27/10/16: hubud masterclass

Flight time working hubud tonight. Steve talked about the functionality of it and why we do it; it is a way to work out of motion. Up until tonight, I was confused by the phrase out of motion - now I understand it; we use the motion of a drill to apply locks, strikes or whatever. If we don't work techniques in a motion (out of motion) then they will never be functional. Japanese JJ and Aikido are 2 traditional arts with sophisticated and dangerous locking methods which are trained out of very static and regimented attacks. For us, we need the chaos and to work out of the chaos because the percentage of success is higher because we are used to attacks from all angles, ranges, empty hand and weaponised.

I used to train in a very functional and evolved method of wing chun whereby we would use the 3 drill to look for arm drags, different strikes, traps, underhooks to take the back or hips, chokes and double wrist locks. My coach had spent lots of time boxing and catch wrestling so understood that these tested arts were important and so absorbed them into his system.

Evolution was something Steve discussed this evening, not only how and martial arts have changed but why. The needs of the martial artist today reflect the wider society and the potential violence we might encounter is very different to that of when we were kids or our parents were kids.

ROLLING ELBOW CHANGE

DAGGER PASS CHANGE

Both of these changes put me in a very uncomfortable position - doing hubud on the left. I know that by the end of the class, I was just a little less horrible at hubud on the left because we practised more. This is something I am a great believer in and tell the kids in my class every day. We improve through good quality practise. No one is born good at anything, every high level skill is a practised one.

ARM DRAG
Shoot the are through, almost like an uppercut, pull him past you and get to the back

DUMOG (Filipino wrestling or forceful manipulation through pushing and pulling) PULL ON THE INSIDE
You can drop the chin for the head-butt…

UPPER ARM PUSH
Using two hands to shove his humerus toward his ear from the side, this is very disruptive as you are working against his balance in a weakened plane.

DUMOG PULL ON THE OUTSIDE
We used this to set up the locking. Make sure you step back to get his base disrupted.

#1 LOCK OUT OF HUBUD

Throughout the class, other topics discussed were seeking adversity in your own development - work the skills you are weakest at. Working and refining what you're good at will help to polish those skills but rate of improvement would be slower than for example, working the stick in the left hand or whatever the weakest link in your martial chain is. Which brings me to the image at the top of the page. This is Marcello Garcia fighting Ricco Rodriguez. He was out-weighted by about 50kg but chose to test his skills against big men in the absolute division. Growth through hardship.



More Marcello in action



It is said that he does not use any 'strength' moves in his Jits such as arm locks and only goes for the neck. I heard this on a recent Joe Rogan podcast. If this is true, then we should tip our heads even more towards him as he is greatly reducing his options to finish fights with against high level black belt killers.

Anyway, another outstanding class, key learning point was - get out of your comfort zone. And Noel, just because I can remember what we did and write it as a blog post, it doesn't mean I've learnt it. All I have is words on a page to act as a reminder when I can practise out of class on my unsuspecting 8 year old son.

25/10/16: footwork, jab and cross defences, pad rounds plus lock flow drilling

FOOTWORK
BOX - forward, backward, left and right. Then jabs were added to every step, then jab-cross was added to every step
PIVOT around the focus mitt adding punches
L-STEP occasionally whilst pivoting and punching.
FEMALE step (forward 45 degrees)

JAB DEFENCE DRILL (A jab, B, catch and jab, A catch and jab then B worked the following responses:)
1: catch and jab but with faster timing than the previous shots in the drill. More like the riposte that Daniel Lonero taught recently.
2: Slip right leading with the left shoulder, right uppercut-left hook response
3: Split entry, palm out to palm in dumog pull, scoop and lift the elbow as you throw several uppercuts to the body, push him away.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: 2 minute rounds, one person feeds and the other selects any of the 3 responses on any order.

CROSS DEFENCE DRILL: The feed is as above but ends with a cross.
1: Short parry, turning the left shoulder and full body mechanics followed by a cross
2: Split entry, same finish as split entry above
3: bob and weave, body shot, ABC

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: As above like the jab defence drill.

PAD ROUNDS: move from one station to the next as soon as each station finished
STATION 1: jab-jab-cross
STATION 2: uppercut(L)-uppercut(R)-hook(L)
STATION 3: jab-cross-hook
STATION 4: jab-cross-uppercut

LOCKFLOW: 1-4-1 practise and drilling

For no particular reason, tonight was an outstanding example of why this club is so good. It is a journey of constant refinement, there is no resting on your laurels, no place for ego as it is a place of improvement, effort and practise.

20/10/16: conditioned boxing sparring rounds, knife 8 count attachment drill and defences from scarf hold and mount

CONDITIONED BOXING SPARRING ROUNDS
Jab v jab
jab v 2 hands (any attacks)
Knee to knee

Focus was on staying relaxed, footwork, head movement, body mechanics, keeping the hands up, shoulder lead and not being square, staying busy and playing with the range and timing.

KNIFE 8 COUNT
downward forehand - upward backhand - upward forehand - downward backhand - stab - lateral backhand - lateral forehand - high backhand stab
Keeping the motions tight, nothing wasted or extended.

8 COUNT ATTACHMENT DRILL
Simultaneous interception and eye strike followed by passing, turning the head and controlling the elbow, thus giving yourself enough distance for the next attack.

SCARF HOLD DEFENCE
T bar (upper forearm against the jaw sitting on top of the lower forearm which is acting as a support as you get on your side), shrimp the hips out and tuck the head into his ribs, as his head is forced back, lift the leg over the face and reverse the position to take you to the scarf hold.

MOUNT DEFENCE
Cover from the punches then hip up and elevate him with a knee to disturb his base. He will post and wrap up one of his arms and tuck the head into his chest. Hip up to 12 o'clock then to 2 o'clock and sweep over into his guard. Secure his biceps and keep the head on his belly. Posture up, if he tries to punch then put the fingers in his lower abs, this prevents elevated punches and keeps them away! Post up on one leg, keeping the spine erect, then step up on the rear leg. Begin to strike the groin, this should open his legs, pass the leg and go to knee on chest with his arm pinned. Strike then escape.

18/10/16: cross loop drill, hook defences and lock flow

CROSS LOOP DRILL
- shoulder roll
- short parry
- lead elbow
- cut punch
- gunting
- uppercut
- parry, salute to arm break

HOOK DEFENCES
All of the follwing defences are worked against either hook but tonight we were working against jab and over hand right/rear hook.
1: catch the jab, shoulder/bicep stop, step on the foot and palm to the face/thumb to the eye, ABC

2: catch the jab, shoulder roll, ABC.

3: catch the jab, bob and weave and hook to the body, step into him using your elbow so his weight is through his left leg and off-balanced, throw body and head hooks.

LOCK FLOW
Depending on our shirt, depended on what numbers we went up to. Us white shirts worked 1-4-1, the reds and above worked 1-8-1 then 1-12-1.
1-8 are wrist focussed, 9-12 are finger locks.
Of note is the tightness that must be applied at all times. We need not go quickly through the locks but we must have control at all times, leave no gaps and give his mind no time to rest. When Steve and Charlie were doing them on me, at no piint was there any let up in the pressure,

1: kotegaeshi (outward turn wrist lock)

2: wrapped arm bar and tricep roll

3: figure 4 over the shoulder

4: straight arm wrist lock, elbow up and sandwich grip

The 9-12 finger locks are pretty grim, especially number 10.

13/10/16: Single stick masterclass

STRIKING FAMILIES

Lots of reps in both hands.

1: Cinq Teros; 5 count - on the 5 angles: 1-2-3-4-5, 1-4-3-2-5, X followed by a 5

2: Figure 8's
downward, upwards and in different orientations

3: Florete (cones)
3 upwards and 3 downwards, two sides of the triangle - up for 3 and down the other side of the body for 3, the floating triangle
Also, small circles on a big circle to control the tip - c/wise circles on a c/wise circle, cc/wise circles on a c/wise circle, c/wise on an cc/wise circle, cc/wise on a cc/wise circle

4: Umbrella (used to re-chamber the stick)
Number 1 (forehand strike), wrap the arm around and over the head for another number 1. Same for the number 2 (backhand strike)

5: Redondo - circular power striking. Usually Redondo is a repeated circular strike done from the same side of the body over and over. Redondo on the 5 angles, 1-2-1-redondo, 2-1-1-redondo

6: Abanico (fanning)
High - high, high - low, low - high, low - low.

7: Sunkiti (Stabbing and whipping)
5 stabs on the high, lower part of the half circle.
Add the whipping hooking strikes after each stab.

8: Jabbing
12-6, 9-3 lines. Putting them both togetherLet it go, fast single power strikes

Punyo sumbrada

3 count high box pattern

11/10/16: glove work, pad training and single stick

GLOVE WORK

A Jab B catch jab and jab A slip left
A cross, B catch jab and A slip right
A lead hook, B covers and throws lead hook and A bob and weave with body shot
A rear hook, as above but on the other side of the body.

A throws the 4 punches (jab, cross, hook, hook) and B works the 4 defences in a row – slip left and uppercut, slip right and uppercut, bob and weave with body shot, bob and weave with body shot.

Jab and lead hook counters
1: catch the jab, bob and weave, follow up with 3 punches.
2: catch the jab, simultaneous cover and uppercut, cross-hook-cross.
3: catch the jab, lead elbow cover and step into the ribs as the left hand covers his rear hand, wrap the arm over for the wrench or the sweep throw. For the throw, cross step behind and kick the leg back as the right arm pushes forward.

PAD TRAINING
4 corners, pad holders on the outside and punchers in the middle and rotate around each station. Pad holder throws jab and lead hook and the puncher does any of the three counters practised previously. It was high intensity and hard work time.

SINGLE STICK
Solo mastery
1: downward X, 6 strikes and swap sides.
2: upward X, 6 strikes and swap sides.
3: 5 angles 1-2-3-4-5
4: 5 angles 1-4-3-2-5

Paired work – mirroring, remembering that when we hit sticks, we are in reality hitting the hand.

1: downwards X
2: upward x
3: 5 angles
4: 9 count – 2 downward strike, 2 upward then the 5 angles.

Guro Dan vids

6/10/16: Thai kicks, pad rounds and hubud

THAI KICKING

The focus tonight was not telegraphing the kick with any movement, especially movement that originated in the feet.
We had to have the hips up, heels just off the floor and strong eyes. A much repeated mantra was 'turn the hip over'. It was a slow process of improvement, trying to do less yet the mind was firing hard aiming to limit motion to keep the kicks hidden. It reminded me of playing golf. In that two seconds, there are so many thoughts that go through your head, not only interns of the mechanics of the swing but also your intention and hope where the ball is to go.
The point of hiding the kicks is to give him no tells and thus reduce, if not completely negate, his ability to react and defend.

Round kick drilling - both rear leg to outside of his leg, lead kick to the inside of his lead leg.

Teep drilling, off the front and back leg, aiming for the waist.

Multiple kicks - feeder marches forward, kicker throws the teep followed by and inside and outside lead leg kick (R-L-R OR L-R-L). Because he is moving forward it is easier to not move the feet for the kicks than when doing it from stain earlier on. Although easier does not been more successful in doing it well!! But a lovely journey nonetheless.

I have also found several videos of Noel moonlighting as the mighty Buakaw. Noel has a painfully dense quality to his Thai kicks.



And here is the great Buakaw just working the pads as well as a bonkers climbing drill.



PAD ROUNDS
Putting it all together with speed and punching power. Steve wanted the punching rhythm to fast and aggressive, the kicks to be non-telegraphing and hips turning over.
1: lead leg inner thigh kick - cross-hook-cross - lead leg inner thigh kick.

2: rear leg outer thigh kick-hook-cross-hook- rear leg outer thigh kick.

Steve said the above were actually drills from Jun Fan but we were putting the Thai twist on them but using the shin and not the foot as the leg weapon.

HUBUD:
Revision from Tuesday
The basic roll where the initial attack to to get the neck for the clinch. Steve talked about this drill being excellent to work out of motion and find things with lots of movement and aliveness.

Each person took it in turns to feed the energy for the attacks.

On the first defensive motion (hand inside the neck attack and towards the eyes), step back, extend your left hand so you are inside his forearm, load the right ready to punch with the cross, step and punch with the cross. As the punch comes in, he will short parry left and gunting with the right, the right hand then pistons back as the left hand presses down to clear the path for the right punch along the centreline, from here the hubud drill continues.

The second energy we worked was being on the outside of the arm and attacking with the right cross. To get to the outside of the arm, on your third motion or pak/slap to the arm, rotate the palm down and push your arm long against his elbow. As your right cross comes in, he will this time will short parry left and biu jee/ eye strike with the right, followed by a lap sau with the right and punch with the left. From here, the hubud drill continues.

The third energy was on the centreline, so when he punches back down the centreline you use the right elbow for the destruction then chop forward, he blocks and the hubud continues.

So what we have now are punches coming from the right, left and down the centre along with options for each(the gunting, the eye jab and the elbow destruction).

Within the hubud drill itself, Adam gave a great tip regarding the final motion when you control their forearm at the body; keep it there until they move. I was lifting my hand off and exposing my torso. Both Adam and then Steve stated that if we were doing this with weapons, that leaves us open for a filleting.

As always, a most powerful class. I found the kicking without moving really hard, especially when you think you are not moving and then a careful pairs of eyes notices! The pad rounds were hard and certainly got the blood and oxygen pumping. As James wasn't present tonight, we can't talk of the special after the class technique that Steve showed...

4/10/16: Panantukan and hubud

PANANTUKAN (FILIPINO BOXING)
Against the jab and the cross: split entry (get the head off the line of the shot), so against the jab short parry with the right and the left goes straight down the centreline to the throat or face, left gunting to the bicep followed by pak sau with your right to the forearm and left hammer fist to the neck.

On the right side against the cross, short parry left and send the right down the centreline, right gunting, left pak sau and right hammer fist as you step with the right leg. The forward pressure puts them on the back foot.

Steve talked about the functionality of trapping. It is merely a way to isolate or move a limb to facilitate a strike. Nothing more, nothing less. If there is no barrier then hit, if there is a barrier, remove it and hit.

The next phase was adding a punch combination, so after the hammer fist it was cross-groin hit/hook-cross

The following phase was him stopping the hammer fist. You turn the body to create a tan sau (just enough space to clear the line for the strikes) and hit followed up by low covering pak and hit.

The final phase was him giving too much energy and pushing the hammer fist across the centre line, from here you lap sau and hit, low line trap and hit.

Steve earlier on talked about the use of the gunting, not every shot is a KO and some strikes are major and some are minor. The gunting (bicep attacking strike) falls into the minor camp. Minor does not mean useless, it merely means having less reaction and effect than a major one.

Below is an interesting video of Vunak doing his thing. He seems to like the use of the gunting in its various guises in this short video. Also, it hints at some of the work we did tonight.



PAD TRAINING
ROUND 1: Feeder throws a jab, 'pad hitter' split entry, pak and hammer fist, cross-hook-cross

ROUND 2: Feeder throw a jab, split entry, pak and hammer fist, feeder puts up the pad, hitter uses lap and hammer fist and again lap and hammer fist followed by cross-hook-cross. The feeder needs to get the pads and energy forward for the hammer fists. Thankfully I had little Nick, several times my pad was too close to my head and the weight of his shots caused me to hit myself on the forehead. What it did teach me was to give strong energy on the pads when power and weight are coming forward.

HUBUD
The basic roll where the initial attack to to get the neck for the clinch. Steve talked about this drill being excellent to work out of motion and find things with lots of movement and aliveness.

Each person took it in turns to feed the energy for the attacks.

On the first defensive motion (hand inside the neck attack and towards the eyes), step back, extend your left hand so you are inside his forearm, load the right ready to punch with the cross, step and punch with the cross. As the punch comes in, he will short parry left and gunting with the right, the right hand then pistons back as the left hand presses down to clear the path for the right punch along the centreline, from here the hubud drill continues.

The second energy we worked was being on the outside of the arm and attacking with the right cross. To get to the outside of the arm, on your third motion or pak/slap to the arm, rotate the palm down and push your arm long against his elbow. As your right cross comes in, he will this time will short parry left and biu jee/ eye strike with the right, followed by a lap sau with the right and punch with the left. From here, the hubud drill continues.

Like most aspects of training in JKD, hubud is something I love to practise. Yet again, another great session at the Academy. Perhaps the highlight of the night was the fact that it was eventually decided how we end the class and say thank you to each other. There is now a simple solution. Praise Odin. Grading has been set for 17th November at 8pm sharp.

Post training yoga

Woke up feeling tight in the hips, calves and lower back after Thursday's class. Probably the Thai 4 count stuff.

Just completed this practise and now feel much more open and ready for the day.