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.
Monday, August 30, 2010
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.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
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
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
Monday, August 16, 2010
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.
IntuFlow basic routine, emphasising all major joints and the 4-corner balance drill, and omitting arm and spinal waves for now.
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.
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
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!
Monday, August 2, 2010
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
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Systema Saturday - 24/07/2010: Fundamentals and Standup Grappling
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
Circle
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
Circle
Monday, July 19, 2010
Meet Your Coaches
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.
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.
Hardwork Class - 16/07/2010: Distance Entries into Engagement
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
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
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Chen Taiji Wrestling
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.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Deliberations At a Fork On The Thousand-Mile Road
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.
** - Yes, that was a Hotshots 2 reference.
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.
** - Yes, that was a Hotshots 2 reference.
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