A good session by all today. Although we didn't get to do conditioning due to time restraints, it was an enjoyable and educational experience nonetheless as we delved back into the mechanical basis of Systema and learned to apply it under pressure (not to mention how messy anything becomes when subject to pressure). Constantly revise these basics as striking effectiveness depends less on strength and much more on efficiency, which is guided by...'feeling' is probably the best word I have for it - the kinaesthetic sensitivity that tells you when everything is perfectly aligned to deliver an almighty whack with your whole structure behind it, not to mention which keeps you from fighting your own power and pulling your punches subconsciously. 'Feeling' or sensitivity is also the first thing to go when you start to get out of practice. With that in mind...
Homework
1.) Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning - joint mobility, strength and conditioning work as we have been covering in class so far. The better condition you are in, the greater your potential to learn and successfully apply what you pick up in class. Karl Gotch said, "Conditioning is your best hold (as in wrestling hold)." Need I explain further?
2.) For today's work, the wave and other movement drills are very important for grinding out the resistance to your own movements and sensitising yourself to the fine adjustments needed to guide power to its intended destination. Most of them belong in the joint mobility syllabus in the first place, so practice them along with your joint mobility.
3.) 'Heavy hands' is simply another way of expressing removing resistance to your own movements in the context of hitting someone, as we discussed at the end of class. The solo drills help develop this, but there is no substitute for working with (and hitting a partner). Continue to train amongst yourselves while I am away.
Objectives
- Basics of power generation - Wave versus Ball
- Impact delivery - aligning structure for optimal impact transfer
- Basics of intercepting, translating and redirecting impact
Warmup
- IntuFlow intermediate routine
Skill-Specific Prep Drills
- Arm waves - Lateral arm waves
- Dropping waves
- Spinal waves
- Heavy hands drill - taichi arm swing
- Heavy hands drill - falling knife catch
Skill Drills
- Wave power versus Ball power; Wave = sequential summation of momentum across adjacent bodily segments originating at prime mover and ending at end-effectors (eg. from foot to hand); Ball = instantaneous transfer of power from prime mover to end-effector via all bodily segments acting as a single unit
- Ball power partner push structure check - partners respond to sustained pushes by maintaining structure and moving as a single unit
- Tenderiser - reciprocal wave striking
- Ball power strike training - hand-to-hand slapping; structural disruption test by slapping to body
- Partner push drill to force movement - passive, creeping to resisted; goal is to target structural weaknesses and point of weakest stance integrity; experiment with both wave and ball power
- Intercept impact on arms and recycle wave into dependant strike - start versus circular strikes, creep to linear strikes as comfort level increases
Limited Symmetrical Sparring
Each partner stands their ground and throws strikes at the other in competitive fashion, aiming to slip or batter through their partner's defence while simultaneously absorbing and redirecting incoming attacks back into their own attacks. Speed is to remain moderate, while power is allowed to creep upwards along with comfort level.
The second and final part of this series on positional ground grappling. Good effort put in by everyone as far as learning the important skills went. A word of caution, however - learn to regulate the amount of intensity you put into your rolling, especially when unfamiliar with the zone of engagement. Especially, keep in mind the rules of engagement put in place for training safety - more than once, I saw uke (person on top) attempt to submit tori (person on the bottom) when my instructions quite clearly said to maintain positional dominance only.
If you find yourself going into an adrenaline-fuelled fugue during sparring, slow down, exhale and remind yourself that it's only training. Your goal is to refine your skills, not destroy your partner (or yourself).
Homework
Your homework assignment remains the same as far as joint mobility and conditioning go. Revise also the three biomechanicaldrills taught in this class - they will stand you in good stead for ground engagement in general. As a rule, don't do them to any appreciable level of fatigue. Rather, treat them as a skill to be mastered and go through them with an eye to performing them as smoothly and effortlessly as possible, with an eye at all times to good form.
Objectives
- Developing fundamental skills for defence and attack during ground grappling
Warmup
- IntuFlow intermediate routine
Conditioning
TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit-to-Grunt
1.) Front Lunge Jump – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
2.) Plank Push – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
3.) Sit-Through Reach – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
4.) Screwing Pushup – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
5.) Spinal Rock Pike – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
6.) Tripod Twist – 20/10 x 8
Biomechanical Prep Drills
- Quad base switch
- Hanging and Alternating Hemi-Circular Scorpions
- Stationary Shrimp
Bottom Drills
Side Control
- Sweeps versus side control
§ Push head to leg scissor
§ Body pendulum to roll into side control (used when opponent stays close)
Back
- Defences against an opponent in back mount or taking the back
§ Trap underhook, shoulder bridge onto opponent, trap attacking arm against head and turn to guard
§ Attack of opportunity – ankle trap versus improper back guard
Top Drills
Side Control
- Moving from side control to mount
§ Knee slide
§ Cockroach killer
- Submissions from side control
§ Figure-4 locks (kimura/Americana)
Knee on Belly
- Establishing knee on belly from takedowns
- Establishing knee on belly from side control
Situational Sparring
Tori starts in bottom position – mounted or guard in alternating fashion – and aims to sweep or submit uke. Uke aims to retain positional dominance.
Covered some technical groundfighting on saturday's training, which was somewhat different from our usual offerings. Very important to know, regardless, as combat doesn't happen in a vacuum, but as a response to what the other party is trying to do. Things like brazilian jiujitsu are very popular nowadays, and present a very real threat in a street assault, so basic grappling skills are essential, both for their technical benefit as well as psychological - when the mind is free of the fear of close contact, a high tension/compression environment and being on the ground, the body is freer to act.
Note that just the fact of being trained in groundfighting does not under any circumstances oblige one to fight on the ground. Groundfight with a specialist and you will come out holding the short stick. The whole point of groundfighting training as we do it here is to learn to survive long enough to get to your feet if you do get taken down. The attacks taught ('submissions') are to be used purely as ones of opportunity.
Homework
- Conditioning - joint mobility and Tacfit Commando syllabus - Rolling and falling
Objectives
- Developing fundamental skills for defence and attack during ground grappling
Warmup
- IntuFlow intermediate routine
Conditioning
TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit-to-Grunt
1.) Front Lunge Jump – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
2.) Plank Push – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
3.) Sit-Through Reach – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
4.) Screwing Pushup – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
5.) Spinal Rock Pike – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
6.) Tripod Twist – 20/10 x 8
Skill Drills
Bottom Drills: Sweeps, Replacing the Guard, Basic Submissions
- Scissors sweep from guard
- Knee-push scissors sweep variant
- Basic mounted sweep
- Mounted return to guard
- Basic armbar from guard
- Basic naked front choke
Top Drills: Taking the Top Positions – Mount, Basic Submissions
Good session, guys, even if the class was a bit small today. At least those who showed up will have a major leg up on the others next time around! For those of you who had questions about takedowns the previous session, hopefully this session will have answered at least the most important ones. It's a large, large body of work, so it's only natural that it will take you a while before you start to 'get' it.
Homework assignment:
1.) Ground engagements - forward/backward rolls, pistol breakfalls; attempt these from standing now that you are more comfortable with them
- Developing fundamental motor patterns for clinch fighting and executing takedowns
- Attacking and defending stance integrity, loading structure to disrupt equilibrium, joint hyperfunction (neck, shoulders, hips)
Warmup
- IntuFlow intermediate routine
Conditioning
TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit-to-Grunt
1.) Front Lunge Jump – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
2.) Plank Push – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
3.) Sit-Through Reach – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
4.) Screwing Pushup – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
5.) Spinal Rock Pike – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
6.) Tripod Twist – 20/10 x 8
Basic Skills for Standup Grappling
- Ground engagement warmup
- Establishing the clinch – neck plumb, bodylock
- Pummelling – neck, body
Biomechanics of Standup Grappling
- Stance integrity – spotting the triangle point
- Grips for takedowns – locking arm, driving arm
- Hyperfunction vs Dysfunction – facilitating natural movement to fool opponent into following along into takedown versus attempting to force takedown via threat of pain and injury
- Neck – S-shaped movement pattern
- Shoulder – sagittal plane circle, oblique transverse shoulder-spinal circle (fulcrum BETWEEN points of contact – usually wrist and neck)
- Hip – figure-8 movement pattern (demonstrate via single-leg, double-leg, trip takedowns)
Sample Techniques
- Renovated large outside reap (O-sotogari)
- Renovated hip toss (harai-goshi/koshi-guruma/o-goshi)
Free Drilling
Tori attempts to take uke down with any technique or variation thereof versus passive resistance, ie. uke attempts to maintain structure and firmness against tori's attempts but does not actively fight off grips or attempt to break engagement.
After the meatgrinder of hardwork to put things in perspective, I finally felt ready to move everyone on into softwork today. As I explained in class today, hardwork is testing and toughening, while softwork is learning and economising. Without the perspective built in hardwork to keep one grounded, softwork becomes an exercise in building airborne castles, while hardwork alone falls to the level of fear, conditioning and gross motor responses without the building of new, sophisticated and mindful responses to combative stimuli that happens during softwork.
Homework assignment is as follows:
1.) Conditioning - Mission 1
2.) Basic forward and backward rolls, as well as all the new exercises covered in this session (never mind the sophistications for now, but do them if you are able); be mindful of your breathing and tension states in these exercises - your goal is to achieve the minimum necessary tension to perform each exercise in good form, and the way to do this is by regulating your breath to prevent the global spread of tension. Visualise yourself breathing through each spot of tension to encourage it to release.
Objectives
- Developing fundamental motor patterns for level change, ground engagement and impact delivery/absorption
- Basics of structural manipulation
Warmup
- IntuFlow intermediate routine
Conditioning
TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit-to-Grunt
1.) Front Lunge Jump – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
2.) Plank Push – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
3.) Sit-Through Reach – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
4.) Screwing Pushup – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
5.) Spinal Rock Pike – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
6.) Tripod Twist – 20/10 x 8
Solo Drills
- Slow pushup on knuckles, 20secs down, 20secs up; sample sophistications to:
§ Screwing pushup
§ Panther walk
§ Centipede hop
§ Spinal wave or spinal roll from Crow
- Slow squat, 20secsdown/up; sample sophistications to:
§ Cossack knee switch
§ Cossack knee switch to shinbox
§ Cossack knee switch-basic descending shin roll
- Pistol breakfall
Partner Drills
- Partner push drill – 360 degrees, upper and lower body, switch tori and uke at each interval
- Partner fist-walking from plank drill
- Partner strike drill – 360 degrees, upper and lower body, switch tori and uke at each interval
- Sweater snag drill – via one-knuckle push, to disruption of equilibrium, reciprocating (mention locking + driving arm, stance integrity, joint COM for takedowns)
- Stop-motion strike drill – strike to takedown in five moves, reciprocating
Slow Sparring – ¼ speed
Uke attacks tori freestyle. Victory objective for tori is takedown to control. Focus on smoothness of transition from one movement to another.
Solid, focused session today, as well as everyone's first true exposure to plural assailant work.
Homework - as we discussed, continue to focus on your rolling and falling, as well as your conditioning (both joint mobility and the bodyweight callisthenics). Next week, we'll be working on a different skillset, so reinforcement of your knifework isn't that crucial, but those of you who haven't attended the knife series until this week should go through the solo drills to improve your handling for when we bring knives back into the picture.
Train well, stay safe and see you all next week.
Objectives
- Execution of and defence against sudden attacks with a concealed blade
- Retaining a blade in the face of disarm attempts
- Fighting for possession of a loose blade
- Grappling with a knife
Warmup
- IntuFlow basic routine
Conditioning
TacFit Commando Mission 3 – Recruit
1.) Warrior Lunge – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
2.) Swing Plank Knee – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
3.) Airborne Squat Shin – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
4.) Spiderman Pushup Knee – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
5.) Shinbox Twist – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
6.) Table Lift – 20/10 x 8
Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills
- Retrieving loose blade from forward roll – solo, free-for-all with multiple partners
Preparatory Partner Drills (with steel blade)
- Slow standup sparring to reciprocal disarm
- Plank position possession drill – slow sparring over loose knife to reciprocal disarm
Primary Skill Drills
- Concealed quickdraw ambush – 1 uke, 2 tori; uke aims to draw concealed blade and cut/stab either tori at will, tori aims to evade attack and disarm uke
Objective-based Sparring
3 participants begin circling around a loose knife on the floor. When signal is given, each will fight for control of the knife by any means necessary. Victory is achieved when one partner achieves a clear position of control as well as possession of the weapon.
Lots of intensity today, and also a little bloodshed (props especially to Nick for being a warrior ;-) ). Two training blades also got broken today - how's that for intensity?!
Homework assignment for the week:
1.) As always, rolling and falling and revision of the conditioning syllabus.
2.) Solo knife handling drills - you can do this with any old eating knife from the kitchen. A slightly larger blade will make them easier to do. Don't try them with a cleaver, though.
Do your homework and I'll see you all next week for bladework Part Deux.
Train well and stay safe.
Objectives
- Revision of bladework basics
- Inoculation to blade combat at near-full speed
Warmup
- IntuFlow basic routine
Conditioning
TacFit Commando Mission 3 – Recruit
1.) Warrior Lunge – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
2.) Swing Plank Knee – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
3.) Airborne Squat Shin – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
4.) Spiderman Pushup Knee – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
5.) Shinbox Twist – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
6.) Table Lift – 20/10 x 8
Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills
- Leverage disarm drill
- Body figure-8 to stab
- Biker flip grip change
- Figure-8 draw cut
- Rolling snap cut
Preparatory Partner Drills
- Partner push drill with blade
- Sweater-snag drill with blade
- Partner zombie walk drill with blade – to evasion, gait-shadow and soft takedown
Primary Skill Drills
- Empty hand versus blade – attacks at combat speed; evasion, counter and takedown
- Blade versus blade – combat speed; counterslashes, control to takedown or finisher
Objective-based Sparring
Uke attacks tori with blade. Tori, working from empty hands, attempts to disarm uke and either effect a position of control, apply a finisher having gained weapon possession, or both. Drill continues until tori achieves victory objectives. Round-robin format.
This week, we took the intensity up a notch by allowing speed and continuity of strikes to creep towards combat speed, and learning how to deal with the battering and power on through to victory with a solid and aggressive defence (read: counterattack). Survive a rain of punches with intent and power, and you're not too badly.
A closely related concept covered was that of the bridge, or the physical and conceptual meeting of two bodily structures to form a contiguous system of mechanics. For the purposes of training, I have simplified things from my earlier experiments down to a simple catch-all defensive that is easy to learn and do and transition into any other work, namely, the 'hair-brush' defence. RBSD aficionados may also know this by any number of other names, but I call it this for the sake of being safely non-denominational.
For homework, I want everybody to revise the solo drills covered in the lesson.
1.) Hair-brush Defence - practice keeping the movements tight and close to your body and maintaining shoulder-pack (shoulders de-shrugged, ie. pulled downwards) at all times during the movements; catching a hard hit with an elevated shoulder is asking for an injury; also practice in combination with the lower-body drills as we did during class to build coordination; work slowly and mindfully in the beginning and let the speed creep up only as far as you are comfortable doing so.
2.) Rolling and Falling - this remains the same as in previous weeks. Very, very important part of the syllabus - those of you who have been falling behind in this will already note how insufficient ground engagement skills will severely curtail your training.
3.) Conditioning - continue to revise the TacFit Commando syllabus as we have covered to date and train with intensity at least twice a week in addition to what we do in class. In combat, you don't rise to the level of your skill - you fall to the level of your fear and conditioning. Challenging yourself with intensity on a regular basis will help you to overcome this hurdle and access your skills.
In addition to the above, feel free to practice any of the partner drills as often as you like when partners become available.
Objectives
- Understanding and developing pre-emptive and simultaneous (with opponent) attack as the best defence
- Developing the bridge: finding, seeking and defending the centre-of-mass, 'hair-brush' defence, strike absorption on guard while maintaining structure
Warmup
- IntuFlow basic routine
Conditioning
TacFit Commando Mission 3 – Recruit
1.) Warrior Lunge – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
2.) Swing Plank Knee – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
3.) Airborne Squat Shin – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
4.) Spiderman Pushup Knee – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
5.) Shinbox Twist – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
6.) Table Lift – 20/10 x 8
Skill-Specific Drills
- Partner fist-walking drill for strike placement
- Hair-brushing defence drill – inside-outside, outside-inside, combination with Cossack knee switch walking and gluteal tank for coordination
Preparatory Drills
- Partner push and strike drill: wave movement - dependant pushes and strikes
- Partner push and strike drill: ball movement – keeping form under heavy contact and absorbing with footwork
- Partner strikes into guard: absorbing strikes on guard surface while maintaining form
Bridging with Hair-Brush Defence
- Intercepting strikes: tori intercepts full-speed strikes from uke; drill creeps from extended (‘left out there’) single strikes to retracted single strikes to 1, 2 and 3-step combinations as partners feel comfortable doing so
- Intercept and take structure: tori intercepts strike(s) from uke and aims to enter joint COM and control uke’s structure, planting a push (slow-motion strike with structure) to demonstrate degree of control by upsetting uke’s equilibrium
- Intercept and take structure to takedown: same as above, but ending with takedown to position of control
Objective-based Sparring
Uke feeds tori upper-body strikes in any combination. Tori intercepts and is allowed to counter with strikes and takedowns. Uke may defend and recounter as sees fit. Round-robin format.
I know I have been remiss in logging the past week and I do apologise - things have been crazy. The last session saw a large number of newbies - complete novices in martial arts - come in, so I didn't have a chance to do a lot of what I wanted to during the session as I had to spend a lot of hands-on time with the new guys. This week's session was a continuation and revision of last week's work.
Homework for this week follows the standard pattern:
1.) Joint mobility
2.) TFC mission 2conditioning exercises
3.) Rolling and falling - VERY, VERY IMPORTANT
This and last week's work were all very partner-based, so there's not much else you can do to practice on your own, but if you have access to a partner, definitely run through all the drills again.
Objectives
- Understanding the use of locks and holds in a standup fight and how structure is affected by such
- Understanding the use of structure to effect, escape and counter locks and holds
- Learning to use structural perturbation from multiple sources to cancel one another out and effect escapes and counters
- Learning the role of clothing as a weapon and an obstacle in grappling
- Grappling and being grappled by multiple opponents
Plural Source Tensional Manipulation (a.k.a. the octopus drill)
- Tori is grappled by two uke who constantly attempt to lock and twist him, and must make use of the two separate sources of force to cancel each other out – drill is allowed to creep naturally from simple survival to escape, takedown and counter
Yet another good session today, but as always, never enough time to do everything I actually wanted. Still, we got the essentials done and I have the others squirrelled away to cover another day. The steel blades came out today and despite them being eating knives with blunted tips and not very sharp serrations, they were still enough to give pause and make everyone wake up, which was exactly the effect I was aiming for. Amazing how a sense of clear and present danger - however ludicrous to the observer - refines movement to the bare minimum necessary.
Also moved on in the TacFit Commando syllabus today. Mission 2 with lots of twisting evoked some interesting responses after some initial doubts at the deceptively simple level 1 movements. The Scorpion Crucifix in particular was rather funny to watch - everyone has lots and lots of ambient tension in the anterior chain and spiral line! More grinding away at immobility before you move on to the sexy stuff, guys.
For homework, I want you all to work on your joint mobility. While I am gone, you can refer to no less a teacher than Coach Sonnon himself:
Here are the six episodes of the IntuFlow joint mobility series he generously put on his YouTube account. Follow through and focus on the stuff we do in class, play around with everything as and when you have time. It's all good to do, but cover the hard basics we do in class first.
In addition, I want you all to continue working on your rolling and falling. For those of you with grass allergies, work from your knees on harder ground. Focus on exhaling through compression and immobility. Your tensional state is linked to your breath - by disciplining yourselves to exhale through tension and discomfort, you will eventually find ways to flow around the blocks to your flow.
The above two are the primary things I want you to work on. In addition and secondary to them, I want you to continue working on your fist plank and panther walk, for those who can do the latter. Also revise the new exercises from Mission 2 - no need to go to maximum intensity every single session, but be sure to do them consistently to groove the movement patterns into your nervous system.
Accessory to all the above, anything at all we've covered in class is fair game. Keep moving, keep hitting one another, keep breathing and keep form. I'll see you all when I get back from my two weeks' reservist training.
Objectives
- Understanding the nature of angular leg attacks and flow from one movement to another
- Understanding of ranging in blade usage and defence
- Blade disarms and reversals
Warmup
- IntuFlow basic routine
Conditioning
TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit
1.) Lunge Twist – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
2.) Revolving Table – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
3.) Scorpion Crucifix – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
4.) Bear Squat – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
5.) Rocca Forearm – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
6.) Bridge Clap – 20/10 x 8
Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills
- Biker flip grip change
- Figure-8 draw cut
- Rolling snap cut
- IntuFlow sophistication – 4-corner leg circles
Structural Drills
- Strike absorption with legs – roundhouse kicks
- 2-step structure break with legs
- Evade on contact with knife – evade to trap
- Evade on contact with knife – evade to trap and takedown/disarm/counter
- 2-step evade knife to trap + takedown/counter/disarm
Ranging Drills
- Ranging versus single knife thrust – slow speed, evade + trap
- Ranging versus single knife thrust – slow speed, evade to trap + takedown/counter/disarm
Asymmetrical Sparring
- Slow-sparring game – knife on knife, to takedown, control or disarm. Round-robin format.
Another solid sessiontoday. So much to cover and so little time! Wanted to touch on both legwork and knifework today, but had to keep the class to a manageable length and decided to go deep into legwork and drop in a few knifework preparatory exercises today.
Regarding homework, refer to last week's programme. The falling is especially important as the movement habits in ground engagement I've been seeing lately on the mat are, frankly, alarming.
Objectives
- Understanding the use of the legs in force delivery, absorption and redirection
- Understanding the nature of leg attacks and how to defuse them
- Use of the blade as a tool of conditioning
Warmup
- IntuFlow basic routine
Conditioning
TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit
1.) Front Lunge – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
2.) Plank Push Knee – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
3.) Sit-Through Knee – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
4.) Basic Pushup – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
5.) Spinal Rock Basic – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
6.) Tripod – 20/10 x 8
Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills
- Wrist-flip grip change
- Body figure-8 to stab (dynamic squat variation where applicable)
- IntuFlow sophistication – 4-corner leg circles
- Resisted leg-push (‘heavy legs’) drill from opposed side-recline
Structural Drills
- Partner push drill with blade
- Partner push drill with legs (to legs and body)
- Striking drill with legs
- Marionette/sweater-snag drill with legs
Ranging Drills
- Zombie walk to forward thrust kick (evasion, slow)
- Zombie walk to forward thrust kick (slow, receive + guide momentum)
- Zombie walk to forward thrust kick (medium speed, receive + soft takedown)
- Zombie walk to roundhouse kick (slow, evasion) [pushed to next week]
- Zombie walk to roundhouse kick (slow, receive + guide momentum) [pushed to next week]
- Zombie walk to roundhouse kick( medium speed, receive + soft takedown) [pushed to next week]
Asymmetrical Sparring
- Uke aims to attack with kicks and punches, tori aims to achieve takedown to position of control. Round-robin format.
Another solid class. Today, I wanted to teach how difficult it can be to fight someone who does not mutually agree upon rules of engagement with you. Yes. You read right. Rules. There are rules in every engagement, be it in the ring, on the street or the battlefield, and these rules are not necessarily written nor codified by large international organisations (see: Queensbury Rules of Boxing, Geneva Code of Conduct in War). They are often implicit, unspoken and determined by culture and plain old human nature.
I won't get too deep into this, but suffice it to say that unconsciously playing to the rules puts you right in your opponent's playing field, which will get you killed. Breaking them too blatantly gives your attacker a perceived moral advantage, which can give them that much more juice, psychologically. The trick, as with all things, is bending them just enough to get your way. On Saturday, we explored this from a technical perspective, pitting upper-body striking and defensive grappling against a pure grappling approach. By removing consent to engage on common ground, the engagement immediately became that much more chaotic.
Today's homework is as follows:
IntuFlow joint mobility beginner series
TacFit Commando Mission 1 - Recruit Level
Panther Walk on Fists
Forward and Backward spinal rolls
1-legged Soft Back Fall
Also, Daniel, one of my students, has been very much on the ball and developed an MP3 timer which those of you without an asymmetrical timer (like my Gymboss and the Gymboss for iPhone app) can use to run your own 20/10 routines.
A good, focused class for my new group of students today. Next week, we willtouch on integrating the lessons of the two previous classes (striking and grappling) into a seamless whole.
Objectives
- Standup engagement and control
- Manipulation of structure for control and takedown in grappling context
Warmup
- IntuFlow basic routine
Conditioning
TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit
1.) Front Lunge – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
2.) Plank Push Knee – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
3.) Sit-Through Knee – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
4.) Basic Pushup – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
5.) Spinal Rock Basic – 20/10 x 8
1min rest
6.) Tripod – 20/10 x 8
Skill-Specific Biomechanical Drills – 1min each
- Forward and backwards Spinal Roll
- Shinbox + Shinbox switch (to cover next week)
- Threading shoulder bridge (to cover next week)
- Sumo squat switch (to cover next week)
Pummelling
Neck + Body, 2 mins each
Sweater Snag Drill
From neck and elbow tie, continuous pressure manipulations to takedown, approx. five steps each – 2 mins
Hyperfunction workshop
- Triangle point
- Hip-knee-ankle complex
- Loading for hip and leg takedowns
Asymmetrical Sparring – Round-Robin Format
Uke wrestle to maintain control, tori wrestle to takedown.
Homework
For homework, I want everyone to practice the following the stated number of times each week:
IntuFlow joint mobility series - daily. If you forget segments of the series, don't worry. Do what you can and catch up on what you've forgotten this coming saturday.
TacFit Commando Mission 1 exercises - 2-3 times in the week. I don't expect you to do the 20/10 protocol - it's difficult to do without a specialised timer like what I use. Instead, just do 10 reps of each exercise, one exercise after another as a circuit. Take 1.5-2 minutes' rest between each round of the circuit and aim to complete 3-4 rounds. If it seems easy doing it this way, don't worry about it. I just want you to practice the movements so you're more sure of yourselves and can push harder on saturday.
Forward and Backwards Spinal Rolls - daily. After having done your share of falling, I want everyone to practice these every day for about ten minutes. Start on your knees and you should be able to do them on hard ground without getting hurt.
Fist Plank - daily. Hold a plank on your fists for a minute or more. Aim to use the minimum necessary muscular contraction to maintain a straight, flat back and tucked-in abdomen in this position. Just once will do.
Slow Squat, 20 seconds down and up - daily. Mind the postural details I taught you during class (spine pulled long and at most a slight angle to the vertical, shoulders down and back, hips hanging under the head, knees behind the toes) and aim to stretch your descent and ascent out over 20 seconds each way. Just one of these will do.
I've introduced Adrian before, and last night over coffee, he expressed his wish to regain the Men's Health cover body of his youth. For those of you who don't know him, he used to be a national swimmer and part-time model. Some twelve years later, four of which have been spent married and working in an investment bank, some unfortunate changes have been made. Adrian, however, is nothing if not an incredibly tenacious natural athlete, and so he has given himself over to me to have some CST magic worked on him. With that in mind, I've decided to toss him in the deep end with an HRP that incorporates both FlowFit and TacFit - the guy thrives on adversity.
For those unfamiliar with CST terminology, HRP stands for 'Hard Responsible Push', that meaning a repeating cycle of three moderate-intensity days (at a rate of perceived exertion - RPE - of 7-8/10) followed by one high-intensity day (RPE 9++/10). This protocol yields very rapid results in both conditioning and physique change, but cannot be maintained for more than 28 days at a shot, which must then be followed by two weeks of nothing but joint mobility and low-intensity yoga to decompress the joints and release built-up residual tension before moving on into the next cycle. Also, each session must incorporate the appropriate joint mobility warmups and compensatory yoga cooldowns for the same reasons. Failure to comply will almost certainly result in overtraining and injury.
Objectives follow:
1.)Fat loss and lean muscle gain - 'nuff said.
2.)Increase overall functional ROM, with especial emphasis on shoulders and hips - Adrian is also my martial arts training and research partner and has been a fighter for a long, long time, and a pretty darned good one, at that. With that in mind, I'm amazed he's come as far as he has with horrible tight shoulders and hips like his - even after having done yoga for about three years (albeit on and off)!. Throughout this routine, I'm going to prod him to maintain due diligence with IntuFlow to grind away all that immobility and build strength through his newfound ROM with FlowFit, which I find is the best quick-fix solution for bound flow when used in tandem with IntuFlow.
3.)Increase functional attributes for martial arts - TacFit was designed for this. Again, 'nuff said.
Warmup
Intuflow
IntuFlow basic routine, emphasising all major joints and the 4-corner balance drill, and omitting arm and spinal waves for now.
FlowFit
Learning the flow, mostly at level 2, but with some exercises at level 3 (seated twist) and level 4 (upwards dog press) and one slightly modified from the standard progression (twisted tripod in place of rotating table). 6 flows completed without timing.
TacFit Alpha - 20/10x4
For those of you not familiar with the TacFit protocols, TacFit 'A' consists of 4 different exercises - scaled at four levels of difficulty each - each performed with a Tabata protocol with 1 minute's break after each exercise is complete. For those of you not familiar with the Tabata protocol, it involves repeating sprint/rest cycles of 20 seconds and 10 seconds respectively, repeated 8 times for a total of 4 minutes. And by sprint, I mean sprint - balls-to-the-wall, go-at-it-until-you-die, RPE 10 intensity. But, as with all things in CST, in good form. Today being a moderate-intensity day, however, not to mention Adrian's first introduction to TacFit, I eased off on the outright intensity and told him to focus on improving his technique instead. With each exercise, the final score is the lowest rep interval during each round of 4 minutes.
1.) Clubbell Swipes @ 2 x 10lbs : 6 5 4 4 4 4 5 7
2.) Pullups @ commando (dropping down to jump-up from round 3 on): 13 8 5 5 5 5 6 8
3.) Ring Pull @ Single Ring: 13 8 8 8 7 8 9 13
4.) Plyo-box jump @ Jump-up: 6 5 5 5 5 5 6 6
Cooldown
Each of the following asanas held for 20 seconds each - both sides for asymmetrical asanas.
1.) Downwards Dog (posterior chain and hip extensor release)
2.) Static Leg Swoop (posterior spiral line release)
3.) Seated Twist (hip external rotator release)
4.) Table (Pectoralis, anterior deltoid, serratus anterior, subscapularis and hip flexor release)
5.) Upwards Dog (Anterior chain and hip flexor release)
6.) Plough (Erectors spinae and hamstring release)
Stay tuned for Day #4, which will be TacFit Alpha again, this time at high-intensity!
First off, welcome to Hashim and Hok Keong, our two new group members. This week's class was quite productive, despite some space-sharing issues early on in the session. Next week's session will expand on the concepts covered and add in training the basics of ballistic striking as well as knifework, so stay tuned. Also, do your homework, guys! And by that, I mean your rolling, slow pushup and squat, however much the latter two may feel like holy hell!
Warmup
- IntuFlow Spinal Wakeup, Hips and Shoulders
- Slow pushup and squat, 20 seconds down, 20 seconds up
- Forward and backward rolls
- Basic striking and absorption
Forcing Movement, Absorbing Through Movement
- Wave movement vs Ball movement
- Partner displacement through pushes, passive resistance
- Partner displacement through strikes, passive absorption through footwork
Standup Grappling
- Neck pummelling
- Marionette/Sweater-snag drill
- Asymmetrical standup wrestling – tori wrestle to takedown, uke wrestle to maintain control, round-robin format
Here's a quick blurb on each of the two top-level RMAX coaches in attendance for November's seminar, as taken from the RMAX website. With two such highly-qualified individuals teaching, you'd be missing out on a lot if you didn't come!
Ryan Hurst
Ryan Hurst is the newest addition to the RMAX Faculty Coaching Staff and is the representative for RMAX/CST Asia.
Ryan competed in gymnastics from a very young age, a sport which he continued throughout highschool. In Junior High, while also practicing gymnastics, he started Aikido and became fascinated with the Japanese culture.
A desire to further his education in the martial arts and the Japanese language led Ryan to travel to Japan while in university. He stayed in Japan and continued his training in Osaka. During his first long stay in the country, while at the University of Niigata, he lived with his Kendo instructor as an 'uchi-deshi' or 'live-in (Martial Art) pupil'. His practices included weekly meetings and bouts with members of the Niigata Police force and Japan Self Defense Force. It was through hard work with these people that Ryan earned his black belt rankings in Kendo and Iaido, and first began training in Judo.
Also while at university, Ryan was introduced to the practice of Raja Yoga. Yoga became an extremely important part of Ryan's life, and he devoted daily practice to the asanas and meditation in order to advance himself physically and, more importantly, mentally. Ryan would later discover how important that yoga practice was in helping him cope with the intense stress of the hustle and bustle of life in Osaka and the corporate world.
Having graduated from university, Ryan moved to Osaka to continue his Martial Art practice. He dove head first into Judo while working at the Sumiyoshi Budokan (Sumiyoshi Martial Art Complex), located at the Sumiyoshi Shrine. At this time Ryan also worked with instructors in Kendo, Daito-Ryu Aiki-jujitsu and Shorinji-Kenpo. However, it was Judo that consumed the better part of his practice time, and through his contacts at the Sumiyoshi Budokan he also practiced with police officers at Osaka Castle (Shudo-kan) and at the Minatoku Police Station. His black belt rankings in Judo were all earned through winning at tournaments as a representative of the Minatoku Police Station's Judo club, Minatoku Ju-yu Kai.
Ryan was first introduced to Scott Sonnon's material through the original Grappler's Toolbox. He was intrigued by the video and used it to help him with his martial art practice, but it wasn't until he suffered a serious shoulder dislocation that he fully came to understand the beauty of CST - how it can help a person in recovering full range of motion while also working towards the prevention of injury.
Ryan released the Japanese version of Intu-Flow®, Joint Wellness, in 2005. In 2006, in collaboration with Head Coach Jarlo Ilano, he released the Prasara Primer textbook, and in 2007 followed it up with the Prasara Primer DVD. Ryan has appeared in multiple magazines and has been featured on GAORA Sports Station conducting a bi-weekly show that features Prasara Body-Flow Yoga. In August of 2008 Ryan released Yoga-For-Men.com, an online portal where guys can learn yoga like a real man should.
Ryan specializes in complete body transformation, instructing in both Japanese and English at his private studio in Osaka. He also offers personalized online programs to his students around the world. Ryan also trains several Japanese media stars, and his monthly workshops are filled with people who travel in from all parts of Japan.
Jarlo Ilano
Jarlo Ilano graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1998 with a Master's degree in Physical Therapy. His entire career has been a relentless pursuit of the best methods of rehabilitation, and he has logged hundreds of hours of continuing education credits in his quest for personal excellence. His passion for learning led him to explore CST, and in 2004 he obtained his first Instructorship. In May 2006, thanks to his unwavering diligence and dedication to his personal practice, he was one of six Instructors chosen by the RMAX Faculty to pioneer the next evolution in the CST Instructor Cadre - the hard-won position of Coach. Coach Ilano's unique insights into CST are the product of the literally thousands of patients that he has treated in his clinical practice. This time in the trenches allows him to convey difficult concepts with the skilled ease of an experienced Coach.
Coach Ilano's career as a health care professional has progressed in synch with his lifelong passion for the martial arts. He is an RMAX FlowFighting®® Athlete, and he underwent a rigorous selection process in July 2006 to become a member of Team RMAX. He is also a certified Instructor of mixed martial arts, Brazilian Jiujitsu, and Filipino Martial Arts under Burton Richardson of JKD Unlimited. Coach Ilano believes that martial arts training involves more than simply learning how to fight - it is also a vehicle for self expression and for transcending one's perceived limitations.
Coach Ilano is currently based in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he offers high quality instruction in the martial arts, health and wellness. He frequently travels to the mainland U.S. and Asia for seminars and private instruction. For more information, please visit www.csthawaii.com, which contains an archive of articles for both the beginner and the seasoned veteran.
Due to the roads being flooded from torrential rains this week, the guys missed more than half the session, so we didn't quite get to do all the work we wanted to. Still, it was a good transition into RMA methodology from the Wing Chun.
Objectives
- Engaging and clearing the bridge from a distance
- Testing of structural strength in force-on-force lockups
Warmup
- Neck pummelling
- Strike absorption – passing the wave - fists
Engagement Drills - Striking
- Clashing Bridge – force-on-force impact; emphasise maintaining structure and attempting to disrupt opponent’s structure
- Asymmetrical Slipping Bridge – from force-on-force impact, tori aims to clear the bridge and land a push as a test of structural integrity; allow impact to creep up to strikes as situation allows
- Asymmetrical Slipping Bridge to Counter – as above, but uke aims to absorb or otherwise defend initial strike and channel energy into counterstrike
- Asymmetrical Slipping Bridge to Recounter – as above, with tori aiming to re-counter
Engagement Drills – Grappling
- Asymmetrical Slipping Bridge to clinch – as above, but with clinches
Chen Bing demonstrating chen taiji wrestling applications. Note his rock solid structure in every position and the savage applications of fajing to send his opponent flying.
I normally don't go public with what goes on behind the curtains here at VTS, but I feel that this is something worth sharing.
I had another long conversation with Adrian today on where I want to take the martial arts classes. For those of you who don't know Adrian, he's my long-time friend, training partner and research collaborator, as well as a guest instructor here at VTS, who will soon have his own profile on the website.
The VTS combatives syllabus, while ostensibly based on RMA - and delivered via RMA pedagoguy - is very much our brainchild and the result of our cumulative training and experiences. Recently, things have come to a head and we have had to take a stand regarding the focus of the syllabus and the direction in which we want to evolve the system.
Line Up and Snipe, or Engage and Control?
At the heart of our dilemma lay the central ethos that was to guide the evolution of our system. Did we want to focus on developing a system optimised for those critical initial three seconds of combat, which would enable to a student unload a series of devastatingly accurate strikes from any orientation in the blink of an eye? Or did we want to develop a system that would emphasise entering into and maintaining a position of control from any engagement scenario?
Either way, focusing on one end of the spectrum would perforce cause us to neglect the other end to some degree, simply due to the finite amount of time available for training and planning.
Confounding Factors
At first glance, optimising to dominate the initial three seconds of combat seems to be the way to go. The most respected reality defence authorities today tell us that this is the the space of time in which actual combat happens on the streets, and I strongly agree that it is critical. However, experience - both ours and other people's - tells us that if there's one direction a fight tends to go, it's south. It's all well and good lining up a partner round about your own size for a straight blast that sends him sprawling on his arse. It's another thing entirely facing down a charging rugby forward with an iron jaw who's been getting his beer and aggro on or a junkie so hopped up on PCP he's numb to everything except the urge to kill the evil out of you* until you die from it.**
Landing a solid punch at range on a bag is already no easy proposition - it takes a lot of good coaching and diligent practice over a goodly period of time to do right. In a brightly-lit ring, in which you can afford to devote all your attentional resources to just one task (knocking the living daylights out of your opponent), this gets even harder with a live opponent doing everything he can - within the rules - to mess up your plan. Now imagine doing it at the start of a three-second fight, when the realisation that things have just gotten very, very real has sunk home and the adrenaline starts flowing. Now imagine you're past the intial three seconds, during which your engagement plan went south, and are trying to land a solid punch while being manhandled by someone significantly larger and stronger than you.
Not so easy, is it?
(If you have difficulty picturing this scenario, I suggest you find a large, strong friend who doesn't mind getting hit to try this out with. For best effect, enact the scene in a poorly lit, confined space filled with dangerous obstructions like metal support beams, sharp debris on the floor and furniture with sharp corners.)
Engagement and Support System versus Integrated System
Quite simply, you have to have a support system behind your three-second engagement plan, a concept espoused by our above-mentioned reality defence authority (Geoff's personal choices are boxing and judo). We wanted to take it a step further past the technical aspect of engagement methods versus recovery methods and create a system that enables the student to seamlessly move into and maintain positions of control from the initial engagement. Coming as we both do from martial arts backgrounds that emphasise continuous control of an opponent - Goju karate, taijiquan and Systema on my end, Wing Chun and muay thai on Adrian's plus a shared background in wrestling and submission grappling on both our parts - this is something we have always been conscious at an intuitive level, even if our explorations into longer-range striking arts took us in a different direction.
Control and Effecting a Mechanical Solution
Quite simply, control is everything, in combat and out of it. If you can control your opponent, you have the option to strike, restrain or reposition him as you please. More importantly, you can devote a much higher portion of your own total resources to doing so than he can to resist you. This is what I refer to as effecting a mechanical solution to a combat encounter, and it has also been the single most important lesson drilled into me by round about 24 years of martial arts training.
Being as I am the most unathletic person I know who isn't actually crippled in some way, I learned rather early on that I will never in this lifetime float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. A lesson reinforced when, while training under Coach Syed Abdul Kadir, I got the chance to observe some of our national boxers at work. Above and beyond even diligent training, it takes talent to effectively hit someone using a paradigm like that, which puts it out of reach of a good 90% of the human race. Not that boxing and similar arts aren't good to do. Quite the contrary - it is an excellent foundational and supplementary training to have under your belt. My point is that you cannot base a paradigm for broad-spectrum combat on something like that, simply because you are leaving the spaces in between exchanges of blows to sheer athleticism and, dare I say it, luck. In such an exchange, the younger, faster, stronger man inevitably wins.
Not quite the point of training in martial arts in the first place, is it?
Again, nothing wrong with being stronger and faster - we are after all in the business of making people so. But above and beyond that, we want to them better.
Systems that emphasise control as their base get around this problem by fixing down an opponent and making it far more energy-inefficient for him to defend himself or otherwise resist your efforts to subdue him.
Once in a position of control, you are free to cycle the above cascade from observation to action - coined by John Boyd - at a much faster rate than your opponent. As first postulated in the Thirty-Six Strategems, observations engender analysis which engenders tactics which in turn results in more observations. The further ahead you are in this cycle in a given encounter, the more highly evolved and therefore effective your tactics will be. Likewise, by reducing the attentional resources your opponent has available to devote to this process, the less evolved and therefore effective his tactics will be against you.
Conclusion
I will continue to blog significant paradigm shifts to our system as it continues to evolve. In the meantime, you know what to expect from future classes. Train well and stay tuned.
* - I'm not saying you're evil. Just that he thinks you are.
Almost! Almost nailed 25 without a rest pause! Last week was a major performance nadir, with energy way down the flusher. Was hoping I was fully out of it this week, but that didn't seem to be the case. Will nail 25 for sure next week, and then I'll take another 5 reps on to the density cycle to hit that magic 30.
Decided to revisit the concept of bridging as applied in RMA on Saturday, and also introduce the concept of ball movement, ie. moving the body as a point mass, as I've been paying less attention to footwork than I should have lately.
Objectives
- attacking and defending structure in the bridge for infighting
Warmup
- IntuFlow basic routine
- Fist-walking on partner’s body
- ‘Forty-fives’ squats - 5-second holds at 1/3 down and 2/3 down x 3, followed by 5 squats with empty lungs.
Shock Absorption Through Structure
- Partner pushing drill with fists
- Partner pushing drill with legs (versus body and legs)
- Strike absorption versus fists
- Strike absorption versus kicks
Forcing Movement, Absorbing Through Movement
- Wave movement vs Ball movement
- Partner displacement through pushes, passive resistance
- Partner displacement through pushes, active resistance
- Partner displacement through strikes, passive absorption through footwork
Bridge and Clinch Fighting Drills
- Defending the Bridge - pushes
- Defending the Bridge - strikes
- Defending the Bridge - blades
Reciprocal Sparring
- Reciprocal and continuous 1-step sparring with each attack counting as one step
Took on two new guys, Peter and Terry, yesterday. Both are students of Wing Chun Kuen under Sifu Ken Lau. I like wing chun guys as we tend to be on the same page regarding concepts such as movement, structure and efficiency, not to mention single-minded combat effectiveness, so I don't have to mince words when talking to them.
Spent some time addressing topics such as fear-reactivity and the use of breathwork to deregulate the emotional response to combat and enable calm rationality in the heat of combat. From a theoretical perspective, this entailed some talking at length on stress psychophysiology. From a funtional perspective, this entailed a good deal of shock absorption and mutual poking with steel blades.
I also expanded for them (and myself also) the concept of structure beyond the wing chun perspective ("the ability of musculoskeleture to dynamically respond to force from any direction in order to absorb, translate and redirect it in any direction at any given point in time with the least expenditure of energy") .
All in all, an interesting and fruitful morning. Looking forward to next Saturday!
P.S.: Be sure to do your homework, guys. I'll know if you don't, and then you'll see what the whip is for :-P
Newbie Introduction Class – 03/07/2010
Objectives
- Introduction to RMA fundamentals – Movement, Breathing, Structure
- Deprogramming of fear-reactivity
- Determining individual optimal engagement range
Warmup
Slow pushup, 20 seconds down and up
Slow squat, 20 seconds down and up
Structure, Shock Absorption and Fear-Reactivity Deprogramming with Blades
Breaking and regaining structure to absorb pushes
Breaking and regaining structure to absorb strikes
Pushing drill versus blades
Strike absorption, take two
Finding Individual Engagement Range, Disguising Body Language and Disrupting Structure
Zombie-walking drill
Zombie-walking drill to shadow
Sweater-snag Drill
Zombie-walking drill to structural takedown
Slow Sparring
One-step sparring to takedown
Reciprocal two-step sparring to takedown
Reciprocal three-step sparring to takedown
Homework
IntuFlow basic joint mobility – three spinal sections, shoulder rolls, rooted hip
Forward and backward rolls from kneeling
Slow pushups and squats
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Stronger, harder, faster isn't better. Better MAKES stronger, harder, faster.
Absolutely ridiculous on the part of the bio and psychomedical establishment. When I was taught about the conspiratorial nature of mainstream medicine in university, I used to think it was just conspiracy theorism on the part of my admittedly Marxist lecturer. Some years on, I've realised he was right all along.
Here's one of my quickie lunch recipes for the fit foodie on the go. From fridge to plate, this takes about 20 minutes in total to do (including washing and chopping and otherwise preparing ingredients).
Stir-Fried Beef with Mixed Vegetables
Beef - 300gms
Broccoli - 1 head
Yellow Zucchini - 1
Red Bell Pepper - 1
Shiitake mushrooms - 1 small packet
Spring Onions - 1 bunch
Garlic - 1 bulb or to taste
Ginger - 1 medium-small knob or to taste
Soy Sauce - to taste
Sesame Oil - to taste
Salt and Pepper - to taste
Chop the vegetables roughly - mushrooms can remain whole. Pay especial attention to separate the onion bulbs of the spring onions from the shoots, as the bulbs will be going in the hot oil ahead of everything else. Heat some cooking oil in a hot wok and brown the garlic, ginger and spring onion bulbs for a few minutes before adding the beef and browning well. Sprinkle with salt and dash light soy and sesame oil to taste. Once the beef is further browned, add the vegetables a portion at a time, turning constantly to ensure even cooking. Continue to season with soy sauce, pepper and sesame oil as you go, tasting constantly to ensure the flavours aren't overwhelming. The broccoli is the acid test of whether or not this dish is cooked as uncooked broccoli contains nutrient blockers that, predictably, aren't good to eat. Once the broccoli is a little tender, the dish should be ready to serve.
My apologies for not posting for a few weeks. The move to full indy operation has been ridiculously busy. With that out of the way, here's a fitness-oriented article to tide you all over until I manage to follow up on the series I have planned.
Escalating Density Training
What is it?
First off, let us define density. In exercise terms, density refers to work done per unit time. For those of you who remember your basic physics, this should seem simple - reps x weight/time, right?
As it turns out, it's not quite as simple as that. Furthermore, EDT (short form) can be and has been done with bodyweight training. Unassisted, I might add, by weighted vests and the like. So how does this work?
Rather than talk in simplistic terms about 'weight', I prefer to divide resistance into two broad categories:
Mechanical Resistance: Newtons of force generated by the muscles.
Metabolic Resistance: Joules of chemical energy released by the metabolic system.
Mechanical resistance, the first of the two is the more immediately obvious way of increasing resistance. The simplest method is increasing the weight lifted, which lends itself to certain limitations, particularly with bodyweight exercise. The more sophisticated option is to sophisticate the exercise at hand, that is, to perform a more challenging version of the same exercise to elicit a stronger neural response which will, in turn, result in stronger and more complex muscular activation. This is done especially often in bodyweight training, but any and all weighted exercises can likewise be sophisticated for greater resistance with the same weight (or other external resistance, as is the case with stretch bands).
Head Coach Adam Steer demonstrates an example below:
Metabolic resistance is to some degree linked to mechanical resistance - after all, our muscles need to get their energy from some place. However, the metabolism supplies energy to more than just skeletal muscles. Everything we do requires energy - breathing, thinking, transmitting nerve impulses, creating and secreting hormones - and all this places a load on the metabolism.
Therefore, while skeletal muscle is generally the organ system with the single largest energy demand in the body, it is not the only one. By finding ways aside from magnitude of skeletal muscle activation to challenge the metabolism, it is possible to vastly increase the concentration of energy-producing enzymes in the metabolic system, hence improving metabolic power and endurance.
By far and away the best way of doing this is through sophisticating neural activation, which is why circuit training is superior by far to traditional station training for eliciting metabolic adaptations. Even more pronounced is high-intensity flow routines, which even more strongly emphasise the transition from one exercise to another without pause in between.
CST Instructor John Sifferman demonstrates the higher levels of the signature flow routine FlowFit below:
Now we have a working definition of resistance, let us move on to work. Here, we have to modify the elementary physics equation of work = force x distance moved, as, very often, the total mechanical work done during exercise is zero according to Newtonian physics (we lift a weight and put it down again).
Instead, I define work as total time under resistance (or tension, as Coach Sonnon likes to express it, but I like the term 'resistance' as it better illustrates things from the metabolic point of view). In other words, how long one spends under continuous challenge to the systems being trained. That leaves us with total Newtons of force produced by the muscles and total Joules of energy produced by the metabolism.
When we express the above as a time-limited function, we get work/time = POWER.
Hence, EDT is ultimately a way of increasing one's sustainable power, either mechanical or metabolic, usually some measure of both.
So, what are the nuts and bolts of building an EDT routine for oneself? I present three sample methods below.
1.) The safest and simplest method of going about EDT is to simply compressrest intervals. For instance, if you are following a circuit routine and rest 90 seconds between rounds, you can aim to knock a number of seconds off that time every so many sessions until you reach a given goal, assuming you take roughly the same time to finish each round of the circuit. I cannot stress enough at this point that, for the length of a given cycle, everything else must remain the same or you risk courting injury and overtraining. Once you have attained your target rest time, start a new cycle with your original rest time and increase one variable of resistance - either peak resistance, sophistication or volume - and aim to reduce your rest time all over again.
2.) Another method is to aim for volume over time - either to complete a given volume of work in as short a time as possible, or else perform as much volume as possible in a given time. Kettlebell athletes are very familiar with this approach and use both aspects to train for their sport, which is a perfect example of a density event. In their case, work volume is measured as reps x resistance and this can be carried over to other forms of training, using sophistication as a possible substitute for increased weight. This can be done with either a single exercise, or a circuit or flow routine, whereupon one aims to complete rounds for time.
3.) A popular mainstream approach to EDT is the classic pyramid routine - gradually increase the resistance each set till close to the threshold of failure, then reduce it in a symmetrical step fashion.
The problem I have with traditional pyramid training is that, from my experience, it tends to cause muscular fatigue before significant neural adaptations can be elicited to increase strength (which is the usual goal of pyramid routines). Suitability really depends on one's specific training needs - bodybuilders, for example, love traditional pyramids because it is a way of volumising the sarcoplasmic reticulum for the pumped look. However, if one is training for strength, I prefer the ladder protocol, which runs as follows:
1.) Follow the ascending side of the pyramid till you reach 100% 1RM (or whichever measure of resistance you choose).
2.) Drop right back to the bottom of the pyramid on the next set and ascend again but stop just prior to failure. In other words, if you feel yourself about to fail in the middle of a set or on the next set, stop immediately and drop back down to the bottom. From a strength perspective, training to failure is training to fail as fatigue causes the neuromusculature to develop self-imposed limits to force development as a failsafe against injury. Keep that brick out from under your accelerator!
3.) Repeat steps 1 and 2, taking each near-failure point as your new endpoint until you are unable to continue any longer. This form of EDT enables you to sneak a large amount of neural training under the fatigue radar each session, letting you get more bang for your strength buck.
For today, I decided to build off the last session and introduce the concept of the bridge, to borrow a term from Chinese martial arts.
What is the bridge? It has been defined many times over, but I like to think of it as the functional centre of the mechanical interaction that is a physical fight. Generally, it tends to fall between the 1/4-arm to 3/4-arm distance (though not always) because this is where a human being tends to be in the strongest possible position, anatomically speaking, to apply pressure forwards into one's opponent - too much or too little extension leads to insufficiency on the part of the musculoskeleture to efficiently apply force.
This zone of engagement is crucial to a fight because, whenever it is clearly defined, the joint centre of mass (from hereon referred to as JCoM) of both fighters, to borrow a term from Coach Sonnon's Immovable Object, Unstoppable Force series, falls herein. By achieving structural dominance at the bridge, one can control the movement of the JCoM and thereby dominate the standup fight and, if necessary, bring it to the ground in a position of advantage.
I will write more on this topic later, but for now, suffice it to say that relatively few drills were performed today, but in great volume. Today's class was focused and intense - just the way I like it to be.
Systema Singapore – Saturday Morning Group 05/06/2010
Objectives
- attacking and defending structure for infighting
Warmup
- IntuFlow basic routine
- Wall-walking with fists
- Floor-level walking lunge to Cossack knee switch on turn
- Neck and body pummelling
Bridge and Clinch Fighting Drills
- Defending the Bridge - pushes
- Defending the Bridge - strikes
-Defending the Bridge - bladework
- Pummelling to structural takedowns – neck and body
Step Sparring
- Reciprocal 5-step sparring with each structural deformation counting as one step
Posts
