The “Control and Restraint” Drill
Introduction: There will be times in a self defense situation where you will be man-handled, slammed to the ground by multiple assailants, drag up to a back alley do god knows what. Understanding that there ARE principles and tactics to follow in a multiple assailant situations, but this is not a technique or principle book, this drill will only enhance your survival ability and your functional strength. This can also help trainees who felt bored lifting weights etc.
Mindset: It is REQUIRED the person that is being man handled to apply visualization to BE AGGRESSSIVE, imagine they are trying to take you else where so they CAN DO WHO KNOWS WHAT TO YOUR FAMILY OR FRIENDS! That’s also the reason why head gear is pretty much a requirement because there will be quite a lot of accidental shots in these drills. Also this will also benefit the “man-handler” understands that how hard it is to control someone. They can also develop specific strength to “counter struggle”, which benefits both sides.
1. Psycho Maniac
For a 3-8 minutes (depends on your fitness level and the strength level of your partners and yourself) duration for any round you desire, again it all depends on your fitness level. Your goal is to wiggle out, push away, yank off anyone grabbing you. No striking is allowed, it is prefer that your partners wear head gear to prevent accidental striking which always happens in these kind of drills. At least 2 (or A LOT) people are required to man handle you. You will see how much a wrestling/grappling background will help you (get your ass in a wrestling/grappling school!), but this drill is intended to STRUGGLE out, not to over use any skills. I will suggest anyone who is going to train any of these drills do a warm up and be careful at always, as I had torn up my ACL during grappling.
2. The Pin Down
Have 1 or 2 people (3-5 if you are tough!) pin you on the ground and struggle up for standing up. No so called “dirty tactics” are allowed here. You have two options, either use your grappling skills to stand up, which you should train too but this require you to find a equally skilled or higher skilled grappler to have the maximum benefit (Or find a BIG STRONG bastard to test your grappling skills). Or you could use pure strength and aggression to RIP OUT. Don’t find weak partners or you are just cheating yourself. Again you can do this in rounds, depending on your fitness level.
3. Ambush
Have any amount of people you want to grab you in a pre-arranged manner (A choke from behind and a double lapel grab for example), wait till some one say START, BRAWL! Struggle, throw, slam, and wiggle out in any way possible. Again no “dirty tactics”,”escape techniques” etc. Re start and pre arrange the techniques right away when it’s “complete”. This is NOT a technique drill. This is to develop the WILL, AGGRESSION and STRENGTH for counter control and anti man handling. Use a shirt you don’t need to train or a gi. Because no one in street is going to grab you AND JUST STAND THERE! THEY WILL RIP YOUR SHIRT, you will SLIP, you will FALL and all that messy details. Better be ready. Another option is to struggle to not just escape but to touch a mark (go through a door for example) to symbolize and program escape routes, this can apply to all the other drills.
4. Bull in the Ring
Get as many people as you can to try to smother you down, apply the same concept with drill 1 and 2.
5. Apply the use of cable machine
Careful with your joints on this one. Tied yourself up with different cable lines (Adjust your level) and pull, run, walk away, push, do whatever you want in 2-3 minutes, 3-5 rounds.
Specific details:
These drills also can look in a different perspective where you are your friends or yourself are trying to control someone for whatever reason, I some time use these drills on our fitness section just to break out from the normal routines. When doing these drills, it’s require to wear street clothes NOT training gear, you can put a gi on top but NOT normal training gear. I won’t suggest anyone to do these drills on hard pavement, a grass area or mat is good. You want to train real but not to the point of hurting yourself. But also in training notice ways you fall that might fuck yourself up on hard pavement, you also have to consider in real life the attackers might hit you or pull out a shank. This is just a drill but please consider these possibilities. You can also make the floor slippery, put trash on the floor, and turn off the light to create extra realism. Be creative, and most importantly, put your mind in the drills.