Sunday, September 19, 2010

18/09/2010 – Legwork Continuation (Angular movements and Combinations), Fundamentals of Bladework

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.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

11/09/2010 - Fundamentals of Legwork, Preparation for Bladework

Another solid session todaySo 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.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

04/09/2010 – Asymmetrical Engagements: Striking versus Grappling

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.


You can get it here.



Objectives

- Understanding the nature of asymmetrical engagements without mutual consent to common rules

- Development of striking and grappling abilities to defend against their functional opposites in a free-form environment.



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

- One-leg soft back fall

- Panther walk on fists



Ranging Drills

- Zombie walk drill

- Zombie walk to hand on shoulder and match gait

(All round-robin format)

Striking Drills

- Partner Reciprocal Push drill

- Partner Dependant Striking drill

- Partner Stop-Hit Striking drill

- Stop-hit to advancing strike


Grappling Drills

- Neck Pummelling – Pummel to takedown after second minute

- Takedown versus clinch from disengaged face-off (round-robin)

- Takedown versus sudden advancing clinch (round-robin)


Asymmetrical Sparring (Round-robin)

- Uke attacks to takedown with grappling methodology only, Tori (man in the middle) defends with strikes and defensive grappling.