Progression in Training

Sumo Semar has just survived being immobilized, cut, having his facial nerves jabbed with steel objects. The encounter left him with 6 stitches. The opponent was...the Dentist.

Here I'll talk about progression in training. Three teachers I've been looking at recently really stand out, Paul Vunak, Geoff Thompson, and Iain Abernethy.



Paul Vunak is a former student of Dan Inosanto and prolific DVD and video maker on Jeet Kune Do applications. Vunak teaches techniques drawn from the eclectic arsenal of Jeet Kune Do, Wing Chun, Kali, Savate, Boxing, Wrestling, and even BJJ.



Geoff Thompson is a former doorman, or bouncer, and now an author and scriptwriter. He's a 6th dan in Karate and 1st Dan in Judo, but now promotes sparring-oriented arts, boxing and grappling as a self-defense solution.



Iain Abernethy is a Karateka in Britain who seems to rebelling against 'traditional' Karate. In fact, Abernethy Sensei says, he's restoring , the traditional purpose of kata, as a living text book and set of training drills for civilian combat.

The three teachers address similar themes. Their teachings highlight the link between martial art and combat training. They're not always the same thing. More on martial art versus combat training later, but for now, let's talk about progression.

They all emphasize a multi-step process.

1. Learn and drill the basic movement.
with or without a partner. If a jab, then train the jab, if osoto gari, then do osoto gari.

2. Move to semi-resistance and possibly semi-contact whilst still drilling the basics. Vunak in his excellent Domog DVD uses the hubud-lubud flow drill moving into different Dumog positions. In Abernethy's class, you'd be doing kihon or two-step sparring with a little resistance.

3. Controlled sparring with protection. In Judo, this stage would be equal to the "50%-90%" Randori concept, where you agree with your partner how hard you'll both go. The protection is the tatami. In Thompson's class, you'd be semi-boxing with a few hits with head gear.

Sumo Semar and Joey-San did this stage in a Krav-Maga boxing class using head protection.

4. Panic drills and pressure testing. This stage is left out of most martial arts, including probably BJJ, Judo, and Sambo. Krav Maga focuses heavily on this stage, designed to induce panic, adrenaline, and the physical feeling of an actual fight. It's a vital phase for self-defense.

The world is a very different place when you're panicking. Your brain reacts differently to a normal state, as does your body.

Sadly, many martial artists simply don't know what this phase is like and go into shock and shut down when it hits them.

Krav Maga probably has the richest armoury of drills and methods for pressure testing, but Vunak, Thompson, and Abernethy are pretty good as well. Drills could include, all out attacks for 30 seconds against multiple opponents, "mugging" simluations, where you're jumped by 2 guys, spinning around for 1 minute then 5 second sparring a line of guys.

But overall, progression is critical to building fighting and self-defense skills.

Progression, I'd argue, is vital to bridging the gap between martial art training and fighting. What's the difference, you ask (if you've stayed with me this long)? That's a subject for future posts.