Class notes: striking combinations and side control work

So tonight was my first at Promai in 18 months. I had felt nervous all day in anticipation. Would the leg hold out? Would I be able to keep up with everyone? Hopefully at the end of the class the answer to both of these questions was yes. It is now the morning after and everything feels ok in the leg so thumbs up.

MMA fundamentals class.

Warm up: Variety of motions and athletics linked to MMA to get the blood and muscles ready for what was to come. Lee did some funky balance and jumping drills on the focus mitt
- single leg balancing, single leg standing extensions, jumping up and down knees high, jump with quarter, half and full turns. Press uo to forward fold and back again, slow and fast press ups, side planks.

Striking combinations with big gloves
Moving in, striking, moving out from the rear leg, aim for the chin not the hands, hands in the correct position when not striking.
1-1-2

2-1-2

2-1-1-2

1-2 round kick

On the pads

1-1-2

2-round kick-1-2-3

The head in the round kick needs to move. So if I am throwing a right round kick then the head will need to move to the left.

Pinning drill form the knees - start from the knees, takedown and wrestle for position. There was no submissions just trying to keep the partner pinned. They could try to reverse the position and pin you.

Grappling class:

Wrestling against the cage, no grip flow. Not being static and keeping the hips away and concave spine. I felt having when with my back against the cage I could use soft arms to feel and direct my partner's head without too much energy expended. I was just flowing with his movement, something that we have been working on in the other martial arts class I go to (Workman Martial Arts https://www.facebook.com/workmanmartialarts)

Side back control, with a leg on the inside Phil Davis domination from UFC 179 over Glover Texeria

We worked the basic position but we had a leg through his leg and we then hooked it behind the knee for a figure 4 control. We then looked at breaking the arm down, applying shoulder pressure, staying no more then in the centre of his back to avoid being rolled. The key was the shoulder pressure which had to be felt. It was something Georges St Pierre dominated Nick Diaz with. It was a small but vital detail that I had noticed before but will be something to watch out for in the future.

Side control far arm manipulation: getting the head up, inverted triangle, hips over the shoulder, you can face plant, go for the elbow extension, downward shoulder rotation. Tight with the inverted triangle is key.

Free form sparring with Craig and Lee. With Craig i went for a head and arm but he cheekily turned it into some type of knarly neck crank. I then managed to secure a triangle from my back which he rolled to his back and I finished from top position.

Lee got me three times with a triangle, arm extension and then a downward shoulder rotation (DWL) with me face down.

Was great to be welcomed back.

Week 80: Bye bye toe nail ripping matts

Level 1 syllabus work:

Knee wrap takedown

Hand trip takedown

From the wrestling perspective
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cupxfAoNhwA

And from the MMA perspective
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5waObMhn9-E

Cycle between the 2

I sat out the above due to a right knee made from honey.

Side control arm manipulation.

Side control battle.

Inver back control submission; inner forearm and bicep suppression, forearm choke, elbow
Extension:

Hands only sparring

Hands v feet sparring

Knock down ground and pound with Darren. Amazing how quick fatigue starts to set in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTP1WQickPo

After the above drill on this video is some freeform ground fighting.

Conditioning drills interspersed between drills tonight were all done for as many reps as possible inside the 2 minutes.

Back support ups – back support into table

Boat to butterfly pulses – sitting leaning back, straight back with legs extended tat a 45 degree angle. Pull the knees to the chest then extend the legs straight again.

Superman pulses – lying on the front, knees off the floor and legs extended, arms out to the side and pulse up and down without touching the floor until the time is up.

For me this was my last session at Feltham Community College. Next week we move to the new facility. Exciting times ahead.

Week 79: Tabata protocol

No grip stand up clinch fighting.

Tabata round 1 = press ups

2 minute rounds of 4 takedown set ups without breaking contact; single and double hip, single and double leg. At this point I was very tired from the Tabata and only a consistent pace and keeping the breath under control did I manage not only to survive but to keep up a good pace and receive some positive noises from Joe.

Tabate round 2 = body weight squats

2 minute rounds of getting to the knee when as an escape from top control. Again I was working with Joe and we had a very good pace going.

Tabate round 3 = lateral straight leg window wipers

Tabate round 4 = mountain climbers

Rear hand defensive drill. Joe gave me some good tips but I was proper knackered so ineffectively made improvements. But for the historical record they were:

stay out of range and move in on the end of his attack
evasive lateral motion
punch with the elbow in line with the wrist so the elbow is driving behind the punch.

Tabate round 5 = elbow plank to high plank

Hunting for the clinch against a skilled striker. I was working with

Tabate round 6 = sprawls

MMA rounds. I worked with Will and then Darren for double rounds. My knee gave out at the end of the grapple; a simple compression of the lower leg and bang.

A great video of Charlie and Ptas in action

http://youtu.be/vH6Xp6t1tKA

More info about Tabata with a few video examples

http://tabatatraining.org

Week 78: MMA basics

Primary grip clinch fighting

Takedown from knee to back pin

Side control escape and reversal

Hand position defence against slaps and using counters

Striking tactics:

Stare down in striking

Grappling freeform

Week 76: muscle compression submissions

Week 76: muscle compressions

Nice heat inducing warm up: cycling through the 4 main takedowns in a free form constant pressure format.

6 submissions: these are all high risk and low success rate submissions.

1: bicep compression from pre elbow extension in sitting side control: top arm under (through his elbow crease) and same leg crossing over into what looks like a triangle or figure four position. This is because you are better balanced here as we'll as the arm and leg tie up works better from here. Small part of the forearm near the wrist bone will be digging in nicely to the bicep.

2: bicep compression when opponent is in turtle position. Side back control and wrist control on his outer arm. Feed the other through as you dive over and elegantly face plant. Squeeze the knees together ( your shins will now be on his torso and neck respectively) making sure his arm angle is straight from the shoulder to the wrist (whilst folded) to complete the compression.

3: side control to leg attack, as if hunting for the knee extension. They cross their legs to prevent to submission so you manipulate the heel, lever the forearms. This causes his lower shin to be compress his lower calf, if fails then the knee extension is there.

4: calf choke from back control: pass the lower leg around the neck and secure with the other hand, fold the foot onto his shoulder to secure the position. Lean forward as if rolling over his head. This will cause tremendous strain on the front and back of the neck and when released coughing and gagging might occur. This for me was the grimmest of all the submissions this session. The most pain and panic. Horrible.

5: shin choke from centre control: pass the shin onto his neck, weight towards the foot or you will get rolled. This one finishes quickly. It looks like a simplified gogoplata from mount.

6: centre back control, ankles crossed into lower calf compression. This requires some manipulation of his legs to get them in the right position. Crossing the ankles is a no no anyway so hopefully of he is doing this then he won't be too aware of the attack coming his way. I made this very foolish mistake early on training in BJJ and the guy I was fighting with, in class and 4 days before a big competition, took advantage of my position and chose to put his leg over my top ankle. This resulted in my knee being messed up very badly after an audible crack followed by an involuntary howl from me. Point is be careful with the knees. They can go quick without any pain warnings.

For the drills part of the class we did the following rounds:

Stare down into striking sparring rounds - 10 second stare downs whilst going through our key words then 30 seconds of sparring applying our words. We did about 12 rounds.

Greco clinch to takedown. No lower body attacks allowed.

Clinch and takedown using legs such as trips and sweeps.

Clinch to full takedown into submission

Week 73: Outward arm action

Clinch grappling warm up with Phil then Milzy. This is one of the best ways to warmed up quickly, especially if you do it with someone who has a major size and strength advantage. It is a great way to build some resilience and tenacity.

Takedown from shoulder control: You are deep in their space, your knee is behind theirs, your torso pressure is on them so there are no gaps when you bump the knee and pull the shoulder down to collapse their structure. This works when you have opposite legs forward.
Knee trip and shoulder take down: I sat out of this one as my knee is still sensitive to the slightest lateral pressure but sometimes it is good to watch and see how other people move and apply themselves. The trip is simply a barring action (the hand on the side of the knee) so that the leg has nowhere to go. The arm in shoulder control straightens from the bicep and the ‘bowls’ as the trip happens acting as a fulcrum. This technique works when you have the same leg forward as the partner.

The two above techniques can then be used in combination when pressuring the opponent and can be chained or switched between each other meaning if he changes legs then either can be attacked.

Boxing rounds with Milzy and my Josh Barnett nose.: Whilst the above was happening I was doing boxing rounds with Milzy and realised my nose is like that of Josh Barnett. If you hit it, it bleeds. It is still sore 3 days on! Either my nose is made is brittle china or Milzy does not know his own strength. On a deeper level and if looking at it from an out of body experience this highlighted my still reluctance to firstly be an attacking fighter as I primarily rely on counter attacking. Secondly is the double jeopardy habit of going backwards when under attack and covering up. Going back and watching the videos of the higher level lads in the class they all do what I know I should do; circling and footwork to evade.

Outward arm manipulation from side control: Worked on securing the arm by wrapping as well as looking for it without losing control of his base and simply fighting to gain control of his arm.

Upward shoulder rotation from side control: From control we can start to look for submissions. The worst case scenario is that you don’t get the sub but his arm is now depleted and thus a less effective tool for him. Best case is a submission. If you have control of his arm then take your time with this, rushing will create gaps and errors. When you have wrist control, use the head high knee against his head and same side elbow



This image shows the correct arm position but he appears to be in top control. Now you drag the back of his hand along the mat towards his hip which will put considerable pressure on the elbow and the shoulder. No need to rip it off as he could escape, keep it tight, controlled and precise.

Elbow extension from side control: As he fights to escape by straightening the arm you can now look at the elbow extension. Make sure his elbow is off the floor as this adds to the pressure and the sub will come on a lot quicker.

Switching between the two above: Similarly to the takedowns at the start of the class, these two submissions depend on the energy he is giving you, plus you can switch between the two. Again if they don’t come off, he has a very tired arm.

Striking whilst controlling in side control: To compound his misery you can attack the arm with elbow strikes to do nothing other than cause pain and frustration to him. You can dig the tip of the elbow into the head of the deltoid muscle which will be tense and thus cause lots of pain. Joe and I endeavoured to take the pain but it felt like a reflex reaction to it. Horrible.

Clinch grappling with no grip and eyes closed with Seb and Charlie: Apart from being rag dolled around at will by both Seb and Charlie it showed me the potential of what can be and how devastating the clinch position is when you are in control. Mostly I was defending and defending and trying to keep to their tempo. Both are excellent at changing levels, consistent pressure and constant movement making you second guess and not take the lead.

3 for 3 then 2 for 2 striking with Ivan: Trading movements and strikes, making sure the strikes were linked mechanically and not in isolation susch as 3 jabes.

Free form grappling with Chris: All others did freeform from standing but don’t trust my knee to hold out against the takedowns so started on the ground with Chris.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIGzEs3Mfuw

As you will see there is lots of great stand up going on plus ground work. High quality work from all.

Week 72: One small step for man, one giant leap for me...

4 basic takedown drilling: the single hip capture, double hip capture, single and double leg. When drilling it is important to keep the pressure always on them so they are being controlled by you. Pressure does not mean always forward.

Forearm and bicep suppression (the lion killer)details. We spent a few minutes getting the mechanics down on a kneeling partner:
at least the wrapping arm to get the elbow under the chin by driving the shoulder forward,
arms are relaxed,
other arm with back of hand on the head,
head to head,
turn the muscles on from relaxed and this should enable to technique to finish.

Circling footwork. This was a very specific drill to practise attacking when the partner stops circling away from your rear hand and almost squares up, you can then attack with a crisp flurry.

Freeform grappling: A good hard couple of rounds with Craig and a big fella who likes competitive shooting (sorry for not remembering your name). Worked with Craig on how to transition from bottom and half bottom control to the knees. We also looked at how to not slide over the head when in back control with the person the floor in the turtle position.

Big glove striking: Standing and on the ground. This is the giant leap for me where my fear of receiving and giving head shots began to diminish. Seems like such an odd fear or hang up to have in this sport but it is something that has been lingering deep inside for many years. As I trust Craig I thought I could be brave and perhaps a little bit stupid and not defend all of the head shots, to see them coming and to allow them to come. It was horrible but my mindset was simply what is the worst that could happen? A broken nose? A KO? And if they do happen then what? Well I simply carry on with life, maybe with a few less brain cells but stronger psychologically for overcoming some hardship.

I must thank my caring instructor for not allowing me to nurse my bleeding nose in lieu of the conditioning end to the class. "I don't care if you are bleeding Paul, get yourself over here!" So with my little red Hitler moustache I dragged myself through some proper tough conditioning whilst leaking DNA on the mats.

Week 68: body swaying

Thankfully with a purpose and not in some drug induced metronome fashion. After a warm up from Milzy on a bloody cold night with got down to some clinch drills to increase body temperature in preparation for work to follow.

No grip clinch fighting.
Grip clinch fighting.
Fighting for the single leg. Seb was his usual relentless and effective. I got very tired very quick and managed bugger all. One day Seb, one day...
Fighting for the takedown from the clinch.

Main part of class was looking at using the body sway in striking range as a defensive manoeuvre to trigger an attack from it.
Sway (without moving the feet) out of the way of the head shot and use the returning body motion to attack with. The attacker uses any type of attack to the head.

This drill developed into the sway followed by:
3 hand strikes
Kick off the front leg then 3 strikes. Kick off the front leg as the weight is transferred to the rear leg as the sway happens meaning the leg can be lifted and used to strike with.
Movement now allowed but same idea: defend with body motion and minimal footwork then attack with a combination of up to 5 strikes using any of the 8 limbs.

Aggressive attack posture (always moving forward throwing constant attacks) v standard attack posture (lateral footwork and counter strikes). Did this for several long rounds which really taxed the stamina. Key points are stay relaxed in all motions be they defensive or attacking, control the breathing. First round I worked with Will and second round with Chris where the pressure and pace was more intense. This was the first time that I could move constantly forward and throw attacks. Chris was really good at moving and countering which meant visually my eyes kept squinting so it was good to get used to going forward and into a stream of punches

Ground and pound in bottom control: 2 very tough rounds with both fighters striking, constantly. No holding or submissions allowed.

The main. Class ended with a mad Milzy ab workout which was tremendous.

Post class I grappled with Mishel who is strong, has an excellent base and very aggressive. Then I grappled with Ptas which was nice and to and fro until something in the back of my right knee made a horrible loud pop. Thankfully not too much damage has been done. In addition it was nice to work with and old new face in Phil.

Tonight was a step forward for me to exercise some of the demons from last week. I needed to face some hardship tonight and gladly came out the other side feeling a sense of accomplishment.

Finally some exciting news on the future of promai was talked to us tonight by Lee. More to follow in a few weeks when the all gears are in motion.

PS. Thank you to all the training partners for their patience, guidance and pain

Week 66: session 1 of 2013

Tonight was a mix of drills primarily focussed on the ground. After a good strong warm up from Joe we moved into a 4 station carousel of partner drills.

1: using the wall to escape a ground position. Start in side control and fight to get to the wall and attempt to do what Bisping does best; wall climb and escape. I personally found this incredibly tough from a technical perspective as I had never done it before. I tried to remember and visualise what I have seen happen in the cage with varying degrees of terribleness. Thankfully I enjoyed the challenge.

2: prone heavy bag striking working from all the grounded positions possible.

3: eyes closed free form grappling with no striking but submissions. I really love the eyes closed grappling as it works on feel and helps me to relax more as one stimulus is taken away from me.

4: big gloves free form grappling, no submissions and striking only. Nice to hit in the face again after such a long break.
It was nice to spend lots of time working through these drills.

There was a brief interlude when Seb, who celebrates his birthday this weekend, got a group beating. Happy birthday mate!!

The next part of the session was free form grappling with only one person attempting submissions. When the sub is on we had to tap, the sub was then slightly loosened thus giving us a chance to work out an escape with pressure. I started off with Joe with was great as I had not yet had the pleasure of grappling with him and this is week 66!! Joe was nurturing yet tough so lots to take away from him. Secondly I got Milzy which is another great way to start the new year. Typically tough task master as usual but no so much that I needed to use the Farsi swear word he taught me last year. Finally I got Charlie but we only managed 10 seconds before time was called.

The class was then split. The main group work on stand up into knock down simulation into free form (I think). Me and a few others were asked to work with 4 new lads on takedowns from the knees. The aim being to get anywhere from arse to shoulder on the mat. I began with Pete who I believe has a background in Judo. Nice strong base, aggressive in the clinch and decent balance. Kept working hard too. Next we moved into free form grappling with submissions so I partnered with Dan who has a good centre of gravity and is strong. We rolled well, he had good positional awareness, used his weight well and was tenacious. Hopefully they will continue to come to class.

The final drill was stand up free form. When Lee called ground we then used striking from the knees. This was a fast paced drill in that the length of each round was short. I teamed up with Ivan who is efficient, precise and aggressive.

After class was finished did a few rounds of extra grappling free form with Craig. He is coming on really well. His base, control, positioning, defence and attack. I can no longer take it easy as he nearly caught me several time. Very proud of my mate indeed.

Great session tonight after what feels like the proverbial eternity. My ears are burning hot, my back is sore and my face feels like I have been in the sun all day. No sporting activity can compare.

Week 65: the evolution of MMA

Clinch grappling with strikes
Clinch looking for single leg capture
Clinch with striking looking for the takedown with Lee

Lee's talk about the evolution of MMA from strong style base to strikers to several style components to MMA to the future which maybe be rule breaking in terms of fighting conventions. This was as. A reaction to UFC on FOX whe BJ Penn got mauled by Rory McDonald and Nate Diaz got taught a 5 round lesson by Benson Henderson. Both winners are strong in all areas of MMA and don't come from a traditional martial arts base or core system. They are the future for the next few years. Very impressive to see how the sport is evolving. These are serious professional athletes and thanks the Gods the days of Tank Abbott, Orlando Weit and Mark Coleman are long gone.

Closed eye grappling with Milzy, closed eye grappling with striking eye Craig,

Nate Diaz role play: heavy front foot and long stance attacking with the Stockton slap. The other fighter was moving around, angling away and attacking. I found playing the role of the Diaz style very hard as it was so fixed and prescriptive. It was easily found out last weekend by a top level fighter and strategist.

Stand up rounds with Joe- tips plus rule breaking v regular. Joe gave me some excellent tips with my stand up skills which are 'developing'. When the weight goes on the back foot attack with the front front, use the feet and long step to attack with the hands (in and out), sharper and snappier attacks. Some good pics on Facebook and some prices less tips internalised.

Free form grappling with Milzy: "hit me as hard as you can, I won't hit you too hard". So a black eye later and lots of ineffective attacks on said Iranian it was over. In all seriousness Milzy said the point was too feel the depletion through heavy striking and how quickly the body can knacker.

Conditioning- mat walks and slams, plank superman, heavy bag striking, tenacity drill. Vids on YouTube of the pain and suffering at the end of a tough session.

Week 59: the last 10 seconds

Charlie has a fight coming up so the focus has changed slightly as he is more experienced in the fight game. The session tonight was looking at the last 10 seconds of the round with an eye to entertain the crowd and to try do something high risk in terms of success percentage rate. So tonight we look at lower leg submissions.

Ankle extension:

Starting from an open bottom control position, he has one foot one your hip so this is ankle you are going to attack. Wrap the forearm under the calf as you step up to have both feet close to his hips and as you sit your hips go close to your heels. As you lie back squeeze the knees together and allow the forearm to slide down his leg. You should feel the bridge of his foot against your lat or top of the shoulder. Make sure that forearm bone (radius) is nice and tight and the bottom of the calf muscle. Look behind and over yourself to complete the ankle extension.

We then looked at a defence to this and that is as soon as they start to lie back you need to relax the leg, shoot the foot behind him and sit up by pulling on his neck for anchorage. Maintaining the neck control you can pass to the side or either with a crushing knee on belly control.

Calf compression from side control:

Naturally they should have the cross leg defensive position to prevent your attempts to move to top control and then want to slide the knee into your centre to begin escaping from side control. This is the bait. Allow their knee to come inside, as it does insert your forearm around and behind the knee. An overhook rather than an underhook, a tight one. Now for the tough part. Step over and insert your foot between his legs and close to his hips. It is hard because it require swift dexterity. It also means his leg is tightly wrapped. From here use the forearm bone on the outside of his calf for the pain. 2 days later I still have a 50p coin sized bruise on my calf where Neil successfully closed off his submission attempts.
This is a high risk move because it is a pain only submission as not much will break or tear.

Scissor takedown into ankle extension:

From the standing clinch look to perform a hip throw. If he does not defend then complete the throw. However if he defends by straightening his posture attempt the entertaining. From the hip throw your backside should be against his thigh. Drop to the floor and scissor him down, top leg attacking high and front and the lower leg low and behind. Do not let your lower leg hit the floor. From here you can clasp his leg with your knees and perform the ankle extension as outlined earlier on.

Lots of free form rounds starting standing then to the ground if it went there. I worked with Neil, Edgar, Ptas, Ivan and Angel. Angel gave me the dead leg I still have. A rather juicy knee being the bearer of good news.

Ended the session with a few rounds of grappling with Ptas.

Week 54: Circular movement

As Angel is in preparation for his first fight, all of our training is geared to getting him best sorted for his fight. So tonight was about movement on the feet.

Boxing: Milzy got us started with boxing rounds. Felt good to only focus on one range from a defensive point of view. That boxing lark is a piece of cake…

Kicking: We moved into kicking only and straight away the range becomes greater for obvious reasons. I tried to work the concept from last week of using the round kick to put the body in what the opponent should perceive a s a weak position then launch attacks from there.

Movement away using feet no hands: The point is Lee is showing us why moving back in straight lines is rubbish for so many reasons. When you are not allowed to defend with your hands the feet certainly work much, much harder. Apart from the clear advantages of moving to the closed side of the opponent’s stance, the learning tonight starkly reminded me about not having lazy movement in training. I guess I need to assume that I do not have my hands up protecting the range and that my first defensive movement comes from the feet not closing the arms to protect the head and torso. Obviously having rice paper instead of skin on the soles of my feet this presents some issues; every time we do stand up in class I come away with ripped toes and blistered feet. Perhaps I need to stop being a pedicurist’s nightmare and grow a pair?

Head movement = flat feet so go for the level change: At this point Lee made reference to the fact that if an opponent is moving lots, his head is still on his shoulders and if the head is bobbing and weaving continually then the feet will generally be more planted. Something to be aware of and begin attacking with this in mind too.

Low hands v walking down striker: Initially I thought this was a bonkers idea; to circle away from someone walking you down with quite wild punches and your hands are down. My mind flashed back to Prince Naseem in his glory days throwing punches from his knees. Actually having the hands down offers tremendous freedom and opportunity to attack at the end of their attack.

The following link show Michael Page who fights with great confidence in what appears to be a very dangerous to his health way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m1j7gAE5Ic

On a side note rant, it bothers me greatly that the biggest MMA group in this country is being promoted to a lad audience. UCMMA (formerly Cage Rage) is all a bit too East End for my liking. Has a sleazy feel to it. Stop promoting your fights as if they are in nightclub and develop some class. Anyway, MP, whose Dad I used to train with in the mid-90s has quite incredible movement coupled with self-belief and obvious talent. I believe he has recently signed with Bellator so hope to see him in action stateside soon. It is quite rare to see a fighter use these tactics, is this because he is being creative or silly?

You decide:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0sgfp9KKUo&feature=related

Action starts at 6.50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4awSmJfuhbU&feature=relmfu

Fun and games here start at 3.00

Long step double leg shoot rounds v sprawl: This was tough as we were asked to use a long deep step to cover the distance for the double leg takedown without dropping the front knee down. First key point is changing the level; keep the spine positive, eyes on the opponent and explode.

Assessing opponents stance and tactic: By the end of the lesson my feet were a bloody, in both senses of the word, mess. I sat out whilst Lee took the troops through this drill. Too many fighters at the lower level come out fighting in a chaotic and blitzing manner. Conversely the seasoned pro will stalk, wait and observe when the fight starts. This is what the learning was on. Assess what he is doing. Yes it is a fight but it is not a street fight or a brawl. It is OK to work a strategy and to use your mind as opposed to your face.

Week 52: Long range striking defence and attack

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.

Week 51: Rich Cranny

Tonight we had the privilege to be taught by Lee and Rich Cranny who is the Head instructor for Pro Mai in Australia, PLatinum Extreme.

The focus was on groundwork and instead of my usual detailing of techniques and drills I will just include the learning tips I picked up.

1. Control the head control the body. Face bars are horrible.

2. Posture in grappling: concave spine to control his posture. Side control the pressure drives into the side of the rib cage not planted on top.

3. Pyramid concept of base.

4. Control with the body is much more effective than squeezing with the arms.

Really great session to have two high quality teachers complimenting each other in taking the class. Looking forward to seeing the vids going up on the MMA121 website soon...

Leg suppression (triangle choke) escape

Heard Tito talking it about it on the Joe Rogan podcast. Looking forward to trying it

Week 47: clinch attacks, body shots and leg kicks

Attacking from shoulder control. As he pummels under throw the elbow. Also throw the punch by giving a little more distance. 

Neck control and using knees to thighs then the chest when he moves the legs.

Body shot from long range sparring. Looking to develop the timing and vision to find this attack.

Striking on the ground with big gloves. Limits the gripping potential so forces you to work positional striking.

Round kick then front kick drill. Only allowed to defend with footwork. Round kicks attacking the upper legs and front kicks at the torso.

Ended with conditioning: 10 count press ups, seal press ups, press up wrestling finishing with lying banana holds.

Week 43: centre control

3 escapes from side control.

1: elbow to knee to creat space and get to shin in ground control. Wrap other leg around their back and manipulate your hips to recover to full ground control.
2: lower hand drives and squeezes through his armpit gap and get double shoulder control. As you hip up and drive extend the scooped arm and roll him over.
3: pin his head high knee by placing your elbow on the floor and trying to squeeze it to your own hip. Manipulate your body so to elongate and narrow his base. Bridge and roll him over into side control.

Centre control detail:

soles of the feet touching right near his arse, spine long and slightly concave, head higher than his, arms out wide as if free falling and just off the floor. This will put tremendous pressure on his torso. Feet are in tight as this prevents him from really being able to use them to escape the position. Hands out wide to counter any bridging he attempts. Chest relaxed and pressing down on his face. The hands and forearms can be used to re-centre his head under you chest.
Having all this simple detail was something of another revelation tonight. 3 years of BJJ and never was this position and how to maintain it fully explained. It was a position I used to loose as quickly as I found it. With this new learning tonight I know that I will be much more aware of the key points of staying in this position longer with more control and more attacking options. Normally I a, not a fan of hyperbole but this learning tonight has had a significant effect on me. Should one person read this blog and come to training because of it then it must be due to the high quality teaching. Being a teacher myself I have trained in the past with many questionable teachers in martial arts. All were very good at their particular skills but none as capable as Lee at imparting said knowledge. This is why I am never bored, never plateauing or never not learning. 

Next we practised simply riding in and maintaining this position. Person underneath gives plenty of pressure. Remarkable learning curve tonight.

Upward and downward shoulder rotation.

We looked at both these positions from centre control then transitioning into side control to complete the submission.
From centre control if his arms come high to the head then attack with upward shoulder rotation, if he looks to control your posture with under hooks then look for the downward shoulder rotation. The key point of learning for me tonight was the angle of the arm under. I discovered by practise and observation that it needs to be nearer the elbow than the shoulder for tight and effective results.

Small glove freedom sparring on the ground with strikes (eyes closed). First murdered by Milzy who opened with the joyful question "you have not an interview tomorrow?" meaning my face was in for a pounding. It was. 

Big glove continual striking v grappling.

Big glove to keep constant pressure through striking and grappler can position. The drill is designed to give the grappler lots of pressure and opportunities for submissions. I was working with Craig and please so say ow well his ground game is coming along.

Top quality session tonight. The centre control detail has been a tremendous revelation.

Week 24: ground and pound

After the usual exercise we got warmed up with a nice clinching drill. The aim was to secure double under hooks.

Then the real fun started, ground and pound training. One person in bottom control and both people are striking. Person on the top could not pass. Bottom controller was allowed to use legs in any way and set up submissions but not complete. This first several rounds were with big gloves. Was good hard training? Mishael almost managed to remove my face from my head with a left hand from hell to the right cheek bone.

We also did the same drill but with the small gloves and were more observant of contact.

Following this we looked at striker versus grappler in ground fighting. This really did limit the striker even though they had to continually strike from all angles. It did mean there had to be some creativity with parts of the body used to strike plus targets searched for. For the second time tonight I almost lost my face thanks to a meaty knee from Tom in transition of movement.

Final drill of the night was looking at options when going for the arm extension and they escape by pulling out and stacking. The end point was a the leg and shoulder suppression. The interesting details were how this transition was achieved. As the pull out and turn towards you squeeze the heels together and into his back, maintain wrist control too. This leg control is a powerful form of control. Keep the legs controlling his spine and posture, loosen the hand control a little so one can be pulled out and likely posted on the floor. As soon as posted attack with leg and shoulder suppression. With initial control you can apply an arm extension as squeezing his spine with your legs.

Strength and conditioning:
Neck: on belly with partner on your back. They push the head down for 10 as you lift it, then hands on the forehead and pull up for 10 as you look to put it back on the matt. Next they push against an ear for 10 then on the other side. Did 2 rounds of this.

Tricep burner: 10 cobra push ups with partner on your back and over the top of the head. First 9 went down with a 4 count, last one went down with a 10 count.

1 1/2 laps of hall 5 sprawls, 1 1/2 lap of hall a 10 strike combination. Did about 5 rounds of this.

Push ups

Sit ups with 2-6 punches at the apex.

Good hard and honest session as usual.

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.

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.