John Will Seminar

What a great day. John is a fantastic and inspirational coach. We've all got a ton of stuff to work on.

We spent the afternoon working on half-guard. John has had a look at what he thinks I should be working on to develop a game that suits me.

This alone is something that we have struggled with as we spent all but a few weekends of the year just trying to work our collective BJJ game without input from outside. So when we have the likes of John and Rodney across it gives us a major boost in our development.



The evening seminar was a mix of things that all linked together. John and I had discussed what we had been working recently and what we thought people might be missing and he planned the session based around that. John took us through some great, hig-percentage moves from closed guard, looking at timings to break people down working to sweep them. After plugging in a batch of sweeps John switched to attacking from here with a great set up for armbars and triangles.



From here we switched to passing the guard looking at breaking down a pass incrementally and waiting for them to give you the energy, space or movement needed to complete the pass - something John calls the Patience Point. A fantastic idea which takes a lot of the ‘battle’ out of passing guard.

As a natural progression John worked us through some knee ride material - at which point Gaz began to wish he'd picked someone lighter to work with. John was emphasising how grips work and how they can be set up before you take the knee ride.

To finish off we looked at setting up the spin choke from here. A great cross-lapel choke that uses rotation to lock it in and feels like a monster. I want to play with that on a lot.

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First PCWA Europe Trainers Clinic

We've just wrapped up a week long visit from PCWA head Rodney King which included a 5 day tranier's clinic, a Crazy Monkey Defence Programme (CMDP) seminar and workshops in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Mental Game.

It was a completely stacked week with people coming in from around Europe to take part. The whole week has been a huge success.

The PCWA is pushing the boundaries of how martial arts can be viewed, coached and experienced on a daily basis. For example, our membership site provides an incredible resource that can be accessed as a perfect complement to the time our clients spend in the gym. The CMDP is a revolutionary programme that takes martial arts training that works and delivers it in a way that leverages positive developments in the gym and allows you to apply those changes to life outside the gym.

The trainers clinic is another example of the PCWA's cutting edge approach. Five days of development on personal game, technical knowledge, coaching ability, philosophy, mental game and business methods... I don't know any other group in the field that is offering anything even close.

At the end of the clinic all the participating trainers were assessed and licensing promotions were awarded as follows to the Revolution crew.

Adam Adshead - Licensed Trainer (with an emphasis on BJJ)
Ian Mochan - Licensed CMDP Trainer
Gareth Rogers - Licensed CMDP Trainer
Dave Kari - Licensed CMDP Trainer
Phil Wright - Licensed CMDP Elite Trainer.

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That was the year that was

2006 has been a good year for Revolution and everyone who trains here.

Highlights of the year:

• Opening the new gym
• Hosting Rodney twice for seminars
• Seeing the PCWA grow and particularly seeing the UK network build
• The Singapore retreat - some great training and some new friends made
• Working on the Sanctuary material with Cecil
• A bunch of blue belts for the mat rats
• Seeing how much people have taken the MA-life material onboard
• Lots of new faces

2007 will be even better. We’re looking forward to a redoubling of committment from everyone in the New Year, myself included. We’ve developed a lot in 2006 and I want to keep that momentum pushing over into 2007. We have Rodney over again in March, the new CMDP Trainer programme launching, Cecil is coming over in February to play - and eat fish and chips - and we can expect Chris over from the IOM on a regular basis. Singapore should be bigger and better this year too.

So if we haven’t seen you in a while make sure you jump back in to your training in the New Year.

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Seminar follow up & book links

A great fun weekend with people coming in for the Singapore Catch Up seminar. Check the write up on virtualcrazymonkey.com to see what you missed if you didn’t come down.

After the seminar we were talking about some books that people should have a look at, here are the links on amazon.co.uk:

The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

Protecting the Gift by Gavin de Becker

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

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Singapore retreat notes (from virtualcrazymonkey.com)

Here is the write up I put up on the membership site of what we covered on the Singapore retreat.

This is the diary that the three musketeers kept too, documenting their pink wristband terrorism.

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Sanctuary - the next step

After a great reception for the Sanctuary session I coached at the retreat we're looking at what the next step in the process is.



Having spent many hours discussing this with fellow PCWA coach, Cecil Burch, we're going to collaborate and put together a master version which includes both our work on the same material.

Having discussed the problem with teaching clinch, rather than wrestling, a number of months ago we had both identified the same problems:

• There is a gap between stand up and wrestling. If you look at the posture that wrestlers take (especially their hand position) this becomes very noticeable. For example, to protect your arms from arm drag entries you have to tuck your elbows in, which takes your hands away from your head.
• Teaching wrestling to people with no exposure to it (almost everyone in the UK) is difficult. There are very few reference points that are based on broad ideas, like position, rather than focused ideas, like techniques. Introducing clinch as a series of wrestling techniques causes real problems with people getting lost trying to sift through a number of options, none of which take precedence for them, or getting stuck in an eternal pummeling drill because that is what they are used to.
• Working clinch against anyone working the CM structure is extremely hard. They protect their necks, lock their structure into their bodies and their arms stay braced between you because of the hand-head attachment.

Above: How we believe a clinch game fits in to the big picture, particularly for beginners.

Both Cecil and I have been working on this problem concurrently and from differing start points, him looking at reverse engineering wrestling and me looking at nullifying stand-up, we have come to almost the same results. There is massive overlap between our solutions and we had each answered some of the major sticking points in each others material. The most important aspect of both of our findings has been contact, how to get it and, vitally, how to keep it.

From this we had both worked towards a master control position that, for the sake of changing the position of one hand, was exactly the same (what we have been calling Sanctuary 2). We are working to develop a small programme that will enable people to safely control that skills gap between stand-up and wrestling that:

1. Doesn’t rely on attributes
2. Has reference point positions to allow for easy navigation when in clinch
3. Enables you to safely disengage, the most dangerous aspect of clinch
4. Can be picked up in a few hours

So where does this take us now? Over the next few months Cecil will be coming over here and I will be going over to him to refine what we think is a system that fills a hole in most people’s training. How do you get in, what do you do when you’re there and how do you get out safely again? We’ll be filming the whole thing and releasing it for public use.

If you want to be kept posted on the progress of Sanctuary please drop me a mail at phil@revolutiongym.co.uk and put ‘sanctuary’ in the subject line.

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Singapore photos

Rodney introduces the 2006 PCWA Retreat


How to set up the body shot


Straight right to the body


Rodney and Nuno demonstrating


John Will and Adam rolling


Nuno - sneaky uppercuts


John Will pimping my pommie ass


Kon - Striker v. Grappler


Phil - Sanctuary clinch for beginners


Discussion at the beach


Bobby K - Vale Tudo


Retreat attendees


Matt Jones, having been through the retarder machine


Palawan Beach, Sentosa Island


Mr Turtle


Mr Polar Bear


Mr Shark


CM - Singapore stylee


We're not in Kansas anymore


Even the playgrounds aren’t safe


Who let this lot in?

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John Will’s blog

So one of the highlights of the Singapore trip for me will definitely be training with John Will. John is a Machado Jiu Jitsu black belt and has a really great conceptual approach to training BJJ that sits really well with the principles based methods of the CMDP.

John’s blog has some great thoughts and some fantastic video clips. Go and have a look.

I found this great write up of one of John’s seminars with some really good thoughts one level of BJJ game.

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CM Podcast

Hey Everyone.

Check out the ongoing series of CM Podcasts for background, concepts and news on the Crazy Monkey Defence Program.

The link is for the podcast on iTunes.

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Isle of Man Seminar review

By Chris Bishop

--

..... I know Kung Fu.
Show me................

Well, what an fantastic weekend. As per usual Phil had fried my brain by the end of the weekend, but that was expected.

Phil arrived on Friday night, and stated 'I'm tired and I probably won't talk much'. Well he lied. So began my matrix style download of a weekend.

As stated above Saturday was about CM phase 1 and 2. A fantastic job was done on explaining the drivers using different modes of communication; explaination, illustration and experimentation. So no matter what your ideal learning mode was, it was covered. I always wanted to scribble over the studio's mirrors, so Phil has now set a precident.

Everybody was really engaged, and CM1 and CM2 gelled together nicely. Everybody's performance has had a dramatic improvement......... then the caveman came out. Okay, for those not familar with caveman strikes, get hold of Rodney's 'Viking' DVD to see what happened. It was a little more dramatic in my case, as I have yet to master the 'game face', but it illustrated perfectly the reason why you should shrug your shoulders in the hunch back stance.

We then moved onto kicking specifics. How to make you kicks heavy and more effective using body mechanics and proprioreception. As amateur kickboxers, we don't throw kicks below the waist, so this was a new experience from both a delivery and recieving point of view. Doug, I have a new respect for you as Phil's demo dummy.

On sunday, Phil introduced us to clinch. Something we haven't played around with to much. It has wet our appetites, and will be the subject of Phil's next visit. Though some of our necks didn't appreciate it the next day. Clinch was a very refreshing change, and it added an aspect to our game. We already started incorporating it into our pad work during our conditioning classes.

Monday, Phil took me for some private training to see how I was developing. I don't think I need to tell some of you coaches how difficult it can be developing your athelete's as well as your self. I was good to have someone who got me to the edge of my comfort zone. Phil has got game. You don't expect him to be so nimble and quick, let alone flexible. With only a month til Singapore, it was a good 'warm up', and has given my alot to work on.

It also highlighted that rules restrict creative thinking, experimentation and a hell of a lot of fun!!

Phil left me feeling empowered, and enthusiastic after the weekend..... just really tired.

I'd like to particularly thank him for getting my guys fully engaged. I have already some of them asking when the next seminar will be. Phil just has that ability to cause a massive mental shift. One of the lads is of to Thailand for 4 months with an entirely different outlook on things. I was also a great experience for them to simply get brain fried. Now they understand exactly what I mean.

I could go on forever on how much I loved the weekend, so I'll stop there. Having a coach like Phil in the PCWA makes you realise how special this alliance is, and how honored we should be to belong to it.

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Virtual Crazy Monkey Membership site

Benefits of joining virtualcrazymonkey.com. Only $30/month (approx £17) for all the following...

Video Instructionals
100s of video instructionals that you can download directly to your desktop or convert for use on your iPod. Take your training with you anywhere, anytime. New instructionals added every month. Exclusive content that is only available on virtualcrazymonkey.com

Exclusive Discussion Groups
Chat to CM Defence Trainers and athletes all over the world in our exclusive discussion groups. These groups cover enhancing your stand-up and ground games, mental game training, conditioning and lifestyle.

Alongside this are specialist groups covering Law Enforcement, Close Protection, Self Preservation and Tactical training.

Ask questions, upload training videos of any problems you are having and you will get the best advice on how to improve any aspect of your game.

Most of all network with a worldwide group of people who all love training as much as you do.

Training Podcasts
Portable development, PCWA style. Download podcasts on training and coaching philosophy and practice, take your training with you on the move.

Articles and blogs
Masses of articles related to training, performance enhancement, the CM Defence Program, mental game training and more.

Join today and keep your development going outside of the gym.

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Seminar crazy

It's getting pretty busy at the moment.

Classes in the new gym from Tuesday 3rd October
Launch day – Saturday 14th October

Seminar at Phi-factory, Accrington. 23rd September
Seminar at PCWA Isle of Man, The Refinery, Douglas, IOM - 31st Sept/1st Oct
Seminar at PCWA Dublin - 7th/8th October
Seminar at SKD, Darwen - End of October

Mental.

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Only one week till Rodney is here

Only a few days to go. :)

For anyone not attending the weekend seminar or the MA Life workshop please not that there are no regular classes next week. If you want to come to the seminar but haven't booked a place then let me know and we'll sort it out.

Don't miss this chance to learn from Rodney himself.

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The four drivers of a performance game

Rodney posted this up on the membership site*, I thought you guys might be interested.

1. Balance - no balance no game!
2. Defence - No defense, then why bother with the rest
3. Tight, economical structure - You can have good balance and great defence, but if you open up to fire everytime - Well - you might as well not spar at all
4. Conditioning - You can have the best looking/designed engine in the wrold, but if you don't have the fuel, it's going to sit in the garage!

*Sign up today for discussion forums, online instructional video library, podcasts, articles and more.

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STWA Singapore retreat - Nov 2006

Hey everyone

Check out the promo clip for the annual STWA Sinapore retreat.

Promo clip download

Five days of coaching from Rodney King and other STWA coaches all set in beautiful Singapore. Supercharge your game in just 5 days.

Breaking News Australian BJJ legend, John Will has just confirmed to coach every day of the retreat.

Contact Phil for more details.

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Rodney King Seminar August ’06

We’ve got Rodney coming back over in August for a weekend seminar followed by a 3-day SOMA Warrior workshop.

Seminar is on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th August and costs £50 for STWA members and STWA Affiliate clubs, £60 for non–STWA members. Full membership on mymalife.com qualifies anyone as a member.

The SOMA Warrior™ workshop runs Mon–Weds (7th–9th) in the evenings and will cover many aspects of using somatic education and performance psychology to improve performance, inside and outside the gym. The SOMA Warrior workshop costs £50 on it’s own. Anyone who attended the weekend seminar gets a £15 discount.

For more details on the SOMA Warrior programme, visit Rodney's personal site. Here’s a brief explanation.

‘The SOMA-Warrior™ program is a unique blend of cutting edge martial arts and fitness training- fused with sport and performance psychology. It is a program for creating positive change within, using expressive movement. At anyone time the SOMA-Warrior™ approach can be viewed as healthy lifestyle change, life coaching, mental game training and a stress management program. We are all unique energy systems; energy is the form and expression of aliveness. How we express that energy will determine our overall health of both our body and mind.’

Email Phil for more details on how to book your place and pay your deposit. A non-refunable deposit of £20 secures your place. Deposit is due by 3/6/06, balance is due by 8/7/06.

See you all there.

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Check out Rodney's blog

STWA Head Coach, Rodney King, has set up a blog at www.mymalife.com/rodney covering the CM Life programme. Looking at how training and the lessons learnt from it can be expanded out into your life. It's well worth a look.

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