Stick-Grappling @ Maharlika Martial Arts: March 19, 2013

On this night, Guro Bob went over Tuhon Tom's material for stick-grappling. I was excited to go over the material. They started last week which I wasn't able to make, but we reviewed the techniques in the beginning of class.

Techniques done last week (probably not the official terms):
• standing side control/clinch to neck smash
• standing side control/clinch to ribs grinding
• standing side control/clinch to Pez takedown
• standing side control/clinch to rear choke and if Receiver ducks out of side control--hold down head and strike.

Techniques done tonight:
• standing side control/clinch to thigh grind until Receiver falls to the ground--once on the ground, hit legs and ankles. At first, I started aiming for the head, but Guro Bob suggested to hit the legs because the Receiver has a better chance of grabbing the stick. If Receiver gets up again, close gap and place R in standing side control.
• standing side control/clinch to thigh grind--Receiver counters by pulling the stick up. Feeder quickly brings the stick up to the armpit. F reaches up and over with Lh to perform cop-lock. R counters and gets out of cop-lock. F flows from cop-lock to throat crush.

Some other techniques to perform if R tries to get arm out of standing side control/clinch: release hold of stick with Rh and reposition hold.

Near the end of class, I reviewed TDs 1-10 with Guro Joe Marana.

Next week, going over stick-grappling from the clinch.

Visiting Maharlika Martial Arts (MMA). Aug. 30

In this class, we reviewed receiver grips with Guro Bob teaching. I helped beginners learn the receiver grip techniques. In the second part of the class, Guro Bob had the experienced guys partner up with the beginners and try to perform a receiver grip on them while they were feeding. It was very hard to initially pull of the technique in the air. Joe Cepressi also mentioned that it was hard to just pull-off a receiver grip when just tapping. In all, the class was great! I got to see what works and what doesn't work while free-flowing.

Things I thought worth remembering when trying to get a receiver grip while free-flowing. I can't just grab the blade hand and perform any of the receiver grips. I have to stun the feeder to produce the delay (half-beat) in order to get a receiver grip.

Visiting Maharlika Martial Arts (MMA). Aug. 2

I was able to go through phase 2 for 3 of 9 with Joe Cypressi and David Davis. A lot of good pointers to remember from Guro Bob. I wasn't able to hit the finger jab on the first two hits. I thought it was my height, because I'm short (lol) and David is tall. However, Guro Bob pointed out that I needed to throw the finger jab before he threw his first shot. After that advice, I was able to hit my target without having to be super fast or tall.

After that, we worked on TD1 (receiver with blade). The receiver looks for targets while the feeder performs TD1. Points to remember: can have countless amount of targets for each move. Having one way is not always the only way.

Last part of class, we worked on a hold-up scenario with a blade. Attacker holds a blade to your neck and pushes you (receiver) against the wall. Receiver puts his hands up while shrugging shoulders forward and turning his head away from the blade. Then, as the receiver brings up his hands, quickly tap the attackers blade to get away. Points to remember: create space, move outside/behind attacker's blade arm. The more space you create between you and the attacker, the better chance of escaping without vital injury.

Training at Maharlika Martial Arts (MMA). July 26

I made the drive up to train with Guro Bob Shin's class at MMA. The first part of class we partnered up and worked on Transitional drills. I got to work with Ryan. I think he's been training about a year now. He wanted to work on TD 3. Once Ryan got TD 3 down, we started working on TD 4. The last part of class Guro Bob showed us stickgrappling material that Tuhon Tom Kier had demonstrated in the past. It was a good class to be visiting. I remember watching Tuhon Tom's presentation in a Sayoc stickgrappling dvd and was thinking that you have to be able to take some pain to be his demonstration partner. Great stuff though!