Guard Position – MMA Training in Schaumburg, Aurora, Merrillville IN

Since many of the escapes from dominating pins and holds involve a retreat to the guard position, we will spend a good deal of time discussing this position. The broadest feature of the guard is that it involves sitting or lying underneath your opponent in the guard position is that your legs can be used to control his movements and to work him into submission holds, sweeps and strikes awhile at the same time restricting his attacks. Although many forms of guard are available, they all can be divided into three basic categories.

1. Closed guard: This involves locking your legs around your opponent’s waist while lying underneath him. This move is what most people associate with the guard position, since this was the variation of the guard that was used more than any other in early MMA matches. The advantage of the closed guard is the ease with which it can be used to nullify an opponent’s striking attack. It is rather like a tight restrictive clinch on the ground. You can use it to tie up an opponent’s arms and interfere with his punches.
2. Open guard: This is a broad category of positions whose only common factor is that your opponent is in front of your legs. Since you are not really holding your opponent in with your legs, he is liberty to stand up and walk away from you at any time he chooses, which is an option taken by many strikers who prefer the standing position. The open guard, then, tends to be more effective against an opponent who wants to keep the fight in the ground phase and is driving forward into you, trying to “ground and pound” or pass around your legs to get to a better position. In this situation, the open guard offers a  great combination of defensive options, which is due to the great mobility that the position offers to your hips and legs.
3. A third category of guard position – and one of great importance- is the so-called half-guard position.  In a full guard, your legs are wrapped around your opponent’s waist: thus, both his legs are between yours. As you grapple with your training partners, it quite happens that your opponent attempts to get around your legs. As he pushes past your legs, you have to lock your legs around one of his to prevent him from getting past your legs and into a dominating side position. Since you are controlling only one of his legs, you have him in a “half-guard.”

For more on the ground position and MMA Training, visit: MMA Training

Clash at the Kilt!! – Pure MMA fighting

We are the premiere mixed martial arts promotional company in the Midwest. Based in Aurora, Illinois, Pure MMA Fighting strives to be the most professional regional mixed martial art organization offering the best series of MMA events in the Midwest. By focusing on the purity of the sport and the MMA fighters themselves, Pure MMA Fighting, Inc. has been able to position ourselves up for success and impact in the Chicagoland area for sporting events.

Pure MMA Fighting’s leadership is made up of MMA fighters, coaches and business professionals whose main goals are to thrive across a spectrum of live event sports, television production and Internet media, and to support and promote the true asset of the sport-the fighter. Our commitment to the fighter and their fans is the foundation of Pure MMA, and every event is built around promoting the fighter and entertaining the fans.

When you experience a Pure MMA Fighting event, you will immediately notice the difference between our mixed martial arts fighting event versus the others. Professionalism and true passion for the MMA sport radiate from every aspect – from the lighting, live video feed, instant replay and professional commentaries, our MMA fight events are world-class featuring the best athletes in the sports world. By staying true to the mixed martial arts sport and its fans, Pure MMA Fighting, Inc. is set to dominate Chicagoland and the Midwest mixed martial arts arena.

Please check back regularly for updates on fighters, mixed martial arts coaches and training camps. We invite everyone to come to any of our mixed martial arts event and experience Pure MMA Fighting!

To buy tickets, please visit: PureMMAfighting.com

New Gym in Merrillville IN!!!!!!- MMA Training

Carlson Gracie is pleased to present a new GYM in Merrillville IN.  Experience the MMA fighting world.

Carlson Gracie Team MMA offers an array of classes including, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Muay Thai Kickboxing, Boxing, MMA & beginner and kids programs. For more information regarding our available classes or to sign up today, please feel free to call us at 630.820.6055,

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art, combat sport, and a form of self-defense that focuses on grappling and ground fighting. It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend themselves against a bigger, stronger assailant using leverage and proper technique; most notably, by applying joint-locks and chokeholds to defeat them. >Find Out More About Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) Training

Muay Thai

Known as the art of eight limbs, Muay Thai focuses on striking using the eight points of contact: fists, elbows, knees, and feet. Furthermore, utilization of standing holds such as the Thai clinch further separate Muay Thai from other striking combat arts. >Find Out More About Muay Thai Kickboxing Training

Boxing

Boxing has existed as a means of combat and sport for thousands of years. In-fighters, out-fighters, punchers and brawlers, boxing has an extensive and broad wealth of technique and skill. >Find Out More About Boxing Training

Wrestling

Wrestling is an ancient martial art that uses grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, generally between two people, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position. >Find Out More About Wrestling Training

MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)

MMA is a blending of various standing and striking techniques such as Muay Thai and traditional Boxing as well as ground fighting techniques from judo, jiu-jitsu and wrestling, MMA utilizes a vast array of combat techniques to knock out or cause an opponent to submit. >Find Out More About MMA Training

Beginner Programs

We offer a beginner Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes. Call today for more information 630.820.6055

Kids Programs

Carlson Gracie Team MMA provides an outstanding kids program that is both engaging and entertaining. >Find Out More About Martial Arts for Kids

Private Instruction

Carlson Gracie Team MMA offers private instruction sessions 7 days a week to addresses specific disciplines and aspects of your martial arts that you may need to improve upon. >Find Out More About Private MMA Training

Free movement phase – MMA Training

We have made careful note of the fact that each phase of combat has its own set of skills that are quite different from the skills required in the other phases. It is this fact that allows a fighter who is strong in one phase to be defeated by another fighter who can keep him out of his strong phase of combat and place him in his weak phases. Unsurprisingly, the skills that make for a great fighter in the free-movement enjoyed by both fighters. Whether the fighter is a striking specialist who wants to keep the fight in the free-movement phase or a grappler who wants to quickly get into a clinch or takedown, mobility and speed are the two attributes that lie behind the techniques and skills appropriate to the free-movement phase of combat.

For more on phases of MMA Training, visit: MMA training

To buy tickets for the Clash, visit: PureMMA.com

Mastering Juijitsu – MMA Training

More than anything else, ground fighting from the top position is characterized by control. This control is not merely over teh movements of your opponent’s body as you hold him down, but it is also over the direction th fight goes in. The great virtue of working form the top position is that it allows you to determine the nature of the fight. Fromt he top positon, it is your  choice wheher you keep the fight on the gound or wheather you decide to stand back up. Thus the question over which phase of combat the fight goes into is decided by the fighter who is on top.

An added advantage of working from the top position is that you can put  your opponent under great and constant pressure, since he is working under your body weight. This is tiring and frustrating for the bottom fighter; it also makes striking and the use of submission holds more difficult than if used form the top position. The top position also greatly facilitates a striking attack on the ground, since striking is so much easier from the top than from underneath. This pressure often creates mistakes on the part of your opponent and sets up the use of submission holds.

For more infor on jujitsu, visit: Jujitsu in Schaumburg, Aurora and Naperville

Transition for Standing Position to the Ground Phase

A standing fight can go to the ground in several ways, and each occurs often in teh course of a real fight. More often than not, the transition is a quick one, so be ready! A fighter can enter the gound phase as a result of any of the following scenarios:

• A knockdown as a result of strikes. This transition to the ground is particularly difficult to deal with since you are usually stunned but the strike. While on the ground, you must recover your wits and defend yourself. Quite often, your opponent doers not even follow you down, but instead stands over you and kicks you in the legs.
• A takedown form a long-range shot. This means is favored  by many wrestlers and jujitsu fighters. It played a seminal role in early MMA events,  when observers were stunned with the apparent ease with which grapplers shot in and their surprised opponent from long range and tackled their legs. ‘
• A takedown or fall from the clinch. Quite often, two fighters lock up in a clinch while exchanging strikes, or as a result of a high shot. Once in a clinch, a fight has a high chance of going to the ground. Sometimes this is due to the deliberate intent of one of the fighter; that is he intentionally attempts a takedown. Other times, it is the inevitable result of the extreme pressure that two fighters exert on each other when they battle at full power, with no referee intervention to stop the clinch. More often than not, the two simply trip and fall to the ground. This is the pattern of most MMA fights, and it is even more common among untrained people in street fights, where the two combatants lack balance and athleticism.

You can see then that the likelihood is high that via one of these routes, the fight ultimately goes to the ground – hence the importance of ground training that most contemporary MMA fighters adopt.

For more on the standing position and ground phase, visit: MMA training in Schaumburg, Aurora and Naperville

Mastering Jujitsu – MMA Training in Schaumburg

MMA fighters always begin with tow combatants squaring off with each other on their feet in the same manner as boxers. Neither one has any hold or grip on the other; they are thus free to move about as they please and to choose whatever attacking or defensive movements they wish. Some fighters look to strike with fists and feet; others look to aggressively close the distance and tie the other fellow up in a clinch; some look to go immediately into a takedown to the ground. This free movement phase of combat is the one that most people are familiar with. It is close to what they see in boxing and wrestling matches, and it is characterized by the movements and skills that the average person typically associates with “real fighting”

The free movement phase of fighting comprises two basica approaches, each quite different from the other.

1. Some fighters have outstanding striking skills in the standing position. This ability gives them an excellent chance of achieving victory by knockout or referee’s stoppage, provided that they can keep the fight in the free-movement phase. They consider the free-movement phase as a desirable state to be held onto as long as possible. Fighters who use this approach must ensure they are not wrapped up in a tight clinch and controlled or taken to the ground. they must work on the skills of knockout striking, breaking out of clinches, and resisting takedown attempts to keep the fight in the free-movement phase. This approach to fighting can be dubbed “sprawl and brawl,” since sprawling on the top of an opponent to defend the takedown is the most common and effective means of keeping th fight in the standing position. Users of this approach to the free-movement phase consider striking skill as an end in itself, a direct means to victory through knockout or decision.
2. Other fighters see the free-movement phase as an obstacle to be passed. They look to spend as little time as possible in this phase since it represents a time of danger. Rather than get into a battle of strikes in which there is a risk of being hit and even knocked out, they look to close that gap into a clinch or takedown. This is the tactic of both “ground and pound” fighters and submission fighters. The key skills for this approach are the ability to close distance and clinch in addition to shooting into takedowns while evading and blocking strikes. Those who use this approach to the free-movement phase consider striking only as  a means to setting up takedowns and the clinch.

Which approach to the free-movement phase you opt for depends on the skills and attributes that both you and your opponent have. Obviously, if you are stronger than he is in striking skills, then it makes good sense to opt for the first approach, to remain in the free-movement phase. IF you feel yourself to be outclassed as a striker, then the second choice, to leave the free-movement phase as soon as possible, makes good sense.

For more on Jujitsu, visit: Jujitsu training in Schaumburg and Merriville IN

Sparring – MMA Training Aurora, Schaumburg, Naperville, Merriville IN

As your skills develop, you will need to go up to the next level, which involves sparring with a live opponent. Nothing else prepares you for combat as well as live sparring does. Let us get something straight from the start, though: this does not means that you and your partner attempt to knock each other out every time you train! The idea is to work with your partner, not against him. As you spar, look to apply your techniques with a degree of contact appropriate to your training requirements and skill level. Obviously, if you have a professional fight coming up, you will need to work harder and with greater severity of contact. IF you are just starting out or have no fights on the horizon, work at a much more relaxed pace. Flick out the punches and kicks, looking to place them accurately and time them well.

Remember: You are not boxing or kick boxing! Practice entering the clinch and shooting into a takedown. It is best to work with partners whom you can trust so that training does not quickly degenerate into a brawl. Quite often, it is a wise idea to split you live sparring into either striking sparring or grappling sparring, where you focus on attacking and defending striking attacks or you omit strikes and imply focus on takedowns and defending takedowns. It is probably fair to say that grappling sparring is less hazardous and more fun, as few people enjoy being hit repeatedly in the face. It can also be done on a daily basis much more easily than striking sparring.

For more info on Sparring and to find MMA workouts or training, visit: MMA workout

Training Method – MMA Training Schaumburg, Aurora, Naperville, Merriville IN

The second most important elemint in Brazilian jui jitsu that separates  it from traditional styles lies in the training method it employs to ingrain its positional strategy and technique into studesnt. This is an inheritance from Maeda, who was a top student of Kano and who, as we saw, made live training the basis of this training method.

Traditional jujitsu is learned almost exclusivity through kata, a prearranged set of movements carried out on a cooperative training partner. No contact is made during the simulated striking movements, and the “opponent” passively moves with the techniques. In contrast to this, Brazilian jiu jitsu has  a training method much closer tot hat seen in judo.  It is based no the performance of technique on a resisting training partner, who is trying his best to avoid defeat and attain victory. This is live-grappling sparring. In such sparring, students get the crucial skill applying grappling technique on someone who is not cooperating and who is also counteracting buy trying his own technique.

As you can imagine, this is far more difficult than working in prearranged katas. To ensue safety during this live-grappling sparring, students cannot use strikes on one another – although students preparing for MMA fights usually put on gloves and add strikes to the training-and they certainly cannot use eye gouging, hair pulling, groin strikes, or other such tactics that can occur in a real fight. Experience shows, however, that the grappling aspect of combat is the most crucial element of a real fight. By training this grappling technique in daily sparring sessions, students are constantly working on the most crucial element of  a real fight in a way that resembles show they would actually apply it in really combat.  With only minor modifications to account for the elements that creep into a street fight, the Brazilian jiu jitsu student can easily make the adjustment form a sparring session to a real altercation quite easily. The same positional strategy and moves, allied to submission skills honed in hard daily sparring, account for the remarkable success of Brazilian jiu jitsu fighters in real combat.

But important difference exist between the randori of judo and that of Brazilian jiu jitsu. Many grappling styles prohibit certain kinds of submission holds, yet the live-grappling training used in Brazilian jiu jitsu is remarkably free of limitations. For example, judo allows locks only to the elbow joint, along with strangleholds. Sambo prohibits strangleholds altogether whereas Olympic wrestling prohibits any kind of submission hold at all. Brazilian jiu jitsu allows strangleholds and chokes. Students thus become adept at using and defending the whole spectrum of possible submission holds. In addition, training is done both with the gi and without. By this means, students are exposed to a wide variety of training conditions.

For more on Training positions for MMA, visit:  MMA training

History of Martial Arts – MMA Training in Aurora, Naperville, Chicago, Schaumburg, Merriville IN

In attempting to offer a historical explanation of the martial arts in general or any martial art in particular, several key questions need to be addressed. An effective test of any historical explanation is its ability to furnish adequate answers to these questions. The first question involves fighting styles. If one were to take a broad survey of teh amrtial systems of teh world, one notices a number of striking features. Frist, there are many similarites in the techniques used by the different styles, even when they are seperated by cast geographical distances and time periods. For example, almost every striking style has a variation of the basic kick, front kcik, side kick, and round house kick. Almost every grappling art has a variation of the double-leg takedown or the hip throw. This first problem, then, is explaining the many similarites that exist between fighting styles. In other words, how did the many different martial arts evolve in similar directions?

Second, and in opposition to the first question, one cannot help but be equally struck by the obvious differences that have evolved among the different fighting styles. One sees dramatic differences between the arts of one nation or region and those of another. For example, there are many shared techniques between Japanese karate and Korean taekwondo, yet the way those same techniques are used give rise to two different fighting styles. The result, despite much overlapping technique, is two different martial arts.

The third problem is that of explaining the changes that occur over time within a given martial art and across the martial arts in general. In the past century, one martial art would rise to prominece for a period, only to be eventually outshone by another, which would then be replaced by some newcomer. Even within a given marital art, massive changes can occur. For example, the judo currently seen in the Olympic Games is different from pre-World War II judo.

Our attempts to offer a theory of marital arts history,then, must be able to account for these three problems.

For more on Martial Arts and for MMA Training, check out: Aurora, Naperville, Minooka, Schaumburg, Chicago, Merriville IN,  MMA Training