Thompson, Geoff - Ground Fighting - Pins The Bedrock
Thompson, Geoff - Ground Fighting - Pins The Bedrock
Geoff Thompson
SUMMERSDALE
First published 1996. This edition copyright Geoff Thompson 2001 All rights reserved. The right of Geoff Thompson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, nor translated into a machine language, without the written permission of the publisher. Summersdale Publishers Ltd 46 West Street Chichester West Sussex PO19 1RP United Kingdom www.summersdale.com Printed and bound in Great Britain. ISBN 1 84024 171 3
Important note
With ground fighting techniques the author recommends that you practice only under supervision to avoid accidents and always employ the tap system in practice (if you want to submit or a technique is too painful or you wish to stop practice at any time tap the mat, tap yourself or your opponent with your hand or foot; if this is not possible just say to your opponent tap). If an opponent taps out it is imperative that you release your hold immediately or suffer the consequence of what might be serious injury, and remember, what goes around comes around. If you do not release when he taps he may not release the next time you tap. If you have or believe you may have a medical condition the techniques outlined in this book should not be attempted without first consulting your doctor. Some of the techniques in this book require a high level of fitness and suppleness and should not be attempted by someone lacking such fitness. The author and the publishers cannot accept any responsibility for any proceedings or prosecutions brought or instituted against any person or body as a result of the use or misuse of any techniques described in this book or any loss, injury or damage caused thereby.
For full details of other books and videos by Geoff Thompson, visit www.geoffthompson.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With special thanks to Marc McFann and my good friend and grappling sempai Rick Young.
Contents
Introduction Chapter one Chapter two The Mount Position The Side Four Quarter Hold down 8 19 36 42 55 60
Chapter three The Scarf Hold Chapter four Chapter five Chapter six The Jack-knife The Reverse Scarf Hold
Introduction
As I sit and write this text about Ground Fighting, I fondly look back on nearly 25 wonderful years of training in the martial arts, about 15 of those years as the instructor of one of the best, certainly toughest and definitely friendliest clubs in Great Britain. Sadly, only yesterday I taught my last lesson to what was only a spattering of loyal students. It was a sad day for me with only a handful of people around me, whom I had grown to love and respect, there to see the end. For the last 15 years I have put my heart and soul into my club only to see, on this final day, the emaciated remnants of what was once a feared battle ground where strong characters were tempered and the faint of heart feared to tread. I wont go on about it, thats not what you have bought this book to read about, only to say that . . . well . . . theres nothing much more to say really, other than the fact that, for me its the end of an era.
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Introduction Many people have written, or spoken to me over the years about coming to Coventry to train at my master class but for whatever reason few seemed to make it so I decided to write a series of books and put together a series of videos on the type of lessons one could expect to receive had the journey been made. The series is now even more apt because I no longer have a club and, unless you manage to make it down to one of the few seminars that I teach each year, this will be the only way youll get to train with me. With this in mind I write, as I taught, only about the things I actually train in myself. I will not, I can assure you, use superfluous technique to fill a book. There will be different genres of book according to the range/ryu that I am writing about, this series being the wonderful and exciting ground fighting range. When you consider the fact that 95% of all fights go to ground and yet probably only 5% of martial artists are adequately prepared, or address ground fighting, something seems acutely amiss.
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Pins: The Bedrock Hopefully this series will redress the balance and prepare the latter, whilst at the same time adding information and knowledge to the curriculum of those that are already in the know. I have to say, that of all the systems that I have studied over the years ground fighting has been the most in-depth and demanding, though by its outer shell it may not appear so; only the very strong will go the full course and become proficient. I have been lucky enough to train in several systems that incorporate ground fighting as their main range, Judo, Ju-Jitsu, Wrestling etc, and whilst all are very strong each has its own particular weakness. What I intend to do with these books is include the best of these systems and add, where appropriate, the now illegal techniques that were banned to make them safer to practice or more commercially, socially, Olympically acceptable. I have no love for sport budo - though I do admire the great sports men that we have produced in this country - and I am not worried about being commercially or socially acceptable Ill paint it as I see it.
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Introduction I know from experience that it is the illegal, ugly techniques that make a system potent and workable in a society that no longer holds the martial artist in any esteem. Whilst I am a great grappling fan and firmly believe that the grappler is potentate when rules are not in play, I have to state categorically that the ground is still the last place to be in a real fight. If you are in a match fight, as opposed to a 3 second fight or an ambush fight, the ground can be a safe option because you only have the one opponent to deal with. However, match fighting is a lost art that only the very courageous seek; the enemy of today is a cowardly team fighter who works under the umbrella of deception, and whilst you might be capable of eating him alive on the ground it doesnt stop his mates kicking your face in or his girl friend stabbing you whilst your hands are tied up with your prostrate opponent. A good puncher, one who understands the enemy and understands himself, will finish 95% of his fights from punching range and will be at home having his supper when his opponent is still coming around in some puddle in suburbia.
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Pins: The Bedrock Having said that, some of the best punchers on the planet still end up on the floor because they do not understand enough about themselves or their enemy (see 3 Second Fighter) to employ their punching prowess to good effect. The kickers, unfortunately, fare even worse and end up on their backs more than the only whore in a town full of sex starved men on pay day. Having pointed out the weaknesses of going to ground, I think its important to point out that the confidence one develops from fighting on the ground is second to none. After all, the worst case scenario in a real fight is ending up on the floor; if you are good at fighting from the floor you become more confident and committed in the vertical ranges because, if you do find worst case scenario and the fight hits the deck, so what, youre good there too. I believe that ground fighting will find a re-birth and people will realise what I have been saying for the last 15 years, that if you cant fight on the ground then you are not a complete fighter. For those that are perceptive enough to see that this series of books will be of enormous help, they will teach you that anyone can be beaten on the ground, big or small, as long as you have
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Introduction the knowledge. Most fighters run out of steam very quickly in a real fight, especially when it hits the ground, and what may have been a vertical monster is often a horizontal mouse. How you hit the floor is out of the context of this book, and series, though my books Real Grappling and Dead Or Alive cover a lot of good practical take downs. In this series we are dealing with what to do when you are down there. There are different schools of thought about whether one should stay on the ground, once down, or get back up at the earliest opportunity. This depends largely on the circumstances and quite often you have no choice in the matter anyway. By strategically placing yourself in certain pins you do often have the opportunity to get back to your feet, and if that opportunity arises it is usually wise to snatch it with both hands, especially if you are dealing with more than one opponent. The Match fight is slightly different - you are only fighting with one person and you may have taken him to the ground because he was too strong for you on his feet. If this is the case and he feels weaker on the ground then stay there and finish, theres no sense in letting a vertical monster back to his feet again. After all, if the guy is a hardened fighter hell be glad to take the finishing kicks you throw just to get back to his feet again. Just
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Pins: The Bedrock because you are vertical and he is horizontal is no guarantee of victory. As I said earlier, often the most frightening of opponents in vertical fighting is an absolute mouse on the floor because he has no experience of that range. Look at the great white shark, the most feared killer of the seas, unequivocally the king of the deep waters - how do the deep sea divers deal with them? By using electrical waves that frighten the sharks and scare them away. The only reason its effective is because the sensation is outside of the sharks experience and they do not know how to deal with it. Taking a vertical fighter to the ground is, in effect, doing the same thing - taking them outside of their experience. One of my younger students, Matty, had a situation about one month ago with a very reputable street fighter from one of the rougher parts of Coventry. My student is 17 years old and about 11 stone, his opponent, P was 26 and 15 and a half stone. , Matty was out with a couple of his friends when P approached and started an argument with them. They were all pretty scared because they knew this guy, he had a huge reputation as being a heavy weight in the area. P started bullying one of the lads
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Introduction who didnt really want any trouble, when he tried to tell P this he got knocked out for his impertinence. Everyone stood back, ANY ONE ELSE WANT SOME? P shouted, not expecting anyone to take him up on the challenge. Yeah, Ill have a bit, replied Matty. Hed been involved in several hundred animal day fights at my club and figured that it couldnt be any worse than that. You gotta be **cking joking, Ill kill ya, came the bemused reply. Give it your best shot! Matty said, stepping forward. The fight was on. A few punches were thrown and a clinch quickly ensued, as is the way with most match fights. Matty managed to reach Ps leg and they tumbled to the ground where he held P in a tight scarf hold, for a few seconds P went crazy trying to escape the hold but he was held with a vice-like grip.
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Pins: The Bedrock Matty could tell that P was tiring, in fact he was wheezing so much at one stage that Matty thought he had asthma. While he held P in the scarf hold Matty fired a couple of punches and head butts into his face and then jumped straight into the mount position (to be detailed later) where he continued to fire pummelling punches into Ps face. In a desperate bid to escape P turned over onto his belly, which is where Matty wanted him to turn, and Matty quickly wrapped a strangle around his neck. P struggled frantically for a couple of seconds before falling unconscious. The whole fight lasted 10 seconds. After five minutes P came around, it was twenty minutes before he knew where he was and two weeks before he would venture out of his flat and show his face again. The important thing in this true story is not so much the finish, although that is important, but rather it is the way that Matty, three stone lighter than his opponent, controlled his opponent with pins until he was ready for the finish. That is what this first volume is about, perfecting the pins so that you can control the opponent right from the off. It would
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Introduction be very easy at this point to rush off into the histrionics of advanced finishing techniques like strangles and bars but they are useless without the correct base of pinning techniques please dont rush ahead and try to run before you can walk because, when the shit hits the fan and you find yourself in a real fight and on the ground, the finishing techniques will fail you because you have no foundation; so, dont put the gloss on your woodwork until you have rubbed it down and applied the primer, in this case, the pins. What Ill do to start is isolate the main pins and then, later in the book, show you how to move around the body from one pin to another so that you can always work away from your opponents strength and, eventually, move into a good finishing position. I will also detail how to defend and drill the pins. An excellent place to finish is the mount position and wherever you are on the ground the mount is always accessible. When you first start practising the pins with a partner, do so with compliancy so that you can learn the correct technique. Once this has been attained practice full out, with no partner compliancy, so that you develop the correct muscles to defend the pin.
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Pins: The Bedrock Out of all the six books in this series, this one will be the most important, even though it may be the most basic, because it is the bedrock of everything else that you learn. When you build a house it needs first and foremost to be on a firm foundation and your foundation with ground fighting is the pins.
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Chapter One
The Mount Position
The mount is very often called the school boy position, because its the position you always seemed to end up in when you fought in the school playground. As it is seen as synonymous with school boy fighting, its devastating potency is often missed, and some (the uninitiated) even laugh at the mount as though it is infantile. These people have obviously never been below the mount or they would not be so quick to scoff. In my opinion it is probably the strongest and most powerful of all the pins, certainly once you have learned to defend it, and can be sought very quickly from all the other pinning positions. From the mount one can finish with the bread and butter punches and strikes or the intricate, and yet paradoxically simple, bars and chokes. You can either punch the opponent out or punch him until he turns onto his stomach and then choke him out. If he feeds you an arm as a means of defence to your blows, you can bar and break it off; if you so desire you are also in a very good position to get back to your feet, whilst your opponent is still horizontal, and finish with kicking/stamping techniques. You are also in the enviable position of being able
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Pins: The Bedrock to punch your opponent whilst he cannot reach your face to punch back, and thus you have the leverage while he does not. Whilst it is conventional to mount on the opponents belly you can also, if he turns slightly, mount him on his side, or if he turns completely mount him on his back. These are the different mounts:
Belly Mount
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The Mount Position Sit astride the opponent with your knees wide to spread your weight and thus make it harder for him to escape. You can either sit upright (a good punching position), or lean forward with your palms on the ground as base.
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Side Mount
If the opponent turns slightly to his side you may mount his side. The opponent is far more open to attacking blows from here because his arms are redundant as defending tools. Again you may sit upright to attack or forward with your palms on the ground to base.
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Back Mount
If the opponent turns completely onto his belly, usually in a bid to escape, you may mount his back, upright for attacking or forward for basing. From this position he is very vulnerable to attacks from your elbows and the finishing choke or strangle.
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Pins: The Bedrock Firstly, get as comfortable as possible with these positions, using partner compliancy to perfect technique. Once a comfort level has been found, move onto defending the mount. Usually (certainly for the first few seconds of taking up the mount, or any pin for that matter) the opponent will panic and start to buck and thrash in a bid to escape. You must expect this or youll lose the pin as quick as you found it. He will get a surge of in-fight adrenalin (see Fear book) that, for a few seconds, will make him very strong, certainly strong enough to throw you from a strong to a vulnerable position. Adrenalin is like a bodily turbo drive and whilst it will make him very strong for a few seconds it will also eat away his fuel at the same rate, so ride the storm until he is knackered - then hes just a punch bag. This is especially so when dealing with unfit fighters (most of them are very unfit). When I fight on the ground I often spark my opponents in-fight adrenalin by inflicting painpunch, bite, elbow, etc., in order to empty his fuel tanks. Beware though; if you use this ploy remember what you are doing and the effect that it may have: youre giving him a few seconds of dynamic energy that will throw you from your pin if you are not prepared for it. So remember to ride the storm until his fuel tanks are empty.
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The Mount Position The most vulnerable time for a pin is when you first take it and when you go for a finish - these are the times that most people forget to defend their hold. The second that you put a pin on someone they will try to fight out of it, because their brain senses danger and releases in-fight adrenalin to assist. Similarly when you give an opponent pain his brain will release in-fight adrenalin to act as both anaesthesia to the pain and fuel to the escape, and its the same thing when you go for a finish. His brain will sense that the end is near and initiate fight or flight that will enable him to buck and thrash ferociously for a few seconds. Rather than fight biceps against biceps, will against will, go with the flow and ride the opponent like a bucking horse, if you try to meet force with force youll get as tired as he - and if hes stronger, you may lose.
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Pins: The Bedrock the hands directly to the side and in front, the feet directly to the side and behind. The feet may also be intertwined with the opponents to further secure a good solid base. At any appropriate time in the mount the head, teeth, elbow, etc., can be used to attack and finish (or turn) the mounted opponent. Again, this is real bread and butter stuff and should be perfected before moving on to more technical finishes. The following are techniques to help you defend the mount. You need no partner compliancy here though you can start at 50% (the person under the mount trying to escape using only 50% of his energy) and work up to all out. The first lesson to learn here is if the opponent moves his hands away from his face, to try and push you off, whack him in the face to discourage him. If he moves his hands away from his face then, logically, his face is unguarded and should be attacked at once. As an automatic reaction he will then bring his hands back to his face as a means of defence (in practice you may use open hand to attack to save serious injury).
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Swimming technique
If the opponent tries to push you off with his hands on your chest hold your mount and swim (in a breast stroke kind of motion) through his arms with both your arms. Be forceful and break his grip; as you swim through, hit the opponent in the face to discourage him from trying again and then base your hands out in front of you.
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Rear Base
If you find yourself being bridged or pushed directly forward, use both hands to base behind the opponents head.
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Grapevining
For an opponent who is particularly aggressive, you can grapevine your feet around his ankles, making it near impossible for him to bridge or push you off. The only problem with grapevining is that it can also disable you from being mobile, and although you have tied up your opponent, in a way you have also tied up yourself. Push your feet on the inside of the opponents legs and wrap them around his ankles. For better control straighten yours, and thus his, legs. Once he has calmed down a little you may release his legs so that you can continue with the job in hand.
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The Mount Position The mount is probably the best pin for control and for finishing. Many hours must be spent learning to defend this position or, as I have already said, it will be lost as quickly as it is found.
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Chapter Two
Side Four Quarter Hold Down
The side 4 1/4 is an excellent controlling pin and, once perfected, easy to maintain. It also offers some excellent finishing techniques to the advanced ground fighter and one can move to the mount or the upper 4 1/4 from here very easily. In many ways it is a travellers rest hold; that is you can take a rest here when needed and allow an aggressive opponent to thrash himself out. It takes very little energy to defend, though a tremendous amount of energy to escape from. Personally I use this hold as a stop gap when travelling to my finishing position in the mount.
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Side Four Quarter Hold Down If I want to drain his energy quicker, or psyche him out, Ill bite his belly/chest/arm etc. (whatever is available), and give him an injection of in-fight adrenalin. If he goes crazy for a few seconds then Ill ride the storm until his energy is all spent, then Ill finish - if it psyches him and he bottles out then hes finished anyway.
Tying up
In his bid to escape the opponent will try everything and anything. In my bid to hold the pin I will make things as awkward and painful and uncomfortable as I can by tying up his arms, biting, punching his exposed groin (for want of a better expression) and/or leaning my elbow/forearm on his exposed neck and throat, etc. This hold is one of the easiest to maintain and hardest to escape from; flight time (time spent practising the move) is the essential pre-requisite to its effectiveness.
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Chapter Three
The Scarf Hold
Probably the most recognisable of all the pins is the scarf hold; this is also the hold that many street fighters innately secure to win or control a situation that hits the floor. Whilst it is a relatively simple technique to hold, it is a very difficult position to escape from - though there are several good methods (see Vol. Two: Escapes). Like the side 4 1/4 it is a strong hold that lends itself well to finishing techniques and to movement to other pins specifically the mount. The opponent held in scarf hold is highly vulnerable to illegal techniques like biting, gouging, punching, etc.
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Pins: The Bedrock Bend forward and keep your head as close to the opponents as possible; this will protect your throat, face and eyes from his free left hand. This leaves your right hand free to attack the opponent. If the opponent brings his free left hand over to attack you lift your head up, grab the hand and bend back the fingers and push it under your chin.
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The Scarf Hold If his right hand gets free from under your left arm, you can do one of several things: 1) Bar it over your right leg.
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Pins: The Bedrock 2) If the arm will not straighten, switch legs to create a higher fulcrum and bar it over your left leg.
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The Scarf Hold 3) If he is still struggling then quickly switch back the legs and drive the arm into/over the lower fulcrum of the right leg.
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Pins: The Bedrock 4) Tie the arm off under the reverse/left leg, to bar turn your hips up to the ceiling and push.
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The Scarf Hold 5) Tie the arm off under the right leg.
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Pins: The Bedrock 6) If the opponent uses the freed arm to try and push or punch your face, quickly move your face away and push the arm with your left arm so that his arm is trapped across his own neck; this, when squeezed, will make for a strong choke/strangle.
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Pins: The Bedrock Practising this hold, and all the pins, will develop manipulative strength and also the ability to hold an opponent with minimal strength so as not to over tax your reserves. So practice with as little compliancy as possible, eventually with no compliancy at all.
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The Jack-Knife
Chapter Four
The Jack-Knife
The Jack-knife is a sort of in-between hold that I invented (Im sure that other people have found the same hold - but Ive never seen it in any books or on any videos before so as far as Im concerned, its mine) and is a wonderful little hold that takes you nicely from scarf hold to upper 4 1/4. It also works very nicely in conjunction with scarf hold either to help hold the base or finish with a smother hold (smothering is another concept that Im sure others have found but I have never seen written about before, so thats mine as well).
The Jack-knife
Basically the jack-knife controls the opponents head at a 45 degree angle to his body; somewhere (anywhere) between scarf hold and upper 4 1/4 hold. Take the hold from the scarf hold position so the opponents right arm is still tucked under your left armpit. Your right arm is still wrapped around the opponents neck, bring your left arm forward to either pin the head still or push it, via any pain or pressure point, so that the opponents mouth and nose are towards the ceiling.
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This will place him ideally for the smother (the smother is when you cover the opponents mouth and nose with any part of your body, in this case the shoulder and upper chest, and lean/ press your weight on them to block the airways and stop them breathing). It can also be used as a travellers rest if you want to take a minute out and think about whats going on. Also to allow the opponent to tire himself out a little; the body is very open to pummelling punches which can be used to disable or inflict in-fight adrenalin, and the eyes are also very vulnerable to gouging with your right hand.
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The Jack-Knife
Broken Jack-knife
This hold can be performed broken by lying across the opponents face with the hands free (as illus) to base.
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Knees up
If the opponent is strong it is advisable to keep the legs straight and splayed, stay on your toes; as he tires you can shorten the hold by bringing the knees up closer to the opponents face to prepare for finish or to get back to your feet.
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The Jack-Knife
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Chapter Five
Reverse Scarf Hold
The reverse scarf hold is an ideal resting position when one is travelling around the body, especially from upper 4 1/4 to mount. It can also be a very strong hold and, if you get a good grip of the opponents neck and head, one can crank the neck and finish from here. More realistically it is a very good travellers rest hold.
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Pins: The Bedrock To secure the hold lean forward and put your weight onto the opponent, to crank the neck, lean backwards and wrench the neck with the pull of both your arms. This is not a very strong hold (though on a good day with the wind behind you it can be) but it is an excellent mid-way point from upper 4 1/4 to mount. I personally use it more as a travellers rest than anything else.
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Chapter Six
Upper Four Quarter Hold Down
They say (who ever they are) that the best way to control a man is to control his head, then his body will follow. I have found this to be true both physically and psychologically, which is why the upper 4 1/4 is one of my favourite pins. Its not the prettiest of moves - in fact there is very little to get excited about when you look at the hold, perhaps that is why it is so often ignored. For me it is another real bread and butter pin, and if I get anyone that is too strong or who feels a little feisty or if I am feeling a little tired and need a rest then Ill whip around to the upper 4 1/4 at the earliest opportunity and control the opponent from the head down. It is a very easy move to hold and a very hard move to escape from, a real wild and aggressive opponent will empty his fuel tank in a hurry when you hold him in the upper 4 1/4, also, if you position your body correctly, you can easily finish with a smother from this position and, if you desire you can get back to a standing position and finish from here also.
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Knees Up
Upper 4 1/4 can also be employed with the knees up, as per illustration. This makes the hold more compact and is good preparation for movement-finish or standing up.
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Upper Four Quarter Hold Down The groin is also open to hand strikes or grabs, it is also easy to feed your hands back and attack the throat and or larynx by squeezing it closed with one or both hands. The eyes can be attacked in the same way.
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Chapter Seven
Drilling the Pins
The good thing about the pins is that you can quite easily, with practice, go from one to another and travel all around the body, allowing you to change pins according to the energy that your opponent feeds you. It is also very disorientating to the opponent when you whiz around his body with consummate ease. Changing from one pin to another needs to be smooth and practised so that, even though you are changing one hold for another, you are in no danger of losing the controlling position. The first thing to address is drilling all of the pins in a sequence that takes you all around the body using all of the aforementioned pins, both left side and right side. To start off with this routine should be done slowly and predictably so that all the tiny details are addressed. Later, after confidence in the holds has been found, you should practice going around the body without partner compliancy.
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Drilling the Pins I am going to list some of the drills that I use and teach for ground pins but, as I always say, nothing is cast in stone and you can change the drills to suit or even make up drills of your own. Eventually, with much flight time, you should feel as though you are floating from one pin to another - keeping body contact with him at all times - with the developed sensitivity you should feel as one with the opponent.
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The Mount Position - Side 4 1/4 (right side) - scarf hold (right side) - Jack-knife - reverse scarf hold-upper 4 1/4 - jack-knife (left side) - reverse scarf hold (left side) - scarf hold (left side) - side 4 1/4 (left side) and back to the mount position.
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Drilling the Pins Keep practising with partner compliancy until you feel confident, then practice the individual pins without compliancy - it is important here that the opponent tries his hardest to escape and ultimately the whole sequence with the opponent trying to escape at every and any opportunity.
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Scarf hold to jack-knife drill; (practised to the left hand or/and right hand side) Scarf hold - jack-knife.
As you move from the scarf hold to the jack-knife loosen the grip around his neck slightly and use your left hand to control his head, as you get into the jack-knife go straight onto your toes and focus all your weight onto your chest, which should be across his face, then jump back into the scarf hold again. Get a rhythm of going smoothly from scarf hold to jack-knife until your have done 10 repetitions of both holds.
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The fan drill; Right Side 4 1/4 - jack-knife - upper 4 1/4 - left jack-knife to left side 4 1/4.
Basically we are going all around the upper part of the opponents body in a kind of fan action. From side 4 1/4 keep your legs straight and on your toes and quickly move right the way around the body going through right jack-knife to upper 4 1/4 to left jack-knife to left side 4 1/4 and then back again. Stay on your toes and keep the movement light, almost hovering just above the opponents body. Go back and forward twenty times using your hands to control the opponents body on the way around.
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Drilling the Pins Drills are very important if you want these techniques to work in the real world, so is un-compliancy on behalf of the opponent in training. As stated, all should be practised initially with a compliant opponent and then tested all-out with an opponent who is trying his utmost to escape. If you do not practice in this way dont be surprised or disappointed when an un-compliant enemy throws you off like a piece of rag because you havent pressure tested what you have. Pressure testing and un-compliancy will develop the right muscles and manipulative strength needed to make the technique real.
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Conclusion
Thank you for reading Volume One of the ground fighting series, the pins are the bedrock. I have also given and hinted at some good finishes, although it goes without saying that control comes before finish if you want to be clinical. These moves need to be practised and re-practised diligently if you want your base to be a solid one to work from, as the great Musashi said (not to me personally): 1,000 days to learn technique, 10,000 days to polish. These techniques are unlikely to work for you unless they become a part of you. The techniques that follow in the rest of the series, escapes and finishes of every kind, also only work on the premise that you have a good solid base from which to work. A finish without a base is like trying to put a gloss of paint over a lump of tree and call it furniture: priming is essential if you want a polished finish but, as they say (its them again) you cant polish a turd, so at the very high risk of over emphasising the point and having people say my goodness that Geoff Thompson repeats himself a bit get the basics right before moving onto the finishes or theyll be about as useful as something really useless.
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Conclusion Experiment, find and make moves up as you go along. As long as they work for you thats good enough. What you dont want to do is use filling techniques that look good but do not have a practical use. Rather, spend your time more constructively on the ones that really do and remember if there is no pressure then there is no guarantee. For techniques on bars, chokes, strangles, fighting from the knees-back etc. please refer to the other five volumes advertised in the back of this text. I wish you all the best with your search for better, more realistic fighting for defence. Knowledge is power: that knowledge can be derived from books, videos, courses, classes, practice etc.
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