Clinch domination:
Working good positions for the lifts we looked at last week plus dragging the opponent to the mat. Initially we took it in turns offering resistance. It moved into us both fighting for dominance in the clinch and the drag down if available.
Centre attack striking verses escaping:
Feeding person below strikes and they simply have to escape. Joe had us on a numbered circle whereby number 2 would rotate every round and number 1 stays on their back at the start of each round. Very tough on the bottom as simply physically demanding. Trick is to break their posture and recover to at least half guard.
Lead punch then rear punch attack followed by own 3rd attack:
This drill is designed I think to develop sound body timing and rhythm and fluid attacks. Joe also talked about attacking and defending against the open and closed side. The closed side is outside his lead arm and away from the power rear hand. Open side is moving towards, circularly, towards his power hand.
We then developed into adding of our own 2 attacks after the straight lead and straight rear punch.
Ground defence rounds:
Have to defend and get up. Use smart and appropriate ground defence posture. Person on the feet needs wing big wide shots down on the opponent
5 minute conditioning round:
1 punch then duck, 2 punches then squat, 3 punches then sprawl, 4 punches then bob and weave against 4 round punches.. A really tough physical drill.
Rounds of MMA:
Starting standing then to the ground if needed. The big positive for me tonight was staying relaxed on the feet and finally pulling off my first compression submission; the calf compression
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Saturday, 14 April 2012
Week 33: Lifts from clinch
Theme was syllabus work for the session.
Joe started us off with a clinch warm up looking for primary grips then without using the hands. Without the hands is harder but requires a different set of skills. I found myself using my head and spine as a third limb. From this I can conclude that I should be doing this when allowed to use the hands. Simply makes control much more effective. Now I have a better understanding of Randy's dirty boxing where he used his head to pressure the opponent against the fence to enable striking and control at the same time.
We then moved onto positional grappling without using the hands to hold or grip. Chris knees me in the eye for a shiner. Purely accidental as happened in transition in movement. 48 hours on my right eye lid looks like a strutting peacock.
Single leg attacks: a drill we have looked at quite a lot recently. I am getting better at dropping and driving with my eyes up. Know that the knee or him at the end of the shoot so stay posture positive. Light bare hand strikes were then added to keep attack positions appropriate and not sloppy.
Lee then began his part of the lesson by teaching us a series of clinch lifts from the level 2 syllabus
Lower back lift
Double hip lift
Side hip lift
Rear hip lift
For each of the lifts it is important to keep the elbows in tight and to lift from the legs. Use the whole body and not just the arms. We then had some time to practise chaining the lifts in any order of our choosing to make the learning deeper as opposed to patterned.
The learning was then taken to the ground to employ the same methodology to side control escape. Ensure double underhooks control with your back on the floor and that the forearm is into his hip crease. This will enable more effective escapes as you will control his centre and his hips.
Grappling with Ptas for 3 rounds. Upward knee rotation for Ptas, I got an inner forearm choke from bottom control, Ptas pulled off inner forearm choke from centre control.
Joe started us off with a clinch warm up looking for primary grips then without using the hands. Without the hands is harder but requires a different set of skills. I found myself using my head and spine as a third limb. From this I can conclude that I should be doing this when allowed to use the hands. Simply makes control much more effective. Now I have a better understanding of Randy's dirty boxing where he used his head to pressure the opponent against the fence to enable striking and control at the same time.
We then moved onto positional grappling without using the hands to hold or grip. Chris knees me in the eye for a shiner. Purely accidental as happened in transition in movement. 48 hours on my right eye lid looks like a strutting peacock.
Single leg attacks: a drill we have looked at quite a lot recently. I am getting better at dropping and driving with my eyes up. Know that the knee or him at the end of the shoot so stay posture positive. Light bare hand strikes were then added to keep attack positions appropriate and not sloppy.
Lee then began his part of the lesson by teaching us a series of clinch lifts from the level 2 syllabus
Lower back lift
Double hip lift
Side hip lift
Rear hip lift
For each of the lifts it is important to keep the elbows in tight and to lift from the legs. Use the whole body and not just the arms. We then had some time to practise chaining the lifts in any order of our choosing to make the learning deeper as opposed to patterned.
The learning was then taken to the ground to employ the same methodology to side control escape. Ensure double underhooks control with your back on the floor and that the forearm is into his hip crease. This will enable more effective escapes as you will control his centre and his hips.
Grappling with Ptas for 3 rounds. Upward knee rotation for Ptas, I got an inner forearm choke from bottom control, Ptas pulled off inner forearm choke from centre control.
Saturday, 7 April 2012
Week 32: submissions from mount
Free form striking from bottom control: Big gloves on for the heavy and continuous striking. Not allowed to break from the position but bottom player needs to break down the posture to prevent striking. Person on top needs to keep posture up to allow for more effective striking. I found having my back on the food was drastically more tiring as I was using my legs to create space and control his body. Actually on the second round I was near to giving up as I was so drained. When I went into top position I was surprised at how less fatiguing this position was. Going back to having the back on the floor I found that using straight line punches, from my wing chun training proved to be effective. This is because the punch comes from the elbow in the centre of the chest as opposed to the usual elbow in line with and driving from the shoulder. This economy of motion and shortest distance between two points is a straight line is a useful tool in this particular aspect of MMA.
On a side issue it is only now after training in MMA that most applications shown by other martial arts are crap. The applications they show usually are thrown from a static attack with no resistance, hence amazing looking skills. I used to train in tai chi (both purporting to be martial) and thought, at the time, that I was learning sound martial skills. Perhaps I was. Perhaps there were many elements of the training that would be useful. Never did we train against non compliance or static fed attacks. To this day I still in my own training continue to practise the tai chi form as I find it good for my body. That is my to perspective through wiser eyes. Years ago Bruce Lee was promoting cross training, stepping away from the classical mess and discarding that which is
not useful. It is a shame that so many martial artists are not bold enough and too insecure to step into the waters of non compliance for learning and self development are greatest in them.
Back on track.
Submission from north south: Forgotten what Lee labelled this position as hence north south. Incidentally it is the only one in MMA that regularly receives sarcastic wolf whistle from the audience. Instead of taking the inner forearm head control (guillotine) you assume a reverse version and insert a fist suppression to the front of throat for a painful and swift submission. We then looked at an elbow extension from the same position.
From centre attack (mount) leg over sit on arm. Essentially you are sitting on the shoulder joint. This was my first experience of this position. This does require lower body dexterity as you need to essentially triangle his arm. Take a tricep control keeping the arm nice and tight. From this position we then learned a series of submissions.
Firstly fall into an inner leg suppression. It is important to get it in very quick as if you don't they will escape or pass.
Secondly was the arm extension.
Thirdly was the horribly painful wrist compression. I was demo dummy for this and had to tap out early on and ask for the demo on my other wrist. A recent fall in a school football match has left me with a very tender wrist. So much so that I can't even do press ups or dips at the moment.
Finally we looked at a downward shoulder rotation. Similar to the first submission you need to allow to fall on your back giving them the feeling that they are escaping. Thankfully they are falling into a downwards shoulder rotation. Tonight I learned that in BJJ 2 moves, the kimura and omoplata are both downward shoulder rotations.
The last part of training was Easter free form fun.
All against all free form ground fighting, tag team free form grappling and ended with rounds on Charlie who had a new partner every 60 seconds to keep him on his toes (or back!!!!).
On a side issue it is only now after training in MMA that most applications shown by other martial arts are crap. The applications they show usually are thrown from a static attack with no resistance, hence amazing looking skills. I used to train in tai chi (both purporting to be martial) and thought, at the time, that I was learning sound martial skills. Perhaps I was. Perhaps there were many elements of the training that would be useful. Never did we train against non compliance or static fed attacks. To this day I still in my own training continue to practise the tai chi form as I find it good for my body. That is my to perspective through wiser eyes. Years ago Bruce Lee was promoting cross training, stepping away from the classical mess and discarding that which is
not useful. It is a shame that so many martial artists are not bold enough and too insecure to step into the waters of non compliance for learning and self development are greatest in them.
Back on track.
Submission from north south: Forgotten what Lee labelled this position as hence north south. Incidentally it is the only one in MMA that regularly receives sarcastic wolf whistle from the audience. Instead of taking the inner forearm head control (guillotine) you assume a reverse version and insert a fist suppression to the front of throat for a painful and swift submission. We then looked at an elbow extension from the same position.
From centre attack (mount) leg over sit on arm. Essentially you are sitting on the shoulder joint. This was my first experience of this position. This does require lower body dexterity as you need to essentially triangle his arm. Take a tricep control keeping the arm nice and tight. From this position we then learned a series of submissions.
Firstly fall into an inner leg suppression. It is important to get it in very quick as if you don't they will escape or pass.
Secondly was the arm extension.
Thirdly was the horribly painful wrist compression. I was demo dummy for this and had to tap out early on and ask for the demo on my other wrist. A recent fall in a school football match has left me with a very tender wrist. So much so that I can't even do press ups or dips at the moment.
Finally we looked at a downward shoulder rotation. Similar to the first submission you need to allow to fall on your back giving them the feeling that they are escaping. Thankfully they are falling into a downwards shoulder rotation. Tonight I learned that in BJJ 2 moves, the kimura and omoplata are both downward shoulder rotations.
The last part of training was Easter free form fun.
All against all free form ground fighting, tag team free form grappling and ended with rounds on Charlie who had a new partner every 60 seconds to keep him on his toes (or back!!!!).
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Week 31: Straight and folded elbow extension
As Lee was runnning late Mr Aylett senior put us through our paces. Opening by looking at submissions from unusal angles and positions followed by very alive pad work rounds.
Folded elbow extension from bottom control:
Straight elbow extension = classic arm bar image. The arm is straight from the wrist to the shoulder and away from the body.
Folded elbow extension = The arm is folded across their centreline from the shoulder.
Posture breaking: underhook an arm, palm to palm grip and pull him down on to you. Compress his tricep with top forearm. A very important point from Lee was that you must use the body and the arms to apply pressure. In this position arms are pulling down as chest is squeezing up. Several options now: Attempt to create pain on the tricep, arch the chest to pass the arm over to then grab far side lat and escape out or allow him a small space to try to escape by pulling his across your chest.
Arm across escape: Scissor your arm so that one is on his tricep and the on his face, and as if opening his posture. Control the head then you control the body.
Outside leg over: As you scissor turn your head towards his knee so that you are now perpendicular. As I have attacked the right arm initially, this move now means I need to pivot to the left. As I am pivoting I need to move my hips. The outside leg, for this example it was my right leg, sweeps over his face. The hamstring needs to right on his face.
Compress yourself: To enable tight control pull the knees into your chest and squeeze his back with your calves. The idea is that you are almost making yourself into a ball. This will make the position very tight for him. It is possible even without using your hands to establish control for a good 5 seconds. To make the control even tighter reach up and pull his near side shoulder down into your legs and tighten your vice like grip.
Extend from the chest for the sub: Lift and extend the chest for a swift and sweet submission.
Free form grappling: Much more top position and sweeping from me so I feel like I am making improvements to the grappling game. Final roll of the night was with Lee. Did not spend the whole time defending, managed to escape briefly on several occasions. At one point there was a hint of side control. Good hard fun. No more training at class for 10 days as I am off to Dubai at the weekend to see my two older boys. Hopefully going to get them grappling in the parks...
Folded elbow extension from bottom control:
Straight elbow extension = classic arm bar image. The arm is straight from the wrist to the shoulder and away from the body.
Folded elbow extension = The arm is folded across their centreline from the shoulder.
Posture breaking: underhook an arm, palm to palm grip and pull him down on to you. Compress his tricep with top forearm. A very important point from Lee was that you must use the body and the arms to apply pressure. In this position arms are pulling down as chest is squeezing up. Several options now: Attempt to create pain on the tricep, arch the chest to pass the arm over to then grab far side lat and escape out or allow him a small space to try to escape by pulling his across your chest.
Arm across escape: Scissor your arm so that one is on his tricep and the on his face, and as if opening his posture. Control the head then you control the body.
Outside leg over: As you scissor turn your head towards his knee so that you are now perpendicular. As I have attacked the right arm initially, this move now means I need to pivot to the left. As I am pivoting I need to move my hips. The outside leg, for this example it was my right leg, sweeps over his face. The hamstring needs to right on his face.
Compress yourself: To enable tight control pull the knees into your chest and squeeze his back with your calves. The idea is that you are almost making yourself into a ball. This will make the position very tight for him. It is possible even without using your hands to establish control for a good 5 seconds. To make the control even tighter reach up and pull his near side shoulder down into your legs and tighten your vice like grip.
Extend from the chest for the sub: Lift and extend the chest for a swift and sweet submission.
Free form grappling: Much more top position and sweeping from me so I feel like I am making improvements to the grappling game. Final roll of the night was with Lee. Did not spend the whole time defending, managed to escape briefly on several occasions. At one point there was a hint of side control. Good hard fun. No more training at class for 10 days as I am off to Dubai at the weekend to see my two older boys. Hopefully going to get them grappling in the parks...
Monday, 26 March 2012
Week 31: Groundwork
As Lee was running late tonight Mr Aylett senior took control of the class. We began by selecting one submission and then working it from positions not normally worked from. A very creative idea and opportunity to study positions
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Week 30: clinch, takedown and sparring
Under hooks swimming: Getting warmed up by moving around and looking to get both underhooks in on partner from standing. It is surprising how warm you get from a drill that on the outside looks quite simple.
Knee tapping: A great drill to get the legs warmed up for takedown work. Active movement and each person has to simply touch the knee (inside or outside) of the partner and escape out. After several rounds I ended up with Seb who consistently sets a relentless pace
Striking and shooting in for the double leg: Rounds of shooting for the single or double leg. Again with Seb’s relentless pace. The key for me was to keep the head up all the way through the motion. When shooting the chin would drop. Thankfully Seb repeatedly reminded me of my error. This was something I was able to work on later in the session when drilling the single leg capture. Doing this drill right is hard. Getting lazy with dropping the heads, the levels incorrectly or a slow shoot will result in sloppiness.
Big glove v small glove: striker vs shooter: As previous drill but gloved up. This is something I need considerably more time practising as getting a feel for the rhythm and timing of when to change levels is still a calculated thought process and not yet instinctive.
Single leg capture plus details from primary grip then distance and with arm contact: Started working from clinch range with primary shoulder grip and secondary wrist grip. Bump his arm (shoulder control) up as you step back and drop the lead knee to the floor. Capture behind the knee with a strong cupped palm, face against his torso on the outside, rear leg straight and driving the body into him. Next stage was to add the wrist raise. When in the finished position lead arm has captured the back of his knee and you have lifted his wrist high above your head. Next we added the step around coupled with the correct grip (elbow deep behind his knee and capture your own forearm to tighten the control on the leg. The final stage was stepping away from your partner, manipulating his arms as to distract from your intentions and shoot at speed for the single leg capture.
Double leg takedown: As above but work the details to keep them tight and precise.
Solo drill work on the visualisation and the 'L' shoot. Plus gloves at elbow to ribs. Lee demo’d a way to drill the work so far in lesson on your own. Place a pair of gloves on the floor to simulate our opponent’s feet. Simply visualise and shoot. 10, 000 times.
Free form hands (small gloves) in for the takedown: Striking was added to the mix and turns. Both partners striking but one had to shoot for the takedown or capture
Free form takedown into free form small glove sparring: The progression from the previous drill except when the first contact is made *takedown) the training continued into free form sparring (striking and grappling). Lee would then call a stop and the round started again. It has been a while since I sparred using small gloves. I had forgotten how advantageous they can be on the ground in terms of striking to distract from grappling. Several times I was in sticky situations; an inner forearm choke and an elbow extension. On both occasions I was cognisant of the striking tool. This gave my partner other things to consider and I managed to escape. After last week’s grappling frustrations I managed to fight more and sweep to get my back off the floor.
Knee tapping: A great drill to get the legs warmed up for takedown work. Active movement and each person has to simply touch the knee (inside or outside) of the partner and escape out. After several rounds I ended up with Seb who consistently sets a relentless pace
Striking and shooting in for the double leg: Rounds of shooting for the single or double leg. Again with Seb’s relentless pace. The key for me was to keep the head up all the way through the motion. When shooting the chin would drop. Thankfully Seb repeatedly reminded me of my error. This was something I was able to work on later in the session when drilling the single leg capture. Doing this drill right is hard. Getting lazy with dropping the heads, the levels incorrectly or a slow shoot will result in sloppiness.
Big glove v small glove: striker vs shooter: As previous drill but gloved up. This is something I need considerably more time practising as getting a feel for the rhythm and timing of when to change levels is still a calculated thought process and not yet instinctive.
Single leg capture plus details from primary grip then distance and with arm contact: Started working from clinch range with primary shoulder grip and secondary wrist grip. Bump his arm (shoulder control) up as you step back and drop the lead knee to the floor. Capture behind the knee with a strong cupped palm, face against his torso on the outside, rear leg straight and driving the body into him. Next stage was to add the wrist raise. When in the finished position lead arm has captured the back of his knee and you have lifted his wrist high above your head. Next we added the step around coupled with the correct grip (elbow deep behind his knee and capture your own forearm to tighten the control on the leg. The final stage was stepping away from your partner, manipulating his arms as to distract from your intentions and shoot at speed for the single leg capture.
Double leg takedown: As above but work the details to keep them tight and precise.
Solo drill work on the visualisation and the 'L' shoot. Plus gloves at elbow to ribs. Lee demo’d a way to drill the work so far in lesson on your own. Place a pair of gloves on the floor to simulate our opponent’s feet. Simply visualise and shoot. 10, 000 times.
Free form hands (small gloves) in for the takedown: Striking was added to the mix and turns. Both partners striking but one had to shoot for the takedown or capture
Free form takedown into free form small glove sparring: The progression from the previous drill except when the first contact is made *takedown) the training continued into free form sparring (striking and grappling). Lee would then call a stop and the round started again. It has been a while since I sparred using small gloves. I had forgotten how advantageous they can be on the ground in terms of striking to distract from grappling. Several times I was in sticky situations; an inner forearm choke and an elbow extension. On both occasions I was cognisant of the striking tool. This gave my partner other things to consider and I managed to escape. After last week’s grappling frustrations I managed to fight more and sweep to get my back off the floor.
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
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