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.