Issue 087

April 2012

Simple, yet powerful, drills to better your grappling game when sparring isn’t an option

While no three drills can help you with your complete wrestling game, practicing your double-leg pick-up, sitting guard and your explosiveness are three great areas to focus on to improve your overall game. Alternatively, combined together, these make a great warm-up before your MMA or submission wrestling session; warming up many of the joints, muscles and habits necessary to help you in the session.

SITTING GUARD MOVEMENT DRILL  ORIGIN: BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU

Start in the sitting guard position: chest forward, butt back, with one leg leading and one leg behind with that shin on the mat. Elbows should be tucked inside the legs. Drive forward, without ever allowing the elbows or the head to surpass the lead knee – which would become a butterfly hook in live rolling. Put the lead knee down on the mat and rotate the torso, sitting down to the full sitting guard facing the opposite direction. Reverse the sequence, swapping the leading hooks, and repeat the shot action and sit down for a continuous movement drill.

SKILLS DEVELOPED

Hip mobility

Posture

Co-ordination

DOUBLE-LEG PICK-UPS FROM THE KNEES ORIGIN: FREESTYLE WRESTLING

Start in a shooting position (right leg outside, hands behind knees not locked together) and stand up with your partner on your left shoulder by driving off your right leg. Put your left knee back down, then repeat driving up on the opposite side from the left leg. Stand up and down for sets of 10 on each leg then change with your partner.

SKILLS DEVELOPED

Specific lifting power

Balancing an uneven load

ANIMAL DRILL: WALK OUT AND FROG LEAP  ORIGIN: GINASTICA NATURAL

Begin in a deep squat position. Walk the hands forward, taking several fast steps until the body is straight and the hands are beneath the shoulders in a push-up position. Keeping the hands in position, press the hips back as far as possible, then using the friction from the mat, pull with the palms and explosively spring back up into the squat stance. Repeat until you reach the end of your mat (or tatame – ginastica natural is Brazilian, after all). Taking your arms and legs through these different ranges and gently loading the joints makes this drill an excellent warm-up before jiu-jitsu and wrestling. Executing the drill explosively makes for an excellent conditioning drill for grapplers when no training partner is available.

SKILLS DEVELOPED

Hip mobility

Shoulder mobility

Explosiveness