WarYoga

The hammer strike was common in the Ancient Greek combat sports of Pygmakhía and Pankrátion. Both employed a simple, but effective post on the elbow to stuff the hammer and leave an opponent vulnerable to other attacks. The technique comes from blocking an incoming downward sword slash on the battlefield when disarmed. It requires exceptionally fast action and impeccable timing, or else it will be ineffective.

Mil swings with my friend of at the Etruscan necropolis of Cerveteri in Ladispoli. The site is very special. You can feel the energy of the ancient tombs on the edge of the valley. The only sound was the bullfrogs and the insects. Some wild boars live in the tombs, but they stayed away from us. Perhaps the didgeridoo player that was a few hundred yards away had awakened the ancient spirits to protect us.

visited me last December. He really liked giving me his leg.

Seth is a great guy with a fantastic YouTube Channel that you should definitely follow. He embodies the spirit of martial arts and is open minded and light hearted with a warrior spirit.

Dambal rumali are a great exercise for the upper back, shoulders, grip, and core. They promote healthy joints as well as dynamic strength. The grip has to adjust continually throughout, creating grip intelligence that is vital for grappling.

Learning when to loosen and when to tighten the grip is a much overlooked part of strength and conditioning for combat sports and the dambal rumali fill that empty gap perfectly.

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The stockade is one of the most powerful positions in submission grappling. It allows for immense control with unpleasant pressure. From the stockade there are several routes that you can travel - in this variation, the knee is used to pin allowing for a shotgun armbar or kimura.

It was a great honour to teach at - thank you to and his team for allowing me to share some of my favourite aspects of the top game.

In old English bareknuckle there strikes would often lead to clinches. Clinches would usually lead to throws to end the rounds.

What is a samtola?

A samtola is a tool from the Indian wrestling akhara that had become somewhat neglected over the years, but has enjoyed a recent resurgence.

The word samtola means “equal weight” and it is essentially a log with two handles carved in equidistant to each other along its length.

The samtola is swung with the emphasis placed on the spine in flexion.

In Pankrátion, the prosbállo (long guard) was favoured. Here it can lead naturally to aukhéna periágein (Dracula guard), which gives a great control position by penetrating and blocking the shoulder. From this position, a katapykteúein (hammer punch) to the collar bone or neck opens exceptional offensive options such as the epigōnízein (knee) or ōlekranízein (elbow).

This was from my workshop at with my friends and

I am grateful to everyone who attended for their time and open minds. Looking forward to the next time!

The side saddle is a position that I came upon through experimentation as a bit of an accident. Instead of playing a high s-mount, this position, if you have hip flexibility, allows you to pin your opponent while having both of his arms under control.

While I have still never seen anyone else doing this (hence I made up a name for it), they doesn’t imply invention. I firmly believe almost every technique existed before this current period of combat sports.

Clip from my workshop at last Sunday.