General Lesson
Today we looked at distinctions between self-defence and combat sport training. Confusion and debate rain over what makes these two areas different and whether or not there are any really essential differences. I believe there are fundamental differences, but most people miss these and get wound up in the rules debate. I believe the main difference is set by objectives, which then determine the dynamic. A self-defence fight, at least in a high-risk civilian situation, is usually an asymmetrical conflict consisting of an assault and a counter-assualt. A combat sport fight is a symmetrical conflict with both fighters trying to dominate each other.
A training approach that has ended being called “The Switch” by CCMA students demonstrates a clear way for students to acknowledge the change in dynamic. The exercise entails one fighter and multiple coaches holding focus mitts. Self-defence is first covered. The student is attacked all at once with the focus mitts, encouraging a cover response and he is encouraged to strike a pair of pads, turning to strike whoever is nearest to him and striking. He is made to continue his counter-attack from all manner of postures. The exercise encourages good footwork to minimize the number of multiple attackers and also ot flow between striking and covering. The sporting version has the fighter hit the targets of one coach, get tagged by another whereby he then faces him. This teaches angles of attack. Typically a padman is holding his targets square on. By bringing in more padmen the fighter learns to attack and defend at angles.
When both exercises have been completed, the fighter then faces “The Switch”. This is when the coaches call changes from self-defence to sport and back again. The objective here is for the student to seemless change and adapt to a situation. I have seen how common it is for martial artists to become fixed in a particular style when they cross-training, finding it difficult to readjust. Teaching quick changes in objective is an area that should be explored more thoroughly when you train in more than one system or for more than one objective.
The second half of the lesson was made up of different types of sparring. We had a few rounds of kickboxing with students restricted to a small space. Then we did a few rounds of wrestling. The lesson was finished with some guard-passing.
Private Lesson
My two clients returned after a month’s hiatus for the first of a twice-a-week block booking. We decided to go back over their self-defence training and I was happy that everything they had been taught had been retained. It was now a question of refining the various basic skills.
The lesson began with a combination of specific cardiovascular exercises and muscle activation exercises. Taking turns as a coach, they used the focus mitts to train the fence for straight hand strikes and hook hand strikes. These were then taught from restrictive positions to enhance striking power and then in transition. We then completed some reactive exercises. This included the cover and anti-grappling. The lesson was finished with the introduction of strangles – “The rear naked choke”.
Please book your tickets for The Martial Arts Expo. CCMA are hosting a free one hour workshop 2:15 - 3:15 on Saturday 19th October 2013.
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