Showing posts with label Guard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guard. Show all posts

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Inktober Day #15 - John Styers' On-Guard Stance

10/15/2017 11:00:00 AM  , , , ,  No comments



Wow! Outside of 2 days last weekend when I went to a Terry Trahan's Weaslecraft seminar that made me late with 2 daily pictures, I've been able to draw/post a picture a day. When I started this, I didn't think I would be consistent enough to produce a picture a day. Here we are at the half-way point of the month!

Today's picture is of John Styers' knifefighting guard stance. In case you missed my previous drawings of knifefighting stances:




NOTES
  • The Guard position. Left arm free. Knife arm drawn back.
  • Side view. Major portions of the body will not be extended into opponent's range.


"Tips
  1. Keep your feet at about a 90 degree angle.
  2. The blade is drawn in, close to the body, and held in an unbroken line from your elbow to the point.
  3. Shoulders face the opponent squarely.
  4. Torso and head are held erect.
  5. The arm on hip should swing free, but care must be taken to prevent it from extending beyond the hand which holds the knife.
  6. Your blade points directly at your opponent's throat. PRACTICE all the points of the proper stance until you can draw your blade on command of "On Guard!" and instantaneously snap into the perfect position without losing a second to make major adjustments.


PRACTICE all of the points of the proper stance until you draw your blade on command of "On Guard!" and instantaneously snap into the perfect position without losing a second to make major adjustments.

PRACTICE until ALL of the points in the ON GUARD position become coordinated into ONE natural movement.

ALL OF THE ATTACKS AND DEFENSES OF THE SKILLED KNIFE FIGHTER ORIGINATE FROM THIS GUARD POSITION."



My drawings for Inktober 2017 - drawing at least 1 pic each day in October:


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Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Rickson Gracie vs Eddie Bravo!! (OK, not really :-)

7/30/2014 11:00:00 AM  , , , , , , , ,  No comments

Sorry for the misleading title LOL @ me. Rickson Gracie vs Eddie Bravo would have been an EPIC match if it ever happened.


Instead, this is a video of Eddie Bravo explaining the Rubber Guard to Rickson! 


Eddie was talking a mile a minute! Either he's excited to be talking to Rickson, one of the living legends of BJJ or perhaps it's because what he's talking about is something near and dear to his heart. He's passionate about the Rubber Guard because he created it and is happy to be teaching/explaining it. He truly believes in it and the passion flow through and is pretty evident in this video.


Rickson is a True Warrior/Martial Artist with an Open Mind ... living... adapting... he seemed reserved. Not sure if it was like anyone else seeing something being taught them by a master practitioner for the first time and he is soaking it all in, didn't have time to 'digest' it yet. Perhaps, he didn't want to say anything either yea/nay about the Rubber Guard until he had time to analyze it a bit more.


NOTE: I had scheduled this entry to publish, when I came across this from The Great Rickson Gracie by Eddie Bravo (bolded text my emphasis):

"[SNIP]

Sitting there for 3 hours listening to him tell those old street fighting stories gave my brain the chills. This was a dream of mine ever since I began my Jiu Jitsu journey 20 years ago. I actually never thought it would actually come true, even in recent years. Rickson just seemed to yoda like, too mysterious, too out of reach, like getting to hang out with Mohammed Ali or Michael Jordan. Like that would ever happen, right? But BOOM! It happened, and all of a sudden Joe and I were having a conversation with this enigmatic martial arts icon.

And just like that 3 hours flashed by and it was over. I swear I could’ve gone 10 hours, EASILY. But it was over and it was time to go. As we were walking out of the studio into the front waiting room I thought to myself, maybe I could show him the rubber guard really quick?? Or maybe he’s in a hurry to get somewhere and he simply wouldn’t have enough time?? F*ck it I said, I’m gonna give it a shot. Getting to show Rickson what my students and I have been working on the last 10 years would be insane. I didn’t know how much time he would actually give me so I felt my pitch would have to be machine gun like, I had to make as many vital points as possible before he said, “I’d love to see more but I got to be somewhere”. So I rattled off my rubber guard speech faster than ever, like those disclaimers at the end of Nissan commercials. I was sweating, out of breath, while inside I was thinking “Is this really Rickson Graice inside my rubber guard or am I on 25 grams of Ecuadorian mushrooms?!?!” I am very confident about my Jiu Jitsu philosophy, plus I just hung out with him for 3 hours but I was still obviously a little nervous to be showing this Jiu Jitsu god some 10th Planet material. I just had to get all the rubber guard scenarios out before he left which could have been at any moment. It was like Eminem on a gallon of Cave Man coffee, no cream, black like Charlie Murphy’s anus but with no rhymes. I couldn’t help it, I just had to let him see what we’ve been working on the last 10 years, especially since he, Jean Jacques and Renzo were the catalyst to it all.

When it was all said and done, Rickson, Joe and I took some pictures and just like that, he left. Whether or not Rickson was impressed with the rubber guard, doesn’t really matter, it wasn’t about that anyways, it was about picking his brain, getting them old legendary stories straight from him, hearing his philosophies on modern Mma and listening to him break down life, honor, courage, conformity and spirituality. God bless Rickson."


OK ... ready for the video? Enjoy!







For more entries on Rickson, please check out:



For more info on Rickson:




Please check out these other Eddie Bravo-related posts:



Please more info on Eddie Bravo:



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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Vunak's Top 50 Combat Secrets Ch. 10

8/21/2013 11:00:00 AM  , , , , , , ,  No comments



Chapter 10 : Isometrics the Secret to the Guard


As we have discussed before, when one has been taken to the ground, by a larger stronger opponent, in most cases we will be on the bottom. From the bottom position there is only one thing to do, there is only one posture that is viable for fighting a larger man, and that is the guard. And also, as we have discussed before when the opponent is in your guard(closed guard), it is imperative that we wrap their head and arm, so that they are unable to get their posture. At this point it is very important that we differentiate between sports jiu-jitsu and street fighting jiu-jitsu. In sports jiu-jitsu, the assumption is that the weight classes will be the same. Therefore the axiom of the best defense is a good offense is correct and appropriate. When someone is in your guard that is your size, to perpetually attack makes sense from several vantage points. When your opponent is defending himself he is not passing your guard. When your opponent is defending himself he is not attacking you. Additionally it is more difficult for your opponent to defend multiple attacks than it is to defend one single attack. As the man on the bottom, when you are perpetually bugging the arm, bugging the arm, and then attacking and bugging the neck, and going from the arm and the neck to the sweep, back to the guillotine, back to the triangle, eventually the strategy of keeping your opponent on defense will pay off and they will trip over something.


On the other hand, when one is in a serious street fight and your opponent in your guard out weighs you by 50 pounds or more there is one tactic and only one tactic to use. The person on the bottom prevents the person on top from getting their posture, by simply hanging on and clinging to them. (This is the only way for David to beat Goliath). What will happen eventually is that the person on top will struggle for several seconds to several minutes and they usually get their posture for a brief second, long enough to throw a few punches at you, then the man on the bottom simply re-grabs and hangs on again. This process of clinging and hanging on, getting hit a few times, pulling the opponent back off posture, and clinging again and then getting hit a few times again, and then clinging and hanging on, this process will repeat itself until eventually the person on top gets tired(much like a rodeo clown on a bull).


The guy on the bottom will notice instantly when the fellow on top is getting tired. There will be an obvious perceptible gasping of wind, and an instant cessation of struggling. This is when David must strike. In Royce Gracie’s case, usually this would take 20 – 25 minutes. And then eventually someone would trip over a lock or a triangle. When the average person, watches Royce’s fights due to the lack of attacking, they call this a boring fight. When a world class street fighter, watches one of Royce’s fights, we all shake our heads in amazement. As I know for a fact, that the aforementioned strategy is the only viable way for David to beat Goliath on the ground. There is still a chance for failure. What I noticed happening to me in my 20s, the first couple of times I fought someone this big was that after about 15 minutes my legs and arms got simply too tired to hang on. Eventually the Bad Guy broke posture, and succeeded in beating me by ground and pound. As they say, a wise man learns from his mistakes, yet a wiser man learns from someone else’s. So before one tries to hold, a strong sweaty Goliath in the guard, David better have a strong Guard !


Solution:

What I am about to give you in my opinion is the most viable and profound Isometric drill available… Jump up on your heavy bag, and wrap your legs around it. Hooking your ankles as if you had someone in your closed guard. Now, let go with your hands, and simply hang on to the bag with the strength of your inner loins only. Your first attempt will have you hanging on to the bag between 2 and 4 minutes. Your goal is 45 minutes ! Good Luck, Luv Voo !



Please check the Table of Contents for links to other chapters of this Online Book.

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Stickgrappler's Sojourn of Septillion Steps