Tonight saw the end of my first year training at Pro Mai MMA. Gone quick and as this blog show, much has been covered and learnt.
Started off with the Greco-Roman standing clinch drill. Following this we moved into any takedowns from clinch then striking in the clinch. I was a bit naughty in that I was using my head and posture to clinch meaning my arms were free to strike. I noticed that this allowed for more attacks putting my partner on the defence more. I got the idea from Randy's dirty boxing against the fence. Use positive posture to control coupled with a high tempo work rate.
Long range striking: Round kicks to the thigh.
We worked a sequence of drills building on the last to develop sound technique and ultimately creativity:
Checking round kicks;
If they continue to check then attack the rear standing leg;
Use footwork to evade out of range as well as to step into the kick. Both mean you don't get hit where the kick is at it's most effective and powerful;
Attacking with the rear hand when the kick comes in;
Faking the low kick (use the eyes to look down too) as you throw the rear hand to the head. Found this very hard as worked hard over the past year to keep my eyes up!!;
One body action with 2 attacks; the rear punch to the head and the round kick. Need to move the head out to the side for better delivery of technique.
Striking free form sparring rounds.
So here ends my first year at Pro Mai. Looking forward to the future learning with a supreme bunch of training partners under the quality observation and tutelage of fine teachers.
Showing posts with label bruce lee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bruce lee. Show all posts
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
A mix or mixed martial arts?
Has everyone else got it wrong?
Been thinking recently about how most people train in MMA in terms of the disciplines they study under the MMA umbrella. For most it consists of boxing, muay thai, wrestling, jiu-jitsu. There has only been 1 website I have where these individual disciplines are not taught as individual arts or even talked about with any real significance.
What is special about Promai is that the learning is geared towards all around improvement of the individual. I looked at Bisping's training schedule recently and consisted of 2 hour slots of said arts in the first paragraph. This is the way most people train. I believe that Promai is at the cutting edge in terms of training approaches coupled with the unique yet logical naming convention.
Each class is a clear example of why Promai is positively different from other martial arts and MMA schools:
1: Techniques are taught around concepts of movement. Recently we looked at the takedowns against the lead leg then how that could be applied to passing the defending legs of a grounded opponent.
2: Movement is taught in phases of range. Standing, clinch/takedown, ground. There is no wrestling class or boxing class. The curriculum has been developed (and is always evolving) so that as students we do not need to rely on memory of hundreds of techniques and counters from each art. For me I am learning sound positional mechanics. I am not learning how to box or wrestle. I am learning MMA which we know stands for mixed martial arts. Much of what I see on the internet stating to be MMA is in fact a mix of martial arts.
3: Technique naming convention: I am becoming better as a student in all aspects of MMA because I understand what I should be doing with my body. I generally struggle to do it well but that is the joy of the journey. My ground game has improved because I am cognisant of what should be where as opposed to pulling of a Peruvian Necktie, an axe kick or a German suplex.
4: Hard work and effort. There is no place to hide in class. You put in what you get out. To my mind all work extremely hard to improve themselves.
5: No ego. When training in BJJ there were some people who I did not want to roll with as they just had something to prove and would go for fast and dangerous submissions with people below their level. I was injured several times (lower back, knees) in the jits class because of over zealous training partners. Last week I took two meaty shots to the head but understood that both times there was no malice involved, just good hard training. I have trained in less honest systems, ones where it is difficult to prove your abilities as the sparring is not full contact, and so ego can be massaged and inflated. Everyone in the class at Promai is respectful to all others, there are no cliques or students getting special attention or even a lack of attention. Years ago I used to train with my good pal Jonny under Joe Hubbard in the Scientific Fighting Congress. There were others lads in the class who were favorites and unfortunately treated as such. I have seen and continue to read of this bias practise elsewhere in the martial arts. Glad to be out of that loop.
6: High quality instruction. The ways the learning is broken down and developed in second to none. As a teacher by trade myself I have seen many examples of inadequate teaching. Being good at a skill does not equate to being able to pass on how that skill was developed and improved. Thankfully, Lee and his senior students are most capable educators.
To conclude, Promai is a true expression of mixed martial arts. I believe Bruce Lee would be proud and jealous. Efficient and effective combat at all ranges and no political bullshit.
Been thinking recently about how most people train in MMA in terms of the disciplines they study under the MMA umbrella. For most it consists of boxing, muay thai, wrestling, jiu-jitsu. There has only been 1 website I have where these individual disciplines are not taught as individual arts or even talked about with any real significance.
What is special about Promai is that the learning is geared towards all around improvement of the individual. I looked at Bisping's training schedule recently and consisted of 2 hour slots of said arts in the first paragraph. This is the way most people train. I believe that Promai is at the cutting edge in terms of training approaches coupled with the unique yet logical naming convention.
Each class is a clear example of why Promai is positively different from other martial arts and MMA schools:
1: Techniques are taught around concepts of movement. Recently we looked at the takedowns against the lead leg then how that could be applied to passing the defending legs of a grounded opponent.
2: Movement is taught in phases of range. Standing, clinch/takedown, ground. There is no wrestling class or boxing class. The curriculum has been developed (and is always evolving) so that as students we do not need to rely on memory of hundreds of techniques and counters from each art. For me I am learning sound positional mechanics. I am not learning how to box or wrestle. I am learning MMA which we know stands for mixed martial arts. Much of what I see on the internet stating to be MMA is in fact a mix of martial arts.
3: Technique naming convention: I am becoming better as a student in all aspects of MMA because I understand what I should be doing with my body. I generally struggle to do it well but that is the joy of the journey. My ground game has improved because I am cognisant of what should be where as opposed to pulling of a Peruvian Necktie, an axe kick or a German suplex.
4: Hard work and effort. There is no place to hide in class. You put in what you get out. To my mind all work extremely hard to improve themselves.
5: No ego. When training in BJJ there were some people who I did not want to roll with as they just had something to prove and would go for fast and dangerous submissions with people below their level. I was injured several times (lower back, knees) in the jits class because of over zealous training partners. Last week I took two meaty shots to the head but understood that both times there was no malice involved, just good hard training. I have trained in less honest systems, ones where it is difficult to prove your abilities as the sparring is not full contact, and so ego can be massaged and inflated. Everyone in the class at Promai is respectful to all others, there are no cliques or students getting special attention or even a lack of attention. Years ago I used to train with my good pal Jonny under Joe Hubbard in the Scientific Fighting Congress. There were others lads in the class who were favorites and unfortunately treated as such. I have seen and continue to read of this bias practise elsewhere in the martial arts. Glad to be out of that loop.
6: High quality instruction. The ways the learning is broken down and developed in second to none. As a teacher by trade myself I have seen many examples of inadequate teaching. Being good at a skill does not equate to being able to pass on how that skill was developed and improved. Thankfully, Lee and his senior students are most capable educators.
To conclude, Promai is a true expression of mixed martial arts. I believe Bruce Lee would be proud and jealous. Efficient and effective combat at all ranges and no political bullshit.
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