Vagabond Warriors Taster Session at Telford (diary entry)

My mandate for tonight’s Vagabond Warriors taster session was to orientate it around wrestling/grappling in MMA – working around the double-leg takedown.

After a functional fitness warm-up led by resident MMA coach Scott Stewart, I ran the lesson along the following drills:

• Footwork/sprawl movement drill – student mirrors coach’s footwork. Coach prompts the sprawl by dropping and touching the back of the student’s thighs.

• Drill with added jab/cross to targets

• Drill with added knee strike when coming up from sprawl

• Sprawl/take the back

• Sit-through defence to sprawl and take the back

• Sprawl/alligator roll/anaconda choke

• Takedown attack versus takedown defence sparring – 30%, 50% and 60% resistance

We also looked at the cover as a means for clinching a striker. This was sparred using a light Strategy One versus Strategy Two pressure test – striking versus grappling.