Theme of the Week: Circles and Angles

Facing a bigger, stronger opponent?  Isn’t that always the way it goes?  There are two solutions to this problem.  One is to get stronger than everyone who might possibly attack you.  The other is to get more skilled than everyone who might possibly attack you.

While both solutions are practically impossible (although someone out there must be the strongest, just as someone must be the most skilled) it’s nice to know that a weaker opponent can manipulate a stronger one if they have a solid understanding of how to use circle and angles.

How does this work?  Well, let’s suppose your theoretical strong attacker grabs you by the shoulder and starts crushing us with their superior strength.  Great!  Consider a tight grip a gift that tells you exactly where your opponent is and what they are up to.   Take your arm (the same side as the shoulder that gets grabbed), go outside their arm then loop up, over and then down.  This quick half-circle will either break their grip, or cause them to bend at the waist if they insist on holding on.  Why does it work?  Because the circle motion is not working against the strength of your opponent.  The circle is skirting the force and exploiting the weak nature of a tense grip (by turning the wrist and/or causing an armbar).

That’s the specific example.  Now, take that idea of using a circle against any grip and see if you can get it to work.

See the student’s thoughts here.