Evolutionary Self-Protection

This week we worked with some gruelling stuff – a real challenge to condition ourselves with. Heart rates and spirits were high, and the atmosphere was – as always – incredible.

To begin, a simple warmup of butt kicks, star jumps, high knees and switching feet to get us moving, then repeated at maximum intensity in intervals.

A nice stretch followed, before we got to the good stuff…

Partner Work – Skills Focus:

Some simple stuff: using the high guard to deal with straight and hooked punches. Emphasis on footwork and distance management.

Partner Work – Resistance Focus:

Tiring stuff. To begin with, you lie on the floor and a partner lies on you as a dead weight. By simply moving (wedge shapes, etc), you remove them. Simple and not difficult.

Then three people lie on you and you do the same.

Then a partner lies on you and you have to remove them while they’re grabbing at you and trying to hold on.

It started off nice and easy, then become somewhat less so!

OOOFFF! You’ve put some weight on! -Tim

Following that, we did the Push & Pads drill that we enjoyed last week, with a focus on hook punches and hammer fists, moving our partner for the length of the hall before we got a break. There’ll be a progression from this next week…

To finish this section, we had a couple of rounds of advancing with relentless striking: think of it as though you’re swimming through your attacker, only your ‘attacker’ is an unforgiving partner with a kickshield, and your ‘swimming’ involves smashing that pad with everything you’ve got, in whatever way you like. If you haven’t hit it hard enough, your partner doesn’t move, and you’ve got to make it all the way down the hall. And back. A couple of times.

Hit and Run Drills:

This was when things stepped up a notch. We returned to the Hit & Run drill that we all enjoyed so much last week but this time with a difference:

• Baddie stands facing Goodie, posturing aggressively and getting in their personal space. Baddie, whenever they like, has to touch Goodie’s face. This is a full-speed (but safe) ‘attack’ that can easily be used for these kinds of drills.
• Goodie has to prevent that – either with a good fence and distance management, movement and footwork, parrying and blocking… the method is up to them. Whether they prevent it or not, they have to get past Baddie and run away.
• Baddie runs after Goodie as fast as possible and tags them.
  • If you escape, well done!
  • If you don’t:
    • Drop to the floor – 10 pushups and hold the last one
    • Baddie pushes you over onto your back – absorb that by being relaxed and then do 20 crunches
    • Climb aggressively your way up the Baddie, maintaining control at every moment, so you can’t get kicked or stamped on so easily as you get to your feet.
  • Repeat for 2 minutes and 59 seconds. I was feeling nice, and 3 minutes seemed a long time.

Then we returned to the same one we did last week, which works with a pre-emptive strike instead of dealing with one you didn’t manage to prevent:

• Baddie stands facing Goodie with focus mitts on. Whenever they like, Baddie presents a pad.
• Goodie hits it, immediately, as effectively as they possibly can. They then run away.
• Baddie runs after Goodie as fast as possible and tags them.
  • If you escape, well done!
  • If you don’t:
    • Drop to the floor – 10 pushups and hold the last one
    • Baddie pushes you over onto your back – absorb that by being relaxed and then crunch up and hold. Baddie will present pads which you have to hit 20 times from that position.
    • Climb up as before, rinse and repeat. 2m59s again!

To finish, a quote to sum up our approach:

Don’t make it something you do.

Make it something you are.

Training with you all, as always, was wonderful. See you next time!

-Josh

All the details of this class are on the Public Classes page up at the top. Your first session is FREE and all are welcome to come along and take part. Every session is beginner-friendly. If anyone has any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch.