[text_bar_1_left background=”#444444″ + width=”100%”]9 Tips to Anticipate to Help Your Wrist Locks[/text_bar_1_left]
[headline_georgia_small_left color=”#000000″]by Keith Pascal[/headline_georgia_small_left]
1. Last week, we talked about increasing the distance of locking someone reaching in to you for a grab. Make sure to make it a realistic grab. For example, nobody would really start to grab you from five feet away; they’d get closer, first. Right? Then they’d grab for you. Keep it real.
2. Remember how I said that I like to watch any hand reaching in and pretend I am locking it, (in my mind)? You can watch anyone, anywhere, and try to predict the path of their arm. Notice weight shifts, too. If you were “over there” with the “subject,” then how would change your imagined joint-lock attempt to match what your “imagined opponent” is doing?
3. Take your mental video screen to the next step … watch some fighting match, like UFC, on TV. Pick one of the contenders and imagine being in his (or her) place. Now, each time that a hand reaches in, say for a grab to a grapple, imagine your lock response.
4. React with speed to the TV technique. Respond in “real time.” This means that you might have to hit your opponent, in your mind, to slow down the technique enough to lock.
5. Don’t try to take a punch straight into a lock. You need either a slow-down move, or a way to control the limb, before you try locking the joint.
6. “Some” aikido schools make the mistake of going along with the locker. These aren’t real grabs. Everyone is being polite, to the detriment of any realism taking place. It’s a whole different kettle of fish to lock a cooperative person reaching in versus someone with full-attack energy trying to “getcha.”
7. Start playing a game of, “How close do I have to be before he or she reaches in for a grab?” Will someone typically take two steps to get to you before grabbing? Will they wait “until” they are within two steps of reaching you? Figure it all out.
8. What does an interruption kick do to the wrist-locking “game?” I mean you’re doing the locking and kicking, not your opponent. If you are locking, feel resistance, and try to kick, then what does that kick do to the lock that you are trying to effect “up top?” Does it help or hurt the process?
9. If you want to insert a kick into your wrist locks sequence, then take a look at this two-minute video (the first one on the page):
http://wristlocksexpert.com/free-wrist-locks-videos/
Specifically, check out the part where I look at “the other side of the coin.” That’s the part where you get to initiate the lock AND kick.