Introduction
These drills are to be done loose and light. Do not hog all the
glory, but share it. The sole goal here is to review old material, work
on proper form, develop athletic attributes, and prime the body. This
isn't sparring, even though the contact may be moderate. Do NOT turn it
into a sparring session.
These exercises and drills have
been specifically chosen for a reason: they are FUNDAMENTALS and
therefore the most important movements in your training and why they
must be done when fresh and at every workout. Sloppy fundamentals mean
pile of crap perfomance and why these must be done loose and light.
Proper fundamentals make life easier, because things are done
efficiently and intelligently which is the WHOLE IDEA behind martial
arts or combat sports. You aren't trying to use your strength and speed
advantage to overcome and opponent, because if you are the bigger,
stronger, and faster person, you don't need martial arts. You want to be
strong, fast, skilled AND intelligent.
The mental
toughness, doggedness, and determination developed alongside these
exercises are also fundamental. So place a priority on these exercises.
You are building your whole ability to perform on them. Don't build your
foundation on a rowboat, but bedrock.
Lastly, don't be
fooled by the words "Primer" or "Warm-up." In the past we have lost more
potential members because of how intense this primer is than anything
else. Initially I thought that being hit, slammed, twisted and choked
would be a barrier to membership, but as time went on it was the WORK
that was most intimidating. Because of this, there will be no obligation
to do every exercise at an athletic pace. Every person can work at a
pace that is comfortable for him or her. However, anyone that is not
challenging themselves will be told to ratchet things up a bit. Ideally,
anyone starting out would get a number of privates to learn these
exercises so they aren't "left in the dust", but the economy where it is
makes that difficult. Everyone who just signs up will get one free
private lesson to get adjusted. I will also reward good attendance with
discounted privates.
I always suggest that people begin
the primer with that which they are worst at. That is your weakest link,
so bringing that aspect up is something you should always be doing.
However, it is up to each person to customize the primer. Do the
exercises they need and like, at the intensity and pace that is right
for them. One can do ALL the exercises in a marathon style primer, can
pick one or two aspects to focus on, or a theme i.e; armbars, posture,
mitts, etc. The mats during this phase should be a medley of all kinds
of exercises. Having said that these exercises are detailed in no
special order.
Acclimatizing and Tempering (Absorption)
This
drill is often incorrectly thought of as a superman drill. Listen, I
would never recommend that a person brace up, and take a punch or kick
to the face. That is plain stupid. The reason why you are taking a punch
to the face is to develop relaxation, and mental pliability. The
physical aspect of the drill is to maintain a normal breathing pattern,
and to roll with punches, slams, and submissions. The psychological
aspect is learning to be relaxed, free of tension and tone, and to
maintain focused.
A normal untrained response maybe to have
tone in the muscles: raise the shoulders, hold one's breathe, blink, or
flinch. You simply are slower to respond, IF you have the wherewithal
to respond at all, when these things are going on!
Doing
this drill will help you to not do those things, and remove the "fight
or flight" response and replace it with cool headed, relaxed attention.
Secondly, you can reduce damage and injuries by downgrading it's impact.
By rolling with things, you can downgrade a KO punch to a heavily
damaging one, a heavily damaging one, to a lighter one, and a lighter
one to hardly anything. Once an automatic response is built in and this
drill is done with eyes closed, you will then begin to downgrade sucker
punches for those of you interested in street applications.
Some options for this drill are:
- 1, 2, or 3 for 1, 2, or 3
- One man barrage, one man all "D"
- Eyes closed
- Phrasing or passing through 2 or more ranges
- Strikes, fibbing, ground and pound, submissions, takedowns
Stance & Motion
Chin
tucked, shoulders rounded, hips thrust, knees bent, elbows in, and a
profiled torso are the starting points for base camp in everything from
standing to the ground. Being able to utilize this posture WHILE in
motion under stressful conditions is called composure. The following
drills need to be known inside and out:
- Jockeying: Using footwork to one of the three zones of distance or flanking while keeping the measure.
- Break ins/Break outs: Using footwork to get to the clinch or get out of the clinch.
- Clinch: Using staggered and square stances to fibb or grapple, while pummeling for superior control-ties.
- Fighting Short: Moving from the 4 directions through inferior and superior positions.
- Ground: Moving from escapes and pins, passes and sweeps.
These
areas can be drilled by using dry runs, position for position drills,
soft flow, chains, stay and play gripfighting, base camp, and canting
and tilting drills.
Shooting
Shooting
is one way to break-in or bridge the gap/measure. For the love of all
things holy and unholy do not shoot from "Timbuktu." WORST case scenario
is shooting from punch range...the distance where if you raise your
hand it will contact your partner. The only greater pet peeve I have
than seeing someone shoot from a mile away with no set-up, is someone
throwing a kick to a thigh with no set-up, eating bombs, and then
ignorantly repeating it. Grrrrrr.
EVERY shoot should have
this progression: nPound step-> Level Change->Penetration
Step->Contact->Bring Trail Leg Up->Base Camp.
The
only exception is when this progression is mastered, you may omit the
pound step. Everyone is expected to know the following drills:
- Hit 'n Run: Of pivotal and fundamental importance is punching the hip. Either ricochet or Barsagar/Flair
- Double Leg Series: High, Mid-level, Lo-Lo
- Single Leg Series: High, Mid-Level, Lo-Lo, and Sweep Single; Inside and Outside Penetration
- Swinging Gate: Head inside, switching from Japanese/Blast double to outside and inside singles depending on his response
- Magnet Drill: Doing a swinging gate at mid and lo-lo level.
For more detail on the shoot, refer to this
Guide to the MMA Shoot.
Lifting
As
a gym known for it's wrestling, lifting is considered fundamental. If
done with the right mechanics, you can easily lift someone twice your
size. Some of you may recall how Amy, who weighed about 100-110#s would
demo this by lifting me when I was averaging 205-210#s. She would even
rep it. Since there are hardly easier finishes to execute when you have
one or two of a person's feet off the ground, this is a mandatory skill.
Most
of these lifts will involve the forward wave, which everyone should
have mastered in the solo exercises. This wave is a modern version of
the "squatting" style lift. Using body posture and momentum is simply
more efficient and reserves your energy in case you want to suplex, back
arch or lateral drop someone. Here are the lifts, beginning with the
"Big 5":
- Single Leg Lift: high knee, treetop, and crotch lifts.
- Double Leg Lift: pickup, Barsagar/Flair, and Tablecloth lifts.
- Hi-Crotch:
2 grip variations of crotch lift Fireman's Carry: proper,
near-arm/far-leg, high and low Backstep: with multiple grip variations.
REMEMBER PASS YOUR HIPS THROUGH AND DO NOT SQUARE THEM TO HIM.
- Bear Hugs: Many facing and grip variants for Lift 'N Dumps, Back Arches, Suplexs, Lateral Drops, and Saltos.
- Ground Lifts: From fighting short, including reverse crotch lift and bodylock and reverse bodylock lifts.
"D" Core
Defensive
core is going through all one's strikes and allowing the other person
to prime his defense. There are 3 types of defensive options that a
person has that are utilized on a PLATFORM of keeping the measure:
1. Evasion: head, torso and limb movement.
2. Covering: using your forearms to soak an incoming strike. A more advanced option is spiking.
3. Parrying: using your hand to re-direct an incoming strike. Paired with evasion to double it's efficacy.
Drills
can be done in a 1, 2, 3 for 1, 2, 3, one man barrage, or isolating one
defense in a crazy monkey, or onion layer drills (softwork).
In
addition, clinching by breaking in is another form of defense. A person
should be able to break in on any and all manner of strikes from the
opponent, as well as offensively breaking in by using "sticking the
opposum", feints, fakes, and drawing.
Miscellaneous Techniques
Pass
and sweep starts, submission chains, bump-ups, breaking closed guard,
guard forming, sub escapes, counters, re-counters, set-ups, follow ups,
etc.
NOTES
My sincerest gratitude to Joe Silvia for his kind permission in posting this primer.
