set and unset work

There are a lot of "set" drills in FMA....hubud, cadenas dos manos , sombrada, the modules of Bram Frank, etc. I do them with my students...a lot. Both sides have set roles and movements. We also do the kind of drilling we did last night, which is unset, or partially set.  I.e., working at 50 % pressure, one person opens with an attack, it is blocked, he traps, and continues until he lands a significant blow. The defender can parry as he pleases, but can not counter.  This lets the attacker focus on flowing until he lands a hit, but since the parries are not predetermined, this forces him to stay in the moment.  Now put an implement, knife, cell phone, travel wrench, cane, in the mix (use protective gear, and practice weapons).  Suddenly trapping makes more sense...why hit with the rear hand when the lead has a force multiplier.  We do the same with Tony Blauer material, ie flinch to spear to ?????with a cell phone sub in hand...I think that the set drills are a good way to acquire skills, and practice them, but you also need to step outside them, and unset drills are a good bridge to totally free work.

stay off the ground in a self-defense situation.

I just posted this in response to an Acadamie Duello video of a street fight. Literally. 2 guys rolling around on the freaking street.  Guy number one gets on top and is enjoying handing out a few recreational elbows from the mount.  Guy number 2 is not enjoying anything. Suddenly a woman bystander (G2's mother?) steps in, kicks G1 to the head. He goes from on top to out cold. No clue, no chance. This is my comment

stay off the ground, stay off the road (cars deliver a terrific knockout), stay alert. Here's a fun drill for 3 people. 1 person is the learner., get in the standard ground positions, mount, guard, 1/2 guard, side mount, sit out...work your techniques, Your partner (person number 2) resists. Person number 3 at some point calls out in, 1, 2, 3...you have 3 seconds to disengage, and be ready to engage person number 3. Person number 2 will hold on as much as possible. Good luck
Here's another variation, instead of calling in, person number 3 drops a practice knife, or a piece of foam that simulates a rock, or broken bottle near, or on the grapplers. Finally, just have person number 2 conceal a practice knife in a pocket, or in a boot, and try to access it while person number one is hitting, or trying to get a submission. Person number one...notice where the hands are going....if you are hitting someone, why would they take a hand away from the protective position....? Learn to feel the movements of someone accessing a weapon (other places of concealment that have i seen are kidney conceal ( clipped in the back, dominant hand side, roughly over the kidney), neck carry, front or back, hilt down up the sleeve of the non dominant arm.

back to swimming....whee

Back to swimming, 1800m, and water martial arts....there is something so reviving about the water, and doing martial arts in water allows you to work power without the jarring of bagwork....now that i am swimming and doing DMA (Drowning Man Arnis), i am also back to more focused strength work. Today I did 25 minutes of one arm long cycle, 12 kbell, switching every 4 reps. I got 250 reps, with a bit of a sprint at the end...so 10 rpm. I plan to work up to 1 hour in five minute increments. I would like to do one of  the long cycle charity events. That is the plan, subject, as my dad used to say, to change. You need to have a plan, but you also need to be able to reassess it...is it too challenging, not challenging enough, too time consuming (my time will change when i retire that is why one hour long cycle is possible)