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The Five Spheres of Combat: Sphere 1 by Mark Hatmaker

 


This is Part 1 of an 8-part series on codifying Old School Rough n Tumble Combat.

To razor-hone the definition…

·        These are The 5 Spheres of Unarmed Combat

·        We will discuss how to use the 5 Spheres to Construct our own Solo-Training.

·        We also offer how to subdivide our training into 10 Hemispheres that might best be used in class settings where beginner/intermediate students require a bit more refinement.

·        The Sphere approach allows one to develop larger spheres of interest without allowing any single sphere to diminish or vanish completely. Ignoring spheres, or short-shrifting creates weak-points in an interlocking chain of circles that should more resemble the linked rings of the Olympic symbol.

·        The Spheres are NOT ranges.

·        I repeat, the spheres are not outside to inside constructs.

·        They are not tactical abstractions with needless or mythological subdivisions.

·        The Spheres overlap and interact in real combat. We may find aspects of Sphere 1 in Sphere 2, Sphere 3, 4, or 5.

·        Linked development is key.

·        The Spheres are offered as a way to think about, integrate and synergize training plans—Not to exist as cognitive metaphors never to be acted upon.

·        The Spheres allow easier organization of training templates and notebook organization.

·        In addition to the 5 Spheres of Unarmed Combat there also The Three Spheres of Armed Combat.

The Five Spheres of Combat Essays will be offered in a Trinity of Exposure.

Part 1 goes to our blog where any and all can see. You can view or subscribe to the blog below. Why not? T’is free?

·        https://indigenousability.blogspot.com/

Part 2 goes to our newsletter subscribers. Again free, but a bit more exclusive. You may subscribe here.

·        https://www.extremeselfprotection.com/

Part 3 goes to The Black Box Members Only Forum for the whole she-bang!

Free? Nope. Worth it? I like to think so. Info on The Brotherhood here:

·        https://www.extremeselfprotection.com/rawsubscription

Want The Five Spheres, The Ten Hemispheres, The Three Weapons Spheres?

Well, I told you how. The rest is up to you, I can only hold your hand so far, Young ‘Uns.

Sphere 1: Striking

An all-encompassing sphere. Strikes, be they fist, wrists, feet, knees, headbutts, elbows, hacksaws, grinds, shoulder-chops or any of the other wildly inventive ways of making a percussive tactical impact fall under this initial sphere.

The Striking Sphere can be envisioned as the largest sphere with all others residing within it as one may strike on the feet, inside a clinch, on the ground, well, anywhere that the combat athlete has room to create delivered percussive impact and the technique to make it happen.

The Striking Sphere, as defined here, is striking with zero cohesion. That is, the only contact between bodies is the fist on face, shin to thigh, catamount to larynx etc. No clinch, no ground n pound etc.

Yes, hitting in these other areas is striking but for our template we need some borders to emphasize and tease out technique, tactical understanding and loose general training boundaries and targets.

Do not make the mistake that just because the Striking Sphere is the largest sphere it is the most important sphere or that it is a sphere than can cancel all others.

The Spheres interlock as certain spheres, either independently or in conjunction with one another, can render another sphere, even one as wildly useful as the Striking Sphere irrelevant.

Knowledge in all 5 Spheres is vital for complete tactical preparedness.

The Hemispheric Approach

We can divide the Striking Sphere into Two making it an Offensive Sphere and a Defensive Sphere.

For example, the Offensive Striking Hemisphere may bunch all training that emphasizes banging [bag work, pad work, shadowboxing etc.] into a single session, or block of training.

Whereas a Defensive Striking Hemisphere session might emphasize nothing but defensive footwork, maize bag work, trigger-punching and counter-striking.

Ideally, the hemispheres do not survive or thrive without the other.

There are many an impressive pad and bag banger who have jackshit once incoming is applied.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a dedicated banging Offensive Sphere Session, but the wise fighter, the complete rough n tumbler wants both hemispheres to balance the combat globe.

No one needs a world where the United States and Canada are enormous on the map and all else South of the Border is teeny tiny.

That globe would stutter and shudder in its orbit.

Balance, Brothers and Sisters, balance.

For those who ask, “Well, then why even offer the hemisphere concept, why not leave it at spheres?”

Good Question.

Two Answers.

1.     If one is a complete fighter or simply loooooooooves a sphere [striking in this case] they will embrace both hemispheres with equal love.

2.     If one has a little less love for striking but recognizes its value, they may construct a training program that spends more sojourns on the Defensive half of the globe than the banger’s side of the planet.

Spheres and Hemispheres allow tastes to dictate emphasis.

We make large globes where love lies.

Delve long into the Defensive Hemispheres of all that follows in areas where less passion calls.

[This hemispheric concept rears its head larger and larger with Spheres as we proceed—the Spherical approach to grappling just might surprise more than a few.]

Tune in to the Members Only Forum for Sphere Two.

All Else, tune in next week.

Mull these further resources, Warriors!

The Black Box Warehouse

The Rough ‘n’ Tumble Raconteur Podcast

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