# Basic Clinch Drills



## Andrew Green (Aug 7, 2004)

It was suggested that I repost some things that I've posted on other forums...  Although I should probably do some new stuff  

Basic Clinch Fighting

This is meant as a basic introduction to working in the clinch, mainly for people not familiar with that range. The focus is on basic principles and live drills. It does not go much into detail as I find it better for people to work that out after theyve started playing. With someone coaching is better, but the drills are designed to be of benefit to anyone.

Think about what you are doing, if something is giving you trouble isolate it and try to find a solution.

Basic things to keep in mind are:

Stay tight when you have control.

Make space to escape a dominate position.

When advancing positions keep good posture and stay tight.

Keep your hands/arms inside your opponents.

And you guessed it, stay tight.

These are a series of basic drills which will help develop those skills and teach basic control positions and reversals. All of these drills take the form of mini-games and are good for all ages/skill levels. I have everyone do these, ages 4  Adult. 

Wrist fighting

Controlling the wrists is one of the most basic skills there is, and also a very important, but often overlooked one. The wrist is the first step towards controlling the body. 

Each person grabs one of the others wrists. The objective is to gain and retain control of both wrists without separating. If you do separate start over. The trick is not to muscle out, but to circle your hand around there wrist and grab theres without breaking contact.

Double underhook fighting

This drill builds one of the most important elements of being able to throw someone, staying close and getting past the arms. It also develops the ability to lift a person, cause if you can lift them, you can throw them. 

The objective is to get both your arms under your opponents, lock them together and lift them off the ground. Start in tight, chest to chest with one arm under each and fight to get both under. Once there lock your hands, arch your back and lift them off the floor, put them back down and go again.

A simple game can be played where you score a point for each lift.

Important points 
 Stay tight, when you have a single underhook clamp in and down with it. 
 Keep your elbows in tight to your body
 Keep your head in tight too, generally you want it on the same side you have the underhook on

Neck ties

Same idea as the other two drills, only this time you want to control the head. 

The goal is to get both hands on the back of your opponents head, inside of his hands. Start with one hand on the back of each others neck and go from there.

Important points
- Dont try to enter with both hands at once, if he has both in enter one at a time.
- Use one hand to make space, the other to enter. Push away on the hips or face, or clamp down on the elbows.
- When you have control pinch your elbows together, use there head like a steering wheel in order to keep them off balance and make it hard for them to recover. 
- Dont interlock your fingers

Taking the back

Same as fighting for double underhooks, lock the hands around the waist then arch and lift. Only this time, you have to do it from behind them. Try it first for a while before moving on to the techniques. This time getting under both arms isnt as important, trapping one is sometimes a better option.

1  Secure a front body lock, then by twisting and dropping a little slide around under there arm to the back without releasing.

2  When you have control of a wrist, or there arm is floating / loose, reach across with the other hand (right to right) grabbing under there tricep and drag there arm straight across there body. Stay tight and move to the back

- A drill that can be done for developing this is to isolate that technique. Both of you cup the back of each others tricep (right to right) and attempt to drag the arm straight across and get behind your opponent.

3  If there elbow is away from the body you can go under it. Going under on your left (There right) Drop to your right knee, left foot forward in tight with them, at the same time use your left hand to pop there right elbow up. Come up tight, with straight posture under there arm and look up and trun into them taking the back. Do not let your head go down or you will get choked or headlocked. Stay tight and do it fast. The drop will look a little like a skip into position, right lead, switch feet and drop in close.

Add that to the game. 2 points for taking the back, 1 point for lifting from either the from or the back.

Front Head lock

First lets get the position. Take your right arm, go around there head (They are looking down) and cup there right tricep with your hand. You can use your left hand to re-enforce this. You should angle off to your left so that they cant grab your legs. 

Drill is to maintain that posture while the other guy tries to grab one of your legs and lift it off the floor. If he gets a hold of one drive your hips into him and straighten the leg to force him to release.

Once you got that lets try to get to the back from there. Get your position, hes trying to get your leg, youre trying to move to his back. Stay tight as you do this and dont let him get away, and keep pressure down on him, and your legs away.

Now lets get that position. First method is from a neck tie. If he starts to drop his head use your hand to snap it down hard, move back to make space and then come over top of him and lock your position.

Second method is when he attempts to go under your arm, basically do the same thing. As a drill tie up and have him try to go under while you try to lock a headlock. This will clean up the form of the guy going under, and teach you to get it.

So back to the game:

1 for a lift
2 for taking the back
1 for a front headlock

Adjust the points to focus on different aspects. More for ducking under, less for arm drags, etc.

There are other control positions, but this gives a good base as to the basics. Next step would be to add a few takedowns (or strikes, or both) to give it more function, then go back and work more control positions and techniques.

As I said in the beginning, this is very basic and doesnt cover much detail on things. There is a lot of room to work and figure things out for yourself, something a coach would help with if you have one. If not just experiment, more often then not proper technique evolves out of proper drilling. All of these drills are designed to bring out proper technique because of there live nature. If you do it wrong, youll loose until you figure it out. As your partners get better, you have to get better.


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## Lisa (Feb 8, 2006)

Controlling the clinch is one of the hardest things I ever did.  When my opponent was stronger then me, making space to attain a dominant position is difficult because I can be controlled just with his strength alone. 

This thread is an excellent source of information but would be even better if it came with pictures ( )and then could be added as a sticky in the forum. Can this be done?

Anyone have any suggestions on how to beat brute strength when being dominated by a stronger opponent?


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