Head movement, footwork, pins and paranoia

Robbery not allowed (Photo credit: Arenamontanus)

21/11/13

General Lesson

With only a small junior class today, we focused most of the lesson on developing strong slipping and rolling behaviours during the in-fight. It was my aim to correct individuals the best I could and also provide them with some simple exercises to work on back home.

A common problem with both slipping and rolling is to view them as purely defensive measures. The need to move out of the way of an oncoming punch outweighs the opportunity to counter-attack. However, as my previous diary entries have explained over the past month or so, both movements have a variety of applications that can win the fight for the executor. Again, this all comes down to objective. The fighter needs to read his opponent better and be more confident in his own timing. This is easier said than done, but good practice with regular appraisals with an honest critical eye can help a fighter get this perspective. 

The fighter needs to move into the oncoming attack at a different angle. This, of course, is counter-intuitive. When one covers it is easier to grasp the idea of advancing into an attack, as you are using a strong protective defence, but in this instance the fighter is slipping past a strike with no protection in order to catch his opponent with his own jab. A similar principle is covered with rolling and hooking. A student can use an inanimate object, such as projecting stick or even the edge of a door to train good head movement for slipping. A projecting stick can be used for rolling.

Upon request I dissected the basic arm-bar from mount. Here we looked at tightening up all parts of the chain for correct completion of the technique.  This begins with establishing the pin, isolating the straight arm through a series of transitioning movements and then gaining momentum to achieve the submission, finishing with the extension of the hips.

Private Lesson 1 – Mixed Martial Arts

Following on from my comments in the first class, I noticed that here my client needed to tighten up his counter-offensive movements. He had little trouble moving into the attack, but needed to work on the angles of his attack. We went over the pendulum movement in the v-step and the shovel hook/liver punch as we had done in our previous session, and then worked at bringing him in closer. This branched off into angles in general. We covered straight attack against offline counter-offensive movements both with kickboxing and wrestling variations.

Using the slipping into offline combination we trained slip/jab/v-step/overhand right, slip/jab/v-step/low round kick, slip/triangle clinch/v-step/arm-trap knee and slip/jab/v-step/single leg takedown.

At my client’s request, my closing tutorial was on side control attack. We looked at closing off three corners, weight distribution and tactics to attain the Americana arm-lock. This included hammer fist strikes. We also began transitioning as a response to escape attempts, beginning with the modified scarf-hold.   

Private Lesson 2 – Self-Defence

We began the lesson with a discussion on awareness. A mugging close to home has concerned one of my students. I have written an article on the subject and also the issue of paranoia. Healthy awareness helps us avoid dangerous situations and defeats victim selection. It also offers us with more time and better options. However, this must never be mistaken for paranoia. The risk of interpersonal violence in the developed world is relatively much lower than the risk of getting hit by a car on the main road nearest to your home. Statistics bear this out. We are also far more likely to be involved in a car accident than we are to be mugged, raped or murdered. And yet we think little about crossing the road or riding in a car.

The physical skills section took the nature of this particular incident as a theme. Obviously my advice to any citizen is to avoid physical engagement with a desperate mugger. It is a value judgement, but you need to ask whether an item of your property is worth the risk of being seriously injured or killed. You have a responsibility to yourself and your loved ones. I don’t cast judgement on how anyone survives any type of assault. I know people who have successfully thwarted muggers and I am glad they did, but this is not a recommendation for all. Circumstances dictate actions. However, the nature of the mugging was that the individual was approached from behind so we looked at generic attacks from this direction.

As is often my procedure, the tactics were covered in increasing degrees of severity. We began with offline backhand and rear elbow strikes. We altered the levels and covered the low hammer fist strike to the groin. Then we took it from a recovery situation and looked at cover counter-attacks from the rear. Next we looked at bites and foot stamps from rear holds.

We then went over two-on-one pad drills, working a lot on recovering from the ground. We then isolated tactics on the ground when facing multiple standing attackers. Here both students looked at the climbing and shielding tactic. Finally we did a series of relevant conditioning exercises – sprawls and rolling to the feet.