Yesterday, I went in for a last training session before my 1st gup exam tomorrow evening. I spent the majority of the class working on my creative self-defense, particularly, my grappling defenses, i.e. defenses that end in a submission hold and/or joint lock.
I've mentioned before that traditionally, the club's requirement to pass my current grade is the formulation of 6 self-defenses, 2 involving weapons, 2 involving multiple attackers, and 2 involving grappling. Typically, this involves conceptualizing certain scenarios and arranging your techniques accordingly.
Now, the head instructors of the club have seen fit with my gradings to alter the requirements. This has to do with the fact that I remain the first person in their school to double-promote three consecutive times (10th to 8th gup, 8th to 6th, 6th to 4th) -- they've tweaked my exams to make things more, shall we say, interesting. In my last exam, I tested for my new Tae Kwon Do andKung Fu ranks at the same time.
This time around, rather than be allowed to work out defense scenarios, I was told my rank test would include what we call "any attack, any defense," which in class is precisely what it says. I won't know what's coming, if weapons will be used, or how many will attack me. I'm subject to the same two ground rules - each opponent must be "finished," and disarmed with me possessing the weapon(s).
So, yesterday as I had various classmates throw all manner of attacks at me, two things became clear which may have positive or negative implications, depending on how you look at it.
First, I seem to instinctively have a preference for evasion over closing the distance and getting the job done. While this may be preferable, it assumes I'll always have enough space to do this in a real life scenario. Plus, it makes me vulnerable to an attacker with a weapon to simply throwing the weapon.
Second, at close ranges, I typically execute quick strikes and takedowns, relying on strikes to vital organs. While the majority of the techniques I use may be effective (My scrappin' days were long over by the time I started martial arts), I've never effectively learned to use techniques in the clinch in a "close-to-real-life" scenario. In "any attack, any defense" scenarios, I simply didn't let people get that close. And, when they did (a hold from behind, for instance) I pretty much focused on shielding myself and waiting for an opportunity to get a strike in somewhere, when perhaps some grappling would've been the answer.
To that end, after class, I camped out at a Barnes and Noble for awhile and sat with the Gracies' (Royce and Charles?) book on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and self-defense. Now, I know what you're thinking. "No way you're gonna pick up anything you're gonna remember come test time." But, all of the grappling techniques I've practiced thus far (in a controlled and structured manner) have been BJJ moves, and most of the ones I noted in the book involve escape moves before the clinch is put on. Plus, they simply build on moves or principles I'm already familiar with.
Hehe... I hope someone tries to half-nelson me ;).
NeppyMan (e-mail)
