11.11.13
General Lesson
Today’s theme for both the general and first private lesson was upper body movement. There has been some discussion in our online forum regarding movement. We looked at counter-offensive movement rather than footwork. Footwork can be a very abstract area. Although I involve it in warm-up, agility and cardiovascular oriented training, I like to apply it directly as often as possible in partner work. The best way to get a message across is to engage the senses located in the upper body. Here the fighter responds to a visual stimulus and his body adjusts accordingly. He sees his target and moves towards it and responds. In this instance we used slipping.
Slipping has its most obvious application in the modern boxing sports (western boxing, muay Thai, savate, lethwei, kickboxing and so on). However, due to the fact that there are only so many ways a person can move their head to avoid a linear strike, this particular movement slips (pun intended) its way into a number of counter-offensive tactics. We began by slipping a jab and responding with a jab. Then we trained the “windscreen wiper” exercise with one fighter jab/crossing and the other slipping side to side.
Then we turned our attention to rolling away from hooks. This was first taught on one side with the fighter using the momentum to generate force with a countering hook punch. We also addressed context. A western boxer has the luxury of rolling low and many fighters, such as the former European bantamweight and former lineal featherweight champion, “Prince” Naseem Hamad, did this to great effect generating tremendous force in their hooks and uppercuts. However, Southeast Asian kickboxers, K1 fighters and MMA fighter takes a huge risk when doing this as it leaves them open to an upward knee strike.
Going back to the single slipping tactic, we covered clinching into a standing arm triangle. This can be turned into a timing exercise. We drilled entries and also concluded the movement into a takedown and submission. We then returned to rolling and used it to teach the importance of the head movement during a sit-through counter to the double over hooks. Emphasizing the head movement here is crucial for controlling the whole escape into a counter. Many get the stepping out motion correct, but the head movement is frequently neglected by novices who then subsequently fail to capitalize on the escape.
The session was finished with three rounds of MMA sparring.
Private Lesson 1
This was an adult class and being private by nature it allowed more detail on the slipping and rolling movements. When it came to the “windscreen wiper” drill, we looked at angling. Both slipping and rolling help enable a fighter to gain an advantage by angling off on an opponent. We used this angling to counter with overhand rights and lefts as well as offline round kicks.
We looked at how correct head movement using the sit-through enabled the fighter to not only take the back but also get a shoulder lock.
A good flexible upper body defence makes for an effective fighter. It might not be everyone’s style, but it is certainly worth understanding. The very principle of movement in defence helps at all ranges. It is harder to strike, grip or pin a moving opponent.
Private Lesson 2
Our self-defence class began with shortening response times. This was both a mechanical and psychological issue. On the focus mitts we lessened the time and the students hit pre-emptively and acted to incoming attacks, such as those from an edged weapon. Psychologically we did some specific pressure testing.
We then moved onto some kickboxing attribute training. First we covered boxing and then incorporated the kicks. Next we looked at kicking and punching as the student transitioned through postures and ranged. This was followed by a two-on-one self-defence exercise, again going through postures. The students then did six rounds of high intensity interval exercises followed by sprints. The lesson was finished with power strikes off the fence.
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