July 24, 2005
Eat, Sleep, Train
First I’d like to congratulate friend and former training partner Denis Kang on his recent victory in Pride Bushido 8 in Japan. He out-punched and out-grappled UFC veteran Andrei Semov to earn a unanimous decision. Even more impressive is the fact that he broke his right hand 4 minutes into the fight, and continued to give the tough Russian hell for the next 11 minutes! Go Denis: I'm sure that we'll be seeing a lot more of you in the big MMA shows!
Denis’s recent victory in Pride got me thinking about the world of difference between professional and recreational grapplers. Denis and I started Brazilian jiu-jitsu at about the same time, and for a long time following we were neck-and-neck skill wise. Even after he started pursuing his MMA career I could still usually keep up to him on the grappling mat.
Things changed when he quit his job and dedicated himself to full-time training. He got wrestling coaches, boxing coaches and conditioning coaches. He saw dieticians, chiropractors and naturopaths. In addition to jiu-jitsu he started sparring with professional kickboxers and elite-level wrestlers. He started doing two workouts a day, usually taking a nap in between to recover. Basically all he did was eat, sleep, train and recover. He lived and breathed MMA fighting.
Hours and hours of additional training, combined with his superb athletic gifts, paid off. He started catching me in submissions and bad positions much more often than I caught him, and eventually I stopped being able to catch him at all. He had reached an entirely different level than your humble narrator.
There is a danger when a recreational grappler (and that is 99% of people who roll around on a mat) hears about a professional fighter’s training regimen and tries to imitate it. Unless you are already in killer shape, have good genetics, are able to get 10 or more hours of sleep a night, and have few other concerns in your life you simply won’t be able to train at this intensity and duration for very long. You will either get injured or burned out very quickly.
It is important to keep things in perspective: only very few people who train in grappling have the athletic gifts, the determination and luck to make a living by fighting professionally. If fighting professionally is your goal then I salute you, but also encourage you to develop some skills you can use when your fighting career is over. If, like most people, you have a job, family and other obligations you can still reach a high level of skill, but it will take longer.
Look to professionals for inspiration. Listen to them when they talk about technique or share their fight strategy - they've worked hard to acquire this knowledge and most are eager to share it. Just keep things in perspective, that’s all.
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Denis’s recent victory in Pride got me thinking about the world of difference between professional and recreational grapplers. Denis and I started Brazilian jiu-jitsu at about the same time, and for a long time following we were neck-and-neck skill wise. Even after he started pursuing his MMA career I could still usually keep up to him on the grappling mat.
Things changed when he quit his job and dedicated himself to full-time training. He got wrestling coaches, boxing coaches and conditioning coaches. He saw dieticians, chiropractors and naturopaths. In addition to jiu-jitsu he started sparring with professional kickboxers and elite-level wrestlers. He started doing two workouts a day, usually taking a nap in between to recover. Basically all he did was eat, sleep, train and recover. He lived and breathed MMA fighting.
Hours and hours of additional training, combined with his superb athletic gifts, paid off. He started catching me in submissions and bad positions much more often than I caught him, and eventually I stopped being able to catch him at all. He had reached an entirely different level than your humble narrator.
There is a danger when a recreational grappler (and that is 99% of people who roll around on a mat) hears about a professional fighter’s training regimen and tries to imitate it. Unless you are already in killer shape, have good genetics, are able to get 10 or more hours of sleep a night, and have few other concerns in your life you simply won’t be able to train at this intensity and duration for very long. You will either get injured or burned out very quickly.
It is important to keep things in perspective: only very few people who train in grappling have the athletic gifts, the determination and luck to make a living by fighting professionally. If fighting professionally is your goal then I salute you, but also encourage you to develop some skills you can use when your fighting career is over. If, like most people, you have a job, family and other obligations you can still reach a high level of skill, but it will take longer.
Look to professionals for inspiration. Listen to them when they talk about technique or share their fight strategy - they've worked hard to acquire this knowledge and most are eager to share it. Just keep things in perspective, that’s all.
Labels: training
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July 17, 2005
One more thing about Choking
Before we leave this topic I want to point out that not all chokes occur at the neck. Of course squeezing the windpipe is the most common form of choking, but you can also impair breathing by applying pressure to the torso.
The diaphragm is a powerful sheet of muscle that lies between your heart and lungs in the upper part of your torso, and your stomach, intestines and other organs in the lower part of your torso. The diaphragm is the primary muscle responsible for moving air in and out of the body by inflating your lungs.
Typically diaphragmatic choking is accomplished using the knee-on-belly position. The knee is placed fairly high on the belly, usually just near the solar plexus. To increase pressure the arms are anchored on your opponent and pulling him into you.
This pressure means that the diaphragm and lungs can’t operate properly and that his breathing becomes labored and ineffective. Maintain this pressure on the diaphragm and lungs, and he will be forced to submit from lack of air reaching his lungs. It might be a little bit slower than closing down the windpipe, but the final effect is the same.
Labels: chokes
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July 11, 2005
Air Chokes
For the last two weeks we have primarily been discussing strangles – this week I’d like to move on to ‘chokes’. A choke is a submission which primarily cuts off the flow of air through the windpipe, as opposed to a strangle which primarily cuts off the flow of blood to the brain.
Chokes are typically applied to the front of the throat, usually with the forearm (although hands, knees, shins, and other body parts can also be used). This action pushes on the Adam’s apple and compresses the windpipe which prevents air from moving down to the lungs. Since it blocks airflow, rather than blood flow, chokes usually take longer than chokes to render someone unconscious.
The paradox is that people usually tap out QUICKER from a choke than from a strangle. This is because chokes are very painful, whereas many strangles are not painful. Chokes work just fine on the mat, where most people will tap out when caught in a painful technique, but they may not be the technique of choice in a self-defense situation. If your opponent has a very high pain tolerance however, or is on a lot of drugs, then strangling would be the technique of choice, not choking.
One other thing to keep in mind is that choking is probably more dangerous than strangling. There have been several deaths recorded where police officers and sheriffs applied chokes and managed to kill the person by accident. The intent of those officers was almost certainly to put the resisting person to sleep, but they applied a choke rather than a strangle. The choke then damaged the person’s windpipe, compromising their breathing even after it was released, and the person died.
There are several morals to these stories. The first is that you should really know the difference between a choke and a strangle, and have the presence of mind to choose the appropriate technique for the appropriate situation. The other take-home point is that it is VERY important to monitor your opponent during the choke/strangle, and after you have released it. These are powerful techniques, and like we all learned in the Spiderman movie, “with great power comes great responsibility”.
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Chokes are typically applied to the front of the throat, usually with the forearm (although hands, knees, shins, and other body parts can also be used). This action pushes on the Adam’s apple and compresses the windpipe which prevents air from moving down to the lungs. Since it blocks airflow, rather than blood flow, chokes usually take longer than chokes to render someone unconscious.
The paradox is that people usually tap out QUICKER from a choke than from a strangle. This is because chokes are very painful, whereas many strangles are not painful. Chokes work just fine on the mat, where most people will tap out when caught in a painful technique, but they may not be the technique of choice in a self-defense situation. If your opponent has a very high pain tolerance however, or is on a lot of drugs, then strangling would be the technique of choice, not choking.
One other thing to keep in mind is that choking is probably more dangerous than strangling. There have been several deaths recorded where police officers and sheriffs applied chokes and managed to kill the person by accident. The intent of those officers was almost certainly to put the resisting person to sleep, but they applied a choke rather than a strangle. The choke then damaged the person’s windpipe, compromising their breathing even after it was released, and the person died.
There are several morals to these stories. The first is that you should really know the difference between a choke and a strangle, and have the presence of mind to choose the appropriate technique for the appropriate situation. The other take-home point is that it is VERY important to monitor your opponent during the choke/strangle, and after you have released it. These are powerful techniques, and like we all learned in the Spiderman movie, “with great power comes great responsibility”.
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July 05, 2005
Recovery From Chokes & Strangles
If you practice chokes and strangles long enough you will eventually choke someone partially or fully unconscious – because some strangles are not very painful people can even go unconscious without realizing it. This is not an inherently dangerous situation so long as you follow a few safety precautions.
The first time I saw someone strangled fully unconscious it was frightening. A competitor at a local tournament was being strangled and resisted tapping a little bit too long. At first he just lay there unresponsive. Then he emitted a very loud snoring/gurgling sound. Then he started to shake and quiver as if he was having a ‘gentle’ epileptic seizure. Finally he awoke, looking somewhat sheepish and embarrassed. The whole thing took about 10 seconds, but seemed a lot longer to me.
Now not everyone who gets strangled out will respond the same way – a lot depends on how deeply unconscious the person is and how long the strangle is held. Sometimes they’ll snore and sometimes they won’t. Sometimes they’ll shake uncontrollably and sometimes they won’t. People can even lose bladder control if the choke/strangle is held too long (fortunately this is a fairly rare occurrence).
If you DO throttle someone fully out then here are some safety precautions you should know about:
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The first time I saw someone strangled fully unconscious it was frightening. A competitor at a local tournament was being strangled and resisted tapping a little bit too long. At first he just lay there unresponsive. Then he emitted a very loud snoring/gurgling sound. Then he started to shake and quiver as if he was having a ‘gentle’ epileptic seizure. Finally he awoke, looking somewhat sheepish and embarrassed. The whole thing took about 10 seconds, but seemed a lot longer to me.
Now not everyone who gets strangled out will respond the same way – a lot depends on how deeply unconscious the person is and how long the strangle is held. Sometimes they’ll snore and sometimes they won’t. Sometimes they’ll shake uncontrollably and sometimes they won’t. People can even lose bladder control if the choke/strangle is held too long (fortunately this is a fairly rare occurrence).
If you DO throttle someone fully out then here are some safety precautions you should know about:
- Be aware of your opponent’s level of consciousness. People don’t always know they’re about to pass out, and some people won’t tap to chokes. This is especially true if you ever use a choke in self-defense: with all the chaos and adrenaline you might hold the strangle for a lot longer than necessary.
- Release the hold as soon as possible. Continuing a strangle after someone is unconscious is very dangerous.
- Roll the person onto their side (unless you also suspect spinal injury). By placing them onto their side you are ensuring that their airway remains open - many people die when they lie unconscious flat on their backs.
- if they remain unconscious for more than 20 SECONDS call for medical help and initiate artificial respiration and/or CPR
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