Fighters Only

Issue 084

January 2012

No training partner? No worries. Get stuck into these ground bag floor drills and maximize your ground fighting potential

Punching power in the standing position is developed over years of working the mitts and the heavy bag, yet still many fighters neglect to pay the same attention to training their strikes for ground ‘n’ pound.

On the mat it is extremely difficult to give good padwork with a pad man on his back. Replicating the positions and angles, as well as giving appropriate resistance without the pad man causing himself injuries is virtually impossible.

The ground bag is the perfect solution, providing the athlete can properly equate the position of the bag with the position of a live opponent, and imitate the correct pinning pressures whilst still maximizing the leverage to throw powerful strikes. Work through a realistic positional sequence to train your striking like you want the fight to play out. Strike from the closed guard, and then imagine the opponent opens his guard to defend. Strike again and pass, imagining the opponent turtles up to defend the pass. Strike from side ride and break him down, then establish the cross-body. Knee ride to strike him again before taking the mount, and pour on the pressure that will give you the stoppage win.

A custom-made floor bag is best, but a standard punch bag will suffice. Just be sure to cut off the hanging metal rings to avoid injury and tape up the zip to prevent the stuffing from spilling out.

CLOSED GUARD

POSTURE DOWN

From down posture, have your hands running along the edge of the bag, to replicate inside control – the safety position that neutralizes submission attacks from the closed guard and strikes from the bottom. The hands can rest over the shoulders or hold the biceps. Work combinations of short punches and elbows, and return to inside control. Body, body, head is a great combination for opening up an opponent who’s holding you tight from closed guard.

POSTURE UP

When you raise your torso be sure to keep your base, sitting down on your heels to prevent the sweep. Throw down straights and hammerfists, and drop all your weight down with the elbow.

OPEN GUARD

ONE LEG

Having one knee down on the mat makes the up-kick illegal but still allows for good hip movement when throwing your punches.

STANDING

When standing you must be aware that the up-kick is legal so use your posture to hide your chin and maintain hip pressure, which will prevent the bottom man from having the leverage to up-kick or attempt a sweep. When standing over the bag it’s easy to lean over when training your punches, but this will leave you vulnerable to counter attacks against a real opponent. Using a swiss ball wedged against the head of the bag forces you to maintain hip pressure while striking.

SIDE RIDE

ANGLES

Throw hooks to the side of your opponent’s head, and when they cover sneak in the uppercut. Purpose-built ground bags are made with the appropriate angles.

KNEES TO THE BODY

Pin the nape of the neck and post on the hip, then drive in the knee. This position is best against the cage wall, but can be used in the center. The opponent will probably turn to the side, so transition to cross body after the knees from side ride.

CROSS BODY

KNEE TRAP

The reverse crucifix leaves the opponent’s head totally exposed to a variety of strikes. Throw the punch, and rake back across the face with a hammerfist. For the elbow, post your hand on the face and drop the elbow straight down to where your palm was. Check out Roy Nelson vs Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ for an excellent example of striking from the cross-body

KNEE RIDE

Slide the shin over the stomach to control the hips, and throw down straights and hooks around the opponent’s guard.

MOUNT

LOW MOUNT

The low mount allows the top man to maintain good hip-to-hip pressure and prevent the bridge, but makes striking a little more difficult. Raise your upper body, but keep your hips pressed down. Drop short elbows from here.