Irresistable Movement

We are finally back to a normal training schedule. Fabian and Ricky showed up on Saturday morning for about an hour of training. We did some lock/hold escaping drills based using the concept of "least resistance" as the basis for escaping. Two people would apply a lock on one person and hold the lock until that one person escapes. This drill is essentially an exploration of freedom while under the influence and possibly illusion of restriction. There is so much that can be explored, but the mind can come to a screeching halt when an already painful wrist-lock is torqued a little bit more or head/neck movement is restricted completely.

We started out doing this drill while standing, which typicall resulted in both arms and the neck being held or locked in some fashion. This gives room for a lot of default options with respect to movement: footwork, leg movement, and torso rotation can usually be employed. So in a sense, being locked up while standing allowed for some exploration in using these default options appropriately. Going to the ground creates less room for any type of movement, meaning there are few, if any, default options. In this setting, movement must be explored genuinely to take advantage of what little room one might have. Even a quarter of an inch of room (possibly less) will suffice to escape in some situations.

In addtion to moving from standing to the ground, we also begin reapplying locks and holds as soon as they were escaped until the drill became a grappling-type flow. Initially once the lock/hold was escaped, the person applying it would step away. But as we progress and the drill becomes a little easier, we increase the difficulty.