23/10/2010 – Aggressive Standup Engagement: Striking

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.

16/10/2010 – Fundamentals of Locks and Holds: Locks, Holds, Escapes and Counters, Part 2: Plural Engagements and Use of Clothing

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



Warmup

- IntuFlow basic routine

Conditioning


TacFit Commando Mission 2 – 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 Drills

- Rolling and falling

- Dogpile-lock anti-tension striking drill

- Headlock escape drill

- Pinned limb ground movement drill




Technique Drills

- Wrist locks – inside-to-outside, outside-to-inside (main examples: omote/ura gyaku)

- Elbow hyperextensions – weight-down, weight-up armbars (main examples: elbow/armpit pressure armbar, arm-wrap figure-4 armbar)

- Shoulder locks – figure-4 locks (main examples: onikudaki/mushadori family, hammerlock)



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

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.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1aLdYgfr3M

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmLsRHdNsew

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tri0MtGdbvs

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9cN--Cf5CU

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O40QCK5Qybo

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDWrMXiehTM

 

 

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.

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

Another solid session today.  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.

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.

The Fence Applied - Failing the Criminal Interview.

Excellent practical example of manipulating psychological and emotional distance by Coach Sonnon. Click here to read more.



* All images and material are the property of their respective owners.  No copyright infringement is intended.

28/08/2010: Systema Saturday - Fundamentals of Standup Grappling

A good, focused class for my new group of students today.  Next week, we will touch 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.

Systema Saturday

A simple but focused session for the benefit of a group of new guys.  The TacFit Commando was especially well-received >;-)  See you all next week!


Systema Saturday – 22/08/2010


Objectives


- Introduction to TacFit Commando high-intensity metcon

- Introduction to striking and shock absorption

- Introduction to basic structure breaks

- Basic step sparring


Conditioning


IntuFlow Basic Routine


TacFit Commando Mission 1 – Recruit: 1st half


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


Influencing Structure Through Intermittent Force

- Partner Push drill

- Partner Reciprocal Push drill

- Partner Striking drill


Influencing Structure Through Continuously Applied Force

- Marionette Drill to soft takedown



Simple Step Sparring to Soft Takedown

- Round-robin format soft sparring, 1 and 2-step


Circle



Homework

- Holding plank on fists

- Slow squat – 20 seconds down, 20 seconds up

TacFit Lab - Adrian's HRP: Day #1 - Moderate Intensity

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!

Systema Saturday - 31/07/2010

Objectives



- Developing the basics of ballistic striking


- Simple applications of ballistic striking


- Developing fundamentals of edged weapon control, retention and disarming



Warmup


- IntuFlow basic routine





Skill-Specific Preparation


- 5-minute plank


- Heavy hands drill – taichi arm swing


- Heavy hands drill – falling knife catch


- Partner push drill with knife


- Zombie Walk drill with knife


- Wrist-lever knife solo drill



Ballistic Striking


- Single strikes to pads (stationary)


- Simple two-hit combos – trinity strike prep (stationary)


- Strikes to pads while moving


- Strikes to partner (torso, stationary)



Knifework


- Evasions versus thrusts (start slow, emphasise natural speed creep)


- Evasions versus slashes (see above)


- Partner knife push to simple leverage disarm



- Disarm and/or control versus one-step free-form attack