tallgeese

today- 1 mile run legs/shoulders

https://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=1042541668&ref=profile

Did you check the place out jefff5? Just curious about any feedback.

Congrats on that!

Thanks guys.

today- 2 mile run abs back/bis

today- 4 mile run

today- BJJ nite: Drilled side control specifics. Then, worked it round robin, top man controls while bottom trys to escape. Then free roll for 45 min. Specifically worked on being active out of an open guard.

today- 6, 2 min rounds of mitt work. Started warming up with moving and jab/double jab. Added cross, lead upper cut, cross. Finished striking with low lead hook mid level shin kick. From there, we spent 2, 2 min rounds drilling the MT round for power in the bag and another 2 min round working on the quad for technique and precision as well as a touch of conditioning. Moved to sparring. 3 min rounds of: Round 1- kicks only Round 2- kicks/punches Round 3- kicks/punches/takedowns Round 4- clinch sparring Round 5- mma sparring Finished with 20 min roll, where I worked on the passing stuff from the last couple of nights live again.

This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community. Focus mitt training has, rightfully so, become an essential part of martial arts regimens across stylistic boundaries. It allows users to develop speed, power, and accuracy all while working movement under simulated fight conditions. The question does present itself, how does one best utilize this tool? This becomes even more critical when we look at those artists who are multi-disciplined in their approach to training. In this article, we’ll look at the use of focus mitts as they apply to combative martial arts training. When properly utilized, they can be a tool taken beyond boxing drills and used to train a practitioner to react fluidly to a multitude of situations where integration of different skill sets into the overall defensive plan is critical. What will not be discussed in this article is specific combinations that can be utilized by mitt training. Most readers will undoubtedly be versed in some sort of striking art and should already have a solid grasp of striking in combination. Additionally, it is the author’s desire to show practitioners of different arts how realistic focus mitt training can make their defensive preparations more effective using movements from their system, not have them merely mimic movements done by other fighters from a different art. Before beginning, it is important to stress the use of combination striking while using the focus mitts and indeed at all times. In fact, by repetitively training yourself to strike multiple times in a given string of attacks with the mitts, you increase the likelihood that you will respond this way during an actual conflict. It is yet another reason to partake in this kind of training. As always, begin with a defined set of strikes, then progress to free form work. With mitts, free form training would function around the holder calling a specific set of strikes just before a string of attacks is thrown. The student would then respond in kind as the mitts were presented. The caller can then vary the striking combinations, giving the trainee the simulated feel for finding opening in a defense. It is helpful here to either adopt one of several, or establish your own, numbering system for punches. This makes it easier for the caller to get his goals for the student across during high intensity training sessions. The key here, beyond all else, is internal constancy within your training group. First however, some basics. Go by a martial arts schools during class time and you may well see a line of students standing in place working impressive combinations into focus mitts. This, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. However, the martial arts community needs to embrace what boxing has been aware of for decades - fights do not happen in a static configuration. They move around, they circle, they advance and retreat. So the first mistake to avoid is to work excessively from a stationary position. This is often difficult because as instructors, we want a student to have the movement we are showing them down perfectly. Instead, we need to make certain that they can approximate the combination in an acceptable fashion while static, and then make them start moving. This is accomplished by the mitt holder instigating movement as if the two were sparring. The mitts are then brought to a prescribed position for an assigned combination. The striker will then plant and fire his punches at the mitts. Make certain that the trainee is punching though the target, not just at its surface. This will ensure penetration of energy when the strike is actually applied to a real threat. Once students are moving, make certain that they are not losing sight of the initial combination. Whatever combination the instructor assigns should contain at least two strikes, preferably three, that flow into one another naturally. Once we reach this point, it is time to address defense as well. Taking the same drill, we now have the mitt holder launch a controlled attack prior to, or immediately after, the combination is thrown. For instance, the student could be assigned a basic jab, cross, lead hook combination on the mitts. He would perform this statically for a minimal amount of time, then begin doing the process from a sparring mindset. After becoming comfortable with this, the trainer could then throw a reverse hook of his own with the focus mitt to the student’s head after the combination. This would force the student to block or parry the attack. Remember, use a movement here that would complement the strengths of your system. Now we have a striking drill that is much more realistic and movement based in nature. It is also very possible to integrate kicking tactics into mitt drills as well. You can of course add kicks from the mitt holder to force the trainee to defend them. Additionally, one might begin movement in the drill by having the striker open with a kick of his own. This gives a realism and randomness to the drills that will make the students become more accustomed to the fluid nature of conflict. So far, this should all be fairly intuitive for those involved heavily with striking arts. Now, how do we integrate focus mitt training into art forms that are primarily involved with joint manipulation? First, we accept that most effective joint manipulation in facilitated by first striking the offender. This is primarily to stun the individual and take his mind off of countering your movement. Depending on where the strike is placed, it may also serve to create a motor dysfunction to the limb, making it easier to apply the movement. Once we accept this, we can see how merging these two skills becomes important. To start this process, we begin once more with an assigned combination strike series to the mitts. After completion of the strikes, the student will move into position and apply a joint lock along one of the arms holding the mitts. For example, and for this we will stay with the same foundation we built earlier; the jab, cross hook. The student will first attack the mitts using this combination. Then, closing his distance gap by way of the strikes, he will move to the outside of the mitt holders arm. He will then grab the wrist of the mitt holder and pull it to his center. Then he will finish with the application of either a straight or bent arm bar. This can be done to either position while standing or all the way to takedown depending on the skill and training needs of the participants. For further realism, you merge the defensive work done earlier with this type of locking combination. Have the student work his combination attack into the mitts. Then, the mitt holder will throw a reverse punch at the students head with the mitt. The student will then parry the punch with the mitt and gain control of the offending arm. He will then apply the same arm bar as before. With practice at orchestrating these kinds of drills, one can even utilize them to work entries into tuite movements and other small joint set-ups. But what if one is involved with an art such as Aikido, where an enemies force is utilized against him? Can we still integrate focus mitt training into our primary art? Let’s look at what we’ve built so far. A student, versed now in moving and striking in combination who can also account for sudden attacks thrown at him. Is it too much to ask now for him to redirect force during his defense and then utilize the joint position work we’ve just discussed? Probably not. The key to this is again to build it into the mitt work. Have the student defend from some easy, short shots given by the mitt holder. Following this, present the mitts to him and elicit a combination you wish him to work on. After his completion of this, have the mitt holder attack in a fashion that would normally be used to make the student redirect and lock or throw. The principle will be the same. At the very least, the trainee will be able to see the redirection in action, against an opponent who is moving fairly realistically. Due to the limitations of having the uke wearing focus mitts, one may not be able to complete the throw in totality; however, the practice on preparation will be invaluable. This limitation to integrating mitt work into other arts to make them more comprehensive brings us to our next area of drills. Sometimes, it is imperative to train on certain movements that simply cannot be done while a partner is wearing focus mitts. Such instances include several aiki throws, as well having the puncher defend against realistic body contact throws and wrestling shots. To overcome this problem, we simply have a third person join the training team. It will be this individual’s job to suffer through what the mitt holder can’t. For this, we’ll use an example of having a trainee defend against a wrestling style shot. For the drill you would need one person to hold the mitts and a second, without mitts, standing nearby. We’ll make this example a little more complex to cover many of the concepts that we’ve covered here. First, we begin moving as if in a sparring scenario, not only does this give us the benefits that we’ve discussed but it also allows the trainer to check his students’ actual movement skills. During the movement, the mitt holder will stop and present a good opening for a quad-level shin kick. The trainee will then apply this kick. After this kick impacts, the trainer will then challenge the student with a mid-level jab-cross set of punches. The student will then block these strikes with the application of elbow coverage at the mid-section. The trainer will then move the mitts to a prescribed position to receive a combination. Again, for simplicity’s sake, we’ll use the jab-cross-hook we talked about earlier. At the conclusion of this combination, the student will face a takedown attempt by the trainer without focus mitts on. He will then utilize a movement from your system to defend this. For our purposes here we will have the student sprawl to counter the attack and set up a counter-takedown of his own. Thus concludes the example. Again, remember that it is only an example. Your art will dictate the movements that you want to utilize in the above scenario. Imagination and realistic simulations are the key to making this kind of training work for you. Obviously, depending on your style, you will have to adapt the concepts slightly. For instance, an aiki practitioner may utilize the first striking portion of the drill only to have the second trainer attack via an overhead sweep common to the basics of that system. In this case, the student would then redirect, gain control of a wrist and apply a full aiki throw. One last application that focus mitts can make to general self-defense training as it applies to cross-discipline practitioners is utilizing them to integrate striking at speed into what have normally been considered self-defense “one-steps”. For instance, have a trainer use a single focus mitt on one hand. This trainer can then be free to grab a student’s wrist or arm with force. The student can then utilize the focus mitt to work stunning attacks into while attempting a wrist escape or small joint manipulation. In an example, the trainer could grab the student’s wrist and present the focus mitt at head height with the other. The student could then attempt a circular release only to be held by a trainer who is stronger and not allowing the escape. The student can then throw a full-power back or hammer-fist into the mitt. On contact, the trainer can loosen his grip to simulate the effect the strike would have had on his concentration. The student will then again attempt the release and succeed. When utilized in this manner, drills teach the student to use both his striking skills as well as his joint manipulation knowledge. By varying the tactics used, a trainer can account for several different threat levels and appropriate responses. One can always substitute eye gouges for other strikes and utilize joint damage tuite manipulations rather than releases. This can be a useful intermediate drill between technical competency development and a fully armored attacker for the student. As one can see, when building focus mitt training around the concepts of striking in combination, solid movement, incorporating defense, and finishing with system practical control methods, you can truly capitalize on the use of your equipment. This method of training moves beyond mere technical requirements and moves into the realm of integrating all aspects of defense based skills as well as developing a combative mindset for the student.

today- 3 mile run chest/tris/forearms ab work 1.5 miles up hill on the treadmill 10 min cool down on Boomer. Crushing guard pass and elevated pass to knee in.

I fall into the "no such thing" category when it comes to the "fight stopper" question. Granted, the tools listed above can work well. They can also fail miserably depending on a list of tiny factors that can change in any give instant in a fight. That's before you even delve into the realms of the factors that revolve around your opponent (physiology, ect.) and yourself (training, mindset, ect.) Better to never assume that a give tactic will stop a fight. You fight until it's done. There are plenty of documented cases of handgun rounds to vital areas being taken by people and those individuals still have it in them to finish the fight. If one trains that a single round never automatically stops a fight, then one should also train that a single strike, or other hand to hand tool, will work in the same way.

I see what you're saying, I've just also seen far too many people weigh in with the "because x fighter does it this may it must be right" argument on other sites. Like you said 99.9% of us won't be able to make it work. It's the same reason you can't look at pro-caliber bodybuilders to see what weight lifting should do for you. But point taken. I also agree with another point above, if you're training for sd reasons then you can't take target area of value off the table. The example was the head and face. Agreed, this isn't helpful. It's the same reason why you occasionally, and with proper gear, allow striking to the groin during sparring and allowed simulated strikes to things like the side of then knee from time to time. With things like these, you do have to let slamming pads and mitts take the heavy load of training. Same with eye gouging, where my BOB dummy takes his licks. These specific situations are areas where touch contact only sparring is probably appropriate, but I still see the majority of drilling needing done with some contact.

I tend to agree with the broad observations that Dobbersky made in the initial post. I can see the point that they are all training tools, however, a methodology is no good if it teaches more bad habits than good. This is often the case with no-contact sparring and/or sparring that is stopped after a single instance of contact. I think that most of the non-contact sparring and stoppage sparring does just that, builds in more bad habits than good when we look at things through the lens of self defense. I'm not saying that they don't teach certain things, but I think that there are better ways to teach focus, technique, and speed of application and such than teaching people not to hit things. From a realism point of view, you're better off practicing hitting a target with power than touching an individual in sparring with none. I think that good awareness of what one is doing with sparring is important. After that, I think there must be some amount of contact always. That might mean semi-contact a bulk of the time with good form. It will also mean the occasional ratcheting up of the contact level, that's the game. You can't do it always, but it needs to be included now and again so everyone remembers what it's about and for the stress inoculation factor. I think as well that far too often we look at sparring as and end of itself. As sensei 8 said, it's a tool. I'm a big advocate of doing sparring with a designated attacker that's armored up. This is a great way to get all the benefits of sparring in an even more realistic package. It might be the most useful version of all. I think as well that we have to be careful about using guys like Machida as examples of anything. Why? He's a professional athlete and certainly not the median example of most of us training to defend ourselves. Great fighter, yup. Totally beyond what any of us will likely be capable of, yup. Few of us are doing this full time with the genetics, drive, and training opportunities that he has. It's just not a valid comparison. I think your point may be valid Sokusen, but I'm real leary of using the tip of the iceberg in combat athleticism to draw generalities for the rest of us to use. Good thoughts so far.

Just out of curiosity, how was the movements different for the out-of-towner (so to speak)? Did he have some thoughts as to why? I guess it might have been a slightly different lineage of Aikido, but I'm curious as to what the difference was. today- BJJ nite: Drilled passing the open guard. Worked a crush pass followed by and elevated pass. Went back to the crush to take side and work a cross-body armbar. Then, we went back to the elevated pass and used it to jump sides directly to knee-in-belly and use the armbar from there. Great technical night. 40 min free roll.

Welcome to the boards!

It's required for a black belt in my primary art. Basic care and use of both a revolver and automatic handgun. This is in addition to defenses and such.

Not really, but I don't work with too many kids.

today- Drilled for 30 min on RNC followed by transition to armbar. Covered defense to armbar and then counter to the defense with triangle. 40 min of free roll. 15 min sparring, mma focus 10 min sparring, all the way to ground

Welcome aboard KF!

today- 1 mile run back/bis abs/forearms 15 min cool down on Boomer. Drilled sit up gi sweep from guard, transition to choke, and to triangle. Also repped a taking back maneuver and sweep a few times each side.

I don't know. I think that the mass perception is that, but you still see a lot of respect between fighters. Anyway, I think, as with all things, it depends on how it's taught. One doesn't teach kids classes in trad arts the same way they do adults. Kids just don't have the maturity to deal with some aspect. Same is true for MMA, if the programs for kids are specifically designed there's no reason it can't teach what you want it to and still be mma.

today- BJJ nite: Drilled out of guard. Round robin of passing vs. attacking. Really focused on the key points to consider while defending inside the guard. Drilled lots of attacks from guard. 60 min of free roll.

algernon, it's a quote from a chief range officer I worked under. He said it in regards to firearms training. I think it apply s across the board to combat.

I think that both have to be factored. His students will give you the feel for how well he teaches. However, I think you need to look at his ability as well to get a gauge of where you can expect to be after x years of training. That's going to tell you if the class you're looking at fits the bill. The progress of his students will give you a feel for how good he is at taking one along that path. Good question.