The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

1/25/2025

This update to the training log is the first session of a two-day, multi-style cross-training seminar that was hosted by the Aikido dojo in town.  Today's first session was three hours of BJJ from three different instructors.

BJJ:  12:30 - 3:30 pm.

Hour 1:  This first hour was pretty basic stuff.  We did some warming up running around the mat (I hate running, even more than tapping out in BJJ), then we did some shrimping across the mat and back, and then a hip/shoulder movement across the mat and back on our backs.  That one was really tough, basically being in a crunch position the whole time.  After those warmups, the instructor, who is an Aikido student who also started a BJJ club at the local college and also had some training while he lived in the KC area, showed the basic positions we'd find ourselves in on the mat: close guard, open guard, full mount, side control.  He did step-by-step walkthroughs for technique, starting with an armbar from guard, then from mount.  We just did reps on both sides and switched positions, getting lots of reps in.  The last thing he covered was an elevator sweep that he did from a seated, hooks-in position.  One foot moved to the hip, the other hooked, and hooked side elevated.  I had not seen it from that position before, so that was interesting.

Hour 2:  This session was taught by the coach that I was training with before wrestling season got started up.  He lays out his drills in a series of 'games' that make the students have to experience the concepts in real time with set parameters.  I really enjoy it, and it's also a great workout. 

For Game 1, the object was to establish connection with the partner at two points, then touch one of the other partner's knees to get a 'point.'  Three points wins and rotate out (round robin style).  You had to use the connections to move your partner around and get kazushi, and thus open up your chances to score. 5 min.

Game 2, started the same way with establishing two connections, and one person would try to trip/sweep, and the other would try to get arms wrapped around one knee (1 point), two knees (2 points), or get both arms around the hips (3 points).  I was working on the tripping/sweeping part, and felt like I was getting better.  5 min.

For Game 3, we started from the front head-snap position, with the top person locking their hands around the bottom person's torso while having pressure on their upper back/shoulders/neck area; his job was to hold this position as long as possible by moving with the opponent; this person could not win.  Bottom person's job was try to break the connection, move, posture up to reverse/escape, or get the top person's hips on the ground.  That was a win and switch roles.  I did pretty good at posturing up and getting close, and getting my shoulders over my hips when doing so.  That would often allow me to put enough pressure on to break the grip without having to fight the hands.  5 min.

Game 4 started the same as Game 3, but top person now tried to isolate head and arm or just the head.  Same goals for the bottom guy, and only the bottom guy can win.  5 min.

Game 5 was the same as Game 4, accept now the top person could try to sink a submission; D'Arce choke, anaconda, or head-and-arm guillotine.  I think he showed one other option, but I forget what it was.  This parameter made the drill much more active than it was before.  I didn't hit any submissions, but it was a lot of fun.  5 min.

Hour 3:  This hour was taught by my old DT instructor from the college Defensive Tactics Club.  He took a more self-defense approach to his hour, talking in the beginning about the red, yellow, and green zones, (red zone is in front of the attacker, don't want to be there, yellow zone is to the flank, and green zone is behind the attacker with their back available).  He showed everyone standing up in base, and then went into how to set a rear naked choke, and then defending it by feeling the arm come around and pulling down on the arm and looking away as it slinks around.  He also showed a "bicep pass-off" that you can probably get away with once in order to help sink it in deeper, especially if it isn't quite there.  The final defense he showed was if the hold was already set, from a seated position with attacker behind and hooks in.  You'd sit all the way back, drive head into their jaw if possible, and arch up (bridge) to put as much pressure as possible onto their head, hopefully the jaw area.  He next covered defense against a standing bully choke that I've done quite a bit and have a very close version I use in DT when training at work.

After hour 3, there was an hour and a half break before the next session started up, so I rolled with my coach from the second session a couple of times.  I felt like I was doing some things better, and even had a takedown on him, but he's just too smooth and experienced for me to keep up with.  We finished up about 4:00 pm.

And that was it for the first session of this cross-training seminar.  All in all, the seminar included BJJ, TKD, Aikido, and Shorin-Ryu Karate.

[bushido_man96]

1/25/2025

Three Style Cross Training Seminar, Day 1, Session 2

This session was the TKD session.  The CI of our school taught the first session, I taught the second, and an instructor from out of Colorado Springs taught the third.  The three of us got to talking, and we all hit it off really well, and hopefully will be doing some networking in the future.

TKD:  5:00 - 8:00 pm.

Hour 1:  Our school owner taught this one, and I went around and assisted.  He covered some of our basic stances, and how they differ from how others do them.  We did some basic punching in sitting stance, stepping and lunge punching in front stances, and did advancing front kicks and side kicks.  With advancing and punching, he talked about what I call "hand-foot timing," getting that strike out just as the foot lands for maximum power and weight behind it, along with generating power from the hips.  He spent quite a bit of time on the technical aspects of techniques, especially the side kick.  He finished with a partner drill where one partner would just move in and present a target and the other partner would move into a position to strike a vital point or valid target area.  Some students ended up turning it into a bit of free-flowing back-and-forth, but it seemed like everyone was having fun.

When doing the techniques, he spent some time in breaking down the differences from how some of the other styles would approach them; like our front stance has both feet pointing straight forward, whereas the Karateka tend to have the back foot pointed out at more of a 45 degree angle, maybe a little less than that.  He was pushing for them to work with our way of doing it to see the difference.

Hour 2:  This was my session.  Some time ago, I came up with a class idea to hopefully work with our black belts on focused around tai-sabaki that shows up in our one-step sparring.  The focus wasn't on doing our TKD one-steps, but on using the initial movements to get into positions to avoid being attacked and to hopefully gaining a positional advantage while avoiding the attack.  I started by demonstrating a few of our one-steps with the CI, showing the order of operations for starting the one-step, attacker doing his attack, and the defender responding with the one-step and then finishing and resetting for the next.  This was also mainly to show some of the initial body shifting that we'd be using in the session.  Then I had everyone partner up.  The attacker would go to the traditional start position, which was step back right leg into left front stance, left down block and kihap/kiai.  The Karate students were familiar with ippon kumite, so they were pretty well set here.  It was new for the Aikido students, though.  The defender would then yell to signal ready to start, and the attacker would step forward and right lunge punch.  At this point, I showed them what body shift I wanted them to work with, and do that back and forth.  After a few, I had them add a block of their choice while shifting (in case their shift was a little late, or to help control a limb), then after some reps they would add an attack after the block, or just attack if the block was not needed or wanted.  I also made them do the drill from both sides, which meant the attackers had to step back and block on the opposite side to start.  This threw off our own students a bit, as they had never experimented with that.  Here are the shifts I had them work through:

1. Stepping straight back into a back stance.  It doesn't really gain positional advantage, but it is basic and gets away from the attack.

2. Stepping forward at an angle to the outside of the attack in front stance.  This provides great target opportunities on their flank and reduces the number of weapons they can bring to bear.

3. Stepping to the inside of the attack at an angle in a back stance.  This usually involved the inside foot shifting slightly towards the outside foot to make a good angle.  This direction is not as ideal as #2, due to the attacker still having all his tools to bring to bear.  However, it does provide the defender with lots of targets on the attacker, and it can put the defender in a position I refer to as "crossing the T," where the defender is side-on to the attacker, who is full facing the defender.  Great for sparring.

With each of those, we went up the ladder of adding blocks, blocks/strikes, or just strikes, or joint locks for the Aikidoka or takedowns for the grapplers.  I didn't assign specific techniques for the students to do.  I'd give suggestions here and there, and offer up my feedback as a TKDer if they asked.  My goal was that I wanted them to see how they could apply their art or what they had learned earlier in the BJJ session.  The last variation that I did was to make the drill more real-life scenario.  Instead of the front stance/down block start position (because that's how fights start, right?...), I had the attacker take a more aggressive stance, and the defender was put in a "fence" position (hands up and open, strong leg back, in a placating position to deescalate, but also ready to move and defend/attack).  I allowed any attack the attacker wanted to throw; punch, kick, takedown attempt, etc.  I thought it went really well, and the students were thinking and exploring, which was the point of it all.  I think they all liked it, and I had a blast teaching it.

Hour 3:  This Master Instructor talked a lot about having a self-defense mindset and being aggressive with blocks and strikes.  He demonstrated how to shorten the blocking and striking techniques from the more traditional variations done in forms/hyung/katas while still getting power into the techniques with the hips.  We drilled getting outside on straight punches with a quick block, then to securing the arm by staying connected for a break or some other control option.  We did the same for push front kicks, getting outside and blocking, then turning the block into a hooking/scooping motion to secure the foot, then strike to the knee with a hard "inside block" technique.  He also talked about de-sensitivity training (he uses a drill where he lets students slap in the face) to show that taking a glancing blow won't derail your chances at successfully defending yourself.  This had more to do with that self-defense mindset.  His goal was to make their day a bad day by choosing the wrong target.  He finished with a drill in using the double knife hand block (with chamber folded in front, as opposed to reaching back for the chamber, which I like better anyway) to defend a haymaker style punch in much the same way that I've taught the startle-flinch response in SPEAR DT training.  Very cool.  He had a great approach to training, and it was all great stuff.

This finished out day one of the seminar.  Lots of good training, and everyone was so appreciative of everyone's different styles and approaches.

[bushido_man96]

1/26/2025

Three Style Cross Training Seminar, Day 2, Session 1.

Aikido:  12:30 - 3:30 pm.  This session was taught solely by the sensei of my Aikido dojo.  We started talking about some body mechanics and how the "unbendable arm" theory applies to the connecting of the body together in order for it to be strong and structured.  After some time experiencing this principle, we did a couple variations of iriminage.  I'm getting a little better at picking up the little nuances of the techniques.

We did some weapons defenses, using a tanto upside down as a beer bottle/club attack, defending with a "buddy drop" technique after getting behind the attacker.  Next was a kotegashi defense against a knife thrust with a takedown and disarm to finish.

Next was some rolling work.  I help up ok doing this.  I started very low and really tried to focus on the nuances of the roll.  We augmented the rolling by getting some help from a partner to simulate more of a breakfall.  This, I seemed to struggle with.

I know my descriptions here make it seem like there wasn't as much accomplished in this session, but we did quite a few repetitions on each section and really got a lot done, and I really enjoyed it.