Clubb Chimera Martial Arts : CCMA

Junior

The warm-up continued the chase/escape theme from last week. They ran with the incentive of being chased, then in all different directions to promote agility and then multiple-tag with those who are tagged having to sit out. They then had a brief interval of footwork drills – blitzing, side stepping, jab/cross/sprawl backwards, 45 degree stepping, crawling forwards, sideways and backwards, and snaking (shrimping) forward, sideways and backwards. Next they lay around in a circle with one person chasing another until he either tagged him to make him the chaser or the person being chased tagged one of those lying down as a replacement.

We focused on stand-up grappling today, first addressing its place as a support system and then going through some primal positions. The most primal of all grappling holds is undeniably the side headlock. We looked at its correct application and easy counters. Then we covered the lowline attack with the double leg takedown. This was followed by some stand-up to ground grappling sparring. It was a more technique-led approach today, but this is necessary in order to make progress in this particular area of study. We finished the class with some breathing exercises as part of the warm-down.

Senior

We had a more sparring orientated/cross-training class tonight before discussing personal areas for development. After a movement orientated warm-up with footwork, crawls and snaking around the gym we did some two-on-one pad work. This included transitioning from ranges – moving on the feet, knees, backside and back whilst covering and striking. Then it was straight into sparring.

We focused on the three ranges of mixed martial arts for two rounds a piece. This began with stand-up or muay Thai, then clinch-work or wrestling and finally groundwork or submission grappling. Afterwards we went through attacking the back; a technical area one student did not feel confident with.

Discussion: Functional Fitenss. I think I need to separate my “Hierarchy of Training” into specialised articles focusing on “Specific Training”, “Attribute/Cross Training” and “Functional Fitness”. On the topic of Functional Fitness I made the point that sessions need to be divided up into areas like stamina, agility, power, stability and so on rather than the conventional bodybuilding driven way of focusing on different bodyparts.