One of those people who falls into many of those groups is Kancho Cameron Shayne, creator of Budokon (pictured below). Budokon or "Way of the Spiritual Warrior" in Japanese, is Kancho Shayne's fusion of Yoga and Mixed Martial arts into a powerful conditioning system as well as an effective Mixed Martial Arts format combining Olympic Style Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Kung Fu, Capoiera and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
In talking with Kancho, we discussed how to appropriately get across the Principles of Grappling to our students with particular focus on leverage and angles of force. Through Applied Functional Science and the Principles of Function, I will go over more strategies and techniques that focus on the Chain Reaction Biomechanics of Grappling and Wrestling so that you can go into a situation with more knowledge, so that the application in "live" situations comes much easier.
In the first post on grappling/wrestling, entitled "3-D Movement Focus: Functional Wrestling and Grappling", I went over the Principles of Functional Wrestling and went through one of many strategies for success in the grappling arts. Please refer back to this post, for more info.
As we dive further into Functional Grappling (and I include wrestling), if we have a basic understanding of Chain Reaction Biomechanics and Applied Functional Science, the advantage we have over our opponent grows exponentially.
I will focus on 2 Principles in this post:
- Functional Wrestling/Grappling is 3-Dimensional and Tri-Planar.
- Functional Wrestling/Grappling Deals with Gravity, Ground Reaction Forces, Mass and Momentum.
A few points:
- The body is 3-D, meaning it has height (z axis), width (y axis) and depth (x axis)
- The body also moves in 3-planes of motion
- Sagital Plane - Front and Back
- Frontal Plane- Right Side to Left Side
- Transverse Plane - Right Rotation and Left Rotation
- Within the body, all soft tissues are also 3-D.
- All joints are 3-D
An example focusing on joint locks.....
In the first video below from National Geographics "Fight Science", we are introduced to the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) by Rickson Gracie who is a true master that has never lost a match. Interestingly, in the video, the narrator mentions that BJJ is able to take advantage of anatomical weakness in the body. Let's focus on the Physical Science of Applied Functional Science.When we talk about the body and joints, physically, we are talking about force which is push/pull in a straight forward (Sagital Plane)direction but when we get into the TRANSVERSE PLANE we start talking about TORQUE, which can be force applied in a rotational direction. What we see in this video is that Rickson has taken a joint that is 3-D BUT is relatively UNI-AXIAL, meaning that it mostly moves on one axis. For the elbow, it is mostly in the Sagital Plane and PREDOMINATELY toward flexion or the bicep curl direction. He is taking this joint into the opposite direction or extension thus causing injury. Here's the cool thing: This joint manipulation needs to be secure in the FRONTAL PLANE, that's why we clamp the legs around the arm AND it must be secured in the TRANSVERSE PLANE so that the arm cannot rotate in a direction that will nullify the flexion action. When we finally secure the arm, we apply forces that through the joint. Usually the forces are TORQUE based, much like the arm bar that takes the lever arm at its weak link and applies a rotational force to the joint taking into hyperextension.
All of these joint locks are based on the 3-Dimensionality of the joints and also understanding that some joints are tri-axial, meaning it can move on 3 axes simultaneously like the shoulder and the hip but other joints like the knee and elbow, while they are 3-D, are uni-axial or bi-axial and that's where we learn to exploit the anatomical weakness of the joints. If you study BJJ, some of the first joint locks you learn are the arm bar, Kimura, Americana and as you progress, you can start to learn the knee and ankle locks. Notice that these locks are all joints that ARE NOT tri-axial. Interestingly enough, when we do these joint locks on the elbow and knees, we have to make sure that the joints that are above and below like the shoulder and hip are relatively immobilized or toward their end range of motion. If not, then the person in the lock can effectively wiggle out if they know which way to go. In the first picture, the top man is again using the 3-D joint of the shoulder to lock up his opponent so he can throw the choke in more effectively.
As we think about the first Principle of Functional Grappling, we can literally apply it to anything but like we focus in biomechanics that this action has to take place at the right time and place. If not, we are overworking the situation. My suggestion is to play with different joints IN A SAFE MANNER with your partner to deeply understand the different joint. See where they go but do not limit your focus to that joint. Play with the joint above and below, if applicable. Say to yourself "I have secured the main joint, but can I make this technique more effective by securing the joints above and below as well?"
With the joint locks we are also taking into consideration another Principle of Function that Functional Grappling is GLOBAL and not isolated. HOWEVER, with that in mind, on the other hand, we see that when we want to submit an opponent, we do need to isolate a part of the body like an arm, knee, elbow or neck. When we put our GLOBALLY FUNCTIONAL BODY versus their ISOLATED JOINT, there will be little competition.
An example of focusing on Gravity, Ground Reaction Forces, Mass and Momentum...
Living on Earth, we are all subject to the natural occurring phenomenon. The first is GRAVITY. We can easily see that Gravity is omnipresent. It effects everything from large animals down to the very electrons, protons and neutrons of the world around us. If we do not keep this in mind, and use gravity to our benefit, we are missing out on an AMAZING force that is given for free. It is a powerful force that we can either take advantage of OR it can be used against us to enable an opponent to dominate us. Generally, we prefer the former.
As we look at our bodies, we realize that we have MASS. Mass is the quantity of mass in a body. Specifically, it is the measurement of the inertia or sluggishness that a body, in the absence of friction, exhibits in response to any effort made to start it, stop it or change it an any way its state of motion. When we throw gravity into the mix, we are then talking about WEIGHT.
When one mass comes into contact with another mass, we have a reaction. Sir Issac Newton, in his wisdom, devised Three Laws of Motion. The 3rd Law states that "to every force there is an equal and opposite reaction". When you push on a wall, the wall will push back. When you step on the ground, the ground will push back against you with equal force. We call this GROUND REACTION FORCE (GRF). In Applied Functional Science, we use these GRFst to activate the the kinetic chain of the body that will cause a Chain Reaction that moves joints, activates muscles and soft tissue, etc. When are able to use the GRF to our benefit, we can effectively double the strength that we can exert on an opponent. However, with GRF, we realize points like when an opponent is on top of us, say in the mount position, not only is our mass being pressed onto the ground, their mass is as well. This creates a situation when we have to work twice as hard to work out of positional control like Front or Side Mount instead of staying out of it.
Finally, when we talk about Mass, we cannot forget to talk about MOMENTUM which is defined as MASS x VELOCITY (Speed or distance over time). As we move, our body starts to pick up momentum, as we add to this velocity, the forces that are created can proportionally increase. Imagine being hit by a trunk moving at 5 mph and then a trunk moving 45 mph. Chances are you would get hurt with the bus moving at 5 mph but have a higher possibility of surviving than if a bus moving at 45 mph. I would not advise trying this. However, if you are an MMA fighter, you know that a fast punch thrown by the same guy is going to hurt a lot more than a slower punch. Momentum is great to work with especially during throws and takedowns. In Akido, the principle of "Push-Pull" is based in Momentum Manipulation.
Below is a video of one of my colleagues, Ryan Hall who is an amazing and SMART grappler. I believe he intuitively knows a lot of this but through his own intellectual curiosity has educated himself to the point the he understands more than enough to apply the principles consistently and teach it to others.
In this video, you will see Ryan start out on his feet but then instead of playing "pitty-pat" with his opponent, he decides to observe the Principles of Functional Grappling that deals with GRAVITY, GROUND REACTION FORCES, MASS AND MOMENTUM as well as using all three planes of motion especially the TRANSVERSE PLANE (rotation.) Watch his opening sequence of how he wraps the guy up. From there, we see Ryan using the reverse principle of function that states Functional Grappling is GLOBAL but can be ISOLATED given the situation. He eventually leg locks this gentleman. Unfortunately, Ryans' opponent decided to try to work out of the leg lock and consequently injured his knee. Word to the wise: When someone has a tight leg lock on you, save yourself the pain of a knee injury: TAP OUT!!! When I did a workshop with a few members of the famous Gracie family, someone asked how to get out of a leg lock. Their answer was "DON'T GET IN ONE!!!!" Well, as flippant as that answer was, it makes a lot of sense.
(NOTE: There is something wrong with this video that causes it to move in slow motion, but if you manually shift the timer, forward a bit and then back to the beginning, it will work fine.)
I hope that this all made sense. It was a little more intense than my regular posts and a little longer.
As always, I welcome comments and feedback. You can either leave them in the COMMENTS section or email me at yoga-pilates_will@hotmail.com.
Happy Monday!!!!
Will
No comments:
Post a Comment