By Robert Verdell (Nowaydo) on Monday, July 29, 2002:
I have reviewed Scott Sonnon's Leg Fencing
and it really is a bonus for fans of the "Clinch",
which he explains as a combination of a
locking arm, power transfer arm, mobile leg
and supporting leg.
This covers how you use the tools below your
waist, where "Fisticuffs" works on tools and
strategies above the waist.
But, THEY ALL WORK TOGETHER.
The strategy is to secure your opponent,
shock him and finally saturate him.
In securing him you must contend with the
appropriate "range". Mr. Sonnon uses "joint"
depth opposed to the traditional kicking,
boxing, trapping/clinching, grappling ranges.
There is no contact depth, wrist/ankle depth,
knee/elbow depth, hip/shoulder depth and
spinal depth.
After you secure him, you must "shock" him.
Here Mr. Sonnon's Leg Fencing makes no
distinction between striking and grappling, for
they can both "shock" your opponent. Some of
the Leg Fencing tactics consist of post, trips,
sweeps, hooks and reaps. They all can be
used as either a grappling tool to throw or a
striking tool to momentarily shock your
opponent.
Finally, there is the "saturation" of your
opponent or finishing him with an
overwhelming and non-stop attack, whether
it's grappling or striking.(Flow fighting)
The gems of the material are the drills he
includes. He shows "static" drills to work on
your mechanics (which should be done for
only 25 reps or 5minutes) and he shows
"fluid" drills(for decreasing mistakes and
recovery time from errors), which are broken
up into Asymmetrical (one guy attacking and
one defending) and symmetrical (both
attacking and defending).
The drills are done with fighters holding on to
each other's wrist, collar and elbow,
waist-locking(pummeling position). You will
definitely find out what tool are and are not
wise to use.
Mr. Sonnon shows several tool development
games also that look very fun.
He also does a series on the use of knee
strikes in the clinch, how to use and defend
against them.
You'll see all drills demonstrated "live" by Mr.
Sonnon and his students.
The most difficult area for most will be the
"Tool development" part. The exercises are
not easy, but can be broken down so you can
progress at your own rate. It helped that I have
experience in dance, yoga and familiarity with
his Dvizheniye material. But you'll see how it
all makes sense in the drills. This is a
workout within itself. You won't need yoga,
combat conditioning or plyometrics if you can
do these movements.
Why is this different? Well, he reminds us not
to forget to use our legs(entire legs from hip to
toes) in the clinch. He renovates things you
might find on Greg Nelson's material by
providing more information, understanding
and options. And again....the drills, I can't
expound enough on how good they are and
how they all work in a planned progression.
This material makes it clear the ROSS is not a
style, but a training method. There are drills
that would be great if you only did Judo, only
did Thai boxing, only did wrestling, or if you are
just a streetfighter(whatever that means).
There is so much more to this, but my goal
here was to give a "general" idea of what "Leg
Fencing" covers.
Robert
Way to go, Robert. Send my congrats to your group.
Freedom's such a rush.