Take down and pin to back from knees. Very good fun and gets the heart rate up very quickly. I was looking to use the arm drag and elbow control to secure position and dominance and that worked for a few rounds then I went with Lee. Straight away his posture was bigger and more dominant which put me on the back foot immediately. He also employed a variety of paces and fast messy fakes to draw motion and reaction.
The main part of the class was experimenting with creativity and failure. In my proper job I am a teacher and this is something I strive for my students to experience primarily in learning. I try to use this as a way to deliver content and curriculum. I want to build the confidence to fail and learn, to build resilience and creativity, to ask more questions than you can answer. Then true high quality learning can take place. But fear of failure and criticism of self by others is a great obstacle to people in my profession reaching their potential. I see too many people, adults, who seem to know it all already, who have an answer, who want to talk but do not want to listen. This parallels my experience in martial arts. Fear of loosing students, face or control lead to stagnation and denial. How many pictures have you seen in martial arts mags of 7th dan masters who can't see their toes for their fat belly? Who have not tested their great wisdom against an uncooperative opponent in sparring? What message is this portraying other than bullshit? I guess it is because people want to belong to a team, a group or a community and then spend the rest of their existence supporting said institution. No matter how culty and ridiculous their methods and message are.
Thankfully the creators, I should say innovators, at PROMAI are forward looking and constantly evolving. Perhaps this is the true essence of the idea, not the style, that was labelled as Jeet Kune Do. Absorb what is useful and reject what is not. Shame it became a style but the idea still rings true 50 years on: explore, investigate, create, test, refine. And definitely not follow blindly, stagnate or kowtow down to the martial deity.
And so the ideas we explored tonight were on pieces of paper that were randomly shuffled and turned over. Some were completely alien as technique partners and others felt more comfortable and known. That was the whole point; go slow and explore and experience lots of failure. At least then you will have a greater understanding of why something does and does not apply to certain conditions.
Side kick and side control
Bottom control outward strike
Body clinch downward shoulder rotation
Long range inner forearm choke
Neck and wrist control elbow extension
My biggest failing last night was my lack of desire to demonstrate my failure to my class mates. Too busy being concerned about being unknowingly judged on a public platform. Which what I get kids in my class to do all the time and praise for their effort. Will endeavour to attach less importance to this in the future.
Big glove MMA rounds
Small glove sparring ground with Craig. Video is up on YouTube and Facebook dated 22/11/12.
Getting slightly better at striking for submission openings. Not in terms of success but in terms of strike volume. Striking was heavier than last week and beginning to attack other large muscle areas of the body such as the lats, thighs and traps.
Feel very old for a day or two after every session and only wish I had begun his MMA journey earlier in my life, not because I would be better than I am now but more comfortable with the experience of it all. But it s the journey and the process that is of prime significance not the destination .
One final note, in post class chatting to Ptas and Arial we discovered how much weight Arial has lost since training at the start of the year. Something remarkable like 40kgs. A tremendous example of what hard work and sweat can do. A tough lesson for many of the lazy bastards who talk about wanting transformation but only if they can sit on their arse watching shite on their big tele. By the way my weakness is my sweet tooth kicking in post 8pm every day. That is a tough demon to control.
Strength and honour.
Friday, 23 November 2012
Thursday, 15 November 2012
Week 61: GSP's front leg
Warm up: standing grappling looking for the single leg capture. Nice chance to get the neck and head warmed up by using them as another control limb. Had several rounds and fun with Sami who exchanged more faster paced and level changing work.
With the GSP v Conduit fight this weekend the theme was more off curriculum and a focus on the high quality foundational skills of GSP.
Elbow extension: GSP's first loss was this against Matt Hughes. GSP was looking for a downward shoulder rotation from half guard, Hughes put pressure on the torso, slid his leg out and spun around the head into elbow extension. This was our first drill tonight. This is one of the things I absolutely love about MMA. Everything has a counter and nothing is 100% certain to work. If only other martial arts could embrace this philosophy and honesty then there would be a ton less bullshit in the world.
I used to train with one instructor who when asked, "What happens when the fight goes to the ground?" He simply and arrogantly replied with "I have not taught you right". Clearly implying that his anti grapple-wrestle-rugby tackle methods were bullet proof. Shame he never put them to the test. In addition I used to train in Croydon on Wednesday mornings in the mid 90s (life at uni affords such time freedoms) and the space we used was owned by a huge karate teacher. Over the years his girth began to match his height. I had a casual martial arts chat with him and asked about ground fighting and also confidently said that none of his fights have ever gone there. Now either this guy is a Jedi or never been under pressure. I used to be a massive boxing fan in the 90s and in all boxing matches there is some rudimentary type of stand up grappling to punch from a better position whilst tying up your opponents hands. I guess my mini rant is the baffling nature of traditional martial artists who do not want to look out of their comfort zones yet seem to know better without practical experience.
We then looked using the jab to get in and out with sound footwork. Keep the rear arm tight and the front arm long, relaxed and moving. Feet move first followed by a fast jab then back out again either backwards or angling. As the drill round progressed the added bonus of throwing 2 punches after their jab was used to make sure they were moving their feet and thus torso back to safety. I found this simplest of actions quite hard as my legs were a little slow in retreating. However I did find that angling better suited my body/brain rather than straight back. Practise, practise, practise... This drill was also a good opportunity to be a punch bag and get hit by seeing the punch and trying not to react away or close the eyes.
Double leg takedown using jab footwork. And looked at the 3 types depending on what energy the opponent gives us.
1: the turning and lifting wheel type.
2: the straight drive type by pulling his leg between your legs as we drive with the shoulder. (This is where we spent our time practising).
3: the sweeping type.
Our target as fighters is to be aware of the angle and pressure and disrupt the base of our opponent using these attacks. Indeed there is a myriad of other attacks at this range but I think the point tonight was about what can happen in terms of fundamentals from the front leg.
A quick drill Lee had us then do was a chaining of numbers 1 and 2 in blocks of four. It helped to practise keeping the head in the right position and have them continually off balance. I was working with Ptas who gave excellent feedback; my left hand kept creeping up to the hip from the knee.
Finally we looked at the spinning side kick from the initial jab footwork. Plant and turn the heel to face the opponent and side kick! Turn to far to short then you will miss.
Ended with a really big ground free form with Craig.
Driving home Craig and I had our usual post match press conference. I came to the realisation about my fears on the feet as opposed to the ground. I am scared of stand up as I can't predict what will happen to me when hit; falling down, too much of my body to protect. I prefer fighting on the ground, with heavy contact, to the stand up as I have no where to fall and the targets are usually less. Yet when I watch the video above and see Milzy and Sami or even anyone in the class they all seem nice and relaxed, move fluidly in attack and defence. This is my target; to transfer the confidence on the ground to stand up phase fighting. And this is why I love learning because it is hard, it is a process and a journey. I hope I never get to the destination because what will I do then?
With the GSP v Conduit fight this weekend the theme was more off curriculum and a focus on the high quality foundational skills of GSP.
Elbow extension: GSP's first loss was this against Matt Hughes. GSP was looking for a downward shoulder rotation from half guard, Hughes put pressure on the torso, slid his leg out and spun around the head into elbow extension. This was our first drill tonight. This is one of the things I absolutely love about MMA. Everything has a counter and nothing is 100% certain to work. If only other martial arts could embrace this philosophy and honesty then there would be a ton less bullshit in the world.
I used to train with one instructor who when asked, "What happens when the fight goes to the ground?" He simply and arrogantly replied with "I have not taught you right". Clearly implying that his anti grapple-wrestle-rugby tackle methods were bullet proof. Shame he never put them to the test. In addition I used to train in Croydon on Wednesday mornings in the mid 90s (life at uni affords such time freedoms) and the space we used was owned by a huge karate teacher. Over the years his girth began to match his height. I had a casual martial arts chat with him and asked about ground fighting and also confidently said that none of his fights have ever gone there. Now either this guy is a Jedi or never been under pressure. I used to be a massive boxing fan in the 90s and in all boxing matches there is some rudimentary type of stand up grappling to punch from a better position whilst tying up your opponents hands. I guess my mini rant is the baffling nature of traditional martial artists who do not want to look out of their comfort zones yet seem to know better without practical experience.
We then looked using the jab to get in and out with sound footwork. Keep the rear arm tight and the front arm long, relaxed and moving. Feet move first followed by a fast jab then back out again either backwards or angling. As the drill round progressed the added bonus of throwing 2 punches after their jab was used to make sure they were moving their feet and thus torso back to safety. I found this simplest of actions quite hard as my legs were a little slow in retreating. However I did find that angling better suited my body/brain rather than straight back. Practise, practise, practise... This drill was also a good opportunity to be a punch bag and get hit by seeing the punch and trying not to react away or close the eyes.
Double leg takedown using jab footwork. And looked at the 3 types depending on what energy the opponent gives us.
1: the turning and lifting wheel type.
2: the straight drive type by pulling his leg between your legs as we drive with the shoulder. (This is where we spent our time practising).
3: the sweeping type.
Our target as fighters is to be aware of the angle and pressure and disrupt the base of our opponent using these attacks. Indeed there is a myriad of other attacks at this range but I think the point tonight was about what can happen in terms of fundamentals from the front leg.
A quick drill Lee had us then do was a chaining of numbers 1 and 2 in blocks of four. It helped to practise keeping the head in the right position and have them continually off balance. I was working with Ptas who gave excellent feedback; my left hand kept creeping up to the hip from the knee.
Finally we looked at the spinning side kick from the initial jab footwork. Plant and turn the heel to face the opponent and side kick! Turn to far to short then you will miss.
Ended with a really big ground free form with Craig.
Driving home Craig and I had our usual post match press conference. I came to the realisation about my fears on the feet as opposed to the ground. I am scared of stand up as I can't predict what will happen to me when hit; falling down, too much of my body to protect. I prefer fighting on the ground, with heavy contact, to the stand up as I have no where to fall and the targets are usually less. Yet when I watch the video above and see Milzy and Sami or even anyone in the class they all seem nice and relaxed, move fluidly in attack and defence. This is my target; to transfer the confidence on the ground to stand up phase fighting. And this is why I love learning because it is hard, it is a process and a journey. I hope I never get to the destination because what will I do then?
Week 60: MMA rounds
Bear hug clinch warm up
Ground defensive defending
MMA rounds with stare down into free form rounds with key words and breathing
MMA rounds with prescribed tactics at medium pace, agreesive or technical, standing or ground
MMA rounds grappling
Grappling with Ptas
Saturday, 27 October 2012
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.
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 58: downward shoulder rotation series
Been excited for a few days before this class as it is ground and sparring, seems like ages since I have been to this type of class.
Double leg shoot and lift: Great warm up drill for practising the correct head and face posture without the danger of being hit.
Side control escape. Nice drill to recover bottom control and get the hips moving. Working with Craig whose side control is getting more fluid and stable.
Side to top to side control to side. Time to be creative with passes from side to top. Tried to use knee on belly and invert side control to control the base to move through the positions. Really tough as soon as they pull half guard you are done and it was their turn
Downward shoulder rotation series
From side control, from bottom control, into elbow extension, hip facing elbow = dsr, hips facing back of the elbow = extension
Free form rounds with Craig, Ivan, Vlad and Milzy.
Conditioning: punches and kicks, bear walks, crab walks, sit up double punch and double elbow.
Double leg shoot and lift: Great warm up drill for practising the correct head and face posture without the danger of being hit.
Side control escape. Nice drill to recover bottom control and get the hips moving. Working with Craig whose side control is getting more fluid and stable.
Side to top to side control to side. Time to be creative with passes from side to top. Tried to use knee on belly and invert side control to control the base to move through the positions. Really tough as soon as they pull half guard you are done and it was their turn
Downward shoulder rotation series
From side control, from bottom control, into elbow extension, hip facing elbow = dsr, hips facing back of the elbow = extension
Free form rounds with Craig, Ivan, Vlad and Milzy.
Conditioning: punches and kicks, bear walks, crab walks, sit up double punch and double elbow.
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Week 57: clinch and takedown
Creative warm up led by Joe including some partner body work drills such as piggy back squats, calf raises and torturous squats to jumping knee repetitions.
Head control into inner forearm choke. Worked on this section with Joe who rightly chastised me on my first go as the gap between my torso and his was cavernous. So with head control (primary grip) and with the tricep (secondary grip), feet inside his base I put the wrong arm into the choke. What again Joe pulled me up on was to use the secondary grip to use as the choking arm. I assume as this maintains better control of the opponent. In securing the choke from standing we take a both palms facing the torso grip at the wrists and stack the top forearm over his shoulder and onto his back and move your shoulder, arm under neck side, towards the wrist to close the choke.
Defence against inner forearm choke: first job is to look up and get the spine positive and drive up. Failing that, turn your face towards him. As Lee put it, “Sniff his side”. This releases the neck slightly and will mean he will need to go to option B, details to follow. As the head turns to face him, drop your level and try to take side control and snake the front arm behind his knee. From here you can lift quite effortlessly and spin into a slamming takedown.
Now if you are the attacker and he defends with the above head turn then keep turning with him, release the top hand so that it comes under as if to make an isosceles triangle. Lee made reference to this is how Machida was finished on his feet by Jon Jones earlier this year. I have made reference to this in a previous post as Rogan called this a power guillotine. Getting the elbows together really closes the choke off quickly and painfully.
Small gloves clinch phase fighting. We did this for several rounds. I got Lee last as well as pummelling. His striking and control was simultaneous whereas I was too busy trying to recover a decent posture. The lesson was the striking opens up chances to clinch and control and this to land even more effective strikes. It felt like a constant barrage of knees as my head was being ragged around and punches to keep the body in defensive movement. Finally it was friggin tiring. If your partner selects the tempo and is it is a high work rate then that is mentally very tough as there is no time to settle and get your bearings. I guess this is why fighters such as Nick Diaz, Michael Bisping, Frankie Edgar and Clay Guida are so successful s they give the opponents no time to settle into their game plan. After all it is a fight not a gentlemen’s duel from eighteenth century France.
Big gloves time: One partner simply hunts the other down with the double leg takedown shoot keeping the eyes up on the opponent and the elbows in tight to the ribs. Stander simply throws leather at the head. Round 1 I was rubbish; tense in the neck, eyes all over the place, flinching. But in the following rounds I realised I was not made of glass and built in confidence. Actually enjoyed it towards the end.
Not sure what else happened at the end of the session other than some tough strength and conditioning work; utkatasana (chair pose) from standing into squat and back up, various counts in push ups, core battering etc.
Really missed training last week so came away with a heightened sense of enjoyment. 2 days later my right ear hole still looks like the Bat Cave.
Head control into inner forearm choke. Worked on this section with Joe who rightly chastised me on my first go as the gap between my torso and his was cavernous. So with head control (primary grip) and with the tricep (secondary grip), feet inside his base I put the wrong arm into the choke. What again Joe pulled me up on was to use the secondary grip to use as the choking arm. I assume as this maintains better control of the opponent. In securing the choke from standing we take a both palms facing the torso grip at the wrists and stack the top forearm over his shoulder and onto his back and move your shoulder, arm under neck side, towards the wrist to close the choke.
Defence against inner forearm choke: first job is to look up and get the spine positive and drive up. Failing that, turn your face towards him. As Lee put it, “Sniff his side”. This releases the neck slightly and will mean he will need to go to option B, details to follow. As the head turns to face him, drop your level and try to take side control and snake the front arm behind his knee. From here you can lift quite effortlessly and spin into a slamming takedown.
Now if you are the attacker and he defends with the above head turn then keep turning with him, release the top hand so that it comes under as if to make an isosceles triangle. Lee made reference to this is how Machida was finished on his feet by Jon Jones earlier this year. I have made reference to this in a previous post as Rogan called this a power guillotine. Getting the elbows together really closes the choke off quickly and painfully.
Small gloves clinch phase fighting. We did this for several rounds. I got Lee last as well as pummelling. His striking and control was simultaneous whereas I was too busy trying to recover a decent posture. The lesson was the striking opens up chances to clinch and control and this to land even more effective strikes. It felt like a constant barrage of knees as my head was being ragged around and punches to keep the body in defensive movement. Finally it was friggin tiring. If your partner selects the tempo and is it is a high work rate then that is mentally very tough as there is no time to settle and get your bearings. I guess this is why fighters such as Nick Diaz, Michael Bisping, Frankie Edgar and Clay Guida are so successful s they give the opponents no time to settle into their game plan. After all it is a fight not a gentlemen’s duel from eighteenth century France.
Big gloves time: One partner simply hunts the other down with the double leg takedown shoot keeping the eyes up on the opponent and the elbows in tight to the ribs. Stander simply throws leather at the head. Round 1 I was rubbish; tense in the neck, eyes all over the place, flinching. But in the following rounds I realised I was not made of glass and built in confidence. Actually enjoyed it towards the end.
Not sure what else happened at the end of the session other than some tough strength and conditioning work; utkatasana (chair pose) from standing into squat and back up, various counts in push ups, core battering etc.
Really missed training last week so came away with a heightened sense of enjoyment. 2 days later my right ear hole still looks like the Bat Cave.
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Week 56. Angel fight prep
Got warmed up with the following drills: clinch and takedown; no grip clinch and takedown.
Fist main part of learning was looking for the double leg takedown inside the opponent’s guard. Head needs to go on the belly between his elbows rather than on the outside of his torso. We worked on taking a long step and getting the ear on his belly. In some ways this is an emergency technique and good for when you are under striking pressure as a go to. The hands go on the backs of the knees but should not clasp the knees together. Instead think of continuing your forward motion and sweeping the legs out of the way. If you stop, as I did repeatedly, and then try to lift, scoop or move then the technique is much less effective. Your motion is key to this working more effortlessly and effectively.
Time for the big gloves and the phone box drill. Worked with a variety of partners exchanging blows, sometimes covered and other times not. Lee emphasised the importance of relation in the neck and shoulders. Roll with the strikes but also become more desensitised to seeing and taking them. Flinch response is a hard one to fix so the more we get used to realising we are not made of glass (quote attributed to Pete Brown) then the more we can soften those muscles of the neck and shoulders and become more effective attackers and defenders.
The drill evolved into open and closed. Closed in the phone box and open at regular free form range. Lee called open and closed at we had to assume the appropriate range.
Free form with Seb: Standing and on the ground. Painful, tough and hard as usual but getting better at moving both on my feet and on the ground.
Key words and stare down into free form rounds. Mine were and are focus and movement.
Angel’s round: In prep for his fight next weekend he did 5 rounds with Pete, Sammy, Milzy, Seb then Pete again. Videos are on YouTube on his hard work.
Fist main part of learning was looking for the double leg takedown inside the opponent’s guard. Head needs to go on the belly between his elbows rather than on the outside of his torso. We worked on taking a long step and getting the ear on his belly. In some ways this is an emergency technique and good for when you are under striking pressure as a go to. The hands go on the backs of the knees but should not clasp the knees together. Instead think of continuing your forward motion and sweeping the legs out of the way. If you stop, as I did repeatedly, and then try to lift, scoop or move then the technique is much less effective. Your motion is key to this working more effortlessly and effectively.
Time for the big gloves and the phone box drill. Worked with a variety of partners exchanging blows, sometimes covered and other times not. Lee emphasised the importance of relation in the neck and shoulders. Roll with the strikes but also become more desensitised to seeing and taking them. Flinch response is a hard one to fix so the more we get used to realising we are not made of glass (quote attributed to Pete Brown) then the more we can soften those muscles of the neck and shoulders and become more effective attackers and defenders.
The drill evolved into open and closed. Closed in the phone box and open at regular free form range. Lee called open and closed at we had to assume the appropriate range.
Free form with Seb: Standing and on the ground. Painful, tough and hard as usual but getting better at moving both on my feet and on the ground.
Key words and stare down into free form rounds. Mine were and are focus and movement.
Angel’s round: In prep for his fight next weekend he did 5 rounds with Pete, Sammy, Milzy, Seb then Pete again. Videos are on YouTube on his hard work.
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