Today’s lesson was designed to provide a sneak preview of my combat grappling seminar. The student, in this instance, was particularly interested in strangles and chokes, and had a lengthy background in taekwondo.
A typical combat grappling seminar comes under the “Vagabond Warriors” service. You step off the self-defence line gradually. We follow the principle of strike when you can; grapple if you have to. So, you begin striking and then striking from grappling positions. Next we learn anti-grappling and then primal grappling. Finally you move into the grappling sports to gain attributes. Then you reverse the process, returning yourself to the main line.
In order to acquire a strangle hold or choke it is important to know how to get to and then consolidate a strong position. In the instance of the “rear naked choke” the grappler needs to know how to take the back position, whether it is from a standing or grounded position. I began by drilling the underhook/overhook position. This introduced the student to ducking the underhook to get the back position. Then we did the arm-drag. This was drilled using the counter/arm-drag method. Using taekwondo as a link, I used the hooking block/scooping block in combination with a walking stance and a sitting stance to help reinforce this technique through solo training. We used the butterfly guard to drill taking the back position from the ground. Then we drilled the choke/strangle to develop correct muscle memory.
Finally I demonstrated some other basic chokes – arm-triangle, anaconda choke, guillotine and leg triangle.
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