Changing Levels in Grappling (diary entry)

June 15, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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single leg 2

15.06.19 My second Saturday morning lesson saw my two junior clients enter their fourth hour of a 10 hour course on clinch/stand-up grappling. We looked more in depth into the waist-lock and taking the back, and I introduced the single-leg take down. We warmed up with a revision on break-falls and rolls. With this confirmed we got straight into some bulling and pummelling. From bulling I introduced the two-on-one position, controlling the arm. There were elements from this, such as […]

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The High Guard (diary entry)

June 15, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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mma guards

15.06.19 My first lesson on Saturday brought my client up to the two and a half hour point of his course on stand-up fighting. We focused entirely on the use of the high guard and within the context of Western Boxing. We began with a simple no-gloves breakdown of the high guard position. Creating a heart-shape, my client cupped his hands either side of his temples and cheeks. From here he moved forward and attempted to “walk me down” whilst […]

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Another Stand-up Grappling Course Begins (diary entry)

June 14, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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body clinch

clinch12.06.19 Wednesday night’s double lesson began with a junior lesson on the clinch/stand-up grappling and was followed by a senior lesson mainly concerned with Muay Thai. The junior lesson introduced break-falls, rolls and the collar and elbow tie. Then we moved onto the first official technique: the outer reap throw. As I have previously discussed with clients who have just begun their clinch/stand-up grappling courses, getting students familiar with rolling and falling is an essential foundation to this range. Not […]

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Anti-Grappling Pressure Test at Kingham Hill (diary entry)

June 14, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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eye gouge standing

12.06.19   Today my Kingham Hill School Self-Defence class continued their anti-grappling work, covered some progressive pressure-testing and also some ground-fighting work.   After a warm-up of transitioning through postures and ground movements, we picked up from where we left off in the previous lesson. This was the defence from a clinch against a wall, which combined eye gouges with head-butts, elbow strikes and palm strikes progressively. These were then applied to the focus mitts and finally in two rounds […]

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Sit Out & Suplex! (diary entry)

June 13, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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SUPLEX

11.06.19 Tuesday night my client finished the eighth hour of his 10 hour basic clinch/stand-up grappling course. We looked more at linking up different takedowns, counters, introduced the suplex and worked more on defence. Training also went to the ground from a wrestling perspective. After wrestling callisthenics and dynamic stretching we went straight into bulling and pummelling exercises. From here we revised the outer reap throw, waist-locks, two-on-ones, sweeps, single legs and double leg takedowns. Then we linked up arm-drags […]

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Lead Hooks & Round Kicks (diary entry)

June 11, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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hook punch

10.06.19   Monday night’s private lesson began my client’s new course on stand-up fighting. We will be exploring Muay Thai, Western Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts stand-up range over a 10 hour period. I will be looking to strengthen personal weaknesses in my client’s style, introduce new techniques, tactics and strategies as well as work on such areas as southpaw fighting.   After a callisthenic and dynamic stretching warm-up we began with mirror footwork and then isolated head movement before […]

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Introducing Sweeps (diary entry)

June 10, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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sweep

08.06.19 Saturday morning’s lesson was my two junior clients’ third hour of stand-up grappling/clinch. We warmed up with Indian press-ups and squats. This was then followed by bulling and pummelling exercises to promote better grip training and positioning. We then moved onto details for the outer reap throw, such as correctly combining the push/pull, taking the dominant grip, breaking an opponent’s posture and reaping effectively. Next we looked at taking the back from the under-hook as well as defending against […]

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Sparring to Collect Data (diary entry)

June 6, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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low kick jamie

05.06.19 Wednesday night saw my junior client finish his long and extended course on Basic Muay Thai for Martial Arts Cross Training. Next week we will begin his Clinch/Stand-up Grappling course. The senior class that follows was largely based on stand-up sparring – Boxing, Muay Thai and MMA. The junior class consisted of 6 x 3 minute rounds of Boxing and Muay Thai. The first two were on the focus mitts and the next four were sparring. We went over […]

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Anti-Grappling & Grappling at Kingham Hill School (diary entry)

June 6, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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elbow strike 2

05.06.19 After the summer half-term break I returned to Kingham Hill School to resume their self-defence course. Previous lessons had dealt with the fence, pre-emptive striking, referencing targets, incidental combinations, clearing obstructions, striking from restricted positions, striking in transition and covering/regaining the initiative. Today we began work on grappling and anti-grappling.   The underlying strategy and behaviour being taught throughout this course is to strike when you can and to keep going until the target is subdued or an exit […]

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Sprawls (diary entry)

June 5, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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sprawl

04.06.19   Tuesday night saw my client complete the seventh hour of his stand-up grappling/clinch course in fine form. We did further work on setting up takedowns and takedown defence.   The lesson began with a warm-up of Indian push-ups and Indian squats followed by break-falls and rolling combinations. Then we swiftly moved onto standard muscle memory positioning drills – bulling, pummelling, taking the back, arm-drags and arm-drag counters. We then engaged in some grip-fighting to put the positioning under […]

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Moving onto Takedowns (diary entry)

June 3, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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DSC_0185

01.06.19   Saturday’s second lesson brought my two junior clients up to hour two of their course on clinch/stand-up grappling. We went back through rolls and break-falls, getting better flow and improving technique before we moved onto high line and mid line takedowns.   The warm-up consisted of Indian press-ups and Indian squats. This was followed by basic rolls forwards and backwards. We then linked in break-falls from the front and back before covering shoulder rolls and side break-falls.   […]

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Last Hour of Stand-up & Ground (diary entry)

June 3, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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140413_1415

01.06.19 The final hour of my client’s mixed course on Muay Thai and Submission grappling went through various stand-up combinations and also a round of grappling sparring. We began with mirror footwork and some reaction drills. The first drill was the Dutch one-for-one kick repayment. Various kicks are exchanged to prompt returning a strike as quickly as possible. This was then changed to prompting and taking advantage of predictive behaviour – low kick/low kick/teep. We then went through all the […]

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Western & Thai Boxing Cross-Training (diary entry)

May 30, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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knee (smaller)

29.05.19   Wednesday night saw the nephew and uncle team continue their exploration of Muay Thai with Western Boxing integration. As with the previous lesson, training was divided up into three minute rounds. However, the senior lesson had a period of specific advanced combination and technique analysis.       Junior Lesson Plan   Round One – Western Boxing Footwork and Head Movement Round Two – Muay Thai Footwork, Checking and Interception of Strikes Round Three – Muay Thai Clinching […]

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Progressive Grappling Sparring (diary entry)

May 29, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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DSC_0099

28.05.19   Tuesday night saw my client reach the sixth hour of his basic course in stand-up grappling. We continued work linking up grips, sweeps and takedown entries. I was keen to involve more live, resistance-based work but not at the cost of poor fundamentals. Therefore, the lesson was as follows:   Warm-up of Indian Press-ups and Squats, dynamic stretching and exercises geared towards the actions to be performed today. We then went back through all our break-fall/roll combinations at […]

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Clinch & Take Downs Begins (diary entry)

May 28, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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DSC_0164

25.05.19   Saturday morning saw the start of my two junior client’s third private course with me. Today we begin clinch/takedown training. This is a general collection of techniques taken from stand-up wrestling based sports without the use of the jacket (or no-gi).   We focused almost entirely on break-falls and rolls, which are essential to ensure the safety and also to build the foundational fitness required for an activity that will involve a lot of landing and getting up! […]

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Sweep Combinations for Clinch (diary entry)

May 24, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes
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DSC_0081

23.05.19   Tonight’s lesson brought my client up to the fifth hour of his clinch/stand-up grappling course. We looked more at using sweeps and Judo style takedowns as well as tightening up positioning and an introduction to sparring.   The lesson began with sets of breakfalls and rolls. This was followed with bulling (neck and elbow-tie), pummelling (over-hook, under-hook), drilling arm-drags, drilling arm-drag counters and drilling two-on-one arm holds. Then we did some grip-fighting sparring. This sparring was restricted only […]

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