Clubb Chimera Martial Arts : CCMA

Juniors

lead hook punch

The stand-up section continued again today, but this time we mixed it with the clinch range too. Taking a cue from my recent training with the Trojan Gym in Cheltenham I had the class work their hand.

I also drew a connection with the way the fence’s “sensory tentacle” works. When you use the fence at the pre-fight stage of a conflict you often use one hand to sense the physical intentions of a possible attacker. You can, of course, turn this hand into a striking tool as often taught in the more stylized Jeet Kune Do schools, but it is generally harder for a novice to grasp this concept. The sensory hand – the lead hand -  in a self defence situation is often better served as a means for referencing a target or controlling it in order to use the rear hand to do the striking. This approach is much more in line with a human being’s natural tool using behaviour – one hand references or steadies the target whilst the other saws or hammers with the tool-bearing hand. Holding and hitting is the most primal and arguably most efficient method to use at the in-fight stage.

Nevertheless, our subject area was the stand-up stage of MMA. We began with back and forth jabbing and catching. Next we did attack and defence with a jab and lead hand hooking. After this the class sparred restricted to just the lead hand.

I then looked at the first WCA kickboxing combination of jab/rear kick to bring in the kicking element as well as a back leg technique. To bring in grappling or the clinch range and a counter to the jab I introduced slipping and the double leg takedown. The class was then finished with three rounds of MMA sparring.

Seniors

Taking a break from the whole high percentage technique warm-up we looked at fighting through different postures. Movement is very crucial here and an often neglected part of martial arts and self defence training. It was also a good opportunity to teach several ways to work simple principles.

We began with the specific warm-up, where these movements can be introduced and are best remembered. Rather than doing these on the spot this warm-up was done on the move starting with the walking exercise, moving into shifting footwork, striding and then onto butterfly guard movement, snaking, tiger crawls, frog leaps and sit-throughs. These all have applications in different postures. The partner drills covered the fence and then the cover against forward pressure.

When it came to the ground movement I looked at few ways to train this area. Ground defence is all too often done against single attackers and in a very forgiving matted area. Nevertheless, the butterfly guard position is a very natural and egernomically sound position to fight from. Babies, before they have developed their muscles suffiecently enough to walk, demonstrate to us how dextrous and mobile we can be on the ground regardless of the surface. We put this to the test with a two-on-one pad drill done off the mats. Both pad-holders continually feed and provided targets for the person fighting on the ground. Next I showed a simple exercise for strengthening the forward snaking structure when moving. One person hooks their feet on the backs of a standing partner who walks backwards.

I felt it was important to look at the context of this training. When doing the two-on-one drill it could be argued that the person the ground should be doing everything they can to get to their feet rather than seeking targets and moving around their enemies. However, sometimes – and more often than one might not think – obstacles may have to overcome before you can get to this position. Although fighting on the ground should be ideally avoided and if on the ground the primary objective must be to get to your feet, this means little if don’t have a strong method for getting from the ground to getting to your feet. The butterfly position is a good area to explore in research a strong structure on the ground.

We continued fighting from the back with a simple snaking backwards against a partner feeding and providing targets with focus mitts. This exercise teaches you to keep moving and to keep attacking and defending all the way.

Finally we looked at simple movement to take the back whilst on your hands and knees. This comes from the sit-through movement, which can also be an effective attacking move that turns into the alligator roll and the anaconda choke.

All these movements can be done alone as part of a full on exercise routine. They can also be trained against resistance bands and with other pieces of apparatus to help further strengthen the correct muscle groups. “Repetition is the mother of skill” as they say and rather than just getting a good sweat and feel the cardiovascular benefits of working these exercises to a high intensity the student will help feed muscle memory, making them more efficient in the execution of these various fundamental principles. This should always be the objective of any person who trains to be good at their field of activity. Fitness is just the byproduct. We are training to be fit for a set purpose. Anything else is just wasting time.

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