mighty mouse

any tips on how to take someone's balance really well with a doubl handed neck grab (to guide balance and throw the guy around)? what i find hardest is gaining entry then taking the balance (because of resistance). any tips?

mighty mouse

perhaps better known as the 'thai clinch'?

JIMI

This is a rather difficult to explain technique with words on paper, if you have an instructor, ask him to show you. The prumb is best shown and not explained. You need to feel it. Someone needs to be standing with you that can see your approach and adjust the technique to your ownself. If you have no instructor to ask, then i would say buy some technique videos from www.fairtex.com

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Hit first, Hit last, Always answer back....

DJ Coldfusion

Thai Clinch / Plumb / Prumb:

(remember, I'm nobody . . . a faceless nothing emanating from a box on your desk. Go work with a good instructor!)

Basic description : [list=1][*]Hands on crown of opponent's head[*]Forearms pinching opponent's jaw / cheeks[*]Elbows into opponent's chest / upper torso[/list=1]

Usage Hints : [list=1][*] Steer their chin before trying to turn them. If you want to turn them to your left then point the top of their head to the left as you step forward and to your RIGHT before pulling them left. [*] Use your elbows. Pop the side you want to turn towards with a quick shot to their shoulder/chest before going with the above suggestion. You want to turn left, quick pop with your left elbow, step forward to the right, turn their chin so the top of their head points to the left, pull left.[*] Always keep the elbows tight against their head while turning them.[*] Remember, the clinch is much more than the double-inside position. Experiment with other positions and striking possibilities.[*] And once again, find a good instructor and train like a maniac.[/list=1]

Good luck

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Higher concsiousness through harder contact

terry

Greg Nelson's tapes on the Muay Thai clinch are an excellent resource.

Terry

Ice

In addition to the other posts, I thought I would add a few ‘Aikido’ principles that apply. There are four basic directions you can off-balance your opponent in the clinch/plumb and the key to controlling their balance is weighting the feet through progressive locking.

By correctly manipulating the head/neck (putting the chin in the chest), your opponent will not be able to use their body mass against your force, in fact it works against them. Since the head is connected to the spinal column, which runs through their center of gravity (the pelvis), progressive [joint] locking produces a very long lever with which to control balance.

Balance [or lack thereof] in turn controls the weighting of the feet. Whether standing flat-footed or on the balls of their feet your opponent will weight his/her feet in the direction you move their balance. This is important for preventing counters as well as executing techniques. As you may have guessed by now, the lines for off-balancing run through the center of gravity forward and backward (through the pelvis orientation), and at right angles to the left and right. The left and right directions are best for throwing your opponent, as one foot will plant and the other will come off the ground, i.e. kicking them as they lose balance (a knockdown). The forward and backward directions are best for using knee techniques because you can alternately off-balance - by weighting both feet - and knee as long as you maintain control.

Once in plumb position, you can use the lines of off balancing in combination to control your opponent in one continuous motion as well (spiraling their center of gravity). Of course this requires focused training to learn all of the subtleties.

Hope that helps someone,

~W2