Activity-led training - footwork (diary entry)

16.11.13

As with my students last Monday, we worked on the slip and the roll, looking at how the single principle can be applied in various different tactics. It is my premise that the more principle-centred a student is the easier they can transition through various techniques, ranges and systems. As I have often said, we tend to be too technique focused and look at only the most superficial aspect of a technique rather than what is behind its correct execution.

We began with slipping and this immediately high-lighted the issue regarding footwork. I feel that footwork, like many actions in martial arts, is taught in too abstract a fashion. It is not that I am against having students perform line-work, agility drills or plain warming up using various footwork movements – I encourage it as part of my training – it is more that I feel students don’t learn the direct relevance enough. My teaching has always been activity-led. I feel the challenge for the coach or teacher is to design activities that promote better behaviours that can develop into more effective techniques. This is an approach that is derived from the way a lot of animal training is undertaken. Certain points are then reinforced using various exercises. These are found in my “Hierarchy of Training” headings, specific training, attribute training and functional fitness.

In this instance a good understanding of positioning and targeting enabled my client to move better. My regular theme of angling, coming in at a rough right angle, came to the fore. We looked at slipping a jab with a jab and then hitting with an overhand right or left (my client was southpaw). The overhand punch was then substituted with a kick. It was interesting to see how incorrect footwork was highlighted more by the kick than the punch.

Being a good judo black belt, my client was able to then take the whole principle of this combination over into a set-up for a throw. The jab becomes a grab and push, sometimes luring an opponent to push back, setting him up for the angled footwork that led to a throw off the opposite side. I then applied it to a clinch situation, shoving an opponent with the lead hand and then attacking with an under-hook on the opposite side.

We then covered the rolling material I used during my general and private lesson on Monday. We looked at encouraging the short bobbing motion and then the hooking counter-attack. The famous boxing coach, Cus D’amato, trained his protégés to look for openings immediately when an attack was thrown. He turned an effective defensive into a devastation counter-attack. It is my intention to cut down the time when defending. I want my fighter to consider the repositioning and counter-attack to be as important as avoiding their opponent’s attack. So, being activity led, I had my client bob up close to their opponent’s shoulder each time. This was then transferred over into the arm-triangle/clinch and takedown. We also use the movement as an entry into a sit-through to a shoulder lock or back mount.

At my client’s request we covered some basics on the butterfly guard. This was mainly down to keeping a strong core and breaking the opponent’s base. We also covered sweeping and taking the back. 

Setting up the butterfly guard for gi

Duck under arm triangle

Butterfly guard master, Marcelo Garcia. Dealing with more aggressive opponents: