Walking into a world renowned school like SBG can be intimidating at first.

Those of us who have been training for years in combat sports, and functional Martial Arts and self defense delivery systems like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, Wrestling and MMA forget sometimes that the first vist to a school can be a bit scary for some people. Thanks to the insanity of some of the other “gyms” out there who go under the label of MMA, the public’s already poor perception of combat sports, and simple first time shyness, that first time through the door can be tough.

Of course once people visit our gym they realize it is truly for every-body. As we say, we have a jerk-free gym. As a tip, it helps when you are trying to get your friends to come in and work out with you to explain that this isn’t the TapOut t-shirt, sideways baseball cap kind of place.

Portland SBG student Gwenan Marshall does a great job of talking about her early experiences at SBG in this video:

http://youtu.be/xUMp6g6X6EQ

Enjoy!

-SBGi

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  Just got word back from Coach Karl Tanswell who is at the ADCC black belt trails in Finland. SBG_UK’s Casey Jones just took the silver medal. He lost a very close match (one advantage point) to SBG_Estonia’s Martin Aedma who took the gold.

  SO to re-cap, ADCC black belt world trials, silver SBG, gold SBG.

  It’s all about the fundamentals people.

In case you missed it NY times best selling author Sam Harris wrote a fantastic piece on training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

To quote:

“… a similar form of self-deception can be found in most martial artists, because almost all training occurs with some degree of partner compliance: Students tend to trade stereotyped attacks in a predictable sequence, stopping to reset before repeating the drill. This staccato pattern of practice, while inevitable when learning a technique for the first time, can become a mere pantomime of combat that does little to prepare a person for real encounters with violence……I can now attest that the experience of grappling with an expert is akin to falling into deep water without knowing how to swim. You will make a furious effort to stay afloat—and you will fail. Once you learn how to swim, however, it becomes difficult to see what the problem is—why can’t a drowning man just relax and tread water? The same inscrutable difference between lethal ignorance and lifesaving knowledge can be found on the mat: To train in BJJ is to continually drown—or, rather, to be drowned, in sudden and ingenious ways—and to be taught, again and again, how to swim…..Whether you are an expert in a striking-based art—boxing, karate, tae kwon do, etc.—or just naturally tough, a return to childlike humility awaits you.”

The article also features a comment from Portland Gym head coach and SBG Founder Matt Thornton:

“ I agree we need all three ranges—stand up, clinch and ground—for self-defense; and, in general, we want to avoid going to the ground in a fight. However, the best way to ensure that you will end up on the ground is to never train there in the first place. It’s the non-grapplers who are easiest to take down, and being in a “fight” means it isn’t necessarily up to you where you end up. So, it’s a bit of irony that wanting to stay off the ground in a self-defense situation should dictate a serious commitment to grappling.”

You can read it here:  http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-pleasures-of-drowning

In the last few posts we’ve discussed SBG’s “I” method, and it’s use in drilling and training. We also talked about the first of the three stages in the “I” method, the introducation stage. Now we will get into the heart and soul of drilling SBG style, and explain why these training methods set SBG apart from the rest.

One you pass the I-troduction stage it is time to move on to the critical second part, the Isolation stage. This is the stage where students are actually drilling. This is the stage where students get to work the movements against Alive resistance. And this is the stage where students actually acquire the critical element of ‘timing’.

Timing is not gained from repetitions without resistance. As such we don’t usually refer to any form of repetition without resistance as a drill. All of the drilling at SBGi is done Alive; and this linking point between technique, and what actually occurs in a live roll against a fully resisting opponent is know for us as the isolation stage.

Contrary to popular misconception, the majority of classes at our Gym are not ‘sparring’; the majority of any class I teach tends to be the isolations stage, it tends to be drilling.

As an example, if we are teaching a 60 minute BJJ class, the first 15 minutes or so may be devoted to the introduction stage, the following 30 minutes will be devoted to the drilling or isolation phase, and the last 15 minutes may be devoted to sparring, the integration stage. Of course this is just a sample break down. But most classes are quite close to this example of time. There are many ways to drill Alive, and once drilling Alive is understood, the amount of great drills available for any particular movement is limited only by the Coaches own imagination.

 I sat down many years ago and tried to list all the different ‘types’ of drills that can be created. These are the 5 types of drills we use.

1- Objective drills

2- Isolation drills

3- Call out drills

4- Re-set drills

5- Pocket drills

Each type of drill isolates a different group of skill sets, or a particular type of timing; and each has its time and place, depending on the material you are working and the focus of that particular class.

You’ll find that many instructors and coaches are only familiar with one or at best two of the above listed drilling methods. This greatly limits the drilling possibilities in class. Familiarizing yourself with all 5 types of athletic drills is mandatory for an SBGi Coach.

Each type of drill could easily warrant an entire article on its own. But for simplicity sake I will give a brief example of each for ground (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, BJJ), clinch (takedowns/ wrestling) and stand up (boxing kickboxing). Keep in mind that many drills are combinations of two of more of the types listed above.

Don’t get two hung up on the semantics of it. The point of listing them to begin with is to help open up your imagination/mind as a teacher and a coach. We want all our staff to easily be able to create fun and highly useful drills on the spot; regardless of the material that is being worked. My own students are constantly coming up with all kinds of variations on different drills, and it’s always something I enjoy seeing and learning from.

In the next article we get into each type of drill, and how it’s best applied.