Bands and Boxing

 

Students used a double band (purple) set-up and hooked one band to BOB and put one band around their hips as they punched another BOB.  The band certainly makes you more aware of your hips.  The more aware you are of them, the more we can train you to turn them on as the might powerhouse they are.  You don’t want to punch with just your arm.  You want to draw upon the torque and punch with your whole body!  We’ll have to try this while swinging some sticks, too.  Again, some students want to swing with just the arm.  While it might still hurt to be hit by that stick, it probably equates to poking the bear and making him angrier.  We want you stop flailing, command some authority and swing with power.  Your life may depend upon it.

More RBT Thoughts, and. . .Welcome New Gutterfighters!

 

The Trunk

 

My mind is still swimming with thoughts and ideas on resistance bands after this past weekend’s seminar.  We talked a lot about the different planes of movement.  Martial arts requires that you be especially efficient in the transverse plane (think of rotational movement), because the hips are the powerhouse for punching, slapping, elbows, knees, kicking, etc..  This requires a strong trunk and a reactive trunk.  It needs to turn on for stabilization at the right time, without us having to think about it, of course.  Dave explained how typical abdominal exercises that most of us do, like sit-ups and crunches, just don’t cut it when it comes to making our trunks functional in the way they need to be to prevent injury.  He showed us many different exercises to train in this vein, including progressions for isometric planks—very challenging, to say the least.  I don’t have near the level of expertise he does to even explain all of it, though it does make complete sense when he lays it all out.  I can experiment with the exercises more to get a kinesthetic sense of what he is saying, just as I did during the seminar.  He talked about how teaching people to walk and run more efficiently, and training their bodies to move and react properly, will make every other movement involving the extremities that much better; all our movements, he says, are an extension of walking.  As better walkers and runners, we can certainly be better, more efficient martial artists.  I am excited about the implications of what we learned, and now it’s time to be my own guinea pig.

 

The New Kids

 

I wanted to welcome our new Gutterfighters who attended class Monday night.  We threw a lot of stuff at them and they did a great job!  Our head coach is full of surprises and there is never a dull moment around here.

Hanging Out With the Rubberband Man

 

 

This past weekend, we had an incredible opportunity to host a seminar for the Rubberband Man, Dave Schmitz of Performax Performance Training, at our Gutterfighting home base with Scott Shetler Performance Training Systems.  It was a fantastic and engaging two days with so much important material to absorb on resistance band training, or RBT!  My head is still spinning and I am very sore from learning techniques to become what Dave calls “butt strong”.  Dave brings a wealth of knowledge to the table.  Not only has he been a physical therapist for 23 years, he trains athletes and weekend warriors alike and is avid about training himself and experimenting with all the techniques he presents.  As he will tell you, everything he shows you, HE DOES.  Everything he teaches can help anyone, from grandma to the elite athlete, improve functional movement.  Humans were designed to move, and especially walk, he explains.  I believe there is joy in movement–movement without pain, that is!

If you ever have the opportunity to see Dave in action, seize it.  Check him out:

http://www.performaxperformancetraining.com/

http://www.resistancebandtraining.com/html/index-2.html

http://www.resistancebandsunleashed.com/

http://www.youtube.com/Schmitty10

Stick and Dagger, Feeding Angles 1 through 4

 

 

Observe the gunting (scissors).  We fed more angles, which are not shown here.

Thursday’s Class, 10-23-08

 

R.A.T.

 

We practiced the R.A.T., or Rapid Assault Tactics, which are great for situations in which you are cornered and you have to fight for all you are worth.  I began slowly, getting the rhythm of the combination, then increased speed and force.  We drilled these for 2 minute intervals on BOB, and practiced with different entries on the right and left sides.

 

Enter with Slap and a Chin Jab, Battle Punches (think Wing Chun), etc.

 

HKE (Head, Knees and Elbows):

Head Butt (remember to use the top of your head—a self-correcting problem), Left or Right Knee

Follow with Right or Left Elbow (respectively—hold onto their head as you elbow)

 

 

Rolling With BOB

 

Could be a game show or even a sitcom, but it isn’t.  We grabbed the BOB tops from their bases and practiced rolling and choking.  We’ve practiced choking with Thai pads and I must say this felt much more realistic.  I would have been laughing if I had not been so tired.  J

Thai 4-count Drills

 

We employed these drills, using the BOBs.  I would recommend either doing these drills on Thai pads or even a large banana bag.  I tend to do Thai kicks, but round kicks will also work.  Work the timing on some—a slap sometimes works better than a left hook.

 

Basic 4-count: L kick, R cross, L hook, R kick

 

R kick, L hook, R cross, L kick

 

L kick, R cross, L hook, L kick

 

R kick, L hook, R cross, R kick

Simplicity, Efficiency and Awareness

 

It has taken me many years of training to begin to understand that the simplest solution in self-defense is often the best one.  We do look at some fancy, “sexy” (as the other instructor would call them) techniques.  They are beautiful, indeed.  However, as we have discussed in the past, when under extreme duress, these kinds of techniques will often fail due to the physiological changes that stress brings.  That is, of course, unless you absolutely drill them into the ground and they becomes like gross motor skills.

 

I haven’t always practiced mindfulness in my training and have noticed habits of wasted movements that I need to correct—more than I would like to be present!  It became very obvious last night as I was trying to work through a knife flow drill.  If we are sitting and having a rational discussion about the shortest distance between point A and point B being a straight line, it will make perfect sense to both of us.  But for true understanding, I have to put this into action in my training.  I want real efficiency.  So many times this has been touched upon, and yet it never truly sank in until I began teaching others in earnest, both with fitness and with self-defense.  I’m watching people all the time, observing how they move and carry their bodies and wondering how things could be made easier for them.  I remember the words of a past instructor: we should all be striving to move with efficiency and grace.  How efficient and graceful are you when you throw a punch, swing a stick or when you perform a back squat or deadlift?  I have observed that a lot of people are not present in their bodies when they are doing something physical, like training or exercise.  They don’t have a kinesthetic sense at work as they perform actions; you might ask them what they feel as they try to execute techniques, and often they will not be able to answer the question.  So, what opens the door?  Awareness.  No one can teach you how to get it and it takes consistent effort to open it up.  It takes habitual ACTION and ATTENTION.

Situps and Elbows on Angled Pads

 

 

You really have to pace yourself on this drill as you perform it for timed rounds (try it for two or three minutes).  It is not shown on this clip, but you can also practice angled downward elbows, which are a little more challenging to execute.

Fear

 

In class the other day, someone said that they were not afraid of things.  I must speak to that and say that the complete absence of fear would keep us from using good judgment at times—fear has had its place in evolution and does serve a purpose.  Fear can help mobilize us when we perceive a real threat, and can help us make good decisions based on a high probability of threat.  For instance, I met a college girl years ago who had the habit in the past of going jogging at night while wearing headphones.  On one such outing, she was attacked and raped.  Unfortunately, she had not previously considered the high probability of threat.  Some fear is needed for survival.  What most of us engage in every day, myself included, is worry over what I have heard called: False Evidence Appearing Real.  We fear the future, how we look to others, change, loss—the list goes on and on.  Though some of these things do come into play in the classroom, we are most concerned with fear as it relates to more imminent physical threat.  How can we ensure that we WILL be mobilized towards fight or flight and not freeze?  It all comes down to mindset.  Simply put, we all make the conscious decision that we will do everything in our power to win a violent confrontation, to survive a disaster, etc.  It’s like flipping a switch, and though it does seem very simple, in realistic practice, it is really not for some people.  Some will tell you that they are lovers and not fighters, or some might say that they just don’t imagine being aggressive, or getting mad in a confrontation.  They have not made the decision to win, and are even stumped by the idea because of their lifelong conditioning.  If there is a day of reckoning, it is anyone’s guess what the outcome will be.  I am a bit biased—I believe that everyone is better served to have some self-defense skills.  But even if they do not train, it would behoove everyone to make that one crucial decision and increase their own probability for survival.  Sometimes, in the classroom, we have to turn students on by making them mad.  Sometimes we use certain triggers for ourselves, like aggressive facial expressions.  Whatever it takes for you to throw the switch on the proper mindset, use it to your advantage.  I love this quote:

 

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

 

Many years ago, a friend of mine sent me this quote regarding fear.  She was really into fantasy and sci-fi, and the quote is from Frank Herbert’s Dune.  To me, it is all about experiencing the fear and moving beyond it to win:

 

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it had gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

Thursday’s Class, 10-9-08

 

Double Stick Drills

 

Instead of doing the same open 4, 6 and 8 count patterns, we mixed things up with following:

 

Angle 1, Angle 2, Angle 1, High, Low, High

Angle 1, Angle 2, Angle 1, Low, High, Low

 

We looked at other variations, even using the low line of attack.

 

Largo Mano

 

It is important for students to understand and be comfortable working in the different ranges.  Largo Mano is long range and the technician is looking to hit the hand and utilize effective footwork to angle away from the attack.  The feeder, wearing a protective glove, fed angles 1 through 8.  The technician met the attack (as opposed to following) in the first rounds and then added a follow-up, the X pattern, in later rounds.  We used soft sticks for this drill.

 

3-Count Pattern

 

Student continued practice with the 3-count pattern (in middle range!) and looked for a couple of different disarms off the inside deflection and drop stick (countering angle 1 and angle 4 respectively).  We discussed alternatives to the drop stick countering the angle 4 attack based on whether the tip of the stick was up or down.

 

Karenza

 

We discussed different defenses against angles 1 through 5, including inside deflection, outside deflection, low wing, drop stick and abaniko.  Building on that, students would add any follow-up, the easiest of which is the X pattern, and practice Karenza, or Kali’s version of shadow boxing.