Back in Action (diary entry)

05.01.12

Our first session back after the Christmas break and time to check the rust! Today’s session was fairly comprehensive, beginning with self-defence and then moving onto MMA with a sufficient overlap at the transitional stage.

We began with a quick regular warm-up of specific cardiovascular exercises. Then we moved straight onto some partner work. It began with a revision of basic fence principles as a warm-up/memory retention exercise. One student kept moving into the other’s space whilst the other struck once contact was made with his outstretched arm. It was done a little faster than normal with the attacking student also using a cover as he went in to get some defence training in as well. The exercise can keep the heartrate up and is designed to reduce hesitation, refining the physical response. I find that students can easily get too caught up with the behavioural psychology side of the fence. Although important, you can waste time and over-complicate matters if you become too involved with verbal prompts and hand gestures. I think it is better that the student uses the physical prompt as his baseline, therefore understanding the issue of protecting personal space, and learns to not hesitate once his space is being invaded.

Going with the cover, we did an all against one circle drill with the focus mitts. The middle person covered and attacked the pad-person he sensed was the biggest threat. The person then switched from one attack to another as each pad-holder piled on progressive pressure. The student also performed his counter-attacks from rapidly changing postures – kneeling, on their back and standing.

Keeping the circle theme going, we did our familiar takedown exercise. One student is engaged by any student coming from the circle at around 50% pressure and has to take the person down. As previously explained, the purpose of this drill is to revise and practice takedowns with a degree of resistance, responding to the size and tactics of the attacker, as opposed to simply performing a set takedown. However, it is not a pressure test or specific sparring, which serves a different purpose. Clarification – define purpose and design the exercise accordingly.

We then did some guard passing sparring for a few rounds before moving onto some more technical stuff. This started with a stand-up transition to clinch – jab/low kick/neck-tie clinch/knee. After this we looked at the v-step, moving the opponent off-balance and coupling this with a strike – knee or a hooking strike. Still using the v-step principle, we looked at sweeping opportunities.

The lesson finished with an intensive series of specific exercises – squat/kick, snaking on the spot, bridging on the spot, triangle crunches, running punching, press-up punching, sprawl/sit-throughs and sprawl/knee strikes.