Practice exits as well as entries

[Bill Mattocks]

Lots of folks practice how to enter when sparring. How to set distance. All good.

Fewer people practice exits. Assume your technique is defeated, your attack knocked down. Counterattack is guaranteed and it's coming with a quickness.

So set up and practice your exits. Turn a loss into a win by getting out under control, your terms. Practice the pivot, the cover, the make-a-hole, and know where you are in the ring or the dojo, don't let the ropes or the walls get you bound up.

Some people fight by setting up the exit, inviting the attack, then they eat 'em up. They win by being good at getting out rather than in.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

A good way to do this as a striker is to spar against grapplers. After you enter (especially if you are not going full power) you need to get out of there quickly without them getting a grip on you. You realize quickly if you are good at escaping or not, and what works/doesn't work when you try it.

A lot (and I mean a lot) of trial and error, but it can help you immensely.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Lots of folks practice how to enter when sparring. How to set distance. All good.

Fewer people practice exits. Assume your technique is defeated, your attack knocked down. Counterattack is guaranteed and it's coming with a quickness.

So set up and practice your exits. Turn a loss into a win by getting out under control, your terms. Practice the pivot, the cover, the make-a-hole, and know where you are in the ring or the dojo, don't let the ropes or the walls get you bound up.

Some people fight by setting up the exit, inviting the attack, then they eat 'em up. They win by being good at getting out rather than in.

A video of Anderson Silva was posted in another thread recently. He controlled that fight not with his entries, but with tiny exits keeping him just beyond the strikes of his opponent. The other fighter was all "entry", Silva was in complete control of the fight.

 

[Touch Of Death]

The Kenpo spin, on this topic, is the full course meal: Give them an appetizer, on the way in; feed them their knuckle sandwich; and, on the way out, give them some dessert. (Groin stomp)

 

[Midnight-shadow]

I think that a lot of TMAs don't bother so much with the exits because they hold the philosophy of ending the fight as quickly as possible in 1-2 strikes. That's why in my art we have the 3 principles: "Make the bridge" (i.e. make contact with the enemy), "Cross the Bridge" (use the contact to strike your opponent) and then "Break the bridge" (send your opponent flying/knocked down). Of course, in a ring fight this doesn't apply and exits are important in maintaining control of the fight, especially if you don't have a very strong ground game compared to your opponent.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I think that a lot of TMAs don't bother so much with the exits because they hold the philosophy of ending the fight as quickly as possible in 1-2 strikes. That's why in my art we have the 3 principles: "Make the bridge" (i.e. make contact with the enemy), "Cross the Bridge" (use the contact to strike your opponent) and then "Break the bridge" (send your opponent flying/knocked down). Of course, in a ring fight this doesn't apply and exits are important in maintaining control of the fight, especially if you don't have a very strong ground game compared to your opponent.

And in some, the exit is implicit in the techniques. For instance, my favorite place to do stuff from is right behind their shoulder. The movement that gets me there is the entry. The movement I'd use for the technique is very close to the same movement I'd use for exiting if the technique doesn't present or fails.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

The long fist system uses backward jump to "exit". You can jump back 15 feet if you train.

 

[JowGaWolf]

For me exits and entries are the same thing. Entries start the action, Exits start a reset.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

For me exits and entries are the same thing. Entries start the action, Exits start a reset.

Agree! In wrestling, the "exit" footwork is the reverse of the "attack" footwork.

1. attack - You move in rooting leg, apply attacking leg, and try to throw your opponent in one direction.
2. exit - If your throw fail, you use "3 points step", retreat attacking leg, retreat rooting leg, apply attacking leg, and try to throw your opponent in an opposite direction.

 

[drop bear]

I think that a lot of TMAs don't bother so much with the exits because they hold the philosophy of ending the fight as quickly as possible in 1-2 strikes. That's why in my art we have the 3 principles: "Make the bridge" (i.e. make contact with the enemy), "Cross the Bridge" (use the contact to strike your opponent) and then "Break the bridge" (send your opponent flying/knocked down). Of course, in a ring fight this doesn't apply and exits are important in maintaining control of the fight, especially if you don't have a very strong ground game compared to your opponent.

Wouldn't 1 or 2 punch fights make exits more important.

I have been banging hard with mma gloves, rather than boxing gloves recently and there is a lot less desire to stand and trade when getting hit hurts more.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Wouldn't 1 or 2 punch fights make exits more important.

When dealing with multiple opponents, to exit with double hay-makers may be better. You can use it to clear up a space around your body.

 

[drop bear]

When dealing with multiple opponents, to exit with double hay-makers may be better. You can use it to clear up a space around your body.

Cant really be done like that you will get dog piled. As yo create more openings for multiple attackers in that manner.

 

[Langenschwert]

In the German school of swordsmanship, this is called the "Abzug" (withdrawl). The idea is that while you may have struck your opponent, you may not have incapacitated him. Perhaps you've missed entirely. In many historical and modern tournaments if he hits you back after the fact, it's called the "afterblow". It is important to learn to defend the afterblow by withdrawing and/or covering.

The rationale from a swordsmanship perspective is this: I will assume that any strike I land on my opponent may not incapacitate him, but any strike he gets on me will incapacitate me. From the perspective of the person delivering the afterblow, it teaches you to keep fighting after you've been struck, since maybe the hit wasn't so bad after all.

Joachim Meyer devotes some space to it in his 1570 treatise.

Here is a video of me doing Abzug in tournament at 22:13 (red corner). In the first exchange I fail on my Abzug and eat an afterblow. On the second and final exchange of the match I let the attacker miss and strike him back on the head. I then control his sword with mine, making an afterblow impossible. My Abzug is successful. My withdrawl footwork isn't all explosie and pretty, but it did the trick:

 

[drop bear]

Good little video on this subject.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Good little video on this subject.

yep.. there's that useless side stance again.

 

[drop bear]

yep.. there's that useless side stance again.

He is not running.

But you will notice 3 dimensional fighting means you can't really be sideways.

 

[marques]

Going back to the original post...

Training exits is specially important (and omitted) in grappling for self defence. I never found how to release a 'arm lock' or rear naked choke. So you stay there forever, or you risk to have the bad guy fighting again... (In that case I was ready to grab again or strike, but it would be ad lib. hopefully he just stopped.)

 

[drop bear]

Going back to the original post...

Training exits is specially important (and omitted) in grappling for self defence. I never found how to release a 'arm lock' or rear naked choke. So you stay there forever, or you risk to have the bad guy fighting again... (In that case I was ready to grab again or strike, but it would be ad lib. hopefully he just stopped.)

You mean doing a rear naked and say for some reason having to bail out rather than defending a rear naked.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Going back to the original post...

Training exits is specially important (and omitted) in grappling for self defence. I never found how to release a 'arm lock' or rear naked choke. So you stay there forever, or you risk to have the bad guy fighting again... (In that case I was ready to grab again or strike, but it would be ad lib. hopefully he just stopped.)

With the arm lock-snap his arm. WIth the RNC-choke him. Then you don't have either issue and can continue on.

 

[marques]

The (first) RNC was at school. And I was asked to explain my behavior after. The explanation would be harder if I had put him unconscious. And I don't know reanimation.
The second RNC was on the street, late in the night. I was asked to stop by friends of mine. And the guy came back to fight again. (Just managed the distance until the taxi.)
The issue with that solutions (choke and snap) may be legal ones... (And in may case, I need a great motivation, or no alternative, to go so far.)