Chapter 23 – The nut cracker (the best drill in the world against the street ground and pound)
Notice in our title, we say
street ground and pound as apposed to
sport ground and pound. The expression ground and pound refers to two
things. First a takedown, and secondly repeated punches on the face.
When one is in a sport situation, they are only fighting one opponent,
and that opponent always starts in front of them. In a street
situation, the actual takedown can flank you from the side, the blind
spot, or from directly behind you. When we are takedown from any of
these aforementioned angles it is a completely different experience.
More like the feeling of being tackled in football, and less like the
feeling of being in a wrestling match. However in football, like in
street fighting, one can be taken down from literally any angle.
However once this occurs in football the play is over. Once this occurs
in a street fight you have just begun. The nano second that one hits
the ground, from some unseen angle their objective is to try and land
softly on the cement(as opposed to slapping out), and
instantly spin and pull guard.
While we have landed safely and are spinning the opponent in the guard,
we must simultaneously grab their head and wrap one arm. Once this
maneuver is achieved, we hang on for a while, and at the appropriate
time do a face bite and kick off and simply come to our feet.
This is the best and safest thing any human can do against another human
attempting a ground and pound. However with that said as with all
techniques this maneuver should be trained repeatedly and intensely. So
as to become hardwired in the subconscious. The best way that we have
found to do this is the nut cracker. The nutcracker drill means we have
between 6 and 12 people participating, one person in the middle. The
person in the middle is roughly 10 – 15 feet away from everyone. Each
person around the circle is given a number, and the instructor
arbitrarily calls these numbers out. When your number is heard, from
whatever angle you are at,
relative to the man in the middle.
You simply shoot in and attempt a ground and pound. The guy in the
middle will spin, pull guard, wrap the arm and neck, hang on for 5
seconds, then they instantly stand up and within 3 seconds the
instructor is yelling out another number. This entire process is
repeated, 10 to 20 times on each poor bastard in the middle. But by the
end of the day, this and an apple will keep the doctor away.
Please check the Table of Contents for links to other chapters of this Online Book.
