Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Street Self-defence from top of Guard

Anyone who has seen the UFC, videos fights on YouTube… knows that being on the bottom of any position in a fight is bad. If you’re not sure what the guard position is, it is when you are laying on your back on the ground with your opponent between your legs, your legs are around their waist and your feet are crossed locking them into position.

In grappling the bottom position of the guard is typically stronger than the top position. On the bottom you can attack you opponent’s whole body, whereas from the top position your attacks are typically limited to leg attacks. There ARE other attacks than just legs from the top of guard but you are still more limited than the person on the bottom.


On the street it’s very hard to punch with any effectiveness from your back. YES some people do train to punch from the ground and are good at it but most (98% of us) are not, we just can’t generate that much power while on our backs. Also while on the ground it’s very hard to guard all our vital areas (head, throat, floating ribs, diaphragm and groin) from attacks, much harder than it is in a standing fight.

So how or why would anybody in their right mind drag you down into their guard in a fight? Maybe they believe their grapping skills are better than your striking skills. Maybe that’s not really where they intended to end up after taking you to the ground, there are many ways you could end up in this position.

Top of guard in a fight is a good position to be, by far not the best but still good. You may be tempted to respond with grappling techniques to open the leg and pass the guard but this could be very dangerous. Remember if your attacker “jumped guard” on you they probably know how to grapple. Even if you know how to grapple, maybe even fairly good at it, always assume your attacker is better at it than you. So why play into your attacks strength? Responding with grappling techniques also breaks the first rule of ground self-defence, which is to get to your feet as fast as possible and incapacitate your attacker along the way.


We never what to get stuck on the ground in a real fight. Have a look at this article from BJJ Eastern Europe.


As always is you are looking for more great videos or to learn the wonderful art of jiu-jitsu please check out our web site at www.learn-jiu-jitsu-online.com.

Cheers,

Jamie Rickard (Sensei)
Head Instructor
Koketsu Kai - Tiger's Den Jiu-jitsu and Grappling

Located at:
The Academy of Martial Arts
851 Princess Street
Kingston, Ontario

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

They won’t release their grip… wind them into the ground!

Today we are going to look at chain a couple of techniques together, or follow up techniques when the first technique does not go as planned.

No matter your belt level it’s never too early to start thinking about what you would do if a technique doesn’t work. I would argue that in most cases your initial technique most likely will NOT go as planned. Think about it. A sudden attack, panic reaction, your adrenalin in pumping, your attacker does not attack you the same as your partners do in the dojo, all this adds up to a failed first technique.


If your technique does work great BUT! If not you had better know where you can go from where you are. The only way to train for this is in the dojo. Start thinking about what you would do if… Then take it to the dojo and try it out. Did it work as you thought it would?

Start with a technique. Ask your partner how they would stop it or prevent it. What would you do in response? Can you use any of the techniques that you have already learned in response? Remember the technique does not have to be exactly as you studied it in class to work. There is likely more than one response to any given technique, play with the different ways to prevent a technique and your responses. Before you know it you just added a bunch of techniques to those you know and have made yourself more effective at defending yourself.



Think about it now because there won’t be time during the fight.


As always is you are looking for more great videos or to learn the wonderful art of jiu-jitsu please check out our web site at www.learn-jiu-jitsu-online.com.

Cheers,

Jamie Rickard (Sensei)
Head Instructor
Koketsu Kai - Tiger's Den Jiu-jitsu and Grappling

Located at:
The Academy of Martial Arts
851 Princess Street
Kingston, Ontario

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

WEBBS and Jukoshin Jiu-jitsu Master Shihan Michael Legg

Shihan Michael Legg is the Shihan or Chief Instructor for the UK. He is a friend and many year student of Soke Bryan Cheek.

I have been lucky to have attended several of his seminars, the most recent this year (2014) when he was over from London.

==>Throw with shoulder dislocation<==


==>Choke with the wall<==


==>Neck lock<==

At the WEBBS World Congress in Lisbon Portugal 2013, I was offered a change to be an instructor. Which of course I jumped at. Well before you now it standing on my mat is Shihan Michael Legg and several other master level martial artists, talk about pressure. It turned out to be a wonderful teaching experience and fun was had by all.

Shihan Legg and the other master instructors were there to check me out for sure but it was more than that. You could see in their eyes the desire to learn something new or discover a new way of doing something that they had not thought of. The source of the information didn't matter, in this case me, a junior black belt (3rd Deg.). They were open minded and willing to learn from anybody, at any time and anywhere.

This is what makes Shihan Michael Legg and the others I was working with true martial arts masters, of course the 30 to 40 years of training and amazing technique don’t hurt either!


You never know where a good idea or technique will come from so always keep an open mind and be ready to learn.

To learn many other great jiu-jitsu techniques check out our Jiu-jitsu Distance Education Program at www.learn-jiu-jitsu-online.com

Cheers,

Jamie Rickard (Sensei)
Head Instructor
Koketsu Kai - Tiger's Den Jiu-jitsu and Grappling

Located at:
The Academy of Martial Arts
851 Princess Street
Kingston, Ontario

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

To block or not to block…?

Today I want to talk a bit out blocking and striking, of how we learn techniques and how the techniques should actually be performed. When we start to learn a technique we tend to break it down into steps, block, strike, lock, takedown, strike to finish or something similar depending on the technique.

Let’s focus on the first part, the initial block and strike. Your attacker is mad at you, why who knows. Because he is mad at you, his attacks will aggressive, hard and he likely has plans for more than one. No surprise there, so how does this relate to how we learn to block and counter attack?

If we were to execute a block then a strike similar to how we started learning them in class (this is true to almost any martial art) it will not work. The first attack will be blocked but we will get hit by the second attack before we can get our counter attack off. So how do we fix this?

Our blocks need to be strikes and/or we need to block and strike at the same time. Take a look at the video below for a better look at what I am referring to.


There are a number of good reasons to strike as you block or with your block:
-          Your counter attack will be far more effective.
-          More power. They are moving towards you and you are moving towards them you will have your combined weight and momentum of you and your attacker behind the hit. (think of two cars hitting head on)
-          Your counter attack is less likely to be blocked. It’s very hard for your attacker block your attack while he is in the middle of his attack.
-          Your attacker’s vital areas and soft targets will be more vulnerable while he is attacking.

In short don’t block, attack!
A word of warning if you’re not already employing this concept please be careful. You WILL generate far more power then you expect so be nice to your training partner.


Check out our jiu-jitsu distance education program for even more on-line videos and instruction.


Cheers,

Jamie Rickard (Sensei)
Head Instructor
Koketsu Kai - Tiger's Den Jiu-jitsu and Grappling

Located at:
The Academy of Martial Arts
851 Princess Street
Kingston, Ontario