October 30, 2004
Grappling for Self Defense
It is very easy to forget all about the self-defense aspects of what you are doing when you train grappling. There is so much material to work on, and it is so much fun to learn, that self-defense considerations can get overlooked.
This point was driven home to me a couple of years ago when three very large, athletic guys wanted me to show them some of that 'Gracie' stuff. We hit the mats and I sparred each one in turn for several 'rounds' each. Because they were inexperienced on the ground it was relatively easy to armbar, kneebar and choke them quickly, even when I started in bad positions. After getting tapped out two or three times the biggest guy decided that if I couldn't grab anything then I couldn't tap him out anymore. He clamped onto two of my fingers with all his strength and held onto them with grim determination.
This tactic initially surprised me and alarmed me. It was not something I experience very often, and I was acutely aware that if he twisted the wrong way he would break or dislocate my fingers. This tactic wasn't malicious on his part - he had no idea that this could injure me. After a few tense moments and some quick improvisation I freed my fingers, and immediately tapped him out again.
The moral of this story is NOT how tough or skilled I am, it is simply this: BJJ, submission grappling and MMA sparring are wonderful training tools, but they all have certain spoken and unspoken rules. If we follow these rules 100% of the time we can develop a certain myopia. This myopia means that we might be unprepared when someone thinks outside the box in a real-life confrontation. The big guy who grabbed my fingers was thinking outside the box, and it took a while to adapt to the situation.
In sparring it is useful to focus on self defense once in a while: here are some suggestions for self-defense oriented grappling sparring sessions:
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This point was driven home to me a couple of years ago when three very large, athletic guys wanted me to show them some of that 'Gracie' stuff. We hit the mats and I sparred each one in turn for several 'rounds' each. Because they were inexperienced on the ground it was relatively easy to armbar, kneebar and choke them quickly, even when I started in bad positions. After getting tapped out two or three times the biggest guy decided that if I couldn't grab anything then I couldn't tap him out anymore. He clamped onto two of my fingers with all his strength and held onto them with grim determination.
This tactic initially surprised me and alarmed me. It was not something I experience very often, and I was acutely aware that if he twisted the wrong way he would break or dislocate my fingers. This tactic wasn't malicious on his part - he had no idea that this could injure me. After a few tense moments and some quick improvisation I freed my fingers, and immediately tapped him out again.
The moral of this story is NOT how tough or skilled I am, it is simply this: BJJ, submission grappling and MMA sparring are wonderful training tools, but they all have certain spoken and unspoken rules. If we follow these rules 100% of the time we can develop a certain myopia. This myopia means that we might be unprepared when someone thinks outside the box in a real-life confrontation. The big guy who grabbed my fingers was thinking outside the box, and it took a while to adapt to the situation.
In sparring it is useful to focus on self defense once in a while: here are some suggestions for self-defense oriented grappling sparring sessions:
- Include finger grabbing and (gentle) finger locks
- Include hair pulling
- Simulate biting and (very gentle) eye-gouging
- Work on your headlock escapes. Skilled opponents rarely try using the headlock, but if a strong and desperate person gets hold of your noggin and squeezes it is always difficult to get out.
- Wear a gi and include striking or simulated striking. Most of the time when people practice MMA they are wearing T-shirts or spandex: having a gi to grab and pull can change things dramatically.
- Try grappling against two partners at the same time: your goal is to either submit them both or to be able to stand up and clear distance
- Grapple with a dowel, simulating a knife. This drill will really emphasize the importance of wrist control!
- Grapple with a rattan stick: you can use the stick to strike, to lock, to choke and to implicitly. The Dog Brothers are geniuses at doing this.
I'm not suggesting that you explore these scenarios very often - once every month or two is perfectly adequate for self defense considerations. Also you want to do these sparring sessions with someone you trust, NOT the class spaz or the guy with the huge ego. You need to approach these sessions with an attitude of discovery, not competition. Thinking outside the box every couple of months will dramatically increase your ability to take your art out into the real world.
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October 23, 2004
Breathing, Oxygen and Exhaustion
For the past two weeks I have been talking about breathing, concentrating on unusual situations, like hyperventilation and the Valsalva Maneuver. I should probably have started out by talking about something that is a bit more universally applicable.
Let’s talk about this: no breathing equals no oxygen equals total exhaustion.
It's storytime: a few months ago I was talking with a very frustrated and discouraged grappler. For the sake of this story, let’s call the grappler ‘Fred’. Anyway, ‘Fred’ was a fit guy who did lots of cardiovascular conditioning to help him with his endurance, but had an unusual problem with his grappling. In his own words:
“The situation seems to occur when I train against new people who are very aggressive, usually wrestlers. I try to relax, but it doesn't seem to be working. I still seem to tense up and gas out. But when I fight guys who are so much better than me I can train for a long time and even roll for 30-40 minutes at a time with minimal breaks.”
In other words he had MORE endurance when he was sparring advanced people who kicked his butt than he did when he was grappling aggressive beginners.
It took some experimentation and discussion, but what we finally discovered was that he was holding his breath while fighting certain types of opponents. When he grappled beginners he tensed up and held his breath because he did not want to tap, or get schooled, by a beginner.
Against advanced grapplers he knew he was going to tap: he could accept that they were more skilled than he was, could concentrate on putting up a good fight and doing his best on the mat.
His anxiety was causing him to hold his breath. No breathing equals no oxygen equals total exhaustion.
The solution was fairly simple: he had to concentrate on his breathing before all else. He started to focus on inhalation and exhalation while doing pushups, while doing Yoga and especially while grappling.
Fred also used a fairly simple tool to ensure he wasn’t holding his breath while grappling: every 5 or 10 seconds he would check in on his breathing and ask himself if he was holding his breath. Submissions, body positions and techniques were all secondary to focusing on the breath, making sure that it continued to flow in and out during the heat of the battle.
Here is what happened in Fred’s words:
“When it came time for sparring, I picked one of the heavier aggressive guys to go against. I did what you said and kept reminding myself to breathe. Every 5-10 secs I was just saying to myself breathe, breathe, and breathe. I wasn't even thinking 'too hard' about my attacks and defense, I just wanted to relax and flow.”
“But you know what happened, I was thinking so clearly. I subbed this guy 5 times in 5 minutes! I have never subbed anyone that many times before in that amount of time. I hit triangles (I suck at triangles, trust me) twice, two of your kneebars, and then the ‘Minotauro’ choke.”
“The important thing was I wasn't even trying, it was weird. I mean I wasn't lying like a log, but I was just focusing on breathing rather than just trying to 'fight'. And everything was so clear. I even let this guy take my back and pass my guard, but I recovered easily.”
“The next rolling partner I had was a solid blue and I asked him to just smash me. He did smash me, but I wasn't gasping from escaping. I kept breathing and just trying to remember good posture. It was really good. I gave him a tough time and he really had to work to get me.”
“The next partner was probably the same level as me. I kept the breathing concept in mind and I nailed some more moves I don't easily pull off normally in sparring.”
Things went really well for the next couple of weeks. So well, in fact, that he decided to enter a NAGA tournament:
“Well since everything has been going so well thanks to you I am gonna put my money where my mouth is and compete in NAGA in 2 weeks. My wrestling is something that needs improvement but I feel confident enough that my other attributes will even things out.”
Shortly thereafter I received an email from Fred: below you can read parts of it:
“Stephan! I won my division in NAGA. Thanks so much for all your help. I was doing well with my breathing until the finals, where I left it all on the mat. I did not notice I was breathing a lot until they called time and I felt the exhaustion. But no one scored any points on me and I got some nice armbars … Throughout my matches I did the breathing check every 10 seconds. If you told me to compete in NAGA 2 months ago I would have laughed and thought you were crazy.”
If you find your endurance fading unexpectedly, be it when fighting certain types of opponents or in certain situations (competition at tournaments, sparring at other clubs, etc.) the FIRST thing you could do is to ensure that you aren’t holding your breath. Ask someone to watch you, and/or do an internal breathing check every 5 or 10 seconds. Think a little bit less about technique and constantly remind yourself “breathe, breathe and breathe!” You may be pleasantly surprised.
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Let’s talk about this: no breathing equals no oxygen equals total exhaustion.
It's storytime: a few months ago I was talking with a very frustrated and discouraged grappler. For the sake of this story, let’s call the grappler ‘Fred’. Anyway, ‘Fred’ was a fit guy who did lots of cardiovascular conditioning to help him with his endurance, but had an unusual problem with his grappling. In his own words:
“The situation seems to occur when I train against new people who are very aggressive, usually wrestlers. I try to relax, but it doesn't seem to be working. I still seem to tense up and gas out. But when I fight guys who are so much better than me I can train for a long time and even roll for 30-40 minutes at a time with minimal breaks.”
In other words he had MORE endurance when he was sparring advanced people who kicked his butt than he did when he was grappling aggressive beginners.
It took some experimentation and discussion, but what we finally discovered was that he was holding his breath while fighting certain types of opponents. When he grappled beginners he tensed up and held his breath because he did not want to tap, or get schooled, by a beginner.
Against advanced grapplers he knew he was going to tap: he could accept that they were more skilled than he was, could concentrate on putting up a good fight and doing his best on the mat.
His anxiety was causing him to hold his breath. No breathing equals no oxygen equals total exhaustion.
The solution was fairly simple: he had to concentrate on his breathing before all else. He started to focus on inhalation and exhalation while doing pushups, while doing Yoga and especially while grappling.
Fred also used a fairly simple tool to ensure he wasn’t holding his breath while grappling: every 5 or 10 seconds he would check in on his breathing and ask himself if he was holding his breath. Submissions, body positions and techniques were all secondary to focusing on the breath, making sure that it continued to flow in and out during the heat of the battle.
Here is what happened in Fred’s words:
“When it came time for sparring, I picked one of the heavier aggressive guys to go against. I did what you said and kept reminding myself to breathe. Every 5-10 secs I was just saying to myself breathe, breathe, and breathe. I wasn't even thinking 'too hard' about my attacks and defense, I just wanted to relax and flow.”
“But you know what happened, I was thinking so clearly. I subbed this guy 5 times in 5 minutes! I have never subbed anyone that many times before in that amount of time. I hit triangles (I suck at triangles, trust me) twice, two of your kneebars, and then the ‘Minotauro’ choke.”
“The important thing was I wasn't even trying, it was weird. I mean I wasn't lying like a log, but I was just focusing on breathing rather than just trying to 'fight'. And everything was so clear. I even let this guy take my back and pass my guard, but I recovered easily.”
“The next rolling partner I had was a solid blue and I asked him to just smash me. He did smash me, but I wasn't gasping from escaping. I kept breathing and just trying to remember good posture. It was really good. I gave him a tough time and he really had to work to get me.”
“The next partner was probably the same level as me. I kept the breathing concept in mind and I nailed some more moves I don't easily pull off normally in sparring.”
Things went really well for the next couple of weeks. So well, in fact, that he decided to enter a NAGA tournament:
“Well since everything has been going so well thanks to you I am gonna put my money where my mouth is and compete in NAGA in 2 weeks. My wrestling is something that needs improvement but I feel confident enough that my other attributes will even things out.”
Shortly thereafter I received an email from Fred: below you can read parts of it:
“Stephan! I won my division in NAGA. Thanks so much for all your help. I was doing well with my breathing until the finals, where I left it all on the mat. I did not notice I was breathing a lot until they called time and I felt the exhaustion. But no one scored any points on me and I got some nice armbars … Throughout my matches I did the breathing check every 10 seconds. If you told me to compete in NAGA 2 months ago I would have laughed and thought you were crazy.”
If you find your endurance fading unexpectedly, be it when fighting certain types of opponents or in certain situations (competition at tournaments, sparring at other clubs, etc.) the FIRST thing you could do is to ensure that you aren’t holding your breath. Ask someone to watch you, and/or do an internal breathing check every 5 or 10 seconds. Think a little bit less about technique and constantly remind yourself “breathe, breathe and breathe!” You may be pleasantly surprised.
Labels: breathing, conditioning, the mental aspect
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October 16, 2004
What the Hell is a 'Valsalva Maneuver'?
Today’s question is: “should you ever hold your breath while sparring”. Many instructors would tell you that holding your breath is a big no-no, and generally I agree with them. What I want to talk about today, however, is a possible exception to this rule.
Doctors (and powerlifters) refer to something called a ‘Valsalva maneuver’. In this maneuver you attempt to breath out forcibly while keeping your mouth and nose closed. Internally it feels like you are bearing down on your lower abdomen.
Why on earth would you want to push your breath like this? The reason doctors sometimes get their patients to do it is that if a doctor listens to your chest with a stethoscope while you are doing the Valsalva maneuver he or she might be able to diagnose certain heart conditions.
More relevant to grappling, powerlifters use the Valsalva when they are lifting maximal weight (their one or two rep maximum). Use of the Valsalva at the most difficult part of a squat or deadlift helps stabilize the shoulders and trunk and makes the lifter a little stronger. Powerlifters make sure to release their breath after they have passed the sticking point of their lifts, because if you hold a Valsalva for any length of time while lifting you can easily pass out!
What does this have to do with grappling? I believe that the Valsalva maneuver is a legitimate way to occasionally generate a little extra power in an emergency, so long as you recognize its limitations.
If you have ever absolutely, positively needed to generate maximum power you may already have used the Valsalva. Some people might use it when they are bridging out of the mount of a heavy opponent, escaping an armbar, or lifting an opponent to finish a takedown. Often times an audible grunt at the peak of effort is a sign that someone is using the Valsalva maneuver (although they may not be aware of it).
Regardless of the ‘grappling emergency’ it is not a good idea to use the Valsalva for more than one or two seconds (at the most). An inappropriate use of this technique might be to finish an armlock on an opponent who is defending well. Typically an armlock attempt might take 5 to 10 seconds to succeed, and that is way too long to hold your breath. If you don’t succeed you’ll end up very tired (or unconscious). It is also not a good idea to use this maneuver too often – like I said earlier, powerlifters use this for their maximum lifts, not for repeated submaximal lifts in training.
I’m not saying that you should adopt this type of breathing consciously, but if you are going to use this technique on purpose then keep the following precautions in mind:
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Doctors (and powerlifters) refer to something called a ‘Valsalva maneuver’. In this maneuver you attempt to breath out forcibly while keeping your mouth and nose closed. Internally it feels like you are bearing down on your lower abdomen.
Why on earth would you want to push your breath like this? The reason doctors sometimes get their patients to do it is that if a doctor listens to your chest with a stethoscope while you are doing the Valsalva maneuver he or she might be able to diagnose certain heart conditions.
More relevant to grappling, powerlifters use the Valsalva when they are lifting maximal weight (their one or two rep maximum). Use of the Valsalva at the most difficult part of a squat or deadlift helps stabilize the shoulders and trunk and makes the lifter a little stronger. Powerlifters make sure to release their breath after they have passed the sticking point of their lifts, because if you hold a Valsalva for any length of time while lifting you can easily pass out!
What does this have to do with grappling? I believe that the Valsalva maneuver is a legitimate way to occasionally generate a little extra power in an emergency, so long as you recognize its limitations.
If you have ever absolutely, positively needed to generate maximum power you may already have used the Valsalva. Some people might use it when they are bridging out of the mount of a heavy opponent, escaping an armbar, or lifting an opponent to finish a takedown. Often times an audible grunt at the peak of effort is a sign that someone is using the Valsalva maneuver (although they may not be aware of it).
Regardless of the ‘grappling emergency’ it is not a good idea to use the Valsalva for more than one or two seconds (at the most). An inappropriate use of this technique might be to finish an armlock on an opponent who is defending well. Typically an armlock attempt might take 5 to 10 seconds to succeed, and that is way too long to hold your breath. If you don’t succeed you’ll end up very tired (or unconscious). It is also not a good idea to use this maneuver too often – like I said earlier, powerlifters use this for their maximum lifts, not for repeated submaximal lifts in training.
I’m not saying that you should adopt this type of breathing consciously, but if you are going to use this technique on purpose then keep the following precautions in mind:
- Use it in emergencies, not as a staple technique
- Don’t hold your breath for more than a second or so
- Be sure to resume regular breathing immediately after your maximum effort, whether your attempt succeeded or not
Labels: breathing, conditioning
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October 07, 2004
Conscious Hyperventilation
I sometimes get asked questions about how to breath while sparring, in particular, how to control your breathing when you are really fighting hard.
When you are sparring at an easy to moderate pace then it is a good idea to keep your breath regular, deep and even. You don't want to hyperventilate unnecessarily. So far, so good: most experts would agree with me on this point.
Now it gets a bit more controversial. I believe that the situation changes considerably when one is engaged in extremely strenuous exercise. Let's say that you are sparring or competing and you are in an all-out dogfight: you are trading attacks, escapes, takedowns and reversals with your opponent at a fast and furious pace. My advice here is to go ahead and breathe as quick and as hard as you need to, even perhaps a little harder than you think neccesary.
Here is a little story: I used to compete in the Firefighter Combat Challenge, which is an anaerobic event known as "the toughest 2 minutes in sport" on ESPN. In this event firefighters race in full turnout gear and breathing apparatus, trying to complete 5 tasks as fast as they can. These tasks include carrying a load up a 5-story tower, hoisting, chopping, dragging hoses and finally rescuing a life-sized, 175 lb. "victim". This event is an all-out lactic acid fiesta, and it is common for some competitors to require medical aid at the end of their run.
When I first started competing I struggled to break the 2-minute mark. I'd start my race breathing normally and increase my breathing as the event went on. By the time I got to the finish line I'd be hyperventilating and trying to breath in through every orifice in my body.
Finally a teammate suggested that I start hyperventilating early - about 5 seconds before the race began, and keep on hyperventilating the whole race. I was worried about passing out and he said "yes you might pass out if you weren't going as hard as you can, but you are going to use all that extra oxygen and still need more".
I tried this technique that day: in the last few seconds before taking off up the stairs I started taking rapid and very deep breaths. I continued breathing this way for the whole event: every few seconds I reminded myself "breathe, Breathe, BREATHE". That day I took 10 seconds off my time, which is a huge improvement. Within a year I eventually ran the event in one minute and 33 seconds, which is considered an 'elite' level performance.
Conscious hyperventilation not a technique you want to use all the time. That being said, when there is a lot of action in your next grappling match and you know that you are about to get tired, you may want to give it a try.
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When you are sparring at an easy to moderate pace then it is a good idea to keep your breath regular, deep and even. You don't want to hyperventilate unnecessarily. So far, so good: most experts would agree with me on this point.
Now it gets a bit more controversial. I believe that the situation changes considerably when one is engaged in extremely strenuous exercise. Let's say that you are sparring or competing and you are in an all-out dogfight: you are trading attacks, escapes, takedowns and reversals with your opponent at a fast and furious pace. My advice here is to go ahead and breathe as quick and as hard as you need to, even perhaps a little harder than you think neccesary.
Here is a little story: I used to compete in the Firefighter Combat Challenge, which is an anaerobic event known as "the toughest 2 minutes in sport" on ESPN. In this event firefighters race in full turnout gear and breathing apparatus, trying to complete 5 tasks as fast as they can. These tasks include carrying a load up a 5-story tower, hoisting, chopping, dragging hoses and finally rescuing a life-sized, 175 lb. "victim". This event is an all-out lactic acid fiesta, and it is common for some competitors to require medical aid at the end of their run.
When I first started competing I struggled to break the 2-minute mark. I'd start my race breathing normally and increase my breathing as the event went on. By the time I got to the finish line I'd be hyperventilating and trying to breath in through every orifice in my body.
Finally a teammate suggested that I start hyperventilating early - about 5 seconds before the race began, and keep on hyperventilating the whole race. I was worried about passing out and he said "yes you might pass out if you weren't going as hard as you can, but you are going to use all that extra oxygen and still need more".
I tried this technique that day: in the last few seconds before taking off up the stairs I started taking rapid and very deep breaths. I continued breathing this way for the whole event: every few seconds I reminded myself "breathe, Breathe, BREATHE". That day I took 10 seconds off my time, which is a huge improvement. Within a year I eventually ran the event in one minute and 33 seconds, which is considered an 'elite' level performance.
Conscious hyperventilation not a technique you want to use all the time. That being said, when there is a lot of action in your next grappling match and you know that you are about to get tired, you may want to give it a try.
Labels: breathing
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October 03, 2004
A Roadmap for Grappling
When an uninitiated person sees grappling in action for the first time it seems very chaotic and confusing. There are limbs and bodies all over the place and then, all of a sudden and for ‘no reason’ someone taps out. This can be a very intimidating activity for beginners to launch themselves into.
Here is the roadmap that I offer beginners interested in learning how to grapple on the ground. While there are many variations of positions, 90% of your time on the mat is going to be spent in one of the following positions:
1. Mount position,
2. Rear mount
3. Sidemount / North-South position
4. Headlock / Kesa gatame
5. Closed / Open guard
6. Turtle position
7. Knee mount
What I usually tell beginners is that they should first learn the basics of each of these positions. Then should then learn 2 or 3 attacks from each of the positions when they are on top, and 2 or 3 escapes or sweeps from each of the positions when they are on the bottom.
Once they have learned these positions, attacks and escapes they will have a bit of context for whatever position they end up in while training, and roll around without being totally lost all the time. They will have a rudimentary idea of what to do (and not do) in these 7 positions and will be able to relate to what is happening to him on the mat. This is very empowering and is a great way to introduce someone to the sport and art of grappling.
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Here is the roadmap that I offer beginners interested in learning how to grapple on the ground. While there are many variations of positions, 90% of your time on the mat is going to be spent in one of the following positions:
1. Mount position,
2. Rear mount
3. Sidemount / North-South position
4. Headlock / Kesa gatame
5. Closed / Open guard
6. Turtle position
7. Knee mount
What I usually tell beginners is that they should first learn the basics of each of these positions. Then should then learn 2 or 3 attacks from each of the positions when they are on top, and 2 or 3 escapes or sweeps from each of the positions when they are on the bottom.
Once they have learned these positions, attacks and escapes they will have a bit of context for whatever position they end up in while training, and roll around without being totally lost all the time. They will have a rudimentary idea of what to do (and not do) in these 7 positions and will be able to relate to what is happening to him on the mat. This is very empowering and is a great way to introduce someone to the sport and art of grappling.
Labels: the mental aspect
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