Royce Gracie Jujutsu

Compilation of Royce fight finishes in early 90s first UFCs -
taking his opponents to the floor and making them submit

UFC/Pride KOs

A compilation of UFC/Pride KOs over the years.

A lot of good kicks here, some bare knuckle matches, gi matches, and some throws.

Kickboxing KOs

This is a compilation vid of KOs from K1 - mixed FC KB contests

White Tiger Martial Arts

Kickboxing
Boxing
Savate
Muay Thai
Karate
WTF TKD

Kali
Sinawalli double stick
Serrada single stick
Esapada y daga stick and knife
Kadena de mano knife fighting
Largo mano long stick
Krabi Krabong Thai weapons
Kendo Japanese sword

Feng Wei
Wing Chun - Jun Fan
HIA trapping
Chi sao
NRG energy drills
Empty hands Kali
Panantukan boxing
Panajakman kicking
Dumog


IGA - Integrated Grappling Arts
Judo
Jujutsu
Wrestling
Dumog
Throws and takedowns
Locks and chokes

Boxing

FWA - Five ways of attack

SDA - Lo jab and cross
ABD - Attack by drawing - draw lo punch and counter hi
PDA - Progressive Indirect Attack - fake lo hit hi
ABC - Attack by combination - app of focus pad drills

HIA - hand immobilisation attack - trapping in boxing


FWD - 5 ways of defence

parry
evade - slip, roll, duck, bob and weave, snapback
block (constantine)

distance - step back and return

interception


New boxing set:

1 - J, C, J
2 - C, J, C
3 - J, C, J, C
4 - C, J, C, J
5 - J, C, H
6 - RU, RH, H

ABCs for focus padwork.
The senior calls the number of the combination, first on order, then random.
Then practice chains.

Shiro Tora Kendo

Starting with the largo stick and drills we progress to 2 handed drills in Kali then develop techniques and drills from kendo.

We uae Japanese shinai for better drilling and sparring
We use Japanese red oak boken for "suburi" drilling.
We use katana which equates to the largo stick and wakizashi which equates to the serrada stick.

Shiro Tora Judo

Kodokan Judo
Tomiki aikido

Randori not just with nage waza but the tomiki randori no kata

Newaza

Atemi waza - blow before throw.

The Power Punch - KO

To develop the power punch we have to change the delivery system of the punch.

1. The step

2. knee bend

3. Hip

4. Shoulder

5. The fist

Also applies to the slap.

We develop this technique on the pads and in line-up to the opponent's chin.

The purpose is to knock the attacker out cold.

Tyson in attack

If you watch the early fights of Mike Tyson he would use power and pressure to drive his opponents back to the ropes or corner and finish them with powerful short range hooks and uppercuts.

He rarely used the jab and cross as blows in their own right, just for pressure.

Watch his fights against Burbank and Spinks when he took their titles.
Watch his fight against Pinkton Thomas and his first fight with Bruno.

In attack we use the Tyson concept:
enter,
drive the opponent back with pressure,
terminate with close range hooks and uppercuts.

In KB we add kicks to phase entry and pressure.

In Thai we use Knees to terminate in the clinch.

In VT we use takedowns and the ground and pound for pressure and terminate or terminate with a choke or lock.

In street we use the whole HKE at termination phase.

Tyson classic KOs

Tyson's classic ABC was a low rear hook followed by a rear uppercut
the RU was then followed by a lead hook
sometimes the right woud follow again, either a cross or rear hook.



you also get to see a low left hook to the kanzo PSNA - liver/floating ribs which drops the opponent.

The RH KO is a great example of SDA - and of course First Rule!

Tyson vs Frazier - 1st Round Knockout


Mike Tyson vs Trevor Berbick
forward to 6 min mark to see the KO
then stick around for the slow motion multiple angle replays to see how it's done.

Tyson makes the RLH-RU ABC but the uppercut misses.
The RU doesn't do the job, it's the left hook that gets the KO.



Spinks vs Tyson
Tyson deployes the RLH-RU and the body shot drops Spinks to his knees - the RU never lands
When they restart, Tyson slips Spinks' cross and shoots a hook
- the hook misses but the following RU lands.

FF to 6 min to see the KO
then stick around for the slow motion multiple angle replays to see how it's done.




Tyson Bruno 1

{awaiting footage of replays}

This fights ends with a classic RLH to RU which makes Bruno's head wobble.
Tyson then throws a lead hook, which is blocked
then throws a RU, H, C ABC and the ref stops the fight.





This montage of a rare long fight has great examples of Tyson's powerful hooks
The classic RLH-RU ABC appears at 1.01 and then several times more during the match.

Tatsujin - the meaning of White Tiger

Meijin means a master of the martial arts.

Tatsujin means a "completed human being".

It is very difficult to become a complete human being.

To live as a human being means you are not obsessed with who is weak or who is strong. An animal has to be strong to survive in nature. Humans can live regardless of their outward strength.

This is the most important realisation of the Human Fighting Arts.

To work to be a meijin is to miss the point.

In STMA, we are not trying to be masters of the individual fighting arts, we are working towards being tatsujin, complete human beings.

Be a White Tiger, not just a person "doing" White Tiger Martial Arts.

Chi sao

At STMA our sparring encompasses stick, knife, kickboxing, boxing, grappling, Vale Tudo, MMA, karate - and chi sao.

It's hard to explain chi sao in writing and it's quite hard to see what it actually is if you are uninitated.

We practice basic luk sao roll drill as part of our FW drilling. It will instantly improve your trapping and locking sensitivity.

Chi sao has to be handed to a student by a Sifu and one stage at a time. You have to constantly check your position before allowing you to advance with each other. It takes time, but it's worth it.

We take the Jun Fan approach rather than the hard fixed WC approach, and you don't need to learn Sil Lum Tao first.

Chi sao is one of the areas in MA that is not often taught properly, especially by Westerners taught by Westerners with no real Chinese lineage.

As it's hard to see what it really is, unlike boxing or grappling, it's easy to misinterpret and get wrong.

Our chi sao is very adapted. It starts in Traditional WC, then works to Modified, then Jun Fan, which is much looser and works from a boxing stance.

Wing Chun enters quickly to chi sao, while JF is fully functional in the KB phase.

It's been said that chi sao is an expression of the Sil Lum Tao form in combat.
We always interpret that as refering to an expression of the concepts of Sil Lum Tao as opposed to the literal techiques.

We won't be expecting members to learn the Sil Lum Tao form, or any WC forms, but we will do SLT exercises and definately expound the concepts in combat.

I was talking to one of the STMA students who had some previous chi sao experience and he mentioned something he had been told previously about the position of bon sao having to be 45 degrees.

This is a classic example of somebody who doesn't know what they are talking about!

This person did not understand Sil Lum Tao or Chi Sao at all.

Let me explain.

The first thing you learn is Tan Sao. In tan sao the arm is fixed at 45 deg. You use this as a bridge and block.

You then learn fok sao - the "bridge arm".

Once you have these you roll tan to bon sao.
Bon sao is the third arm position you learn.

If your tan sao is properly developed before you start rolling
YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE BON SAO AT 45 DEG!

What was mentioned was a class where the student's structures collapse and the hand at bon pulls in towards the body. This is because they were not taught SLT properly - how to fix tan sao and fok sao before ever rolling to bon sao.

If tan sao and the roll are properly trained there is no need to ever think about this bon sao "compensation"!

SLT training ensures the structures are correct from day one so there is no need for later correction.

EMPTY YOUR CUP and forget what you think you know!

HIA

Hand Immobilisation Attacks, also known as Trapping.

These techniques are taken from WIng Chun Kung Fu, later adapted in Jun Fan Gung Fu, with the addition of nerve strikes and HKE from Kali.

Basic sequence:

lop sao
jao sao and lo 12
pak sao
side step pak sao and shuto
- henka - hammer anvil eye jab
inside bon to uraken

Advanced sequence:

pak, pak
pak, lop
side step, wedge, pak
pak, pak, elbow wrench, 13
pak, lop, wrench, 13, headbutt

Against a retreat to punch range: pak, gz, pak
Against a retreat to kick range: pak, dte

Pak, pak to Thai clinch with foream shiver

6 count drill 8 henka

HHH - heaven
HHL
HLL
HLH - standard

LHH
LHL - * - the fourth variation
LLH
LLL - earth
Report to Mod - Link to Post - Back to Top Logged

we now have 8 drills:

HHH
HHL
HLL
HLH

LHH
LHL
LLH
LLL

the next phase is to split the count in half.

In Heaven you would do HHH then HHH.
What you do in "64" is mix and match.
So you do HHH then HLH
or HHH then LLL
etc
After HHH on the left there are 8 possible trips to do on the right.

Then you go to HHL and do the same, each with 8 answers.

This gives a total of 64 possible combinations.

New Kali stick drills

Glove beat

This drill involves a normal drill, eg 6 count, but hitting the glove instead of the stick.

which isn't as easy as it sounds and take time to develop.

This functionalises your stick fighting for the street where you would it an attacker's weapon hand on the first beat.


Half beat

This involves sticking an extra strike in with the other stick in between beats of the count.

6 count goes like this:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
obviously

so stick in a half beat strike:

1 and 2, 3, 4 and 5, 6

the half beat can go anywhere in the drill

7 count drills are really just 6 counts with an extra beat.

The basic 7 count you learn at STMA is an odd LHH with the half beat after the 6th beat.

5 count is just 4 count with the extra beat after the 3 on the low line.

This now gives us expoential ways to grow 4 count to 5s and 6 counts to 7s.

Kali Concepts

This is what we'll be working on next in sinawalli.

Not wanting to overload everyone, you will need to work the half beat, 8 henka and 64 over time as well as putting the glove on for hand beat.

As we are doing that we will add practice in the sin concepts.
Be getting them right in 6 count we can do them with other counts such as 4 or 8 count.
When you get the hang of a new sin eg HHL, you will be able to apply the sin concepts to that drill.
This gives us unlimited potential for drilling over time.

Some of these concepts you already know and have practiced.

1. Matching - normal drilling - right hand matches right hand
2. Mirror - left hand matches right
3. redondo - one hand meets multiple beats
4. reverse redondo
5. complement - one hand high, one hand lo
6. chaining - eg 2,4,6,8
7. transposing - as your partner does the 6 count, change your response between cons - eg mirror, redondo, comp, etc

STMA Combat Throws

Though there are about 100 throws in Jujutsu and 40 that made the Judo gokyo, we have 10 primary combat throws which we will practice on the mats.

The first 5 are hip throws with one shoulder throw:

These are TENKAN turning techniques

Koshi Guruma or Cross hip or Hip Wheel
Tai Otoshi - body drop
Uchi mata - inner thigh throw
Harai goshi - sweeping hip throw
Seoinage - shoulder throw or flying mare

The second 5 are reaps with one sutemi sacrifice throw

These are IRIMI entering techniques

O Soto Gari - major outer reap
O Uchi Gari - Major inner reap
Morote Gari - double leg takedown
Single leg takedown
Brazilian clinch takedown


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have listed the 10 primary nage waza that form the STMA combat throws.

However as you progress through your training you will encounter many other throws. Some you will want to add to your personal repertoire, which is to be encouraged.

Shihan Mifune 10th Dan Judo lists over 100 throws in his texts. Coming from Jujutsu, these can all be classified as Judo throws.

Here are some of my favourite secondary throws:

Okuri ashi harai
Kata guruma - shoulder wheel
Soto makikomi
Tani otoshi - valley drop
Tomoe nage - stomach throw
Kani basami - crab scissors
Kuchiki taoshi - rotten tree fall

and three from wrestling:

belly-belly suplex
belly-back suplex
rice bail

However:
The rice bail appears in Judo as tawara gaeshi.
It is an excellent counter to morote gari attack from a shooter.

Belly back suplex appears in Judo as corner drop

Kuchiki is similar to aikido's irimi nage, though here we use an o soto step to block the back of the opponent's leg.

In Tomiki shomen ate is another variation of this technique.

That's 3 different variations from 3 different arts - Judo, Aikido, and Tomiki - arts that all stem from JJ.

That's what the eclecticism of STMA is all about!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The two major throws we start with are:

Koshi nage - a hip throw - a tenkan waza
O soto gari - a reap - an irimi waza

from there we build a set of 5 tenka and 5 irimi waza to practice regularly.
Beyond that you would add other throws from the secondary and tertiary lists.

As these are COMBAT JUJUTSU moves we do atemi - blow before throw, using a headbutt before an irimi and a groin knee before a tenkan.

We also use push-pull concept to set the throw up.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To simplify matters further we now have a list of the

5 STMA Combat Throws

Cross hip koshi guruma
Flying mare seionage
Morote Nage double leg td
O soto gari outer reap
Brazilian clinch

these are the five that together cover every eventuality and every direction, taken from the list of 10 posted above.

It is far simpler to perfect these 5 throws as a set first then work to build your set of tenkan and your set of irimi.

STMA Progressive Sparring

At STMA we have 4 main kinds of sparring:

Kali - kickboxing - unarmed - Vale Tudo
each of these has 4 phases to it.

Kali:
double stix
single stick
stick and knife
knife and hand

Kickboxing:
savate
thai
kickboxing
boxing

unarmed:
karate
chi sao
randori
ground TNS

Vale Tudo:
this is a mix of striking and grappling
- in the unarmed phase this blends kb and grappling with strikes on the ground
- the the armed phase this allows a stick fight to go to ground

so the 4 phases are:
kb
groundfight
stick fight
stick ground

each of these sparring phases has drills which can be isolated
eg sinawalli with double stix
thai pads for thai
etc

hubud:
For CRA we use hubud as our core drill. Though it is not sparring a such it can be done with stick, knife and empty hands and unites all the phases at this range and makes trapping functional as the range that sits between kb and grappling.

We currently practice the 9 CRA methods out of hubud:

lox
dumog
sweeps
tai chi
HKE
HIA
shime
throws
kino

Numerada:
Numerada is the drill that takes us back to long range, both armed and unarmed and allows us to take control of the fight at the entry phase and then close to CRA to finish.

eg: Gunting against a punch flowing into CRA rather than from the continuous flow of hubud.

The White Tiger Martial Arts

Sinwalli
Largo mano
Krabi Krabong
Serrada
Espada y daga
Kadena de mano
Silat
Karate
Wing Chun
Jun Fan
Savate
Muay Thai
Boxing
Judo
Jujutsu
Wrestling
Greco
Sombo
Taijutsu
Tai Chi
Dumog
Chin Na

Thai Martial Arts

Muay Thai
unarmed combat

Thai boxing
ring sport

Krabi Krabong
thai weapons system

Integrated Grappling Arts - IGW

Our grappling system takes techniques, tactics and training methods from the following systems:


Judo
Jujutsu

Freestyle Wrestling
Greco-Roman
Russian Sombo

Filipino Dumog

Though our main aim in training is not to go to the ground in a fight, we acknowledge the need to now how to grapple if the fight should go there.



Vertical grappling:
We start with blow before throw, using our HKE system of Head, Knees and Elbows to set up the throw, backed up with "dirty" methods including eye gouging, shoulder smash, forearm shiver and Kino Mutai biting.

Groundgrappling:
We work combat submission wrestling based on the concept of TNS - Tap, Nap or Snap.

Groundfighting:
We add back in HKE and all the "dirty" moves.

Vale Tudo:
Kickboxing with grappling added.

Kali:
Our stick and knife fights also go to the ground.
For stick we use the deadly fang choke as well as several ground versions of our stick lox.

Jun Fan Martial Arts

As defined by Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto, Jun Fan takes Wing Chun as it's core and then borrows techniques, concepts and training methods from a variety of 26 martial arts.

Wing Chun core of entry, chain punch, trapping and chi sao.

Boxing punching, defence , padwork, and sparring.
Fencing - foil method

Western Wrestling,

Ju-jitsu,
Kali/Arnis/Escrima,
Muay Thai

Along with WC, there are 20 forms of kung fu, chinese styles:

Northern Praying Mantis
Southern Praying Mantis

Tai Chi
Pak Kua
Hsing I

Chin Na,

Choy li fut
Bak-Hoo Pai (White Crane)
Bak-Fu Pai (White Tiger),
Eagle Claw,
Ng Ga Kuen,
Ny Ying Ga,
Bak Mei Pai,
Northern Shaolin,
Southern Shaolin,
Bok Pai,
Law Horn Kuen,
Monkey Style,
Drunken Style,

Wing Chun

A STMA we follow a unique progressive system of Wing Chun Kung Fu, based on the Traditional and Modified systems, and the more modern Body Mind Spirit system to training methods from Jun Fan Gung Fu.

This system includes:

Entry
Trapping - HIA
chi sao
advanced footwork
arm breaks
eye jabs
chain punching
low kicks
nerve strikes

more advanced training includes the following methods:

sil lum tao
chum kil
bil jee
mok jong
bart charm dao
kwane

Filipino Martial Arts - FMA

At STMA we are focussing on the following aspects of the Filipino Martial Arts:

Kali - the "original" blade art

Eskrima - the stick fighting art

Kadena de Mano - knife and hand

This includes training methods from the following systems:

Sinawalli - double sticks

Largo mano - long range single stick

Serrada - close range short stick

Espada y daga - stick and knife

Kadena de Mano - knife and hand

Panatukan - boxing

Pananjakman - low line kicking

Sikaran - kickboxing

Dumog - grappling

The Shiro Tora Combat Academy has now changed it's focus for the next semester

Filipino Martial Arts
Thai Martial Arts
Jun Fan Martial Arts
Integrated Grappling Arts

Our curriculum includes training methods from the following Fighting Systems:

Kali . Eskrima . Arnis . Stick. Knife . Empty hand
Savate Boxe Francais . Muay Thai boxing
Jun Fan . Wing Chun . Boxing
Grappling . Wrestling . Judo . Jujutsu. Dumog

Autumn Course summary

We worked the full STMA system, both armed and unarmed and took certain phases and then drilled to expand our working knowledge and attributes.

Sinwalli - double stix.
We looked at 6 count and the 8 variations.

We also looked at hitting the hand with the partner wearing boxing gloves.
This is not as easy as it sounds and attendees found they often hit the stick or missed completely. The abilty to it the hand on the first beat can be developed over time through this drill.

Sombrada - we looked again at disarms to #1 and #2 against multiple opponents.

Hubud - the variations on tapi and hilang

Knife - largo, sombrada and hubud drilling, then defence using the tendensia drill with a simple feed variation to make it more like real sparring.

Espada y daga - stick and knife - using the sombrada 3 count to add a whole new dimension to weapon training.

Grappling:
variations on the groundgame from side mount to mount and from the guard.

We built on grappling we have done before but looked further into concepts and transitions to improve the ground game.

Throwing:
the basic combat JuJutsu throws

HIA trapping:
a progressive sequence of various traps from Wing Chun with Kali destructions

RAT:
Rapid Assault Tactics
Entry, pressure, terminate
Enter with gunting
Pressure with jik chun choy straight blast
Terminate with HKE

Gunting against full variety of punches and kicks at the entry phase

HKE from clinch ref with opponent punching

Numerada:
against a punch, enter with gunting
follow with dumog ang locks.

The Shiro Tora Autumn AFA Course Halloween Sunday 31 October

The STMA Autumn Course will on on Halloween Sunday 31 October.

From 10 in the morning til 4 in the afternoon we will spend 6 hours dissecting the fine Art of SteetFighting.

Training drills and concepts will be taken from the following Martial Arts:

Savate
Muay Thai
Western boxing
Wing Chun
Kali
Jujutsu

We will be working long range kicking and punching to trapping to grappling, then going to the mat to explore grappling and groundfighting as well as the brutal art of Kino Mutai.

We will be playing all ranges and all phases of combat empty hands, weapons, and defence against weapons specifically short stick and knife, as well as revisiting our lethal and brutally effective field tested and field proven gun disarms.


Forum members check the link here:
STMA Autumn Course

Advanced Kali session

This session was all about taking the established training phases, mainly kali, and adding to them.

Sinawalli double stix:
we drilled the normal counts and then added a new henka to 6 count - lo, hi, lo - which everyone found challenging.
We'll be looking to practice this new drill regularly. Once everyone gets it we'll add another variation.

Largo mano long range single stick:
We looked at variations on 3 counts so now there are 4 to practice.

Sombrada single stick:
We looked at specific variations on blocks to angles - mainly #1 and #2, and considered #3, #4 and #5.
We considered destruction - the first beat is used to smash the hand and followup.
We then looked at disarms - mainly the snake against #1.
We also disarmed #1 with strip, vine and quick snap and snaked against #2.

Hubud:
looked at double pak and pak/lop henka.

Empty hands sombrada:
Taking the Kali concept of sombrada we used Wing Chun traps to create a sombrada 5 count drill.
We also tapped mantis, the functional use of the spring drill with WC's quan sao.
We also used a kadena de mano knife concept with empty hand.

We then did 5 step drill:
krabi double stick
karate gohon kumite

Sparring:
WC chi sao
karate jiyu kumite
kickboxing standard

White Tiger Martial Arts

Savate
French boxing.
Long range low kicks to the shins knee and thighs.
Long range kicks to body and head.
Long range punching full contact to the head.
Impact training on pads.
Sparring.

Muay Thai
Thai boxing.
Closer than savate, uses powerful low round kicks to the thigh.
Round and straight kicks to head and body.
Knee kicks from long range to leg and body.
Knees in the clinch.
Punches and elbows at close range.
Impact training on Thai pads.
Sparring.

Boxing
Western boxing.
Full contact punching to head and body.
Long and close range.
Impact training on focus pads.
Sparring.

Wing Chun
Close quarter trapping and punching.
Pressure point strikes.
Elbows.
Jik Chun Choy straight blast.
Chi sao sparring.


Kali
Empty hands phase of Kali.
Destruction entries.
Trapping, striking, nerve destruction.
Headbutts, knees and elbows.
Dumog grappling takedowns.
Low line nerve destruction.


Jujutsu
Close quarter grappling.
Elbow locks
Wrist locks
Shoulder locks
Chokes
Throws
Takedowns
Groundgrappling

White Tiger Martial Arts

WTMA is not MMA - we do not "mix" martial arts together.

We take a technique, drill or concept from a particular Art that works at a certain range or phase of combat.

We emerse ourselves completely in the full training of that Art.
We then come away from that Art - we are "liberated" from the structure, not bound by it.

What we examine t STMA is the "flow" between the Arts.

Like a bar of brass which is made up of zinc and bronze.
You cannot just sellotape a bar of zinc and a bar of bronze together and claim to have created a bar of brass. Which is what a lot (not all) MMA styles claim to have done.
What you need to do is fuse the two elements at the molecular level to create a new compound.

At STMA we are currently working the following Fighting Arts:

In the unarmed phase:

Savate
Muay Thai
Boxing
Wing Chun
Kali
Jujutsu

In the armed phase:

Krabi krabong
Sinawalli
Serrada
Kadena de mano

STMA Autumn Course - Sunday 31 October

The STMA Autumn Course will on on Halloween Sunday 31 October.

From 10 in the morning til 4 in the afternoon we will spend 6 hours dissecting the fine Art of SteetFighting.

Training drills and concepts will be taken from the following Martial Arts:

Savate
Muay Thai
Western boxing
Wing Chun
Kali
Jujutsu

We will be working long range kicking and punching to trapping to grappling, then going to the mat to explore grappling and groundfighting as well as the brutal art of Kino Mutai.

We will be playing all ranges and all phases of combat empty hands, weapons, and defence against weapons specifically short stick and knife, as well as revisiting our lethal and brutally effective field tested and field proven gun disarms.


Forum members check the link here:
STMA Autumn Course

Becoming a STMA member

We welcome anyone interested in the Fighting Arts to visit us and get a feel for the atmosphere of STMA.

We recommend that anyone interested in joining us visits us to view a class before they take part in their first lesson.
We then offer a free class so the student can get a feel for the classes and ask any questions they may have. This also gives us a chance to assess the prospective students compatability with the current students, the instructors, and the Academy.

We welcome beginners, advanced practitioners, and students from other arts.

We reserve the right to refuse anyone access to our classes if we feel they are not suitable for STMA.

Training is twice a week, Monday and Wednesday nights. Members pay a monthly fee and are expected to attend all sessions. We do not accept casual drop-ins or people wanting to train once a week.


Fees

There is a one off joining fee of £35. This includes the cost of the starter pack of a pair of Kali sticks and a pair of boxing gloves, the basic training equipment.

The new member then pays £20 tuition fee for their first month's training.

From then on the cost is £35 a calendar month.

Kickboxing at Shiro Tora

Boxing

This is Western boxing, hands only fighting.

The main tools are:
Jab, Cross, Hook, Uppercut

The target is the head, the purpose is the knockout.

With lead and rear hooks and uppercuts, this generates 6 basic punches. You learn and practice these on the pads, then try them out in sparring.

Drilling is progressive:

Basic punches - the "big 6"
Defences
Attack combinations
Defensive combinations
Sparring


Kickboxing - Full Contact

This is basically boxing with the addition of the 4 primary karate kicks:

front kick - mygeri
Round kick - mawashigeri
Side Kick - kekome
Back kick - ushiro geri

These are learnt on the shield and primarily delivered to the stomach.

Head kicks are secondary and you don't have to learn them unless you want to.

Other secondary kicks include the hook kick, done to the head, and jump kicks.

Practice is progressive:

ABCs:
Hand, hand
Hand, Foot
Foot, hand
Foot, foot

There are of course defences for the kicks and defensive combinations.

Then there is progressive sparring:

Boxing v boxing
Boxing v kickboxing
Kickboxing v kb

Then isolation sparring:

Lead hand only
Lead hand and leg only
LH and LL against kb
...etc


Semi Contact Kickboxing

This is the same as Freestyle karate.

Primary drilling is done on the focus mitts. Sparring uses the lighter mitts and is touch or semi contact only.

Additional hand techniques include the ridge hand and backfist.

The stance tends to be more side on the FC, and there is more use of the side push kick than the front push kick.

Good head kicking is necessary to become really proficient at SC KB.


Lo Kix KB

Same as FC KB but includes low kicks to the leg, and involves the leg block.


Thai boxing

With KB we have taken our drilling mainly from karate and boxing.

Thai boxing takes training methods from Muay Thai, a different MA.

This involves the use of the knee, and training on the Thai pads.

Weapons at Shiro Tora

Krabi
Krabi Krabong is the weapons art of Thailand, the military weapons forerunner to the unarmed combat art of Muay Thai and the ring sport of Thai Boxing.

Krabi uses twin stix, the number 1 strike and jodan uke block.

It uses an advancing pushing, pressure step, and retreats with defence.

5 step sparring involves advancing and retreating in attack and defence.

We start with a single step and strike, then progress to a double step and strike.

We finish the sequence with a power strike, a "kradot" jumping strike or a double "tenchi" strike.
It is also possible to put in a kick at the end of the sequence.

The stixs represent swords, as in kali. Though brutal as a stick combat art, the ultimate intention is to train for blade combat.

It is , like boxing, a very basic and primative art, with not a lot to learn. Which is what makes it so effective.

Eskrima and Kali
Eskrima and Kali are the weapons arts of the Philipines, referred to as Filipino Martial Arts or FMA.

Training is done with the short stick, single or double.

In Eskrima we fight with the stick, so stick training represents stick combat.

In Kali we fight with swords, so stick training represents blade combat. That is the real distinction between the two. Kali is a lot like Krabi, but also very different, as you will see.

Eskrima training consists of:

Sinawalli - double sticks
Largo mano - long range single stick
Serrada - close range single stick
Kadena de mano - knife and hand


Largo
Largo is the long range.

Largo mano actually means long hand, but we use it to cover weapons method as well.

The basic drill is an advancing and retreating 5 step kumite.

This can be done with the single stick, the longer stick, the sword and the staff, both jo and bo.

We can also mix and match weapons:

stick v 2 stix
boken v stix
boken v bo
boken v jo
jo v stix
bo v stix
tonfa v stix
tonfa v boken
tonfa v jo
tonfa v bo


Sinawalli
Sinawalli means "weaving". It refers to the patterns the stick make in the drills.

Sinawalli is done with double sticks at the largo range.

The first thing you learn is the basic different counts:
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

4 count also has a twirl and sipat henka
5 also has a sipta henka
5 and 7 are also performed "offside"

6 count is a series in it's own right, containing standard, heaven, earth, redondo, stab and sipat henka.

The second thing you learn is "chains" - 2 and 4,
4 and 6,
2, 4, 6
6 chains such as heaven, earth

Then you learn concepts:
chaining, matching, mirroring, redondo, chasing, etc.

It is a very dynamic, thorough and fulfilling art to learn and practice.

It's also a lot of fun!


Serrada
Serrada is the close range system done at the medio and corto ranges.

Drills include:

sombrada - both 3 and 5 count
box sombrada
hubud
entry from largo to medio and out again
move from largo to medio to corto and out
locks with stick

Serrada uses the 12 angle number system of Cabales Eskrima.

We can also drill with tonfa at serrada, and even nuncha (called tayok in FMA)


Knife
Though we do Japanese tanto training from kobudo and ninpo, the bulk of our knife training is from Eskrima.

Kadena de mano means knife and hand. It is the close range art of fighting and defending with the knife.

Knife to knife, hand to knife, and hand to hand are the 3 phases.

Knife uses the first 7 angles of Eskrima.

Knife defence we work on at an early level.

Knife "fighting" itself is taught to seniors.

Tonfa and nunchaku
We play tonfa and nuncha in serrada range as well as largo.

stick v tonfa
stick v nuncha
tonfa v nuncha
nuncha v nuncha
tonfa v tonfa

Bokken, Jo and Bo
We play these at largo range, extending the range out as needed

Feng Wei - Wing Chun - Jun Fan - Kung fu

Feng Wei is the name we have given to the core Fighting System in Shiro Tora.

In Chinese it means "Phoenix". It is a streetfighting system for the streets of Britain at the start of the 21st Century.

As well as holding a 6th dan in karate, which has Okinawan and Chinese roots, Shihan is a full instructor in Wing Chun Kung Fu. Shihan's training has included classical and modified WC, as well as private training from the late great Master Derek Jones of Body Mind Spirit.

Shihan has been involved for many years in Jun Fan Gung Fu and Jeet Kune Do, so has trained in various aspects of Bruce Lee's art from the modified WC of Oakland to the Seattle Jun Fan to the LA JKD.

So as well as a core of Applied Karate, FW heavily borrows from WC and JF.

There are also elements of Jujutsu, Kali and Muay Thai.

Our Threat Response system is unique to Shiro Tora and the FW class is the best place to learn them.

Classes include: Tool development, lineups, defence and counter drills, attack by combination, HIA traps, locks, chokes, immobilisations, takedowns, KOs, multiple opponent drills, the fence, threat escalation, conflict management.

Whether you want to work in security, or just want an effective Self Protection system, we have it all right here.

This is the best class to start with as it just requires an empty room and people. It's diverse and we train in drills over modules for maximum skill uptake. We've had a lot of success with this format before and it isn't rivalled by anybody else doing the same thing.

It takes the core skills of Wing Chun, but not just traditional WC, but the modified style, and also the BMS system.

We've also added a lot of Jun Fan and JKD drills over the years, and a lot of the boxing skills.
There are also drills from Karate, Thai and Kali, as well as Jujutsu.

We have to call it something other than WC or JF so we call it FW.
(But it's just a name, don't fuss over it!)

We've adapted the functional training for the streets of UK at the start of the 21st century, so it really is a new streetfighting system. It contains the drills we and our doormen and security personnel practice and use, and it's fully effective in those scenarios.

It is done unarmed, one on one, with no equipment or mats.

We start with sequences dealing with punches, kicks and strikes, and counters.

We progress to HIA - Hand Immobilisations - Traps.
Locks from JJ.
Chokes.

NRG - Energy - drills.
Mainly Wing Chun - dan chi, bon lop, luk sao, into full chi sao sparring.
We also have drills from Mantis and Kali.

Sparring is based on 2 ranges from 2 core arts, and done without protective pads:

Wing Chun and Jun Fan Chi sao.
Karate Jiyu kumite.

Grappling, MMA and Vale Tudo at Shiro Tora

The way we do this class is start on the ground. We do some stretches from yoga that are relevant to the muscles used in grappling, then play some moves and transitions as a warmup. Then we pair up and play pins. We use the Newaza from Judo and the basic ground moves from wrestling and Jujutsu as they complement each other perfectly and don't leave any gaps.

Each pin has an escape and we play these, also drills such as pass the guard-escape the mount. Then we look at finishes from each position - chokes and locks. Then we look at the counters and reversals.

Then we stand up and look at throws, simple moves from Judo and wrestling such as Kata guruma - cross hip, seoinage - flying mare, o soto gari, simple stuff like that, so we know how to get there, and moves such as morote gari and other leg takedowns, and how not to get caught in the guard. Also pad drills on the ground, punching the pads while in the mount and guard.

Then by adding back in strikes to vertical grappling, the Thai clinch drill, and HKE, we can progress to kickboxing on the mat, and from the clinch, go to ground, practice ground and pound, and grappling.

With the new mats at the club, we can regularly explore grappling, MMA and Vale Tudo, and devote maybe an hour from a 2 hour class to this dimension of our fight training.

How a White Tiger Martial Arts class works

The core class is our Unarmed Combat - Self Protection - Threat Response - Street Fighting - Urban Combat system.

This is a set of drills students practice with each other.

There is no punching and kicking the air, though we do incorporate shadow boxing.

There is no hard oriental "discipline", we train in a relaxed and friendly manner.

There is no bowing, we prefer a smile and a handshake.

There is no half hour "warm up", just some basic stretching.
This is not an aerobics class or a yoga class, it is a Martial Arts skills class. You spend your time building skills.

If you want to get fit go to aerobics.
If you want to get muscles go to the gym.
If you want to get flexible go to yoga.
If you want to learn to fight - come to see us.

This is real time one-on-one CQC drilling, taken from our core arts of Karate, Jujutsu, Muay Thai, Kali and Wing Chun.

There is karate style sparring and chi sao sparring for those who want to do it.
Nobody is forced to spar until ready, but those who want to can "get stuck in" on their first night if they wish.

There is no special uniform or gi, just wear what you feel comfortable in.

The class then bifurcates into Kickboxing and Kobudo (weapons) for those who want to learn these skills.

For Kickboxing you need your own protective gear for partner drills and sparring.
You can bring your own or buy from us at a reasonable rate.

There is impact work on focus pads, Thai pads, and shields. Again, to get maximum benefit students are encouraged to buy their own pads, though there will be some provided.

For Kobudo students need to buy their own weapons depending on what they want to get involved with:

A pair of sticks and a knife.
A pair of tonfa.
A set of nunchaku, both foam safety and wood/chain.
Bokken, shinai, jo and bo.

There is basic weapon sparring with sticks, nunchaku, sword and staff.

Vale Tudo

Vale Tudo is the Portuguese for "anything goes".
The original Mixed Martial Art in Brazil.

In our club we combine the elements of Kickboxing and Grappling so you spar and fight at all ranges.

Functional drills and sparring to make you a fully competant fighter.

Grappling

Grappling

Throws, takedowns and groundfighting.

Methods taken from Judo and Jujutsu and the western Wrestling systems of Freestyle, Greco-Roman and Russian Sombo.

Kobudo - weapons

Kobudo - weapons
Filipino Kali and Eskrima stick and knife,
Okinawan Nunchaku and Tonfa,
Japanese bokken, shinai, bo and jo - sword, spear and staff.

Kickboxing

Functional drills for tool development, and defence and counter, building to a comprehensive sparring program to test and develop your skills to the max.

Impact work on pads to develop the important attributes of speed, power, coordination, distance and timing.

Sparring forms include points karate, semi contact, full contact Kickboxing, and Thai boxing.

Syllabus taken from karate, freestyle, semi contact, full contact, Tae Kwon Do (WTF), Kung Fu, Muay Thai, and Savate.

Mat, ring, and street tested methods.

Combat Kung Fu (Feng Wei)

Syllabus distilled from the Chinese arts we practice and teach - Traditional and Modified Wing Chun, Jun Fan, Mantis, Ba Gua, Shaolin, and some Tai Chi (yes it does have some combat applications).

Classes include NRG (energy) drills, HIA (Trapping) and locking, Close Quarter Combat, and Chi Sao sparring.

Traditional Wing Chun forms available for those who want to learn them.

Combat Jujutsu

The perfect compliment to Combat Karate.

As well as strikes and counters, we practice locks, pressure points, takedowns and ground finishes.

Syllabus based on Kempo JuJutsu, Goshin Jutsu, Kyushindo, Taijutsu, and also Judo Newaza for those who like their groundwork.

OK you can roll and fight on mats? What about on the wooden floor?
What about on concrete?
What about a flight of stairs?

Come to us and make your grappling functional for the real world.

Combat Karate

Practical applied karate from Japanese Shotokan, Shotokai and Kyukushinkai, Okinawan Goju and American Kenpo.

Learn how to apply karate from a 6th degree black belt who has real street experience.

Traditional katas available for those who want to learn them.
Karate Kumite to test your skills in sparring.

STMA Summer Course 2010

Date: Sunday 15 August
Time: 10am to 4pm
Venue: Whyteleafe
Fee: £20

For 6 hours we will dissect the fine art of Street Fighting.

We will be taking techniques, drills and concepts from the Applied Fighting Arts that make up the STMA syllabus.

As with all STMA "if you see it taught, you see it fought" - none of what you see is made up or assumed, it has all been field tested and IT WORKS - and that applies for everything from defending a punch to defending a knife to disarming a gun to rolling around the concrete doing REAL grappling.

This kind of course is more than just slapping 3 lessons together or compressing 2 weeks training into one day, as you will see.

At the end of the day, everyone who attends will feel they have learnt something and improved as a martial artist and as a fighter.

Prepare to enjoy the day and prepare to be both impressed and surprised!

Strength training

Strength is built by resistance training, ie, weight training - the use of weights to strengthen the muscles. The training we are interested in meets the middle ground between powerlifting and bodybuilding. We are interested in making the muscle as strong as possible, while accentuating it's functionality. The goal is not to overly increase the size of the muscle, nor do we train for cosmetic effect, nor are we looking for raw power for the sake of it.

A kick is achieved by use of various leg muscles - the quadriceps, biceps femoris and gastocnemius, while punching is a combination of upper body muscles to push the fist forward - the pectorals, front deltoids and triceps - the same muscles we use when doing press-ups.

In grappling we use the pulling muscles of the body - those of the back - the lats, traps, rear delts, also the biceps. Part of grappling is grip, and this involves the forearm muscles and wrist flexors.

The recommended training routine is to do three workouts a week, each taking less than an hour. The body is worked over the entire week, on a 3 way split.

An example programme:

MONDAY - Quads and delts
WEDNESDAY - Chest and arms
FRIDAY - Hams and back

This splits the different groups, and each workout is based on one big compond exercise - squats for quads, bench press for chest, and deadlifts for hamstrings and back.

An alternate program:

MONDAY - Legs (both quads and hams)
WEDNESDAY - Chest and back
FRIDAY - Shoulders and arms

Those who advocate this split find that these parts go together.

With this programme you never work three days in a row. It fits in well with a martial arts programme, so you can do your karate and kickboxing on your off days. Or, the other view is that you can do your weight training on your days off from martial art. I'm lucky that my gym has a room with bags and plenty of space, so I can do both bagwork and kata when I go for my workout. This maximises the time I have in class for more partner work, such as sparring.

Those with less time may like to use a two way split, working the body over two workouts:

WORKOUT ONE: The "pulling" muscles - hams, back, rear delts, traps, biceps
WORKOUT TWO: The "Push" muscles - quads, calves, chest, delts, triceps

For those doing more intense martial arts or boxing training, this workout schedule will probably suffice. You will not be able to generate the same intensity as with a three way split due to being able to do less work because of the extra bodyparts and therefore exercises on each workout. However, you will probably want to use weight training as a backseater if you are doing intense martial arts and that will work out well for you.

It is important to stretch the muscle to be used for five minutes before and after the workout. As well as warming the muscle up, and keeping the elasticity that a fighter needs in his muscles, it helps stop the muscle cramping and shortening, and flushes the toxins out.

When deciding on sets and reps, it is best to do 3 sets - one light to warmup, one medium, and then one heavy working set. For the lower body it is best to use a weight that will allow you 10 to 12 reps, for the upper body 6 to 8. That means you fail on the last rep - the muscle has been worked to it's limits and will respond by growing stronger.

A pumping set can be a good idea - you halve the weight of the set you have just failed on and again pump til failure. For example, if you are using a 100lb bench press and have just failed on 6 reps, quickly strip off 50lbs and pump to failure with the remaining 50lbs. This helps engorge the muscle with blood.

Legs

The goal here is to develop power in the legs . We break the legs down into 3 sections - quads, hams and calves
The action of the leg muscles is the flexing and extending of the legs at the knee. The quadricep muscle at the front controls the extension, the bicep femoris, or hamstring, controls the contraction. The two muscles are antagonostic and work opposite sides of the joint, opposite actions. To work the thighs, we use leg extensions, squats and leg press. To work the hams we use leg curls and deadlifts. Squats do have an effect on the hams, but it is indirect and minimal.

The gastrocnemius works in a very specific manner. It extends and flexes the foot at the ankle. Therefore, calf raises are the exercises for this muscle. Both standing and seated versions of the calf press are needed for overall development. The standing version is where we can really add weight and increase power, but the seated version brings into play the soleus, the muscle that covers the front of the leg, adjacent to the shin.


Leg extension

Sitting on the machine, extend the legs and lock them out. Lower the weight and extend again. That is one rep. Do not lock the knees out as this will place stress on the joint, but do squeeze the quad for maximum tension. When the leg is totally flexed there will be no pressure on the quad and it will be relaxed. To avoid this, do not lower the legs all the way, but continue to hold the pad at the bottom of the movement.


Leg Press

The alternative to the squat is the leg press. While squatting involves moving the body, plus the added weight of the plates, the leg press works on the opposite principle. The student lies on the bench and presses the weight away from his body with his legs, much the same as with bench press for chest and shoulder press for shoulders.


Squat

"The King of Exercises"

The action of squatting is very simple. Standing upright with a barbell behind the neck, resting on the shoulders, supported by the hands, slowly lower the body, bending at the knees, until the glutes are nearly touching the heels, then press the body back up again. That is one rep. The squat works the entire leg, but specifically the thigh. What many people fail to realise is that the squat works the entire body. The back, shoulders and arms get direct tension caused by supporting the weight and even the chest and abs come under stress. Squats are considered the king of bodybuilding exercises, the basic mass builder for the legs, which has the secondary effect of hitting the whole body. Each rep of a squat should make the student feel sick, right down to the pit of his stomach, if he performs it right.

Squats can be done with a barbell, and this is the traditional method. Squats can also be done on the Smith machine, for variety. A variation on the squat is to hold the barbell across the front of the shoulders, concentrating the stress on the front of the thighs.

Hack squat is a method where the barbell is held low, behind the legs, and a special hack squat machine exists to take advantage of this type of tension.


Deadlift

Holding the barbell in front of the body at arms length. Bend forward, keeping legs straight, go as low as you can, then straighten up. That is one rep. Keep the back arched throughout the movement and do not allow the spine to round, otherwise you will damage it. Do not lock the knees out or back into place at the top of the movement - keep the pressure on the hamstrings.


Leg curl

Lying on the machine, curl the leg up towards the body so that the pad touches the glutes. Give them a good squeeze. This move is the opposite of extensions, and can be used as a superset. Try to get a proper stretch at the end of the movement without putting a squeeze on the knee joints. Remember - to squeeze the knees does not please!


Standing calf raise

With the toes pointing slightly out from straight forward, with the heels hanging off the back of the platform, so the calf muscles are at maximum stretch. Push up so you are standing on the balls of the feet and squeeze the calves. Then lower. That is one rep.
For variety, and to hit the muscles from different directions, some people do three sets - toes forward, then out, then in, the "three positions" as they are known. I haven't noticed a lot of difference in doing these, but if doing three sets standing and three sets sitting, with a different position, that means you can do six sets, each one varied.

The problem of reps is different for calves. Each time you take a step during the day, you do a rep. As a practising martial artist, you will be subjecting your calves to greater than normal stress. High reps with low weights just aren't going to make a difference. For this reason, you will want to use heavy weight and hit the calves that way.


Seated calf raise

Same as for standing, but sitting down.


Back

A big part of the body and antagonistic to both the chest and the shoulders in it's movement. It works by contraction - by pulling the weight towards the body in the same manner as the weight is pushed away by the chest and shoulder press. The pulldown, or it's bodyweight version the chin up, work in opposition to shoulder presses, while rowing, either with cables, or bent over with a barbell, works in opposition to the bench press.

Just as flyes works the chest, lying on the chest, raising dumbells backwards, will hit the back and rear delts, as does the reverse of the cable crossover exercise.


Pulldowns

The opposite action from the barbell press. Whereas lifting the weight, pressing away from the body, exercises the deltoid, pulling the weight down towards the body exercises the lats. This movement is what gives the bodybuilder's back it's impressive width.

Take a wide grip on the lat bar and pull down so that it touches the chest, then resist the tension as the bar raises. That is one rep.

An alternate is the reverse grip, same as the one used for barbell curls, which requires the hands to be shoulder width apart. Builders who favour this grip claim that it hits the entire back and is a better exercise than the traditional wide grip.


Chins

Chin-ups use the body weight to effect the same exercise as the pulldown, in the same way as pressups are the same as bench press. Some builders like to use chins as a warmup exercise, as they move many times more than their bodyweight on pulldowns.


Cable row

Sitting facing the cable machine, pull the grips towards the waist and let them out again. That is one rep. Remember to get a full stretch and squeeze on contraction. This exercise will build back strength and thickness. Keep the elbows into the body and squeeze the shoulder blades together.


Bent over row

Standing bent at an incline, pull the barbell in towards the waist, then lower. That is one rep. This exercise helps build thickness, especially lower down where the lats meet the spinal erectors. Some people prefer an overhand grip, some prefer a reverse grip with the hands closer together.


Chest

The pectoral muscles are worked by pressing weight straight outwards from the body, at a 90 degree angle to the body. Bench press with barbells or dumbells is the exercise that works the pecs. Pressups work the pecs in the same way, but do so by raising and lowering the bodyweight rather than pressing weights away from the body. The press-up is to benching what squatting is to leg presses.


Bench press

Perhaps the best known of the basic mass builders for chest, the bench press will add size and thickness to the pectorals.

Lie on the bench with the arms locked out, the barbell in the hands. Lower the bar and press up and away from the body. That is one rep. Lower slowly, resisting the weight, and make sure that the bar doesn't rest against the chest at the bottom of the movement. Press away, but don't lock the elbow out, so that the tension remains on the muscle and is not taken on the joint. The width of the grip on the bar can be varied to change the way that the muscle is hit.

The press-up is a body weight exercise that hits the muscle in exactly the same way as the bench press. It can provide a great pump for the chest to perform a set of pressups immediately after the benching routine.


Dumbell press

The same as the bench press, but the student uses two dumbells instead of a barbell to achieve the press. Dumbells have the added advantage of allowing a change of hand position during the press, and of lowering the weight to a position lower than chest level, giving a greater stretch at the bottom of the movement, an action that is obviously impossible with a barbell.

Lie as with the bench press, arms locked out, a dumbell in each hand. Lower the dumbbell down and slightly out, then press up again. That is one rep. Squeezing the muscle at the top is a good idea, but a full contraction is not possible without crossing the hands - not recommended for this type of exercise! As with the bench press, do not lock the elbows out at the top of the movement.


Flyes

Similar to the dumbbell press, but instead of lowering the weights straight down, open the hands, so that the dumbbells arrive at bench height, the arms spread out to the side, giving a full stretch to the pecs. Once the weights are down, curl them in, so they arrive at the top, together. That is one rep. In this exercise keep the arms bent and don't move them at all. The stress is given by the stretch of the muscle, and the pressing together of the weights.


Cable crossover

Using the cable machines, standing between them, hold a single grip in each hand and pull them down so that they are held in front of the body. Raise the grips to shoulder height, then bring together in front of the body, as with the flyes. The difference here is that the student can cross the hands, squeezing the muscle fully at the point of contraction. This helps to bring out the seperation between the pecs.


Delts

Pressing again, this time pressing weight straight up above the head. There is no real alternative, except maybe handstand pressups! The deltoid muscle is made up of three heads. Raising weights to the front and side will build the front and side heads. The rear head is a "pulling" muscle. The trapezius is also a pulling muscle, and is worked by shrugs. I prefer to work rear delts and traps in with back, rather than with delts, to keep the pushing and pulling exercises seperate.


Shoulder press

The basic mass builder. Some people like press behind the neck, but I always found it puts unnecessary tension on the vertebrae and puts the shoulders into an unnatural and less beneficial position. I prefer to press the barbell in front of my face, emphasising tension on the front heads. There is a point where lowering the incline of the bench for shoulders and raising it for chest become the same thing.

Sitting upright with the barbell supported by the hands, press the weight up and away from the body and then lower again. That is one rep. Do not lock the elbows when the arm is extended, keeping the stress on the muscles.

The width of the grip changes thee way in which the stress is put upon the muscles. Experiment to find which variation suits you best.


Front raise

Hold the dumbbells in each hand. Raise the dumbbell so that it is horizontal and lower again. That is one rep. Keep the arm perfectly straight to maintain stress on the muscle. Some students prefer to raise the weights individually, some prefer to raise them simultaneously. In theory the exercise could be performed with a barbell, although this is not commonly done.


Side raise

Hold the dumbbells to the side of the body and raise out sideways, then lower again. That is one rep. As with the front laterals, keep the arms straight to keep the stress on the deltoid.


Rear delt cable crossover

Hold a grip from one end of the cable crossover machine, but with your arms already crossed. Pull your arms back into the spread position. This is the same action as the cable crossover, but uses the rear delts to open the arms, rather than using the chest to pull them in.


Shrugs

Standing or seated, holding a dumbbell in either hand at your side, shrug your shoulders up and then down. That is one rep. Hold the shoulder up at the point of contraction and tense the muscles. An alternate is the rotation tecnhique. Move the shoulders forward, up, back, then down, tracing a square. This can be done either forward or backward. Personally I have never noticed any benefit from this variation. The purpose of the muscle is to contract and that is what the basic shrug does.


Arms

The biceps which contract the arm and the tricep which extend the arm.
Curling is the action which works the bicep. There are many ways to do this - barbell curls, dumbbell curls, preacher curls, barbell preacher curls, cable curls, one arm cable curls, seated dumbbell curls, etc. The list is extensive and a bit silly. Curling is curling and will build biceps.

The biceps have three functions 1) to bring the forearm up 2) to raise the shoulder 3) to turn out (supinate) the wrist. Most people only use the first function when curling, but it is good to bring the second action into play on the second exercise, and the third by use of dumbbells, so the wrist can be rotated at the top of the curling action.
One type of curling worth noting is the hammer curl, which will hit the brachioradialis, the muscle that ties the bicep in with the forearm. Reverse grip curls, especially on the EZ bar, will also hit this muscle.

Triceps can be worked by extending the arm. The tricep has three heads, and all three need to be accounted for. As well as the mass builder such as pushdowns or lying tricep press, islolation exercises such as french press and kickback account for the other two heads.


Pushdown

This is the major triceps movement, the explosive mass builder. A lot of people talk about using the lying or seated triceps extension exercise, but that exercise, if performed with sufficient weight to work the muscle, will put extensive stress on the elbow joint. The long term effect will be to wear away the elbow cartiledge as the triceps muscle is built up. The pressdown is a far superior exercise and far safer.

Using the V bar on the cable machine, press the bar down until the arms are fully extended and locked out. That is the starting position. Let the weight up slowly, resisting the tension and lower again, locking the elbows out. That is one rep. When raising, keep the upper arms locked into the sides of the body, so that only the triceps muscle is used to carry out the movement. If the shoulders come out or the arms come out, other muscles will be brought into the exercise and will take the stress off the muscle. Press the weight down and fully lock out, squeezing the triceps.


French press

Seated or standing, take a moderately sized dumbbell and press straight above the head. Lower the weight by bending the arm at the elbow and the raise it again. That is one rep. Lower the weight slowly and squeeze the muscle at the top when fully extended. Once a full set has been performed, transfer the dumbbell to the other hand. This exercise will really work the long head of the tricep.

An alternative is the two handed version. In this exercise, use a heavier weight and use two hands to lower and raise the dumbbell behind the head. It has the advantage of working both arms together, but tends to throw off the "groove" of the exercise by determining the course of the motion.


Kickback

Stand upright, holding a light dumbbell in one hand. Keeping the arm locked straight, bend the body forwards at the waist, and hold the position. The arm should be sticking out behind the body. Lower the weight forward so that the stress is relieved, then push the arm backwards - kick it back - so that it locks out. Hold the position and squeeze. That is one rep. When the set is complete, switch the dumbbell to the other hand.


Barbell curl

This is the major explosive movement for the biceps, the basic mass builder. Hold the barbell in both hands and curl up towards the chest, then return. That is one rep. Be sure to have the elbow fully extended so that the stress is taken to the bottom of the muscle, where it inserts at the elbow, and so that the biceps is stretched out fully. When the weight has been curled to the top position, squeeze the muscles tightly before lowering. Make sure that you do not bend the wrists in towards the body as that will take the stress off the muscle. Lower the weight slowly and make sure that you feel the movement.

Make sure that you do not use more weight than you can handle so that you cheat. Cheating takes the strain off the moving muscle. Also, too much weight will make it impossible to complete six full reps.


Dumbbell curl

Sitting on a bench fully upright, or at a slight incline, hold the dumbbells locked at your side, upper arms pressed against the body. Curl the weight up and lower. That is one rep. Make sure that the dumbbell is raised using the motion of the elbow only, using the biceps to make the move. Raise slowly and squeeze the muscle at the top, then lower slowly. Make sure that the elbow is fully extended at the bottom of the motion so that a full stretch is achieved. As this is an isolation movement, it is necessary to use only a moderately heavy weight.


Hammer curl

This movement gives an added pump to the biceps, as well as taking the pressure to the brachioradialis, and also hits the forearm flexors. Holding the dumbbell vertically, curl the weight up, squeezing at the top, and lower, fully extending the muscle.




Midsection - the seat of power

The abs are an important part of an athlete's physique. They are also a strange part to work because they don't move around in the same way as other body parts do, and have no real extent of contract positions to work with.

Unlike other muscles, you don't actually build size and shape with abs. You don't really build definition either, as that comes with work anyway. And you don't get to see that six pack look until you are cut up, when there is no fat around the stomach. And contrary to some belief, ab exercises won't actually remove that fat, you have to do it with diet and exercise.

So why work your abs and how?

As for why - they are your guts, the centre of your body. They provide protection for your internal organs where there are no ribs. As for how - you do not have to work them through a full range of motion. In fact, that would be counter productive to ab development. And you don't have to lift heavy weights either, such as doing sit-ups in a Roman Chair with a barbell plate on your chest (which is terribly bad for the lower spine).

The movement is no more than a couple of inches, practically isometric in fact, which is precisely what the abs need. They don't grow to bigger proportions the way that the pecs or biceps do, but they do get thicker and deeper, and that is precisely what we want.

An ab workout doesn't actually need any weights or equipment. It is not the range of motion that puts the stress on the abdominals, but the tension that they are put under.


Sit-ups

The classic stomach exercise. The traditional way to perform them is to lie flat and then sit right up before lowering again. Not only is this movement unnecessary for ab stress, it is dangerous because it redirects the stress on the weak bones of the lower spine. This redirection of tension takes the stress away from the abs at the top of the motion, so it s actually counter productive to muscle stimulation.

The correct way to perform a sit-up is to lie flat on your back on the floor with the feet flat on the ground, knees raised. Raise the head from the floor slightly so that the neck and shoulders clear the floor. Pull the head as far forward as it will go, creating maximum tension in the abs. There is no need to continue the movement until the body is raised - you are already at maximum tension. Then lower, but do not allow the head to touch the floor. That is one rep. This slight movement, which may be as little as two inches, will create maximum stress on the abs and will promote best development.

When performing the sit up, place the hands at the side of the head. Do not hold the back of the head as this will encourage you to pull at the head and put strain on the vertebrae.


Crunches

Lie on the back with the feet crossed and with the hands by the head. Pull the head and feet clear and touch the elbows and knees together, using the upper abs to pull the head in, and the lower abs to pull the legs in, creating tension in the entire abdominal wall. When lowering, do not allow the head or feet to touch the floor.


Leg raise

In this exercise the student uses the lower ab muscles to raise the legs from the ground. Lie flat on the ground and cross the ankles, clearing the legs entirely from the floor. Raise the legs but do not lift them higher than forty five degrees, thus keeping maximum tension on the abs. Lower again, but do not let the feet touch the floor.


Hyperextensions

This an exercise that can be done on the floor, or on the special bench that most gyms have for the purpose. The exercise is to work the spinal erectors, the muscles that support the lower back, running next to the lumbar vertebrae. They are naturally thick and protect the kidneys in lieu of ribs.

This is similar to the deadlift, the legs staying fixed and the body moving, but the lumbar muscles doing the work, rather than the hamstrings.


Side bends

This is to exercise the oblique muscles at the sides of the body.

Stand upright and place the hands behind the head. Bend sideways so that the side of the body, between the ribs and the pelvis, is fully stretched. Come straight up and then bend over to the other side. Then straighten up. That is one rep. Perform three sets of ten reps.

As with the ab exercises, there is no need to hold weights in the hand for extra stress, due to the nature of the muscle and the function it performs.