In fighting techniques

Here is the list of entry techniques, big thanks for Trist for putting the time in to put e-pen to e-paper

In Fight Techniques

1 a) Lap and punch, Lap and trap, punch
b) Lap and punch, Lap and punch, Lap and trap, punch

I seem to remember to really get a strong X trap the trick was to make the initial Lap before the trap down low to your partners hip and then the lap to trap up high almost trapping across their upper arm just below the shoulder.

2 a) Pak and punch, grab elbow with punch hand, hit to body, hit to face
b) Lap and punch, Pak and punch, grab elbow with punch hand, hit to body, hit to face

They key to getting a good position to take the elbow was allowing your initial punch to fold to Bong Sau (given that there is energy jamming your punch)

3 a) Pak and punch, Tan and punch, Tan hand grabs arm and traps, punch
b) Lap and punch, Pak and punch, Tan and punch, Tan hand grabs arm and traps, punch

The Tan is a straight Tan that invades the centre line (think early part of 1st form) it almost snakes to the outside of their defensive arm and then moves it as you dominate the centre.

4 a) Pak and punch, hit to body with Pak hand, Tan and punch, trap and punch
b) Lap and punch, Pak and punch, hit to body with Pak hand, Tan and punch, trap and punch

Similar straight Tan but from a different starting position as your throwing a body shot first, as the arms comes up to Tan it still comes outside and over their defensive arm (the one that blocked your preceding punch) forcing them to throw the other hand across to defend and allowing the trap.

5 a) Lap and punch, hammer fist to body
b) Lap and punch, Lap and punch, hammer fist to body

Tuck the arm that you Lap up to allow you to hammer fist to the solar plexus.

6 a) Inside gate Pak and chop, chop
b) Inside gate Pak and chop, Workman trap

Your initial chop is off your rear hand for both variations, Workman trap is established by throwing the arm you parked across the top of your other arm (the one that threw the chop).

7 a) Lap and punch, punch through centre
b) Lap and punch, Lap and punch, punch through centre

8 a) Lap and palm strike, push elbow and hit
b) Lap and chop, Lap and palm strike, push elbow and hit

Push the elbow across their body and hit over the top.

9 a) Pak and punch, Gwai Jarn
b) Lap and punch, Pak and punch, Gwai Jarn

Gwai Jarn - turn the wrist that you Pak over (wrist side up) and rotate your other elbow into the centre, switch the hand that's grabbing the wrist and sink your weight down onto their arms as you establish the position, hit with your free hand.

10 a) Pak and punch, inside gate Pak and chop
b) Lap and punch, Pak and chop

11 a) Pak and punch, punch
b) Lap and punch, Pak and punch, punch

The last punch relies on your partner not giving you proper resistance/energy on the arm you Pak.

12 a) Pak and punch, Inside gate Tan and punch, inside gate Pak and punch
b) Lap and punch, Pak and punch, Inside gate Tan and punch, inside gate Pak and punch

13 a) Lap and punch, hammer fist between arms
b) Lap and punch, Lap and punch, hammer fist between arms

We experimented with the hammer fist hitting both solar plexus and also groin, allowing for a follow up rising elbow

14 a) Immovable elbow, Garn and punch, cover and back fist
b) Immovable elbow, switch arms, Garn and punch, cover and back fist

From contact on the initial immovable elbow your rear hand covers their guard hand (think of sliding between the two hands that are guard to guard) and you can then throw your other hand around as an immovable elbow.

15 a) Lap and punch, Tok Sau and punch
b) Lap and punch, Lap and punch, Tok Sau and punch

Tok Sau - catching their arm just above the elbow with your thumb underneath and pushing the arm across their body.

16 a) Inside gate Pak, chop forward, Lap and backfist, Lap and palm strike
b) Inside gate Pak, chop forward, roll over backfist, wait and trap, punch

The chop is thrown with the same arm you inside gate Pak with, 16a is the three attacks from the three drill gaining entry with an inside gate.

17 a) Lap and punch, piston punch
b) Lap and punch, Lap and punch, piston punch

18 a) Pak and head grab, strong lat pull and punch
b) Lap and punch, Pak and head grab, strong lat pull and punch

19 a) Pak and punch, roll over backfist, push head away, sweep and punch
b) Lap and punch, Pak and punch, roll over backfist, push head away then release and elbow

20 a) Lap and punch, second Lap resisted, fold to elbow
b) Lap and punch, Lap and punch, third Lap resisted, fold to elbow

Class notes: Elbow range

Really technical session last night, no video to back me up so will simply list the different aspects of what we did.

Entry techniques demo: Last week this was something Trsit was working on and so he ran through with Martin what he remembered.

Entry techniques.

1a: lap and punch, trap and punch
1b: lap and punch, lap and punch, trap and punch
2a: pak and punch, kau sau and punch
2b: lap and punch, pak and punch, kau sau and punch
3a: pak and punch, tan and punch, trap and punch
3b: lap and punch, pak and punch, tan and punch, trap and punch
4a: pak and punch, body shot, tan and punch, trap and punch
4b: lap and punch, pak and punch, body shot, tan and punch, trap and punch
5a: lap and punch, lift hands, gut hammerfist
5b: lap and punch, lap and punch, lift hands, gut hammerfist
6a: inside gate lap and chop, chop to neck
6b: inside gate lap and chop, arm x-trap and punch
7a: lap and punch, hit through centre
7b: lap and punch, lap and punch, hit through centre

Now these are the only ones that I wrote down from a class we did in 2010. Mart and Trist went all the way up to 15 so not sure if they followed the above a b pattern or simply went through 15. It might be a good idea to catalogue them again at some point to simply catalogue them. I wonder if these are things we can apply out of the 3 drill or sparring?

3 drill: hit through the centre of the chop to the throat with a palm up horizontal fist. Martin remarked that he had been doing the 3 drill for 20 years and still new techniques are being discovered.

Martin spent time talking us through the following details of elbow use: mechanics,
distancing,
range,
thumb position when clasping,
‘jabbing’,

Thai clinch defence counter: outside of the arm for a long arm lap control

Arm drag pull away: cup the elbow and tricep to control the escape to give you wrist control.

Punching targets and tools: the jaw line, the vertical and the horizontal fist

Punching the head when being aggressively held at the shoulder – coming over and under the arm and fist orientation.

Encroachment drill: basic stance and range, pushing arm mechanics, punch target. Their possible counter to the push into cover and counter.

Elbow control: crook of the elbow, thumb and fingers manipulation. Counters: crushing the hand by leading with the elbow, popping the elbow out to escape,

Finding the lap creatively in the standing grapple

Pak pass to lap

Discussion on sparring

Found this podcast recently (Hiyaa Podcast) and it is both entertaining and educational. Educational in the sense that experienced stylists from different arts talk about their methods and pasts. I like it as I love learning about all the martial arts.

Anyway, on the podcast linked below, there was an interesting chat about sparring. Such as what is it and how to incrementally develop it rather than just throwing gloves o and going at it. Part of the discussion within resonated in me because I used to think gloves on, gum shield in and see what happens.

http://www.hiyaapodcast.com/episode-9-interview-john-wang/

When doing MMA we did lots of drills and then freeform. Freeform being using whatever you want. It did feel developmental rather than being thrown in the deep end. This is something that Martin has touched on several times that sparring intensity needs to be built up and not something that we just do. Having done lots of sparring in my martial arts career and in all the ranges of the spectrum, I can see the value in all variants. Doing the far end only will give you headaches and a speech impediment but not to do it will also leave a vacuum in your knowledge and experience of yourself. For many years I thought about how I would react and cope under pain, stress, exhaustion, fear and panic. I have found that different levels of sparring give you clearer and calmer eyes. I have also found that pain is a great teacher as well.

Strangely I have found a great big difference in myself in heavy sparring. Striking only sparring is still my nemesis yet grappling only sparring and grappling sparring with strikes sparring I love and am very comfortable with!

In closing, Martin is guiding us along our own paths to enable us to shape the martial art to us, not us to it and sparring, in which ever form it takes, is a significant part of our journey.
Enjoy the podcast.

Catch wrestling principles

Here are some of the principles in catch wrestling. Learning these is as important as learning the techniques themselves...

Basic Principles

- always keep your elbows in

- control your opponents hips

- control your opponents head

- control your opponets breathing

- keep your center of gravity lower than his is possible

- minimize space when in a superior position

- create space when in a inferior position

- always think ahead, have a plan for every scenario

- have an emergency plan for failed 'hook' attempts

- make life miserable for the bottom guy (poke, scratch, elbow, knee, punch etc.)

- make the bottom guy carry all your weight

- think before you act

- attack and control your opponent at angles, not straight on

- know your own body

and finally,
- know that your fight is won in the gym and not in the ring (which means train hard!

Street fight to music

Found this video way back near the start of the blog. Very fun for the new guys that have not seen it:

Words of wisdom from the greatest sword fighter that ever lived

Dokkōdō – The Way to Go Forth Alone

  This was a set of precepts written by Miyamoto Musashi the week before he died.  It was a guideline for having a stringent, honest, and simple life. I have studied  Musashi on and off for a while, and have only just come across this. It is always good to be to be surprised in research.

  Every martial artist should read this. You can pick and choose what you like about them. I don’t agree with all of them, but there is wisdom in there.

1. Accept everything the way it is.
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
4. Think lightly of yourself, and deep of the world
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.
6. Do not regret what you have done.
7. Never be jealous.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or lore.
11. In all things have no preference.
12. Be indifferent to where you live.
13. Do not pursue the taste of food.
14. Do not hold onto possessions you no longer need.
15. Do not act following customary belief.
16. Do not collect weapons or practice weapons beyond what is useful.\
17. Do not fear death.
18. Do not seek to possess either good or fiefs for your old age.
19. Respect Buddha and the Gods without counting on their help.
20. You may abandon your own body, but you must preserve your honor.
21. Never stray from the way.

- Miyamoto Musashi

Class notes: fighting under soft spot lights

No notes from the class just videos.

Catch wrestling videos and notes from Trist

Trist has been doing some extra research and here are his tremendous insights as of late:



This whole video is really interesting to watch although a lot of its not relevant to what we are training. At 7.00mins in Billy starts talking about arm positioning for double wrist locks and arm bars, this then progresses to a few face crank positions, a standing double wrist lock takedown (bring on the mats!) and then at 8:30 he demonstrates the elbow/lever position (this is what I was focusing on transitioning to after establishing the lock and seem to work really well with both Ron and yourself)



Strangely the early part of this vid shows something not a million miles from what Ayyaz was talking about last night but Billy is immediately establishing his own wrist control, also an interesting break from two hands on one arm. The arm drag variations are around 2:00mins, the first is the variation we train and the other two seem more wrestling specific but still interesting from a grappling standpoint.



1:05mins in Billy shows an interesting idea for grapple sparring as a nice way to go for double wrist lock



This is on the ground but check out Billy at 2:05 onwards reminds me of Martin demonstrating good position.

Trist, thanks for all your insights, these videos are fantastic and help to keep us all learning

Learning from the stories and experiences of others.

I am a big fan of podcasts and my most recent discovery is that of Graplearts radio hosted by Stephan Kesting.

The latest 2 I recommend are the Tony Blauer interview and the Erik Paulson interview.

Blauer gives his interesting opinions about such aspects as coaching and fitness, of particular interest to me was when he talked in length about how competition fighting and sparring can prepare you better for the street.  This was also echoed in an interview with Burton Richardson who is a very well established JKD trainer out of Hawaii.

I found his honesty fascinating about how all his years of training did not work in the competitive environment. It was as if he had a false sense of what he could do because it had never been tested. Please listen as it is a fascinating interview.

Skipping back to the Blauer interview, he also talked a lot about fear and the two acronyms he uses to help understand it. Check it out.

Finally is the Erik Paulson interview. He is just an encyclopaedia of information and worth a listen, he created CSW, Combat Submission Wrestling. Again, listen to the path he took, the influences on his systems and the path he is now on.

Similar yet different striking concepts and principles

Been wandering YouTube and found these videos from this Russian style of martial arts

I like the following video because:

- He shows the shoulder roll
- He uses lots of torso rotation to develop power in his strikes
- He is very balanced at the end of his shots
- Relaxed heavy hands
- Looks messy in parts
- Striking a variety of body parts

On the downside I would like to see this in a more alive scenario where there is non compliance



This next video, at the start whilst the gloves are on, show some nice fast light contact practise. Later on it delves more into his idea of body use in the street/ self defence arena.

Class notes: pummel master class

3 drill: did about 45 mins of rolling. Trying to get different things to work such as the head and arm, hitting through the centre, double lap, short pak and kau sau. Working with Ayyaz I got lots of time to defend his hits through the centre and it was all about using the feet to keep out of range of his long arms.

3 drill 100k stance for 30 seconds - not to be lifted, thrown or off balanced. This is what our stance should be. Not in conversation stance but knees flexed, positive spine, shoulders forward of the hips. We pressure tested the two stances by resting our forearms on our partner's fighting wedge. They applied the forward pressure and we either lost balance (conversation stance) or absorbed it out through the arse and into the ground (combat stance).

Fighting out of the pummel: this was the focus from which all of our learning came out of tonight using our 5 primary grappling based attacks

1: arm drag

2: double lap

3: DWL

4: head and arm choke

5: long arm head control

the arm drag, swing back, counter punch and finishing punch:



Finding the double lap in the pummel is something I need to work on as I found it quite messy to find. Perhaps that is the point. It is not supposed to be clean and pretty all the time.

Regarding the elbow hits think about pointing the finger and this will give you the direction of the energy in the strike. You want your energy to go straight into him which means the forearm needs to be more parallel with your chest rather than the forearm folded in. It is almost as if the upper arm lifts and you are not you really hitting with the elbow, more like stopping their forward motion from the double lap with your elbow. Martin talked about his former teacher engaging in a challenge match with a Mantis teacher. The match ended swiftly with a double lap and elbow causing a rapid KO. I have looked online and found, obviously, no video evidence. There is however some videos of him training, teaching and applying wing chun. Here are a few to give you an idea of the man in question.



And here he is teaching from his knees! It has the embed code disabled hence the web address.

http://youtu.be/nkAAUscKQvI

And here is our training video of the double lap and elbow.



DWL: details: get his hand away from you and him, whilst being in control, to stop the hand clasping. Create the space for the arm and then you step in to meet his wrist and not pulling it in to your chest. This will keep his arm away from him. 

Clasp over the elbow or on the tricep with your armpit not on the forearm. You will not have the leverage if you are too low on his arm.

To do the empty chicken wing shoulder control make sure when you transition from the DWL to the ECWSC that you close the gap between your side and his. I did this with the Saracen leader and he commented on how much more effective it was when this gap was closed.

Head and arm snatch into choke: Martin reminded us of the need to close the gaps and ensure everything was in the right place. Primarily the deltoid need to reach right through and under his jaw line. I was working with the Saracen Leader and several things happened in slow motion. I put the technique on and within half a second I let go. Saracen stumbles, I thought he was taking the piss by doing a comedy stumble. As he stumbled he banged his head then proceeded straight body and hit the back of his head on the floor a few times. He appeared to be fitting. I know you must leave people alone and put them in the recovery position afterwards. Luckily this lasted for a few seconds before he jumped up feeling a little queasy. I felt really bad that this happened but SL was super cool about it all. It also made me realise that if everything is in the correct place that this choke is fast and can put someone to sleep after you have let go. 

In real MMA action:



In a grappling match:



Long arm head control. Elbow up and elbow down. Martin spent some time going through this and perhaps I am over thinking it or simply crap at it at the moment. Found it really hard to get on. Along with the double lap more time on this is needed.



And how it should be done properly:



Rotational power, pulling the other hand or leg or waist back to give power to the striking tool.