Drilling for the pace of a street fight

[msh]

Burton in the trapping thread you stated that: " The key is that most attackers will be attacking. There is actually a better chance of using quick traps in sparring because of the pacing. People move around with hands up, there is a back and forth rhythm. A street fight is usually all-out, no pacing, very wild". My question is should training for the street
use a differnt drilling structure than the ring? Should we practice more at
having someone attacking us wildly with constant pressure over say
kickboxing . Does the rythm of the street fight  change everthing, in all
ranges? Is there time to really "set up " a technique in the street?
I am very interested in your opinions in this, as to having a lifetime of
combat sport experience what should I change the most about preparing
for the unprediactable awkard rythm of the street attack and the chess
match of competition?

                       Thanks,  Shane

[Jeff Rockwell]

When I've heard Burton talk about their sparring sessions in the past, he said sometimes they'll gear up and go at 100 % all out intensity - for about 1 or 2 minutes max.  That way, there is no "saving energy for later in the round" or anything like that.  You are just training to hit and grapple as hard and as fast as you can to finish the fight right away.

Obviously, you can't train that way every day without getting injured, but definitely a great way to reproduce that all-out intensity of a "street" altercation.  He has other methods as well to mimick surprise attacks, etc.  When I become a little less competition oriented, I will be sure to include these types of scenarios in my training.

[Burton]

Excellent question MSH, and thanks for responding Jeff.  As Jeff noted, we will do rounds of sparring or focus mitt training at short, all-out intervals.  This gives a very different feeling, as you really can't set much up as there is constant movement.  The key is to start attacking and keep the opponent on the defensive as long as possible.  As Jeff said, the fast, hard sparring is only done occasionally, with a partner you trust, with full protection.  You can use the short burst training princiiple in pummelling, grappling, whatever range you like to get that fast paced-feeling.  Aloha!

[msh]

Thankyou very much Burton and Jeff. It is nice to see that I am thinking
along the same lines as you guys. Burton do you have any DVD's that
address this area of drilling? As a side note Burton I think that you
have the best balance between the hard core reality self defense experts
and the MMA crowd when it comes to real self defense training.

   Thanks - Shane

[Kentao5]

Hi all, one drill that I have found to be helpful, is to have a diminishing time game.  I have one person designated as the attacker, and give the person being attacked 30 seconds to neutralize the situation.  This is then repeated with time subtracted in 5 second increments.  It eliminates the "comfort zone" of a 1 or 2 minute round.
Later, Ken

[Bill Cogswell]

Great thread!!!

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a great drill Kentao5. I will be trying it the next time I train .

                Thanks. Shane

[Kentao5]

Shane, Remember to have good attackers.  One thing I have found a little difficult, is to get the attacker to be a "good" bad guy!
Ken

[msh]

Thanks again Kentao5. In what way have you had difficulty in having a
good bad guy? The main problem I have is that my training partners
often will revert back to their training and not give me the more frenzied
street pace. I must admit that after years of combat sports in various arts
that the wild nature of the street assault knocks me off my game more
than I would like to admit. As a matter of fact I do better against my
partners when they break back into thier stlyle of fighting than I do when
they replicate the street attack. Any thoughts?

           Thanks , Shane

[Morné]

HI Shane,

Years back we used to do allot of KickBoxing. I found the guys pace themselves, work according to rounds, time etc. I have been working at nightclubs for 4 years now between Some of the Wildest Areas in Johannesburg to Durban. I have never witnessed or experienced a paced fight. So we get back to'the way you train is the way you fight' mentality. I started making changes in the Kickboxing Rounds by having them doing sparing 'sprints' between the rounds. This worked really well as now the guys were doing their rounds and getting that quick 10 to 20 second all out burst. I still use this performance drill as i feel it has got it's place in our training guidelines. There are several other Performance drills i like to use to enhance the performance of my athletes to get them used to the ambush and high resistance pressures of a real street Fight. One that must be one of my favourites is called the Gauntlet. And there are various options in this performance drill.I will try my best to explain one of them The Basic one is getting all your guys to make two lines facing eachother. Depending on the level you want to take it to usually everybody has got 12Oz or more gloves on with mouthpieces. You nominate who walks through the gauntlet first (usually yourself )  The person walks through doesn't have any gloves on only a mouthpiece and/or headgear depending on the level you want to take it to. As he get's ready to walk through you nominate without letting the person i.e 'Victim' who is walking through know who is going to attack.  You can then even isolate it to determine what kind of attacks can be used to initiate the ambush i.e WIld Swing, Shoot, Tackle, Wild Punches and then later on keep it free for any attack. The first round the aim can be to control the attacker and mount him as quick as possible. So the 'victim' will walk through the Gauntlet not know who is going to attack and when /Where.  I usually count to 10 once the fight lands on the ground to give the 'victim' a short space of time to mount his 'attacker'. The 'attacker' will then become the 'victim' This is a fun drill which brings out the best in everyone !
As i said there are various options to this drill, i am hoping to produce a DVD series this year where one volume will just be dedicated to Performance Drills/Conditioning for the street.

Enjoy !

Regards
Morné

[Jeff Rockwell]

cool drill, Morne, I like that one.

[msh]

Morne that sounds like an awesome drill. I can't wait to play with it !

     Thanks, Shane

[Anonymous]

Agreed, Morne, what a drill!
anymore you wouldnt mind sharing?

Chris

[Burton]

The Gauntlet is a great drill!  Kentao's method of reducing the timed rounds sounds like a great idea too.  Thanks for that.
   Morne will put out a great DVD on the Performance Games.  These are the key to successful training.  
    Another great game is the Ambush Game.  Similar to the gauntlet, but everyone walks around the room, and anyone can attack anyone else at any time.  Like the gauntlet, we can either specify which attacks are "allowed" in the game, or let it go free.  This is really fun.  Of course, we control the intensity of the attacks as well, but it does take you out of the pacing of sparring.   Aloha!

[msh]

How, if any does training at  a street pace and with those tactical
priorties change the way you train on the ground and what tactics do  you
like?

                    Thanks, Shane