435 - Counter Ambush Pad Drill (w/Photos)

Complete instructions for home training from Tuesday's workshop . (S.I./F)

Oct 16, 2023

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Here is a complete description of a simple pad drill that I use with students, along with notes for workshop students to refer to and those using it elsewhere for their own training.

A variation of this exercise will be common in any location that provides contact training. It will likely be used in a contextually different way though, for a fighter to respond to strikes that they know are coming in a fight they have consented to.

These two points are of key relevance when using this idea for the survival fighting situation as they may well be completely absent in an aggressive situation unfolding in everyday life.

This drill is important in a number of ways and marks a kind of delineation point for newer trainees in terms of the way that they experience preparation for survival fighting.

They start to get used to people hitting them and learning that they can deal with it.

This experience then reinforces the need for certain procedures to be in place when coming into contact with unknown individuals or possible aggression.

This is the first iteration of the drill and is presented below as part of a very common “ambush” within an aggressive encounter context but it can then be added to in any way that the trainee wishes to recreate different scenarios and indeed used in more traditional focus mitt exercises.

The choice of counter shown is very much a “hedge your bets” one and several different ways of countering can be explored subsequently for more advanced trainees.

This is one of many methods that I use to prepare for contact and also to indoctrinate countering rather than being a punching bag for a bully.