Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Friday, 16 March 2012
Week 29: syllabus work
Footwork round kick drill: shin pads on and round kicking delight to our partners legs. No checking, blocking just evasive footwork combined with eyes up and tidy attack position hands. This started the night off nicely in terms of pain. I must have feet made of paper as even with swanky grappling socks on the balls of both feet became soft and felt as if containing small pockets of fluid. Gladly when I removed my socks at the end of the session there was no fluid neither clear nor red meeting my eyes.
I really enjoy this drill from the limited nature of it. I enjoy practising the opportunity to keep my eyes as as they tend to wander to the areas I am attacking. In addition pain is a great teacher and unless you want your legs smashed to bits you tend to move them quick quickly.
Free form stand up sparring
Lee then talked about strategy in the ring at the start of a fight. We looked at working on both intensity and relaxation opening rounds. We began with no engagement. Just getting our partners hopefully moving backwards from the wide range and frequency of our implied attacks and they to us. This progressed into starting in a similar fashion but when first contact was made it changed into free form sparring whilst maintaining same relaxation and intensity.
Chest spins with hooks in: keeping pressure just between their shoulder blades as spinning and thus transitioning from top to side to centre back control. Hands kept off the floor until in centre back control. Lee gave a great time to enable swifter and more secure control. By sitting up the hooks slide in easier than with the chest down. It does need to be swift as pressure needs to be applied to the back
Side back control ankle pick and hook in: this position was then tamed about Lee as a very advantageous position, in many ways more so than centre back control. From here with back pressure applied control the far side arm and pick up his far side ankle, nice and high. Step over whilst keeping hold you momentarily trap your own arm. Strip it out as the hook makes contact.
Side back control arm extension roll: a tricky sweep and submission needing a lot of commitment. Essentially you roll under his chest pulling him on top of you as you pass your leg over his head and he lands in a very deep arm extension. A tricky sub to pull of successfully but one that is most fun to practise.
Free form grappling with Ptas. Excuses time. He did a very good job tonight. Tight control and vicious submissions. Clearly I have spent too much time want to play as opposed to develop and learn. It is time that I worked to more advantageous positions than playing off my back. Whilst I enjoy it I am not developing. In addition I am spending too much time defending. Perhaps this means more time needs to be practising sweeping and reversing positions?
I really enjoy this drill from the limited nature of it. I enjoy practising the opportunity to keep my eyes as as they tend to wander to the areas I am attacking. In addition pain is a great teacher and unless you want your legs smashed to bits you tend to move them quick quickly.
Free form stand up sparring
Lee then talked about strategy in the ring at the start of a fight. We looked at working on both intensity and relaxation opening rounds. We began with no engagement. Just getting our partners hopefully moving backwards from the wide range and frequency of our implied attacks and they to us. This progressed into starting in a similar fashion but when first contact was made it changed into free form sparring whilst maintaining same relaxation and intensity.
Chest spins with hooks in: keeping pressure just between their shoulder blades as spinning and thus transitioning from top to side to centre back control. Hands kept off the floor until in centre back control. Lee gave a great time to enable swifter and more secure control. By sitting up the hooks slide in easier than with the chest down. It does need to be swift as pressure needs to be applied to the back
Side back control ankle pick and hook in: this position was then tamed about Lee as a very advantageous position, in many ways more so than centre back control. From here with back pressure applied control the far side arm and pick up his far side ankle, nice and high. Step over whilst keeping hold you momentarily trap your own arm. Strip it out as the hook makes contact.
Side back control arm extension roll: a tricky sweep and submission needing a lot of commitment. Essentially you roll under his chest pulling him on top of you as you pass your leg over his head and he lands in a very deep arm extension. A tricky sub to pull of successfully but one that is most fun to practise.
Free form grappling with Ptas. Excuses time. He did a very good job tonight. Tight control and vicious submissions. Clearly I have spent too much time want to play as opposed to develop and learn. It is time that I worked to more advantageous positions than playing off my back. Whilst I enjoy it I am not developing. In addition I am spending too much time defending. Perhaps this means more time needs to be practising sweeping and reversing positions?
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Week 28: grappling and sparring
Grappling class
No Lee tonight So Pete skilfully and dutifully stepped in.
Warm up: myriad of work down the matts to get the body ready for grappling: rolling, dragging and even the triangle pose from yoga too.
Bottom control disengage:
Person on the bottom needs to get up and away
Side control battle:
Get out of it by sweeping, reversing or regaining at least half bottom control.
Free form favourite submission denied: this was the limit placed on the drill by Pete. I selected leg suppression as my favourite but was working with a newer member so spent the time helping him to strangle me.
Eyes closed free form: worked with Ray who I have not seen for a while and through a post grappling chat discovered that he has shed 8 stones in weight! Astonishing work Ray
4 in the middle tag team for the rest. The brave souls in the middle had to grapple to submission before receiving a fresh body to work with. I enjoyed the physical chess with Sami, then Pete and finally Mischel.
Free form with Tasio and Seb. The most memorable significant part of the free form was the double crushing Seb doled out. He excellent base, use of weight and technique. In addition he continually attacks
No Lee tonight So Pete skilfully and dutifully stepped in.
Warm up: myriad of work down the matts to get the body ready for grappling: rolling, dragging and even the triangle pose from yoga too.
Bottom control disengage:
Person on the bottom needs to get up and away
Side control battle:
Get out of it by sweeping, reversing or regaining at least half bottom control.
Free form favourite submission denied: this was the limit placed on the drill by Pete. I selected leg suppression as my favourite but was working with a newer member so spent the time helping him to strangle me.
Eyes closed free form: worked with Ray who I have not seen for a while and through a post grappling chat discovered that he has shed 8 stones in weight! Astonishing work Ray
4 in the middle tag team for the rest. The brave souls in the middle had to grapple to submission before receiving a fresh body to work with. I enjoyed the physical chess with Sami, then Pete and finally Mischel.
Free form with Tasio and Seb. The most memorable significant part of the free form was the double crushing Seb doled out. He excellent base, use of weight and technique. In addition he continually attacks
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Week 27: Ground fighting
Half guard recovery: Top player needs to pass the legs to side control, bottom player then needs to shrimp out and recover what is almost an invisible half guard. Lower leg is through their legs whilst higher leg (hamstring) is on the far shoulder. The drill continues as a pass and recovers drill. It is a great drill to develop fluidity of the hips and awareness of your back of the floor. It is generally better to be on your side.
Side control battle: Player on top needs to maintain side control or reverse side control and ultimately go for top control. Bottom player is looking to escape side control by sweeping, getting to their knees and recovering half or full bottom control. Develops top control as holding becomes a waste of time, more useful to use the body weight to control. The visual analogy I like is that of a wet blanket.
Achieving top control from side control: Establish strong control of his torso and head. Raise the far shoulder of the ground and pass with the following methods.
• Shoot the shin on to belly and pass.
• Passing the leg over dynamically (high arc).
• If they defend the pass by crossing the leg at the knees, pull on the blade of the foot. This should start him trying to defend a lower limb submission therefore he will want to pull the foot away. As you let go the foot will open a nice gap to enable the pass.
Takedown from kneeling clinch free form: Drill stops when one players hands touch the floor or is taken down. Was a really nice drill to develop some creativity. I worked double underhooks – body lock – lever down. I also tried a judo style throw by inserting my hips below his, extending a leg and throwing over. Similar to this video Lee created from standing but kneeling. If done quickly I found success with it on at least 2 occasions.
http://www.mma121.com/videos/akiyama-trip-throw-takedown-ufc-144/
Free form grappling: My most favourite part of training…
Big glove striking v small glove ground fighting: We did this drill several weeks ago but today was slightly different in that the striker was not applying constant pressure. Choosing instead to be more measured with attacks.
Strength and conditioning: AKA hell for the shoulders.
Half speed press ups, 10 count press ups wide and triangle width, plyometric push ups, plank to push ups, zombie walking with mats.
Side control battle: Player on top needs to maintain side control or reverse side control and ultimately go for top control. Bottom player is looking to escape side control by sweeping, getting to their knees and recovering half or full bottom control. Develops top control as holding becomes a waste of time, more useful to use the body weight to control. The visual analogy I like is that of a wet blanket.
Achieving top control from side control: Establish strong control of his torso and head. Raise the far shoulder of the ground and pass with the following methods.
• Shoot the shin on to belly and pass.
• Passing the leg over dynamically (high arc).
• If they defend the pass by crossing the leg at the knees, pull on the blade of the foot. This should start him trying to defend a lower limb submission therefore he will want to pull the foot away. As you let go the foot will open a nice gap to enable the pass.
Takedown from kneeling clinch free form: Drill stops when one players hands touch the floor or is taken down. Was a really nice drill to develop some creativity. I worked double underhooks – body lock – lever down. I also tried a judo style throw by inserting my hips below his, extending a leg and throwing over. Similar to this video Lee created from standing but kneeling. If done quickly I found success with it on at least 2 occasions.
http://www.mma121.com/videos/akiyama-trip-throw-takedown-ufc-144/
Free form grappling: My most favourite part of training…
Big glove striking v small glove ground fighting: We did this drill several weeks ago but today was slightly different in that the striker was not applying constant pressure. Choosing instead to be more measured with attacks.
Strength and conditioning: AKA hell for the shoulders.
Half speed press ups, 10 count press ups wide and triangle width, plyometric push ups, plank to push ups, zombie walking with mats.
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Week 26: striking and sparring
It felt like there was so much going on last Thursday that my little brain can only remember the basics, hence the listing and no great detail.
free form sparring when one needs to look for the clinch. Craig, Neil and Angel
One using strikes other looking for single or double leg capture
Kicking sparring Craig And Tom
Boxing sparring Milsy, Hani, Peter, Ptas and one of the big Polish lads
extended arm: aggressive attack posture. Head movement and arm comes back and attack with combo. Attacking at will from AAP.
Defence against the shoot using the footwork and straight arm against head. This progressed into the whizzer then into double under hooks and throw away using the rolling straight arm.
Grappling with Ptas
Grappling with Craig
free form sparring when one needs to look for the clinch. Craig, Neil and Angel
One using strikes other looking for single or double leg capture
Kicking sparring Craig And Tom
Boxing sparring Milsy, Hani, Peter, Ptas and one of the big Polish lads
extended arm: aggressive attack posture. Head movement and arm comes back and attack with combo. Attacking at will from AAP.
Defence against the shoot using the footwork and straight arm against head. This progressed into the whizzer then into double under hooks and throw away using the rolling straight arm.
Grappling with Ptas
Grappling with Craig
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.
Week 25: striking plus strength and conditioning
started the session by studying combination striking. What follows are what I remember the combinations to be.
7 (lead hand hook punch) - 2 (head height rear hand punch)-round kick to the thigh
1 - 2 round kick to the thigh.
Superman punch - 2 lead round kick. Then changed the combo by altering the kick at the end of a front round kick
1 - 2 - knee then front kick, off both legs. More of a leaping front kick using the first knee to develop power and momentum in the front kick.
5 (straight lead punch to abdomen) - overhand right, clinch, round knee to the thigh followed by rising knee to the face.
Combination building:
Each partner taking it in turns to attack with a combination of shots. The following attacks were called out and they had to be used in your combination.
3 rounds using each: round kick to leg, elbow to body, outward punch.
Strength and conditioning
Leg kicking footwork drill with Milsy. Only allowed to use footwork to evade, no blocking or checking. Keep eyes up, hands disciplined, Got mashed to pieces. Picked up some movement tips from Milsy in terms of faking, twitching the hips, attacking after my attack.
6 attack drill: Again with Milsy. Round kick to each leg kick, round punch to each arm, left and right punch to the abdomen. This is a psychological drill. Lee emphasised no matter what pain we were feeling we must not show it on our face. Don't give anything away. I found this particularly tough with the legs kicks. Either my thighs are sensitive or I am a big tart when receiving leg kicks.
Press up x 8, j partner jumps over you as you press up, when done roll onto back to receive 8 belly punches. Did several rounds of this. About 9 sets.
Leg raises and belly punches as the partner pushes the legs down to hover height over the floor. Legs must be kept straight at all times. 3 set of 10.
Static holds. cross legged, back against the mirrors, elbows against the mirrors with upper arm parallel to the floor. Partner pushes for a count of 10 then pushes down hard for a count of 5. I was with Tom who is massive structurally compared to me so it was more of a workout for me than him. Did 3 sets of this.
Running laps as partner continuously jumps on safety mats. Switch on given call. This was the last conditioning exercise of the night, the jumping was particularly draining but great fun when finished. 3 sets.
Free form striking sparring. Worked with Pete. I focussed on the using the combinations taught at the start of the session. Pete commented on how predictable I was. Fair enough but I did tell him I was using the time to work. Pete then gave me some positive feedback about the progress my striking has made, more relaxed. This is all due to high quality teaching at Promai.
7 (lead hand hook punch) - 2 (head height rear hand punch)-round kick to the thigh
1 - 2 round kick to the thigh.
Superman punch - 2 lead round kick. Then changed the combo by altering the kick at the end of a front round kick
1 - 2 - knee then front kick, off both legs. More of a leaping front kick using the first knee to develop power and momentum in the front kick.
5 (straight lead punch to abdomen) - overhand right, clinch, round knee to the thigh followed by rising knee to the face.
Combination building:
Each partner taking it in turns to attack with a combination of shots. The following attacks were called out and they had to be used in your combination.
3 rounds using each: round kick to leg, elbow to body, outward punch.
Strength and conditioning
Leg kicking footwork drill with Milsy. Only allowed to use footwork to evade, no blocking or checking. Keep eyes up, hands disciplined, Got mashed to pieces. Picked up some movement tips from Milsy in terms of faking, twitching the hips, attacking after my attack.
6 attack drill: Again with Milsy. Round kick to each leg kick, round punch to each arm, left and right punch to the abdomen. This is a psychological drill. Lee emphasised no matter what pain we were feeling we must not show it on our face. Don't give anything away. I found this particularly tough with the legs kicks. Either my thighs are sensitive or I am a big tart when receiving leg kicks.
Press up x 8, j partner jumps over you as you press up, when done roll onto back to receive 8 belly punches. Did several rounds of this. About 9 sets.
Leg raises and belly punches as the partner pushes the legs down to hover height over the floor. Legs must be kept straight at all times. 3 set of 10.
Static holds. cross legged, back against the mirrors, elbows against the mirrors with upper arm parallel to the floor. Partner pushes for a count of 10 then pushes down hard for a count of 5. I was with Tom who is massive structurally compared to me so it was more of a workout for me than him. Did 3 sets of this.
Running laps as partner continuously jumps on safety mats. Switch on given call. This was the last conditioning exercise of the night, the jumping was particularly draining but great fun when finished. 3 sets.
Free form striking sparring. Worked with Pete. I focussed on the using the combinations taught at the start of the session. Pete commented on how predictable I was. Fair enough but I did tell him I was using the time to work. Pete then gave me some positive feedback about the progress my striking has made, more relaxed. This is all due to high quality teaching at Promai.
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