I have been tasked with keeping you all up to date with what’s been going on over the course of instructor update and grading. I will be posting an update on here every day giving you an overview of the training and how many kicks to groin I receive! Luckily I’m not training with And,y as the tally would be of the chart…!
So here goes: Day 1 started at 11:30 when 47 instructors from all across the UK started to line up ready to train with the man himself. This was my first time training with Eyal. I have been watching him on youtube and the KMG dvds for the last few years, but now he is standing in front of me and I am about to receive information straight from the source. I couldn’t wait to start training and I wasn’t dissapointed – from the first technique of the day we worked, to the last – was an amazing experience!
This is also my first time training with someone from the Global Team since my Instructors Course. It was great to see a few of the people I was on my instructors course with too, who came all the way from ‘sunny’ Scotland (as you know Scotland is not known for its sun as us Southerners found out) unfortunately however, they didn’t bring their translator, so we might have a few language issues over the next few days! Nothing a swift kick to the groin won’t sort out!
It was great to see how everything we learn in class and everything the instructors teach at The Institute is the same as Eyal himself teaches! We know there is nothing but information direct from the source being given to both our instructors and students alike!
So that’s pretty much it for today – it was quite fast and furious today with lots of knife and stick defence drills along with some really great fighting drills and scenarios. Myself, Spencer, James and Dave all attacking Jon at once was a highlight!! Anyway, I shalln’t bore you anymore – until tomorrow that is! So check out a few photos that will be uploaded to Facebook (no doubt by Mr Ambrosino) and you will be able to see what I will be babbling about!
So in true Essex style and those that know me, I’m off for a Nandos, so catch you tomorrow for another update!
Rick Baker
Day 2
So straight to day two’s events. After a amazing day of learning yesterday I knew that today would be the same and I wasn’t disappointed!
We started with slow fighting drills. A static attacker with defender running around them dealing with any problems the attackers gave them. We then switched – the defender was static and could use arms and legs to attack you as well as chokes. From this we worked bearhugs from all sides with some power drills to show how the centre of gravity keeps your attacker from picking you up.
After this we moved on to a favourite subject of mine – knife threats. They were from all different angles and the attacker could use control or just threaten you without control. We stayed with this subject as we moved to the ground, defending knife attacks, punches kicks and stomps, with demonstrations and explanations from Eyal which were, as usual, flawless!
Eyal then called us round and said, “Everyone needs to be in groups of six” so we knew after yesterday’s group slow fighting that we would be in for something special. So us institute instructors stuck together along with random northerner (Alan Dennis!!). Any excuse to give each other a kicking. It wasn’t until he said 1 person laying on the ground and the other 5 would be kicking them from all different angles that we knew we were in for a treat! So, you have 5 people kicking you from every angle possible and you have to defend yourself and counter attack by kicking up to their faces, getting up when there is space. As we all know that getting up of the ground os everyones favourite subject **he says laughing** I can tell you that it isn’t the nicest of places to be when there are 5 size 11’s coming at you. Well 4 size 11’s and James Breese’s size 3’s! Ha!
We broke for lunch which was a relief for me, because I had ‘Jab Cross Roundhouse’ (better known as Paul Hyland) moaning about how hungry he was all morning, and how we wanted to check the Arsenal score or something. We came back to a warm up of Primal Move from Mr Breese, who seemed to find it hilarious that we were crawling and doing press ups on our partners back whilst they crawled for the WHOLE width of the hall and back!
We then broke into our respective grades as Eyal would came around to help us out if we has any problems. Looking around watching him go from group to group correcting every technique with possible variations, different stances or levels of readiness was a great learning experience. He is THE MAN!
Well that’s all from me today, I will check back in tomorrow for our final day with ‘The Source’ and feedback from the gradings.
Final day
Crunch Time! So it’s the third and final day of the instructor update with Eyal – and today is all about testing for our next grade.
So, we started the day going over a few techniques that Eyal chose such as chokes and some more knife threats. As with every other technique we did, Eyal broke it down so that even if we had never done the technique before, we could understand the mechanics behind each part which made it easy to learn. That’s the magic with learning and getting information straight from the man himself. Rather than demonstrating a few techniques and telling us to practice, Eyal delivers it in such a way that you just take everything he says onboard, and put it into practice. And if you weren’t doing something correctly he would spot it from the other side of the room and would be straight over to help and wouldn’t leave until you understood where you were going wrong. It’s amazing too see someone take apart a technique and explain every last little detail behind it, how it evolved and why you do it based on the body’s natural responses.
We had a short break then cracked on with the testing. We started working defences against basic self defence problems such as punches kicks and chokes, then we moved on to the more technical aspects of weapons, sticks knifes and guns. Looking across the room I noticed that everyone was giving it 110% from start to finish which was fantastic.
So after a few hours of drilling techniques, over and over, we went to the ground to cover all the techniques from previous grades, plus our own. I can tell you that ground work isn’t my favourite subject as many of you would say – I’m built like an Avatar… You know who you are!
Finally it was sparring time – everyone loves a bit of sparring especially after a few hours of testing and groundwork. Spencer got a lovely battle wound from a headbutt from Paul Hyland which caused him to spend the next 20mins with an icepack stuck to his face. We then sat down with Jon who gave all of us that were going for G’s 1,2 and 3 feedback on how we did. There was some great feedback given, not only for the Institute instructors but for everyone that graded. There was a really good level of KM across the board so I have to say a massive ‘well done’ to everyone who graded, whatever the result.
So it was finally over… What a fantastic experience. Two days of update training followed by a day of testing with the man himslf, Eyal Yanilov! It was everything I expected and more – much more. Those that have trained with him before, I’m sure you can’t wait to train with him again, and those that haven’t I would say it is definitely a MUST!
