you squeeze it tight to your own torso. Look up and behind yourself in the direction of the clasp. Lift the hips ups and sweep in to top control (mount).
DOWNWARD SHOULDER ROTATION (KIMURA):
Get vertical and take wrist control of his posted hand. Swim your arm up and over his back then under his armpit trying to maintain as much pressure as possible on the top of his shoulder. This ensures better control of him. As you lie back and close guard at a perpendicular angle to him, tightly and securely bring his elbow to the centre of your chest. Close the grip and start the submission. His elbow needs to stay on the chest Keep his arm at 90 degrees and rotate towards the shoulder. Keep the arm inside rather than past the 90 for greater pain compliance and efficiency of submission.
BOTTOM CONTROL CHAINING:
With resistance we worked chaining the moves together and feeling for pressure one way then moving to another move.
FREEFORM SPARRING:
Was fortunate enough to spar with 2 seniors. The first guy was a bull of a man with good top control. I looked to recover bottom control often and did manage to pull top control. The second lad seemed to less reliance on power and more on positional top game. Thoroughly enjoyable and knackering. I have forgotten how physically tough free grappling is.
It seemed at the time that there was an awful lot to take it. I am going to endeavour to do visualisation and shadow fighting both standing and on the ground to help make better memories of the training. Great class in terms of the instruction, the ambience, the lads.
Tonight was my first session at Pro Mai MMA. For pretty much all of the day I was nervously going through the session I knew nothing about in my head. I had mentioned to Steph several times my feelings and was very reassuring, supportive and calming. When I got there only a few people were in the hall. One guy introduced himself and made me feel very comfortable and welcomed and the nerves disappeared. I guess being a new person you always feel a sense of dread as you know you are bottom of the ladder and few people want to train with newbies as they are an unknown quantity.
Warm up: Very similar to a Jits warm up in that consisted of movement to increase core heat. A nice change was the lack of intense exercise. That is for my own time. We then made a circle and started shadow boxing (hands and feet) with the insertion of the calls jump, sprawl, burpee and shoot.
DOUBLE LEG TAKEDOWN DRILLING:
Main focus was posture, something that I need to be frequently aware of and thus adjusting. Hips back, short arms, elbows in, spine concave head tucked in but chin up. When shooting for the TD keep looking up and squeeze ear to the hip of opponent. This will ensure you are harder to be head controlled. Once in hold step around and stand as you lift, posted leg side, and turn (away from the posted leg). This was something of a real learning curve for me as the subtle details I had not heard before. Perhaps doing Jts by a Brazilian, details were lost in translation. Things at Pro Mai feel more detailed and technical than I have learned before.
CONCEPT: HEAD CONTROL.
STANDING:
If the opponent gets lazy with his clinch, get it to the centre of your chest with proper wrestling posture. Hips and feet away. If you need to move forward to apply pressure to his posture take small steps as this will prevent the leg being caught. The clinch grip (one arm along neck, other under arm pit) meets at the centre of his chest. Clasp fingers to ensure the elbows are in tight and the head control comes from the elbows.
TAKEDOWN 1:
Give him forward pressure (action – reaction) he should push back into you. As he does sprawl down to complete the takedown. The pressure on his back from your chest will ensure this completion.
TAKEDOWN 2:
From head control release a hold but keep elbows in, swim an arm out to clasp the top of one of the shoulders. Using a scissor action turn his head and spine. The hand on the shoulder becomes the top hand. Keep the pressure through your chest and drive him down towards your foot. Step out and complete the takedown. I did get very confused with the completion as my feet were all over the place.
INNER FOREARM CHOKE FROM STANDING:
Lee talked briefly between chokes and suppressions. Chokes are against the front of the throat and cut off the air to the brain whereas suppression cut of the blood supply to the brain. The target here is just either side of the throat and not the sides of the neck as I previously believed.
Keeping chest pressure throw the arm up and over his head deeply inserting the forearm across his throat. Keep him in close and tight to the ribs. Clasp the throat arm with other hand at the wrist, palms facing in and 90 degree angle. This does require some elbow flexibility. Stack the non choking hand on top of his shoulder. This will help to lift and secure the choke. I did find this motion very hard.
HEAD CONTROL FROM BOTTOM CONTROL
ESCAPE:
From guard, wrap the head as you sit up and get vertical. This is key. Then post the hand out behind you and scoop same side leg as posted arm out. Maintain pressure through your chest as you sprawl the legs out.
INNER FOREAEM CHOKE:
Get vertical and wrap the head, close the guard and the choke.
SWEEP:
Post up and grab at the elbow on the triceps as you squeeze it tight to your own torso. Look up and behind yourself in the direction of the clasp. Lift the hips ups and sweep in to top control (mount).
DOWNWARD SHOULDER ROTATION (KIMURA):
Get vertical and take wrist control of his posted hand. Swim your arm up and over his back then under his armpit trying to maintain as much pressure as possible on the top of his shoulder. This ensures better control of him. As you lie back and close guard at a perpendicular angle to him, tightly and securely bring his elbow to the centre of your chest. Close the grip and start the submission. His elbow needs to stay on the chest Keep his arm at 90 degrees and rotate towards the shoulder. Keep the arm inside rather than past the 90 for greater pain compliance and efficiency of submission.
BOTTOM CONTROL CHAINING:
With resistance we worked chaining the moves together and feeling for pressure one way then moving to another move.
FREEFORM SPARRING:
Was fortunate enough to spar with 2 seniors. The first guy was a bull of a man with good top control. I looked to recover bottom control often and did manage to pull top control. The second lad seemed to less reliance on power and more on positional top game. Thoroughly enjoyable and knackering. I have forgotten how physically tough free grappling is.
It seemed at the time that there was an awful lot to take it. I am going to endeavour to do visualisation and shadow fighting both standing and on the ground to help make better memories of the training. Great class in terms of the instruction, the ambience, the lads.
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