After a brief warm up to loosen the joints, we got right to work, beginning with a review of the previous weeks’ techniques – in the form of variations of the backward takedown/tripping. We reviewed 5 variants, mostly varying in terms of applied grip (which also affects distance, btw.) Collar and elbow (dropping weight on [...]

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Frankly, I hesitate to call this a fundamentals class, given the content, but in the end, the fundamentals are what got the biggest workout, so I’ll just remain with the convention and go with it! A quick warm up was followed by some exercises meant to both practise footwork and wrestling technique. From a collar [...]

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Class was opened with a quick calisthenics session before proceeding to the real warm up. For this, students were asked to get into a collar and elbow hold and first push, then pull their partners across the room – without any further instruction. A few runs of these proved to be an awesome warm up, [...]

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Some time ago, it was brought to my attention (thanks guys) that there were some anomalies in the way students were performing their cuts. After some discussion and some directed angst on my part, I realised that while cutting problems were the symptom, the pedagogy was at the root of the problem. There was a [...]

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It’s been some time, so I’ll briefly recap some of what’s been going on of late in the sala. For starters, there has been somewhat of a return to basics. This will form the subject of another post, but for now, suffice to say there were some holes in my pedagogical regimen that I sought [...]

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Tonight, inspired by my friends in the Fabian von Auerswald Ringen (German medieval wrestling) group, I thought it was high time to start our own wrestling rotation – a curriculum I’ve been working on for some time, in an attempt to both delineate the canon, what is essential in terms of fundamental, underlying knowledge, what [...]

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This was our second class in the abrazare rotation. As per usual, we began with a warm up, followed by some partnered falling exercises for back falls and moderately high forward breakfalls. We then reviewed the remedy master and its play – the arm bar and takedown. Prior to the play, and in keeping with [...]

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Tonight’s class was the last in the series of classes dealing with frontale defences and introduction to fendente cuts. Class began with a series of cutting exercises, with and without stepping, and a combination cutting exercise that proved somewhat more challenging – it shall be repeated! It’s a very simple drill, but presents some footwork [...]

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We began with a review of our four guards from last week: posta di donna, posta longa, porta di ferro, posta frontale. We then repeated some of the previous week’s drills: Half cut w/o a step, full cut, full cut w. a pass, and finally introducing the triangle or compass step with a cut. Beginning left [...]

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Hello all, Yes, I’ve been remiss in posting – apologies. I profited from an extended vacation, followed by being pounded with work. And frankly, updating the blog is just more work, so I’m not always in the mood to organise my thoughts and get them down. That said, I’m back, so let’s get this going! [...]

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