Grappling Tips Newsletter

April 29, 2005

My Favorite Upper Body Exercise

If I could do only one upper body exercise it would have to be pull-ups. Grappling is much more about pulling than pushing, and pull-ups are a convenient way to develop strength and endurance in your lats, biceps, and other pulling muscles.

You can do pull-ups in the gym, on a tree branch, or on monkey bars in a playground. I try to do pull-ups using three different hand positions: palms facing away from me, palms facing towards each other, and palms facing me. This develops strength in slightly different ways, and on the mat you never know exactly how your arms are going to be positioned.

Here are some additional pullup variations you may want to experiment with:

Pull-ups with extra weight (tuck a dumbbell into your lifting belt)
Pullups with static hangs: pause in mid-pullup
Pullups gripping a gi or towel draped over the bar
Upside-down pull-ups (pike up so that your feet face the ceiling)

Don’t get too hung up on the number of repetitions you can do. The maximum number of pull-ups achievable really depends on how fast you go. If I go up and down really fast, and bounce a bit at the bottom of my pullup, I can probably do twice as many as if went through each pullup slowly and smoothly. They are tough no matter how fast you do them.

Labels: conditioning

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 10:24 PM

April 24, 2005

The Tangled Web of Gi-Grappling

Jiu-jitsu and grappling are like an arms race: new techniques and variations are constantly being developed. One year is the year of the half guard; another is the year of the ankle lock. Competition on the training mat and in tournaments is driving the evolution of the game.

It seems to me that one recent trend in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu involves the use of the gi in new, innovative ways. In the past year I have been seen at least a dozen new ways to use your gi, or your opponent’s gi, to trap, entangle, choke or submit an opponent.

Grapplearts contributor Andreh Anderson recently released some techniques that use gi-entanglement to choke out his opponent. Today while sparring I successfully pulled off the ‘Ninja Choke’ a few times, so I can definitely endorse these techniques. Check out:

www.grapplearts.com/Shaolin-Choke.htm

and

www.grapplearts.com/Ninja-Choke.htm

Before I create a howl of protest I should point out that gi-entanglement has been part of gi-based grappling (BJJ, Sambo, Judo, etc.) for a long time. For example, a common, but high-level half guard pass in Judo uses the gi-skirt to immobilize your opponent’s arm. I’m not saying that these techniques are entirely new, only that they seem to be rather popular in BJJ at the moment.

The simplified lesson here is that anytime you can wrap your own gi or your opponent’s gi around his neck it is probably a good thing. If you grapple with the gi then give these techniques a try and don’t be afraid to innovate. You may or may not win your next tournament with a spinning upsidedown gi-skirt choke, but I guarantee you’ll have fun experimenting with these chokes on the mat.

Thanks to Andreh for contributing these techniques!

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 10:39 PM

April 16, 2005

My Default Cardio Workout

Some people say that you should change your conditioning workouts on a weekly or even daily basis; "you have to shock your body" they say. I believe that there is some truth to this, but I also think it is important to have a routine, or a constant workout that you do repeatedly.

Let's talk about my default cardio workout. To do this workout I run a trail over gently rolling hills near my house. Close to the end of the trail is a park where I usually stop and do two sets of pullups. After the park I have 5 more minutes of running uphill and then I'm headed for the shower. All in all it takes me about 25 or 30 minutes to complete the run, and I usually do it once or twice in an eight day cycle.

Do I think that one should vary one's conditioning routine? Absolutely! Do I believe that sprint work is important? Yes, especially close to competition! So why do I do this same workout again and again? Here are some of my reasons:

By doing the same workout periodically I have an objective measure of fitness: if it takes me over 30 minutes then I am either out of shape, tired, or getting sick.
It maintains my aerobic fitness, which is the base for your anaerobic fitness (see one of my early articles www.grapplearts.com/Martial-Arts-Cardio.htm for background information on aerobic and anaerobic fitness)
It conditions my body for more intense training, such as stair running or intervals
I don't have to think or plan this workout: I just go do it.
If I am not feeling energetic I can do this run slowly and still achieve some base aerobic conditioning.
I enjoy it: running a trail through the forest is quite relaxing

Until next week...

Labels: conditioning

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 6:46 PM

April 11, 2005

So You Wanna be a MMA Fighter?

It must have been the climax of The Ultimate Fighter TV show that did it: last week I recieved multiple emails asking me how to go about getting started in MMA. Now I am not an MMA expert, but I have participated in the training of several top-notch MMA fighters, so I have a few ideas on the topic.

To succeed in today’s MMA environment you need courage, determination, speed, strength, endurance and skills. Today's topic is the last requirement: skills. Your MMA techniques will generally come from one of 3 fields:

Boxing and/or kickboxing
Wrestling (freestyle and/or Greco)
Brazilian jiu-jitsu and/or submission grappling

For a more detailed discussion of these 3 areas you might want to read www.grapplearts.com/The-MMA-Formula.htm

In an ideal world you would be able to train all 3 fields at the same school or training facility. Almost all MMA fighters that I know, however, started with a strong background in one of these areas and then pursued additional training to round out their skills.

If you are an aspiring MMA fighter and don’t have access to an MMA training facility don’t despair. You can probably find a boxing club, a wrestling team, or a jiu-jitsu school initially and start developing at least one of the 3 skill areas. Start your search by looking in your local yellow pages and in my online grappling school database at www.grapplearts.com/search.php

It is important to train these 3 areas separately and in combination. Below are some general examples of the types of sparring you might want to do:

Boxing only
Kickboxing only
Takedown wrestling only
Clinching only
Submission grappling only
Standup striking with takedowns, but no groundwork
Wrestling and submission grappling, but no striking
Grappling with controlled strikes on the ground
Full Vale Tudo (striking, takedowns, grappling)
etc.

As you can see, properly preparing for MMA is a lot of work! If you are starting out from scratch it might seem a little overwhelming. Start with acquiring skills in one area and then branch out. Be intelligent and methodical in your training and you might get a chance compete on one of the future seasons of The Ultimate Fighter.

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 9:09 PM

April 02, 2005

Static Bridging - a Common Mistake in Sparring

There are two fundamental ways to escape from most pinning positions: escapes based on ‘shrimping’ style hip movement, and escapes based on bridging.

One common mistake I see among beginners is that they hold the bridge position for far too long. As they struggle to escape from a pin they keep their hips a few inches off the ground, maintaining in a low bridge. Maintaining this bridge does nothing to help them escape, and it also burns a lot of energy, especially if there is an opponent on top of them trying to pin them to the ground. Basically you should either be dynamically bridging, OR trying another escape, OR resting.

As with all rules there are some exceptions. You may decide to hold the bridge position for conditioning (as they do in Yoga). Additionally there are also a few choke and neck crank attacks that can be countered, to some degree, by keeping your hips elevated in a static bridge position. These are specialized situations, however, and the general rule of not statically holding the bridge in sparring is a good one to start with.

If you are a beginner try to figure out if you are making this mistake or not. If you are a more advanced player watch for other people making this mistake and point it out to them; the faster they improve the skills the faster you will get some new, high-quality training partners.

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 2:58 PM