Turn & Attack (diary entry)

24.04.19 Wednesday night continued my junior and senior private lessons for the nephew and uncle team. Whether we were apparently turning away from an incoming opponent only to deliver a surprise kick to the liver or turning under a pinning opponent to attack the leg, this was all about making THAT turn to return the fight! Muay Thai for Martial Arts Cross Training continued for the nephew as the uncle moved onto the next stage of his series of escapes from pins in Submission Grappling. Muay Thai began with pad-work looking at various basic combinations and counter-techniques. We then focused on the back-kick. We used a baiting setup for this move, which involved stepping forward into a southpaw stance and throwing a jab before stepping back and leading him onto the back-kick. This is kick is often erroneously called a “spinning” back-kick. The efficacy of this technique is based on a fighter not so much spinning as turning away. The Muay Thai description for the move is often “deer looks over shoulder”, which better describes the way a fighter moves away and kicks back rather than whipping their head around as they would do with a spinning heel kick or any other real spinning kick. Submission Fighting began with a series of ground callisthenics before we worked more on the escape flow drill. This exercise is performed so that the person underneath is drilling the right moves in response to different pins. Then we focused entirely on the defence from the north south position, which is a particularly tricky position to defend. Not only does it not involve any direct leverage from the hips, making bridging impossible, escaping from the position does not have an immediate reversal or counter-move. The fighter has to effectively clear the pin before moving onto the offensive. Escaping involves a strong snaking/shrimping movement, ensuring the hips are clear from the ground as we move onto one shoulder. If this isn’t performed strongly, the opponent can easily squash the defence and go to side control. The defending fighter also need feed his arm through correctly to attack his opponent’s leg. He might be able to drive forward into a single leg takedown or manoeuvre to sweep from the side or take the back if this done correctly. However, if done incorrectly the arm can easily be trapped and a range of submission opportunities are open to the person pinning. Once the leg is caught, at a minimum, the opponent is prevented from moving into another pin. The lesson finished with a round of progressive, specific sparring from the north south position. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV3duanL514