Nathan and Rob who run Leicester MMA Academy (Leicester Shootfighters) have made a habit of bringing in some excellent fighters to run seminars. To date the gym has hosted Dean Lister, Kenny Johnson, Paul Daley, Ryan Hall and Wanderlei Silva amongst others. Having not been able to attend any of the previous seminars I was pleased to find out that, following his return to Britain, Neil Adams would be delivering a seminar on no gi grappling that I could definitely be at.
I'd had a nudge from Nathan on Facebook that Adams would be at the gym sometime in the future, and as soon as the seminar was anounced I booked my place without further ado. Having trained in Kano Jiu Jitsu years ago, very similar to Judo in it's emphasis on throws & submissions, and being involved with a Judo club through my daughter, I was very much looking forward to training with a top of the tree Judoka and learning what he could bring to the world of no gi grappling and/or MMA.
Neil took the class through an initial warm up focusing on foot movement and balance. Re-balancing would be a theme that we would repeatedly return to throughout the session, emphasising the importance that balance and getting your opponent off balance play in Judo and it's throws. The second part of the warm up was a series of games in which the object was to prevent others from being able to touch your shoulder or back, utilising movement.
Once warm we moved in to clinch range with Neil spending time getting the class to understand the necessity of controlling the head - where the head goes, the body follows, yours and your opponent's. We worked from a head and arm tie, cinching the head tight in to the crook of the arm. From here we worked on breaking balance using movement, particularly foot movement. Neil drew the parallel between the boxer's jab and the foot movement of the Judoka, an interesting way of thinking. We moved from breaking balance to throws, Osoto Gari & Tai Otoshi-type throws. As with all good coaches, it was the details that Neil taught that made the difference between getting a technique and not getting it although some of us - me definitely included - had to be shown more than once before successfully drilling.
Moving from standing through the transition to the ground we began to work to defeat the turtle position from the back. Again, Neil returned to the importance of maintaining balance but this time to ensure you maintain position and don't slip off. Anyone who is aware of his competitive career will know that Neil is famous for his armbar - Juji Gatame, and this is what we worked for from the back. As you'd expect from such a decorated and experienced coach and competitor Neil has so many variations of technique to get from the back to the Juji that it was sometimes difficult to remember what he'd shown, my training partner and I settled on one technique to drill and try to get down. On top of the armbar we learnt some choke variations. Neil ended the session by answering questions on the techniques shown followed by the obligatory photos.
So, what did I take away from this session?
- The oft forgotten importance of Kuzushi - unbalancing the opponent - and the importance of adjusting to correct your own balance.
- Control the head of your opponent as his body will follow.
- Point your head in the direct in which you want your opponent to go (in a throw, obviously!)
- Transition from standing/clinch to ground is where fights can be won or lost - make sure you've got a game for this aspect.
- If you're going for the arm, go for it, hunt it, persist.
- During Juji attempts leg pressure on the head of your opponent will do more to make them release them arm than just trying to pull it free with your upper body.
- Don't forget the brutality, you need to be a little bit brutal (Great quote/piece of advice at the end of the seminar, incongruous coming from such a nice fella).
- You can't learn feel from books, you got to do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment