Vagabond Warriors for Forest School of Karate Day 2 (diary entry)

06.03.2022

The second day of Vagabond Warriors for Forest School of Karate was a five hour seminar. The first two thirds of the day were mainly concerned with following the Proactive Feedback Loop Training model. There are many variations and the model is always up for progressive re-adaptation, but it follows a procedure I believe to be in alignment with Iain Abernethy's Training Matrix. We used boxing as our base model and then trained some edited variations for ease of time (not to mention bodies) to show how it could be used to layer in Muay Thai, grappling and MMA. We warmed up with footwork exercises both in lines and with partners. Slips and defences were introduced as was the concept of ranges. When fighting from stand-up (Boxing, Muay Thai etc.) it is important to understand how to mainipulate ranges. Then we moved onto the focus mitts. Round 1 - Flash-Pad Training - This involves simply revealing targets for training partners to hit without calling them. Such training prompts faster reactions and less hesitation. Round 2 - Defence Only - This restricts the fighter to defensive movements. They use footwork, evasions and blocks to mount an offensive defence. Manipulation of ranges comes into play again. Round 3 - Attack and Defence - Here both the above training restictions are brought together. There are many benefits to this particular round. It makes the fighter more confident, knowing they have to strike despite the fact that their coach is going to counter. Such training helps maintain an active defence when striking. The coach also gets to see some benefits here that can feed back into their own training as openings become evident when the fighter throws a punch. Round 4 - Sparring. Time to see how the previous rounds can be applied to a live situation against a fully resisting opponent. Round 5 - A repeat of round 3. However, this time the data taken from the previous round now gets fed back into coaching. The entire set was repeated with the coach and fighter switching roles. We then trained rounds prompting defences against takedowns and grips, later encouraging takedowns and grips too. These were layered into the focus mitt trainin. The same principles were also applied to Muay Thai, training defence first and then attack and defence, building on top of the boxing model. We also brought in the use boxing gloves as a coaching glove. This section was finished with attack and defence pad-work on the ground. One partner fends off and strikes from underneath is Z-guard whilst the other attacks from the position. This can be done using MMA gloves, MMA gloves vs Boxing gloves and focus mitts. The final part of the seminar was a two hour lesson on submission grappling. We began with our pin flow exercise, emphasising the importance of establishing strong pins and then transitioning to the next one whilst maintaining pressure. We then covered the "heat-seeking Kimura" exercise whereby a series of arm-locks (Americanas and Kimuras) are performed through three of the pins, ending up in a Kimura-grip arm-bar. The same principle was then carried over with snake-choke, arm-triangle and north south choke. We then switched the underneath/bottom position and transitioning through guards.

Proactive Feedback Loop Training Vlog https://clubbchimera.com/courses/