KEY WORDS:
select two words for the stare down and then to apply in the fighting rounds. My words were calm or relax and attack or pressure. Was doing ok except when there was lots of pressure from my opponent. This was the first time a stare down had been part of my training. At first it was tough to stay focused but with the internal key word mantra it made it much easier to cope with.
FEAR AND INTENT IN STRIKING:
felt very scared when sparring with Ben. He seemed to be throwing powerful intent heavy shots. I went into a defensive shell and tried to weather the storm. It taught me to have more intent in my hands as this will have greater psychological effects on the opponent.
CLINCH DRILLS:
working the primary grip whilst striking with hands and knees. The first session i don't wear a box and take a knee to the plums. From here we looked at the knee tap takedown. Lee then emphasized the need to practise chaining techniques together. The more we can attack with pressured variety the more unable the opponent will be to settle into his own attacks.
STRIKING DRILLS:
the round kick to the lower body. You could block, check or evade. As both my thighs are struggling to work today I need to develop better and more dynamic footwork. On the plus side I am getting better at keeping the hands and eyes disciplined.
GRAPPLING DRILLS:
part 1 was from kneeling to grt your partner on their back. Restart when done. My first round was with Sami who was using his hips excellently to prevent my takedowns. Drill 2 was previous but holding down when their back
is on the floor. For this I had Pitas. An even and patient battle.
PETE'S TIPS: At the end of class I quizzed Pete about training and picked up the following tips.
HEAD MOVEMENT: Don't be a static target. Work on movement in attack and defence.
ATTACKING AT THE END OF THEIR ATTACK: This is when they are at their most vulnerable. Use body motion and head movement to create good angles for attack.
USING FOOTWORK AND STANCE: Use the lead hand to keep the distance you need. Having thus should enable you to be out of the range of attacks.
Friday, 18 November 2011
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Week 11: Standing fun
Warm up:
Milzy took it and went sprawl mad which was nice. Doing them in sets of 10 almost resulted in my tea making an appearance on the mat.
Head movement and angles:
The feeder gives single shots from either hand as the defender had to initially move the head back over the rear leg to evade followed by a combo, of own choice, to the head and body. Following this was moving inside the punch and countering. Found this a little tougher as you are heading into the chaos. In addition it was tough to let the same side hand punch over his head. Neil noted that my distancing was too close. When I gave more space there was less jamming of my punches.
Working the angles:
Feeder was like a robot in that he held his hands together at face level but extended. This was simply to give the puncher a chance to work against a moving target. The point was to enter and exit with good head movement which brackets a flurry punch combination.
Positive footwork:
Keeping the rear heel of the floor is a slightly more active type of footwork and also keeps you a little more ready to fire attacks as opposed to being passive. Both sides were attacking but OK to throw all types of striking attacks. Footwork was primarily used to evade and move then enter to attack and exit safely.
Ground and pound practise:
Hitting the prone heavy bag with heavy relaxed power. Maintain the weight through the bag and attempting to simulate attacking a human. Also always be thinking of your form - don't get sloppy with the non attacking hand, keep the defense tight.
Free form sparring:
Worked with Hani. Focussed on keeping the short arm tight to the body and face and the other arm long. Really enjoyed it.
Milzy took it and went sprawl mad which was nice. Doing them in sets of 10 almost resulted in my tea making an appearance on the mat.
Head movement and angles:
The feeder gives single shots from either hand as the defender had to initially move the head back over the rear leg to evade followed by a combo, of own choice, to the head and body. Following this was moving inside the punch and countering. Found this a little tougher as you are heading into the chaos. In addition it was tough to let the same side hand punch over his head. Neil noted that my distancing was too close. When I gave more space there was less jamming of my punches.
Working the angles:
Feeder was like a robot in that he held his hands together at face level but extended. This was simply to give the puncher a chance to work against a moving target. The point was to enter and exit with good head movement which brackets a flurry punch combination.
Positive footwork:
Keeping the rear heel of the floor is a slightly more active type of footwork and also keeps you a little more ready to fire attacks as opposed to being passive. Both sides were attacking but OK to throw all types of striking attacks. Footwork was primarily used to evade and move then enter to attack and exit safely.
Ground and pound practise:
Hitting the prone heavy bag with heavy relaxed power. Maintain the weight through the bag and attempting to simulate attacking a human. Also always be thinking of your form - don't get sloppy with the non attacking hand, keep the defense tight.
Free form sparring:
Worked with Hani. Focussed on keeping the short arm tight to the body and face and the other arm long. Really enjoyed it.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Week 10: Centre back control
Warm up: hold down and submit over getting up and standing away.
Centre back control technique
1: From side back control look to get to centre back control. Put the near side leg in first and keep underhooks at the arm pit. When moved in to centre back control keep the toes pointing straight to avoid crushing when flattening him out. Keep the weight of your chest between his shoulder blades as opposed to the base of the back. Take the leg out back to the starting position, do a chest spin to the other side of his body and repeat.
2: Flattening out. Drive the hips towards his head and keep hands of the matt to give more pressure through his back. If he tucks the arms under to defend, take wrist control and pull towards his hip and flatten his shoulder to the matt.
3: Bicep and forearm suppression from inverted centre back control. formerly known in my mind as the rear naked choke. Key learning points – you can’t get the bicep enough across his throat. Close by putting hand as close to own shoulder as possible. Insert other hand behind his neck to tighten, suppressing arm still relaxed. Get your head into his to stop the neck hand being stripped. Put the non suppressing elbow behind his should. Even now it will be very tight and close to finishing him before tensing. Now tense the suppressing bicep to close the submission. Swiftly.
4: Inner forearm choke from inverted centre back control(x2). As he defends by turning the face away from the bicep he is now setting himself up and thus asking politely to be choked. Pull the suppressing arm out a touch to get the forearm on his throat. Close for a quick and friggin horrid choke. The variation on this was taking the palm to palm, pressure driving with own head towards his and use more strength to pull the forearm across the old windpipe. Hopefully he will be coughing quickly.
5: Arm bar from inverted centre back control. Get the head away from his by pushing away on his head to get the legs over his chest. Now sit up to ensure your hips are tight to his shoulder joint. Cross the ankles, keep the knees squeezing together and wrap the arm. As you lie back keep the ram close to your chest. When the arm is extended push your heels and knees down. This will be very hard as each of those actions will counter the other. This move actually does require an awful lot of presence of mind in all these areas of your body. Now raise the hips to finish. Doing these things with the legs means that the arm is being extended and stretched in the forearm, horribly before the elbow breaks. This detail in the arm will have more success as it is up to me to go through the checklist of points. It reminded me of when Dan Hardy was in this position against GSP who did not finish him from this position. I need to go back to study the clip to see if GSP is doing these details in his arm bar. I know this sounds supercilious and what could I tell GSP anything about MMA but the point is about analysis of technique in the chaos of combat. This was the worst feeling armbar I have ever experienced.
Free form sparring
Sparred with Lee tonight. Subbed a ton of times with a different one each time. He gave me tips on arm bar defence (relax, go pencil thin and roll out) , triangle defence (strong posture and get the legs and knees towards his face to take the power out of the submission position), hitting whilst grappling (simply not hard enough!!! and using striking as a way of getting them to change their grips and make gaps for escapes). Knowing what is happening can help a smarter defence. This is due to the naming convention of moves and that the defence for one is going to be the set up for the next submission. Despite the sound beating I received, I learned so many things. More beatings say I.
Centre back control technique
1: From side back control look to get to centre back control. Put the near side leg in first and keep underhooks at the arm pit. When moved in to centre back control keep the toes pointing straight to avoid crushing when flattening him out. Keep the weight of your chest between his shoulder blades as opposed to the base of the back. Take the leg out back to the starting position, do a chest spin to the other side of his body and repeat.
2: Flattening out. Drive the hips towards his head and keep hands of the matt to give more pressure through his back. If he tucks the arms under to defend, take wrist control and pull towards his hip and flatten his shoulder to the matt.
3: Bicep and forearm suppression from inverted centre back control. formerly known in my mind as the rear naked choke. Key learning points – you can’t get the bicep enough across his throat. Close by putting hand as close to own shoulder as possible. Insert other hand behind his neck to tighten, suppressing arm still relaxed. Get your head into his to stop the neck hand being stripped. Put the non suppressing elbow behind his should. Even now it will be very tight and close to finishing him before tensing. Now tense the suppressing bicep to close the submission. Swiftly.
4: Inner forearm choke from inverted centre back control(x2). As he defends by turning the face away from the bicep he is now setting himself up and thus asking politely to be choked. Pull the suppressing arm out a touch to get the forearm on his throat. Close for a quick and friggin horrid choke. The variation on this was taking the palm to palm, pressure driving with own head towards his and use more strength to pull the forearm across the old windpipe. Hopefully he will be coughing quickly.
5: Arm bar from inverted centre back control. Get the head away from his by pushing away on his head to get the legs over his chest. Now sit up to ensure your hips are tight to his shoulder joint. Cross the ankles, keep the knees squeezing together and wrap the arm. As you lie back keep the ram close to your chest. When the arm is extended push your heels and knees down. This will be very hard as each of those actions will counter the other. This move actually does require an awful lot of presence of mind in all these areas of your body. Now raise the hips to finish. Doing these things with the legs means that the arm is being extended and stretched in the forearm, horribly before the elbow breaks. This detail in the arm will have more success as it is up to me to go through the checklist of points. It reminded me of when Dan Hardy was in this position against GSP who did not finish him from this position. I need to go back to study the clip to see if GSP is doing these details in his arm bar. I know this sounds supercilious and what could I tell GSP anything about MMA but the point is about analysis of technique in the chaos of combat. This was the worst feeling armbar I have ever experienced.
Free form sparring
Sparred with Lee tonight. Subbed a ton of times with a different one each time. He gave me tips on arm bar defence (relax, go pencil thin and roll out) , triangle defence (strong posture and get the legs and knees towards his face to take the power out of the submission position), hitting whilst grappling (simply not hard enough!!! and using striking as a way of getting them to change their grips and make gaps for escapes). Knowing what is happening can help a smarter defence. This is due to the naming convention of moves and that the defence for one is going to be the set up for the next submission. Despite the sound beating I received, I learned so many things. More beatings say I.
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Week 9 Close quarter punching
Usual warm up of toes, shoulders and chest.
Main learning points I took from tonight were most definitely to keep the eyes up. I thought I was but thankfully my partner Neil was most swift to remind me.
To get us moving we did a low kick drill whereby the only attack was to be the low kick to the legs. First line of defense was to use footwork to get out of the way. The last and laziest option was to actually check the kick. This seemed like a smart way to work as it keeps you in a protective mindset rather than a degenerative one.
We then looked at a clinching and standing grappling drill but the constriction was on the actual closing of the grips. I guess it could be seen as a grappling without the hands. Fighting for position, looking to control the other and stay as relaxed as possible. This is something Lee emphasizes every lesson. In all situations we must be as relaxed as possible as this will benefit our stamina in addition to make us harder to control.
Ground defence against a standing opponent. Posted on the floor as the stander looks to attack or pass the pass legs for ground and pound attack. Key on the floor is to stay alive and keep moving and look to stand at the first opportunity.
Holding the ground drill: Stand in the phone box with your partner, no moving backwards and using hands only attack each other from the hips to the top of the head. Even allow yourself to be hit in the face to develop desensitization to to facial attacks. I found this quite tough and hard to relax in. This is still new to me and a tough barrier to overcome and get used too. But get used to I will.
Target practise: Partner A puts themselves in horribly bad situation such as on one knee and tucked. Partner B then attacks at full pelt but pulling the contact on contact. Partner A needs to keep changing and moving the bad situations to give sound target practise. Every minute swap over. It was an intense cardio drill.
Ended with free form sparring. I worked with Neil all night. An outstanding partner and guide through the learning tonight.
Main learning points I took from tonight were most definitely to keep the eyes up. I thought I was but thankfully my partner Neil was most swift to remind me.
To get us moving we did a low kick drill whereby the only attack was to be the low kick to the legs. First line of defense was to use footwork to get out of the way. The last and laziest option was to actually check the kick. This seemed like a smart way to work as it keeps you in a protective mindset rather than a degenerative one.
We then looked at a clinching and standing grappling drill but the constriction was on the actual closing of the grips. I guess it could be seen as a grappling without the hands. Fighting for position, looking to control the other and stay as relaxed as possible. This is something Lee emphasizes every lesson. In all situations we must be as relaxed as possible as this will benefit our stamina in addition to make us harder to control.
Ground defence against a standing opponent. Posted on the floor as the stander looks to attack or pass the pass legs for ground and pound attack. Key on the floor is to stay alive and keep moving and look to stand at the first opportunity.
Holding the ground drill: Stand in the phone box with your partner, no moving backwards and using hands only attack each other from the hips to the top of the head. Even allow yourself to be hit in the face to develop desensitization to to facial attacks. I found this quite tough and hard to relax in. This is still new to me and a tough barrier to overcome and get used too. But get used to I will.
Target practise: Partner A puts themselves in horribly bad situation such as on one knee and tucked. Partner B then attacks at full pelt but pulling the contact on contact. Partner A needs to keep changing and moving the bad situations to give sound target practise. Every minute swap over. It was an intense cardio drill.
Ended with free form sparring. I worked with Neil all night. An outstanding partner and guide through the learning tonight.
Friday, 21 October 2011
Week 8 Side back control
First part of the session was spent looking at different ways of controlling and maneuvering the opponent when in this position.
We looked at abandoning wrist and head control by switching the weight to turn and pull the foot and roll him on top of you. From here manipulate for a spine lock as well as the the calf compression. A nice note on the calf compression was pushing against your own ankle with the foot maximises the pain for him coupled with the swiftness of tapping.
For the rest of the session we freeform grappled with 1 constraint. One to hold down and submit as the other attempts to get up.
Just under 24 hours later my neck and trapezium are tight than a closed clam shell.
We looked at abandoning wrist and head control by switching the weight to turn and pull the foot and roll him on top of you. From here manipulate for a spine lock as well as the the calf compression. A nice note on the calf compression was pushing against your own ankle with the foot maximises the pain for him coupled with the swiftness of tapping.
For the rest of the session we freeform grappled with 1 constraint. One to hold down and submit as the other attempts to get up.
Just under 24 hours later my neck and trapezium are tight than a closed clam shell.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Week 7 (Primary) Neck clinching
WARM UP: Shoulders chest and toes timing drill as last week.
PRIMARY GRIP NECK CLINCH:
This is one of the 4 primary clinches. The optimum choice is 2 primary grips but we looked at a primary and secondary grip (wrist control).
Key learning points with neck clinch:
Eyes up
Pressure through the head and strong neck posture
Drive through his chest with your elbow
Affect his balance with your lead leg
Strong base and positive spine.
We the looked at attacking with knees from the clinch. After each knee return to a solid base and position of control. Avoid going for full power and being sloppy. Instead throw 5 or 6 with control of the opponent. Good control in this position can mess them up psychologically.
DOUBLE NECK CLINCH:
All of the above with the addition of:
Use chest to deliver pressure.
Chin on top of his head.
Squeeze the elbows together.
Progression was into moving into the side @90 degrees perpendicular for single clinch, deliver 2 or 3 devastating knees then step away in stance ready for action.
To escape from the primary single neck clinch they need to be doing it badly. Pop up and out with the chest.
SPARRING:
Enjoyed trying to work a variety of angles of attack. Eyes on opponent, facing the punch. I guess this will change as the power coming in increases.
PRIMARY GRIP NECK CLINCH:
This is one of the 4 primary clinches. The optimum choice is 2 primary grips but we looked at a primary and secondary grip (wrist control).
Key learning points with neck clinch:
Eyes up
Pressure through the head and strong neck posture
Drive through his chest with your elbow
Affect his balance with your lead leg
Strong base and positive spine.
We the looked at attacking with knees from the clinch. After each knee return to a solid base and position of control. Avoid going for full power and being sloppy. Instead throw 5 or 6 with control of the opponent. Good control in this position can mess them up psychologically.
DOUBLE NECK CLINCH:
All of the above with the addition of:
Use chest to deliver pressure.
Chin on top of his head.
Squeeze the elbows together.
Progression was into moving into the side @90 degrees perpendicular for single clinch, deliver 2 or 3 devastating knees then step away in stance ready for action.
To escape from the primary single neck clinch they need to be doing it badly. Pop up and out with the chest.
SPARRING:
Enjoyed trying to work a variety of angles of attack. Eyes on opponent, facing the punch. I guess this will change as the power coming in increases.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Week 6: Technical striking - one motion several strikes
Before class tonight I was most nervous as Monday night classes are striking only. This is my greatest fear so entered with apprehension to the class.
In and out drills: Designed to my mind to develop quick feet, maintaining the discipline of keeping your eyes up and timing.
Foot attacks, chest attacks, shoulders attacks, all at once. Essentially you have to attack the areas said. When successful the partner needs to sprawl as a consequence of a positive attack.
Multiple lead punch drill: The point was to use the one arm over and over to develop relaxation through sound technique and not to let the tension build in the body and shoulder. In terms of my own stance I was given several pointers:
Rear hand need to be tucked into the belly and hand is against the jaw.
Front hand is extended and of motion to keep you in control of the distance.
Spine slightly rounded giving a tucked appearance to the torso.
Feet shoulder width apart and length and width on the diagonal.
Using body motion to deliver multiple strikes
Combos studied:
Jab - Jab - Rear cross - knee
Jab - jab- rear hook - round kick
Jab - jab - rear hook - spinning backfist
Jab - jab - rear hook - round kick - spinning backfist
Ground and Pound sparring.
Working from back control, both just strike. Not looking at passing, subbing or sweeping. Hitting from the bottom and the top. Person on their knees must try to stay on balls of the feet, head in the centre of his chest or applying pressure through his face, arms at his sides with hands on his shoulders. On the call we had to stand and free form sparring. On the next call rolls reversed on the floor.
Final exercise challenge.
Shadow fighting in the mirrors followed by a series of slow count and dynamic push ups.
When the session had finished I had a grappling roll with Charlie. He has great relaxation in his grappling as well as creativity. He displayed excellent patience, pressure and skill. Ultimately subbing me with a downward shoulder rotation. A great session.
In and out drills: Designed to my mind to develop quick feet, maintaining the discipline of keeping your eyes up and timing.
Foot attacks, chest attacks, shoulders attacks, all at once. Essentially you have to attack the areas said. When successful the partner needs to sprawl as a consequence of a positive attack.
Multiple lead punch drill: The point was to use the one arm over and over to develop relaxation through sound technique and not to let the tension build in the body and shoulder. In terms of my own stance I was given several pointers:
Rear hand need to be tucked into the belly and hand is against the jaw.
Front hand is extended and of motion to keep you in control of the distance.
Spine slightly rounded giving a tucked appearance to the torso.
Feet shoulder width apart and length and width on the diagonal.
Using body motion to deliver multiple strikes
Combos studied:
Jab - Jab - Rear cross - knee
Jab - jab- rear hook - round kick
Jab - jab - rear hook - spinning backfist
Jab - jab - rear hook - round kick - spinning backfist
Ground and Pound sparring.
Working from back control, both just strike. Not looking at passing, subbing or sweeping. Hitting from the bottom and the top. Person on their knees must try to stay on balls of the feet, head in the centre of his chest or applying pressure through his face, arms at his sides with hands on his shoulders. On the call we had to stand and free form sparring. On the next call rolls reversed on the floor.
Final exercise challenge.
Shadow fighting in the mirrors followed by a series of slow count and dynamic push ups.
When the session had finished I had a grappling roll with Charlie. He has great relaxation in his grappling as well as creativity. He displayed excellent patience, pressure and skill. Ultimately subbing me with a downward shoulder rotation. A great session.
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