MacDonald Academy of Martial Arts

Kenpo Karate, Krav Maga, and Fitness for the Boston / Watertown area

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You are here: Home / Archives for BJJ

Krav Maga Wrestling—”The Bridge”—Coming Soon

08.09.12 By Patrick 4 Comments

This week in the Advanced Krav Maga classes I introduced some brand new material (new for Krav Maga, anyway) from the major curriculum addition that Krav Maga Worldwide is calling “The Bridge”. This material is mostly comprised of wrestling and clinch fighting techniques that fill the gray area between our current stand-up and groundfighting techniques.

From KMW:

In our continuing effort to improve and evolve the Krav Maga system, we’ve called upon some of the best Krav Maga and grappling minds in the world and formed a committee to find opportunities for improvement in Krav Maga; specifically as they pertain to grappling, wrestling, takedown defenses, etc. The committee, consisting of high-level Krav Maga Worldwide Master Instructors, Champion Wrestlers, and Grappling Experts, are proud to share the next evolution of Krav Maga.

This material will be officially integrated into the curriculum by 2013, but we’ll begin training more and more of it as further details are passed down to instructors by KMW.

I worked through some of the techniques while at the National Training Center for Expert Series I. I’m pretty excited by this personally because it will, quite perfectly, “bridge” to my concurrent training in BJJ and MMA. I’m also very excited to be able to teach this stuff as Krav Maga, rather than sneaking it into classes with a disclaimer as I do from time to time.

Stay tuned. Perhaps we’ll kick it off with a seminar sometime in the fall…

Filed Under: Groundfighting/Grappling, Krav Maga News Tagged With: BJJ, KMW, MMA, takedowns/throws

Headlock on the Ground: Not Just for Untrained Meatheads

04.12.12 By Patrick 4 Comments

Bromance. Period.
When we introduce Defense against Headlock from the Side in Level 1, we explain that there is not an immediate life-threatening danger as there is with chokes. The headlock is not a choke; rather, the attacker’s goal may be to:

  1. Not actual mean you any physical harm but grab you like a childish idiot. (Boy will he be surprised when you rocket a forearm into his groin!)
  2. Hold your head in place so as to punch it.
  3. Hold your head in place so his buddy can punch it.
  4. Yank you down to the ground by your head.

Assuming you either don’t know the Level 5 Defense against Headlock from the Side: Being Spun Inward or weren’t able to pull it off, it’s Attacker Goal #4 that leads to our Level 3 headlock on the ground defenses. These defenses address the basic position and the minor variations of it.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Groundfighting/Grappling, Krav Maga News, Krav Maga Technique Library Tagged With: BJJ, Chokes & Grabs, fundamentals, video

A Groundfighting Anecdote

03.02.12 By Patrick 4 Comments

I choke easily and frequentlyAt the end of a BJJ class the other day, I played a game called “Group Fight” that, to me, underscored the inherent risks of fighting on the ground. I wanted to share some observations as they apply to our system of Krav Maga.

A brief background first: When I started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, my intention was to go to classes for a couple months to learn some good fundamentals to augment my Krav Maga training. Five years later… I won’t be invited to Abu Dhabi anytime soon, but my BJJ skills are competent. As Krav Maga practitioners we never want to fight on the ground if we can help it, but being acclimated to that type of fighting can only improve our odds of going home safe.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Groundfighting/Grappling, Krav Maga News Tagged With: BJJ, fundamentals

The Bearhug Primer

02.03.12 By Patrick 5 Comments

Subtitle: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Bearhugs *And Were Afraid to Ask in Class

The Bearhug: Not typically so cuddly

The bearhug can be a bit of an odd attack. It rarely happens without a preceding or subsequent attack, and unlike almost every other choke and grab our Krav Maga system addresses, there is no immediate danger with a bearhug. Well, that is, unless you’re grabbed by E. Honda (or Mr. Washee Washee)…

To clarify, hands around your throat present an obvious and immediate danger: if you don’t react to remove the hands, your life is in peril. The bearhug in and of itself, in most circumstances, is not a direct threat to your physical safety.

So…

Why would anyone grab you in a bearhug?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Krav Maga News, Krav Maga Technique Library, Self-Defense Tagged With: BJJ, Chokes & Grabs, Finish the Fight, fundamentals, situational awareness

Boston mMA teaser

03.17.11 By Patrick Leave a Comment

Thanks to everyone who came Monday night to train hard on camera for Alex Winston‘s documentary shoot. Check out this teaser for MMA 101 (retitled Boston mMa?). No footage from Monday is included, but these clips make me think we’ll look pretty good!

Says Alex:

Thank you for participating in our documentary “Boston mMA”. This doc is going to show different ways of exercising with a focus on MMA, CrossFit and Yoga. Below is a short reel of some of the footage we have gotten so far. We have filmed a lot of great classes and are hoping to have a 60-75 min. finished product. We will keep you up to date with our progress and let you know when and where we are showing it.

We have also started up a Facebook page (link below) titled “Boston MMA” and are asking everyone to support it by giving us a “like” and maybe suggesting it to some friends.

Thank you-
Alex
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Boston-MMA/187976771241838

I’m personally very excited that both academies I train at will be featured (Roberto Maia and Al Bibeau, my instructors at Boston Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, are in the teaser below). Yes, I’ll be the one jumping up and down at a screening yelling, “I know them! I know them!” [Don’t judge.]

MMA 101 with Alex Winston from erik angra | Cinematographer on Vimeo.

Filed Under: Announcements & News, Krav Maga News Tagged With: BJJ, video

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