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Hey boys and girls,
I am a newbie instructor, and would love to hear some of your favorite drills. They can be striking, self defense, stress, cardio, whatever. I want to start bringing some fresh stuff into our school to shake it up a bit.Thanks in advance,
PhilthumbsupRe: Looking for your favorite drills
One that we do that is killer is a drill to train the idea of aggressiveness and moving forward. One student holes a tombstone pad and is the “target”. A second student holds a body shield and is there to protect the target by bumping and blocking. The third student is the attacker and is trying to hit the target but he cannot hit the student with the body shield. This one is a killer. After a min. I’m dead.
Re: Looking for your favorite drills
Another variation of that same theme is the “target” holds the punch shield, the “striker” starts about 7-10 feet away. A third person holds a belt around the striker’s waist. When the drill begins, the striker tries to get to the target while the other person is pulling them back with the belt.
We usually do this one with the music blaring and the lights off, it is a killer. Makes your legs feel like jello….
Re: Looking for your favorite drills
Thanks guys. This is exactly the type of stuff I’m looking for. Keep it up!
Re: Looking for your favorite drills
My favorite is the “circle” drill, usually done with full contact and sparring gear. We do it with the intermediate class, our beginners don’t spar until around 6 months in the system.
Class is broken up into groups of ~10, with students asked to separate themselves into “heavy” or “light” contact preference.
Everyone in the circle picks a number, then a defender steps in the middle and gets ready to fight. It helps if the defender closes their eyes and the groups shuffles a bit before starting so the attackers aren’t in numerical order.
The instructor(s) then call out numbers at random, about 5 seconds apart. The corresponding attacker charges in, being careful to avoid punches to the back of the head, and the two go at it for ~5 seconds, until the instructor calls out the next random number, and so on. In this drill only 1 vs 1, the old attacker can’t pummel the defender after the new number is called.
Even better is when a knife or whatever weapon is distributed among the attackers, so the defender, under great stress, has to identify when the attacker is using a knife and not charging in with a punch or a kick.
Very stressful drill and creates a lot of failure for first timers. But the more we do this, the more we are able to pick out the knife, gun, stick, whatever, and deal with that deadly threat through the haze of stress and fatigue. I dig it!
Re: Looking for your favorite drills
My favorite is the Gauntlet. It’s a little complicated, so I created an animation to help explain it. See below…
http://donbruns.net/images/gauntlet_anim.gif
Basically, it works like this…
1. The student gets attacked in a grab, choke, or bearhug by the designated attacker.
2. The student defends against the grab and then counter-attacks until the attacker is neutralized.
3. The student then runs through a column of 8 to 12 pad-holders, who are blocking his/her movement.
4. Once the student has burst past the blockers, the student attacks a pad-holder, throwing punches/kicks/palm-strikes at the pad for about 30 seconds.
This is a great aggression drill. Students love it, especially at the end of class when everybody is worn out.
Enjoy!
Re: Looking for your favorite drills
induced dizziness incorporated into existing drills thumbsup
further to follow…
Re: Looking for your favorite drills
I really like the aggression drills already described where one guy tries to keep you away from the pads, or multiple attackers with pads, knives etc and you have to keep fighting them off until you get the signal. Always a killer!
Re: Looking for your favorite drills
quote DonBruns:My favorite is the Gauntlet. It’s a little complicated, so I created an animation to help explain it. See below…http://donbruns.net/images/gauntlet_anim.gif
Basically, it works like this…
1. The student gets attacked in a grab, choke, or bearhug by the designated attacker.
2. The student defends against the grab and then counter-attacks until the attacker is neutralized.
3. The student then runs through a column of 8 to 12 pad-holders, who are blocking his/her movement.
4. Once the student has burst past the blockers, the student attacks a pad-holder, throwing punches/kicks/palm-strikes at the pad for about 30 seconds.
This is a great aggression drill. Students love it, especially at the end of class when everybody is worn out.
Enjoy!
Love the graphic for explanation!thumbsup
Re: Looking for your favorite drills
. Well done, Bruns. How do I make that into an animated avatar?
Re: Looking for your favorite drills
Hey thanks for the kind words. I had a rare moment of boredom at work, hence the animation.
Christian, I’m not sure how to make that an avatar. But I like the way you think. Hell, I couldn’t even get the image to show on the page. So you’re obviously way ahead of me. =)
I owe you an email or three. I’ll holla back at you soon!
Re: Looking for your favorite drills
We do a thing from time-to-time called “A/B all day”. Basically, when the class first pairs-up for pad or mitt work we designate one partner A and the other B. For the entire duration of class, whenever we call “A” the As must go grab a tombstone or kickshield and the Bs perform a continous combative. Kicks, punches, knees, etc. If “B” is called, then the roles are reversed.
Re: Looking for your favorite drills
Hey Don,
I just wanted to let say that I used the “Gauntlet” last night with great success. I had 16 students, and set it up as a bar-room scenario. Ya know: getting attacked and defending, having to fight your way out of the bar, then getting into it with one last a$$hole in the parking lot. I had two rows going, and my class absolutely loved it! Thanks again for the awesome suggestion.
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