In this video from the online course “Martial Study 8: Survival on the Ground”, you will discover why your partner should “play the game” in training and avoid being too indulgent.
Table of Contents
“Play the game”
In training, you have to remember one thing: the one playing the aggressor has all the rights. Hence, if you’re training with someone and you say, “Go ahead and strangle me,” that’s exactly what he’s going to do. He’s going to strangle you, squeeze hard and protect himself. He can do whatever he wants, no hassle!
However, as soon as you imitate a dangerous strike, he must relax and release the pressure. This is very important! Why is that? Because you don’t always realize it on the moment, but if you put a hand in his face, you could hit his eyes or whatever sensitive part. Unless you miss your “target”, your partner/adversary has no reason to let go.
Plan A / Plan B
Usually, your partner will instinctively protect his genitals, which means you cannot access this target. If plan A fails, don’t wait 10, 15, or even 20 seconds while he’s strangling you to react and try a plan B…
So, if plan A fails, you should try grabbing the back of his neck, punching him, possibly burst his eyes, whatever, try a plan B, that’s all that matters!
You’re not here to get hurt or injured, but once you’ve hit – or pretended – a sensitive part, relax so your partner can work, or else there’s going to be trouble, and that’s not the point in training. That’s what I want you to understand.
Also, some learners will purposely mess with you and make it difficult for their partner to work. For instance, someone will hit his partner 20 times in the genitals, but the other one will “act tough” to make the exercise more complex… “Then take off your cup and let’s play!”
Don’t be too indulgent
“He barely touched you” – “Oh, all right” No! Don’t be too indulgent, it won’t do your partner any favors, because he’ll go home and say “honey, I’m good at self defense, don’t worry, I’ll protect you”!
So, if you know your partner at least a little, don’t hesitate to squeeze a little so you don’t make it too easy for him. If you don’t know each other, well get to know each other first, before you start hitting and strangling.
Any way you practice can be beneficial. If you want to practice a little hard, that’s fine as long as your partner is okay with it. However, as soon as there is a dangerous strike, play along.
This doesn’t mean that in the street you’ll knock out your attacker for sure, but most of the time a finger in the eye might help him relax…
