Day three CFIC
Bonjour,
So I’ve just finished the third day of the combat course which is the fourth day of training on the trot for Tibor and I. People are already getting the zombie shuffle from all of the impact and work on striking and sparring. It’s really funny to watch and I was having a good giggle about it this morning right up till I realised I was also part of this newly formed undead horde…
Fortunately Eyal knows when to push people and when to go easy on aching bodies. We started working on handling weapons in a fight wether they are blunt or sharp objects. It’s really interesting stuff as I’ve trained in Eskrima before and this was the Krav Maga take on the subjects. Eyal made us work on the basics from scratch before taking us into the more advanced depths of the subject. Different types of strikes and ways of holding the weapon were used as well as controlling the opponents weapon and even sacrificing your own to gain an advantage. I got to work with the baby of the group (a title he’s proud of) Alan Dennis of A Star Krav Maga. It was fun working with Alan as I haven’t had a change to yet, despite him attending every single course that ever was. I won’t lie to you (thought you’d like that Alan) it was very fun to bash each other around for a couple of hours.
Once we had finished with weapons we moved onto revision and ran through the teaching process for slow fighting. Each time we do this Eyal adds another layer of advice and tips on how to teach this and improve performance. Then when we had been warmed up properly – this was after about 4 hours of constant work – Eyal shifted us on to light sparring. Helmets and light gloves on it was finally a chance to move around. We were given instructions to go light but work quick. This sort of training allows you to concentrate a little while you experiment with the different tactics you’ve been taught. One highlight of this was when I was sparring with Jacek Walczak an E2 from Poland (google him and watch his YouTube video. It’s amazing!). He’s someone that many of you know and rightly fear. While I was trying out some body defence against his punches I decided to test out my spinning elbow. It landed straight into the face plate of his helmet. It was almost the same experience as my wedding day; part happiness, part terror. I was expecting some pain as a reward for my efforts but Jacek proved firstly what a great fighter he is and second that he’s also a real gent. First he congratulated before allowing me to experience his preferred version of the spinning elbow. One that along with the elbow includes smashing a knee into the victims groin…
After we came back from lunch we warmed up with attack, defend, attack. If you’ve done your G5 grading you may have experienced the same crippling confusion I’ve been through. Never again after working with Eyal on this. We worked step by step and I can safely say this type of work forces you to adapt and overcome when you’re up against someone who intent on fight back.
Next Jovan worked with us on boxing skills and also how to coach these. This is a material that I familiar with from my history in boxing and muay thai but Jovan has almost 20 years of experience and now coaches the top MMA fighters in Serbia so he really filled in the gaps in my knowledge and gave me lots of new ideas to play with.
Finally after a whole day of letting the suits air (they are personal mobile saunas and get rather smelly) we got kitted out and worked on collision drill. Imagine bumper cars, just without the cars and lots more grunting then you’ve got the picture. First we worked on a circle drill. Standing in a large ring the goal is to get to the other side. This would be easy however everyone else has been worked up into a frenzy and has the same goal. It doesn’t matter if you’re big and strong or small and weak you are getting to the other side and nobody is going to stop you. Charging full speed into the middle you get smashed around and trampled but it doesn’t matter you’ve been given a task and that’s all that matters. Next the line drill. Imagine eight people lined up in a formation two wide and four deep and you have to get through them. Plus they are all standing shoulder to shoulder and armed with shields to knock you back with. The only way through is to throw caution out the window and run full tilt at them and see how many you can smash past before they slow you down leaving you to fight your way through the rest. Awesome!
It sound stupidly simple but this sort of behaviour is fundamental. You have a goal and you have to achieve it. Remember this is the business of saving lives and sometimes you have to be stubborn and objective and make the voices that tell you to stop or give up be silent. This is the essence of combat.
On that note my dinner is ready (Thank you wife) so I’m going to go and eat then listen to some Korean pop music (pure class) before passing out.
Sam
