27/4/17: single stick sumbrada, hubud and grappling positional work and escapes

The mighty Josh Barnett applying a devastating scarf hold

SINGLE STICK

3 beat high box sumbrada
Getting flight time on the drill. Extra teaching points were: zoning off; using the stick like a sword – flowing motions. This was aided by the no clicks version of the drill.

Flowing into punyo hubud
After the roof block on the angle #1, grab/control his wrist holding the stick and step in and strike to the head with the punyo of your stick. From here, because you are crashing from medium to short range, he will insert the initial hubud motion and the punyo hubud drill begins.

Snake strip off angle #1
Against the #1: use the roof and crash in, wrap the checking hand around his attacking arm, his arm will now be tightly held under your left armpit. You are using the arm to wrap his arm, not the hand – your left thumb is pointing up and your right elbow/forearm is covering in front of your face: ready to strike with the butt of the stick or simply to protect the face. To complete the strip, turn towards his weaponised arm and ‘punch’ his wrist (punyo up) to complete the strip.

Vine strip of angle #1
Against the #1: block and check, step to the outside of his stick hand as you stab on the outside of his attacking arm, sliding the tip of your stick towards his face. Ensure you have taken hold of his stick. From this position, lever the stick down for the disarm.

GRAPPLING

Fanning round an opponent
Partner A is simply acting as a body on the floor for Partner B to practise and refine the fanning motions.
Scarf hold on the left – to side control on the left – to reverse scarf hold on the left – to mount – to reverse scarf hold on the right – to side control on the right – to scarf hold on the right.
Steve was very meticulous in his teaching as always, showing us how to move slowly through each position whilst maintaining pressure on the opponent and limiting their potential options to move or defend the positions being sought.

Josh Barnett showing the possibilties from the scarf hold position:



T-bar escape loop drill
Scarf hold escape using the T bar - upper forearm against the jaw sitting on top of the lower forearm which is acting as a support. The upper forearm looks like the top of a capital T, and the lower forearm looks like the spine of the capital T. This happens as you get on to your side, that lower elbow must be on the floor. 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.

Side control escape and reversal
Get on your side, place your lower hand at the hip and upper hand at the neck. Straighten the arms and shrimp the hips out. If the arms are straightened, you’re using your structure to maintain distance control, the more the arms bend, then you’re relying on muscle power. We must assume that we are working against a bigger and stronger opponent. There is no way to out muscle someone bigger and stronger which is why straight arms is the preferred method. As he pushes back in to you to close the range and distance, drop the left hip to the floor and use his momentum to sweep him over.

JKD grappling mind-set this is not a sport grappling mind-set. We want to be able to escape damage, escape the position and get to our feet. This is something I need to focus on, because when I’m on the floor, my mind-set is still sport grappling (as my grappling background is based in competition and sport, not survival). Obviously, it is very easy in class not to consider the possibilities of the real world: concrete, shit on the floor, awkward clothing, more than one attacker, weapons, alcohol. These considerations are new for me and so time spent in the positions, whilst being cognisant of the mind-set, is something that I must spend more time practising.

25/4/17: clinch defence master class and punyo hubud

FOOTWORK:
Step and slide in 4 directions for 1, 2 and 3 steps whilst adding jabs for every step. Change leads.

Slide and step in forwards and backwards for 2 or 3 steps adding 2 or 3 punch combinations. Change leads.

Using the glove on the floor as a focus or centre point for movement - pivoting around whilst punching in addition to L-steeping whilst punching. Keep the eyes up and use the peripheral vision to be aware of the glove on the floor. Move constantly.


CLINCH DEFENCE MASTER CLASS

Clinch tips – always go in with one hand at a time, blades of the forearm up and cutting into the neck, palm over palm on the curved part of the back of the skull, close the gap between the forearms, getting the clinch should be shocking and disorientating for him.

Defence options against the single arm clinch.
When he goes for the single arm clinch, he will always go same side arm as the neck, meaning, if he clinches with the left arm, it will be on the right side of the neck.

1: ‘Shrug’ it off. This one was about timing; as the touches, get rid of it. Lift the shoulder (L) and throw your elbow (L) up to aid the shrugging and turning toward. Always shrug off and away by turning towards your centre. Keep your rear hand up to ensure monitoring of his ‘empty’ hand.
2: Inside roll and elbow insert. From the single arm clinch, roll your shoulder (L) under his clinch arm to get on the inside, then immediately roll the elbow (L) up and move in an outward-lateral (R to L) motion to clear his arm from your neck. Slide your arm (L) along his arm (R) to clinch his neck. Again, keep the rear hand up always to monitor and protect from his ‘empty’ or rear hand.
3: Pull and push the elbow. If he has clinched with his right arm, it is on the left-hand side of your neck. With your right hand, reach under his elbow and pull it towards your centre, this will cause him to want to straighten or pull out to regain better control. As this happens, push his elbow to the left and away from the centre, this will allow space for your left arm to come under his and seek the dominate clinch position.

Defence options against the double arm clinch.
If he chooses to come in with both hands at the same time, bob and weave. Remember to use the forearms to cover the head in case he lifts the knees. The arm position looks very like double lan sau from wing chun.

1: Timing on touch – Drop your weight and have a strong posture. Jump down as you push up on the triceps using the webbing of the hands to clear the clinch from your neck.
2: Chin push - Lose the neck, arms over the top compress and face push. Keep it all tight to allow no slippage or simple escape from him.
3: Put your R arm over the top of both of his arms, insert your L arm underneath his R elbow and put your hand on his L elbow. Lever your L elbow up causing his clinch to open; swim your arms through to retain your own clinch. Keep it all tight, just as in the tips above, step up with the right then step back with the left and baseball bat swing him round, knee to the head. The knee is not just coming up from where the foot was on the floor as this might clash with his elbows. In typical Thai style, the knee comes up then thrusts forward penetrating his guard (if there is one up after the manipulation of his base and spine).

SINGLE STICK

Hitting on the half beat with the abanico strike:
Getting more reps in from the work from last Thursday – cut a slow downward X in the air and on the half beat, insert a backhand abanico strike. Partners were holding the sticks up to provide a target.

PUNYO HUBUD
Close range, or as Steve said, head butt range; very like classical hubud in terms of the motions, differences using the punyo (butt of the stick) are:
Defending the initial attack with the punyo – put your hand on his, this will prevent abanico strikes.
Cover and control his elbow.

In addition to the basic drill, we were practising cutting laterally across his abdomen after our initial blocking motion. We did this in a random order. The cutting motion with the stick forces him to cover the elbow strongly but also zone off into a structurally better position to avoid getting ‘slashed’.

Strangle after the zoning and elbow covering.
Push away with your empty hand (L) on his to create space to slide the stick with your right hand along the outside of his neck. Now slide your left forearm into but along the neck to prevent any gaps, grasp your stick palm down. Lever your left forearm into the side of his neck by pulling on your stick. With the stick on the other side of the neck, this will cause a strangle.

A choke cuts off air to the brain by closing or constricting the airways at the front of the neck. A strangle occurs when you cut off blood to the brain by applying pressure to the sides of the neck. This is a vile technique to ‘receive’: immediately and shockingly painful coupled with immense pressure on the neck. Tap fast or it’s lights out quickly.

20/4/17: single stick master class

SINGLE STICK MASTERCLASS

Downward figure 8 with female footwork. Steve likened the body mechanics for angle 1 like the jab and angle 2 like the cross and throughout the whole night, kept reminding us to use the body mechanics in all stick motions.

Upward change: After the backhand, for example with the right hand, insert the stick upwards alongside the outside of the left forearm. Catch the stick in the left hand, take a grip, make sure there is the punyo available then continue the striking family with this hand.

6 count plus change and footwork in the mirrors: Putting it all together by stepping out on the right to do a 6-count strike with the right, do the upward change and swap to the left. Repeat.

Against the stick: As previous but now against the stick that the partner was holding laterally. Now that impact was part of the drill, it was key to let the stick flow and for the motion not to ‘break’ or ’stop’ on impact. Or to be caught trying to hit the stick. Use the body mechanics and letting the stick flow was the mantra to stay focussed on.

Upward figure with female footwork: Whilst still considered a figure 8, both the upward strikes are very close to vertical. Lots of body mechanics once again, rhythmic fluidity.

Downward change: The Bruce Lee Nunchaku change – you pass the stick down past the outside of the forearm and catch the stick under the lower upper arm. Catching it in the position, allows you to go straight into the upward backhand strike smoothly.

You will notice both Bruce and Guro Dan doing said motion at the start of the video, then nice and slowly around the 1:10 mark.



6 count plus change and footwork in the mirrors: Same as the downward figure 8 practise.

Against the stick: Partner held it laterally, facilitating working the upward striking family.

Abanico in the mirrors: Upper arm parallel to the floor, lower arm vertical and the stick is mostly parallel to the floor (as he were working the high line abanico).

Against the stick: Feeder held the stick vertically to enable connection from the movement.

Angle #1 – half beat abanico on the high line– angle #2 in the mirrors. This was tricky and requires lots of work. We were working the angle 1 and 2 slowly to enable an explosive half beat abanico. Really challenging.

Against the stick

Numerada: Feeder feeds, slowly, angles 1 – 5, strike from long range using the angle #1 – half beat abanico – angle #2. Footwork, proper range, distancing – using the end of the stick to attack his hand.

18/4/17: boxing evasion methods, pad rounds and hubud

Shadow boxing warm up, no hands; evasive motions only.

Boxing evasion methods:

PARTNER A: Jab - hook or cross – hook.
PARTNER B: Slip to the outside against the jab, bob and weave against the hook.
With counters:
PARTNER B: shovel hook (with the outside arm) after the slip, body shot (with the same hand) on the bob and weave.

PARTNER A: Jab - hook or cross – hook.
PARTNER B: Duck on the jab (drop the weight but stay vertical as possible) and roll back on the hook, (as the rear heel is up in your stance, use the dropping of this to enable sound balance and evasion distancing).
With counters:
PARTNER B: duck and jab to the mid-section against the jab or cross, roll back and hook over his right hook, roll back against the left hook and counter with straight punches.

Shadow boxing using and applying evasive motions practised previously whilst facing our training partners.

Pad training – building combinations using the cross and hook.

1) & 2)
Cross
Double left hooks
Cross

3) ( pad holder throws left hook )
Bob and weave with hit through
Cross
Left hook

4) ( pad holder throws another left hook )
Right Elbow cover while long left arm covers their right shoulder
Due to right shoulder forward, we
Left hook
Right cross

5) ( pad holder throws a Right cross )
We slip to outside,
Left hook
Cross
Left hook

And breathe.

Hubud:

Lower grades were working neck clinch hubud, higher grades were working punching hubud.
Wave and hack change – off your initial defensive motion, roll the elbow over his elbow to control the position and hack forward with the chop to the neck. He will insert a barrier to block the attack, pak sau to remove the barrier seek the neck, this will then continue the drill.

Chi sau change -

Salute to arm break – On the second motion (when you use the back of the hand to pass his arm to clear the centreline), salute with your nearside arm to get under and control the arm, zone to the outside and slide the saluting arm down his limb to catch the wrist. Your other arm now acts as the fulcrum on his elbow for the wrench or break. Remember to apply pulling pressure through his wrist.

He counters the arm break by bending his arm, transition into a dumog arm pull into wrist lock number 1.

Higher grade hubud notes from James

Punching Hubud

1. Both in a R. lead, partner throws a lead, vertical punch, you parry slightly across centre line with your left, raise with your R. (can be a knuckle shot to the forearm), pak with the L. & R. vertical punch. The drill should have a ‘rocking’ back and to motion.

Switches From Punching Hubud

1. Out of R. lead, waslik with L. hand and step right foot back, partner steps forward and punches with L. you're on opposite side.
2. Out of R. lead, R. horizontal elbow destruction, and R. backhand, partner holds centre and you zone and wedge with L. (should be an eye jab), pak with R. and step forward and L. punch and you're on opposite side.
3. Out of R. lead, inside to outside gunting with R., pak with L. and feed R. backhand, partner holds centre you zone and wedge with L., pak with R. and step forward and L. punch and you're on opposite side.
4. Out of R. lead, L. cut punch over the top of his punch, he catches or holds centre line, pak with the R. and step forward and L. punch and you're on opposite side.

Wrenches and Locks From Punching Hubud

1. Out of R. lead, parry the punch with your L. and salute with your R. (take his arm of the 12 o’clock, ideally above his elbow) and flow into the arm wrench (L. arm wrenches as R. hand controls his wrist, pak and feed the R. punch again back into the drill.
2. As (1) but partner bends his arm so you cannot get the wrench, instead slide your R. hand so your last 2 fingers are controlling his thumb and the other fingers are on his wrist and use your L. forearm to dumog pull him into you then slide your L. hand down to control his thumb as your R. hand pushes down on his hand (like the #1 lock from the lockflow). You should either push his elbow against his body or bring it to your body before applying the lock.

13/4/17: syllabus revision

Happy birthday Steve who was rightly not at class tonight as much more important celebrations were occurring.

Tonight, we split up into our respective grades and went through the material we needed to revise.

Us orange belts worked single stick striking families and strips out of 3 beat high box sumbrada, kick for kick, hubud and lock flow.

Around the room, I could hear single and double stick work, Thai 4 counts, punching hubud, punch defences. Adam and Darren were very generous with their time in helping, assisting and guiding us all along as well as finding time to practise their own material.

As this is such a short entry, I'd thought I'd put up a long video on attributes. There is some really-good stuff on this video as well as thing being done is different manner to us - not only the clothing and haircut choices.

11/4/17: kicking, differentiated syllabus work

KICK FOR KICK
Using both legs, keeping the hands up, chin down, playing with the timing, moving around with sound footwork, when in close give no motions or hints of attack, when out of distance use sound footwork to get in.
• ROUND KICK to outer or inner thigh, using the shin.
• TEEP to the waist/belt area, using the ball of the foot.
• KNEE, strong ankle, ‘go over the chair’ – knee comes up the forward as opposed to just coming up.
• OBLIQUE AND SIDE KICK using the sole of the foot. For the oblique kick, the knee comes up and over to the front leg. Side kick can be aimed at the thighs or torso. As with the oblique, on the side kick, lift the knee then extend the lower leg. Also, the option for the spinning back kick.

CONDITIONED SPARRING ROUNDS: Attacking with any kick in any order.

Whilst the following video was nothing to do with what we did last night, there was mention of the great Terry O'Niell and his sublime kicking skills. The following demo also highights many other attrubites he had along with his kicking.



RED BELT SYLLABUS WORK:

JAB CROSS DEFENCES
• JAB: Split entry left – right uppercut then left hook.
• CROSS: Split entry right – left upper cut then right cross.
• JAB: Scoop right and uppercut left – use the whole body, scoop and uppercut at the same time, follow up with a series of attacks.
• CROSS: Scoop left and uppercut right – punch combination.
• JAB: Cut punch right - go straight down his line into his centre.
• CROSS: Cut punch left – go straight down his line into his centre.
• JAB: Salute with the left to arm break with the right elbow
• CROSS: Salute with the right to arm break with the left elbow

SINGLE STICK
Working different striking families, using the whole body not just the weapon bearing limb, eyes up and not on the weapon.
• Downward and upward figures 8s (L&R).
• Cinco-teros 1-2-3-4-5, 1-4-3-2-5, 1-upward backhand-upward forehand-2-5 (L&R).
• Abanico – high/high, high/low, low/high, low/low.
• Redondo – 1-2-3-4-5-reverse stab on the #2 angle

BLUE BELT SYLLABUS WORK
Thanks to James for notes.

Thai 4 Counts
1. Inside leg kick (shuffle in and kick with no telegraphing), cross, step-off left hook, rear leg thai (kicking across the front of the thighs, ideally of both legs). Mix lines for the punches to either head or body – you should get at least one of the punches in. Partner takes the kicks but tries to cover the punches.
2. Inside leg kick, cross, left hook (no step-off), switch thai to lead leg or body. Mix lines for punches as above.
3. Rear leg thai (just pivot with no telegraphing), left hook, cross, step-off to the right and inside leg kick. Mix lines for punches as above.
4. Rear leg thai (just pivot with no telegraphing), left hook then either cross, check with your left hand then rear leg thai OR cross and throw the rear leg thai on the half beat as part of the same motion OR step-off left and cross, rear leg thai. Mix lines for punches as above.

Double Stick
1. Standard 6 from closed guard – high forehand, low backhand, high backhand and repeat on other side. Steve emphasised the importance of not ‘flat-sticking’ – extend the stick and hit with the last 4 inches. He also emphasised not having a gap between the 3rd and 4th beats so it flows. He suggested slowing down but having a consistent rhythm and starting the count on the 2nd or 3rd beat i.e. start counting ‘1’ on either of the backhands.
2. From open guard step out to the right and A1, A2; step out to the left and A2, A1 (this is a mirror image of what you did on the right but an A2 with the left hand is a forehand where as it is a backhand on the right), standard 6.
3. Heaven 6 from closed guard – high forehand, high backhand, high backhand and repeat on other side.
4. From open guard step out to the right and A1, low backhand watik, A2; step out to the left and A2, low backhand watik , A1.
5. Do drill (2) then move straight into drill (4).

6/4/17: setting up attacks behind the jab, going deeper into the art of Kali.

USING THE JAB TO SET UP ATTACKS AND COMBINATIONS

Each of the following sets were set up with two jabs
1: long jab (turn the shoulders and don’t enter with footwork).
2: jab - lead hook to the head - right low kick.
3: jab - lead hook to the body - right low kick.
4: jab - right cross to the abdomen (drop the weight enough that you can keep the spine relatively vertical) - jab high on the way out.
5: jab - right hook to the head - left low kick
6: jab - right hook to the body - left low kick.
7: jab - slide and step to cover distance - left uppercut - right cross and back out.

CONDITIONED SPARRING
One for one(sumbrada), using any of the 7 techniques practised previously, in any order and a s frequently or not, in that you could just focus on one. However, the key was the two initial jabs being on target and believable. When it was your turn to defend, you had to do to just that – prevent him from landing any shots.

STICK AND KNIFE
Continuing and putting flight time into the familiar pattern practised for the previous three weeks.
Drilling the footwork pattern and adding the stick and knife mechanics.
1: angle 2 backhand strike (right-hand) with stick, while stepping off to the right.
2: left hand high line stab with the knife, on the same 2 line,
3: angle 2 backhand redondo (right-hand) with the stick
4: reverse stab on the angle #1 line

Preceding the 4-count with other striking family patterns 
1: Figure 8 (3 count – forehand, backhand, forehand)
2: Half of heaven 6
3: Angle#1 forehand – low backhand watik

Application of the motions:
Person A: attacks with angle #1
Person B: zone off line, inside sweep with the stick and use the knife to check the weapon hand followed by angle #4 to the lower torso.
Person A: straight stab to the abdomen
Person B: zone right and drop stick right against the stab, maintain stick pressure on his arm as you stab over your arm to his ribs. Small redondo with the right hand followed by a stab over the top to the neck.

If the stab comes in very quickly, Person B needs to zone off to the left to be inside the stab. The stick in the right monitors the knife as you stab with the left. Get to the outside of the arm by inserting the knife over the stick and stabbing to the abdomen. From here, redondo with the stick to the knife hand and then follow up with a stab to the neck.

Once again, it was great to have Ben down from Can Do Martial Arts along with one of his students, Simone.

4/4/17: hubud, pad rounds plus stick and knife sumbrada

HUBUD
Basic roll – left and right sides

Chi sau pass – arm on the inside blocking the attack to the neck, rolls out to in, back of the hand wedges onto the two arms, pak sau then hit to the neck to continue the roll. The lower hand also moves in a circular motion to enable the crossing of his arms for the wedging pin and control.

Dagger pass – as he attacks going for the neck, snatch the attack with same side arm by pulling it towards you, follow up immediately with the same arm, slide up his to attack the neck for the clinch. The partner then yields and folds his forearms back in a bong sau fashion to then enable the continuation of the drill.

Dagger pass to clinch – as above but he does not get the elbow up in time, and so you clinch on the near side of his neck, the rear hand monitors his other arm, pinning it to his torso momentarily before joining the other hand at the back of the head for full clinch.

Clinch defence 1 – lose the neck, drop the weight yet posture up as get the hips as close to his as possible and step a leg between his; interlock your hands behind his back just above the hips to enable control of his base.

Clinch defence 2 - Lose the neck, arms over the top compress and face push. Keep it all tight to allow no slippage or simple escape from him.

PAD TRAINING
Thai 4 counts

Lead switch kick to the front leg – cross – hook – round kick to the rear leg.

Lead round kick to the front leg – cross – hook - lead switch kick to the front leg.

STICK AND KNIFE
High box 3 beat sumbrada, using the knife to replace the checking hand

5 beat sumbrada – as above

Stripping the knife – building on the work of last lesson:
Application of the motions:
Person A: attacks with angle #1
Person B: zone off line, inside sweep with the stick and use the knife to check the weapon hand followed by angle #4 to the lower torso.
Person A: straight stab to the abdomen
Person B: zone right and drop stick right against the stab, maintain stick pressure on his arm as you stab over your arm to his ribs. Small redondo with the right hand followed by a stab over the top to the neck. From here, slide the knife holding hand down his arm to where the stick is monitoring his wrist, pinch the wrist and have the back of the blade against his wrist. Strip the blade out from this control position.