Week 16

Pak / lop drill:

Further detail and practise form last week. One detail was to ensure good range. I assumed this meant appropriate distance between you and your partner, but Martin meant range or length of the technique. Get it to his hips and not creeping across his centre. This will ensure he is on his heels and rocking back. A second detail was making stronger grabs and snatches of his wrist. This was most apparent for me when Stable Joe worked his own special ninja death grip. I then tried on him but as his forearms are the size of my upper arms, snatching was a real challenge. I lost a little bit of my elbow discipline.
We spent more time this week on changing on the lop and hit, keeping the rhythm smooth and also the inside gate lop and change. When working the inside gate lop, start nice and slow to develop correct precision and feel. Off the pak, turn the hand over and pull in and to your hip (this will get him coming forward), follow immediately with a lop with the opposite hand. Give it good range and he will be back on his heels, for extra nicety, chamber the elbow back on non lopping hand and punch to the chin. Continue the roll.
When working with Rooney I found that for me, it is best to feed the punches with my eyes closed and to go with the energy he was giving. With my eyes open I was too busy watching his technique and almost struggling to alternate punches. Special needs I know.

Snatch Attack: This was a longer range and applied version of the technique we had just been learning. It is fast, deceptive and disruptive to receive as your arms are being manipulated quickly and punches are coming in. Too much info to process. So if your partner holds a standard guard, use your leading hand (LEFT for sake of argument) to lop his lead hand, right lop his right hand then punch to chin with left. Initial lop is path clearing, second lop must have strong snatch and long range.

Anti-grappling:

Headlock defence: push the head (palm out) so his head turns away then pull hand back so thumbs rests politely on the eyes. Visually for me it looks like a long and languid changing of the cars gears from first to second. Need to be hip aware, if he gets them close, push and post off them. If he steps inside and looks to throw, go with the motion, put your head towards his knees and pull on his opposite hip (reach around him), pull him around and over you onto the floor. You will (should) end up in side control with him lying on his side. Post hands on the floor and land sky knees to his back. When posting the hands on the floor ensure placement that puts a negative curve in his spine.

Double underhook defence: If he comes in low and grabs with his head not on your shoulder, but under your arm pit, get the hips away, insert head side arm between his neck and head and reach under his armpit, with the other hand place across his shoulders and clasp hands. Underarm should be palm up. Pull in tight to your chest and wheel him over. It is vital for the control of him that you pull him in first.

Pad training:

Focussed on correct body mechanics not power, keeping the movements compact. Connecting the hips and the shoulders in the movement and the arms are a manifestation of this.