No-Gi, Kicking and Combat Conditioning (diary entry)

Punching bag (Photo credit: CRUSTINA!)

01.08.12

Today’s private lesson was the result of requests made from my client based on our previous session. My mandate was to deliver a two lesson that incorporated “no-gi” grappling and to continue with our focus on kicks. The session ended up around 70% grappling, 20% kicking and 10% functional fitness.

No-Gi

No-gi is a term that has fed its way into martial arts training via Brazilian jiu jitsu. As the name indicates, it was simply a phrase used to describe submission fighting without wearing a gi (Japanese martial arts uniform consisting of trousers, jacket and belt). Unjacketed submission fighting evolved in several places. Brazil has its own lutre livre wrestling, which is very similar to catch-as-catch-can wrestling, and focuses on gaining submissions. Catch wrestling has its own roots in the tradition of the carnival (US) or fair (UK), which eventually saw the birth of staged professional wrestling, and probably came from Lancashire wrestling.  Today’s submission grappling is a combination of various wrestling arts – freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, Brazilian jiu jitsu, judo and the aforementioned catch wrestling  to name but a few.

We began with “bulling” (not to be mistaken for the method of conversation often enjoyed by martial artists!), which is an excellent semi-live way to warm-up holds and movements. My client is a black belt in judo, so although is not very familiar with unjacketed grappling very easily adapted to a lot of the positioning. This then moved into grip-fighting. These are all classic Geoff Thompson/Matty Evans methods for grappling warm-up sessions and I love them. They promote better tactile awareness is sport-specific.

Next we began drilling the positioning. This started with working underhooks and overhooks. Understanding the importance of the underhook is an essential basic move for both the clinch and ground areas of a fight. The person who dominates the underhooks controls the midline, which sets opponents up for shoulder locks, two-on-one arm holds, tie-ups, throws, slams, reversals and enables the grappler to access the back position.

We first drilled the entry to the belly-to-belly suplex and then taking the back. I am a firm believer that when it comes to learning grappling positioning, getting to and defending the back position should be a priority. This goes hand-in-hand with sprawling. Both translate well to self-defence as well. When you are in the melee of a grappling situation, understanding how to manoeuvre yourself around a wrestler gives you a very useful advantage. Looking at the contrasts with judo, we examined why the traditional scarf-hold is not used very regularly in submission fighting outside of judo and various throws that compromise the back. We then drilled the arm-drag to take the back both from standing and butterfly guard, as well as the set-up for the double leg takedown.

Kicking

As before, we looked at punches to set the pace for kicking. My use of combinations is taught as much to work certain body dynamics as it is to provide a fighter with a useful way to link techniques. I am not a fan of long combinations. In fact, if the truth be known, I am not a fan of pre-set combinations. Setting someone up is always based on an assumption on how they will react.

What I was more interested in during the training was developing good retraction time. This is all tied up with the impact versus impulse concept and minimizing delay. Firstly impact defined, by elastic force, is what one really aims to generate when striking. During my very brief time learning Core Combatives with Mick Coup I was taught this valuable lesson about impact:

“Impact (as I see it, and I think physics will bear me out) is about energy transference - nothing more, from potential to kinetic.  If you hit someone and cause them to move bodily across the room then this has happened because they have absorbed all your energy with all their body mass, and movement occurs due to general and total displacement. 

What I want is only the target point to absorb all the energy, which will be far more concentrated and damaging as a result.  I want specific displacement just where my hand, or whatever, makes contact.  This has a very penetrating effect - exactly what is needed, and can be likened to the difference between long-wave and micro-wave frequencies - LW radio is very easily absorbed by clouds and atmospheric conditions, resulting in a crap signal, whereas MW radio is so penetrating that it can cook food.  Applied to impact energy, this 'frequency' can be shortened when hitting, by pulling the hand, for example, out of the target rapidly, not too soon so it becomes a tap, but not too late that it becomes a push. Once it has expended its energy it is 'bounced' or 'ripped' out - leaving an imaginary hole behind.”

Tactically this is also a good option, as a fast retrieval means the striking arm or leg is less likely to be caught and better protection or stability can be resumed as quickly as possible. In this instance, the reaction speed of the hand strike must influence the action of the kick or second hand strike. In line with Newton’s second law of motion “For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action”. We can see the same thing occurring when using throws. In fact, the simple hand/foot coordination for kickboxing that we were using can be easily transferred to hand striking and sweeping, gripping and kicking, and gripping and sweeping. A reoccurring theme today was the use of the oblique muscles to generate force both for strikes and throws. This brought us onto functional fitness.  

Functional Fitness

We looked at the following functional fitness exercises to help reinforce various areas touched upon in today’s training:

Bear hug lifting – Lifting an asymmetrical weight in a bear hug position through a torqueing motion (be very careful with weight and form). This is intended to help mimic the underhook movements we drilled today.

Medicine ball drop and strike – This exercise requires a bit of thought. You lift an object - in this case a medicine ball, but a heavy bag with a handle is preferable – and load up for a hand strike. You then drop the object as you go to strike. I have to thank Mo Teague for starting me on this exercise.

Woodchoppers – Using kettlebells, dumbells, medicine balls or any other appropriate equipment, the student keeps a straight back and swings an object from between his legs to shoulder level. This is very sport specific for strikers, as it works the core to develop the right motion to deliver a strike.

Bag pulls – Discussed but not performed – You use a long rope on the end of a heavy bag lying on the floor. You use the arm-drag position to pull the bag towards you. You can also add in a body slam if you wish. This works the arm-drag.

Top position on the stability ball – using the stability ball the student transitions through various pins and escapes. You can increase the intensity for this exercise by having another student forcibly interrupt the flow of the transitions and pull him away from the ball.

Bag climbing – something I developed on my own when I first heard about Ian Freeman’s time at Ken Shamrock’s Lion’s Den MMA gym and when I saw my friend Tony Terranova striking a heavy bag whilst hanging from it. At Shamrock’s place he had students hang with their legs wrapped around heavy bags for up to 15 minutes at a time. This works all the grappling muscles groups and particularly the guard position. I started to move whilst hanging and bringing in chokes as well as strikes. To add extra resistance I had another student forcibly break single grips on the bag whilst the other tried to stay up there.

Sledgehammer – Using a tractor tyre swing a sledge hammer down or at a horizontal angle. This is designed to develop better impact.

Car tyre side chops – Swinging a tyre from side to side, rebounding off a solid object behind you i.e. a wall. This works the oblique muscles again in an explosive motion for strikes and throws.

Tractor tyre flips – Using the correct form drive under a tractor/monster truck tyre to lift and flip it. This works all muscle groups in an explosive way and is great for developing lowline takedowns.