Block and Shoot Shrimp Escape - Know This!!

Ok, so let's set this up a little, so we have some context. They punched at you, you clinched them, they tried to push off of your shoulders and scoot their hips back, and then you pulled guard. From the guard you get through to stage 5, where they are standing up, trying to walk around to your side. Your foot is up in the air, following them.

All of a sudden, they grab your ankle and swing your leg out of the way, and try to get on top of you by entering from your side.

This is when you use the Block and Shoot Shrimp Escape! You stop their momentum, do some maneuvering, and put them back in your guard.

So, how do we do this?
As they enter, post one hand on their shoulder and the other on their hip. 
Then, swing your legs into them - one with the shin cutting through on their abdomen, the other on their back. 
From there, get your hands in position for head and arm control to stay safe from punches, or them creating any distance.
Then, push your shin off of their legs to back up a little bit.
After that, post that foot on the ground, so that you can shrimp your hips away and get your foot out to wrap around their back, to put them into stage 1.

This move might seem a little complex, but get this down now, you'll see similar motions when we explore the Elbow Escape.

This Block and Shoot Shrimp Escape is very valuable. When you're on the ground and they're trying to get on top of you, this is the move you need, for sure!

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https://youtu.be/v4nZxf6VCeQ

Side Mount to Mount Transition

You are in the Side Mount (aka Side Control). You have prevented them from rolling you off, and they have calmed down, trying to figure out what to do. This is your moment to get into the Mount position, the most dominant position in a fight.

So the Side Mount to Mount Transition is a critical technique to know, to get into the best position. What you have to do is first bring your knees in. Bring one knee in under their armpit. Bring the other knee by their hip. Keep your hands clamped and head down. 

From there, take your knee by their hip, and slide your shin over their lower abdomen. 

Then take the hand that is under their arm out and post it. Why? So if they buck their hips, you still have control and won't get rolled off. 

From there, touch your knee to the ground on the other side, and voila! You are in the Mount position!

The key thing is to stay close, stay low. If you leave too much space, you might get struck or rolled off. 

Sure, there are submissions from the Side Mount, but a good rule of thumb is position before submission. Don't try to chase submissions when they still have a lot of energy. Get into the best position, and let them exhaust their energy.

True Story:
Ryron Gracie submitted me with his Side Mount! His Side Mount control was so heavy and crushing that I had to tap!

So position is key, and that's why in this stage of our Self Defense Training Vlog, we'd rather focus on how to get into the best position against a street fighting attacker. So, learn the Side Mount to Mount transition really well!

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https://youtu.be/eVOqZXdjFhQ

How to Keep the Side Mount - Roll Prevention!

You have the Side Mount (aka Side Control). Now, you have to keep that position. Your attacker is not going to be to happy with you in that position, and may try to roll you off. If you don't know how to stop this rolling, they will get you off of them!

So, from the Side Mount, if they roll in the direction of your "underhook", ie, your arm that's under theirs, you post that arm out. Reach out and plant the palm flat out on the ground.

If they decide to roll the other way, you push from your posted leg, where your sole should be flat on the ground. Incidentally, when they do roll that way, and you push from your posted foot, remember to bring your posted HAND back, clasped onto the neck-hugging hand. Why? It's because it will keep you in tight, and close, and you're able to put more of your body weight on them. 

This is a very effective way to maintain the Side Mount on a street attacker who is unfamiliar with the position and is trying to throw you off. 

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https://youtu.be/gOyJCKfHU7k

How To Do a Side Mount

This is all about getting into side mount, also known as side control. Here we cover some nuances on how to make this a very strong controlling position. 

We just knocked them down with Double Ankle Sweep. Now we want to control the fight and make sure they are not going to get up and start attacking us. So to that end, we run to the side of them, as they start to sit up, we push down on their chest like a push up, lower ourselves down chest to chest, have our left arm under their neck and right arm under their arm, with our hands clasped together (this is if we've run to the left).

We want to make sure our legs are spread, with our right foot's top flat down against the ground. This helps establish a very heavy hip pressure on them. Our left foot is posted, with the bottom of the foot flat against the ground, knee bent. 

Be sure to turn your head away from them to minimize the chance of their hand coming to your face (but if it does happen, we do have a defense against that).

This is a major position in ground fighting. Get this position down solid. 

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https://youtu.be/-PR3IC38tZ4

Trap & Roll From Punches (ie How To Escape the Ground-n-Pound!)

Being mounted by someone in a street fight is the worst place to be. Why? Because when you're on the bottom, if you extend your fist towards them, your range is very limited. When they extend their fist downwards toward your face, not only do they have more range, they also have gravity to their advantage.

When someone punches at you from the top mount position, this is known as the "Ground and Pound". It is critical that you have a plan to get out of there. And let me say this before even going into the technique on how to escape this dangerous situation:
TIMING IS EVERYTHING.

You can know all the steps and details for this escape technique, but if your timing is off, you might not be successful with it. So it's important to immediately recognize the indicator. What is the indicator? The moment they decide to posture up and punch. That posturing moment is when you go after them!

-Shield your face and sit up and hug them tight, wrapping your arms around them and gluing your head to their chest. 
-Push off your feet to bring them down (they will land on their hands, reflexively to avoid their face hitting the ground.
-Then bring your hands on their shoulders and scoot yourself up a little higher. 
-wrap their arm and trap that same side foot.
-you then make your bridge, use your right arm to lift up as you lift your hips and turn over onto your knees.
-stay in close, bring your elbows down and in to suffocate their hips, and keep your head on their abdomen.

The technique works. But the only way to make it work is if you time it right. Let me say it again to emphasize it:
The moment they begin to posture up to throw the punch (ie even before they throw the punch - just sitting up a little bit), that's when you go and hug them!

Practice this one a lot. First just get a feel for the steps and the actual move. Do it slowly. Then, once you are comfortable with the steps, work on the timing of it. 

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https://youtu.be/BqQXTlzx3XM

Open Guard Pass

You've rolled them off you successfully. Now, you are in between their legs. This is called the Open Guard.

Chances are, on the street, the attacker does not know the value of the closed guard. So what you will want to do is make your way past the Open Guard and get into the most dominant position, which is the Mount. 

So to begin, it is important that you hug their hips with your elbows. Keep your head completely down on their stomach and turn it to the side. This way you stay safe from punches. Now when they try to get up, push off of your legs and knock them down. Still keep your torso and head low and connected to them, just buck forward pushing off your legs. 

Once they have calmed down and stopped, that's when we do the actual Open Guard Pass. First, push down their right leg with your left hand. Then slide your knee/shin up their inner thigh - it's okay to keep your ankle connected to their inner thigh. Then take your left arm and slide it behind their neck. Then, post out your right hand (like you do for Hooks and Hands). At this point, if they tried pushing you off, you are too heavy and based out, they will most likely not be able to move you much. Then, just slide your right leg over their left, and get into the Mount position. 

It is important to stay low and close to them the whole time. Any time there is space, that's generally an opportunity for them to either strike or throw you off, which means you could lose control, or worse yet, get injured by strikes. So stay in close! 

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https://youtu.be/DBjjrfPOPsg

Trap & Roll Against a Mounted Choke!

In a fight, the goal is to get the top position once the fight goes to the ground. The problem is that things don't always go according to plan. Against a larger attacker, you are likely to end up on the bottom of the mount position, which is the worst place you can get stuck in a fight. From this position, the attacker can strangle you, and you cannot effectively strike back. You will most likely panic, and flail around and exhaust yourself. 

The Trap and Roll technique is a simple and reliable way to remove your opponent from being on top of you. 

So, your opponent chokes your neck. Make sure to trap their hand, arm, and leg all at once. Bridge your hips high, roll over your shoulder, and bring your knees underneath you. The most common error is too roll sideways, instead of keeping the bridge up as you roll (which will send you to an angle.

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 https://youtu.be/-ksdYehUKqk

Figure 4 Lock Submission Technique

It's time to end this fight, and gain full compliance from the attacker. You've neutralized the attack by clinching, and taking them to the ground, you've neutralized all of their attempts to get you off of them, but yet, they are still not complying, so now we need to end this fight and gain compliance from them.

Since we just did Hooks and Hands, we are perfectly set up for the Neck Hug Figure 4 Lock. It's also sometimes known as The American Key Lock, or The Americana.

In this particular variation, we keep in our leg hook and neck hug. With the other hand (that was the posting arm) starts punching them on the ear. We are not necessarily punching to cause damage, although if we do, it is a self defense situation. But our goal is for them to raise their arm up to protect their ear/head. When they do, we pin that raised arm (with our hand that was punching) to the ground, we feed to to the other hand (who's arm is currently wrapped around the back of their neck). We then take the once punching hand, bring it under their tricep/bicep area, and grab onto OUR OWN wrist.

Now, from there, this part is very important, in order to make the technique work. You must un-loop your neck hug arm from around their neck, and land it right next to their head. 

Now you're ready to do the submission. Turn your face away, so they can't eye gouge you. Press their arm into the ground, pull their arm down (with your hands), while you lift their elbow up with your forearm. This will cause a shoulder dislocation/torn rotator cuff. They will be forced to give up.

Hold them their until you gain compliance. 

When practicing with partners, please make sure your partner taps on you to release. And of course, make sure to respect the tap, and release them.

This is a fantastic and quick submission technique that allows you to still maintain control with the leg hook. I say this because some submissions require you to momentarily transition out of a control mechanism in order to make the give up through pain compliance.

Be sure to really drive your hip into them on the side of your leg hook, that way they cannot roll you off. 

Have fun with this one, it's really effective!

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https://youtu.be/z7K4nGNsqVo

Hooks & Hands! Keep the Mount!

So now that you've gotten the mount by perhaps a Leg Hook Take Down, you have to keep the mount. They may try to push you side to side to roll you off. Remember, they are bigger, stronger, heavier, more athletic, and crazy aggressive! So using your hooks and hands is a good way to keep the mount position in just such a case.

The "hooks" refers to your leg hooking inside theirs. The key to this is to drive your hip pressure downward. That leg that does the hook, the same side arm wraps around the back of their neck, while the other hand posts out. Your attacker will feel like you weigh 300 lbs! When they push from the other side, you simply switch everything to the other side (leg hook, neck wrap, and posting arm)

Honestly, changing the posting out arm and the neck hug is not all that necessary. You could keep that in one position, and just let your leg hook do the work, if they push from one side then the other. The arms/hands are basically reinforcements.

But, to train mobility, lets go ahead and drill everything changing when you get pushed from the other side. 

Talk about getting comfortable with the closeness! I realize that this might be a little uncomfortable to do at first because of how close you are with your partner, however, when you have your partner legitimately try to push you off, HARD, you will very quickly be grateful for this technique because it just works! 

From here, the attacker might not know what to do, and might just give up!! In UFC 1, Royce Gracie defeated Art JImmerson by simply mounting him! No Ground & Pound, no submission, just by trapping him in the mount position!

So drill this mount control position well. It addresses  one of the many predictable things people will do when you get on top of them.

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https://youtu.be/DoXoMEcC_2c

High Swim (From the Mount)

After you get the mount (probably from a clinch and a takedown), there's a pretty good chance the attacker will try to push you off. One way is that they may try to push your shoulders.

Now, if you lock up, they will succeed getting you off of them. But, if you turn your shoulders and swim one arm through and then the other, you will successfully neutralize that attempt. 

You also should bring your knees up a little, and go heavy on their hands, almost like a cat that doesn't want to be picked up. Bear your weight on their hands, swim one arm through their arms AS YOU TURN YOUR OTHER SHOULDER AWAY, just like the motion for swimming, and then bring the other one through.

Once you've done that, spread your arms and get lower. They'll either give up, or change tactics, which are completely predictable. 

It's a simple, yet highly effective maneuver. 

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https://youtu.be/IyXd5kFCazc

Rear Naked Choke - Weak Side

So after you've taken the back, and you have a back mount position with an over-under clinch, sometimes, you might fall to what is called the "weak side". 

Let's rewind for a second, here. So the over-under clinch means you have one arm (let's say your right arm), over their (right) shoulder, and the other arm (your left arm) under their (left) arm. Both your hands are clamped together, pressing against their body.

So the "weak" side is the underhook side, which, in our example, is the left side. There's an issue here, in trying to do the Rear Naked Choke - your left arm is trapped!! So, we have to go through a process of freeing that arm, with minimal chance of them escaping.

What we do is we bring our right arm under their neck to grab their shoulder and pull them up... also, you use your right leg (which is hooked inside their right leg), and pull their leg back at the same time of pulling their shoulder up. This increases the possibility of moving them enough to get your arm out. 

Now that you're able to move them enough to get your arm out, slide your left arm UNDER your right arm, which crossed their neck to grab the shoulder, and let them drop into your left arm. This way, there is no gap in the transfer.

From there, your left arm grabs your right bicep, your right arm adjusts their chin to line up with your (left) elbow,  then your right hand enters behind their neck with the palm facing towards you (so they can't pull it down), then you turn your palm onto their head, and squeeze with your left arm.

Partners, make sure to tap, and people doing the technique, make sure to please release the grip after they tap. 

Please exercise great safety and caution when training this technique. 

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https://youtu.be/1O99X3W_ABk

Rear Naked Choke - Strong Side

The Rear Naked Choke is one of the most amazing submissions moves, ever. No one is impervious to it! No matter how big or strong you are, everyone will go to sleep when their carotid arteries are constricted! 

This one is done when after you've taken their back, you are on the "strong side". What this simply means is that when you've taken their back, you've done an "over-under clinch", which means, one of your arms is over their shoulder, and the other is under the other arm. 
So from this position, you are on the "Overhook" side (which is the side that your arm is over their shoulder"). 

So first, just hold onto the clinch, let them settle down. Let them struggle a little. Then slap on the Rear Naked Choke. 

To put on the choke:
-your weak side, meaning the undertook side, grabs their arm and presses it close to their body. This is so that arm doesn't come loose and try to undo anything. 
-at the same time, your overlook side extends and wraps around their neck, grabbing your own bicep area.
-then, free your underhook/grabbing arm by pulling it back quickly
-then with either palm or fist, adjust their chin to line up with your elbow of your choking arm (this way you will be able to put direct pressure on the carotid arteries).
-then take the hand that just adjust the chin and bring it behind their head, palm side facing you when entering in the back.
-and finally, turn that palm forward, and squeeze with your bicep and forearm while simultaneously pushing down from they back of their head.

Count to 10 seconds, they should be getting a little limp, and once you feel that, count 7-10 more seconds to make sure they won't get up right away. That way they will be unconscious for enough time for your to make your escape.

Other stats - holding the choke for upto 30 seconds can cause brain damage, and 60 or more seconds can be fatal. So please exercise caution when training with your partner, make sure to tap, and respect the tap, and release. And in an actually self defense situation, use your judgement on how long you want to hold for. That's a decision you're going to have to think about and make. I'll talk more on this in our next video, which is the RNC from the Weak Side!

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https://youtu.be/K3CPvE1mEoc

Taking the Back

This is one of THE MOST IMPORTANT POSITIONS I can ever show you in self defense!! 

When you have the mount, which is the most dominant position on the ground, if you start raining down strikes to your attacker face, there's a good chance that they will roll over on to their knees and expose their back to you.

Once they have expose their back, then you literally TAKE THE BACK! You insert your legs inside theirs (these are called "leg hooks"), have one arm over their shoulder, and another under their arm, and both your arms are clinched onto them, you have successfully taken their back. Be sure to have your head close in, to one side.

This is a very effective control position, because there is very little damage they can actually do to you. You are also in a very good position to choke them out! 

Get yourself really used to this Taking the Back action. It is sometimes called the "Back Mount". Those leg hooks and the over-under clinch position happen all at once! The moment their back is exposed, go right into it without hesitation!

There's a good chance that the attacker will be flailing around trying to get out. Just hold tight, keep your head in close, and let them go crazy and exhaust their energy. This is purely a control position. 

Sometimes, when you roll to the side, your arms might come loose - don't let it! Keep them in close. If there's looseness in the arms, they could escape, so keep the arm wrap snug and close. 

Don't forget to modify your mount after your ground and pound, by the way. After you start raining down the strikes, it will make them roll to the side, and if you don't modify your mount, there's a chance they could roll you right off! So modify that mount, put the weight on your hands, then take the back!

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https://youtu.be/orwTZu_iejE

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the World of Martial Arts

Artificial Intelligence and Martial Arts

ReleasedFeb 18, 2018

Does AI have an application in the world of martial arts? How soon before Skynet makes terminator models that can do a triangle choke? We talk about all that and more this episode.

Listen on iTunes:
 https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/austin-kung-fu-academy-podcast/id1341360579?mt=2

Listen on SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/akfapodcast/akfa-podcast-episode-004-artificial-intelligence-and-martial-arts

Leg Hook Takedown

So after you get the attacker in a clinch, they will do a number of predictable behaviors. One of them is to stop, after they are moving around, trying to shake you off. Eventually, they realize that they can't get you off, so they stop squirming for a moment.

That moment where they stop is your opportunity to do a Leg Hook Takedown. It is an incredibly effective move to take someone to the ground, and mount on top of them.

The ground gives you a significant position of leverage. Now, obviously, if there are weapons involved, or there is more than one attacker, you don't do this. 

But in the case of a one on one attack, and the person is much bigger, heavier, stronger, more athletic, and more aggressive than you, this is the best place to take them. From the ground, we can neutralize their aggression, and let them exhaust their energy.

One of the things you want to make sure you do is that set up step in between their feet, forming a triangle between your feet and theirs. That will give you the base and stability to take your other leg, and chop their outside leg back.

It is critical that you step out and forward with that same leg that chopped, to break the fall, and slow down the descent downwards. If you don't do that, the speed of the fall might cause you to get rolled off, ending up on the bottom. So step out and slow that fall down. It is also safer for your partner.

Partners, it is important that you just hold onto their back/shoulders under their arms, and gradually and slowly make your way down. It is a very slow and controlled descent downward - there should be absolutely NO injuries when you do this, because the takedown is so very gentle.

Once your partner is going down, put the weight down on your foot that you stepped out with, and make your way down into the mount position, where you are straddling on top of them. This is the most advantageous position in a fight.

The goal is to stay close. You are safer when you are close. If there's a little bit of space, they can either escape, flip you over, or strike at you.

Learn this one well, it is a classic self defense takedown technique!

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https://youtu.be/OvKaty7A1zg

Plum Blossom Double Ended Staff Core Form

The Plum Blossom Double Ended Staff Core Form is a stout little set that has a lot of key staff concepts. 

First of all, it is done with a "double ended grip". That means both of your palms are facing downward when you grip it, kind of like motorcycle handles. This way you can slide the staff and use all parts of it.

So let's get into the main techniques here:
Hong - this is like a big blocking technique with the middle of the staff.
Lah - this is an out-to-in low sweep-strike. The motion is almost like hitting a hockey puck. The way I like to remember the name is, "La la! I scored a goal!" (I know, I'm strange, lol)
Pah - this is an in-to-out low sweep-strike. The motion is almost like paddling a canoe. The way I like to remember the name is, "I'm Pah-ddling the boat!" (lol)
Saht - this is a downward slamming/smashing hit. Pretty powerful stuff.

There are others, but those four are some of the biggies. When we get into the full form, I'll have a more comprehensive list of names with descriptions.

So, yeah...watch out for that twist step-Pah, cross step-overhead twist, into horse stance-Don Lon...that's a tricky move. And the follow up jump, turn, into the overhead block (if you've done the Breaking Holds Core Form, you're somewhat familiar with this mechanic).

Really punch the staff downward when you do the Saht technique, you can get a rattan wooden staff to bend, the way you see me doing it in the video. It takes a little practice to get that wobble, but keep at it. You are sending your energy through the staff, with just the right snap and pop to make it happen.

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https://youtu.be/RhIefDYNi4Q

Five Animals Core Form

So this is our first episode of our Forms Training Vlog! We're starting it all off with the Five Animals Core Form.

Ok, so first things first. Let's talk about what a "core form" is. At Austin Kung-Fu Academy, a core form is a short section of a longer, full form. This short section tends to represent some key movements and principle of the form that make it unique, compared to the other forms.

So now, let's talk about the Five Animals! 
So, this is mainly what you see in more of the Southern Kung-Fu styles like Choy Lay Fut and Hung Gar: Tiger, Crane, Panther, Snake, and Dragon. There are other animals, for sure, such as the Eagle, Monkey, Praying Mantis, etc. 

So what we do is we take some of the attributes of the animals, and apply it to combat. We don't necessarily try to "act" like the animals. Rather, we try to understand the energy of that animal, and use it to enhance our combat skill. 

Let's break it down:
Tiger - Strength and Courage
Crane - Balanced and Calm
Snake - Accurate and Adaptable
Panther - Speed and Agility
Dragon - Internal Power and Spirit

So we take these attributes and apply them to our movements. It is often thought that the Animal Styles were all about different postures that resembles the animal. That can be part of it, but the way it is expressed more in Choy Lay Fut is taking the character of the animals and applying it in our execution of any of our techniques. 

Let's apply this to a basic straight punch:
Tiger - Give the punch good physical strength.
Crane - Make sure you have good balance in your stance when you punch to maximize its effectiveness.
Snake - Make sure you aim precisely with your punch, don't let it waver or wobble around.
Panther - Give your punch good speed.
Dragon - Make sure to exhale from your gut when you punch, you could even let out a yell.

So all of those animal attributes can be applied to one single technique. 

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https://youtu.be/rgJ6RDjnP3E

Armbar from the Guard

In street self defense situations, it is very common for the attacker to extend their arm towards their target, as either a strike or a grab.
In the instance that it is a grab or an attempted choke, they are inadvertently giving us the opportunity to do an armbar on them, depending on the position.

In this case, it is from the Closed Guard, where they are in between our legs in Stage 1. They somehow managed to sneak their arms through, and start posturing up and choking us. 

To this end, we grab the same side hand/wrist, hook the other hand under their leg, spin like a turtle on it's back 90 degrees, bring the other leg around and over the back of their neck. Once you are their, you pull your leg-grabbing hand back to grab their arm with both of yours. Bring their arm south, making sure their thumb side is facing up. Then, simultaneously, bridge your hips up while pulling their arm downwards with your hands. 

And THAT is the Armbar from the Guard! Go slowly with your partner, this joint lock happens pretty fast. Think about it - it is your whole body putting pressure on their elbow, as you are pulling down their arm like a lever. It is a VERY powerful technique. In fact, you can see Royce Gracie apply this in UFC 2 against Jason DeLucia!

The Armbar is a joint lock submission that UFC fighter Ronda Roussey was famous for. She won a good number of her fights with the Armbar, and was known as "The Arm Collector"!

But sport--fighting aside, it is a tremendously effective self defense technique that everyone should have in their toolbox. Anytime someone is in your guard and they extend their arm, take it and break it! We did it in the form of a choke, but it could have been a shirt grab, a neck crank, a hair grab, really, anything that has their arm extended. 

The challenging part is getting that 90 degree angle turn on your back. Practice that, once you get better and better at it, it will become easier.

When you are being the partner, spread your knees out kind of wide with a strong base, because it is very easy to get knocked over when they swing their other leg around.

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https://youtu.be/qvVodtaE7S0

Double Ankle Sweep (Kick Variation)

The Double Ankle Sweep, and in particular, this variation is sometimes referred to as the "Kick Variation", is a great way to knock someone down who's in your guard, and decides to try to pick you up and choke/slam you. 

In order to do this, the attacker has to first bring their feet up by your sides (around waist or rib level). Then, they start lifting their hips to pick you up off the ground.

When you feel that, you actually should hold on for a moment, to make them think they will be accomplishing this, which then gets them to commit more to it. 

Once their hands have gotten inside to choke you, and/or you've gotten off the ground an inch or so, RELEASE the head and arm control guard position, and simultaneous grab both ankles (thumbless grip, and get your feet on their hip flexors.

You may just want to train that portion, to develop the sensitivity to that indicator. Once you feel comfortable getting into the position, then we do the actual sweep/takedown. 

What the sweep/takedown requires is you pulling on their ankles, pushing with your feet on their hip flexors simultaneously. Once you have chopped them down, it is important that you do the Technical Get-Up, which is basically putting your hands on one side of you, slightly behind you, putting your weight on them, and shooting your legs back. This is also known as "Base Get Up" or "Getting Up in Base".

It's a very real possibility that someone might get themselves in that position while in your guard, and their objective might not be to choke, or slam you, but rather, to strike you. The advice here is is to block your face, and when you feel the moment is right, to quickly grab their ankles and insert your feet. It will instantly put them on the defensive. 

Note for the training partner - practice your backwards break falls. To do a backwards break fall, you squat, roll back, slap the mat/floor with your palms down, arms extended, and keep your head up, not connecting with the floor. 

So please go slowly with your partner, especially if they are not used to doing backwards break falls. 

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Guard Stages 2, 3, 4, & 5

In self defense situations, always assume the attacker wants to punch you, that they want to damage you with strikes. Developing this mindset from the start of your training will help develop a foundation that you can rely and depend on, if you are in a (heaven forbid) a violent situation.

It is somewhat naieve to think that you will have self defense reflexes when you don't practice self defense movements. So this Guard Stages concept, in the world of self defense, is a non-negotiable. 

I've heard that some people who practice grappling oriented martial arts never learned this, and ended up getting beaten up in a street fight, because the reflexes that they had been training was all sport oriented, and did not translate very well in a street situation.

So here, we start from the Guard Stage 1 position, which we covered in another video. Now, if they:
-Decide to try to punch your ribs, you insert your shins and put them in Stage 2.
-Decide to posture up and punch, you help them up, put your feet on their hips, bridge up, and cover your face without blinding yourself., which is Stage 3.
-Decide to stand up and try to take shots at you, help them up, put your feet on their hip flexors, and shield your face (keep your hips down). Which is Stage 4.
-Decide to detach from Stage 4 and try to get past  your legs, you put one foot down (of the direction they are moving), and one foot up pointed towards them like a radar. If they switch directions, you switch your feet position! This is Stage 5
-(BONUS!) Decide that they can't get past your legs, they try to go back in and try to smash on you, you insert both feet on their hips, and put them back into Stage 4. 

From any of the Guard Stages positions, if they bear their weight down, gradually bring them back down into Stage 1. Especially when it comes to Stage 4 - DO NOT JUST OPEN YOUR LEGS TO BRING THEM BACK INTO STAGE 1!! They may fall down and smash into you. Bend your legs,  and gradually bring them into Stage 1. 

So you must learn to feel where their energy is. Chances are, when they are in the Stage 2, 3, and 4 positions, to get any real leverage behind their strikes they have to swing it a little more laterally, to do damage. When they realize they can't reach you, they will bear their weight down to try to get closer to you to strike. When that happens, that downward pressure is what you want to be aware of, and that is when you lower them down back into Stage 1.

So this concept and drill builds your sensitivity. Go slowly with it, and start with this order of the Stages:
1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 4, 1, 4, 5, 4, 1

What this means is that your partner needs to set up for the next stage with the striking orientation, and then, bear the weight down to go back to Stage 1. 

Once you are feeling pretty comfortable with that order, then mix it all up! Develop the reflexes and sensitivity to the different positions.

Have fun with this! This is the strategy we use to exhaust the attacker! Our first priority is to stay safe from punches! Then our second objective is to let the attacker exhaust himself. It is only after that, that we then think about end the altercation with a submission. 

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