We've got over 175 instructional products (and counting) on the market, most of which contain very little overlap. I am often asked how can I remember so many moves or, how is someone supposed to retain all of this material? The answer is primarily context. Rather than approaching each submission as a separate entity it is wise to approach each position as a contextual whole and then allow the submissions to branch from these positions. Such an approach is the basis of our Combination Man Curriculum in the RAW DVDs.

But, that answer is not sufficient, in my mind. It is true there is a wealth of material to be mastered and that we need all the tools we can muster to aid us in our task of submission recognition. The complete answer then, is context and destinations.

To explain what I mean by destinations allow me to drop into analogy world for a bit. I wager that if you have lived in your current location for a while you know the area fairly well. I'll also wager that you can come up with at least a dozen destinations that you can find your way to rather easily. For example, your home, work, friend's house, schools, movie theater, grocery store, Wal-Mart, Post Office, more than a few restaurants, et cetera. I'll continue to wager that, if need be, you can use more than one route to arrive at most of these destinations. You can take main roads if traffic is light or alternate back roads simply because the mood strikes you or to avoid traffic. Most of us have no problem navigating alternate routes to like destinations. So, let's keep this common skill in mind as we apply it to submissions.

Basically there are only ten classes of submissions.

Ten--that's it. Those wondering where, let's say shoulder locks are; shoulder locks are applied either with the arm straight (Class 1) or bent (Class 2) so they are included in the ten destinations. If you begin to recognize submissions as belonging to classes or destinations and stop trying to recall them as disparate entities you'll have a far easier time retaining the information. The differences will come via approach/set-ups/routes taken to each of these ten destinations.

So, in a nutshell, to wrap our minds around the wonderful wealth of material in the All-in game, use context and destination cues to create order out of the seeming chaos.