09.12.13
General Lesson
The class warmed up with a student-led series of cardiovascular exercises, interrupted by spontaneous pad-work with me.
Today we returned to our old friend “the cover”. No, this wasn’t a case of hiding under one’s duvet as the days get colder and the urge not to train becomes overwhelming for the weak-spirited. The cover is a method for self-protection and some combat sports to counteract to a barrage of strikes or, in some cases, a strangle hold. We trained it in an MMA context today.
We trained covering in order to access grappling from the three lines of attack – high, mid and low. We covered entries to the plumb position (classic Thai clinch), under-hooks to waist-lock takedowns and single/double leg takedowns.
Going to the ground we returned to out angulation theme via the cover having students move on their backs holding guard. Many attacks from the guard position are performed at the 45 degree angle. We drilled kimura entries in this instance.
The lesson was finished with MMA free-sparring and then a warm-down of static stretching.
Private Lesson 1
I re-capped on a lot of the angulation covered over the past few weeks. This was for the benefit of one client who has missed a few sessions. It is also tying things up a bit better and helps to confirm the behaviours in sparring I have been coaching. We began using a focus mitt and boxing glove to teach slipping/jabbing/offline overhand rights. Then we went to the wall and looked at the pendulum foot movement into the v-step for escapes. Here we looked at the Tyson number 3 combination and also isolated the liver punch/shovel hook. Next we moved onto the Marciano Phantom Overhand right and from there we looked at attacking from a liner position into the angled position for single leg takedowns and round kicks. We took the angulation to the clinch range, revising the single under-hook to side clinch position and knee strikes.
As with the general lesson we went to the ground and drilled the cover from the guard. Here we angled off whilst being struck by the top position fighter to go for Kimura and Oma Plata openings. The lesson finished with some MMA free-sparring, where all ranges were nicely covered and transitioned through.
Private Lesson 2
Today’s class changed from self-defence to combat sports without a set theme. My main emphasis was on seeing how well they reinforced each other. We warmed up with some groundwork games. Then we covered some pre-emptive fence work, going into offline strikes. Then we did some free-style boxing pad-work. We returned to self-defence for the cover and a code white test. Next we returned to combat sports for some groundwork pressure testing.
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