The Circle of Death as Training Tool

[Sharp Phil]

The Circle of Death as Training Tool (http://www.themartialist.com/1003/circleofdeath.htm)

[ratlee]

Thank you for this great drill.

Lew

[grandpab]

That is an excellent drill. We used to do variations of that in Shotokan Karate back in the 60's. Perhaps they still do, I haven't practiced Shotokan in years. A similar and sobering drill is to wear a helmet and work out on a double end ball while a couple of guys have a go at you with padded sticks, keeps you moving, blocking, and punching. Three minutes is a long time with this drill.

[lorenzodamarith]

hello,

coach jones, would this qualify as hardwork? have seen variations of this in grappling... but this is maybe a little more controlled than hardwork?

thanks

[Hard Head]

We used to do this drill but called it Bull In The Ring. It was a lot of fun and painful as sometimes people get carried away. I personally loved it.

Steve

[hammer_2020]

I've done many variations of this in Systema, as part of the mass attack prep work. Depending on the intensity, this can be scaled for soft or hardwork alike. It's a great drill for expanding the perceptions and removing any sense of attachment to any one opponent, perceiving a group of people as a single amorphous organism and dealing with whatever pseudopodia it sends at you at a given moment in time.

[lorenzodamarith]

hello,

hard head, hammer_2020, seems to be a common thing then. hadn't thought about "amorphous blobs" before. not for combatives, anyway.

could see things getting out of hand in certain situations. not often though.

this looks like something worth including in personal practice at some point.

thanks

[hammer_2020]

It was in the circle of death that I learned the hard way that chunks of the blob can often be used to break the rest of the blob up >:-)


I should trademark this drill and give it a reserved name - Blob-Slayer!

[Joseph David]

It was in the circle of death that I learned the hard way that chunks of the blob can often be used to break the rest of the blob up >:-)


I should trademark this drill and give it a reserved name - Blob-Slayer!

sounds like turning the opposition into a shield and the sheild into a weapon where it becomes a shield again

[hammer_2020]

Joseph: Something like that. It really is a very simple case of keeping each individual engagement as simple and short as possible by maximising your own efficiency, and then ending each engagement by sending your dance partner flying into the next incoming one with as much force as you can muster. Of course, finding good angles to minimise the number of people that can come at you at any given time helps immensely, too. I make a point to follow Musashi's advice and 'crush the corners' by stringing out the opposition and attacking at the narrowest point of the crowd. Of course, in a circle drill, this can't really be done, but it's fine for any free-movement mass attack drill.

[Coach Jones]

I had somehow missed the resurrection of this thread and just got a chance to catch up.


hello,

coach jones, would this qualify as hardwork? have seen variations of this in grappling... but this is maybe a little more controlled than hardwork?

thanks


A good question. What makes it interesting, the question rather than the drill, is that in virtually every case i've ever seen it's done as a HARDWORK drill attempted softly when it should be done as a SOFTWORK drill with incremental progression toward more intensity.

Let me explain...

When you talk about any kind of drill of this type what is normally missing is power and intent. The reason is that you simply cannot engage in a drill where the goal is "realism" while allowing for safety. When this is tried it turns into haphazard series of pulled punches, over and under - reactions and a false sense that what they're doing is REAL.

The more effective method is to begin using the concepts of SOFTWORK, use that framework as a biomechanical study and improve your balance, timing, positioning and technical skills. Slowly increase the intensity VERY incrementally for - and this is the important part - the value it has as a movement study as well as the added benefit for a lot of people of gradually acclamating them to conflict and pressure within that conflict.

When people approach this drill from a false position that this, in any real way, simulates "reality" they are doing themselves a disservice. Power and intent change everything and getting even close to "real" power, speed, and/or intensity with trained individuals will simply turn into what is commonly refered to as a "beating".

Now i'm not saying that a drill of this sort is void of value, what I am saying is that it has to be looked at for what it is and used accordingly. Because the old masters used it is not a valid arguement since there are only a handful of people on this planet whose training and experience come even remotely close to approximating that of those old masters.

Hope that answers the question.