18.10.2023 Tonight my 1.5 hour client went in for a tough 12 round workout. There was no particular theme but I took some inspiration from my training with Geoff Thompson and Matty Evans. After a thorough Wrestling and Muay Thai inspired warm-up, we moved onto the workout proper. Each round was three minutes long. Round 1 – Greco-Roman style Wrestling Round 2 – Freestyle Wrestling Round 3 – Freestyle Wrestling Round 4 – Jabs and lead hooks on the focus […]
04.10.2023 After two lessons off-topic, we decided to get back into and review the Greco-Roman Wrestling material before we progressed onto some Freestyle Wrestling next week. We went through two-on-one entries and defences, the pinch-headlock series, taking the back and various sag takedowns before exploring par terre attack and defences. With the latter, we focused on quarter and half-nelson attacks. Services
15.09.2023 Hour five of my UKSO Cotswolds’ teacher client’s clinch course brought us on to overhook/underhook centred takedowns. We trained the following: Overhook Off-Balance – This technique is a counter to a strong underhook. The takedown can be set up by pushing and pulling an opponent in a body-clinch. Timing is essential and the purpose is have the opponent commit to their underhook, pushing the shoulder high. From this position the fighter presses their palm onto the top of the […]
23.08.2023 Wednesday night’s 1.5 hour lesson continued work from the two-on-one, looking at counters and ways to get a takedown. This moved us into the lat whip where we performed a less explosive variation. Keeping on the two-on-one we moved gable grips and Nelson holds. This brought us on to the Greco-Roman version of fighting from turtle. It’s an altogether different game and the position is known as the Par Terre. Rather than simply getting the back, the person on […]
16.08.2023 My 1.5 hour client reviewed all the pinch headlock work we had been covering before moving onto the two-on-one series. After a warm-up of Indian press-ups and squats, we practised some break-falling and rolling. This was followed by a review of pinch headlock to throwby, pinch headlock to side takedown, pinch headlock to sagging bodylock takedown and pinch headlock to the crunch. We then began the two-on-one and drilled it from an arm-drag as well as other positions. I […]
04.08.2023 My teacher client from USKO Cotswolds returned for a new course on the clinch and stand-up grappling. Today’s lesson covered stance, basic footwork, collar and elbow tie, wrist grips and releases, and a couple of takedown examples. We warmed up with some dynamic stretching and the sport specific callisthenics – Indian press-ups and squats. Next, we looked at wrist grips where we covered circular breaking to re-grip, and stripping off a hand. The latter brought us onto the importance […]
01.08.2023 My limited lesson course on Submission Grappling shifted its focus to the clinch. My client wanted to work in this particular field to link it with my her ground-fighting. Therefore, our warm-up largely consisted of box-footwork and collar and elbow “bulling”. We looked at the three basic wrestling stances and how to unbalance an opponent. I then introduced under-hook and over-hook pummelling. From here we covered the Greco-Roman arm-drag takedown. This technique, taught to me by Lee Hasdell, is […]
08.03.2023 My junior class introduced techniques found in Greco-Roman Wrestling. Both of these techniques focused on the use of the arm-drag. We covered variant technical points such as the depth of the grip. Personal preference might have the fighter grip the elbow or the tricep. For purposes of today’s lesson we went with the tricep grip as close to the armpit as possible. We warmed up with a back-take sequence but then altered this entry for a side-by-side takedown for […]
06.12.2021 Hour one of my couple client’s new course on clinching began. Their previous course was on the Muay Thai clinch. This time we are focusing on MMA, which means wrestling. The intention is to layer in MMA strikes. However, it is first important to establish some rudimentary stand-up grappling techniques. Tonight we exclusively looked at tying up the head/neck and arms. We covered drilling the collar and elbow tie, looking at breaking posture and promoting a more fluid dynamic. […]
02.11.2021 Tonight we moved onto the ninth hour of my client’s teacher development programme booked by Denmark’s Holstebro Taekwondo Klub via Zoom. We picked up grappling clinch training again, looking at counters to the rear waist-lock/bear hug as well as training three variations on the double-leg takedown. Waist-lock defence used the cut-off footwork and counter with a waist-lock. The rear bear hug used a rear single leg takedown defence The first double-leg take-down was the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu version, which […]
27.10.21 Tonight my junior client began looking at the clinch into ground submission work. My senior class continued looking at set-ups for overhand rights and rear round kicks. Areas he needs to work on with my junior client include wrestling attack and defence as well leg-locks. Due to his age, I am always concerned about any form of joint manipulation work. He is to execute full submissions on adult coaches and training partners but only to receive strong positional techniques […]
12.10.21 Tuesday night’s first lesson brought my teacher client up to the sixth hour of his sparring development programme. Moving on from the Muay Thai clinch work we had covered in the previous two lessons we explored clinching in general, using methods from Wrestling and Judo. After a thorough stand-up grappling-based warm of callisthenics and dynamic stretching, we moved onto partner work. Client feedback on grappling was that the teachers struggled to get students to relax and flow more as […]
29.08.21 The fourth hour of my client’s five hour course in junior MMA began with father and son warming up on the agility ladders. It is important to note that this lesson is as much about helping the father client to coach his son outside of lessons as it is for me to directly teach the son. Feedback from the previous lesson was that footwork and punching were fine in isolation but there were problems with them both together. Therefore, […]
04.08.21 Wednesday night’s first lesson focused on junior mixed martial arts training. It has been a long time since this client has covered unarmed combat arts and decided to give him a lesson of overall run through the different areas. We began with a warm-up of dynamic stretches and MMA specific callisthenics. Then I started him on the focus mitts using MMA gloves. Once he was comfortable throwing combinations and defending, I layered in takedown defence, knee strikes and the […]
17.12.20 I resumed some teaching consultancy for Forest Schools of Karate, picking up from the last lesson on clinch and previous lessons on ground-fighting. The lesson began with a revision of the pinning drill. I looked at details presented by each of the pins, including some submission opportunities and paid particular attention to the transitioning, especially the importance of keeping the hips low. We then moved onto the cut-off from the rear waist-lock. From here we looked at switching to […]
09.11.20 Tuesday night’s teacher consultation continued with ground-fighting revision. We used escaping side control as a starting point, covering reversals, arm-triangles and sweeping from the dog fight position. The reversal – a technique referred to by my client as a “pancake” roll – came from head-lock version of side control. Here we set up for escaping to guard and timed our reversal off our opponent countering the guard escape by putting more weight forward. The fighter immediately switches from snaking […]
