[FIGHT] Abe Ani Combat Club: Lesson 1 [Part II]

So now that everybody was nice and sweaty, it was time for several technique drills. I am pretty sure that classes do not typically proceed this way. The guys might have been indulging me by going over so many of the fundamental submissions, and I am grateful for that. In general, the Tori worked each maneuver at least five times, or five times on each side, right and left. For brevity, descriptions below are for one side only.

Armbar from guard

With your back on the ground, open your guard. Push off against your opponent's right thigh with your left foot at the same time you plant and lever away on your right elbow. Keep control of Otherguy's left arm, bring your right leg around his shoulder, and settle into armbar position.

Kimura from cross guard

Keeping feet locked around your opponent's waist, secure your Otherguy's right wrist with your left hand. Your hand should meet his wrist straight-ahead; that is, with your thumb, if straightened out, pointing to his right elbow. Take off veering to your left, moving your right shoulder toward your opponent's right shoulder. As you push forward with your left arm and force Otherguy's right arm behind his frame, your right arm should snake around his right shoulder until you can clasp your own left wrist with your right hand. Leaning outside of his inside frame, push with your left hand and pull with your right into Kimura territory.

By the way, when I played Uke and volunteered my right arm for this exercise, my right shoulder showed an insane amount of give. Abe and Otherguy were pretty disturbed. The instructor asked me several times if I was indeed okay, and my opponent reached a point at which he was hesitant to crank it any further. Abe then mentioned that it was a good opportunity for Otherguy to learn how to deal with an extraordinarily flexible rival, and explained to him how to tighten the angle and change the direction of the armlock. I probably could have taken a little more pressure but I tapped charitably. Then it hurt like the dickens the next day.

Sweep from guard

As with the Kimura from cross guard, secure Otherguy's right wrist with your left hand. A lot of things must be accomplished in the same motion. Release guard and plant left foot. Plant free hand, post up and push off with right arm. Your right shoulder vectors diagonally toward Otherguy's. Bring right leg up and tight against the sides of the high part of your opponent's left rib cage to aid momentum. Like in the Kimura, your right arm loops over Otherguy's right shoulder and helps your left hand to drag out his right arm. If done properly, you should end up in mount position. I did . . . about twice.

Triangle choke

Abe: "Do you know what a triangle choke is?"

Me: "Yes."

Abe: "Have you ever been in a triangle choke?"

Me: "No."

Abe: "Okay, then you should experience it at full force so you know how it feels and when to tap."

Me: "Sure."

At that, Otherguy was instructed to put me in a triangle choke. After he fiddled around with it for a little bit, I felt the vacuum quickly engulfing me. I soon decided to tap. My brain probably sent the signal to my hand to tap the customary three times, but I think I only got out one-and-a-half before I went into a half-black, half-lightheaded state. That was really fun.

With the opponent in your guard, either wait for him to attempt to pass, or use your arms to suddenly shove one of his arms (in this case, Otherguy's left) behind your leg (here, right) while you bring your right leg around and atop his shoulder. With your free left leg in this case, slide it up Otherguy's back until the front hinge of your left foot fits snugly in the pit underneath your right knee; use your right hand to help fix the proper placement if necessary. As much as possible at the same time, use one or more of your hands to sweep the opponent's right arm out of the way and across your abdomen. A lot of things can create pressure, the most important in your legs. Make sure that the left leg is cocked at a right angle or more acutely, the front tendons taut. Swing the trapping right leg out so that it fishtails away from your opponent's center -- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira versus Mark Coleman is the textbook. Cradle Otherguy's head in and crunch, arch, and lift your abdomen into the choke.

At this point, it became evident that Otherguy was in the middle of training for what was probably an amateur fight. So when it came my turn to triangle him instead, my buddy wanted to see how much he could take. The dude kept asking for a tighter and tighter choke until he finally tapped and emerged, his face beet red, veins popping, eyes busting out of his head, coughing like those tubercular oyaji on the bus about whom I once wrote. Then we did it again. A lot of work goes into the triangle and it can take time to set up, but once locked in this submission is awesome. Shoji v. Lister.

Achilles hold

Leg submissions can cause significant damage with relatively little pressure, so an abundance of caution is needed in a training scenario. "In a fight, though," said Abe, "you just crank it." Start in the opponent's guard. While forcing his thighs up and together, move into a squat position with your left knee ready to push into the space between his legs. Lock your arm around the area where Otherguy's left leg meets his foot, with the front hinge just about under your right armpit. Use your legs to immobilize his left thigh. Grab your right hand with your left to add pressure and secure the hold. Your wrist needs to really axe into the Achilles tendon. Keep the same pressure and position and lean back to encourage a tap.

Heel hook

If the opponent is defending or trying to roll out of the Achilles hold, one can switch to the even more destructive heel hook. You must release the Achilles, lean back, dip under and resurface with Otherguy's left leg now laying across your torso to your left. Snare Otherguy's left foot inside your left armpit and catch his heel in the small of your left elbow. Making sure your legs still trap his left thigh, rotate your upper body to your right. Snap. Due to its dangerous nature, the heel hook is prohibited in many amateur fights, but not Otherguy's upcoming bout. Save it in case you run into Valentijn Overeem.


That was it for the crash course in groundwork. But there was still some jumping around to do.

A hip, hop, a hip it to tha hippity hip hip hop and you don't stop rockin'

Not as formidable as my arch-nemesis the jump rope, but still not easy. Your buddy lies down straight with his back on the floor and stacks his legs atop each other at the foot hinges. First, hop over and across his legs from left to right over and over, keeping your feet together. Second, hop in a repeated crisscross pattern, landing on one foot at a time, with your right foot touching down outside Otherguy's right calf, then your left outside his left.


That was all she wrote, so it was stretch and banter time. Among other things, the instructor talked about the big year-end Shooto show coming up, and then the year-end AACC holiday party. He invited me along too, but I took it to be no more than an excessively polite formality. Otherguy and I helped Abe disassemble and stow away the mats. Finally, I continued to yap with Abe all the out to the gym exit on Omotesando while Otherguy stayed behind to hit the heavy bag.

Simply put, my little stint with the AACC was buckets of fun. Admittedly one session does not make for an infallible sample size, but the people were nice and the pedagogy more than sound. This was my front-runner, were it not for the fact that Abe told me that they were probably shutting down the Harajuku classes and moving everything to the main hub at the Gold's Gym South Tokyo Annex in Omori. The STA facility is well-known to be fantastic, complete with its own ring, and Abe said that classes there were better for beginners anyway. However, Omori is probably a bit too hard for me to get to, either from work or home.

So for now, the adventures continue.