Fundamentals of Can-Ryu Ground Defense

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The Importance of Using Distractions

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Welcoming B.O.B. to the Dojo

I am happy to announce a new addition to the dojo. B.O.B. has come to us to take our physical abuse without complaint and give us the chance to practice our striking.

I've always loved working with B.O.B. (or "Body Opponent Bag"). I acquired him during a recent Century Martial Arts sale. Training with B.O.B. is a great way to practice striking on target, improving distance, and more. B.O.B. can also be used to practice various neck restraints and submissions, as well as ground and pound.

There are 2 versions of B.O.B., one with just a torso and one that is longer and has the top half of the legs. I got the latter so it can be used to practice leg kicks and groin strikes.

There are some complaints that he knocks over too easily, but I find that when he's filled with sand and struck at the proper distance he stays up just fine. Remember, when you stand too close to your target when striking, your strikes become more like a push and have less impact on the body. If you want to work with a bag with the purpose of building your striking muscles, a traditional heavy bag is better, but for technical development and targeting improvement, the B.O.B. is an excellent tool.

Here's one guy doing a striking workout with B.O.B.:



Here's another that shows a wide variety of ways to work with B.O.B.:



I hope my students don't get to used to having him around though. My intention is to move him to my basement in the long term when I get around to buying a house. But for now, he can play with my students. And who knows? By then I might be able to get a second one. :)

Boot to the Head: A Look at Taekwondo

Yesterday, I discussed What You Learn from a Punch to the Face. It reminded me of the following video I stumbled across on Digg a few months back, featuring Taekwondo's best knock-outs.



The knock-outs featured in this video are all from kicks. In WTF Taekwondo, you're not allowed to punch to the face. As a result, people tend to use lower guards in tournaments. Of course, some TKD-ers are capable of blindingly fast kicks to the heads as you'll have witnessed in the video.

My old friend and student that I mentioned in yesterday's blog post always warned me that kicking to the head is not all that practical in a real street situation, however. He said you can do it maybe once in a fight, preferably at the beginning, when they're not expecting it, and as a result it could potentially a fight-ending blow. But if it doesn't end the fight, you had best not try it a second time because once they know to expect it, it's not all that hard to defend against.

To all my Canadian readers, have a great long weekend!

Beware of Patterned Bobbing and Weaving

I was recently told to move my head more while I spar. I've always taught ducking and slipping specifically to get the head out of the line of fire of a strike. That being said, by bobbing and weaving more as you move, not just when being attacked, it makes it harder for my opponent to target the head. One of my sparring partners was applying this theory against me on the weekend with unfortunate results.

My partner was a man about 20-30 lbs. heavier than me. He mentioned that his ground game was much stronger than his stand-up game, so I suggested we do some stand-up sparring without takedowns or grappling so he could work on it.

Due to a minor leg injury I sustained recently, I had been taking it easy on the grappling, focusing more on stand-up, particularly on boxing/ stand-up skills. It quickly became clear that this intense focus had paid off.

My partner was trying to keep his head moving in an attempt to make it harder for me to strike his head. The problem was, he was moving his head in predictable patterns that I was able to pick up on, though I tried not to exploit this overly. At one point, I was targeting his ribs with a roundhouse kick as he slipped to his side, essentially moving into my kick (He had a tendency to flare his elbows out too much in his guard, making it easy for me to target his ribs.) Unfortunately, he decided to add a ducking movement to his slip that time causing him to thrust his face directly into my incoming kick.

My kick landed square on the nose with force. His tear ducts immediately emptied. We stopped the round to wait until the pain subsided and to make sure it wasn't going to develop into a nose bleed. It was at this time that I suggested he randomize his movements more.

So the morale of the story is keeping your head moving while sparring is a good thing, just make sure you don't do it in predictable patterns. And definitely don't bob or weave straight into a strike. :P

Throwing to Defend Against Kicks

This video shows a Kung fu sparring competition in which the guy in yellow very effectively defends against kicks simply by snatching his opponent from underside while he's on one foot, attempting to kick him. Be sure to watch the whole thing through. It's pretty cool.

In Jiu-jitsu we tend to think about blocking the kick first, while closing into the attacker so that you are too close to be kicked with any power. Or if you're quick enough, you might try to catch the kick in mid-air while closing. I often do this when doing MMA sparring. But clearly, as the guy in yellow demonstrates, if you are fast enough, you can manage to scoop up your attacker while he or she is precariously balanced doing a kick.

I think it's also important to point out that it's much easier to do this when the attacker is aiming the kick high because there is more space within which to grab, as well as more time during which to enter. Nevertheless, the guy in yellow has great skills either way.

When Knee Meets Groin

This image shows the back of my dojo's club t-shirt. It is tongue in cheek, but I feel it is pretty relevant for pretty much all martial arts training. Last night, I failed to adhere to one of these tenets with disastrous results.

In my Jiu-jitsu classes, groin protection is mandatory. When I do my MMA training, however, I don't typically wear my cup. I usually wear a rash guard and a pair of grappling board shorts.

Well last night, I brought along one of my Jiu-jitsu students to my MMA training session so that I would have a partner that doesn't outweigh me by 130 lbs. During the session we worked on the knee kick. To do this we held up a padded stomach protector to our bodies while the other person drove their knee into the pad.

We were using a Muay Thai style knee kick for which you lean back in order to drive your knee harder using your hips. This worked quite effectively. It was particularly effective when my partner's knee slipped down the pad and landed square on my unprotected pelvic bone.

I yelped in pain and dropped in a similar fashion as you would expect a man to drop, clutching the effected area. My coach immediately ran to my side rolling me onto my back telling me, "Bring your knees up to your chest and breathe, Lori."

I knew exactly what he was doing. "Mark, I'm not a man! There's nothing down there that that will help!" The collective laughter of everyone in the room ensued.

My coach was acting on instinct. He was trying to get me to do the only revival method he knows for a kick to the groin. By rolling me on my back and having me raise my knees, he would have helped me to lower my testicles back into their rightful position, theoretically relieving the pain. I couldn't help but be amused by this even in the state of unbelievable pain I was in.

What is really ironic is that in every martial art style I've ever trained in, I wore my cup out of force of habit. MMA is the only exception. But after this incident, I will be operating under the following mentality:

"It's better to have a cup and not need it than need a cup and not have it."

Pressure Point of the Day: Solar Plexus

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Fighting from the Clinch

Today I had another private training session with my MMA instructor. Though his primary training was boxing (he's an ex-pro boxer), he has a broad base in other martial arts and is training me to integrate skills from them all. Today's lesson involved fighting from the clinch.

Clinch work appears in a variety of martial arts, including muay thai (Thai boxing) and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Both approach the clinch somewhat differently due to the two arts different styles of fighting, but the two methods can be used together, as I experienced today.

To use the main muay thai clinch, you slip your arms around the attacker's neck, connecting them tightly around the back of the neck while keeping the elbows tightly together and close to your body. Once in this position, you can easily drive your knees into your attacker.

There are various kinds of clinches used in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, they even incorporate the muay thai clinch as previously described. Today, we worked on using the skills that are trained in BJJ's commonly taught pummeling drill in which you slide your hand under your attacker's armpit, keeping your shoulder forward.

After training both skills, we integrated the two approaches and combined them with punches and kicks, which were used to create opportunities to enter the clinch. Using the BJJ skill of sliding your hand under the arm pit, you can create an opportunity to slide into the muay thai clinch so you can use your knees. It's also important to remember that when you finish your sequence of knee kicks to exit on an angle so you are less vulnerable to counterattacks. Even better to throw out a jab while exiting to further discourage retaliation.

I thoroughly enjoyed today's lesson, particularly because it reminds me of the importance of keeping an open mind when it comes to cross training in other martial arts. I'm not a huge fan of the macho attitudes that have arisen as a result of the popularity of MMA (mixed martial arts) competition. That being said, I believe that it has encouraged more sharing between the various arts, leading to innovation. This is one of the ways that the Western mindset has positively influenced martial arts training.

Kicking Like a Girl

After the blog post in which I discussed the value of kicks and the commitment required to become proficient at them, I decided to dedicate an entire class to training kicks. In our style of Jiu-jitsu, we don’t practice any fancy kicks, just practical ones. The ones we covered during that class included: front kick (to the groin or solar plexus), side kick, roundhouse kick, and lateral femoral kick (to the outside of the thigh).

For our warm-up we also did dynamic tension exercises using kicking positions. This involves holding the leg up in the cocked position of a kick, whichever kick you like. Then you slowly extend the leg out into the kicking position then back to the cocked position. We did this ten times slowly then ten times fast. We did these exercises for the front, side and roundhouse kicks. Inevitably, my students had sore butts after doing these exercises. In addition to the strength training one gets from doing these exercises, students get to practice emphasizing proper leg position while kicking.

For the rest of class, we trained our kicks in a variety of ways. The side kick, for example, we first trained from a horse stance to emphasize proper technique. We then trained it from a sparring stance (like the one used in boxing) snapping the kick out quickly using the front leg. I’ve used this type of side kick many a time during sparring sessions. When someone attacks me with their fists, the often open up with their ribs. They usually underestimate how close I can be and still kick with my front leg effectively, allowing me to snap my side kick out quickly under their punch, hitting home in the ribs (usually resulting in a bit of a grunt). We also trained the jumping side kick into the body shields. This allows you to cover a great distance and get more power, but has very little practical value. Unless the attacker is half unconscious, it’s not that likely that this kick will land since you can see it coming a mile away. Lastly, we trained the side kick from the boxing stance using the rear leg. This has practical value because it allows you to step into the kick. Plus, it is good for training balance.

During the class, I couldn’t help but notice that the women in my class showed considerably more natural ability with their kicks than the guys, even the ones that were learning these kicks for the first time. For some reason, they are generally more flexible and coordinated in the legs. I don’t like to make generalizations for the most part because it can cause you to see what you expect to see rather than what is actually there. But there is some truth to certain generalizations.

One exception to the rule was my student Dave. He has always been very nimble with his legs despite the fact that he is 240 lbs and top heavy to book. As I watched him kicking, I felt compelled to complement him.

“Dave, that is awesome. You kick like a girl!” I said, in an admittedly cheeky fashion.

“Hey! Them’s fightin’ words!” he immediately retorted.

I was making a point, however. “Why? Girls are generally better at kicking than guys.”

Dave opened his mouth, then closed it again. I couldn’t help but be amused by the look on his face that clearly indicated a struggle between enjoying the complement and being compared to a girl.

I made the remark in fun, obviously playing on the classic insult, “You punch like a girl!”. I’ve never been a fan of this comment. I’ve even heard male instructors try to light a fire under the asses of their female students by yelling this at them. The natural reply is a legitimate rebuttal. “But I am a girl!” Even though the instructors who say this are just trying to push their students, it can be frustrating to some women who don’t see the intent behind the remark, causing them to feel like they will never be able to punch properly because being a girl is the definition for punch badly.

I am by no means a femi-nazi, but I do believe in giving everyone, whether they are a man or a woman, every opportunity to be the best they can be.

Training… Just for Kicks

Kicking can be a very useful skill when sparring or defending against an attacker. Even though punching is easier to learn and apply, kicks should not be ignored. There are many benefits to kicking, including: being able to maintain your guard while still attacking, making up for differences in reach, not to mention you can generate more power when attacking the body.

The problem many students face with kicking is that they find it harder to become proficient at them. They become discouraged and, as a result, focus more on their punches. Admittedly, kicks do take longer to learn because you have to improve your balance and coordination to do them, but it’s a worthwhile endeavour.

If you want to improve your ability to kick, my advice is always the same. First of all, do your best to train your kicking technique with correct form. Use a mirror or have your instructor critique you regularly to ensure you’re getting it right. After all, practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect, as my Sensei always used to say.

The second thing is to practice your kicks regularly. In Jiu-jitsu, we don’t use a lot of fancy kicks, but what we do use our students are expected to learn well. But even kicks like side kick and roundhouse kick can take a long time to become proficient enough to make them fast enough and powerful enough for them to be useful in a sparring or self-defense situation. Students should train their kicks as regularly as possible to help ingrain it in their muscle memory. Doing some extra kicks at home or before class, with or without a kicking shield, will go a long way.

Once you get the basic form of your kicks down, you’ll also find that the balance and coordination you acquired to be able to kick proficiently will help become better at your other Jiu-jitsu or martial arts skills.