Subscribe to receive monthly RAWs delivered to your door for only $26.50 per month and get 3 free RAW DVDs with your initial subscription + have the option of receiving the weekly inTENS Premium for absolutely free,
|
|
|
|
Major stuff in today's newsletter.
First--info on this month's RAW you'll get the whole skinny in the next block.
Second--This week's Video Clip has Jacen Huss helping me demo a Scissors Sweep Beat at Coach John Miller's gym. Thanks John and Jacen!
Third-This week's feature is all the skinny on the completely revised RAW Program. I think you're going to like it. Complete 22 Day Training templates, progress tests, boxing/shooting/grappling packaging and more.
Fourth--See our updated seminar info in the Places to Go People to See section.
And last, but not least, check out the ESP RAW Subscription service info to your left. You can save yourself some money on this volume of RAW ($5.50 to be exact) and pick up 3 more volumes of RAW absolutely free.
Thanks everyone and have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Mark Hatmaker
Extreme Self Protection
|
Boxing + Part V: Boxing the Legs
When we hear the phrase below the belt there is a knee-jerk reaction to assume a blow has strayed low, or as Joe Rogan might say in one of his excitable commentary moments "On the button; let's look at that again on the big screen." The phrase "below the belt" originally comes to us from boxing where once the rules were codified from the Marquis of Queensberry any straying, well, below the belt was a bit less than kosher. Whereas in MMA, Muay Thai, Savate, and a few other striking systems there are plenty of strikes well below the belt, but these, more often than not, are acceptable kicks and knees to the legs.
Boxing-Pugilism has a murky history with hiding a few low shots to the groin as we have already covered extensively in our titles Illegal Boxing and The Complete Pugilist. Today I want to talk about an emerging trend of allowing the hands to stray low for legal blows. Initially we saw the first glimmers of this strategy as sort of gadfly "make you think" shots from Anderson Silva in his speedy prime or Jon Jones at his loosest, but now we are seeing truly hard shots delivered to the legs as viable additions to a striking vocabulary. Think Yoel Romero vs. Tim Kennedy in UFC 178 before the questionable corner work that began round 3. We saw Romero deliver some astonishingly assured punches to Kennedy's thighs with some stink on them. I highly recommend you view this fight.
Admittedly "boxing the legs" will never be as powerful an offense as kicking the legs but I think we will find with drilling there is more to this tactic than a mere speedy "bother me" move. Let's take a quick look at some pros and cons of this boxing the legs strategy.
Pros
- Potential to be speedier than a leg kick due to having to move far less mass for delivery.
- Quicker negative-recovery, i.e., getting back to a covered position is far easier with a punch than with a kick.
- Confusing tactic, especially if used in a High-Low/Low-High combination manner to camouflage intent.
- Ideal for wrestlers who can use the tactic to cover leg shot intent. Boxing the legs from the get-go will "train uncertainty" into your opponent, that is, once we have established that we will box the legs and shoot the legs, it becomes harder to "read" what each quick lunge to the low-line means.
- Surprisingly adaptable to unusual fist angles making the strikes often hard to read. In other words hammers and choppers work wonderfully here.
- Zero-potential for leg-checking injuries.
Cons
- Less powerful than a kicking offense, but as we will see with experimentation, still far more wallop and damage inducing than one would at first expect. (Again, I urge you to dial up Romero's performance and ask yourself if you'd like to take that cross to the meat of the thigh.)
- You do take your head low to box the legs, but we face the same chances when we shoot low as well. Proper mechanics and drilling can reduce this concern.
Overall, I think there may be more to gain training the boxing the legs strategy than in avoiding it. To that end we have devoted an entire RAW (#149) title to using a 24-Step Drill Cycle to Build Boxing the Legs facility. This cycle takes the above concerns into consideration and aims to build good head-coverage, hi-lo integration, mixes a standard boxing arsenal with the "Illegal Boxing" arsenal that will best serve this strategy (including a few surprising elbow shots), and (most importantly to my way of thinking), educates these drills on the move so we are not using a stock-still-punch tactic that would make us vulnerable.
If you are not already incorporating this tactic, I highly suggest it as it is far more surprising and powerful than it might appear at first blush.
This volume (as with all volumes of RAW) comes with a printed syllabus for inclusion in your training notebook.
ESP RAW 149 can be had this month for $32 (S & H included--Domestic & International) at the end of the month the price goes to $42 Domestic/$52 International. [Of course, it's only $26.50 for the RAW Crew.]
To order: 
To pay only $26.50 for this DVD + receive 3 other RAW DVDs for free, subscribe to our ESP RAW DVD Service.
|
|
What's Old is New
Mark Hatmaker
|
Our next volume of RAW will be number 150! That's twelve and a half years of monthly volumes.
When we first started we ran our first 21 volumes as multi-format programs: you had some conditioning, some boxing, some takedown work, and, of course, some ground work.
Well, 150 seems like a big enough anniversary to dust off that original format but add some major improvements.
Starting with RAW 150 each volume will offer:
-
Multi-Day Conditioning Programs that will run on 60-90 Day Cycles to allow us to refresh and re-charge throughout the year in a periodization format.
-
We will blend through General Physical Preparedness (GPP) and Stamina training in 26 different Focus-Cycles from Basic to WTF!
-
Each cycle will have a particular Target Improvement from standard GPP, to Bodyweight-only, to heavy Power & Strength work, to Eccentric-Strength via Unorthodox Work (Slosh-pipes, sandbags, un-equal bars, etc.).
-
Each cycle will begin and end with a benchmark test that will allow you to gauge and mark progress.
-
Each RAW syllabi will now include these in-depth monthly training plans as well as video instruction of any unorthodox exercise so we as a crew have a performance standard. (Alternate exercises for Rookies will be offered where necessary.)
-
The Private Facebook Group will be our support/commiseration forum, where we will no longer post the entire day's training, but rather reference it from the Key Name in each month's syllabi, as in "Just finished today's 'Prisoner Hell Hill' challenge-I hate life."
-
There will be approximately 22 Training Days per month that break down roughly into twelve 12-Round Combat Training Days and 10-12 GPP/Stamina Days.
-
We are retiring the inTENS Program and moving to this format as we are seeing greater conditioning gains across all spectrums with this less randomized, more focused periodization approach.
-
Each RAW will also feature training material across all 3 major areas of MMA/Street-work, that is: Striking, Takedowns (Shooting & Clinching), and Groundwork.
-
We will be providing multiple Combat 12-Round Workouts with each RAW built on the Combination Man logical progression premise.
-
These multi-format RAWs will allow you to quickly hone in on your area(s) of focus (conditioning, striking, shooting, clinching, offensive/defensive groundwork) so that each RAW gives you more bang for your buck whether using them as tools for solo training or as class templates.
-
You will also have the option of receiving either a hard-copy (paper copy) of the monthly RAW syllabi or an electronic copy sent to your device on the day of your subscription payment. [We're still working on automatic video download-stay patient.]
-
To compensate for this more comprehensive approach the RAW subscription fee will increase accordingly but not for current subscribers or new or returning members in the month of April. Current members are grandfathered in, new and returning folks can hit the present fee during the April grace period.
-
In a nutshell, the new RAW Program will offer the Comprehensive Conditioning and Combat Training Drill approach we've laid out, access to the private Facebook forum, access to the No Second Chance (NSC) Street Drill Assignments, and 15% off of all products and services available in our store.
-
Or course, the rubber hitting the road is always the price. You can join or re-join the revised RAW Crew program for the monthly fee of $26.50 per month inside the United States, $36.50 International.
-
The price never goes up for members-in other words, at whatever point you enter the program that is your fee as long as you are member. And, of course, you may quit at any time-there are no contracts. Of course, we think you'll appreciate the amount of thought that is going into the comprehensive program and will want to stick around.
-
The price bump goes into effect May 1st.
-
We will also honor the "Welcome aboard!" package of 3 additional RAW volumes (of your choice) for free to any new subscriber from now until May 1st.
We've been cooking this comprehensive sequenced format for some time and we think you are going to see great strides in approaching the material in this manner.
If this sounds up your hardcore alley-hit the subscribe button in the sidebar before the price bump.
Onward and upward!
----------------------------------------------------------------
 BOXING FOR MMA
BOXING FOR MMA: $10:
BOXING FOR MMA (w/International Shipping) $18:
SHE'S TOUGH
(168 PAGES) Contents include Motivation, Female Approaches to Extreme Conditioning, Common Concerns & Remedies, Nutrition Facts, Tips on Building a Training Crew, Gear Recommendations per Commitment Level, Complete Exercise Vocabulary, and 3-Full Months of Exercise Menu Programming.
It will retail at $12.95 ($22.95 International) but this month, you can pick up an autographed copy for $11 bucks even ($20 International)--that's S&H included.
SHE'S TOUGH $10:
SHE'S TOUGH (w/International Shipping) $18:
|
Brand Spanking New Shirts
 
Available Sizes: S-2XL
$18 (Shipping Included):
$25 (w/ International Shipping):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Available Sizes: S-3XL
$18 (Shipping Included):
$25 (w/ International Shipping):
|
|
Places to Go; People to See
|
|
We'll be in Charlotte, NC at Martial Arts Carolina on Saturday April 11th for a 1-Day Boot Camp. To register or for more info
blackbelt@martialrtscarolina.com or (704) 847-2222
Stick around for Day 2 and we will be running the Spartan Sprint on Sunday the 12th at 9am.
May 2nd & 3rd we'll be in Montreal where uber-coach and gentleman extraordinaire Kris Iatskevich and I will present 2-days of violent fun. For more info or to register www.iswawrestling.com
June 25th-28th we'll be in Radford, VA for the 28th Anniversary of Karate College. To register or for more info www.thekaratecollege.com
We'd love to have you come out and play at any of these events, or failing that, we'd love to come out your way. If you'd like us to come to you, see our Pick An Adventure sidebar and we may just come to you far cheaper than you'd imagine (I'm easy when it come to new friends and fun stuff.)
|
|
|
|
Pick An Adventure
Seminars
|
Some of us are old-enough to remember a series of interactive books where readers were asked to make a decision and then go to a corresponding page to see what sort of mess you got yourself into. You never quite knew where you were going to wind up with these books--pre-video game era, these were a novel idea.
Here's where you come in, if you'd like to host a seminar and save yourself some bucks off of the standard fees in the process--if you've got an Adventure Race in your area, a rock you think I'd like to climb, a river you think I want to raft, a hike you think I just need to take, a desert I've not run on, you get the idea--pitch your adventure and school location. If the adventure appeals and the logistics are right we offer greatly reduced fees to come to your school and play with your crew before we go play at your Adventure Pitch.
BTW--You and your crew are welcome to attend the adventure, as a matter of fact, we'll knock off even more bucks for this sort of hands-on guiding.
So, you got some adrenaline in your neck-of-the-woods and want to train? Feel free to make your pitch and we'll see what happens.
|
Mark Hatmaker
(865) 679-1223
|
|
 |
|
