Dealing With "Freight Train" Attack

[fuga]

Damn it Pete and Dave! Start eating more fried foods!

I still wouldn't gain any weight. Maybe Dave and I should fight you at the same time. Then we might be large enough.

[nianfong]

eric is about 210 right now, although he doesn't tend to freight train. he is learning some muay boran, so it might be something he needs to learn how to do actually.

I have a shinai I can bring if you think it's a good idea to try using weapons...haha.

-Fong

[tastydurian]

I think what happens is I usually do try to enter on Troy, but I don't do it well enough and he usually ends up clocking me, so I end up at more medium range. I'll try being more aggressive as I need to get rid of my flinch reflex anyway.

As for weapons...how about padded nunchuks?

[Darth Rock&Roll]

angle out, he cannot change fast enough to stop your follow up.

If your footwork is not good and your ability to "see" is poor, you will consistently fail against larger opponents who use aggresive tactics.

If you learn proper footwork, evasion and countering, you should be able to deal with virtually anyone.
not saying you will be victorious, but escape is always an option as well.

as for sportive venues, weight classes generally render this entire conversation moot unless the orginization doesn't get the idea of sport or classing to facilitate sport and so on. Which believe it or not is common in cma. Many cma teachers do not understand how to sportify their knowledge to make it safer to practice bread and butter techs as opposed to piling on teh "killing moves" and so on.

[Darthwing Teorist]

So, say you're sparring someone considerably larger and heavier than you. You are a fairly strong guy yourself, with some passable skills, but your opponent comes at you with a strong, continuous attack with their momentum behind it. You try to circle out or change angles, but your opponent follows. How do you respond?

My own recent experience has shown me that I tend to stand and exchange punches, relying on my own strength and ability to absorb punisment. I realize that it would be much better to move and to hit while moving, but instinct takes over and I stand and fight rather than moving while fighting. I was going to talk to my instructor about this tonight, but my transportation arrangements changed on me, so I'll hafta wait 'til Thursday.

Do you have any specific training drills to overcome this habit? If so, I'd love to hear of them. Thanks...

Lately, I asked people to help me by whacking me with open hands, so I can work on my defenses: cover up and footwork. It is not always working as well as I want.

My experience is extremely limited, but at the last Montreal meeting I had a similar problem. I try to move out and keep the guy at distance with my strikes. My problem was that my partner, AlexMTL, entered fast and got the clinch over my head. From there it was either knee-uppercut time or takedowns, neither scenario appealing too much to me. What worked a bit that day, was trying to keep my structure and if not, front kicks. Of course, there is a risk of hitting the partner in the boys, which happened - but it was not intentional.

This is a similar problem that I am working on.

[Eisenhans]

If a bigger force comes onto you, don't be there anymore. Ie. Yielding, Dodging, whatever.

If there's clinch, one could try Snake Creeps Down and lift the guy up from your legs. Then drop him on his head or something. That actually works sometimes.

[circle_walker]

I can't stress the visualization meditation approach enough. It will improve your mindset, and approach to dealing with aggressive situations, and will help ingrain technical skill into a more reflexive response. as for specific techniques, I'm a big fan of "monkey picking fruit" in my form, the way my teacher taught me though, it is more like Xing yi's monkey form(from my uninitiated perspective). When the opponent's oncoming strike is within range, cover it withyour palm(facing down), and hook his wrist with the curve of your wrist near your thumb. Redirect down and outwardly, then shoot straight in with a palm strike to the face. If you can't make a good enough opening at first, then the secondary (striking) palm can be turned into the same cover/redirecting block, and you shoot in with the original hand. The first time I met my old Pekiti Tersia teacher, we did some light sparring, and I caught him with that. He was really surprised, and admitted that he never had much respect for bagua players before that. He then took me out drinking(I have strange ways of making friends, apparently).

[standingdon]

We practice the internal, dont forget the yin in your training. Quiet your mind with standing exercise or quiet meditation. We often find our personality in sparring, are you the type to meet conflicts head on?
I try sticking without getting hit. Sometimes I'm successful. Training with freinds helps.

[cerebus]

We practice the internal, dont forget the yin in your training. Quiet your mind with standing exercise or quiet meditation. We often find our personality in sparring, are you the type to meet conflicts head on?
I try sticking without getting hit. Sometimes I'm successful. Training with freinds helps.

I try to do at least some standing practice each night. And yeah, I definitely tend to meet conflicts straight on. If someone attacks me, I attack my attacker to either put them on the defensive, or to put them out of commission. I just wanna take that to a higher, more subtle level. I also received some good advice from my Bagua sifu about this. Thanks guys!

[Muad'dib]

I have to say I am amazed by the number of respondents who simply have not really read your question.

[nianfong]

I suppose you mean the question about how to train?
personally I think for my recommendations, he just needs to drill the response until it becoes second nature.

[CaliG]

Keep up the hard training guys.

I'm a little banged up, I won't be able to make it.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

I suppose you mean the question about how to train?
personally I think for my recommendations, he just needs to drill the response until it becoes second nature.

yes or a selection of appropriate responses in the environment he intends to address.

[cerebus]

Yeah, I really just need to practice, practice, practice doing all the things I know I SHOULD be doing in such a situation. Ideally, I would have 3 or 4 large, aggressive sparring partners who I could train this against every week, but I still get plenty of good training with my regular training partners.

And maybe Fong can work on this with me as a drill, plus if Eric can make it that'll be some great training as well.

[kreese]

Doesn't xingyi have some retreat & sudden advance type footwork? No good in this case? Maybe that's why bagua is Rogers to xingyi's Astaire. I like Ian's suggestion. Watch those Systema boys move out of the way of Mikhail's whip!

Troy's aware of the problem. That's step one. Eventually he'll get sick of it and fix it.