Did a little training with Tony Dismukes

[JowGaWolf]

Today I had an opportunity to train with Tony and share a little bit of Jow Ga with him. It's good to see that I can still laugh while having a knee crushing my ribs or my neck cranked lol. But that's how my training has always been. I really enjoy martial arts. If anyone was wondering who got the best of the other. It wasn't that type of training. I always train to learn so I put myself in vulnerable situations where I knew I was weak, and it paid off. Tony helped me to better understand some of the strategies, techniques, and principles that are used in grappling. I appreciate that. For there are two major learning opportunities when training against System A vs System B.
1. I get to experience different types of attacks and Tony did quite a few along with some traps that were nice.
2. I get to understand better what systems try to do and accomplish. Now I have a better inside of when I need to "get off the bus" to prevent things from getting bad. But I also have new references in which to dig deeper into Jow Ga.

I also shared some basic Jow Ga long fist techniques. It wasn't as much as what I learned today in terms of variety. But there are a lot of variations that can be done with those techniques.

I will say this. The thing that surprised me most was his footwork. Normally, the people have train with have unpolished footwork. But Tony's footwork is solid at the stance which cut off my footwork for a certain type of hook that I like to do. There were adjustments that I could have made to break the stance, but I'm pretty sure stepping inside his stance and forcing his knee to pop sideways is not what you want from a sparring partner. Just like I enjoyed the fact that I didn't black out today when my neck was cranked or that funky kick that done to the side of my didn't force my knee to bend inward.

It's also good to train with someone that has a passion for martial arts. The only thing that I could have made today's training would have been more of it. lol. But now I have a lot work on.

Oh by the way @Kung Fu Wang . @Tony Dismukes was the only person that made me use the kung fu jump backwards as you show in your videos. I've never thought I would use that, but I naturally did it today. And now I have a better understanding of it. Tony caught onto it as well. I'm not sure if he knew beforehand what was going on, or if he sensed what was happening while pressed the attack. I weight about 214 lbs and that jump worked like a charm. I just have to work on what's comes next after the landing. I'm thinking a throw may be possible. I don't think the quality of his martial arts is what brought that technique out.

I hope there will be many more opportunities to do the same thing again, but for now I'm going to dig deeper into Jow Ga. Tony also uses the same types of kicks that I like to use, so I got to feel what I had been doing to others all this time lol. I had more fun in that short period of time than I did, on a weeks vacation that I recently had. Thanks taking the time Tony to share your knowledge and for the sore neck that's trying to creep up on me lol. Not your fault. I just have to get better at not being in that position lol.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

use the kung fu jump backwards as you show in your videos.

I have always believed that fighting contains 3 stages:

stage 1 - play offense. if fail,
stage 2 - play defense. if still fail,
stage 3 - use full backward jump, turn you head around, and run like hell.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

I had a great time! I appreciated the chance to learn more about the details of the body dynamics and applications of Jow Ga. Definitely got some useful tidbits there.

(Pro tip for anyone wanting to spar with JGW - hit him with some Jow Ga techniques. He doesn’t expect it when you use his own moves against him.)

 

[JowGaWolf]

I had a great time! I appreciated the chance to learn more about the details of the body dynamics and applications of Jow Ga. Definitely got some useful tidbits there.

(Pro tip for anyone wanting to spar with JGW - hit him with some Jow Ga techniques. He doesn’t expect it when you use his own moves against him.)

Yep. I'll admit that lol. Tony is only the second person to try to use it against me. He was opened minded enough to give it a try and it made it difficult for me to track things going out of my field of vision while trying to keep track of his body. The way that I reacted was the same way others reacted.

Yep No mouth piece didn't want to get hit with the weight of what you were sending. lol. But yep. I don't like dealing with Jow Ga punches.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

@JowGaWolf, there was one concept I didn’t get a chance to mention while we were discussing takedown defense.

I‘m a strong believer that if you want to develop strong “anti-grappling” as a striker, then you need what can be conceptualized as 5 layers of defense. (Much like a castle with multiple levels of fortifications.)

You have a solid handle on the first line of defense, which involves footwork and frames to keep a grappler from getting hold of you. If I wasn’t confident with my striking as an entry point, I would find it difficult to work into a clinch with you.

The second line is when the grappler gets hold of you and you need to maintain your base, prevent the grappler from getting an advantageous position to take you down, and work to break away. You have a good starting foundation for working on this level of defense and the tips I showed you today will make it significantly stronger once you build them into automatic reflexes.

The third through fifth lines are what we can work on next time we have a chance to meet, because they weren’t there at all.

The third line of defense is for when the grappler gets enough of an advantage to initiate some sort of takedown - like picking up your leg for a single leg, snapping your head down for a head lock, getting your hip off the ground for a throw, etc. Any time I got that far on you, you pretty much just gave up and accepted that I was going to take you down. But that doesn’t have to be the case. There are a lot of tools you can use to force me to fight hard to try finishing the takedown I started and if I screw up at all then you can escape. (When you tried that body drop throw on me, I was able to counter and reverse it using stage 3 defense. Your throw attempt was solid. I just didn’t stop defending when you got the initial advantage.)

The 4th layer of defense is if you get taken down, being able to land in a position so that your opponent doesn’t have good control and you can scramble back to your feet. You didn’t try this at all.

The final (and most difficult) layer is when your opponent successfully takes you down and establishes control. You want to be able to protect yourself, escape the position, and fight back to your feet so you can bring your striking back into play. I don’t know if you didn’t bother trying this because you knew I had the experience advantage in ground fighting. But you definitely want to develop the mindset where the moment you hit the ground you are already working to get back up.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

. Tony also uses the same types of kicks that I like to use,

I’ve got a bunch of other kicks in my repertoire as well, but the ones I used today seemed appropriate for the energy we were playing with.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I have always believed that fighting contains 3 stages:

stage 1 - play offense. if fail,
stage 2 - play defense. if still fail,
stage 3 - use full backward jump, turn you head around, and run like hell.

Lol. The jump can be used with grappling. I wouldn't over use it because there's a risk of getting timed while in the air. But it definitely works so long as you opponent is committed to rushing forward. The jump doest have to be very high but the frame has to be there or your body won't move at the same pace as your opponent's forward advance..

@Tony train those long fist punches with the punching mits. I use the heavy bag mainly for conditioning. Have someone hold a punching pad or mits for you so you can follow through.

 

[_Simon_]

LOVE this... just awesome, guys.

 

[JowGaWolf]

@JowGaWolf, there was one concept I didn’t get a chance to mention while we were discussing takedown defense.

I‘m a strong believer that if you want to develop strong “anti-grappling” as a striker, then you need what can be conceptualized as 5 layers of defense. (Much like a castle with multiple levels of fortifications.)

You have a solid handle on the first line of defense, which involves footwork and frames to keep a grappler from getting hold of you. If I wasn’t confident with my striking as an entry point, I would find it difficult to work into a clinch with you.

The second line is when the grappler gets hold of you and you need to maintain your base, prevent the grappler from getting an advantageous position to take you down, and work to break away. You have a good starting foundation for working on this level of defense and the tips I showed you today will make it significantly stronger once you build them into automatic reflexes.

The third through fifth lines are what we can work on next time we have a chance to meet, because they weren’t there at all.

The third line of defense is for when the grappler gets enough of an advantage to initiate some sort of takedown - like picking up your leg for a single leg, snapping your head down for a head lock, getting your hip off the ground for a throw, etc. Any time I got that far on you, you pretty much just gave up and accepted that I was going to take you down. But that doesn’t have to be the case. There are a lot of tools you can use to force me to fight hard to try finishing the takedown I started and if I screw up at all then you can escape. (When you tried that body drop throw on me, I was able to counter and reverse it using stage 3 defense. Your throw attempt was solid. I just didn’t stop defending when you got the initial advantage.)

The 4th layer of defense is if you get taken down, being able to land in a position so that your opponent doesn’t have good control and you can scramble back to your feet. You didn’t try this at all.

The final (and most difficult) layer is when your opponent successfully takes you down and establishes control. You want to be able to protect yourself, escape the position, and fight back to your feet so you can bring your striking back into play. I don’t know if you didn’t bother trying this because you knew I had the experience advantage in ground fighting. But you definitely want to develop the mindset where the moment you hit the ground you are already working to get back up.

I'm going to work on my posture more with my head. Do you have any solo drills. That I can use?

 

[Tony Dismukes]

I'm going to work on my posture more with my head. Do you have any solo drills. That I can use?

I’ll have to think about that. I have a bunch of solo drills for ground movement and for takedowns, but the head position fighting is something I usually have people do in partner drills. I might do some searching on YouTube and see if the wrestling coaches I like have any ideas.

Actually, one thing you might consider as a related solo exercise is deadlifts. Good deadlift technique requires that you keep your head and neck (and the rest of your spine) properly aligned. You definitely don’t want to be looking down or leaning past your base while doing heavy deadlifts.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Any time I got that far on you, you pretty much just gave up and accepted that I was going to take you down.

This is how I learn. I try to better understand the initial point of failure so I don't try to work beyond that. Until I get a better idea of what's happening and how I got myself into that trouble. Once I figure that out and can prevent that then I'll work on fighting out of it.

For me it's just a learning method. I'm the same way with sparring. I'll reset if the point of failure is big enough then I want to work it out then. When you came after me with the Jow Ga I did the same thing. I'm just burning what is going on into my memory so I can analyze it.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Have someone hold a punching pad or mits for you so you can follow through.

One of my favor trainings is to ask your opponent to hold a kicking shield and runs toward you like a mad man. You try to use front toes push kick to stop his advance.

If you can stop your opponent, you get a point. If your opponent's momentum pushes you back, you lose a point. Test it for 30 times and keep your record.

 

[Oily Dragon]

"Allow me to demonstrate the skill of Shaolin.."

Southern Shaolin tradition, Thai boxing, and Jujutsu is like chocolate, peanut butter, and double stuffed Oreo cookies.

I spent yesterday afternoon fighting waves of ocean water, probably my favorite way to train against takedowns. People are easy, IMHO, the sea is always master. An hour on mats is like a minute in rough surf.

The close surf was pretty gnarly, couldn't knock me down. Waist height surge. There I do a lot of basic stancework, for keeping foot in the sand.

Further out, about 50 yards, were 10 foot waves that could crush most smaller people, I spent that time just trying to regain my footing and stand before the next one. Forward rolls, technical stands, trying to keep breathing a foot or two from deadly riptides.

Two people died that day in the same surf. Only one body has been recovered.

Mmh. Such a thing to meditate upon.

 

[Ivan]

I have always believed that fighting contains 3 stages:

stage 1 - play offense. if fail,
stage 2 - play defense. if still fail,
stage 3 - use full backward jump, turn you head around, and run like hell.

Could you please show me the backwards jump? I have not seen it before.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I did some more thinking about the training with Tony and that head lock he kept putting me in. Part of the problem that I had was "going blind" as long as I had contact I could feel what was happening. When he moved his arm I lost my visualization of what was happening and it gave me the false sense of an opening for escape and I soon found myself escaping into the head lot. Tony explained what was happening and I'll run through some other possible option.

One of the things I'm going to dig more into is maintaining contact more and not allow my opponent's grip to escape so freely. I should be more aware of which hand is trying to stay and which hand is trying to move. I just need to be put in that head lock 20 more times.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

When he moved his arm I lost my visualization of what was happening and it gave me the false sense of an opening for escape and I soon found myself escaping into the head lot.

There are two aspects to this. The first is that with enough time spent developing sensitivity to contact you'll be able to have a sense for what my free arm is doing just from your contact to the rest of my body. The second is learning to recognize in your own body that you were out of position and open for that front head lock, so that you are instinctively fixing your posture before I can catch you.

One of the things I'm going to dig more into is maintaining contact more and not allow my opponent's grip to escape so freely.

You were actually doing an annoyingly good job of this for someone who is not a dedicated grappler. I had to do some work and pull some tricks out of my bag in order to get a hand free. Now that I know you can do that well from the over-under tie up, I'd be inclined to work on entering into some different clinch positions next time we have a chance to train. Or if I do go for the over-under, I'll do that just with the intention of pushing you up against the wall, since that seemed to shut down a lot of your defenses.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Or if I do go for the over-under, I'll do that just with the intention of pushing you up against the wall, since that seemed to shut down a lot of your defenses

Yep go for it. I don’t know how well I would be defending against that. When you used the wall I just went with it to see what you would do next. This way I can focus more on what is going on instead of stirring the water by resisting. I was basically studying what was going on.

Normally I use my foot work to reposition myself and head control to push you off angle. That's what I was doing when I was placing my hand under your chin. To prevent you from trying to come in. It was more challenging because sweat made it easier for my hand to slip off.

If you ever wonder where tiger claw could be applied then it would have been then but it's not something that should be done in training since the target at that point are the eyes.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

If you ever wonder where tiger claw could be applied then it would have been then but it's not something that should be done in training since the target at that point are the eyes.

Remind me next time and I'll show you how I train to deal with eye clawing/gouging.

I actually have a whole sequence I work on for how to best apply eye pokes and gouges. It's not so much because I ever want to do that to anybody, but because knowing how to apply the techniques most effectively helps learn the most effective defenses.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Today I had an opportunity to train with Tony and share a little bit of Jow Ga with him. It's good to see that I can still laugh while having a knee crushing my ribs or my neck cranked lol. But that's how my training has always been. I really enjoy martial arts. If anyone was wondering who got the best of the other. It wasn't that type of training. I always train to learn so I put myself in vulnerable situations where I knew I was weak, and it paid off. Tony helped me to better understand some of the strategies, techniques, and principles that are used in grappling. I appreciate that. For there are two major learning opportunities when training against System A vs System B.
1. I get to experience different types of attacks and Tony did quite a few along with some traps that were nice.
2. I get to understand better what systems try to do and accomplish. Now I have a better inside of when I need to "get off the bus" to prevent things from getting bad. But I also have new references in which to dig deeper into Jow Ga.

I also shared some basic Jow Ga long fist techniques. It wasn't as much as what I learned today in terms of variety. But there are a lot of variations that can be done with those techniques.

I will say this. The thing that surprised me most was his footwork. Normally, the people have train with have unpolished footwork. But Tony's footwork is solid at the stance which cut off my footwork for a certain type of hook that I like to do. There were adjustments that I could have made to break the stance, but I'm pretty sure stepping inside his stance and forcing his knee to pop sideways is not what you want from a sparring partner. Just like I enjoyed the fact that I didn't black out today when my neck was cranked or that funky kick that done to the side of my didn't force my knee to bend inward.

It's also good to train with someone that has a passion for martial arts. The only thing that I could have made today's training would have been more of it. lol. But now I have a lot work on.

Oh by the way @Kung Fu Wang . @Tony Dismukes was the only person that made me use the kung fu jump backwards as you show in your videos. I've never thought I would use that, but I naturally did it today. And now I have a better understanding of it. Tony caught onto it as well. I'm not sure if he knew beforehand what was going on, or if he sensed what was happening while pressed the attack. I weight about 214 lbs and that jump worked like a charm. I just have to work on what's comes next after the landing. I'm thinking a throw may be possible. I don't think the quality of his martial arts is what brought that technique out.

I hope there will be many more opportunities to do the same thing again, but for now I'm going to dig deeper into Jow Ga. Tony also uses the same types of kicks that I like to use, so I got to feel what I had been doing to others all this time lol. I had more fun in that short period of time than I did, on a weeks vacation that I recently had. Thanks taking the time Tony to share your knowledge and for the sore neck that's trying to creep up on me lol. Not your fault. I just have to get better at not being in that position lol.

I’m jealous.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

This is awesome! Thanks for sharing guys!