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I would like
to welcome our most recent guest writer to the Urban Combatives
website; Combat Jutsu and reality Self-Defence instructor Kevin O’Hagen
who will be presenting two excellent articles this month. Kevin is no stranger
to writing and has written many books relating to our field along with having
scores of articles published in various martial arts magazines.
Kevin 'O'
Hagan is a Realistic Street Grappling
With the sudden wave of interest in ground grappling
techniques sweeping through the Martial Arts world, it may be interesting just
for a brief moment to sit back and read this article! Hopefully it can shed some light on just
where ground grappling fits into the world of Combat Martial Artists repertoire
of techniques and also it's strengths and weaknesses,
plus what is essential to know if you go to the floor in a fight! Firstly just look again at the last paragraph
'If you go to the floor in a fight', what I mean is a real street
situation not a Judo, Wrestling or Ju-Jitsu contest
or match. Floor grappling in the street is a whole different world to any form
of contest no matter how 'no holds barred' it is, it is just not the same.
Let's look at the major differences between 'street' and 'contest' floor
grappling and see why some of the 'good moves' you see being executed in a
ring, or contest area, will not necessarily hold up in a real situation.
Firstly let's get it straight the floor is the last place you want to be in 'live'
street fight. It is an extremely dangerous and vulnerable position to be in,
the bottom line is avoid going to the 'deck' unless you have no other choice.
Why? Well look at the negatives. Number one, ground grappling may be strong
against one to one opponent but if he has a weapon, or there is more than one
opponent, it could be suicidal. Number two, when two opponents are rolling
around on the floor any onlookers, no matter how impartial they may be,
suddenly get the urge to 'pitch in', they will start either kicking away at one
or the other person on the ground (normal in this situation, either of the two
will pick up the damage) or they might decide to batter the 'top' man with a
chair, bar stool, dustbin lid (depending on where the fight may be), even worse
they may come in at an exposed back with a knife or a broken glass or
bottle. Another scenario is for some
'hero' to rush over and proceed to pull the two combatants apart, then usually
one gets a good shot at the other or we have a third person to the fight and
then all hell can break loose. A crowd 'fired up' can be like a rabid pack of
dogs. It is a very frightening situation and I have experienced this from being
in crowds at football matches when trouble has erupted, and I tell you on the floor
is not the place to be. Thirdly think of environment (no not if the ozone layer
is still deteriorating!) but where you might be if you hit the deck. Remember
most grappling arts like Judo and Wrestling are done on mats or canvas, so you
have no fear of hitting the ground. Arts like the now famous Brazilian Ju-Jitsu were practiced in a warm climate on country where
the exponents fought on sandy beaches, lush grassland. They were not rolling
round on icy, hard, cold, uneven and uncompromising pavement in the middle of
January on a winter night, nor was it designed for thrashing around on a beer
soaked or glass covered bar floor or dance floor after trouble has started or
neither for struggling on a urine drenched toilet floor! Remember, if you are
out for a quiet night with your 'lady', with your best 'designer' gear on,
looking cool, the last thing you want to be doing is rolling about in three
different kinds of dog excrement (note how I cleaned that up, I wish someone
would!) in front of the local 'takeaway'.
So hopefully by now you can see some of the down points to floor
grappling. Also to be considered is the time factor, the longer you are on the
floor the more dangerous it becomes for you. Not
much good Wrestling and Judo pins are not much good in
'real combat' they can only serve as time buying 'maneuvers' to get into a
better finishing technique. In the street you will not be looking for a quick
finish and get back onto your feet, it won't be timed bout with the 'ref' ready
to step in. an opponent who may submit to a hold or a lock can and may get up
and suddenly up the stake by drawing a weapon or fashioning one out of
something at hand. It really is best to make sure he doesn't get up again in a
hurry so you can make your exit! So what
do I do if I go to the floor? Well there's plenty but the rule for the street
is to make it quick, do not let your opponent settle into a good hold or get
into a superior position. The following techniques, concepts and theories are
taken from the system of Martial Arts I teach 'Kempo Goshin Jutsu', they have worked
for me in and out of the dojo, they are not by any means unique but they are
what I teach my students to do on the floor, remember 'how you train is how you
react'. I believe if you don't have command of the following techniques you
will struggle badly on the floor, especially against a large and aggressive
opponent. These techniques are an overview, not the whole picture; otherwise it
may take a whole magazine to demonstrate. If you go to the ground and you are
on top of opponent, cushion your fall by landing on them. There is a certain
sickening feeling about landing on a pavement on your kneecaps or elbows. Try
and drive your knee into their groin and then fall dropping the point of your
elbow into the sternum (breastbone) or solar plexus, naturally from there let
your head snap forward in a butt to their face, best target the nose. Climb so
you straddle their chest, consolidate your balance and bang away with fist,
elbows, palm heels and butts, then get out quick. If pulled down close by an
opponent immediately bite into nose, ear, cheek or neck for a release then
gouge into the windpipe with a claw hand squeezing it shut or thumb gouge into
the eyes or ram finger up their nostrils and rip. Grabbing the hair or ears and
banging the head on the floor has quite a 'sobering' effect on your would be
attacker, so has a fast choke hold. Rest
hands on floor If you feel you are losing balance in this
'mount' position lean over and rest hands on floor put your chest into
opponents face, when he pushes you off take his straight arm pivot off his
chest to the side and dislocate the elbow with the famous cross arm bar (Juji-gatame), make sure you drive the heel of your arm
locking legs into the face and body of your opponent to prevent them attempting
biting your leg. If you go down
underneath, then get opponent between your legs in 'the guard' position if he
attempts to punch you, pull him forward in the scissors until he loses his
balance, pull his head down to yours and bite into his ear, get one of your
feet between his legs and flip him over and off. If he is strangling you, push
back with your legs and hips, grab his straightened arm and swing your foot
over his neck and pull him over and down for the cross arm bar again. If he has
mounted your chest and is choking you, drive your thumbs up into his eyes, then
grab the back of his head and his chin and crank his neck around in a hard
twist to take him off your body. Gouging or finger thrusting into the Jugular
Notch (the indentation at the base of the windpipe) is a good move, as is
ripping the side of his mouth with your thumbs or digging a knuckle into the
mastoid behind the ear. Combine these with butts then twist the opponent off
you. If opponent is on his stomach and you straddle his back, hit him with
elbows and short punches to spine and back of neck. If he attempts to push
himself up, then go straight for a choke or kneel on the back and pull up on
his chin to finish. Lying
sideways If you are lying sideways across opponent's
body and he has your neck locked then grab and squeeze his testicles or pinch
flesh high on his inner thigh, also push your bony forearm into his neck or up
under his nose to relieve pressure then bite his body anywhere (nipples, pec's, flesh on floating ribs) until you can get out. When
you are under in the same position, hammer away at his exposed kidneys and
floating ribs, get a hand under and between to squeeze his testicles and bite
at any exposed target, then twist out and get on top. The list could go on and
on but hopefully this will show you the different sort of technique and mental
attitude you need for 'street wrestling', these moves are equalizers especially
for smaller people. I know loads of arm bars, locks, leg locks, strangles, etc,
but in a street situation you will not have time to execute them, you have got
to adapt. Some say the moves are brutal, but in answer to that, unless you have
experienced a situation where your strength is ebbing, your arms feel like lead,
your guts feel sick and you have a larger, heavier opponent lying on you, you
will have to know and use the techniques mentioned. A
good grappler One of my regular training partners and
fellow instructors is a 14 stone plus PTI in the prison service. He is a good
grappler and a hard opponent, he makes me work and
takes me to the limit of physical endurance, which is great because I know my
techniques will get me out along with good physical conditioning (which is
essential in ground grappling) and mental stamina. How many instructors out
there grapple or spar or whatever with their instructors or students? You will
learn a lot about yourself, your belt or position won't matter once it goes
down. Win or lose you will learn, if you are prepared to give it a go! In the
street the attacker will not give a darn what who you are and when it goes to
the floor you will have to separate contest grappling and street grappling to
survive. I hope this article has gone some way to explaining this. Quote: ‘’It
isn't important to come out on top, what matters is to
come out alive’’. Bertolt Brecht
- Jungle of cities. Functional Strength for Combat
With the martial Arts world turning more
and more towards realistic fighting sports, competition, sparring and pressure
testing, there has never been more need to be in good physical condition. In
whichever arena I have competed I have never lost a fight due to lack of
fitness. If you get beaten by a better fighter then there is not much you can
do but go away and train to become technically better, but losing as a result
of poor conditioning is your own fault and you cannot have any excuses. I have
always been a great believer in being a fit Martial Artist and those of you who
have followed my articles or books will know my thoughts on this subject, if
you have viewed my Impact Ju Jutsu
Videos Vols. 1,2 and 3 then you will have seen a lot
of interesting and diverse fitness drills. Sometimes though, everybody gets stale in
his or her training and the body seems to adapt to a certain workout and you
don't seem to be progressing. As a
professional instructor I train six days out of seven, as well as teaching and,
as I rapidly approach the big four-0, it can get tough to get motivated in your
own personal exercise regime. Even after being involved in Martial Arts
training for 25 years plus! So you need
to discover new routines and exercises to stimulate mind and body together to
push to new levels. I am a great
believer in functional combat exercises. This means exercises that are specific
to your chosen art/sport/fighting system. Being able to run a marathon or bench
press 300 lbs are truly admirable feats but they will not necessarily help you
in your Martial Arts training. For example if you lift weights to supplement
and enhance your martial Arts skills you should be looking to develop
functional muscle strength, which will simulate the activity you are
doing. In this article I am going to
briefly touch on a method of weight training that I first read about in an old
book about the wrestlers of yesteryear. Being intrigued by their methods I
decided to explore them and experiment and myself. The exercises involve lifting a barbell plate
and moving it around the body in different ways. Most of these simulate
movements used in grappling and can certainly be adapted to the striking arts
as well. Lifting the unusual shape of
the plate, rather than a bar, places more stress on your grip and forearm
muscles. It can also give you more scope for movement. Secondly the movements
work many muscle groups together rather than just isolating one or two as in a
body building routine. The first exercise is a clean and press. This explosive
action of taking the plate from floor to chest to pushing above the head is a
great overall strength builder. It works legs, back and shoulders. Done in good
form with a steady pace and minimum rest between sets it will shock the muscles
and will also get the heart and lungs pumping.
The second exercise is deep leg squats. Clutch the plate to your chest with
a four-finger grip and then bend the knees deeply and push back up, keeping
your back as straight as possible. Not only do the legs get a blasting, your
grip will be put under severe strain trying to hold the plate tightly. This
exercise simulates clinching and lifting a body perfect. Next we go to the floor and rest the plate on
your chest. From there, push up into a shoulder bridge position and hold it.
Now press the plate directly upwards until the arms are straight and pump out
12 reps. Take a short rest and go again for two more sets. The holding of the bridge works many muscle
groups under a static dynamic tension exercise, the pressing of the plate helps
work the correct muscles for pushing an opponent off the mounted position. Still staying on the floor you then roll up
into a reverse neck bridge. This exercise is an advanced movement for those who
already have good neck strength, do not attempt this otherwise. From bridging on your head with the plate, press
it upwards towards the ceiling for your number of reps/sets. This is a massive
neck exercise guaranteed to build great neck strength to help withstand the
rigors of neck cranks, strangles and general wear and tear of grappling. These four exercises are great ones to start
with the complete routine is outlined on 'my new video release', 'Impact Ju Jutsu' Vol.3 'Hardcore
training for a winning edge'. Along
with the plate drills, is an advanced 'abdominal blast' workout,
advanced standing to floor training, grappling, Self-Defence
and much more.
For those who have viewed the Impact series 1 and 2, this 3rd volume
will take your training to a guaranteed higher level. If you use the plate routine regularly it
will increase strength and stamina within a six-week period, if you drill it
strict and true. You will notice the difference in your grappling skills and
overall fitness. Lastly it develops the functional strength that you will feel
when grappling. Plus it will push your cardiovascular system to the limit, if
done correctly. When you start, select a plate, which you will be able to push
in three sets of 12 repetitions at a time. The 12-repetition range gives you
equal work on strength, power, endurance and cardio. It will not bulk you up so
you feel too stiff or slow your movement, particularly on the floor. Have a
good smart workout and train safely and smart. |
