The Fence Applied - Failing the Criminal Interview.

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



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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