15/6/17: the art of ripping and tearing limbs

Tonight, was building on the back sweep series from Tuesday in that each technique involved a finish with the opponent on the floor. Furthermore, we were practising by looking after each other to ensure the technique was correct but also because the intention is aggression and speed. If we practised in this format, there would be no one at training for several months.

The principle behind this series of techniques was always to complete the first one. If that fails then move to the second and so on.

1: Against the jab – parry and salute to move his 12 o’clock, step forward with the right to take his weight top heavy. Step back with the left then sweep with the right. He will go down onto a knee but get him belly down by dragging him into his void and away from his based out arm. Essentially this is a #4 straight arm wrist lock but on a different plane. Take the arm vertical (perpendicular to his body) and apply the small circle principle to the wrist – it goes up as it folds for full extension of the joint. Step over the shoulder to simulate a stomp to the head, have the arm braced against your calf for a finish.

2: Against the jab – same as above up until he is face down on the floor. Somehow the arm bends. Slide your right hand to tricep so that your forearms are parallel whilst pinning him with your knee. The knee pressure must be heavy as that alone is grim. Lift the tricep and rotate to the left, trying to get his hand to the back of his head. The finish is due to the rotation of the shoulder muscles.

3: Against the jab – as above but he steps back to avoid the sweep. Transition to the #3 wrist lock (figure 4) take down. As he hits the floor, pin with both knees – one across the ribs and the other across the ear. Again, sound base and lots of pressure driving him into the floor to ensure he can’t move. Your left hand is folding his wrist as your right hand is clasping your left forearm. In addition, his elbow and forearm are glued to your abdomen. Posture up, push the hips forward and lift the wrist for the wrist extension.

4: Against the jab – as above but you can’t get the #3 because he is strong and stable. Step over and behind with the left leg bent and straighten by stomping, almost against his hamstring, for the takedown. Also make sure you are using the elbow close to his chest to apply pressure and help with the leverage for the takedown. When he hits the floor, same finish as the previous technique.

5: Against the jab-cross – split entry followed by the left eye jab and straight into the dumog arm pull so that his arm is pinned to your chest and his balance and base are compromised. Take the flesh of the thumb and rotate using the #1 wrist lock into the takedown. As he goes down, kneel on the bicep, make sure your centre is pointing down his body as this is the safest place to be. If you kneel ‘inside’ the bicep, he can easily reach around roll you to your back. As you kneel on the arm, the upper arm is perpendicular to the body, the forearm is vertical and 90 degrees to the upper arm. Apply the small circle principle to the wrist – up and down and over!

6: Against the jab-cross – as above but as you go for the dumog pull the arm slips out. Change levels and drive straight for the ankle pick with the right and left forearm drive into the hip, drive the hip to the floor so he goes down not away from you as you scoop the foot up. Place the foot under his hip and rotate 180 degrees whilst keep the foot held tight. Wrap tightly with an overhook or underhook. Ensure the leg is close to you, extend by raising, this will ensure no gaps and rotate to your left for some horrendous damage to the knee.

25/5/17: syllabus focus for all

SHADOW BOXING WARM UP (ALL)

RED BELT SYLLABUS FOCUS

Jab defences:
1: catch and jab

2: slip and uppercut

3: cut punch

4: outside deflection

5: split entry into dumog pull

6: lead high elbow cover into hammer fist

Jab-cross defences:
1: catch and jab

2: bob and weave

3: outside deflection

4: split entry into dumog pull

5: parry left and overhand right

6: cut punch

PAD ROUNDS: (ALL) the focus was defending the clinch then striking
1: against the single arm clinch - shrug off with the elbow followed by cross-uppercut-cross

2: against the single clinch - inside gunting - followed by cross-uppercut-cross

3: against the double clinch - bob and weave - followed by cross-uppercut-cross

4: against the double clinch - drop the level and push up against the triceps - followed by teep-cross-hook-cross

5: against the double clinch - arms over and push against the chin - followed by overhand-uppercut-overhand

6: THAI PADS - right rear leg round kick-left hook-right cross- rear leg round kick

SINGLE STICK:

Downward figure 8

Upward figure 8

Cinqo teros patterns:

1-2-3-4-5

1-4-3-2-5

1-upward backhand-upward forehand-2-5

Putting them all together in a loop drill

ADVANCED SYLLABUS WORK

As always, thanks to James for the detailed notes

Thai 4 Counts

Partner steps in to J, as he steps in front leg teep, step down with a hard ankle and rear leg thai (RLT), LH, RC, step-off inside leg kick (ILK).
Partner steps in to J, as he steps in rear leg teep, step down to the R. and ILK, RC, step-off LH, RLT.

Clinch

Cover the J with R. forearm (L. elbow cover your face) and immediately move R. hand to the crown of his head (hit his neck with your forearm on the way in) and the L. hand to his R. bicep or his forearm if his guard is tight, then put L. hand on top of R. (palm to palm), before the forearms are completely pinned together your partner bob and weaves out (keeping the forearms low and horizontal to cover the knee) then RC, step-off LH, RLT.

Cover the J with R. forearm and cover the C with L. forearm (R. elbow cover your face) and immediately move L. hand to the crown of his head and the R. hand to his L. bicep or his forearm if his guard is tight, then put R. hand on top of L. (palm to palm), and bring forearms together and sink weight down, your partner moves his hips in tight to yours then shrug his shoulders up to trap your arms, brings both arms over the top and pushes against his chin (one hand on top of the other) as he straightens his arms and brings his elbows together then pushes out and RLT.

Double Stick

From open guard step out to the right and A1, A2, swing the L. stick under your R. armpit then do heaven 3 (alternatively, you can swing the L. stick at the same time as you A2) & go back to open guard; step out to the left and A2, A1, swing the R. stick under your L. armpit and heaven 3 then go back to open guard.

Do drill (1) then step out to the right and A1, A2, step out to the left and A2, A1 then heaven 6.

From open guard step out to the right and A1, low backhand watik; step out to the left and A2, low backhand watik, then standard 6.

From open guard step out to the right and A1, low backhand but this time follow through and at the same time swing your L. stick under your R. armpit then heaven 3 & go back to open guard; step out to the left and A2, low backhand follow through and at the same time swing your R. stick under your L. armpit then heaven 3 & go back to open guard.

From open guard step out to the right and A1, A2, step out to the left and A2, A1 then heaven 6 and go back to open guard; step out to the right and A1, low backhand watik, step out to the left and A2, low backhand watik, then standard 6 and go back to open guard; step out to the right and A1, low backhand watik, A2; step out to the left and A2, low backhand watik, A1 then earth 6 and go back to open guard.

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.

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.

30/3/17: rounds and rounds of conditioned sparring; stick and knife

SHADOW BOXING WARM UP

CONDITIONED SPARRING ROUNDS
Even though numbers were smaller than usual tonight, everyone got to work with everyone in all the rounds.

1: Jab only

2: Lead hand only (any punch) – there might have been the occasional cheap shot with the right hand from a sneaky move to right lead. No names mentioned.

3: Body shots only

4: Lead hand v rear hand (both in left leg lead)

5: Both hands v both hands

The sparring rounds were constant hard work with very little rest. They were incredibly taxing as the rounds went on but bloody good fun. A true feeling of aliveness and being in the moment. A personal thanks from me to all the lads who were at training tonight as this was hard work that required trust and respect and thanks to Steve for facilitating so well whilst reminding us of:
• Footwork
• Head movement
• Hands up and chin down
• Control
• Pressure
• Being edge on
• Using the right pak to set up the right hand
• Controlling the range with jab
• Constant work rate
• Changing levels of attack

STICK AND KNIFE (KALI)

Footwork:
The right-hand side of the diamond – start in neutral, step out at 45 degrees with the right, the left then comes to meet the right but does not touch the floor, it moves out 45 degrees.

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, followed by
3: angle 2 backhand redondo (right-hand) with the stick
4: reverse stab on the angle #1 line

Drilling the 4-count pattern mirror fashion with a partner

Preceding the 4-count with other striking family patterns
1: Figure 8
2: Heaven 6
3: Angle#1 forehand – low backhand watik
4: Abanico

Application of the motions:
Person A: attacks with angle #1
Person B: Step 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.

Steve illustrated the concept of hitting the hands regardless of what shapes the attacks take or when they come. Hit, hit, hit and hit; it’s the Filipino way.

23/3/17: jab and cross defences, high intensity pad rounds and guard passing into arm submissions

JAB/CROSS DEFENCES
Scoop and round kick
Jab: scoop right and cover with his right with your left hand, step out and round kick with the right leg to the outer thigh.
Jab-cross: catch the jab then scoop the cross as you round kick to the inner thigh with the left leg.
Three punches were then added as a follow up once the initial defence was given some flight time.

Split entry
Jab: parry right and split left followed by right uppercut then straight left.
Jab-cross: catch the jab then parry left and split right followed by left uppercut then straight right.
It was at this point Steve talked about how some of us were putting the brakes on our movements by either going slow and stiff. Steve was encouraging faster and lighter by letting the attacks flow.

Pak sau
Jab: right pak followed immediately by the right cross-left uppercut-right cross
Jab-cross: catch the jab, left pak against the cross followed immediately by the left jab-right cross-uppercut-cross

6 for 6
One person fed all six attacks and the other worked all 6 defence varieties. Lots of changes of partners and energies.

PAD ROUNDS

4 stations, 3 reps of each before moving on.
1: jab-jab-cross-body hook-head hook
2: uppercut-uppercut-uppercut-hook-hook
3: jab-cross-uppercut-cross-hook
4: jab- uppercut-uppercut-uppercut-hook

Tabata style rounds
1: jab-cross
2: cross-hook
3: uppercut-uppercut
4: overhand-uppercut

GRAPPLING – GUARD PASS TO ARM LOCK SERIES by guest instructor Marc Stock.
Guard pass
Grab the shorts at his hips and punch the hips down to the floor – one knee into the arse as the other leg posts out. Not too far away to lose balance and not to close so that he can grab it. Drive the elbow into the inner thigh of the posted leg - this will open his guard. As the legs open, drive the shin across his thigh and staple the leg to the floor. Pass the left arm under the neck and move into side control.

Americana (shoulder rotation)
With good chest pressure coupled with left shoulder pressure, take out the left arm and drive (GRIND) the forearm across the face or neck, he will want to defend this by pushing you away with the arm. As he does, clasp his wrist with your left hand, and with the aid of gravity, force it to the mat. The right hand slides under his bicep and clasps your right wrist. Rev the wrists straight then slide his arm down to the hip; then lever his elbow up with your right arm for the shoulder submission. Make sure chest pressure is maintained throughout.

Straight arm lock (elbow extension)
As you attempt the Americana, he will defend by straightening the arm. Maintain your figure 4 grip but modify by sliding the left arm under the elbow and using the right to turn his thumb to the sky. Additionally, your weight will slide forward across the chest, that is natural and will aid securing the position. To apply the submission, ensure the left arm is the fulcrum and add downward pressure on the right wrist to extend the elbow beyond it’s acceptable range of motion.

21/3/17: trapping, conditioned sparring and knife sumbrada

Great to see Marc back in the class after being away working is miserable Brunei…

Shadow boxing warm up.

TRAPPING:

Pak sau and punch, he covers the centre with a palm block, you then take centre control with the eye jab. Come under your own punch and replace with the eye attack. Make sure the elbow is down and not raised at all as this will keep your attack tight and afford him no gaps to exploit. Have the fingers pointing to the far side eye as this will ensure control of the centre.

Short lap sau and punch, pak sau and punch to eye attack.

Pak sau and punch – he sends the energy across the centre, you use this for the jau sau (hooking palm strike to the face or jaw trying to get the thumb to the eyes). Make sure to step off line to get outside the arm to have a better angle for the strike.

Lap sau and punch, he catches the punch at the shoulder, drive the lap hand forward off his forearm to trap the catching arm against the chest as you rip out your punching hand. As the punch comes out you also need to step behind (in contact) to control his leg and ultimately, his base and balance. With the forward pressure in your motion, chop to the neck with the arm you ripped out and then cover and chop to the neck with the other hand.

CONDITIONED SPARRING

One person jabs and the other person responds or attacks (depending on the timing) with a trapping method:
• Catch the jab
• Pak and punch before he jabs
• Pak and punch as a response to his jab
• Pak and punch as the jab retracts
• Lap and punch and step off line

KNIFE SUMBRADA (COUNTER FOR COUNTER)

Continuing to get flight time into the drill. Tonight, we were working smaller and tighter motions with the knife and increased control of the partner with the empty hand. As the motions become tighter, the ‘defender’ needs to move much more to get the body out of the way.
We revised the strip against the stab that was worked in the last class too; continuing to work it in the drill as opposed to a static technique learning situation. A further reminder was about not watching the knife as this will take your awareness away from all the attacking options and tools he has, not just the one you’re dealing with.

16/3/17: thai boxing fundamentals, knife sumbrada plus strips

THAI BOXING FUNDAMENTALS

Shadow boxing warm up - head movement, punch defences plus footwork patterns

Long guard drilling
Long guard: left arm out straight down the centre, right arm covers the right eye / right bicep is against the cheek / right forearm is diagonal across the face so that the right hand is at the top left of the head / chin is tucked / looking through the eyebrows
- by holding the structure
- by moving into the position from the on guard stance

Crush drilling
Standing leg is bent, 'blocking' leg is 90 degrees bent with the thigh parallel to the floor and perpendicular to the body, toes flexed, long arm of the same side as the standing leg which is simulating pushing into his chest/head/shoulder
- by holding the structure
- by moving into the position and combining this with the long guard

Kick for kick
Crush the kick and return, first against the switch kick off the left leg, then against the rear kick of the right leg.

PAD ROUNDS - Thai 4 counts
Lead round kick - cross - hook - rear leg round kick
Lead round kick - cross - body hook - rear leg round kick
Lead round kick - cross - lead uppercut - rear leg round kick

KNIFE SUMBRADA
5 count, building on the practise from last week. Trying to make the motions tighter and use the non-weaponised hand/arm to control his weapon hand.

STRIPS

OFF THE ROOF
Take control of the wrist and swing counter clockwise (with your left hand) so you finish with your palm up. Have your elbow pressing into your side for structural support and be off line of the line of attack. If he was simply stumble forward, the knife would be in you, hence being off the line of attack. Strip the blade out against the gap in his grip using the webbing of your right hand.

If this doesn't work, maintain wrist control with your left and use your right forearm against the flat of the blade. You move to being back on his centreline and feed the blade back to him by pushing your right forearm forward.

OFF THE STAB
Step the right leg back as you come down on his stab with the left forearm, reach over your forearm and clasp his writ with your thumb and put the blade of the blade against his wrist to secure the position. Use the left hand to quickly 'slide' up the weaponised arm for the strip.

What a great class as always. On the way to training, I was listening to an interview with Duane "Bang" Ludwig on the Drunken Daoist podcast, and he was talking about how we need to be honest yet respectful to our training partners - we must feed them the right energy; too much and it becomes silly, emotional and senseless injuries occur, too little and they don't get to work with a decent energy and thus get a false sense of security coupled with crap technique. That to me feels like essence of this group; hard work, honest attacking and safe work. Challenging yet supporting each other. Bloody brilliant.

23/2/17: boxing off the jab, pad rounds and single stick sumbrada

BOXING OFF THE JAB
A: jab B, catch and jab. One for one. Lots of changes of partners. Most rounds with left lead then several with right lead.

A jabs, B responds with catch right then jab down the centreline then move offline to the left and jab again.

A jabs, B responds with catch and jab, right cross on the low line to the body (drop the weight and ned the legs and enter in to close the distance) followed by a jab on the high line as you exit back out. As Steve said, it was all about footwork.

A jabs, B responds with catch and jab followed by a left hook to the kidney. Make sure you step left and pivot for the hook.

Conditioned sparring rounds: A jabs and B responds with any of the 3 replies practised earlier on in the session.

PAD ROUNDS
Round 1: jab, jab then left hook to the kidney.

Round 2: jab - cross on the low line to the body - exit with the jab

SINGLE STICK SUMBRADA

Orange belts and below worked the following: (higher grades doing secret stuff on their side of the room)

A attacks with angle #1, B responds with roof then own #1

A attacks with angle #1, B responds with inside sweep and angle #4

A attacks with angle #4, B responds with drop stick plus left hand under his weaponised wrist followed by angle #5

A attacks with angle #5, B responds with wing block then responds with angle #2

A attacks with angle #2, B responds with shield block then angle #1

The work from the higher grades, many thansk to James for the notes

Roof the A1 then slice down with the A1.

Inside sweep the A1 then A4 across the stomach.

Pass the A4 - with the R. stick chambered on your L. rib and your L. arm resting in front (like you’re hugging yourself), drop your R. foot back and deflect his forearm with the back of your L. hand (push his arm into him, don’t just scoop it round) as you hit his stick (would be his hand in reality). Then hit with the A3.

Pass the A3 - either move both legs back and hollow your body as you deflect his forearm with your L. hand (push his arm into him, don’t just scoop it round) and hit his arm over the top then move into cat stance (R. toe pointed) and hit with the A2 OR just skip further back and hit over the top without deflecting the arm and hit with the A2.
Shield the A2.

Do (1) to (3) as a sumbrada flow - the person who starts with the roof should make a ‘Z’ shape with his stick as he roofs, feeds the A1 then passes.

Do (1) to (5) as a sumbrada flow.

Here is a series of images from JKD instructor, Steve Powell, from the second city in the north, Manchester.

http://www.jeet-kune-do.info/jun_fan/sumbrada/

We then put it all together in the 5 count sumbrada drill. First with stick then checking hand but later on no stick contact and just checking the hand.

19/1/17: Thai kicking masterclass, grappling submission: arms bars, knee wrenches and triangle variations

THAI KICK MASTER CLASS
An energetic warm up, jogging in all 4 directions, arm swings, hip circles, forward folds, arm circles, lateral bends, lunges, Cossack squats; all to get the blood flowing for the kicking master class.

In the mirror drilling technique: keeping the stance tight so there were no tells to show the kick was coming, Steve was also continuously ensuring foot placement and angle were correct to set up the second kick, as well as the improtance of the hips push through when using the knee.

• Lead knee
• Rear front
• Lead leg straight kick
• Rear leg straight kick
• Lead knee then rear straight leg kick
• Lead straight kick then rear knee
• Lead straight kick then rear round kick
• Lead knee then rear round kick

DRILLING KICKS WITH A PARTNER, TWO FOR TWO
Always making sure that we are covering/protecting the head when throwing kicks and making sure we are out of punching range
• Rear knee (solar plexus)
• Lead straight kick (waist line) to rear round kick (outer thigh)
• Lead straight kick (lead knee) to rear knee (solar plexus)
• Rear straight kick (waist line) to lead round kick (inner thigh
• Rear straight kick (lead knee) to lead knee (solar plexus)

CONDITIONED KICKING ROUNDS, TWO FOR TWO
Any two kicks. Lots of changes of partners to feel different energies and body types.

CRASHING IN FOR TAKEDOWN FOR SUBMISSIIONS (KNEE WRENCH, ARM BAR, TRIANGLE WITH THE ARMS, TRIANGLE WITH THE LEGS)
Building on last Thursday; crashing into him as him throw punches for the clinch, get him moving backwards and throw him with the hip throw. We again drilled going for the arm bar by jamming the right foot and shin behind his shoulder blade, the left foot steps (stomps) in front of the face and pulls back so you have him tight between your feet and legs. As you sit the hips to the floor, pull the arm up so your hips can almost get under his shoulder. Pinch the knees, hip up and lever the wrist down for the submission.

KNEE WRENCH:
From the standing clinch, he pulls the arm back that you had wrist control on. The following actions happen at once – swap the feet so the left leg is in between his legs, the left ear is now on the outside of his torso, your right forearm is on the near side hip crease and your right-hand cups that Achilles of the lead leg. Push the left forearm forward as you pick up the ankle, this will sit him down. Whilst keeping hold of the foot, turn 180 degrees so that your right leg is tight against his left leg (which is in your hands). Cupping the heel with your right hand and the instep with your left hand, turn to your left causing the left knee to rotate. In application, this would be a very fast and aggressive motion to tear the knee apart. Obviously, we can’t do that in training so our motions to apply the submission were precise and considered.

SUBMISSIONS FROM YOUR BACK.
HEAD AND ARM TRIANGLE
He is in your guard, you have him wrapped up tight with his posture broken and his head is on your chest. He pulls out an arm and puts it across the neck and postures up. This will put lots of pressure across your neck. Use the same side hand to push his tricep across your chest at a diagonal angle as you wrap around the back of the neck to close it all off. Steve demonstrated the wrapping arm position is the same as the rear naked choke, but from the front. The crook of the elbow needs to be at the base of the neck so the forearms can scissor closed on the sides of the neck to cut off the blood supply to the brain.

LEG WITH ARM TRIANGLE
1. Pull his R. arm towards you and push his L. arm into his stomach.
2. Throw both legs up high (R. leg over his L. shoulder) so your hips are high and you’re on your shoulders, ankles crossed (L. over R.).
3. Use your L. hand to grab your shin (this stops him posturing up), put your L. foot on his R. hip and then rotate to the R. so there is no gap between his L. shoulder and your R. knee,
and your calf is across his neck (not his back).
4. With your R. toes pointing up, bring your L. leg over your R. ankle and bring your L. heel to your butt as you squeeze your knees and shift your hips back and raise your pelvis up.
5. For more pressure you can push on the top of your R. knee OR pull down on his head OR slide your hips back OR turn the bottom of your L. leg out as you move your heel to your butt.
6. To prevent him posting up and trying to open the legs by pulling on the knee with both hands, you can underhook his leg you are closet too to keep his posture broken. Make sure the crook of the elbow is behind his leg.



Thanks to James for the triangle detail, these notes were taken from a Rick Young seminar he went to where the sole focus was the triangle.

1/12/16: double stick, takdowns into submissions and positional rolling.

DOUBLE STICK PARTNER WORK
All the following with female footwork. All the double stick work gets the brain firing because you constantly crossing the centreline with alternate hands and the feet are moving. The more I did it, the more rhythm I felt I got despite the constant mantra in my head of what strike or numbers or patterns we were working.

FIGURE 8’s
Open posture, right hand figure 8 then left hand figure 8 as a continual loop drill.

HEAVEN 6
Right forehand, left backhand, right backhand, left forehand, right backhand, left backhand.

We then put the 2 drills together as a loop – figure 8’s on the right followed by half of the heaven 6, figure 8’s on the left hand followed by the rest of the heaven 6.

8 COUNT
Right forehand (high), right backhand (low), left backhand (low), right backhand (high), left forehand (high), left forehand (low), right backhand (low), left backhand high.

We then put all 3 together as a loop drill:
Figure 8’s left and rights sides into complete heaven side then full 8 count.

CARENZA (shadow boxing with sticks)
Using double sticks and adding footwork.

SINGLE STICK
3 count high box sumbrada

5 count sumbrada. My first time in a while but managed to fumble along. Looking forward to putting the reps in. I still, to this day, find it fascinating how each person has a different energy to feel to the work they do. It always takes me a few minutes to adjust to the feel of a partner change because we all attack from slightly different angles, or check with slightly different energies or have small adjustments in range. Plus oddly, I appear have a tiny stick compared to everyone else. They must be compensating for something…

Adam was working double stick gunting against whoever was working the 3 or 5 count. I think Charlie and James might have been doing some cheeky punyo variations as well in their corner of the room.

TAKEDOWN TO SUBMISSIONS

AGAINST THE JAB
Parry and eye jab on the outside of the arm, overhook to had on the shoulder and step up to him, step back with the right to take him down whilst maintaining the control of his arm and upper torso. Left knee is tight to his back, right hand hammerfists the face. Step over with the right foot and use the calf against his face to tighten to control. Control the arm tight to your body and turn to your left for the shoulder submission.

Parry and split entry, shoot in for the takedown by driving the shoulder into the abdomen as you pinch the knees together, double underhooks at the lower back and takedown into mount.

From here, depending on the response from the person on the bottom, there were 3 options we looked at.
If he blocks and covers the head, go for the Americana.

If he extends an arm, go for the head and arm triangle.

If he tries to push away and make his arms long, go for the arm bar from s-mount.

Although the Olympic judoka and world champion is not pinching her knees together you can see how tight her hips are to the shoulder of Meisha Tate; escape was futile.

AGAINST THE JAB CROSS
Parry and cross over the parry to the chin, sandwich grip the hand as you plant the back of the hips to him, you now have his arm (elbow up) on the top of your shoulder, maintain the grip as you drop under the arm and rotate and turn the wrist outwards for the takedown. From here, put his palm on your hip and turn to the left for the wrist submission or break.

Parry the jab and split entry off the cross onto into Alien / head tilt takedown, knee on belly to possible pull up wrist lock. Thanks Steve for the edit.

POSITIONAL ROLLING
Giving and taking positions, no submissions. When Steve said rolling my eyes must have lit up as I saw James’ grin from across the mat. This was about getting a position of dominance and then allowing them to escape and find their own position of dominance. Almost like a counter for counter drill. A lovely activity of movement and feel. You get a chance to flow and breath with no need to worry about control or things getting ripped. Steve did show a variation where you look for submissions as a counter for counter but that is for another day.

Once again, a bloody great class. This is class and the instructor is clearly the best kept secret in martial arts despite my best intention to advertise and promote the Academy through this blog. In addition, the senior students are always so accommodating and patient with the lumpier work from those of us with less experience. A great place to be, to learn and to grow #SMFAA

22/11/16: Clinch master class

OFF THE JAB OR CROSS
Catch and cover, enter for the clinch - forearms tight to the neck, eblows on the collar bones and palm to plan on the crown of the head.
Scoop and forearm smash to enter for the clinch
Scoop and forarm smash to bicep control to clinch on the other side
Scoop and elbow to forearm smash to clinch

HUNTING FOR THE CLINCH
Entering with knee strikes to set up the clinch
Steering the head to off balance, adding the knees

AGAINST THE SINGLE ARM CLINCH ATTEMPT
Shoulder shrug and throw the elbow
Shoulder inside and turn out with the elbow
Gunting on the inside to clear the way for your clinch

AGAINST THE FULL CLINCH
Drop your weight and have a strong posture, get your hips close to his and clinch around his waist and use the head to lever his base.
Loose the neck, arms over the top compress and face push. Keep it all tight to allow no slippage or simple escape from him.

29/9/16: Thai 4 count drilling plus no-gi grappling

SHADOW BOXING
High energy, no breaks with lots of changes of specifics:
- body motion only
- jab only
- jab defences
- cross defences
- hook defences
- 4 punch combos
- forward pressure
- pivot then L step
- 5 second high intensity bursts
- putting it altogether

THAI BOXING

BODY MECHANICS DRILLING
Corkscrewing the body/hips/legs to prepare for the kick, preparing the delivery system. Next we used these mechanics to put the shin on our partner's leg

THAI 4 COUNT

4 count - rear kick to outside of the lead leg - left hook - right cross - rear kick to outside of the lead leg
DEFENCE 1: against the his rear leg kick - crush across followed by rear round kick.
DEFENCE 2: the rear kick lands, as they throw the left hook, simultaneous cover and uppercut against the hook followed by your own rear leg kick.
DEFENCE 3: the rear kick lands, cover the hook, they throw the right cross - you cut punch then rear round kick.
DEFENCE 4: the rear kick lands, cover the hook then the cross then shift laterally to kick the inside of his supporting leg.

Making it come alive: Each person throws a four count. On any attack, the receiver can chose the counter. If the person throwing the four count does with accuracy and proper technique, then this will enable the receiver to reply against good energy. I really like this drill because whilst there are parameters, it provides time to practise combinations at speed and to not panic under fire, in addition, the heart rate gets pushed nicely.

Interestingly, Steve always has music on in the background in class, yet sitting here I can't recall any of the songs. I don't think my eclectic playlist of Pink Floyd to 90s Indie rock to uplifting trance would inspire quality movement. I love having the music on, the BJJ and MMA clubs used to play music. I think it further helps to shut you off from the trials and tribulations of real life.

NO-GI GRAPPLING
Tonight we were fortunate to have a visit from Ben Richardson, a good friend and training partner of Steve who has a club up in Abingdon.

https://www.candomartialarts.co.uk/Home

Firstly, Ben took us through a flow with a series of positions from scarf-hold side control - to side control - to mount preparation. The person on the bottom was working sound defence - arms in tight, trying to get on your side, looking for underhooks. When the person on top goes for mount, hip up and pull on his hip so you reverse the position and end up in scarf-hold side control. From here, the flow continues.

Attacking from mount.
Start in regular mount, wrap the top of his head with your forearms and shuffle up his body forcing his elbows high. Put your feet on his hips so you are in a very high (up the torso) mount.

From the source



Another from Dean Lister who is a very accomplished competitive grappler



Bas Rutten is a bad mother fucker. Here he is applying the same move but from side control, the positions we looked at originally tonight. But for me what is key, is the details are similar to Ben's. Especially what your near side elbow is doing to his head.



Head and arm triangle/choke
He escapes the figure 4 arm lock by getting his head under your armpit and against your chest. From here you transition to the head and arm. No words are necessary from me when a 3rd degree is explaining.



In live competition but from standing



And it goes without saying...

22/9/16: BJJ master class

Thankfully Marc stepped in tonight to take the class in Steve's absence and what a class it was. A BJJ masterclass focusing on sound fundamentals and solid technique.

WARM UP / PRELIMINARY EXERCISES

Spinal rocks: Controlled rocking along the length of the spine whilst keeping a ball shape, sitting up all the way back along the full spine.

Sit throughs: In the video below they start at about the 0:50s mark.



Triangle flow; similar to the spinal rock except you throw up alternate triangle attacks.

Combat get ups from sitting:



PUMMELING
Swimming the arms with lots of different people to feel the different energies. The last round was the 'fun' one where we tried to get double underhooks and clasp hands.



DOUBLE LEG SHOOT DRILLING

This is a great video because it highlights the common errors that occur in shooting for the double leg. Although the class was BJJ focused and this video is MMA based, I think the principles still apply that constitute to sound technique.



This is a great video because it illustrates the use of the lead leg and the trailing leg stepping around.



Marc had a different take on the double leg shoot as he puts the head on the indie - ear to belly rather than on the side. Marc believes that this head position makes the guillotine counter for the person being taken down very hard to apply. It easier to get the neck if it is on your side.

ARM DRAG AGAINST THE OVERHAND RIGHT
Punch comes in, intercept with the high left hand/forearm as you reach the right through for the back of his arm. Arm drag him past your right hand side as you get behind him. Clasp the hands for back control. You might have one of his arms in or not. Make sure to keep the blows down and squeezing in to keep control as well as your chest on his back. Allow no gaps for him to turn or get under your arms.

TAKEDOWN INTO SIDE CONTROL
From the above position, have your centre of gravity below theirs, step your foot next to his and pull his down that way, your foot will act as a barrier and you land him in side control. Remember to take out the hand between him and the floor before your land. This clip below shows the takedown.



AMERICANA 9SHOULDER ROTATION) FROM SIDE CONTROL
From side control, get the head height knee inside his arm to separate them so you can roll your shin across the bicep for an arm control. You now have him in a crucifix position with both arms isolated. Turn the weight on to your side to allow an opportunity to strike the head. He will try to defend this by getting his arm out to prevent the punch. This is him giving you the arm for the Americana (shoulder rotation) set up. From here, follow the tips below on how to finish the submission. Better to get the details from a black belt and not a no belt.

The video below talks about many of the tips that Marc gave us regarding the actual submission, obviously tonight, we got to the position in a different way. But the rolling or revving of the wrist, getting the elbow to the hips, back of the wrist on the mat.


ARM BAR (ELBOW EXTENSION) FROM AMERICANA ESCAPE
Should he try to escape the shoulder submission, his only option is to extend his arm. Thankfully, this then sets you up to apply the arm bar (elbow extension). Merely readjust your base and slide the arms under his elbow, forearm not upper arm side, get your head down and extend that elbow.

What a bloody great class it was. For me personally, there is no better feeling than doing the rash guard and getting your grapple on. It is a very humbling experience and allows you to become comfortable at being in very uncomfortable places. Once again, big thanks to Marc for guiding us along the BBJ path tonight.

Grappling for JKD from MMA - centre control series (the mount)

From my time in Workman Martial Arts and PROMAI MMA

Escapes from top control (mount)

First 3, practise in any order for a few rounds then looked at chaining any 3 motions together. Time to explore and experiment. The first 2 attempts 'fail' and the 3rd is a successful escape.
1: hip up and roll (blocking the arm in the direction you want to roll them).
2: hands on hips and lower knee out to full leg trap.
3: hand under armpits to elevate (as if you are sliding under them).

Technique 4: shrimping. This was practised as a solo drill moving around the floor then with our partners.

Other combination escapes from top control:
Elevation escape - they sit back - use this momentum to push on his hips for the shrimping escape.

Hip up and roll escape - drop hips to the floor and fall to the side and shrimp out. We did this in without our partners to drill the motion then with our partners

Elbow extension drilling

Chest with bicep compression

Grovit

Centre control detail: soles of the feet touching right near his arse, spine long and slightly concave, head higher than his, arms out wide as if free falling and just off the floor. This will put tremendous pressure on his torso. Feet are in tight as this prevents him from really being able to use them to escape the position. Hands out wide to counter any bridging he attempts. Chest relaxed and pressing down on his face. The hands and forearms can be used to re-centre his head under your chest.

Achieving centre control from side control: Establish strong control of his torso and head. Raise the far shoulder of the ground and pass with the following methods.
• Shoot the shin on to belly and pass.
• Passing the leg over dynamically (high arc).
• If they defend the pass by crossing the leg at the knees, pull on the blade of the foot. This should start him trying to defend a lower limb submission therefore he will want to pull the foot away. As you let go the foot will open a nice gap to enable the pass.

Upward and downward shoulder rotation: (DWL) from centre control then transitioning into side control to complete the submission.
From centre control if his arms come high to the head then attack with upward shoulder rotation, if he looks to control your posture with under hooks then look for the downward shoulder rotation. The key point of learning for me tonight was the angle of the arm under. I discovered by practise and observation that it needs to be nearer the elbow than the shoulder for tight and effective results.

Shin choke: pass the shin onto his neck, weight towards the foot or you will get rolled. This one finishes quickly. It looks like a simplified gogoplata from mount.

Triangle: sitting in a nice a high mount offering attack to the head. He should cover up this giving you the chance to gain wrist control, push it to his chest as you step over put the shin behind his neck. Fall to the side as you close the triangle

Leg over sit on arm. Essentially you are sitting on the shoulder joint. This was my first experience of this position. This does require lower body dexterity as you need to essentially triangle his arm. Take a tricep control keeping the arm nice and tight. From this position we then learned a series of submissions.

Fall into an inner leg suppression. It is important to get it in very quick as if you don't they will escape or pass. Secondly arm extension. Thirdly wrist compression.

Calf compression: Heel to heel under their legs, feed one instep over their thigh, manipulate the arm to extend above their head to give them extra things to think about. Turn towards your feet and ensure your shin in tight in behind their knee and calf. Look to grab the foot and pull towards yourself. Your shin bone will compress the back quarter side of their calf causing plenty of distress. Key is keeping weight on them throughout the transition to the leg to avoid escape.

Bicep compression: Feed an arm across his neck and put your weight on this. Already this is an unpleasant feeling from the bottom position. Secure your elbows on the floor either side of his head, palms on the mat too. Same side as arm across, feed your arm through the armpit on to the side of his face so that your palm is on his ear. Now move your elbow back onto his ribs to apply pressure to the bicep. Now grip palm to palm and turn the hands to the sky to finish the compression. If not working you can put the top hand on top of his forearm to cinch it in even tighter.

Calf suppression from sitting centre control: Sitting on his belly turn towards his legs and drive the forearm behind on of his knees. Then use your other side leg to trap your arm in position. Then use your other leg to complete the hold. It looks like a suppression (triangle) of your own arm and his leg. Fall to your shoulder and turn the forearm towards the soft tissue of the calf.

INVERTED CENTRE CONTROL:

Submission from north south: Instead of taking the inner forearm head control (guillotine) you assume a reverse version and insert a fist suppression to the front of throat for a painful and swift submission.
Elbow extension from the same position.

Grappling for JKD from MMA - the leg submission series

Ankle extension against sitting back control:

Sitting on the floor, partner takes your back and wraps his legs around your body, feet resting at groin crease. He makes the error of crossing his legs at the ankles. Pull his feet away but keep them crossed and over hook your same side leg as the leg he has on top. Lever your knee to the floor as you raise your hips fro the finish.

Ankle rotation from side control into 3 variants:
Basic:
Side control - he defends the pass by crossing his legs - reach with the head side arm for the outside edge of his foot the is crossed on the knee. Insert your other hand as if to DWL the ankle - turn his ankle towards his chest for the rotation finish.

Square to him:
As above but move so that you're facing him with his shin across your belly, finish by turning that little toe towards his chest.

Sitting on his leg:
As above bit sit on the leg that is not being controlled. This will greatly limit his ability to move or escape.

Fake the ankle rotation to set up for full mount:
Lee said this was something Rickson used to do attack the foot in side control, as if going for the submission, his opponent would feel this and pull the leg away thus setting themselves up to be easily passed from side control into centre control (mount)

Knee extension from side control:
Person on their back recovers for a full leg trap (half guard) - press down on the face to stop the body turning - step over and sit on his torso - underhook his knee and hug it to your chest - keeping it tight lean back and lie next to him (bring the leg with you) - squeeze your knee together - head next to his foot - look back over your head as you push your hips for the finish.

Calf compression from side control:
Lee did this to me several weeks ago, it took two weeks for the bruising to go down after the 2 days of swelling on the leg!)
Find yourself in a similar position (sitting on his belly as above) - underhook the leg behind the knee so the hand is just past. You want ultimately to rotate the wrist bones into the top of the calf. Before the rotation you need to trap his leg, fall to your side, figure four your legs then turn the wrist for the finish. This one is tricky for me to articulate, I can visualise it just struggle to put it down into words that make sense.

Sakuraba leg attacks:

Setting up the ankle rotation from open bottom control.
Rolling with the ankle rotation so you end up on your back.
Sitting in reverse mount so that you are straddling one of his legs. Go for the knee bar, he prevents by blocking with his other foot, go for the ankle rotation, he extends so fall back for the knee extension finish.

Grappling for JKD from MMA - side control series

Jumping over to the opposite side. HEAD TO HEAD PRESSURE IS KEY. This stops him trying to get his arm out.

Closing with the suppression by grabbing your opposite bicep. This gives you more depth and tightness on the arm in side.

Closing the suppression with the palm to palm grip. Flatten your hips down and get perpendicular to him. This give more space for his arm that is in but is tighter on the side you are closing with the bicep on the neck.

Shoulder and bicep from side back control.

Shoulder and bicep from sitting back control.

All throughout each submission was the necessity to keep the head pressure

Side control escapes drilling x 4 individual and then chaining them in sets of 3

1: knee escape
2: hip up and roll
3: swim under the lat and swim out
4: inverted under the belly spin and escape

Submissions from inverted side control - using the legs.

inverted side control whilst holding your own leg

switching positions from side to inverted

Elbow extension by hooking with the top leg

Shoulder rotation

Elbow extension as he escapes the shoulder rotation by crossing the legs

Attacking the elbow extension straight away from inverted by hooking your ankle over the wrist

Bicep compression from pre elbow extension: top arm under (through his elbow crease) and same leg crossing over into what looks like a triangle or figure four position. This is because you are better balanced here as we'll as the arm and leg tie up works better from here. Small part of the forearm near the wrist bone will be digging in nicely to the bicep.

Bicep compression when opponent is in turtle position: Side back control and wrist control on his outer arm. Feed the other through as you dive over and elegantly face plant. Squeeze the knees together (your shins will now be on his torso and neck respectively) making sure his arm angle is straight from the shoulder to the wrist (whilst folded) to complete the compression.

Side control to leg attack, as if hunting for the knee extension: They cross their legs to prevent to submission so you manipulate the heel, lever the forearms. This causes his lower shin to be compress his lower calf, if fails then the knee extension is there.

Upward shoulder rotation (DWL): From control we can start to look for submissions. The worst case scenario is that you don’t get the sub but his arm is now depleted and thus a less effective tool for him. Best case is a submission. If you have control of his arm then take your time with this, rushing will create gaps and errors. When you have wrist control, use the head high knee against his head and same side elbow.

Key learning points were maintain the angles of 90 degrees. In upward grab his and your own wrist as close to the hand as possible, paint a straight line with the back of the hand on the floor.

Elbow extension: As he fights to escape by straightening the arm you can now look at the elbow extension. Make sure his elbow is off the floor as this adds to the pressure and the sub will come on a lot quicker.

Striking whilst controlling: attack the arm with elbow strikes to do nothing other than cause pain and frustration to him. You can dig the tip of the elbow into the head of the deltoid muscle which will be tense and thus cause lots of pain.

Shoulder control: Use the shoulder to pin his shoulder or face to the mat, use the head to keep the gaps tiny so there is no room for him to work an arm in for underhooks.

Escaping side control by getting to the knees using lat control: Firstly you need to create space as if his side control tight there will be none. Push the head or angle your body away to create a gap between his shoulder pressing down and yours. When the gap appears work the arm in and through for the underhook and most importantly is to turn to your knees as quickly as you can. From here wrap the arm around and grab a hold of his lat muscle. This will enable you to pull on it for 2 effects.

Number 1, if he braces against the pull then you have a solid structure to work against to get the legs out from under him. Number 2 is that he pushes back into to you so you simply roll him back over you. Your forearm will be against his hip so you are pretty much effortlessly using his structure to sweep him. Very little power is needed, just his applying his momentum against him.

Calf compression: Naturally they should have the cross leg defensive position to prevent your attempts to move to top control and then want to slide the knee into your centre to begin escaping from side control. This is the bait. Allow their knee to come inside, as it does insert your forearm around and behind the knee. An overhook rather than an underhook, a tight one. Now for the tough part. Step over and insert your foot between his legs and close to his hips. It is hard because it require swift dexterity. It also means his leg is tightly wrapped. From here use the forearm bone on the outside of his calf for the pain.

Side to top to side control to side. Time to be creative with passes from side to top. Tried to use knee on belly and invert side control to control the base to move through the positions. Really tough as soon as they pull half guard you are done and it was their turn

Downward shoulder rotation series (DWL) From side control, from bottom control, into elbow extension, hip facing elbow = dsr, hips facing back of the elbow = extension

Chest spin pass to other side when the opponent looks to turn in on their side to escape. Pull the shoulder and press the head down so that they look at
their belly, maintain pressure through your chest and spin to opposite side for side control. If, in defending, they get the knee in, you can switch to inverted side control. Grab and lift the tricep as you sit your hips through into his armpit. Hips are off the floor and weight through his rib cage. If they chose to defend badly by extending an arm then you can go the head and arm triangle (shoulder and bicep suppression I think).

3 escapes from side control.
1: elbow to knee to create space and get to shin in ground control. Wrap other leg around their back and manipulate your hips to recover to full ground control.
2: lower hand drives and squeezes through his armpit gap and get double shoulder control. As you hip up and drive extend the scooped arm and roll him over.
3: pin his head high knee by placing your elbow on the floor and trying to squeeze it to your own hip. Manipulate your body so to elongate and narrow his base. Bridge and roll him over into side control.

Inverted side control:
Key points: leg side leg sweeps under own hips, weight on his chest, tight bicep grip and elbow clamp, no gap between you and his armpit so he can't escape, hips off the floor and weight driving into his chest.

Knee extension: he goes to hook a leg in escaping from the inverted side control so dive for the foot and pull it into to the side of your neck. Feet on his arse, knees clamped together, one hand control his foot as the other wraps the lower leg to your chest. Extend and arch backwards with tight control for the sub.

Forearm with shoulder suppression: Let him escape by trying to push the face. As his arm straightens push past it and throw the head to the floor as you get your hips to the floor quickly too. Palm to palm grip and drive down with the shoulder hopefully closing the sub off.

Reversal sweep: Keep him moving and disrupt his base, feel for the gap and roll him over (timing not strength).

Grappling for JKD from MMA - the triangle

Leg with shoulder suppression(triangle) to downward shoulder rotation (kimura)
If they try to defend the triangle by hooking the freearm under your hips, this prevents you from passing the leg across your hips to close the choke. Hold his head tight and keep his structure folded, swap the legs over as this will apply more pressure to his shoulder and not the neck. Keep your alignment on the same plane as his chest. Squeeze your knee towards your chest and begin to manipulate the arm around your leg for the double wrist lock (upward shoulder rotation). A key point when applying the DWL is to pin your elbow to your chest as the fulcrum. The will ensure his ability to escape is limited. Now you can line your torso off line to him to get the arm.

Escape from shoulder with leg suppression (triangle):

Separation - getting the head away from the shoulder which the opponent is trying to close off. Posture up, lift the chin, the eyes, push on his torso and get the knees behind his hips.

The next step of the ladder is to pass a leg on to his chest, this will cause further separation and make the breaking down of your posture extremely difficult. You might end up in a 50/50 fight for legs submissions but better this than getting choked out.

He might now go for the elbow extension as the arm is extended whilst you are on your knees.
Option one as he looks to pass the legs is to simply rip the elbow out past his hips.
Option two is to fold the arm back to your hip and chest spin 270 degrees over his legs into something looking like side control.

With fist suppression (pulse side of the neck) from triangle

Fist choke (fist to centre of throat) from triangle

Grappling for JKD from MMA - bottom control series (from your back)

These methods were from Workman Martial Arts and PROMAI MMA

Shin choke (gogoplata)

Elbow extension (arm bar)

Triangle

Shoulder rotations (DWL)

Shoulder with bicep

Inner forearm choke

Chaining submissions from bottom control (guard) - downward shoulder rotation (double wrist lock) to - leg and shoulder suppression (triangle) to
elbow extension (arm bar)

Elbow extension to gogoplata

Grovit

Half guard recovery: Top player needs to pass the legs to side control, bottom player then needs to shrimp out and recover what is almost an invisible half guard. Lower leg is through their legs whilst higher leg (hamstring) is on the far shoulder. The drill continues as a pass and recovers drill. It is a great drill to develop fluidity of the hips and awareness of your back of the floor. It is generally better to be on your side.

Posture breaking: underhook an arm, palm to palm grip and pull him down on to you. Compress his tricep with top forearm. A very important point is that you must use the body and the arms to apply pressure. In this position arms are pulling down as chest is squeezing up. Several options now: Attempt to create pain on the tricep, arch the chest to pass the arm over to then grab far side lat and escape out or allow him a small space to try to escape by pulling his across your chest.

Arm across escape: Scissor your arm so that one is on his tricep and the on his face, and as if opening his posture. Control the head then you control the body.

Outside leg over: As you scissor turn your head towards his knee so that you are now perpendicular. As I have attacked the right arm initially, this move now means I need to pivot to the left. As I am pivoting I need to move my hips. The outside leg, for this example it was my right leg, sweeps over his face. The hamstring needs to right on his face.

Compress yourself: To enable tight control pull the knees into your chest and squeeze his back with your calves. The idea is that you are almost making yourself into a ball. This will make the position very tight for him. It is possible even without using your hands to establish control for a good 5 seconds. To make the control even tighter reach up and pull his near side shoulder down into your legs and tighten your vice like grip.

Sweep: Control a forearm and pin the hand to the floor, same side leg pinned across his back, reach over and clasp the tricep of the arm on the floor. Post up onto your hand and hip up for the sweep into top control.

Super grip shoulder control: Over the traps so the shoulder is forced down and the elbow pins the head to prevent movement.

Guard pass: Sitting back and sticking knee in the centre of his hips will open his guard.

Transition from side to inverted

Downward shoulder rotation (DWL) with the leg

Own leg grab with head control

Elbow extension with pushing the shoulder down

Ankle extension: Starting from an open bottom control position, he has one foot one your hip so this is ankle you are going to attack. Wrap the forearm under the calf as you step up to have both feet close to his hips and as you sit your hips go close to your heels. As you lie back squeeze the knees together and allow the forearm to slide down his leg. You should feel the bridge of his foot against your lat or top of the shoulder. Make sure that forearm bone (radius) is nice and tight and the bottom of the calf muscle. Look behind and over yourself to complete the ankle extension.
Defence to this and that is as soon as they start to lie back you need to relax the leg, shoot the foot behind him and sit up by pulling on his neck for anchorage. Maintaining the neck control you can pass to the side or either with a crushing knee on belly control.

Downward shoulder rotation series (DWL) into elbow extension, hip facing elbow = dsr, hips facing back of the elbow = extension

Leg lock from the open guard position. Start is if going to pass with shin over their thigh and make sure that the foot is placed deep under their thigh. When you look to pass with the shin it will be much deeper and have an opening of the hips preventing him from escaping easily to another position. Instead of passing hold the high leg and sit back as you come under his leg with yours. You are essentially clasping his leg between yours. Now that you have his leg clasped you can begin to work on the lower part of his leg for the submission.

Achilles compression: With his toes under your armpit insert your inner forearm bone against his tendon to apply pressure.

Heel hook: this is a much more devastating submission due to the potential long term injury the leg can suffer. With his toes under your armpit roll towards them lifting the far side shoulder off the floor.

Knee bar: As he stands to stack your guard, underhook an ankle and move your hips to allow taking him down by manipulating with your legs. As he goes down wrap his leg for the knee extension. Get the hips against his knee to act as the most powerful fulcrum.

Calf suppression: Could be my new most favourite sub. From open guard, keep his mind active with your hands as your lower shin looks to 'rest' on the back of his knee. When the time is right swim under his arms, take your head towards the foot you are going for, this will help to give you more power and leverage in the compression. Put that foot back with your lower shin compressing nicely against his calf. A sweet, sweet submission.

Guillotine baiting inside guard to jumping pass into head and arm triangle.
Folded elbow extension: Straight elbow extension = classic arm bar image. The arm is straight from the wrist to the shoulder and away from the body. Folded elbow extension = The arm is folded across their centreline from the shoulder.

Inner leg with shoulder suppression detail (TRIANGLE):The ‘with’ part of the technique refers to using part of his body. In this case the shoulder under his chin. We worked from bottom control and opponent helped to drill the technique by looking to pass guard by under hooking one leg and thus giving the move up to you
• Capture own shin behind his head as soon as inner thigh on neck.
• Have own lower leg across the back of his neck, perpendicular to your hips.
• Ankle not foot under crease of knee – ensure a tighter control.
• Heel of top leg at his side and not on his back.
• Hip up to get his arm across, feed it necessary during the hip up.
• Pull down on back of head to speed up the suppression.
• To close even more, hook your arm around the opponent’s leg that is on the same side as your inner thigh on his neck. Most people perform the suppression square on to opponent. By turning to look down your leg that is over his neck it closes the suppression very quickly thus his chances of escape are dramatically reduced.

Grappling for JKD from MMA - the takedown series

These methods were from Workman Martial Arts and PROMAI MMA

4 basic takedown drilling: the single hip capture, double hip capture, single and double leg.

Knee wrap takedown
Hand trip takedown
Single leg takedown clasping from shoulder control

Single leg capture: x4
1. Drive knee to head, left arm under knee, transition right hand to heel to get him hoping back.
2. Outer leg trip
3. Pulls back to escape you transition into double knee capture and the takedown is most reminiscent of a rugby tackle motion. You collapse him from his knees.
4. Both arms under his knee, keep the right elbow crease under his knee lifting high as the left hand wraps around his shoulder for a ‘steering wheel’ take down.

Knee trip and shoulder take down: The trip is simply a barring action (the hand on the side of the knee) so that the leg has nowhere to go. The arm in shoulder control straightens from the bicep and the ‘bowls’ as the trip happens acting as a fulcrum. This technique works when you have the same leg forward as the partner

Single leg takedown: defend by putting the leg on the outside , step around and drag down
Above but the leg goes on the inside, drive backwards and then change direction by pulling down as he tries to straighten his leg.

Front hip lift: as with the naming convention it simply refers to the part of the body being used and on occasion a direction. Start in standard shoulder control clinch and the secondary grip on the tricep. Transfer to side body clinch with head on shoulder blade, squeeze the elbow together, thrust with the hips as you look up and lift onto your arching chest. To complete the throw relax the shoulder and dump him on the floor with you in a dominant position to continue

Back hip throw: first looking at using shoulder control and tricep grip then and underhook and overhook clinch grip as this secures their shoulders. Anyway the first one we looked at was concerning the feet. Initial step is in front of his foot, not past, get your hips lower than his then attack with your chasing foot. That one steps a little deeper between his legs and triggers a fast insert of your hips into his hip space. Lift and throw.

Double leg takedown into calf trip: starting front body clinch, drop and change the level to go for the double leg takedown. Importantly shift the stance back a little to enable you to get the front knee to the floor. From here wrap the outside leg around their front calf and drive forward, keep the calf wrapped and thus controlled when they are on their back, you then move into your next positional transition.

Sitting takedown from side body clinch: step behind his knee so that you are square in your stance. Simply, sit your arse down whilst maintaining your body clinch grip. He should go down with you. Do not turn or rotate him as you go down, trust the motion.

Takedown from shoulder control: You are deep in their space, your knee is behind theirs, your torso pressure is on them so there are no gaps when you bump the knee and pull the shoulder down to collapse their structure. This works when you have opposite legs forward

Shoulder control takedown from knees: Secondary grip on tricep and pinch down with your elbow, step your knee in front of his knee to create a barrier and pull him over that as you follow into a high angle side control.

Double leg takedown using jab footwork. And looked at the 3 types depending on what energy the opponent gives us.
1: the turning and lifting wheel type.
2: the straight drive type by pulling his leg between your legs as we drive with the shoulder. (This is where we spent our time practising).
3: the sweeping type.

Scissor takedown into ankle extension: From the standing clinch look to perform a hip throw. If he does not defend then complete the throw. However if he defends by straightening his posture attempt the entertaining. From the hip throw your backside should be against his thigh. Drop to the floor and scissor him down, top leg attacking high and front and the lower leg low and behind. Do not let your lower leg hit the floor. From here you can clasp his leg with your knees and perform the ankle extension as outlined earlier on.

Double leg shoot and lift: Great warm up drill for practising the correct head and face posture without the danger of being hit.

Double leg NOTES: Main focus was posture, something that I need to be frequently aware of and thus adjusting. Hips back, short arms, elbows in, spine concave head tucked in but chin up. When shooting for the TD keep looking up and squeeze ear to the hip of opponent. This will ensure you are harder to be head controlled. Once in hold step around and stand as you lift, posted leg side, and turn (away from the posted leg).

Working on the crash mats:
• Hip toss
• Double leg and slam
• Inner knee capture and slam
• Fireman lift and slam
• Single hip capture and slam
• Free takedown play
• Arm drag to get to the back from standing clinch.
• Plum clinch to neck control and half nelson for the shearing takedown.
• Clinch to fireman lift takedown.
• Double and single hip capture, double and single leg takedown chain wrestling drill.