September 14, 2006
Teacherless Training
Q: "I would like to hear you address grappling with no formal teacher or school. What are the benefits/downsides to this? What should we be careful to avoid? This is the situation I am in now, I get to practice with some good guys but have actually never had formal training. "
A: Let's start my answer with a story:
Back in the late 1980's I was training in Emperado-method Kajukenbo Karate under Philip Gelinas. At this time BJJ was still incredibly rare, but I came across the old Gracie in Action videos. By watching the fights on these videos three things immediately became clear:
I give this early training a lot of credit, because we were still trying to control opponents who didn't want to be controlled, and trying to submit training partners who were trying to submit us in return. I am forever grateful to Philip Gelinas for permitting, nurturing and encouraging these rough and tumble sessions.
A few years later I started studying grappling more formally, under a variety of instructors (Marcus Soares, Pshemek Drabchinsky, Erik Paulson, Walter Lanz and Joe McCarthy). I think that the informal training I had done earlier had laid a good foundation, and I quickly soaked up knowledge like a sponge. So YES, I believe that most people can make good progress in grappling without frequent access to a 'proper' instructor.
Even though instructor-less progress is possible, I think that most people will benefit from having access to a formal coach, even if they only see him once or twice a year. This becomes more important as the person tries to move from being a beginner to an intermediate or advanced level grappler, because a coach-type figure might be able to see holes in your game that your sparring partners cannot.
If you can't actually go and train under a formal coach then at least get some sparring time with formally trained people once in a while. Even if this only happens every 3 or 4 months it will help you to gauge the effectiveness of your training and prevent you from living in a dreamworld with regard to your skill level.
Related tips: I have previously written about learning techniques from the internet and people starting their own training groups.
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A: Let's start my answer with a story:
Back in the late 1980's I was training in Emperado-method Kajukenbo Karate under Philip Gelinas. At this time BJJ was still incredibly rare, but I came across the old Gracie in Action videos. By watching the fights on these videos three things immediately became clear:
- That sitting on top of someone was a good place to be (i.e. the mount)
- If you were on the bottom you wanted to wrap your legs around your opponent's torso (i.e the guard)
- That twisting or hyperextending someone's arms, legs or neck could force them to give up (i.e. jointlocks and chokes).
I give this early training a lot of credit, because we were still trying to control opponents who didn't want to be controlled, and trying to submit training partners who were trying to submit us in return. I am forever grateful to Philip Gelinas for permitting, nurturing and encouraging these rough and tumble sessions.
A few years later I started studying grappling more formally, under a variety of instructors (Marcus Soares, Pshemek Drabchinsky, Erik Paulson, Walter Lanz and Joe McCarthy). I think that the informal training I had done earlier had laid a good foundation, and I quickly soaked up knowledge like a sponge. So YES, I believe that most people can make good progress in grappling without frequent access to a 'proper' instructor.
Even though instructor-less progress is possible, I think that most people will benefit from having access to a formal coach, even if they only see him once or twice a year. This becomes more important as the person tries to move from being a beginner to an intermediate or advanced level grappler, because a coach-type figure might be able to see holes in your game that your sparring partners cannot.
If you can't actually go and train under a formal coach then at least get some sparring time with formally trained people once in a while. Even if this only happens every 3 or 4 months it will help you to gauge the effectiveness of your training and prevent you from living in a dreamworld with regard to your skill level.
Related tips: I have previously written about learning techniques from the internet and people starting their own training groups.
Labels: training
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Sambo Leglocks
Q: " I have a question about the relevance of Sambo in helping improve a fighter's leglocks. Does it really help that much to practice Sambo if you want to become very skilled at leglocks?"
A: I have learned a lot about leglocks from Sambo practitioners (Oleg Taktarov, for example). Sambo has a lot of leglocks in its submission arsenal, most of which are directly relevant to submission grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
It is important to note, however, that not all Sambo players use leglocks, and that there are very good Sambo competitors who have very bad leglock technique. Some Sambo players look a lot like Judo players when they compete, and they never touch a leg in anger. Other Sambo practitioners are leglock fanatics, and are known for their lower body submissions. Just like any other grappling sport, different clubs and different competitors specialize in certain areas, and not everyone is good at everything.
So to answer your question: YES it helps to study Sambo if you want to become skilled at leglocks, IF the Sambo instructor in question has a high level of understanding about leglocks.
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A: I have learned a lot about leglocks from Sambo practitioners (Oleg Taktarov, for example). Sambo has a lot of leglocks in its submission arsenal, most of which are directly relevant to submission grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
It is important to note, however, that not all Sambo players use leglocks, and that there are very good Sambo competitors who have very bad leglock technique. Some Sambo players look a lot like Judo players when they compete, and they never touch a leg in anger. Other Sambo practitioners are leglock fanatics, and are known for their lower body submissions. Just like any other grappling sport, different clubs and different competitors specialize in certain areas, and not everyone is good at everything.
So to answer your question: YES it helps to study Sambo if you want to become skilled at leglocks, IF the Sambo instructor in question has a high level of understanding about leglocks.
Labels: leglocks
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September 03, 2006
Side Mount Escape Help
A Reader Asked:
I keep getting trapped in side control. Sometimes I can't even get my hips loose to attempt an escape. Some of the guys I train with are really good and get so tight, epecially trapping my hips between their knee and arm, that I can't move my hips at all. I keep bridging but to no avail. I know a few good escapes that I usually have a lot of luck with, but I wanted to know if there are any little tricks for loosening up the guy on top. How can I loosen the knee and elbow from my hips?"
My answer:
It sounds like your opponents are controlling you in side mount by sandwiching your hips with a knee on one side of your hips and an elbow on the other. This is a good pinning position, and I use it myself fairly often.
First we'll review a bit of theory:
TWO ESCAPES
There are two fundamental escapes from sidemount:
To set up these two escapes you have you have 3 basic hip movements
In order to use these 3 movements to set up the 2 escapes efficiently you need to fight for posture on the bottom. One of the most important postural issues is where you place your hands and arms - call it gripfighting for the positionally disadvantaged. Posture on the bottom is a huge topic, and all I'll say here is that you need to do things like hide your arms so they aren't susceptible to jointlocks, but ensure that they are in position to push your opponent to make room (e.g. by placing the lower part of your forearm on his neck or on his hip).
SOME STRATEGY
OK, now I've given a crash course in sidemount escape theory, let's try to look at your situation specifically.
First of all I'll give you some bad news: at a higher level bridging or shrimping rarely work in isolation. It is the bridge that sets up shrimping, and shrimping that sets up bridging. In practical terms it means that you might bridge HARD into your opponent, and then move your hips away and try to come to your knees or place him in guard.
Secondly, reading between the lines it sounds like you are focussing on putting your opponents back into the guard. It might be time to diversify your escapes by trying to come to your knees more. If his elbow is low enough to control your hips then it should be possible to turn belly down. If he was keeping his arms higher and concentrating on locking down your upper body and arms, then turning to turtle might be a lot harder.
It is true that coming to your knees exposes your back and that you may end up rear-mounted, but the turtle can be a good thing too. Many people go to turtle and then immediately pull guard from there - they don't really hang out there, just pass through it briefly on their way to pulling guard or half guard. If you are more adventuresome you can also try sweeps, takedowns and submissions when turtled: Sakuraba is a fighter who did this very successfully at various points in his MMA career.
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I keep getting trapped in side control. Sometimes I can't even get my hips loose to attempt an escape. Some of the guys I train with are really good and get so tight, epecially trapping my hips between their knee and arm, that I can't move my hips at all. I keep bridging but to no avail. I know a few good escapes that I usually have a lot of luck with, but I wanted to know if there are any little tricks for loosening up the guy on top. How can I loosen the knee and elbow from my hips?"
My answer:
It sounds like your opponents are controlling you in side mount by sandwiching your hips with a knee on one side of your hips and an elbow on the other. This is a good pinning position, and I use it myself fairly often.
First we'll review a bit of theory:
TWO ESCAPES
There are two fundamental escapes from sidemount:
- Putting your opponent into your guard
- Coming to your knees (aka turtling).
To set up these two escapes you have you have 3 basic hip movements
- Bridging (lifting your hips up and/or into your opponent)
- Shrimping (moving your hips away from your opponent)
- Turning (moving your hips so they face the mat)
In order to use these 3 movements to set up the 2 escapes efficiently you need to fight for posture on the bottom. One of the most important postural issues is where you place your hands and arms - call it gripfighting for the positionally disadvantaged. Posture on the bottom is a huge topic, and all I'll say here is that you need to do things like hide your arms so they aren't susceptible to jointlocks, but ensure that they are in position to push your opponent to make room (e.g. by placing the lower part of your forearm on his neck or on his hip).
SOME STRATEGY
OK, now I've given a crash course in sidemount escape theory, let's try to look at your situation specifically.
First of all I'll give you some bad news: at a higher level bridging or shrimping rarely work in isolation. It is the bridge that sets up shrimping, and shrimping that sets up bridging. In practical terms it means that you might bridge HARD into your opponent, and then move your hips away and try to come to your knees or place him in guard.
Secondly, reading between the lines it sounds like you are focussing on putting your opponents back into the guard. It might be time to diversify your escapes by trying to come to your knees more. If his elbow is low enough to control your hips then it should be possible to turn belly down. If he was keeping his arms higher and concentrating on locking down your upper body and arms, then turning to turtle might be a lot harder.
It is true that coming to your knees exposes your back and that you may end up rear-mounted, but the turtle can be a good thing too. Many people go to turtle and then immediately pull guard from there - they don't really hang out there, just pass through it briefly on their way to pulling guard or half guard. If you are more adventuresome you can also try sweeps, takedowns and submissions when turtled: Sakuraba is a fighter who did this very successfully at various points in his MMA career.
Labels: positions
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Stair Torture
STAIR TORTURE
I have a love-hate relationship with running stairs. Today it hurts to sit down and it hurts to stand up. I limp around slowly, but still feel a bit smug about having had a great workout three days ago. Nothing gets your heart rate up and your lungs burning like hill or stair sprints,
I used to run a lot of stairs as part of my conditioning program. My favorite was the "Wreck Beach" stairs, consisting of about 400 steep steps going down to a nude beach (this is the West Coast, after all). One sprint from bottom to top took a little less than 3 minutes, and after 3 repetitions I'd be completely, utterly done. It's been years since I lived in that area, though, and getting to a good set of stairs takes too much time to do it regularly.
So recently, while out and about, I found myself with a half an hour to kill. I saw some steps heading down to the ocean and decided that it was time to do some anaerobic work. I walked down the stairs, and then sprinted up as fast as I could, trying not to chuck my cookies near the top. The trip from bottom to top took about 2 minutes, so I walked back down and did 2 more sets. Recovery time plus walking to the bottom of the stairs took about 4 or 5 minutes each time, so the whole workout took less than 20 minutes. I'm not exactly what my final heart rate was, but it was probably between 180 and 190 beats per minute after each sprint.
The reason my legs are killing me is because my legs are essentially unaccustomed to this kind of work. You can do all the lunges, running, squats and stairmaster you want, but none of it simulates the extreme stress of uphill running. It's fantastic, effective and efficient conditioning for the legs, heart, lungs, and fighting spirit.
-------------------------------------
Next week I'll continue working my way through the pile of questions submitted by the readers.
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I have a love-hate relationship with running stairs. Today it hurts to sit down and it hurts to stand up. I limp around slowly, but still feel a bit smug about having had a great workout three days ago. Nothing gets your heart rate up and your lungs burning like hill or stair sprints,
I used to run a lot of stairs as part of my conditioning program. My favorite was the "Wreck Beach" stairs, consisting of about 400 steep steps going down to a nude beach (this is the West Coast, after all). One sprint from bottom to top took a little less than 3 minutes, and after 3 repetitions I'd be completely, utterly done. It's been years since I lived in that area, though, and getting to a good set of stairs takes too much time to do it regularly.
So recently, while out and about, I found myself with a half an hour to kill. I saw some steps heading down to the ocean and decided that it was time to do some anaerobic work. I walked down the stairs, and then sprinted up as fast as I could, trying not to chuck my cookies near the top. The trip from bottom to top took about 2 minutes, so I walked back down and did 2 more sets. Recovery time plus walking to the bottom of the stairs took about 4 or 5 minutes each time, so the whole workout took less than 20 minutes. I'm not exactly what my final heart rate was, but it was probably between 180 and 190 beats per minute after each sprint.
The reason my legs are killing me is because my legs are essentially unaccustomed to this kind of work. You can do all the lunges, running, squats and stairmaster you want, but none of it simulates the extreme stress of uphill running. It's fantastic, effective and efficient conditioning for the legs, heart, lungs, and fighting spirit.
-------------------------------------
Next week I'll continue working my way through the pile of questions submitted by the readers.
Labels: conditioning
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Denis Wins in Pride
I am very happy to announce that my once-training-partner Denis Kang has advanced further in the Pride Survival Middleweight tournament! To move to the semi-finals he decisively took out Amar Suloev, no mean feat given that Suloev had dispatched veteran BJJ fighter Murilo Bustamante in the first round of the tournament. You can see the fight on YouTube.com.
Once again, my BJJ coach Marcus Soares was in Denis' corner. After I saw the unorthodox one-armed rear naked choke that finished the fight I teased Marcus about showing Denis "secret techniques" that he wasn't sharing with the rest of us. Marcus laughed and said "it's no secret; first you break the guy's nose and make him bleed a lot, then you can do that choke".
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Once again, my BJJ coach Marcus Soares was in Denis' corner. After I saw the unorthodox one-armed rear naked choke that finished the fight I teased Marcus about showing Denis "secret techniques" that he wasn't sharing with the rest of us. Marcus laughed and said "it's no secret; first you break the guy's nose and make him bleed a lot, then you can do that choke".
Labels: MMA
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