Agarrando Fighting, Street-Grinding, ‘Hawk “Dancing,” & “Foundation Muscle” by Mark Hatmaker

 

Agarrando

The gaucho, the Argentinian and Uruguayan equivalent of the US cowboy, carried blades, most often the facon, a long sword-like knife, or sometimes the desjarretadera, a working or task knife.

The llanero horsemen of Venezuela and Colombia likewise all wielded blades.

But where the gun took the premier spot in the American West, the blade was the go-to in South America. Knife fights, knife-duels, knife games were common. Often the goal of these “disagreements” was to merely mark up the face of the opponent and leave them alive.

Of course, the violence often went further but the prioritizing of knife over gun and even holding a less-than-deadly goal [face-marking] as an ultimate sign of skill we have more chance for actual pure tempered tactical know-how to persevere.

These knife-duels were often conducted in pulperias [the south American equivalent of the Old West saloon] and were “refereed” by those present.

The ultimate compliment in these regions was to be retobado, or a canny evader.

There is a wide variety of shielding, tripping, sweeping, tangling, and canny evasions in the knife play of this region.

But…there was also a remarkable array of vicious finishing—especially in the agarrando [clutching] range.

On the Black Box 12 DVD we cover agarrando with two knife-grips + applications with the tomahawk.

For a look at the Black Box syllabus.

Street-Grinding

I say nothing new here.

·        Ground happens.

·        Chaos is chaos.

·        If it is to happen we want to be the one to control the top position.

·        Merely asserting, “Well, I won’t go to the ground” is the argument of a hopeful jejune “intellect.”

The Worst Positon [Well, Second Worst]

We do NOT want to be saddled, that is mounted.

Hell rains from above.

If we do hit asphalt, gravel, unkind slopes, curb at the crown etc. it is wise to have more to offer to get out from underneath than gi-dependent answers or non-gi canniness that requires slickness of technique and recently cleaned pliant wrestling mats.

To that realistic aim we turn our attention to old school rough ‘n’ tumble reality exits.

Black Box 12 starts us down that skin-saving path.

Tomahawk/Battleaxe “Dancing”

Weapons dances have been used since man became a tool-wielding animal.

These “dances” begin as preset movements to build weapon familiarity, strength and tactical proficiency.

We see this mode of training pop up most commonly in sword familiarity as with Hopak and Flankirovka, but also has a long history within battleax societies and tomahawk tribes.

If our eye is on maximizing our training time with a marriage of conditioning and weapon utility, I suggest forgoing the kettlebell and making the shift to ‘Hawk Dancing.

For more on this.

Unseen Foundations

Many of us think the newest flavor on the block, from diet to conditioning trends means state of the art or practices that trump what came before.

I beg to differ, not just in part, but in whole.

There is a vast wealth of forgotten or ignored body conditioning practices that deserve not a second look but a complete retrograde adherence to.

Much of this thought is based on “unseen foundations.” That is, musculature and or practices that provide less than aesthetic gains [at least initially] but turn out to be the underpinnings to both aesthetics and performance.

On Black Box 12 we take a close look at two of those unseen foundations and how to re-awaken them.

For the two foundations.

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