A dynamic flow drill is used as a developmental tool at a specific stage of development within the FN syllabus, namely block, pass and pin (BPP) - this is also known more commonly as “Hubud” in certain martial arts (FMA, JKD etc).
As an aside, Hock Hochheim states that the correct term is actually “HuBAD” as hubud is often misquoted and means something like “naked above the waist” and could get you into some difficult social problems if used in the Philippines - Hock trained there extensively with the Presas brothers and I’m inclined to believe his advice on this, so be warned!
In terms of this exercise being used in the open Force Necessary workshops that I run, it is common for experienced, semi- experienced and ZERO experience people to be partnered with each other. Everyone learns to fight everyone and anyone, just like in reality.
It’s also important to state that I adapt this drill as I see fit and do not subscribe to any martial way of doing things. It’s a fantastic tool and the benefits you get from correct, repeat practice of the useful things it gives are real. I have avoided being struck in real life on occasion and can directly ascribe that avoidance to this this drill.
There was a specific problem that came up last night between a beginner and a slightly more experienced trainee in terms of coordinating between each other and performing this particular exercise in order to progress to the next idea. The solution was to look at this exercise from different perspectives and see that more can be extracted, even when the “flow” part is not happening!
I wanted to share it here as I believe it is useful for other trainees to consider as an idea and how it can be turned to an advantage - and to be honest, before I forget it!
As a practitioner familiar with this drill, it is tempting to some, to become lost in the flow aspect of performance and to forget that your training mission is to learn fighting and that this is merely a tool to further your progress.
I believe this tool is useful and use this drill in many different ways. Especially for beginners, it is useful to quickly introduce ideas like blocking haymakers, passing committed straights and so on. They also learn very quickly to get their left and right hands doing different stuff while also moving their feet, so for new people, there’s a lot going on.
Practicing BPP softly and fluidly feels great as you progress and it’s tempting to want it always to be like that. “123456123456” and so on.
Then your partner with a new person who’s really tense and it becomes:
Him: “1……..3, no, wait! Do I hit now? Oh no…2 …..3?”
You: “No, the other hand, other… the left… the lef… the other right!”
The lovely rhythm you wanted is totally gone and you start getting confused as to what you’re doing, as well as him.
It slowly pulls together but the flow aspect is completely missing and some parts are sudden and tense , others slow with a total feeling of disjointedness.
It’s important to remember a few things:
This is exactly what you looked like on your first lesson!
With some time and support, this guy may well turn out to be a great training partner, so give him a break.
But what about now? This session? Is it wasted showing how to do something, rather than doing it? You want to progress, right?
Remember that this exercise is to familiarise yourself with 6 basic positions found within certain fighting problems.
They are assembled and trained together for convenience. As I often tell new people, no one will ever come down the street flailing their arms “123456” at you to attack - if only!
As soon as the basic pattern is gained by your new training partner, start using their possible tension and randomness as a progression tool for you. Their rhythm is unpredictable? Great! That means you’re not going with the flow but actually training yourself to react to what they are doing.
Their strike is a little hard? Great! Your block structure quality will handle that and a taste of the bladed bone of your forearm WILL calm their enthusiasm!
Last night the more advanced trainee was having their strike blocked, passed and pinned and then, they blocked a strike that wasn’t even thrown yet. This means that the exercise is starting to take over unto itself and is no longer a reaction to the other person’s tactics.
In this example, we got the more advanced trainee to wait for the strike and not do anything until the new guy remembered the next move. This way you end up with a broken rhythm feel to the drill which is very useful for sharpening your reflexes and timing.
This may seem obvious but you might be surprised how quick some can get intoxicated with the allure of “flow” tempting their fighting skills like a siren towards the rocks.
I found that over the years, while having to demonstrate this exercise, sometimes with untrained people. Some will, despite being told “And …slowly…you strike…”, suddenly launch and almost real, pre-emptive haymaker at you and you need to handle it, talk to the others and get the drill going. This is great practice in many ways.
You need to be able to block strikes in real life that will be unpredictable, fast, hard and disjointed in terms of being in combinations.
Fights are scrappy messes, they don’t look flowing and graceful. Keep fighting foremost in your mind. Yes, you can use the flow concept for great development but don’t get caught in it like a trap. It’s all on a continuum.
As you move from being a beginner yourself, learn to not expect the safe, warm familiarity of soft, flowing drills and rise to the challenge of newer people and their, gulp… “aliveness” (is that term trademarked yet?).
You don’t want to stay here. All roads lead to scenario work.
Your structure and reflexes matter more.
Train for chaos, expect chaos…thrive in chaos!