Leather vs. Vinyl

I was looking for a new pair of MMA style training gloves (what the real old-schoolers called "knucklers" and found the Underground Series 3 hybrid gloves.

I got a kick out of this line:

You wouldn't feel cool in a club wearing a vinyl jacket, and it is not cool to wear vinyl gloves in the gym.

Which is a fun way to point out that for gloves, vinyl sucks. Stick with leather.

As a side note they seem to be closing down the UG store, so things are 50% off for the time being. I have no idea if these gloves are any good. I think I'll probably pick up a pair of Century bag gloves though. The last pair I had lasted several years of hard use until I forgot them after class and some jagoff stole them.

Also, as a reminder, always write your name on your gear.

Savate for MMA - A couple techniques

BJJ Savate posted this cool video over at the Underground Forum.


Prof. Armando Basulto shows a couple techniques to get you thinking about how to use Savate in MMA (or in any situation, really).


Shown are the chasse lateral (side kick) and the chasse italiano (outside side kick).




A couple things to note when drilling these techniques:

• Make sure you land with the heel - The tremendous power of these strikes comes from the hard shin onto relatively soft muscles as well as the extension which is like hitting your opponent with a spear (possible with the chasse lateral if not necessarily the chasse italiano). 
  
  Hitting with the ball of the foot or the arch is effectively hitting your opponent after running your technique and hard work though a shock absorber and can potentially injure yourself. Think Jack Dempsey's "power line"but applied to your kicks.

• Chamber the kick back when you're done - This will help you keep your balance, make you more mindful of where the kick is going, keep you in good range to continue attacking/moving and make a miss less disastrous. That said...

• Be ready with a counter - There's always the possibility that you will overcommit to your strike and/or end up missing (this is surprisingly common with bare feet on sweaty skin), so keep a contingency in mind - depending on how you land relative to your opponent it might be your best bet to throw a spinning backlist while you get out of the way or clinch up. 

• Drop your weight into the kick - These kicks don't look like much - but review the video a couple times and watch the way he drops his weight into the kicks - they're small movements, but anything you can let your weight and gravity do instead of muscles if energy you've saved. If you've never been on the end of one of these, believe me, they hurt. And they have a much more immediate and physical and psychological effect on your opponent than a Thai kick. 

Interesting site: Mobility Workout of the Day

Looks like we're closing in on the end of the year of vids for MobilityWOD (Mobility Workout of the Day), but on the plus side, that means there are a lot of awesome videos to go though. 

I've got a long way to get through these videos, but there are some great exercises in here and some good functional anatomy lessons in here too. These videos might be a little on the jargon-filled side for people who just want a quick workout to make sure everything is working the way it should be, but definitely worth some time to see if these videos can help you. 

When you are sick/injured, getting better is your JOB

by Mike

Regarding training injuries and getting well after a sickness: a lot of people (myself being a good example of this) tend to slack off and kind of half-ass a recovery. To be sure this might be a good way to handle illnesses and injuries that are the result of stress or otherwise working too hard, but many times, more discipline, not less is what will make the recovery go smoother (and faster).

For times like this, it might be best to consider that getting well is your job and you better treat it as such.

Doc/therapist gives you a list of things to do? Do them. I'm sure we all know someone who went into rehab, was told to cut certain things out of their diet or just got back from the chiro and had a list of things to work with. They kept at it for a couple weeks, but after awhile, got bored or started making excuses* and six months after their estimated "return" date, they're still getting calls like ("Mike, when you coming back, buddy?").

When you're injured - make it your job to get better.

* I've got other things to do/it's boring/if I skip one (then two, then three) days, it won't make a difference/I'll start tomorrow, etc.

Ask Sifu Z: Is Savate an unfair advantage?

Dear Sifu Z, 


 I am a savateur and part of a freestyle group, so I'm the only one who wears shoes. Many of my teammates refuse to spar with me because of my "Unfair advantage" yet all them except the one who will spar me, out weigh me by at least 10 pounds. Are they in the right? Any idea for a compromise? 


Sincerely, tired of breaking his toes


Sifu Z responds:

If "shoes" are an unfair advantage you are training with a bunch of pussies! Seriously, I have had my eyelids lacerated not by a shoe but a fricken toenail!!!! The unfair advantage exists in the superior movement of the savateur. YouTube a video of Ramon decker in 1991 fighting a Thai boxer. Thai rules (no elbows) and he totally wears him out. Find a gym with fighters not posers!