Flow drills

I’ve started a steep learning curve recently, based upon two person flow-drills. Continuous training drills were a feature of my original karate study, but they were so stylised as to be irrelevant in terms of real combat application. The most significant advantage of these new drills over the ones I worked previously, is the realistic range.

Basic Tegumi flow drill –

Incoming RH direct punch/throat grab
Parry across your body with LH (outward-to-inward motion is quicker than inward-to-outward), RH haito to his wrist, press/trap with LH, Punch direct with RH.

Interestingly – this most basic of flow drills is essentially the same technique as the first part of Jitte no bunkai ichiban. It’s a shame it was always practiced as a defence against a chudan jun tzuki in zenkutsu-dachi stance from a full stride away instead of a close range boxing-style jab punch.

The traditional karate foundation (or at least its training drills) on which my skill set was based, begins all its techniques with the protagonists a step or so apart – which gives a fraction of a second of preparation time that does not necessarily exist in a realistic conflict. Certainly, if you have your wits about you at this range, the chances of stopping a situation from escalating either with avoidance, awareness, dialogue or pre-emptive strikes are half-decent. The real training need kicks in if everything has fallen apart – when you’re forced to cover, block or parry incoming strikes – then your arms will connect with your adversary’s and this moment is crucial as the phase of combat transitions from kicking/punching range to clinching.

Most martial arts possess drills to train the practitioner to capitalize on this moment of connection with the adversary. My research has indicated that Chi-sau, Hubud, Kakie etc. are distinctly different methods from traditional arts, but they focus on the close range fight scenario.

Steve Morris says of Hubud;
“The Kali hubud drill is one similar to that used within Tiger systems and Uechi-ryu. It's a way of making offensive, defensive or counteroffensive contact on the outside or inside of the man's arm, and on the basis of that contact and his reaction to it, initiating your next move and so on and so forth…
…it forces you to work with your hands out in front of you, not cocked or 'chambered' as in a karate. They become antennae, looking for contact and learning to interpret and act upon cues of touch. At that range, you can't use your eyes. Your working range is from elbow to hand, so it's not only half-beat but half-range working range. That's why the emphasis within the southern systems is on short-range strikes.”

Patrick McCarthy has developed drills in his “Koryu Uchinadi” syllabus for traditional karate practitioners to achieve the similar ends - some of these drills I’m learning and messing with for my own training regime.

The challenge for a keen practitioner or wannabe-instructor like myself is to bridge the gap between these valuable drills, and the actual fight. A drill will only ever be a drill, regardless of how much training value it can imbue. Unless you put the drills to one side and so some actual fight practice its all still academic – especially if they are stylised. Why keep one hand in hikite during a drill, unless that hand is there to simulate a grab…?